travel

We took a trip to Savannah, Georgia last week. I had to visit Cleveland, GA on business on Monday and Tuesday, so after that we took a beautiful drive down to the city made famous by Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. One of the many highlights of our time there was a Thursday dinner at Elizabeth on 37th, a fabulous restaurant, followed by an evening walking tour of the city’s haunted houses. (Dawn, our guide from Sixth Sense Savannah, showed us about a half-dozen houses that were allegedly crawling with ghosts.) Savannah is a lot like New Orleans, only much smaller and without as much alcohol. We had a great time and I hope to return someday.

Last Sunday we had lunch with the Tobers at Six Feet Under in Atlanta. I had a terrific fried catfish po’ boy and about six gallons of sweet tea. You just cannot get sweet tea in Los Angeles anywhere, so it was a treat.

Then on Tuesday, before the presidential debate, we had dinner at No Mas! Cantina, right around the corner from Ryan’s place. (They had amazing salsa but mediocre margaritas.) It was really cool to get to visit with my old buddy for a little while.

Some of the “Tools for Travelers” at World66 are pretty nifty. You can make neat maps displaying all the countries and states you’ve visited. I feel like I’m forgetting a few states, and I definitely need to see more of Earth.

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Last weekend I hopped on a flight to Denver for my friend Bob’s 36th birthday party. His wife spent months planning “Bob’s Amazing Race 2008“; we spent Saturday as six teams of four people roaming around LoDo, barnstorming bars and looking for clues. It was a total blast.

The event was conveniently simultaneous with the first annual Mile High Music Festival, which featured a few dozen bands and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and Dave Matthews Band.

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I read Carl Hiaasen’s comedy Skinny Dip on the flight from Denver to Vegas to Los Angeles on Monday morning at the suggestion of a friend at work. I don’t want to reveal too much of the story, but it’s basically about an idiot who attempts to murder his wife, who was the captain of her college swim team, by tossing her overboard while on a cruise ship. Needless to say, dark hilarity ensues. It’s not exactly Shakespeare, but Hiaasen is a powerfully funny author. I thought this novel was wonderful and I recommend it highly.

The awe-inspiring Jennifer A. Gagne, my little sister, is en route to Alaska with her friend, Alicia. They are going to work for the Summer as rangers at Denali National Park. How friggin’ cool is that? (They’ve created a website to record their travels, of course.)

For some reason you cannot find one on their website, but you can still get one of these from Banana Republic. I’ve seen them for sale in both the Santa Monica and the Studio City stores, and I’ve seen dozens of people carrying them over the last two decades. But yours just will not be as cool as mine. My mom bought me this bag from one of the original mail-order catalogs when I was in 8^th grade, in 1986. (That was back when BR was a small “travel & safari clothing” company and not a part of The Gap.) The ones they sell now are Made in China™ and seem to be pretty low-quality. Mine was actually Made in Israel and — since it’s been with me from one end of the United States to the other, to the Sandwich Islands, and all through England, Paris, and most of Italy — I can attest that it is just as awesome as the original description that I read and which completely enraptured me 21 years ago:

Authentic Israeli Paratrooper Briefcase
When called away suddenly on business (to Entebbe, for example), the Israeli paratrooper takes along a durable briefcase — one with D-rings, a padded adjustable shoulder strap, three big inside compartments appropriate for legal pads, and an exterior snap-flap pocket sized to suit a ponderous paperback. Also: two rows of sturdy loops for implements mightier than swords.

Major bummer: The Samsonite® Black Canyon 22″ Wheeled Duffel that I ordered last week is out of stock and won’t arrive for at least two more weeks. My dad’s got one of these and I’ve been hunting for it online since early last year. I finally found one and was hoping it would be here in time for Memorial Day. We’re going to a friend’s wedding in the Ojai Valley. Now it looks like I’ll have to use my old craptacular bag. Damn.

On Saturday morning I ran a quick 7 miles at 6 am, came home, and told my girlfriend to get ready for an adventure. We packed the truck and headed for wine country (photos). The President’s Day traffic was brutal so it took us almost 3 hours to go what should have only taken an hour and a half. We had a terrific time, though. The Santa Barbara vineyards — of Sideways fame — are just as much fun as going to Napa and they’re only a short drive from Los Angeles. First we hit the Firestone Winery and its sister vineyard, Curtis Winery. Tastings are rough for me because I don’t like any reds, but Firestone had some wonderful whites. I bought a delicious chardonnay and two awesome sauvignon blancs for less than $50 total.

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Postings will be sparse for the next few days. I’m in Vegas with my dad. We golfed today and will be golfing again tomorrow … and the next day … and the next day … This is my third or fourth trip to Las Vegas since I moved to LA in 2000. I’m not much of a gambler, but I think I have finally deciphered the game of craps. I turned $20 into $225 and had a blast hanging out with my dad at the new Hooters Casino. I’m taking a ton of photos and will update when I return to the City of Angels.

Tonight I’m in Phoenix, AZ at the Scottsdale Marriott at McDowell Mountains. My dad is here for a business convention and I am quite happy to be his golf partner for the weekend. (Apparently the UCLA Bruins football team is staying at this hotel as well, which is odd because we’re not very close to ASU.)

I would never really have considered myself a frequent flyer until about 2000. I was born in Rhode Island and went to elementary school and high school in Daytona Beach, Florida. In the summer I would usually fly — with my little sister — to see my dad in New England. Then I went to the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. Aside from one major adventure to London (and Dublin) during my junior year, and frequent travel in the Southeast for crew (rowing) competitions, I wasn’t much of a traveler. I’d been to New Orleans and Colorado. I had been just about everywhere in the state of Florida, and once I got to college I started driving to New England instead of flying, so I got to see most of the East coast of the U.S. But then in late 2000 I moved to Los Angeles …

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Once again I found myself in trouble at the Los Angeles International Airport, and once again it was (arguably) my own damn fault. Last Thursday I flew Southwest to Providence, Rhode Island to testify in court on behalf of my dad, who was in the midst of a textbook “frivolous lawsuit”. I detest being late in general, and even more so when it comes to flying. I am the guy that gets to the airport at least two hours in advance. My adventure began almost as soon as I got out of my friend’s car.

I was told by the Southwest skycaps at the curbside check-in that my flight was canceled. “What?! Why?!” I exclaimed. I was told by the first skycap that it was because of inclement weather in Rhode Island. He directed me to his superior, who told me that it was because of a mechanical problem with the plane. (Much later in the day I would be told that the flight was canceled because there simply weren’t enough people wanting to fly from LA to Providence that day to justify sending an entire plane on the route.) She took my luggage and got me on the next flight, due to leave for Phoenix in three hours.

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So it took me 33+ years, but I have finally started golfing. I am a complete and total idiot for not listening to the dozens of friends that have been trying to convince me to play for the last ten years. It is amazing fun and paralyzingly addictive. I played for the first time in January of this year at my friend Kelly’s 40th birthday party on the Balboa Golf Course in Encino, CA. At the end of January my dad had some business in Vegas and he flew me there for the day to play the Las Vegas Golf Club. I’ve played about 10 or 15 rounds since then and am hooked.

In early June dad had another business trip on my coast and we played a municipal course in Chula Vista, CA, where my grandfather lives. Dad gave me a set of his old clubs while I was there and I bought a slick Nike bag to hold ‘em. The next day we played with Guy Denniston, the president of American West Worldwide Express, at Tijeras Creek in Rancho Santa Margarita. A few days later dad was here in LA and we played the Malibu Country Club with Kelly and Eric Clarke, the president of Four Truckers (photo).

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Let’s see … What can I do for Easter this year? I know! I’ll hop on a G4 and jet on over to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I’ll attend Sunday’s service at the National Cathedral and then hang out with GW for the Easter Egg Roll on Monday.

My girlfriend manages Aly & AJ; they’ll be singing the National Anthem and performing two concerts on the South Lawn. They’re going to stay on the East coast to tape Good Morning America later in the week. (I’ll be returning to good ol’ LA on Monday night.)