Sept 10 - IHOP and John Locke

Got to start the day off right with some IHOP across from Disneyland. Bacon, eggs and pancakes (of course) that were decent, but I've had better pancakes back in Saskatoon before. Took advantage of warm weather and drove to Venice beach. Threw on some sandals and got to walking. About 5 minutes from the car down by the water we were walking along and saw this guy by himself walking towards us. Glanced at him as we approached, then both Brennan and I paused and looked at each other. That guy looks familiar, I said to Brennan. Whoa, it's John Locke from Lost! he replied. I took another glance and indeed it was. He even shot that little creepy smile he so often used on Lost. Contemplated turning around and going for a picture but by the time we had agreed it was him, he was pretty far back and we didn't want to chase after him for a photo like a couple crazy people. Cool brush with Hollywood nonetheless. The next couple hours we walked all around the Venice area and over to the Santa Monica pier. I like the atmosphere of that area, it's a interesting place to hang out. Watched some skateboarders at the beachfront skatepark, browsed the wares of street vendors and watched a show from some street performers that made the Fringe street performers look like total amateurs. There are a lot of medical marijuana dispenseries on that boardwalk also, which seemed to mesh well with the odd individuals that were walking around and hocking their wares. Saw James' Beach Bar Grill just off the boardwalk - which the characters in the movie I Love You Man eat fish tacos at. But no fish tacos for me, I wanted to try another great American staple food: In-N-Out Burger. Drove a couple miles to one and I was surprised at the style of it. It's like a 50s restaurant with like 5 menu items (burger, cheeseburger, fries, shakes, drinks). The meal was pretty tasty, and reminded me of Wendy's. After the meal we checked out another mall and then headed back to the hotel, watched the Late Late Show (the 2nd taping from yesterday) then crashed.