LA Days 3 and 4

Day 3- Tuesday, February 8

We spent most of the day relaxing and getting adjusted. We went swimming at our grandparent’s swimming pool, went to a few stores, and tried to get used to the heat.

Day 4- Wednesday, February 9

We got up early this morning to go with my grandpa to the train station. My grandpa is a train fanatic (known as a railfan), and goes to the train station every morning just to watch the trains arrive and depart, and notice the people getting off. He has a group of friends there that share his love for trains, and they all drink coffee and talk about developments or train technology, or just the news.

Of course, since I had my camera I had to take a video of each train arriving and departing. The video is below.

We ate breakfast in the dining room of my grandparent’s retirement community. After this, we went to a new TV room to play on a Wii. Since the closest thing to a video game in my house is computer solitaire, this was a new experiment for all of us. We had fun trying to learn how to use the controller, but I wasn’t particularly attracted other than that. For me, it just seemed like a novelty. If I really wanted to play baseball, I would play baseball, not virtual baseball. I suppose that this is slightly better than hand controller video games, because at least you get a smidgen of exercise. Still, I would prefer to be outside in the sun while I am exercising.

After lunch, my dad, sister, and I drove to REI, a 20 minute drive away. We needed to get sleeping pads for all of us and a new backpack for my sister. We looked at backpacks first. The best pack, which was a normal style pack, but with smaller measurements, cost $130 dollars. Of course this was my sister’s favorite, but we ended up getting a smaller, cheaper back instead. Because of this, she was mad and pouty for the rest of the trip, that is, until we went to the toy store next door. I got a nice lightweight sleeping pad that rolls up to be the size of a liter water bottle. It was amazingly cheap, so I hope that it will last. I will have to try it out tonight and see if I can sleep on it.

After the toy store, we went to a natural foods store, where I got some Gluten-Free baking mixes, cookies, muffins, and bread. I am looking forward to pancakes in the morning.