California - Day 1

I survived my flight to California. I took an Ambien soon after takeoff and I fell asleep for about an hour. I suppose it’s really impossible to sleep well on a plane. My first stop on this trip is Beverly Hills, where I am staying at the Beverly Hilton, the location of day 1 of conferences. I didn’t have much time to enjoy the place since I checked in well after midnight and had to check out later in the day.

I was able to get a 6 mile run in along the streets of Beverly Hills in the morning. It was a bit of a stop and go, since I didn’t have much of a contiguous place to run. There was sort of a trail along Santa Monica Blvd, which ended near Sunset Blvd. I then followed that road to some place called Gray Stone Park. However, at many of the intersections I had to wait for the pedestrian crossing sign to turn green. I didn’t want to risk “jay-walking” as the California Police are quite adamant about enforcing this regulation. As a New Yorker, I feel it is my god given right to jaywalk. Heck it’s a sport. In Los Angeles though, I didn’t want to take a chance. I once got a ticket for jaywalking while I was here many years ago which I never paid. Technically I am a fugitive from the law. I didn’t feel like spending a day in jail.

While running through Beverly Hills I saw many of the famous Down and Out. I guess the weather is more conducive to just live among the rich and famous. I would have snapped a picture of a few of them, but I felt it tacky to stop and do something like that right in their faces. I did stop and get a picture of me near a Beverly Hills sign.

My plan for later in the day was to arrive at my second destination, La Jolla, by mid afternoon. I wanted to get in an ocean swim at Cove Beach. I didn’t arrive until after 5pm and by then the lifeguards had left for the day. I questioned the wisdom of swimming out into the Pacific at dusk on a beach I was unfamiliar when no one was present, so I elected to swim in the hotel pool instead. It was a lovely 25 meters and I swam a total of 4000. Tomorrow I must make sure I get to the beach.