That was a send off I got via e-mail before I left. To be honest, I didn’t think it was any nuttier or stranger than any other big city i’ve been in. The only thing strange were the crazies dressed for arctic weather in 50 degree weather. (Apparently I left 70 degree weather back home. But fear not, I brought the arctic Canadian air in the jet stream here with me when I flew back.)
Anyway, let me start at the beginning. Oh, wait, before that. You can read a different account of the weekend (from my hostess) over here. Be warned, however. She really wasn’t the cranky rusher she claimed to be. Well, rusher, yes. Cranky, no.
So the flight to Cali is long. Damn long. I was in that long metal coffin-in-waiting for nearly six and a half hours. On top of that, it was a night flight, so not much scenery out the window. At least there were movies on the plane, but the time would have gone faster if I’d just stuck to my book (I figured that out on the way back.) Once I was on the ground, and met up with my ride, it was off to TwentyNine Palms. In case you don’t know the geography of California, that’s about two hours east of LA. Yup. Nearly 6 and a half hours on a plane, and then it was 2 hours and some change in a Honda Accord (a slightly older one, before they went full size) to the desert. Basically, by the time I was winding down to sleep in the Motel 6, my watch said 5 AM (EST).
After sleeping harder than I’ve slept in a while, I was awoken by Christina saying “You need to look out the window.” So I rose outta bed, put on my glasses, and pulled back the drapes. Now, since I was in the desert, I wasn’t expecting to see the white patches of snow on the ground. That’s right - I flew 3000 miles away from 70 degree weather, then drove into the desert, and hit snow. This wasn’t a complete surprise, as the weather report had a chance of it, but it certainly wasn’t what I was expecting. It wasn’t lasting long, as the day was warming up quickly. We left the Motel and went off in search of food.
Now, Christina had brought along her handy-dandy Southern California guidebook. The book mentioned a quaint little Inn right in 29 Palms, so we decided to try it out. It was quaint - as in tiny, but with a touch of simple. I had a BLTA - That’s a normal BLT with the addition of avocado (it’s really big out there) that was pretty tasty. From there, it was on to Joshua Tree National Park.
I’ve only spent time in a desert-like area once before, back when I went to Philmont as a Boy Scout. This was very different. It’s a far cry from the greenness I’m used to on a regular basis. Even with how desolate you feel, it is quite beautiful. We started at the visitor’s center, which was pretty simple, but had the most well protected vending machine I’ve ever seen. I guess cattle rustlers found a new hobby. We continued on into the park, where I went a little trigger happy on the shutter button (see the 128 items in that gallery.)
Beautiful vistas, intriguing wildlife, and more snow. Even some slippery places where ice had formed. We drove around the park a bit, and did a fair amount of walking as well. We walked back to Skull Rock, and also a nice trail back to a man made dam. Even saw a snowman along the way. Of course, there were also plenty of Joshua Trees.
Once we had lost most of our light (Christina did try to get some sunset pictures over a ridge) we packed up and tried to head into Pioneertown. Pioneertown was the brain child of a few Hollywood cowboys. They got together to build this town that was based on an old west town - so that they could live the life they portrayed on TV full time. By the time we got out there, it was very dark. So navigating was a problem, especially when Christina’s GPS couldn’t figure out where we were - well, it knew where we were, but none of the maps it had matched anywhere close to what was actually in place. Maybe daylight would have helped. Not to leave Pioneertown empty handed, we stopped in at Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace. If the name doesn’t grab you, you have no sense of humor or adventure. Normally with a place called that, I would have expected lots of cowboy hats and pickup trucks. I was surprised/relieved to see we weren’t the only foreign car in the lot, and my jeans/hoodie look wasn’t too far off base. The only real sterotypical outfit I saw was on our server, who was dressed like Minnie Pearl, just without the price tag. (I linked to the wikipedia on that, cause I realize she isn’t really a part of my generation’s Pop Culture vernacular. Unless you like the Bloodhound Gang.) It was fast, cheap grub, and the atmosphere was rather impressive. There was as much Bob Dylan and old school Aerosmith playing as there was country. The only thing that unsettled me musically was the Honky Tonk/Country cover of Pink Floyd’s “Brain Damage”. I haven’t been able to find it since I got back, and I’d kind of like to verify that was what I was hearing.
After waiting for our check for a while after we’d finished (apparently in the desert they can easily spot a tourist, and don’t rush on their behalf.) we once again hit the road, once again heading west. If you’ve been paying attention, I haven’t actually stepped foot in LA yet, just the airport. Fear not, I’m not getting there yet. We headed west to Long Beach (south of LA) to a nice little bar/performance space to see a band that’s lead singer is the former lead singer of Christina’s favorite band. They were pretty good, and had an interesting mix of instruments (the keyboardist also played mandolin on a few songs), but the sound wasn’t mixed very well, and some of the lyrics got drowned out in the energy of the music. Hopefully they’ll get a little bigger so that their stuff shows up on Amazon, cause I kind of doubt that CD is gonna show up here on the east coast anytime soon.
After the concert, we made the drive to Christina’s Apartment, and I was finally in LA. Sort of. Actually, it was the Brentwood area, which is a little north and west of LA. It was a tad late when we got back, and weren’t up long. Saturday I got up much earlier than Christina (which is the normal trend) and decided to make breakfast. It’s not easy to work in a kitchen you’re not familiar with, not knowing the tools and ingredients avails, but with some searching, and a quick search of the net for recipes, I had somewhat decent pancakes and eggs. They weren’t great, but they were the best (read: only) pancakes I’d eaten in a while. After breakfast, it was off to the Getty.
Now, there are actually 2 parts to the Getty - the “Center” up on the hill, with many buildings and lots of exhibits, and the Villa, which is modeled off of home right out of 1 AD and houses the Getty’s collection of Classical art. The Center is where I got my first in person look at the Pacific Ocean. The Center is not your typical art museum - along with the normal paintings, photographs, and sculpture, there is also decorative arts and some beautiful gardens (which I have no doubt look better in times of the year that aren’t January.) There were a couple of special exhibits while I was there that were very interesting. First was the Icons of Sinai, which was impressive when you realized how old the things you’re looking at are.
The other thing that was impressive was a display of photographs from the collection of Rick Berman (ok, I’m not sure if its that Rick Berman or not, I’ve not seen anything to correlate it, but it could be) on different subjects of American life. There were a series of photos by a guy named Joel Sternfield that were taken in very famous places in America long after the events that made them famous. Locations of tragedies in American history. It was one of these photos that caught my attention from the other side of the gallery. It was a picture of theater seating, plush in red, with only about 6 or 7 seats in view. One of these seats was down, as if the springs hadn’t pushed it back up properly. It was an intriguing image (to me anyway, art being very subjective and all) so I walked over to see the details. I see the title to the effect of (I don’t remember it exactly) “Row 5, Aisle 2, Seat 5″. It’s a shot of the seat Lee Harvey Oswald was in when the Dallas PD picked him up after the JFK assassination. As you continue down the wall, you come across more places that seem innocuous enough, but have dark histories. The motel balcony where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. A house from Love Canal. The street corner where the Rodney King incident kicked off riots in LA. The list goes on. It was an interesting dichotomy - places that look harmless but haven’t always been. As dark as it was, it was one of my favorite parts of the Getty Center. I also got quite a kick out of a sculpture in their garden, especially when I saw the title.
After grabbing lunch in the Cafe at the Getty, it was off to the Villa. It’s a nearly 180 degree turnaround from where we were. Instead of modern museum, the Villa is a throwback to ancient Rome. Now, me being quite the fan of Ancient Roman and Greek stuff, I was instantly in love. From the Amphitheater that uses the museum as a background, to the actual compluvium built into the Villa, to the long gardens, I was hooked. On top of all that, it’s rather humbling to be in the presence of artifacts that have been around 6000-8000 years. Or in the presence of statues of Gods and Goddesses that have survived millennia in some of the harshest environments. When I was there, they had a special exhibit on Mosaics that had survived through the years from the founding and fall of civilizations. We headed out about sunset, and I caught some California sunset pics through the hills. They’re in the gallery, but not that special.
Sunday we left art and culture behind completely, and headed into Hollywood. It was to be as expected. Lots of people, lots of touristy stuff, and not a whole lot of reality. I did play the good tourist and got lots of pictures of famous stars (on the walk of fame) and hand/footprints in cement outside the Chinese Theater. There’s one in particular I’ll point out here, just cause my foot matched perfectly. By the way, that’s the foot a rather famous person. I can think of worse people to match up with. We did have a really good lunch at a place called Lucky Devil’s, though the Kobe Beef Cheese steak was unavailable. The pork burger I did have was other worldly, and the shakes were quite amazing.
After Hollywood, it was down to Venice for the sunset. Venice was a lively and interesting place. The pictures I got of the sunset were ok, but again, nothing special. And no, I didn’t dip my feet in, as it was a tad chilly to do that. I did however take the opportunity of beauty and location to drop to one knee to profess my undying love and propose. Just kidding. Just seeing who’s still awake.
On to Sunday night, and the best laughs I’d had in a good long while. Back when I was looking at sites to find things to do, I happened across a blurb for “Wishful Drinking” - Carrie Fisher’s (yeah, the woman from Star Wars) one woman show. I was immediately intrigued, and somehow got Christina to agree to it as well. So I ordered tickets. When I ordered them, the best available was front row on the aisle. Since these were cheaper than seats a few rows back, I was a little concerned that the stage was elevated, and that the view wouldn’t be so good. I’m not sure I mentioned to Christina how close we were going to be. So when we enter the theater (which isn’t big, its a nice cozy size) and go to our seats, I was delighted when the stage was below my shoulder when I sat down. (In hindsight, I’ve just realized that it may have been a tad high for Christina, but she seemed to enjoy it all the same.) The front row was also right up against the stage, so there were times (and I don’t really wanna come across as a fanboy here) that I could have reached out and touched Carrie Fisher. The show was a hilariously funny (okay, parts were darkly funny) look at her Hollywood childhood, her time on Star Wars (”George Lucas ruined my Life. But I mean that in the nicest way possible.”) and her later substance abuse problems/mental illness/poor choice in men. It was a wild ride, but very funny. There’s no way to really recreate the funniness here, so if you didn’t see it, you really missed out.
Monday was the flight home. I actually saw a famous person (well, one I didn’t pay to see) at LAX - John Glover, the guy playing Lionel Luthor on Smallville. Security at LAX was very streamlined, and didn’t take too long to get through. The flight is also shorter coming back, thanks to that tailwind of the jet stream. Since I had no interest in the movie coming back, I read the entire time, and had my MP3 player going. Somehow that made just under 5 hours seem like a commute to work, and not the marathon coming out. Of course, I also made the smart decision not to make the drive back to Dover from the airport, and had a reservation at the Best Western next door to the office. With a plane that lands at 10 PM, it didn’t make sense to get home later than midnight, only to get up and drive north again 8 hours later. Instead, I had a room to decompress from traveling in, and could sleep in before going to work. It’s also the shortest commute I’ve ever had.
All in all, it was a good trip, even if they were dressed like Eskimos in what I thought was nice weather. I’d like to go back and see some different things, as well as explore other parts of CA.
Anyway, now that I’m back, the Odyssey season got go into high gear. And it’ll stay there until at least March. I don’t have an empty weekend until March at any rate. In other words, posting here might be a little sparse (as if it wasn’t already.)
Other things I’ve needed to mention:
- Go see Children of Men. If all the movies that come out this year are half as good as this movie, it’s going to be a fantastic year.
- Nighthawk is well over 40k. They just keep adding up.
- Discovery is my new favorite network. I’m just continually drawn to shows like Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs, and Future Weapons over the schluck that’s on network TV. There’s few shining lights left.
Ok, I’ve officially deemed this post long enough. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.