Melissa visits LA - round 2!

This past weekend, Melissa came to visit me in LA over her spring break and it was such a great time together!  Our first day, I wanted to show her downtown and how I could be savvy with public transportation.  Thus, off to the bus stop we went!  Armed with a cache of quarters and some single dollar bills, we power walked down to USC to catch an express bus to downtown.  Within a few minutes, a bus rolled up that didn't match our number, but it looked to be going to the same place.  I asked the driver, "this takes us to Olympic, right?"  He responds, "Yep! Hop on board."  I should have known trouble was coming when the machine on the bus wouldn't take our dollar bills.  We were very short on quarters and Melissa and I were standing at the front of the bus not allowed to sit until we paid (mind you, the driver already took off so we were trying to keep balanced while looking for money.  I found a nickel on the ground - whew! 5 cents closer to our goal.  Well after plenty of struggling, this husband and wife were our saviors and broke the bills for us with change.  Now that we finally were able to sit and relax until we got to downtown, I noticed something was wrong..... hmmmmm... look at all these foot massage stores.... and these signs I can't read.... and oh look! the sign that says welcome to.... KOREA TOWN?!?!?!   Yep, we were on the wrong bus heading 3 miles west of downtown.  Melissa and I got off and just decided to walk the whole thing in as it was nice out, and we just wanted to avoid any more bus mishaps. 

The rest of our day went without a problem though as we went to the Grammy museum, had lunch at a famous local diner (french toast at 2pm? I think so!), relaxed in Angel's Flight park, and then toured the Walt Disney concert hall.  It was a beautiful day downtown.

The next day we hiked to the Hollywood sign up in the mountains.  It was very foggy but it kept us cool and from sweating too much!  It was also nice just to get some fresh air by being out of the city streets.  One thing Melissa and I hadn't planned in our itinerary was to watch the Billikens play in the NCAA tournament, but as avid fans, there was no doubt we'd make room in our schedules.  We ended up going to a Buffalo Wild Wings and were the ONLY people in the bar rooting for SLU (much less, the only people who KNEW of SLU).  We were playing Memphis and with about 5 minutes to go in the game, it looked like we were going to lose it.  However, Rick Majerus worked his magic and we started pulling ahead.  I yelled, GO BILLIKENS and received some weird looks and a few comments of "what the hell is a Billiken?!"   I was just thinking to myself, a Billiken is a winner! That's what it is!  Needless to say, we won our first tournament game in over 14 years and it felt good. 

On Melissa's last day here we went to mass at Deloras Mission (the Jesuit parish of LA), and enjoyed the intimate feel and music.  I also said a few prayers for God to show some partiality to his Jesuit basketball teams and bless the Billikens with a win over #1 seed Michigan State (kidding!  sort of....)   While the Bills lost that game, it went down to the wire and we only lost by 4 points.  We had a respectable showing on national television and it made me proud to be a SLU grad. 

Although it was fun watching the Bills, just having Melissa here to visit was the absolute best.  We got to cook some meals for the community, she participated in spirituality night with us, and drink some beers and sangria to celebrate St. Patty's Day.  Having her around just made it feel normal to have her with me with friends. 

Below are some pictures from the visit and 'm already looking forward to our next visit to see each other!