we live on the East Coast as well and it is indeed a different driving experience, actually we leave it to others and sit back and enjoy the ride(s). Glad you brought home a win, too bad they sell out to other teams at times, but that's the way that goes. We stayed in El Segundo on our last trip and just hung at the beaches...Stayed downtown when we went to the Coliseum, had a great time on both trips....You gotta stay at least a week if coming from the East Coast to get a flavor of what's going on, glad you did that.
