Roundup: Bastille Day; mooning trains in Laguna Niguel; Miss Universe crowned; car renters downsize preferences

Happy Bastille Day; vive la France! I hope you’re skipping the granola this morning in favor of a croissant. And don’t forget that espresso –- in fact, inject a little revolution into your day and make it a double.

Bare-ly news | If you thought that the Orange County Fair was our neighboring county’s most buzzing weekend event, you missed news of the annual mooning of Amtrak trains in Laguna Niguel, California. Police had to break up the crowds baring bottoms…and more.

Miss Universe | Hundreds of millions of TV viewers watched last night as Miss Universe was crowned. For those of you who missed it, the winner was Miss Venezuela, 22-year-old Dayana Mendoza. Unfortunately, Crystle Steward, Miss USA, who tripped during the competition, seems destined to be a YouTube star for the wrong reasons, following in the footsteps, so to speak, of 2007’s Miss USA, Rachel Smith, who fell in last year’s competition.

Car rentals | Move over, Explorer. While free upgrades were once celebrated by car-renting travelers, nowadays people are requesting smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. And the SUV-packed rental agencies are running short.

— Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times

[Photo: Greg Harbaugh   AFP/Getty Images]

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This entry was posted on Monday, July 14, 2008 at 8:23 am by Susan Derby and is filed under California, Celebrity, Global, Good Morning, News, Tips & Advice, Orange County, Summer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.