I HATE LA (TRAFFIC)

Earlier this week we took a four day road trip to Southern California. I figured it was a little over 80 hours total & I swear we spent at least 20 of those hours sitting in traffic! For as long as I can remember the traffic in Los Angeles has been horrendous. If you think it is bad in Sacramento, it is a piece of cake compared to SoCal. Even the Bay Area can't hold a candle to having constant gridlock on six, eight or ten freeways in the southland at any given time.

My first recollection of LA traffic was back when I was a kid & my family drove to Disneyland. Even then, it was the classic kid's whine, "Are we there yet?" Twenty-five years later my son improved on the traditional line of frustrated kids who have spent hours in the car when he huffed & sighed saying, "Why don't we just stop driving around & go there?"

Back about 48 years ago I married a man who was from Southern California & still had family residing around the Los Angeles area. We made monthly trips down south leaving after work on Fridays & returning Sunday afternoons. After years of doing this, I really learned to hate LA, which wasn't hard. The main factor was the traffic - I won't go into some of the other reasons - you can use your imagination. Not to mention that being a life long Bay Area sports fan, hating the Dodgers & the Lakers & the Rams is just in your DNA.

Lou has taken a few trips to LA by himself to visit things that didn't interest me. After his last one about a year ago, he told me that the traffic was so bad, he swore there was no way he would drive down there again. But yet here we were sitting in god awful traffic for hours on end. It's one of those things that is like having a baby - you have to forget how truly bad it was before you are willing to do it again.

Honestly, I'm one of those people who believes that California should be divided into two states, North California & South California, just like North & South Dakota or North & South Carolina. There is no way that all the bullshit of southern California should be lumped in with our beautiful northern state.

In fairness, I can sort of see the appeal of the mild weather, the beaches & the entertainment industry. BUT just a few hours in the interminable traffic puts a real damper on the nicer things. On this trip we had tickets to a Jeopardy taping which was lots of fun. After watching a young man named Ryan win over $60,000 on three "days", all in about 2-1/2 hours with several costume changes, we drove over to the coast to Santa Monica.

It was beautiful with lovely weather. After a late lunch back in Culver City, we decided to have ice cream for dinner along the Third Street Promenade area of Santa Monica. We hopped in the car about 5:30 PM to drive the 8 miles back to our hotel. Our GPS told us that the trip would take 16 minutes. Yeah, right. We knew that wouldn't happen as we entered the gridlock of the 110 on our way to the 405. Why do southern Californians call their freeways "the 405" or "the 110"? We don't say get on "the 80" or take "the 5". That just sounds stupid.

Anyway, back on "the 110", Lou made the comment with a hint of sarcasm in his voice that we should make it back to the hotel to watch Jeopardy by 7 PM. Turns out he was wrong. It literally took us two hours to drive 8 miles during rush hour. Well, lets say it took 1-1/2 hours since I really had to pee after an hour & we spent half an hour just getting off the freeway to head into a mall where we could find a bathroom. Los Angeles is not restroom friendly unless you buy something.

We arrived back at our hotel just as Jeopardy ended. I immediately poured a glass of wine & plopped on the bed to relax. I have no idea how people do this every single day commuting to work AND then if you want to do something fun on the weekend it is the same damn thing - traffic, traffic & more traffic!

The next morning as we left for home we had to do it all again. The 405 was stop & go for miles - uh, what else is new? As the traffic began to thin through the San Fernando Valley, I sighed in relief. In another few hours we would be out of the crazy ass traffic in SoCal - & none too soon. Did I mention that I hate LA traffic???