Our First Visitors of the Summer

Ohh my goodness! Where do I begin since I last left off??

Charlie and I finally got all settled into our apartment ...at 11PM the night before our friends came we put the finishing touches on it by hanging up all of our art and pictures.

Thursday, June 28th Jessica & Jeff Erlandson got to town. I picked Charlie up from work, we headed to LAX and picked them up around noon. We then dropped Charlie off and went back to our place. After sitting around catching up for an hour or so, I had to head to work for the afternoon.

After work, we were all ready to get after it. We started the night by meeting Mike at Waterman's in Hermosa. Although our time at Waterman's made for some great memories, it was a horrible experience. The service was terrible, the food was so-so, and Charlie, Jeff, & I got ketchup spilled all over us by our waitress. Luckily, we all got a round of free shots to somewhat make up for the spill. After dinner, drinks, and the round of shots, we decided to head down the PCH to the Shellback in Manhattan. The Shellback was definitely our kind of place. It's a little dive bar near the pier with decently priced drinks, a laid back crowd, and a fun atmosphere. Shot after shot after shot (with a few peanut M&M's thrown into the mix) and we were ready to head out for the night. On the way up the Manhattan Beach Blvd. hill, we stopped in at Henesseys for two more shots -- car bombs & vegas bombs. At this point, I think we were all pretty bombed ourselves. We got back to our place, had a few beers, and decided to call it a night (or at 4am, should we call it a morning?!)

First group shot of the night

Dinner at Waterman's

Drinks at Shellback

Car bombs at Hennesseys

Friday morning Charlie had to get up early for work, so I just kind of hung around for the morning. Jess, Jeff, and Mike all slept in. After they all woke up, Mike headed out, and Jess, Jeff, and I headed up to Palos Verdes. I took them to the Malaga Cove (a Rogy favorite for visitors). We hiked down, took pictures, and enjoyed all of the SoCal scenery. From the cove, we hit the grocery store to get food for the weekend. After a fun-filled grocery shopping trip, we went back to our place to unload the trunk and wait for Charlie to get home from work. Once Charlie was home, we all got our suits on and went to the pool for a few hours. From there the boys cooked out ("brats" ...which were more like bad hot dogs & burgers) while Jess and I got ready.

After dinner and a few beers, we headed to the Hollywood Park Race for the Michael Franti show. We got there two hours early, because if you get there before 8:30, it's only $10 to get in. Since we had two hours to kill, we drank beers and downloaded the drinking game 'Kings Cup' onto Jessica's phone. It was definitely one of the funniest rounds I've ever played -- from Charlie having to drink every time someone put their thumb down or pointed to 'the heavens' (he wasn't paying attention), to everyone having to 'pick a mate' to drink with, to the rule 'Jeff Erlandson can't talk.' The two hours actually flew by, because we were having so much fun with our friends.

Pre-gaming before the show

Once the show started, it was incredible as always. We were front row, of course! Beach balls were flying, we were all dancing, and it was a great time. It was so fun having friends in town to experience these kinds of things with! During 'Gangsta Girl', Charlie and Jessica both got pulled on stage to dance. When 'Gangsta Girl' was over, Jeff got pulled on stage to 'play' guitar! When the show was over, Jess & I each got a Michael Franti guitar pick, we all got beach balls from the show, we talked to Jay Boogie (guitarist) who remembered me from Summer Camp, and then I got Franti to sign Jess's beach ball. The crowd was way too large and pictures/autographs were taking forever, so unfortunately we didn't get to talk to Franti this time around...however, it was still an awesome show and a killer experience. He once again told us to have the 'best summer of our lives' ...little did he know I'm writing this blog because of him!

Jess & Char dancing on stage with Franti

Erl rocking out with Jay Boogie

Saturday morning Charlie and I got up early and headed to the beach. He had won a 'Learn to Surf with Donavon Frankenreiter' competition! If you recall, a few weeks ago we got to see a Donny show at Saint Rocke. Charlie even got to meet him during his sound check before the show, so this was definitely an experience we couldn't pass up ...even with friends in town. We got to the beach, and there were a few others who were at the surf camp as well. I decided to hang back on the beach and take pictures, since I'm not a big fan of the ocean. After group pictures and a quick lesson on the beach, they were all headed out to the water. Donny had a few surf instructors there to help him with the lessons, so Charlie started out with other instructors. He caught (and stood up on) the very first wave!! That is so impressive, because most people are lucky to get up once during their first surf lesson. After being on his own for a while, he decided to come back to the beach for a break. We saw Donny on the beach as well and decided to take advantage of the situation. We went over to talk to him ...told him we met him last summer at Doheny Days and saw him at Saint Rocke a few weeks ago. He invited us to a couple of his upcoming shows (including a private show THAT night that he invited us & our friends to), and we each took a picture with him. He asked Charlie how he was doing at surfing and then asked if Charlie wanted to go back out in the water with him. Not only is Donny an incredible musician, but he is also a pro-surfer. Not many people have the opportunity to learn how to surf from a professional, so Charlie definitely couldn't pass this up. He caught a few waves and had a great time!

Donny giving the 'on shore' lesson

Charlie SO excited to learn how to surf

 Catching waves, BRO!

Mistaa Frankenreiter & myself

Char & Donny

Best bros for life

 Looks like a pro to me!

After the beach, we headed home to catch up with our friends and get ready for the Dodgers game. Upon arriving back at our place, Mike and Murph were there! Murph had gotten into town on Friday, but we didn't get to see him until Saturday afternoon. Mike had to go to work, but we had a few beers (the theme of the weekend I suppose) and headed out to the game. We only stayed for 3 innings, but our friends got to experience Dodger stadium, drink a beer, and munch on some delicious garlic fries (my favorite!!!).

Great group shot, hanging at our place

View from Dodger Stadium parking lot

We decided to leave the game early, because Donny had invited us to a private show. How can you pass up a private show when the artist himself invited you?!! We all headed back to Hermosa to hit The Lighthouse. It's a pretty small venue, and Donny did an acoustic set with the guitarist (who also plays a variety of instruments like the harmonica & ukulele) from his band. We drank, had nachos, and danced a little. It was definitely a cool experience! Thanks for the invite, Donny :)

Walking to The Lighthouse

Donny & his guitar player

We went home to re-group after the show....Jess and I changed our clothes, and we were all off to Hollywood. After the longest car ride of our lives, we met Whitney and Mike at Power House right off Hollywood Blvd. At this point, I wasn't feeling very good, but still had a great time catching up with old friends. We shut down the bar and headed out to the ever-so-amusing Hollywood Blvd. Upon walking out of Power House, we all were told to jump into someone else's pictures ...the result was a giant group picture with a bunch of random strangers. After the photo, we found a group of about 10 guys rapping & filming. We encouraged Murph to jump in. He got to rap twice for the camera, and the second time he walked off saying 'and this is how I'm leaving ya'll' (or something along those lines ...a little help here, Murph!). Everyone in the group exploded and started cheering. It was great! We continued to walk down the street, parted ways with Whit, Murph, and Mike, and checked out all the hand and footprints at Grauman's Chinese Theater. At this point it was about 3AM, and we were ready to head home.

Dunlap does Hollywood

                                   Murph rapping on Hollywood Blvd.                                  Grauman's Chinese Theater

Sunday morning Jessica and Jeff were woken up with a breakfast consisting of eggs, potatoes, and bacon. We got ready and eventually made it to Venice Beach to meet Mike, Murph, and Luke. It was super packed, but we managed to find a spot on the beach. We had a fun-filled afternoon of laughing on the beach (a bird pooped on Charlie), the boys played frisbee, catch, and even got in the ocean, and we walked the boardwalk a bit too. We all stopped by Mike and Lukes for a little while on the way home, and eventually made it back to Charlie and mine's apartment for dinner. I had a bolognese sauce cooking in the crockpot all day, so we had that accompanied with garlic bread, spaghetti, and bruschetta for dinner. It was so fulfilling, and it totally hit the spot! We had made plans to go out and do something fun, but we were all tired and decided to have a fun night in. We played six hilarious rounds of Scattergories (like Charlie using the wrong letter, Jess putting answers like 'hairy peaches', Jess & Jeff arguing over every answer, and me dominating as always ;)) and watched Blow. Charlie and I had to call it an early night, because we both had to work early on Monday morning.

Beach day

Jellyfish 

Scattergories!!

What an incredible weekend with old friends! I cannot believe how much we fit into ONE weekend. Memories were made that will last a lifetime ...and we got some great pictures to capture all of the fun.

Monday Charlie and I had to head back to work for the day. Jess and Jeff spent the day hanging out and hitting Del Amo (the biggest mall in America...located just blocks from my dad's house in Torrance). Once we were finally off work, we all headed over to Saint Rocke for 'Geeks Who Drink' aka trivia night! Everything (food and drink) was on special for $5 for the night. I ordered garlic fries and carne asada street tacos, Charlie got a barbecue chicken flatbread, Jess got goat cheese and marinara dip and sweet potato fries, and Jeff got chicken and steak skewers. The food was great! We also each had a few beers. Our trivia team name was 'Bros and Hoes', and we actually started out doing pretty good. After the first three rounds, we were in third place! The next 5 rounds were extremely difficult, and we ended the night in 12th place. Jeff did get a bonus question right for a free Busch Light though. After hours of trivia, we decided to head to (my favorite place around) Sharkeez in Manhattan Beach. Ironically enough, it was country night. Although we all went to school in the country, I despise country music. We decided to stick around anyway and order some shots. A few shots, a few mixed drink, and four giant jello shots later, we closed down the bar. It was probably one of my favorite nights with them.

Tuesday morning (err, afternoon) we walked over to the Redondo Beach Pier for lunch at Kinkaids before taking them to the airport. It was a perfect 'last lunch' ...we were posted up outside next to the crashing waves. After lunch, we walked home and left for LAX! I was so sad to see our friends go, but it was an extremely fun-filled trip. We did so much in just five short days! Thanks for the visit, guys! :) Until next time...

Pelican on the pier

Lunch @ Kincaids