Gray Friday. Then Blue. Then Orange.

When we got back from the beach Thanksgiving night, we had this fantastic idea that it would be a great time to run to Walmart to pick up a few things we forgot to bring with us.   The other thing we forgot was a little thing called Black Friday, which apparently now starts on Thanksgiving, and which we really didn't think about until we saw the  4 million people lined up outside the store to get in.  Black Friday California-style seems to involve mostly very short,  non-English speakers buying lots of cheap plastic crap made in China.  None of us, least of all Erwann, who really only has a vague idea of the idiocy of most Americans, were going to risk our lives in that crowd.  Some weirdo we met in the parking lot said that the Walmart down the road wasn't bad, because it was a 24 hour Walmart, so  you could get in there without waiting.  He knew this because his wife had to go buy diapers.  So, we jumped in the car and drove down the road, eleven miles down the road to be exact, only to be met with the very same scenario: crowds, crowd controllers, and lines waiting to get in.  So much for trusting men you meet in parking lots.  But it turned out to be well worth the drive, because while we were there, we saw this other guy who was dressed up as a bush, crouching down by the garden center and jumping out to scare passers by.  That was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time.

So that was our Black Friday experience.  Which led to us having a bit of a layabout in Alisa's living room on Friday morning.

See the big plant?  That's Jane.  My grandplant.  I named her.

 It was rainy outside, so we decided it would be a good day to hit up L.A. and Hollywood.

We found Audrey's place there.

And this guy.

Then we found Keanu on the walk of fame.

Hit the Chinese Theater.

And when the sun came out, we headed up to Griffith Observatory which is a very cool place, and where I could have spent all day.  It was CROWDED.  Alisa and Erwann had been there before and had the place to themselves, so my next trip, I'm going back on a non- Black Friday.

Dancin on the edge of the Hollywood sign. La La La.Whatever.

I think they look like movie stars.

This is how our L.A. day ended.  Not bad for a Black Friday that started out gray.