California: Sinister or Sweet?

As I mentioned, The beginning of October was a bit fuzzy as I enjoyed a nice, extra long weekend in SoCal.

Let's review the California trip "Spooky Style"!

Sweet! It's the 40th Anniversary of Hot Wheels®! The husband collects these little toy cars and boy is it a fun hobby! The main focus for him are the 'redlines' from his youth. These would be the ones with the red circles on the tires, just like the white walls on a real size car. The castings date primarily from 1967 through 1977. The cars themselves were introduced in time for Christmas in 1968. He collects them, but also buys and trades them. He even has his own website at ToyBuyer.com. Stop by and visit him! There are some fun snaps of his collection, as well as some of his other favorite toys. The sweetest part of the Convention though, is seeing all the folks we've met through the hobby that we now call friends. Edwina was there! It was great to see her man John, and our pals Jeff, and Bob, and Ed, and Drew, and Bill, and Craig, and I'm stopping here before I sound anymore like Miss Sue from Romper Room! We love you all and it was wonderful to see you! Sinister. Do not stay at the LAX Hilton. It looks pretty, but the majority of the front of house staff were rude and didn't grasp the concept of customer service. [Back of house staff rock though. Housekeeping, bell desk, valet - you guys definitely deserved your tips and thanks for everything!] Not to mention many items in the room were not working properly (unimportant ones like the phone, toilet, air conditioning). And the food was mostly kinda yucky. Oh! and the Hilton internet monopoly charged $12.95 per 24 hour period! Ow! And only fake Starbucks in the lobby bistro. Sweet! Our room looked out onto one of the four open air patios. One morning a hummingbird was drinking from this flower! Too quick for me and my put away camera though. Sigh. Sinister. Okay, while I will admit that In-N-Out Burger rocks and all... The Double-Double has 670 calories and 41 grams of fat! I'm not looking at the listing for the fries, can't take it. Sinister for sure. But many sinister things are so delightful! Sweet! More beauty to behold! Sweet! Oh great day in the morning! If you live near Manhattan Beach and have not yet eaten at The Union Cattle Company, go there now. Stop reading my post. I understand. Get the Medallions Ardon. And then get the S'mores Platter for dessert and tell me how it was. I was too stuffed to try it! But, for pities sake it comes with it's own campfire! Sinister. I offered to ride the bull but no one could come up with my price! And it really wasn't that high either, I'd have gone for a collective Franklin! Sweet! A 1:1 scale model of one of the toys! The Twin Mill® was the first life-size car created based on a Hot Wheels® design. Conceived in 1968 by Ira Gilford, the twin super sized big-block engines became the vehicle's most recognizable feature and contribute to its high-performance appearance. Sinister. The snap below details the carnage that is the aftermath of the "Blister Pack Liberation Army." These boys get together and rip open cars still in their original packages. Just to be clear, these are not the blue card ones you can get today down at WalMart for seventy-nine cents, but rather the ones from 40 years ago which are now potentially insured and valued at much more! Kind of like driving a new car off the showroom floor, the value just dropped significantly on these beauties! But it sure can be fun to let them free and spin their little back wheels. I'll admit it, I've done it myself! Sweet! I'd not had a Carls Junior Chocolate shake before. Um, Yummy! Just what a girl needs to nourish herself while blogging! Not gonna look up the calories and fat on this one. Nope. Not. Gonna. Do. It. Sweet! Lots of other cool cars were shown off as well. Sinister. Now folks can spend how ever much they want, on what ever they want... But one of the collectors who bought two of these little toy pink rear loader beach bombs for on average excess of $50,000, sold one of them and we suspect made a profit... More power to the both of them! Read more about one of the collectors here. I also borrowed the photo from there, thanks! It's only sinister because I'm jealous I can't find one for the husband! Sweet! Need I say anything? Let the picture speak. Can you here it singing "Come on and turn it on, wind it up, blow it out, GTO!" Sinister. The husband brought many well priced cars to sell, but our rooms position on the floor made it very difficult for anyone to find us so the piggy bank savings toward the 1967 Cougar XR-7 for the drive way is still a little low. See the little Twin Mill in the second row from the top? Just like the life size one in the lobby! (note the Creepy Crawlers accenting the display - all hand made by the husband with his original 1960's era Mattel® Thing Maker® Set! I'm seeing another post dedicated to this topic!)

Collector? See a car you like? Email me! Sweet! Even thought the hotel was sorely lacking in quality service, it had lots of quality art scattered about! Sweet! More lovely flowers... So... officially more sweet than sinister!