We arrived in California on Saturday and the flight was very uneventful, which is what you want with air travel these days! Don sat in first class and I had a very roomy seat in the regular class section at the exit row. We even had a proper lesson on what to do if an emergency required us to open the doors. So with an uneventful flight our service was not needed, but we still had plenty of room to stretch out our legs. Don sent back half of his lunch to me (the attendent said "I'm not suppose to do this" as if she'd get fired and thrown off the plane at any moment, I guess throwing it in the trash is much more acceptable.) Anyway, Don was very careful to only eat half and then share with me. That's a very thoughtful husband. When we landed, we found our hotel, a very nice Hilton (Don's company is paying) and then went to the nearby Macy's to purchase our wedding gift for the wedding we're attending this coming week-end. Then it was back to the hotel and early to bed, with a three hour time change it was about midnight eastern time.
The next day, Sunday we hit the road. We boiled down our choices of activities to a Salsa Festival up in Oxnard, CA or going to the LA zoo only a few miles from the hotel. We decided on the Salsa Festival and headed off. It was nice. Definitely a cultural experience. Lots of hispanic flavor with a live salsa band and lots of folks dancing. There were lots of hispanic style vendor's booths scattered around and then an official salsa sampling tent. For $5 one could purchase 10 tickets and a small back of nacho chips to try the participants salsa. Don did just that and he loved it. One salsa was is favorite, made from very fresh ingredients that meant we'd have to keep it refrigerated so we didn't buy any to bring home. Then we had real mexican tacos (different from those in NC because the meat is not ground up, more like small stew beef). Then we headed out and drove over to the beach to follow the Pacific Coast highway back down to LA.
We got to Malibu and saw signs for an art festival. So from the Salsa festival to a very high end art festival, we stopped.
I'll have to post pictures later (Don has the SD card that we used) but here are some of the links to some of our favorites.
My favorite and someone I've admired from the Fiber Arts magazine was
Myra Burg (click to view her artwork) Her work is amazing and she was so friendly and very interesting to talk to. I'd love to have some of her work, but my budget won't afford that now!
Then another artist that we both thought was neat was this guy,
Dale Talley (click to view his work, then click portfolio). He makes very quirky, whimsical, and fun looking furniture art. I've got a picture of Don sitting on a really unique bench (not shown on his website.) I'd love to have the bench at our house to have folks come over and have their picture made sitting in it. It's hard to look at it this guy's stuff and not smile.
So pictures to follow. We finished the Art festival, didn't get anything to eat since you have to buy food tokens, and I hate that system. We were about to get some kettle corn, but the sample didn't impress us so off we went. We drove down to Santa Monica and the crowds and traffic was awful! My goodness, cars all over the place. I guess I don't need to complain quite so badly about our crowded lake.
We then got back to our hotel and went to the bar for appetizers. Don is an Honors member with Hilton since he stays so much with them during the year. It's nice to travel with him, especially when he's on business. His status with USAirways got him the first class upgrade (forgot to mention that, it wasn't that he bought first class for himself and not for me.) Since he had to do computer work, it made sense for him to sit in first class, and no sense neither one of us enjoying it, and he did after all send back half of his lunch, a sandwich and fruit.
So here at Hilton we get a free breakfast buffet each morning and a free appetizer in the evenings. The first evening we sat and listened to a live Jazz band and had mini burgers. (We're getting our cultural fix of music this summer, Missouri - blue grass music, then Jazz and a Salsa band here in CA.) Last night we had gourmet potato skins with a choice of toppings, ours was gorgonzola cheese with bacon, and BBQ glazed chicken wings.
After waiting a couple hours while Don did some prep work for Monday morning's work, we went out for dinner. We came across a very nice open air type mall in Glendale fairly near our hotel. It was very nice, sort of like Birkdale for those familiar with that shopping area. Only more upscale shops, but still a Barnes and Noble, and a spectacular fountain that I absolutely love! I love fountains anyway and this one was computer programmed to shoot out various combinations of water sprays. Then about every 1/2 hour our so a special show comes on with a very elaborate water spraying configuration, special lights and music. Really impressive! We ate at the Cheesecake Factory and that was a first for me. Don made sure that we were outside and on the fountain side. That really made it very special! It was funny though, we were both not very hungry and couldn't finish our food at all. We did save room to split one of their delicious cheesecakes, for us a chocolate coconut cream slice.
Ok, so if you've made it this far, you've got to be ready to quit reading. I promise pictures later.
Today, Monday, Don's at work and I'm mostly staying up in the room watching a Sign Language video to get CEU's for upcoming licensure renewal in NC.
Oh and a footnote. The zoo or Salsa festival decision turned out to be a good one. When we got back after dinner and turned on the news it turned out that there had been a fire in Griffith Park next to the zoo and everyone in the zoo was evacuated. So while the zoo wasn't touched by fire and it's reopened today, Monday, it was a very good decision not to go there after all!
