Part III: More So Cal

Here are some more photos from my parents' visit to Los Angeles. 

They split up the drive, to arrive the afternoon before our trip to the Getty.  I met up with them and we walked around the UCLA campus, and nearby. 

First stop was the UCLA Botanic Gardens, where the cherry tree was in bloom. 

I was sure I took a picture of the cherry tree. But it isn't in my photos. So I guess maybe it was Mom who took a picture of the cherry tree? It seemed that maybe half the trees were native Australian trees. We have a similar climate in Melbourne to that of Los Angeles. Their botanic garden was full of Australian gum trees, Australian fig trees, and even a bunya bunya pine, which grows massive seed-pods every few years. In the Melbourne Botanic gardens, when the bunya bunya is seeding, they rope off a huge region around the pines, and eventually send people to safely cut down the bowling-ball sized heavy cones so they don't kill any visitors. Do you think UCLA takes these precautions? Or maybe their bunya bunya doesn't seed?

Anyway, I was going to insert here a photo of the bunya bunya in the UCLA Botanic Gardens, so you could see what the tree looks like, but it seems I didn't take a picture of that either. Sorry, internet. I suppose you can do your own image search for a bunya bunya at this point. I'll wait if you want to step away for that.

Ok. Near UCLA there is a little shopping area with movie theaters, restaurants, grocery stores, Target, etc. We walked around that next. The new Ghostbuster movie was showing, and the theater had the Ghostbuster car there on display! 

That's all I've got from Friday. My last post had the photos from Saturday. So that leaves Sunday. 

On Sunday, we drove to the Santa Monica Pier. 

Actually, that's not quite right. We drove to Santa Monica, and parked near a building labeled "Visitor Information" at my Mom's request. But the Visitor Information building was definitely closed. It was only about a 20 minute walk from there to the pier, said my phone map. My parents said they were up for it, so we walked. 

The walk looked like a nice smooth walk along the beach, on well marked trails under partly cloudy skies.

In reality we were getting sandblasted by wind while bikes and runners raced by. If we don't say anything about the reality the pictures look great.

The pier itself was even colder and windier. But we walked to the end.

 

 

We took some pictures of the ocean.

And then turned around and walked back. 

I decided to take my parents back to the road away from the beach for the walk back. Still, they are slow. Slower than me. It took us 30-40 minutes for what the phone map said would be about 20. I think I wore them out a little too much. 

And then I sent them off back onto the road for their long drive home. 

They did make it back home, in spite of the fact that we had walked a long long time. 

Thanks for coming, Mom and Dad. 

Travel part II: Los Angeles

I was in Los Angeles over the weekend before Easter. 

Google says that Los Angeles is 7,937.5 miles from Melbourne. Or 12,774.16 km. That's a long way. After traveling that far, it makes sense to meet up with people who are nearby. I don't think I know anyone who lives in Los Angeles, but I do know some people who live significantly closer to Los Angeles than Melbourne. For example, I have a dear Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Dave who live in Southern California, only about 72 miles away from UCLA. That is less than 1/100-th of the usual distance between us.

So I contacted Dave and Elizabeth a few months ago to see if we could meet up? Turns out it happened to be my uncle's birthday, but he couldn't think of anything nicer to do than spend it with me. (Awshucks.)

And later, in conversation with my Mom, I realised my parents live only 705 miles from UCLA. That's  less than 1/10-th of the usual distance between us, and it would only take them a full day to drive across the desert to visit. So I called them:

"Mom and Dad, want to visit LA while I'm there?"

And they like to drive, in a way that I hated when I was a kid, when I was stuck with them where ever they decided to drive, no matter how long it took. But this liking-to-drive thing now could work in my favour, especially since I wouldn't be in the car.

Anyway, they were up for it. So I found them a nearby hotel, booked a room, and off they went. 

So I got to spend my weekend with family! It was lovely to see these people, who I miss. Dave and Elizabeth picked us up at the hotel where my parents were staying, and we drove to the Getty museum, which is not far from UCLA. 

It was raining. 

But the grounds were still quite beautiful. 

 And the weather did start to clear up later in the day.

After a couple of hours, it was clear enough to see all the way across Los Angeles. Here I am with my parents.

And one with just me:

And my favourite photo of the day: Dad, Elizabeth, Mom, Dave. I told them I thought they looked like a K-pop band.

They just need a catchy name. Pink Geezers. 

After another drive, 

... we decided on dinner at Eataly, which is an Italian grocer / restaurant / chain that Elizabeth and Dave recommended, and was very fun. 

I am not very good at taking photos. I did not take a photo of the restaurant. I did not take a photo of the food, or Dave and Elizabeth, or my parents. Everything was delicious and lovely, but I did not take a photo.

I guess what strikes me more than food or lovely people or lovely locations are things that are a bit absurd. And so the only photo I have from Eataly is a sign in the ladies' toilets:

In the fine print it says: "Do not drink the toilet or urinal water."

YIKES! Do people need signs like this??! What is the US coming to!!??

Erk. 

Anyway, that is kind of a terrible photo to finish with, but it was also my last from a spectacularly lovely day, filled with the best company and most fabulous future K-pop band ever.

So maybe I'll end with another photo from the Getty. 

Thanks, Dave and Elizabeth, Mom and Dad, for humoring me and coming to visit, even though it was far. I loved it!

Travel part I: UCLA

I recently returned from spending three weeks in the US. I have lots of Thoughts every time I travel. Maybe I will put some Thoughts here. 

I started in California, at UCLA, where the weather was pretty symmetric to Melbourne weather, except off by a season. Their cool weather was the start of spring, where ours was slipping into autumn. 

The vegetation was nearly identical. Lawns and native Australian trees. 

From the photos, it could be Melbourne. The way to tell it apart is by the big banners every 10 feet proclaiming that you are on the UCLA campus. 

 

And by listening. 

...

No squawking parrots. None. 

There were squirrels, but they were pretty silent, comparatively. 

 

The first week of the trip was less structured from a work point of view. I arrived early to do some quiet work and to try to adjust to the time zone, so that I wouldn't sleep through the workshop. 

That plan would have worked better, I think, if I had picked a different hotel.

I received a notice just before my arrival that the hotel would be hosting high-security visitors. I should expect extra security and protesters. 

I didn't anticipate the fact that they would put me, the Nobody staying at the hotel, overlooking the portion of parking lot where the protesters were cordoned off. That was a bit obnoxious. 

I didn't anticipate that on Wednesday evening around 9pm, they would shout into a direct speaker in my room the fact that the hotel was closed to protesters, and anyone in the lobby would be subject to arrest. Direct speaker into my room!

And I didn't anticipate the fact that the security guards would make me wait outside in the dark on Thursday, after my long long evening walk, to search for my name on a list of guests. That I would need to repeat my name and my room number over and over, and over and over again, before finally someone new arrived to let me through. That didn't feel secure at all. Anyone listening now knew exactly who I was and where I was staying (overlooking the protester car park, FYI), and now someone listening could safely use my name and room number, for example at the hotel restaurant (just charge the meal to "my" room -- here's the name and number!). It was unnerving. 

And finally, I received a notice under my door:

In summary, it reads:

"Dear Guest, Do not be disturbed when thousands of students run screaming past your window at midnight in their underwear. It is a tradition."

My text to Tim: "Blargh! Next time don't let me pick the hotel on campus!!!!"