KirstenL4W

On Monday, Boyfriend and I headed to LA to have lunch.  I know what you’re saying - there are plenty of really decent places here in Vegas to eat, but there was more.  Boyfriend wanted to meet some Silly Little Game friends.  Since LA is a 4-5 hour drive from Vegas (depending on traffic and where in LA you are going), it is on the lower end of reasonable for a day trip.  Heck, I go to LA just to shop at IKEA since they still won’t believe that Vegas is a viable market.  But I digress.  The topic here is lunch with friends.

The friends chose the Monte Carlo Deli in Burbank as the place to meet.  Just hearing that it was an Italian deli had me excited.  I’m from the east coast, and while the deli as a popular lunch spot is more of a New York thing, I just wanted a little individuality, which Vegas is sorely lacking.  There were some tough choices to be made, but I ended up with a bit of a lighter dish - the tuna salad with sides of green salad and pasta salad.  I just didn’t want anything heavy since we were spending a lot of time in the car.

We met the SLG friends outside and all went in together.  One of them is from MA, so we had fun whipping out our Boston accents, much to the amusement of Boyfriend.  I just don’t understand what it is about the Boston accent that turns ordinary speech into a circus act.  But hey, it keeps Boyfriend laughing, and his happiness is important to me, so I just roll with it.  Anyway, we all ate lunch, chatted, chatted some more, had some gelato, and chatted some more before the time dictated that Boyfriend and I get back on the road.  There’s a store in Fullerton that we wanted to get to before they closed, and then get home so that I could get at least a few hours sleep before work in the morning.

I was noticing a few things on the way home.  Barstow is about halfway between Vegas and LA, and provides a really good area to stop in - there are truck stops, outlet stores, and even some people that live there.  On the way back to Vegas I noticed a sign that said “California Welcome Center Next Stop.”  What I didn’t really understand is that Barstow is really the last real town before you hit Vegas, so why oh why would there be a Welcome Center for a state that most people, when passing that sign, are on their way out of the state?  Californians are weird.

There is a town rest stop about halfway between Barstow and Vegas called Baker.  Baker has a few tiny motels, convenience stores, and fast food places.   Baker is the home of the world’s tallest thermometer, which is a pretty neat feature - you can see exactly how hot it is in the Mojave desert when you’re on your way to Vegas or Death Valley.  My mom, when I told her about this, just had to ask, “Is it a rectal thermometer?”  Silly Mommy.  But we did stop in Baker for a reason, and that was Greek food.  Boyfriend is of Greek ancestry, and has gotten me to like a bit of it.  So The Mad Greek was the last destination of our trip.  We both got gyros with yummy rice pilaf and some baklava to go, all of which was yummy.

We rolled back into town around midnight, so I had to get to bed right away.  It was a great day - we got to get out of town, meet some friends, and eat excellent food.  Can’t get much better than that.

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