Tijuana wasn't as happening Thanksgiving night as they hoped, but that didn't stop Amber from riding the bull. She went down after about 2 split seconds and tried again but cheated using two hands.

Turkey Day and they left me with the stupid cat and went to Tijuana! This was their Mexican Fiesta Thanskgiving Dinner!

Wednesday night they went out to a L.A. bar and left me at home. I hear they had fun but Ericka got really sick. If I haven't mentioned Amber is CAT SITTING! If anyone doesn't already know... Ericka is HYSTERICALLY allergic to cats. However Amber said the girl who owns the cat is allergic too, and the cat is hypoallergenic (hypoallergenic cat...yah right) Well Ericka has been doped up on her inhaler and allergy pills and was still wheezing like crazy. So after all her medications and only three drinks, she had to go sit in the car because her head was spinning. I hear she missed George Clooney and Will from Will and Grace amongst a few others. (which normally she would care less about... but Amber said George Clooney looked even better in person) So Thursday morning luckily one of Roupen's cousins they went out with (Harak), who is a doctor called in a prescription for Prednisone. So we got out of a trip to the E.R.

We went to go visit Roupen's cousins and their very friendly guard dog at their car lot.

We arrived Sunday after the long scenic tour down Highway 1. Twelve hours instead of 5 or 6! Here is Amber's building.

This was a stop along Hwy 1. They wouldn't let me out of the car to look up close because I was barking...but they started it!

A lttle bird watching...LeRoy thinks the one flying is one of about ten condors left in the world! (It had a redish head)

Made a stop for $4.00 a gallon gas in Big Sur, on the way to L.A.

Help feed Ernie...Every time you visit his site PLEASE click on the Google ad above. You don't have to read it, you won't get any junk mail etc...But each time someone clicks on it Ernie receives like 1/10th a penny or something stupid like that. Won't you help Ernie with his Surf lessons this summer?

Now I'm a Vato!

11/20 Sunday morning...Well the hotel bed isn't bad but this town is kinda sketchy. We left our new home last night and an hour after leaving a gas station LeRoy realized he left his credit card there. We had to drive all the way back and got lost.
THEN after getting back on the road, LeRoy realized while in the middle of no where... that he lost his phone!!! We finally got to our hotel in Monteray Bay (the almost half marker to L.A.) at 11 p.m. (still haven't found the phone)
Then we drove around looking for a place to eat and realized we were in Salinas not Monteray. Instead of it being a sunny "surf town" this is more like "Vato Ville". Now we are heading to L.A. hopefully our luck gets better.

As if all this wasn't scary enough now I learn that we are going back on the road!!! (people are dying one block from our new home... read sign) We are leaving for L.A. to visit Amber for Thanksgiving and her birthday while they are rehabbing our new apartment.

Man they've lost they're minds...they're out shopping for surf boards!

Boy LeRoy and Ericka are in heaven now!!!! We took a walk around our new neighborhood and guess what we found a block from our apartment? A Russian grocery store! It's like we never left home. (except those Russians are much crankier than Ukrainians) Look at the case of cakes and all those cases with different kinds of sausage! (lucky me, they're pretty messy eaters and are always dropping stuff...yum)

Of course I'm going to miss that crazy Hollywood and his nutty dad Lindsay (Ericka loves this pic because it's the last time LeRoy was in a suit AND he's holding his brother Lindsay's hand and they're being nice to each other!), big ol' Blue, Ekko and Ethan (Ericka loves this old pic of Ethan)

Well they signed the lease! I know as long as I have my squeeky shoe I'm at home but now I'm realizing I'm really going to miss...
Lindsay, Carlotta (Gabi & Kris when they visit Chicago), Arek and Rozanna, and even their dumb cats! Oh and most of all...LESLEY!

LeRoy takes a walk along the Pacific to decide wether we want to take the apartment we found in outer Richmond. We are about a block from the ocean and people surf out here year round. It's kinda like living in Rogers Park if Rogers Park were safe and filled with laid back surfers. I hate the water but Iove running along the sand meeting all the neighborhood dogs. I think I'd love it here!

Today Ericka and LeRoy left me at the hotel and went driving around San Francisco. They ended up at a lovely Pub and noticed their beautiful collection of artwork...

What the hell? This is China Town, that cat should be on a plate!

Ericka says...as long as she knows where Prada and Neiman's are, she'll never be lost. The other place is a fabulous boutique she found in Haight Ashbury she loved. She can't seem to understand why with such great inexpensive boutiques the girls in San Fran don't seem to have any fashion sense. She only likes the few punk kids and hippy chicks she sees occasionally. Otherwise everyone (except the bums) are pretty conservative.

We finally found a place downtown on Jones St. that was very cute. The Halcyon Hotel has only weekly rates and allows dogs. The guy that showed us the apartment was extremely helpful and nice as can be. He has a brown bull dog who's really spastic. But I don’t mind, the poor guy was rescued from the pound. I can't even imagine...in my twelve years, I've never even seen what a cage looks like! We love our little room, it has a kitchen and claw foot tub. LeRoy and I really like it, Ericka says it's a bit “Sid and Nancy", but she doesn't mind.

We stayed two nights in cheasy motels before we found a place with weekly rates that took dogs. The only places that allowed dogs were really expencive places like the Four Season’s. Which would be fine if we were on vacation but we were trying to be frugal because this whole move was not going to be cheap. Ericka had to smuggle me in these motels in a blanket craddling me like I was a baby rocking me back and forth. However we especially liked the “Capri Motel”. Here you will see the lovely bronze art on our wall. Ericka was especially impressed by the 2”x4” personal hygene trash bags. There was also a paper napkin that read “this is to wipe your shoes”. Class all the way!

Some buildings Ericka liked in the Haight

Is that a SHARK ?????? Oh wow it's a surfer...in November!?

RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!
SHARK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was outside a San Francisco pizza joint.

They took the BART today and were all excited because the train stop was covered with Apple ads.