Saturday I climbed aboard a Metrolink train for an afternoon in the big city (no, not Upland). On the way I decided a good plan, since I was interested in hitting Virgin Megastore’s sale at Hollywood and Highland, would be to try Skooby’s for lunch. Skooby’s is a well-regarded hot dog stand at Hollywood Boulevard at Cherokee.

I had a dog, fries and Coke for $7.59. The dog (natural casing, all beef) was grilled to perfection, the fries (Idaho potatoes, with zero trans-fat peanut oil, and seasoned), with a few potato chips mixed in, were even better, with the side of aioli dipping sauce proving addictive.

Virgin’s closeout sale is now 50 percent off CDs and DVDs. I picked up two Van Morrison retrospectives, the deluxe edition of Love’s “Forever Changes” and Los Campesinos’ second album. They’re playing the Glass House on Aug. 22, btw. I went to the Virgin in NYC’s Union Square during my vacation, making me a bicoastal closeout shopper.

The Disney Soda Fountain by the Egyptian Theater was packed with (ugh) families, so I rode the Red Line back to Union Station and had a slice of apple pie and an iced tea at Philippe’s before heading home.

One reason I do these outings is to give myself some distraction-free reading time. I took along Ray Bradbury’s “Farewell Summer,” his slim 2006 sequel to 1957’s “Dandelion Wine.” I recently reread “DW” for the first time in three decades. “FS” got mixed notices from fans, but if “DW” was a home run, I’d say “FS” was a triple. With two train rides, two subway rides and two restaurant stops, I read the book from start to finish.

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