After a quiet night on the border of Oregon and California, Lily and I headed to the lava beds national monument. The lava beds have caves that were created from lava 10-65,000 years ago. (Making me feel very young.) We visited the easiest cave called, Mushpot. It’s paved and well lit. We tried to go to Big Painted Cave but the climb down was too much for me and my fear of heights. (I don’t think Lily was too sad.) We did check out the Symbol Bridge. There are Native American pictographs on the walls. They are so clear; it’s amazing.
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After that we (I) drove a million miles to Reno. Well, maybe not that many. It was gorgeous but surprisingly there weren’t a lot of places to hop out and see more. Maybe because we were driving on the side of a mountain half the time.
Eventually we landed in Reno. It was a complete contrast from the small town bed and breakfast stay the night before. We saw some bluegrass at a mead pub a little bit off “the strip.” But then ended back at our casino for dinner. Neither of us are big gamblers. But after dinner, I gave us each $5 to gamble. That lasted for more than an hour for me and I cashed out with $10.25. Winner! Lily got her sketchbook and was surely more productive.
Day one of the road trip. Our plan is to get to Las Vegas by noon on Friday. Today our first stop was Eugene OR. We checked out the Skinner Butte Mountain. Beautiful views. Lots of local taking in the sights with friends enjoying recreational drugs. We also checked out a local secondhand arts shop. Some interesting art and Lily got some markers.
Then we made the quick drive to Springfield to see The Simpson’s murals. We arrived 20 minutes after the art center closed but the workers, standing on the wrong side of a locked door, invited us in to take a picture on the Simpson’s couch and gave us a flier with a map to the murals. Very nice of them! We found what we could and celebrated with some pizza. Also – a nod to the local Springfield newspaper and their listing of activist events and alerts. (I’ve added some non-Simpson art too.)
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Each road trip, especially a family road trip, involves a moment or two of serious discomfort. Lily and I nailed it Tuesday night. It was a long day of driving, up and down the hills and mountains of Oregon. (To be fair it was gorgeous – as the pictures below will attest.) We finally pulled up to our bed and breakfast in Dorris, California – just over the border from Oregon. It’s a very rural town. It’s fine but not really what we expected. The owner and her son are very nice. But there’s not much around.
It was 8:30. By the time we figured out the key to the room (still not really working – and NOT user error) everything in town was closed. We had pizza five hours earlier but nothing before or after. So, we drove to the closest bar about 15 miles away. It’s desert dark with roads like you find going to your friend’s Wisconsin cabin – windy and not well marked. We can’t see the evaluation. I’m driving and driving is something I hate.
Someone driving in front of us pulls over, so we pass them. Then they start following us – right to the bar. (Lily figures they pulled over worrying that we might be a cop and they were in no condition to drive.) There are maybe 10 people there. Bar closes at 10pm and a few folks have already been cut off. Pick-ups parked out front with bumper stickers that don’t match our ethos. I’m having a Diet Pepsi (naturally no Diet Coke) because I have to drive back on the treacherous road in the ditch dark. They have no food. Owner was friendly. One of the 86’ed guys is asking Lily all about her journal. She’s having a Coors Light. The kitchen is not open.
Thankfully, we could get two off sale Coors Lights. Unfortunately, the bag of chips was $3 so we only got one. We had $6 but it’s the principle. We drive back to the B&B. A rabbit runs in front of us. But I miss it. Lily is feeling bad because she has selected the location. I am only anxious about driving, which can present as angry.
We get back safely. Sit on the front stoop with our two beers and just laugh. We’re thinking maybe a casino room tomorrow in Reno!
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Filed under: California
It’s been a long, yet fun, vacation. Yes, we had a few moments of being tired and hungry with 60 minutes before we got to the next hotel but mostly it’s been an awesome trip. We landed in LA yesterday but we saved most of the city for today. We started with a hike from Venice Beach to Santa Monica Pier. It was sunny and warm and great people watching. We dipped our toes into the ocean. It was a moment that you soak up to get you through the rest of the Minnesota winter.
Next chapter, we went to the J Paul Getty art museum. It’s free! And the buildings and grounds themselves are worth the jaunt out to the location. The garden was beautiful. Heather loved all of the succulents. We breezed through pretty quickly because it’s the sort of place whether either you commit to only looking at the works that really call to you or you spend a week there. We didn’t have a week.
Some of the highlights include:
- Cindy Sherman – with Untitled Film Still #21 – she is amazing; so many different looks this one isn’t as disturbing as some but still has an edge
- Antonio Rizzo with the Bust of Simon of Trent – he captures the sadness of the baby killed and then assumed to be blessed
- Summer Azure with Tourmaline – very modern nonbinary self-portrait – colors are oldly vibrant
- Fernand Leger with Walking Flowers – love the setting, love the retro cheerfulness
- We saw more. Unfortunately the galleries I might have liked best (newest art) is closed this month but it’s fun to see new art. And really, again, the location, garden and structure are amazing in themselves.
Next we took a walk down Sunset Blvd. From the Getty to the end of our walk we really saw everything from very high end homes (we saw from the car) to people experiencing homelessness 5 miles down the same road and everything in between. The murals were fun and we saw a few places we recognized from lore or on TV, including the Viper Room to the Laugh Factory.
From Sunset Blvd we skipped to Hollywood Blvd. That means the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Chinese Theater and the foot prints out front, the Dolby Theater, where the Academy Awards happen. Please note that hand-size-wise I am clearly a dead ringer for Marilyn Monroe and Jean Harlow. We probably walked 3-4 mile sin this stretch, which was a nice amount of time to soak in the city – or at least a part of the city.
In the end we went back to the awesome sunset of Playa del Rey. And now we’re trying to figure out a night plan. I feel like this is where COVID and Tuesday may be fighting our desire to have an awesome night – but we’ll see and I can report back tomorrow.
Filed under: California
We started the day at Joshua Tree National Park. We did one last hike. It felt great to be out in the sunshine.
Then we made the drive from Joshua Tree to Los Angeles – with a stop at Pioneertown. The views were pretty spectacular but very up and down. My ears can still feel it.
We made it to the ocean!! It took 7 days and 30+ hours of driving but we did it and our timing was amazing. We got into our hotel and walked to the ocean. It was about 2 miles and we weren’t really sure what we’d see but as you can see we had front row, center seats to an amzing sunset. We walked around a bit but really, we let the week of driving and meals from gas stations take it’s toll for the night because we have some amazing plans tomorrow!
We are so close to our final destination but happy to spend our last detour in Joshua Tree National Park. First I should say the drive was spectacular. It’s almost too much to take in the desert views when you’re normal days are spent near the shores of the Mississippi River. Props to Heather for the amazing drive – every last stinking inch and some of it was rough and the radio got even rougher the more remote we got!
Then we landed. We did two short hikes today. The Joshua Trees are unusual to see but their story makes them special. They only grow in this area and they are the ultimate Giving Tree; many wildlife eat from the tree and will live off the tree long after its gone. The trees and the areas are also known to be spiritual with many vortices in the park. They get their name from Mormon immigrants from the 19th century who thought the limbs of the trees looked like Biblical figure Joshua with his arms outstretched and/or it called to the Mormon conquest of the desert. I might have called them Seussical Trees. But they are amazing and it felt great to be out hiking in the sunshine.
We also stopped into the town to take a look at the fun shops and the World’s Crochet Museum. It’s a very artsy hippy dippy area – and I mean that in the best way!
Filed under: California
In the fall I made a trip to San Jose. It was nice to not be cold for a while – admittedly if I knew how cold the winter was going to be I might have put off the trip a few months. I saw some fun things while I was there. I happened to be there while the Make-a-Wish Batkid events were happening. It was fun to see that – and fun to see the whole city (of San Francisco actually) turn out to see them make Batkid feel like a super hero. I also did a wine tour, visited the beach with huge seals and got to walk around San Francisco for a while. I went to one techie Meetup – lots of very focused, aggressive people from all over the world. Very interesting folks.
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