Happy Labor Day!

So it is Labor Day, and I don't really have a whole lot planned, which makes me sad. What I *really* want to do is go home, but it's an awfully long drive to do twice in three days. So here I am in LA, and it's uncomfortably hot, and I really wish I had something to do this weekend. Oh sure, I have three separate barbecues to go to, which is really more than anyone could want in a single weekend, but I want to do something INTERESTING, not just drink beer around a grill in someone's backyard. Those will be fun, but... I crave something more! Like Belle said in Beauty and the Beast, "I want adventure in the great white somewhere/ I want it more than I can tell/ and for once it might be grand, to have someone understand/ I want so much more than they've got planned."

I want to go to San Diego, first of all, because I've never been there and people say I should. It looks awfully pretty in pictures, plus they have the awesome zoo. I also want to go to Death Valley, although I would be crazy to go there in the summer. And there are a bunch of random ghost towns and national parks I would like to check out, but other than that... I have no ideas.

SO! I need help from the two or three people who read this thing who know Southern California. I have a bit more time for breathing this year at school, which will hopefully translate into time for doing some interesting things on the weekends. (Weekends! How unprecedented!) Let me know if you have any places I absolutely must visit, whether they be of geographical, picturesque, historical, quirky, ghostly, or any other kind of interest. I know next to nothing about Southern California, a fact I am reminded of every time someone says "what should we do?" and the only cool place I know how to get to is the beach. Let's face it: I have to live here for awhile at least, so I might as well make the best of it. Right?

Strangely optimistic for me, I know, but let's see where it leads. Send me ideas!!

cam