I know about the money you made throwing games for the frat.

While Erin was finishing up the week with her family, the rest of our crew had to find something to do. And with LA's weather, that could only mean one thing: the beach.

Josh used to live in Manhattan Beach, which just happens to be one of the beaches we hadn't yet explored. Mapgar readily accompanied us on our "insiders' tour," and Nick promised to join us a few hours in.

What we learned first and foremost: Manhattan Beach is the beach volleyball capital of the world. As explorers, we felt in order to accurately experience the area, we had to participate in the activities of the locals.

It became especially obvious that volleyball was going to be a necessary activity when the fog foiled our sunbathing (something that I don't take lightly!). We didn't want to give up on the beach day, so we decided to wait out the sunshine while blending in with the natives.

What did we discover? We are all freakishly good at volleyball.


...As you may have guessed, I'm exaggerating. A lot. But the pictures make us look pretty badass, right? We determined that Josh was MVP, but he was obviously geographically advantaged, having grown up there.

After about an hour of that, we realized we'd missed all of Nick's calls due to our dedication to volleying the aforementioned ball (or...attempting to.). And, more importantly, the sun had returned! We spent the next few hours making up for lost sunbathing time, which involved reading, enjoying Girl Scout Cookies, and napping. Then, we grabbed lunch at a small café a few blocks away.

Don't be fooled by this entry's brevity--there are more adventures to come, and our beaching days are nowhere near over. (So, Boston-dwellers, you can bask in your random 80-degree weather and spontaneous fires this week, but you know LA has the corner on that market!)

--Lauren