Labor Day

We spent part of Labor Day weekend in Los Angeles. We thought we'd take the kids to see some dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum. On our way we noticed many cars with USC decals and license frames traveling in the same direction but none of us put two and two together - Exposition Park is next to USC and there was a game that day. Exiting the offramp we had already given up on parking and decided to go to the La Brea Tarpits instead. Good thing too - two lots advertised "Park Here $60." Yep, 60 bones, and they were already three-quarters full. Dad went to USC in the 60s and reminisced about the neighborhood before the Watts riots. We took surface streets to the tarpits and the kids had a ball. The black-topped pond was bubbling with gas and the kids loved the elephant stuck in the tar.

A colleague from work recommended we try Clifton's Cafeteria for lunch in the middle of Los Angeles. In its heyday, Clifton's was supposedly the bees knees, a mini-Disneyland you could enjoy during your lunch hour. Well, how times and changed. It was hot and humid in downtown LA and Clifton's air conditioner was on the fritz. I don't know when the picture below was taken but apparently no one has dusted the place since then. I expected the kids to be saucer-eyed and mesmerized by the decor but it was so dark and weird we all preferred to gaze at the floor. I could live with its dankness, even revel in its poor ambiance if the food was any good. Everyone loves a dive that serves great food. I used to drive to a roach coach parked in a vacant tire store in Azusa because the tacos were so delicious. But Clifton's starchy, flavorless food provoked only one reaction in my mind - "Ew."

However, all was not lost. We went to Don and Angies' and watched the Cougs beat the Sooners. Can you feel the power of the Wasatch? Oh yea! Erika rolled down an entire flight of stairs, cried for a minute and then bounced right back. The next day we went to church and then mom served another classic Sunday dinner at the formal dining table - roast beef, potatoes, cream corn, green beans, salad, rolls, and about 25 pounds of peeled fruit. We returned to San Diego Sunday night and spent a spectacular Monday morning at Ocean Beach (air temp - 80, water temp - 73), grabbed some deli sandwiches at the Olive Market, and spent the rest of the day relaxing with our new best friend - our just-installed air conditioner.