Driving Miss Maria

Driving in Los Angeles is an experience all in it's own. (yes, again we back track to my trip to LA) For anyone who has not yet been privileged enough to "cruise" down the 405, let me give you a small piece of advice....Save yourself. Screw Nike- Just Don't Do it!! This roadway of sheer insanity is home to endless hours of traffic (there's no such thing as rush hour- it's busy ALL the time!), pretty people driving expensive cars, and it ultimately leaves you feeling ugly, poor, fat, and of course....late.

I myself try to be timely. So when the first day of my conference arrived, I had planned on being early so that I could orient myself to the hotel (and the Starbucks inside) register, and socialize. Events began at 8am, so I planned on arriving around 7:45. According to my bro who lives in LA, the 18mile trip should take approximately 40minutes...without traffic. Naive me, I have plans to leave at 7. Surely traffic couldn't be THAT bad. Oh, but wait...I forgot to account for one small thing....you know we are in California, so why wouldn't there be...ohhh say a....wildfire? Yes, that's right. There was a giant, blazing, traffic-causing, detour-making, 405-closing wildfire. Of Course. Now I know I'm going to be late. I panic and start demanding Kevin do something. (sometimes I wonder how he can stay married to me) All I can see is all of the money I have spent getting to this conference and now I will spend it sitting on Sepulveda Blvd. Good God save me now! So thankfully we had Nuvi (our faithful GPS) who helped us to take back roads (with the 30,000 other people) all the way to the Hyatt. How long did this joyous excursion take? 2 and 1/2 hours my friends....and poor poor Kevin had to turn around and drive back to Jay's after dropping me off. He is such a wonderful husband and I love him so much (despite the fact that he's friends with his ex-girlfriend on Facebook...grrrr).

Unfortunately, I did not have my camera on me at the time, but I did manage to take a few pics of the fire remnants from the car on the way home. BAsically, all of the trees that have no leaves were the ones on fire.