California/Las Vegas Trip - Day 1 (Flight, Malibu/Point Dume Beach, Sushi Dan)

So the day started out right with a free upgrade to First Class on Continental. Way to go, Elite Access! I got up at 4am to head out by 4:45 and head to Cleveland. Now, you're probably saying, "Why would you fly out of Cleveland when there are five airports closer?" Well, Cleveland offered a directly flight to LAX for cheap on Continental. For an extra hour of driving, I get to skip out on flying out of my way and sitting for an extra 2-4 hours. Sweet!


Well, after a 4.5 hour flight in seat 3E (aisle) reading a book (Brush With the Law), listening to the iPod and watching "Fracture", I end up in LAX on-time. After grabbing my bag (5th to come out -- thanks again, Elite Access!), I caught the Flyaway Shuttle to Van Nuys so Rob could pick me up.

After a quick change in the bathroom, we headed to the company party for Rob's brother, Doug, in Malibu. It was your typical company party with food, drinks, egg games and a DJ. We stayed for a couple hours and then made our way down to Point Dume Beach in Malibu. We hiked around the sharp beach rocks to a hidden cove and then up a scenic trail to several lookout points that gave a great vista to LA and surrounding area.





We headed back to the apartment and chilled out for awhile, did some grocery shopping at Trader Joe's and snacked. Tim B came over from USC and we all headed out to Sushi Dan on Ventura Blvd in Studio City for my first venture into that culinary world. I'll say that the cold fish and seaweed wasn't my favorite, but I'd probably eat it again if someone wanted to have it. We also had some Saki and stayed at the restaurant until 1030p or so. Good times.