January Jaunt

I'm not going to waste time explaining all of the reasons why it has been so long since I have posted. Rather, I'm going to jump right into the explanation of the title of this post. I recently purchased a book entitled "1,000 Things to See Before You Die" (the U.S. version) and it is packed full of things to see in California. Lindsay and Harrison (our fellow Georgians) have joined with Patrick and I to do one thing from the book every month. Once we conquer the California list, we have plenty to do in the surrounding states. Along with that, Harrison is heading up one hiking trip every month. There are endless trails and beautiful scenes to see.

With that being said, our first escapade was a trip to Hollywood and Beverly Hills. We walked down Rodeo Drive and paid a trip to Harry Winston, LaCoste, Juicy Couture, Coach, Dolce and Gobana and the like. There were a mix of emotions as we took note of the price tags, but the most prevalent was disbelief. Disbelief that anyone, regardless of their income, would pay such an outrageous amount for the sake of status. The trip served as research for Patrick because he is in the middle of a series on money at the 808 service. Crazy, but that seemed to be the center of the conversation for a larger part of the day.

After taking a driving tour of the mansions in Beverly Hills and visiting the Kodak and Grauman's in Hollywood, we headed to Pink's Famous Hot Dog Stand. We didn't know much about Pink's other than it is one of those places you have to visit in Hollywood. At least that is what we heard. I must add here that Patrick and I rarely eat hot dogs. Once we become educated on the ingredients, we decided we might never eat another hot dog. We occasionally make exceptions, and Pink's was one of them. When we arrived, we were less than excited about the line wrapping around the building. After a little over an hour, we found ourselves at the window to order. We went all out: chili, cheese, grilled onions, curly fries, and sodas. And then came the first bite....crunch. "What's this? A plastic lining?! Yuck!" What a let down. Who puts a crunchy lining on their hot dogs? I couldn't even finish it. After waiting in line, in the beating sun, I couldn't even finish the crunchy lined hot dog. So....next time you are in Hollywood and someone tells you that you have to have a famous chili dog from Pink's, just remember that unless you like a crunchy hot dog, you may not find the wait worth it.