Sunday, August 10, 2014

Culver City

On Saturday, we stopped by Fry's in Burbank, an electronic superstore chain with a lot more variety than a Best Buy and aimed more at the hobbyist. Every store seems to have some sort of theme and here it seemed to be UFOs. They had things little scenes set up all over the store following this theme. I managed to escape without buying a single item! (though I was tempted by some of the Arduino pieces)

Afterwards, we drove down to Culver City to visit my cousin and his family and we ended up having a mini-reunion on the other side of the family. Another one of my cousins was visiting from Japan with two of her kids. Kind of odd to say kids when all were over 21. We had stayed with her and her husband last year in Tokyo.

This is a snapshot of another rendition of the MGM lion. We were just a little ways from Culver City Studio and MGM. The old hotel in the background was where most of the munchkins stayed during the filming of the Wizard of Oz (so I'm told). We did a little bit of geocaching in the area. But the best part was visiting with family.

Today, we are heading back to Alaska. Sitting in the Seattle airport with a ten-hour layover.…

 

12 comments:

  1. Looks like you are having a great vacation!

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    1. Yep, all done now and it's a relief to get back to reasonable weather and traffic (and behavior!).

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  2. The Fry's in San Marcos is Atlantis themed. I wish they had them all over the country because I've needed them more than times than one during our travels. Glad to know you made it to SoCal, even though I didn't get to meet you.

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    1. That must be the one with the floor to ceiling salt water aquariums. I couldn't remember where that one was but San Marcos makes sense now. I have and aunt and cousin just about a mile away.

      It would have been great to meet you folks. Maybe sometime...

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  3. Richard somehow I feel you will be relieved to leave the heat behind. Thanks for sharing your trip. I've never seen a Fry's, probably just as well but congratulations for walking out empty handed, I know at least one other person who would not have been able to do that.

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    1. Very relieved to get away from Southern California. Fry's is where I used to go to get electronic parts and components since the mid-70s. The idea of an electronics superstore was still new at the time.

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  4. Richard:

    I am learning how to pass by electronic stores unless I really need something. I think I am nearly cured. I have never been to a Fry's. I think there is one in Seattle area but hard to find. I saw some of those Arduino pieces and I was tempted to buy one, but which one ? I can even pass by camera stores. Amazing huh ?

    I think you're relieved that you are going back to a cooler place

    bob: riding the wet coast

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    1. You have to go in, look around and come out empty handed to know that you are cured. In the past, I've gone there for video boards, computer cases, motherboards, drives, memory, accessories. It was one of those regular stops whenever we were near civilization. Prices were much better even with the tax than anything in Alaska. This was all pre-Amazon Prime...

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  5. I didn't realize the Frys had themes. There is one in Wilsonville, but we've only been in there once about 8 years ago for a TV.

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    1. I don't know if all of the stores have themes. But overall, the store felt like it has gone downhill compared the back when it was sort of the only game in town.

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  6. that "theme" thing with Frys must be a relatively new thing....of course, the last time I was in one was over a decade ago....nice stores...full of tempting stuff.

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    1. In the 1990s, I went to the San Jose store multiple times and there was no evidence of a theme. In 2001, I went to the San Marcos store and there were aquariums everywhere. An Atlantis theme. So I don't know when they started or even if all of the stores participated.

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