So, I did not get much sleep last night. I kept having nightmares about lost laptops and close friends hating me... The room I was in was outside of the hall way and right next to an entry door so everytime someone came into the building I could hear it all. I got a new room tonight so all should be well.
Unfortunately after I finished yesterdays post, my laptop took a dump. I set it down and it just shut off. It will not respond to anything, I took the battery out and back in, bought a new power cord today and it still is dead to the world. Umm this kinda really sucks because I have to create syllabus soon for Fall. It is a good thing I have an external HD at home with most of my stuff but all of the pics from this trip are locked inside that turkey. I am gonna have to take it in when I get back.
Today was pretty cool. I started off in route to LA. My first stop of the morning was Venice Beach. I had to do it, just walk around and check out the skatepark, the graffiti, the beach gym thing, all that good stuff. I did the tourist thing for a bit and then headed out to Santa Monica. I drove around the town also, checked out the beach and noticed that things were pretty different from the Dog Town days...
I got to the cove around 10:30-11am. There were only a few people so I got a lot of runs. I did not have to pay either! They had some problem with the office being closed or whatever so I got pretty lucky. When the park first opened, they were charging $30 to skate! Now it is $16 so it is not cheap. I only rode this park for an hour. It was already hot and I had two more to go. But I got lines pretty fast and got to the point where I was grinding and starting to try stuff. I decided that it would be better to move on before I ended my day with a nasty slam.
The kidney is huge and fast! There were sections of coping that were missing or just sheered off? I really like the tile, each piece is round rather than square tile. My only caution is the slick surface. It looks like they sealed the concrete in this bowl for some reason and it is more slippery than the combi. I had to really be light footed in this one and the minute you push hard on a diagonal line, your wheels break loose and it is all over...
I moved on to the bowl with the oververt and this one is pretty fun!! I am usually not into bowls with flat walls but this has a good combination of both. Sections of it run up hill or down so you need to choose your line carefully. In some places, you have enough speed for anything and in others you have to really scratch for momentum. I had a good time here and the place is very well maintained.
My next stop was Culver City which was only like 10 minutes away and found it very quickly. The helmet law was obviously not being enforced at this park. There were zero elbow pads and knee pads, etc. I got to take my first padless run in days. However, you kinda want to pad up a bit for this bowl. It is an oversized clover that has a lot of flat. It is rad bowl but just a bit big and open for my tastes. I took a few runs and realized why my buddy got injured the first day he came out here.
The bowl was not slick at all and the coping was grinding like butter. Most of the coping out here is very well taken care of. It seems that the California parks are much cleaner and bigger than any others I have skated. I just wasn't into riding this one a whole lot so I moved on to the next stop.
I arrived at Glendale around 3pm and was pretty into this one. Ben Schroder designed it and it shows. This park is pretty gnar! I spend most of my time in the kidney with oververt!! It is a bizarre shape, and the bean shape is really tweaked so you get some great carve lines in there. There are pad nannys at this park and I was getting totally over heated. I skated there for like 2 hours and I eventually removed my elbow pads with much releif from the heat. I rode for quite a while more up until the guy in the hut kindly suggested that I put them back on. I guess at this park, you can wear a long sleeve shirt, or elbow pads? I noticed that all the other skaters had long sleeve shirts on? strange but true.
I was about done anyway - I am not into defying laws but it does kinda wear on you. The whole pad law is annoying. I know they are trying to minimize head injuries which is good. I respect that law though and will continue to follow. It is important and I understand the risks involved but when I start to get heat stroke then I have to start removing the cause...
Anyway, I got back and my laptop was still dead so I am screwed there. Wendy was nice enough to let me borrow hers for the next couple days so I can update this blog. Thanks so much Wendy!! I am gonna take it easy tomorrow, probably do one park and then just go to the beach, maybe do some more skimming.
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