All of the photos from California have been added to the gallery along with new pics from Carowinds in North/South Carolina.

Six Flags Magic Mountain and Knott’s Berry Farm

Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure

Various Beach photos

Carowinds

For the next two weeks I am in southern California for training with IBM. We need a minimum amount of training in-order to bring in our new software platform, and luckily enough I was able to leave town with short notice.

This morning I headed to the airport en route to LAX. After a short 4 hour flight I made it to LA. First stop was naturally for the best food Califronia has to offer.  I’ve read people cheesing over In-N-Out for years and even the dude supports a 2×4.  I ordered a double double and to show my leet knowledge of the “secret” menu some Animal Style fries that my intestines still haven’t forgiven me for.

Not sure where this fits on the nutritional pyramid.

In-N-Out has kind of a cult following. There are fan sites, people exposing all of the secret menu items, and pondering the reason John 3:16 is on the bottom of the cups. Even the airport location I ate at has a video on Facebook.

The burger was tasty, but it wasn’t anything amazing. It was fairly greasy, and similar to what a fresh Sonic burger might taste like if they existed. The animal fries were interesting, but I wish I had gone with ketchup instead. I’ve heard I have to try a Tommy burger out here as well, so we’ll see how they stack up.

After In-N-Out I headed west to Venice beach. Venice was a strange place. It was cool in the sense that there isn’t anywhere else that’s really like it. For me it’s like New Orleans. I appreciate its uniqueness, but wouldn’t rush back to visit. It provided a great afternoon of people watching and entertainment though.

I found some parking just past the canal neighborhoods and headed north up the beach. It was mostly cloudy and about 65, but that didn’t stop a lot of people from getting in the water.

All of the pics from Venice can be found here. There was a group of street performers going several stunts and telling jokes for the crowd. They were pretty entertaining, even if shameless in their cash grab.

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