Father’s Day 2010 (part two)

Since our hotel was only one mile from The Getty, we went there on Sunday morning. We were able to see the Da Vinci exhibit, which showed many of his notebook drawings and sketches. It mainly showed sketches of sculptures he planned to do, but some sheets included rough drawings of machines and inventions.

(image from The Getty website)

After that, we took a tour of the museum highlights. Among the pieces we saw was a French bed from the 1700’s that was thought to belong to one of Louis XVI’s mistresses.

Apparently, people thought that if you slept in a seated position, it would help with digestion. That is why this bed looks like a couch. There are also original casters under the bed to pull it out, and the arms of the bed could be easily removed in order to change the linens.

Jacob and I gleaning information on the tour.

A view of the cactus garden and Los Angeles.

What is this? A museum for ants? It has to be at least….three times this size!

Finally, we went to lunch at The Apple Pan. We had the Hickory Burger, which was so delicious. The sauce was what made the burger. There are only about 20 seats in the restaurant, all barstools around a U-shaped counter. We had to wait until some seats opened up - it was a bit chaotic, but worth it!

Father’s Day 2010 (part one)

For Father’s Day weekend, we met my parents in L.A. for two days of activities. They were dropping off Jacob at UCLA for a medical forum, so it worked out perfectly to meet them.

Day one involved the L.A. Roadsters car show at the Pomona Fairplex.

Lee found a few cars he liked.

And I found beauty in the details.

We even got to try the famous Pink’s hot dogs. Lee had a “Martha Stewart” and my mom and I split a “Mullholand Drive” - delicious and we didn’t even have to wait in the normal long line since this was a satellite station set up at the car show.

For dinner we went to Proud Bird, a restaurant next to LAX. It was great with many planes around the exterior and a view of the planes landing at LAX. The dinner was fairly good (except the mashed potatoes) and had very large portions.

Finally, our plan was to visit the Griffith Observatory for a free family night they were having, but when we finally got up there, it was way too crowded! There was no parking, so we headed down the mountain into Hollywood. Lee set up a backup plan to visit Grauman’s Theatre and Walk of Fame.

Yes, I have a star!

 The earliest prints we noticed were from 1927, and the latest, from Robert Downey Jr., from 2009.

Lee and my mom admire Bing Crosby’s prints.

Of course Lee liked Roy Roger’s gun print and his horse’s hoof prints.

Our journey ended back at Hotel Angeleno, near the Getty Center. This hotel was very nice - comfortable beds, great views, good location. The cost is reasonable as well (except for the $20 parking fee!).

Camping Outside Idyllwild…

Friday afternoon we started out adventure. We drove up to Idyllwild the long way. But, after a few dirt roads later we arrived at our campsite around 7pm. First thing we noticed was the mosquitoes. NO bueno. We wiped down with bug stuff, threw on some long sleeves and got to work. Setting up camp was fast as usual we get more efficient every time. Then we started to focus on dinner. Will and Naomi had given Natalie a dutch oven for her birthday and we were about to test it… The dutch oven turned out to be Amazing! We made homemade, or campmade, pizza and some peach cobbler later that night.

Saturday started off lazily. We made another amazing meal in our dutch oven called Moutian Man Breakfast. We had a few hikers walk by and Lex made a few friends. A few minutes later the Ranger came by and asked to see our permits. He told us the area we were in was closed but since we were set up he let us stay. Then we were off for our 2 hour hike. We did the dirt road hikes around our campsite and were pretty disappointed with our local trails or lack there of them. So we hopped in the truck and drove further up the mountain. We got to a really nice campground and had our lunch. Next, we headed down the mountain and into town. We did a quick loop of the shops got some special sodas & ice cream, filled up on ice and headed back to our spot. For dinner this time we had a chili cornbread dinner followed by Monkey Bread desert.

Sunday we were off to an early start. We had our whole site packed and rolled out by 8am. We made a quick stop at the Ranger Station to get our hiking permits, then headed to our hike for the day. It was the Deer Springs Trail that meets up to the Suicide Rock Trail, 7 miles total. We made pretty good time hitting our 2.3 mile trail fork in 1 hour. Then it went down hill, Literally. We accidentally took the wrong trail. We stayed on that trail for 30-40 mins (by our pace meaning for about a mile) when we decided to turn around to go back up again. We made it back to the fork and took the right trail. We finally made it to Suicide Rock (but not with out lots of stops for Lex and I). We took our rest and headed down… Our poor poor dog. This 7 mile hike turned into 9 miles. Lex would go about 60% in the sun parts and slow to about 5% in the shade to enjoy it. Finally, soooo close to the bottom she collapsed. Just dropped mid walking out of pure exhaustion. We took a break and both took turns carrying her to the truck. Our poor pup, I still feel really bad. After 5 hours of hiking we were all in the truck, hydrated, cooled off and ready to roll.

We stopped for what was supposed to be a quick cool drink in town that ended up taking forever because of the poor service. But we were headed home with one more stop on the way.

Our stop was at the Winchester Cheese factory in Winchester, CA just outside of Temecula. They were not making cheese because it was 4pm on a Sunday but we got to try about 10 different kinds of Gouda. They specialize in Gouda. We ended up getting the garden herb and habanero flavors, but they were all really good.

That concludes our trip. It was a fun weekend with a few hiccups.

The Getty Center

I met Christy at the Getty Center to celebrate her birthday. I forgot how great it is!

Besides all the artworks they have, there’s an awesome garden there, complete with a hedge maze.

Beautiful Sweet Peas

The Getty Center was designed by Richard Meier. Construction began in 1989, but was not complete until 1997. J. Paul Getty was the founder of the Getty Center (he made his fortune in oil) and from his collections of art, the basis for the permanent collection was formed.

One of the best things about the Getty is that it’s free. However, you have to pay for parking, which is currently $15 per car (load it up with friends and it’s cheap). There are really too many masterpieces in their collection to name. I could easily have spent a whole day there wandering around.

 

Your mission, if you choose to accept….

Lee led me on a surprise Anniversary mission this past weekend. I had no idea what we were doing until I read each card that gave me each step in the mission. First, we drove up to his mom’s house to drop of Lexie. Then, we headed to Long Beach, where we walked around The Pike and the shops along the harbor.

Lee tried chocolate covered bacon from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

Long Beach Harbor

My next mission card led us to The Varden, a boutique hotel right there in Long Beach. After checking in and resting (and enjoying some cable, which is a luxury we don’t have at home), it was time for me to look at the next card. It led us first to a wine tasting in the hotel lobby, then down to P.F. Changs for dinner! After dinner, on the way back to our hotel, we walked by a Johnny Rockets, which is the restaurant we first got to know each other at. Of course we had to stop to have a milkshake.

The next day was the big surprise. I looked at my mission card, which told me to plug in an address into our gps. The name of the city was Acton, which I had never heard of! I was baffled - I had no idea where we were going. We drove out toward Lancaster, into the mountains in the middle of nowhere. We came upon a sign that said “Shambala”. As we pulled into the dirt parking lot, I realized that we were going to take a tour of an animal sanctuary! This particular sanctuary is for big cats that have been found in people’s closets, at roadside zoos, or given up by people who thought they could keep one as a pet but realized it was too much to handle.
Before we went in, I opened my present - a hiking pack!

At the Shambala, they have 63 big cats, including two of Michael Jackson’s tigers. We got a two hour tour, learning a lot about the animals and where they came from. Some of the stories were pretty sad, but it was great to see that now they have a place to live humanely.

The Shambala was started by Tippi Hedren, who starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds and Marne. She came up with the idea for it when she was filming the movie Roar. We were able to get really close to the cats, and one of the highlights for me was hearing the lions roar.

The even have a liger!

Ligers do not occur naturally because there is only one place in the world where lions and tigers could possibly cross paths. So, this liger was a product of the mating of a male lion and a female tiger probably for a private buyer. Ligers are bigger than lions and tigers, but their organs are proportionally small for their bodies. They usually have a shorter life span than lions or tigers. A cat with a tiger for a mother and lion for a father is called a tigon.

Going to the Shambala was a great surprise! The whole mission of the Shambala was to make sure these big cats have a good life and also to get the word out that trying to own a big cat is a bad idea. They should be left in the wild, not only for their own sakes, but ours as well.

Eating a picnic lunch at the Shambala.

Merced Missions Trip…

Just before Christmas, I was talking to my grandma and she told me that she was turning 80 this year. So, we decided on a little spontaneous trip to Merced to surprise her for her birthday. We drove up on the 29th and spent the evening with her - it was great to surprise her because she had been asking when we were coming to Merced and I kept telling her “I don’t know!”
The next day, we headed out to slowly make our way home by visiting some friends and a few California Missions along the way.
Our first stop was “San Miguel Arcangel”, in San Miguel. It is one of the poorer missions, and much of it has not been restored. However, we liked this aspect of it because it looked very authentic and rustic. Lee loved this mission because he likes all things about the Archangel Saint Michael.
Mission number two was “San Luis Obispo de Tolosa”. This mission is very well cared for and has an interesting museum with old Native American artifacts, ancient documents and clothing, etc. Since this mission has been restored, it was a little less interesting than the previous since it seemed more like a normal church.
The best part of our time in SLO was hanging out with our friend Matt and taking a walking
“tour” of the town. We decided that someday we want to move to SLO since it has everything we enjoy doing. We were very charmed by the town and walking through the neighborhoods.
After a night in Camarillo, we continued our journey, stopping at the “San Gabriel Arcangel” mission. It is considered the “Queen of the Missions”, and it is restored, but still maintains its authentic appeal. There were many things to see here, including soap and candle vats, old wine-making tools, and an outdoor kitchen.
Finally, we stopped at “San Luis Rey de Francia” mission in Oceanside. This mission is called the “King of Missions”, and driving up to it, it is easy to see why. It’s huge! The mission is named for King Louis the IX of France. We were able to walk around the large mission area, seeing the Lavanderia (outdoor laundry area), Gardens, and Cemetery. There were areas set aside for more archeological excavation, including new-found military barracks. We had a good time walking around this picturesque mission.

The gang for a birthday celebration.

Mission San Miguel Archangel

Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa

Yep, thats all gum stuck to that wall.

Lexie doing some stream exploring.

Best food of the trip. High Street Deli.

Inside Mission San Gabriel Arcangel

The King Of Missions.

Jesus, Natalie, Lexie.

It’s Fall!

Let’s see how many times Lexie refuses to look at the camera…

Total count: 5 times!

The two top pictures with the pumpkins were taken at Los Rios Ranch in Oak Glen. The other pictures were taken at Tom’s Farms in Corona.