#2971, December 7, 2022: Travel Journal: California Dreamin'

Post 2971

- 12 years and 341 days since I started this blog -

December 1, 2022, at SYR Hancock Airport

Journal
(written Dec 10-12, 2022)

Read this once (it won't change for the rest of the trip(s): I'll be linking this post to Facebook. If that's how you got here, here's some background: About 12 years ago I started this blog as a food journal. I had a medical situation and needed to lose weight. Initially, that's all I did here: Journal my food intake and my weight. It contributed to helping me lose 20+% of my body weight in 6 months, and continuing has kept me on track since then. I started adding commentary after a while, but lately it has become infrequent. 

While I'm traveling, I let go of the weight-tracking and food journaling, except for food shots when I've eaten something interesting or pretty. And that's where we find ourselves now.

I'm writing this a few days after I arrrived Chiang Mai, Thailand. I have fallen behind in my blogging, mostly because I've been non-stop active since I left Syracuse on December 1, 2022. Three days after arriving here, it seems like I've finally got some down-time. I'm not complaining, I've been having fun.

Thursday, December 1:  My fantastic flight, which was going to be the quickest I had ever made between SYR and LAX, got derailed in the middle of the country, when an engine "burning a little oil" caused the flight to be diverted to Chicago. I finally arrived in LA five hours later than my original ETA.

So it goes.

I still managed to connect with Alex, my son, and Katie, his girlfriend that night, but it was quick and I was really, really tired. 

That theme would be repeated over the next six days. 

Unfortunately, Katie was dealing with a major workload, as she was changing jobs, and it limited the time we could spend together. But Alex was mostly free to spend time with me.

I don't think I ever got over being jet-lagged, including right now, here in Chiang Mai, where I'm catching up on my trip. It seems like this is the first time since I left Syracuse that I've had a chance to edit and curate my pics, as well as sit and write this post.

Alex has moved since the last time I was in LA. He now lives in the 'Mid-City' neighborhood, near LACMA, Museum Row and the Farmer's Market/Grove. It's only a few days past Thanksgiving, and LA is all lit up for Christmas. This is a shot of the Grove, a mall attached to the old Farmer's Market, all done up for Christmas. We stopped out for drinks and food and sights.

Here we are, enjoying the crowds, and making our way to a vanilla cream beer, which was one of the weirdest things I've ever tasted (and I've eaten insects), then on to Nonna's Empañadas, which was a fantastic snack.

The other landmark marking Alex's new residence is the Peterson Car Museum, fun in itself and so interesting architecturally.

This was an unusually short visit to LA - the shortest in the last dozen years or so (which is when I first visited Alex after he moved here from North Carolina). Six days. It wasn't enough time for me to see everybody I wanted to, although I did manage to connect with a few of my friends. But I missed out on more. And I didn't come close to doing a lot that I usually do. This visit also marked the first time Alex and I didn't visit his favorite ice cream shops. Entirely the result of being short of time, no ice cream this visit!

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, always referred to as LACMA, is a place I always seem to find my way to, and now that I'm in the neighborhood when I see Alex and Katie, it was an easy call.

For some reason, the video I have of Metropolis II, one of my favorite exhibits, won't upload. This pic is the best I can do, and it really doesn't do justice to this large-scale kinetic sculpture of a future cityscape. Metropolis II,has a lot of noise and motion, and there's no sense of that in this still. It's a favorite because it reminds me of the vision of the future I had as a child. It's fun. Thanks to memories of the somewhat similar, larger-scale GM exhibit at the NY World's Fair when I was fourteen, that image actually included flying cars, but apparently that's not to be. 

This is a view of the semi-connected Academy Museum, from one of the buildings at LACMA. The two museums share a campus on Museum Row. More about the Academy a little bit later.

Next up was the 'traditional' father-son visit to the Santa Monica pier. It's an aimless, just to hang visit to the West edge of the US. 

Alex on the Santa Monica Pier. That's Malibu in the background.

The amusement park on Santa Monica Pier. I like the colors in this shot.

I am Tourist. Alex is Tolerant.

This last shot  in Santa monica is of the Camera Obscura, on Ocean, where a little hole in the wall acts like a lens and projects a focused image of the seascape on the wall behind. I've included it because, almost exactly sixty-four years ago, on a road trip with some friends down from San Francisco, this was the very first stop we made on my very first visit to LA.

Alex and I did go check out the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. It's new, neither of us had been. It turned into a great afternoon. The museum surpassed my low expectations easily. It was fascinating, educational (I am disabused of the idea that I am knowledgeable about motion pictures), fun, and, for me, frequently moving.

If you're in LA, and you have three or four hours to kill, the Academy Museum is highly recommended. 

Me, in front of a backdrop, an actual backdrop, from the Alfred  hitchcock movie North by Northwest.

Alex, demonstrating the way it is supposed to look in the film. I found the parts about the technical part of moviemaking really interesting. And this one, the backdrop is the coup de grace for a through and entertaining explanation of how these developed up to CGI, was also fun.

Alex posting the Academy's job description for Screenwriter.

I had to take a picture with the actual slrd, Rosebud, from Citizen Kane.

The night before I left, I had a special treat: A blues-harp-playing friend from Syracuse, who moved to Memphis six or seven years ago, had relocated to LA and was hosting an open mic. I got to jam in LA, and even lead one. Alex hadn't heard me play in person for about five years, Katie had never heard me play live, and I had some other friends in attendance who had also only heard about my playing, but never experienced it. 

I had a great time at Matt Lomeo's open mic at the Irishman's 32 in Sherman Oaks, CA.

With Katie and Alex at Ireland's 32.

Those are the highlights of my trip to LA. I will, in the future, make my stays longer. I appreciate the concept of 'always leave them wanting more' but I want more out of my visit. More time with Alex and my friends. A week, especially a short week like this was, is just an appetizer.. 

Food Comment

Always a good breakfast at the wonderfully named Eggslut. Here, a gigantic bowl of coffee (no handles), and a couple of perfect breakfast sandwiches.

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