California sights

Last week was my little sister's wedding and the rest of the family took a road trip to Los Angeles for the occasion. As if the wedding wasn't enough, Southern California provided quite a few notable notes...

Take this super classy vehicle cruising down the 10... I missed the perfect profile view showing off the brass bulldog sticking off the front bumper but you can still see the little pooch leading the way.

A for individuality!

En route to Koreatown for dinner one night... I'd actually seen this sign in February when visiting a friend around USC. As she says, you know you're in the ghetto when you see this:

someone call Maury!

That dinner was at The Boiling Crab... my dad and I were disappointed to learn that The Boiling Crab is a chain and not a singular destination, until we realized that now we only have to go as far as San Jose to enjoy the delicious Cajun seafood.

Super-stylish graffiti greet patrons of the restroom...

Each order of gumbo comes with the littlest bottle of Tabasco sauce I've ever seen!

I don't even like Tabasco and I love this bottle!

A sampling of our mess... crab legs, shrimp, and clams cooked up in classic Cajun and garlic sauces.

The Boiling Crab is always crowded - a wait in excess of one hour seems pretty standard - so we took the advice of a neighboring businessman and ordered our food to go so we could eat inside his snack bar establishment in the same plaza. This unnamed drink bar serves all manner of boba drinks and slcohol (it's just not on the menu.) Weird? Absolutely yes. But I think the same man owns or manages both The Boiling Crab and the little boba house so if you'd rather wait 20 minutes for a take-out order rather than an hour or more to eat on-site, this is the way to go.

On our way back, Popsy suggested we lunch at Harris Ranch.

The second-most interesting thing? There happened to be a ton of police personnel visiting that Sunday.

Every Hour, Every Day... at Harris Ranch?

The most interesting thing? This awesome cow-lady lamp in the hall! Moooooo!

not your average cowgirl

And finally, somewhere at a Costco gas station in Gilroy, my brother spotted this little spark of determination: a woman, bent on driving her sedan to the penny-saving gas pump, even with obscured vision.

I suppose it's a talent

San Francisco... there's no place like home!