Errands in Orange County

Irvine, CA

The "Giant" Wheel at Irvine Spectrum Center

To Orange County!

Today we head to Orange County to run a few errands.  Our first errand is lunch at The Irvine Spectrum Center (I don't think anyone actually says the Center part).  We both have friends that live in or near Irvine so The Spectrum is a convenient place to meet for a number of reasons I will go into right now.  There is plenty of parking, it is freeway close, there are many places to eat and shop, and there is ample outdoor seating which is great for keeping out of enclosed spaces and for bringing a dog if you want (Francis stayed home).  We decided to meet Linda (Donna's Friend) at 11:30 in front of the Giant Wheel (pictured above in all of its not giantness).  It's centrally located and there is seating around the faux grass.  The Giant Wheel isn't really that giant.  We have seen the wheels in Las Vegas, London, Seattle, and California Adventure and this Giant Wheel feels not giant compared to them.  It's not much taller than the palm trees that surround it.  I looked it up online to find out how tall it actually is and they leave the height part out, instead they list that there are "52,000 energy-efficient LED lights, the Giant Wheel is capable of projecting a dazzling 16 million color schemes."  Maybe they should have called it The Bright Wheel.

Linda was there waiting for us so we said our hellos and then Donna and Linda were off.  Steve, my lunch date, had a work meeting and couldn't meet until around 12:15.  This gave me 45 minutes to walk around and take photos and it gave Donna plenty of time to have lunch, catch up, and maybe do some shopping.

The word Center is prominent

The Hello Kitty Café seemed new. 
There were a lot of men with kids taking photos. 
I didn't have a kid with me so I felt weird taking photos
so I quickly snapped a shot and moved on.

This place sold baseball hats that had nothing to do with baseball

The Spectrum wins for number of rides even if they are small

The smallest Levi's store I have seen

I have been seeing a lot of Thrasher Magazine stuff around. 
I guess I always thought it was old stock but it
appears it is still a brand and thriving.  

Either time has stood still for 30 years or things have come full circle. 
I see so many pairs of Vans on kids the same age as when I was wearing them.

I took this photo because the building looks to merging into the sky
and it reminded me of this scene from The Simpson 
and then I noticed the Blackberry logo.  

Steve arrived right on time and we ate lunch and caught up.  We talked about his recent travel, our travel plans, and former coworkers and what they are up to now.  Donna was able to do some shopping but didn't find anything she wanted enough to lug around in the van for the next year.

Running Errands

Since we were out and about with the car we figured we would check off a few things we needed to do.  One was a checklist item, Visit The House!  

We drove up I5 and cut over on CA55 to Orange.  We wanted to visit our house we rent out.  We had some painting and landscaping done and wanted to see it in person.  We drove up the block and parked and then went for a walk around the block.  We were relieved that it looked great.  We moved out in 2007 and even though we have paid for improvements over the years and pay for yard service, we still get a false feeling that we abandoned it and it has been decaying over the past 15 years.  Thankfully this isn't the case and it fits in with the rest of the block.

Creeping on our house in Orange

After being pleasantly surprised by the house we headed to Jiffy Lube (I know I spoiled this yesterday and you all are super excited to hear about our oil change) for our oil exchange.  It is in the parking lot of our former local Home Depot so we left the car and went to pick up a gift at home depot.  

A SoCal Home Depot in its natural habitat

Either we found the Star Trek plants section
or they are painting succulents now.

We found the perfect gift and went back to claim our car at Jiffy Lube.  It turns out we have developed a small oil pan leak.  We were about a half a quart low so we need to keep an eye on it. I was hoping for some Jiffy Lube drama so I could keep the blog interesting and got it!

Just incase you don't know what a Jiffy Lube looks like

The drive back to LA was pretty normal.  Traffic on I5 to LA goes like this, 70 mph, 10 mph, 60 mph, 15 mph, 75 mph, 25 mph and so on.  It keeps you on your toes.  Also, it felt weird going to Orange County and then returning to LA when we did the exact opposite our whole lives.   

We put the car back into its tiny parking spot and then made dinner and watched, "Pretend It's a City" on Netflix.  It's a great documentary series on Fran Lebowitz.  Check it out maybe.

Yesterday we rode the World's Shortest Railway.  See it here.