State No. 23 - California

I took the flyaway bus from LAX to the Van Nuys Flyaway bus terminal.  As I neared the terminal, I saw the price of gas in the $4 range for mid-grade & super.  Considering I'm used to the prices of gas being somewhere under $3 here in NJ, I'm glad I did not rent a car in California.  I am also glad I did not rent a car in California as there seemed to be traffic clogging I-405 frequently, even after 10am on the Friday morning!

One of the things that amused me on this trip was the stunning lack of LA sports team memorabilia actively worn by people.  Granted, the Chargers & the Rams are only back in LA within the last year or two, but I only saw one Lakers hat (at Eggslut Venice), one Dodgers hat, & no Clippers gear whatsoever!  By contrast, I saw at least 5 Packers gear (hat &/or jacket), three Celtics fans (The Local Peasant - Sherman Oaks), one 49ers fan (The Local Peasant - Sherman Oaks), two Titans hats, & one Trail Blazers hat.  I also saw a Falcons fan & a Patriots fan at Mel's Diner.

I went to Valley CrossFit on Friday morning.  Coach William was pretty good at introducing me to the class, pointing out where things are, & other introductory stuff.  Coach Kris (IG @cleverhandz) taught our 7 am class.  She explained everything that we did, from our warmup on the assault bike to the Lions & Lambs sprint work to the Muscle Ups & Progressions & even a little bit about trying new sports - she encouraged us to play basketball if we had time after class.  She also had a way of inspiring us as she explained things, & she gave pointers & tips through the workout as necessary.  After class, Coach William cleared the space & a few of us played several games of Knockout.  This was a really fun CrossFit visit & I recommend dropping in here if you can.

Area for Playing Basketball

For more pictures from Valley CrossFit, please check my Instagram post for the Valley CrossFit Drop-In.

I went to Eggslut Venice off the recommendation of a family member.  I thought it was overrated & wasn't worth the trip, though I was amused that it was popular enough for them to have a line outside the door.

Now, in planning this trip, I was delighted to find out that the end of US Route 66 is actually close to Los Angeles.  You may well remember that I visited the beginning of US Route 66 in Chicago back in 2015.  The End of US Route 66 is in Santa Monica.  The driving portion of US Route 66 ends at Lincoln Boulevard & Olympic Boulevard where you can see Mel's Drive-In Diner.  But, on the Santa Monica Pier, there is a signpost that says

I explored the Santa Monica Pier & found at least three shops that reference the end of US Route 66.  I may have gone a bit crazy, but I bought shirts for my immediate family & myself.

I saw the menu item for a Route 66 Concrete dessert, & I had to get it!

The Route 66 Concrete Frozen Custard Dessert

By the way, you can get this custard at PierBurger.

I did walk over to the driving end of US Route 66, which is only 1.1 miles to the northeast.  I took note of Mel's Drive-In Diner as a future eating spot, & then I ordered a Lyft to the La Brea Tar Pits.  The La Brea Tar Pits visit was very interesting.  It was fun to learn about the different animals that would get trapped, then the other animals trying to eat the trapped animals getting trapped themselves.

Statistical Figure of animals found at Pit 91.

Pit 13

I ran into a bit of an issue after the La Brea Tar Pits.  You see, I had left my phone location on because I was using it for Lyft & forgot to turn it off.  By the time I was done, my phone was only 28% - & I still had to go to dinner & back to the hotel!  I walked to the first phone store I could see, bought a battery pack that said it was fully charged.  Being that I have the best luck when traveling, it ran out just after I turned the corner.  I walked back to the store, & they said that they would charge it for 15 minutes.  So I sat & waited for that time, while simultaneously resting my feet after 8.91 miles of walking to that point.

After that, I walked to a restaurant that I thought would be a good spot to eat dinner, but the restaurant was closed due to an interior utility problem.  So, I decided to take a lyft back to the hotel, & eat dinner near there.

The driver was nice enough to charge my phone on the hour drive back.  (Yes, Los Angeles has traffic just about all the time it seems.)  I had started coughing before I entered the Lyft, & my driver explained that the air in Los Angeles was particularly foul that week.  I later learned that the fires up north may have had something to do with it.

I ended up eating at Costa Grande, a restaurant about 1.3 miles east of the chess playing hotel.  As I wrote about on my yelp review page, it was a very good place & I am glad I took the time to find it.

The rest of the weekend in Los Angeles was mainly spent eating at a few different places in between chess rounds.  Mel's Drive-In: Santa Monica was very good, In-N-Out Burger was not, & Dough Girl was divine.  I talked about the first & last of these three places on my yelp page.

By the way, walking around Los Angeles was more dangerous than I thought.  There is no space between the stop line & the crosswalk, the drivers here are even worse about not respecting pedestrians in crosswalks as compared to here in New Jersey, & the yellow painted crosswalks do nothing to help that problem.

I got off to a slow start, losing & drawing (where I might have been able to win the drawn game earlier), before charging back to a 3.0/5 round score.  It wasn't enough to win money, but at least I played better after Round 3 started.

[Event "LA Open"] [Site "Los Angeles"] [Date "2018.11.03"] [Round "2"] [White "Oldham, David"] [Black "Chen, Kevin E."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C01"] [WhiteElo "1967"] [BlackElo "1961"] [Annotator "Chen,Kevin E."] [PlyCount "96"] [EventDate "2018.11.03"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "5"] [EventCountry "USA"] [SourceVersionDate "2018.02.10"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Be7 7. c4 O-O 8. Nc3 Nxc3 9. bxc3 dxc4 10. Bxc4 c6 11. h3 Bf5 12. O-O Nd7 13. Re1 Nb6 14. Bb3 Qc7 15. Ne5 Bd6 16. Qf3 Bg6 17. Nxg6 hxg6 {In this position, it is best for White to take advantage of the f-pawn being pinned.} 18. c4 $6 (18. Bg5) (18. Qg4) 18... Rae8 19. Bg5 c5 20. d5 {closes the diagonal for White's light Bishop.} ( 20. dxc5 Bxc5 21. Bf4 {allows White to use h2 as an escape square for his King. }) 20... Qd7 21. Re3 Rxe3 22. fxe3 $6 (22. Qxe3 Re8) (22. Bxe3) 22... Re8 23. Rf1 Be5 24. Bf4 f6 {with the Light Bishop blocked, I have no qualms about this move.} 25. e4 $6 Nc8 26. Qd1 Bxf4 27. Rxf4 Re5 28. Ba4 Qe7 29. Qg4 Nd6 30. Bd7 $6 {[#] I knew this move was wrong, but I didn't know how to exploit it as I was in time trouble & missed an interference shot.} g5 $6 ({Fritz 11 SE:} 30... f5 31. exf5 (31. Be6+ Rxe6 {is even worse for White}) 31... Qxd7 32. Qxg6 Rxf5 33. Rxf5 Nxf5 34. Qh5 Nd6 35. Qh4 b6 36. Kh2 Qf5 37. Qd8+ Qf8 38. Qh4 Qf6 39. Qxf6 gxf6 40. Kg3 Nxc4 41. Kf4 Kf7 42. h4 Ke7 {-2.92/26}) 31. Rf1 Rxe4 ({ Fritz 11 SE:} 31... g6 32. Be6+ Kg7 33. Rc1 Rxe4 34. Qg3 b6 35. a4 Nxc4 36. Qb8 f5 37. Rf1 Qf6 38. Qxa7+ Kh6 39. Kh1 g4 40. hxg4 Rxg4 41. Rf3 Qa1+ 42. Kh2 Qe5+ {-1.69/19}) 32. Be6+ Kf8 33. Qxg5 b6 34. Qg6 Rxe6 {time pressure issue} 35. dxe6 Qxe6 {I really just wanted to create some play with the Knight & Queen vs. the King} 36. Qg3 Nxc4 37. Qb8+ Kf7 38. Qxa7+ Kg6 39. Qa4 Qe3+ 40. Kh1 Nd2 41. Qg4+ Kf7 42. Rd1 Kg8 43. Qd7 Ne4 {[#]} 44. Qe6+ $2 ({Fritz 11 SE:} 44. Qd5+ Kh7 45. Qh5+ {wins instantly with either Rd8# or White playing a Rook vs. Knight ending.}) 44... Kh7 45. Qf5+ Kh6 $1 46. Kh2 {all other moves to avoid the repetition of position lose to a knight fork!} (46. g4 Ng3+) (46. Qd7 Nf2+) ( 46. Qf3 Qxf3 47. gxf3 Nf2+ 48. Kg2 Nxd1) 46... Qg3+ 47. Kg1 (47. Kh1 Nf2+ 48. Kg1 Nxd1) 47... Qe3+ 48. Kh2 (48. Kf1 Ng3#) 48... Qg3+ 1/2-1/2

I forgot to mention in the post-analysis that the ...g6 move was purely to avoid setting my king & f-pawn up in a pin.

I'm glad I talked to the concierge about the flyaway bus after the tournament, as that allowed me to sleep an extra half hour to take the 3:30am bus.  I wasn't happy about Denver announcing that the return flight to EWR has been delayed due to air traffic control, but there wasn't much I could do.  The delay was 2:30, but I still got back in time to do some stuff.

And that concludes State No. 23