Where’s The Beach?

Though my flight to Minneapolis left almost an hour late, I still managed to make my connection to LA without incident. Not so with my hotel, however — I drove the Pacific Coast Highway from Redondo Beach to Palos Verdes and back before I finally found it. At one point I got so flustered I momentarily forgot that my rented Hyundai Accent had an automatic transmission, and trashed the plastic covering on the gearbox. You won’t tell Thrifty, will you?

Anyway, I finally found my stripped-down Holiday Inn, and even if Hermosa Beach is nowhere in sight, there’s an IHOP down the road…