I recently spent some time in the Golden State visiting family and friends.  I’ll say this – the Korean food in LA is out of this world.  I stayed next door to a 24 hour Korean soup joint.  It was amazing.  Also had the requisite Korean BBQ and BCD Tofu House (so iconic that when the founder died, it made the New York Times).

I also met up with a friend who pretty much lived out the lyrics of Led Zeppelin’s Going to California.  When a portion of your life mirrors a classic song, you know you’re charmed.

One of my closest friends from high school and I used to dream about California.  We both didn’t have the easiest childhoods and teenage years.  We swore we would go West after graduation.  I only made it as far as Indiana.  He made it to Western Europe.

California, however, was the promised land.  Natural beauty.  Far from the DC area.  And I won’t lie – those sung of California girls.  In class daydreaming, I used to draw pictures of myself with my guitar strapped to my back facing the Sierra Nevadas.

I’ve also driven significant portions of the state, including most of the Pacific Coast Highway.  I used to tell people, you haven’t listened to a rock song properly until driving at high speeds in California.

And I did once write the girl I lit the candles for with Jimmy Page’s line from the titular song – “Find a queen without a king.  They say she plays guitar and cries and sings.”