Last Day in LA

As usual, all good things must come to an end. We've had excellent weather, we've had a great visit with our generous California connections, we've been to some wonderful places and we've drunk some outstanding California Chardonnay. Hopefully, we take some of the warm weather home with us. For our last day, we didn't stray too far from home base. Initially Gary had snagged some tickets for today for The Price is Right, but we passed on that since it is a whole day experience and we didn't want to spend our last beautiful day indoors. So, we drove down Santa Monica Blvd. to Santa Monica and got gas before we parked in downtown Santa Monica and had a long walk that included a jaunt out onto the pier. I experienced a first at a gas station where the pumps had TV's on them. Is this a California thing?

I think our favourite shopping spot has become the 3rd Ave. Promenade. It goes all the way from Hwy 10 - formerly route 66 - to Wilshire. There's a nice diversity of shops including a shop where you can stop in and order your new Tesla. It is a happening place!

We made a final visit to Ralphs and BevMo before returning to the apartment to finish our chicken pot pies left over from last night. Then came the nasty ordeal of packing. I think we're within weight limits - but barely.

To finish off the day, we had some drinks and appetizers at the apt. before going out to Gulfstream restaurant in Century City. Dawn and Gary had gigantic shrimp, while Betty had planked salmon and I had a ribeye steak.

Then it was back to the apartment for a final round of canasta. Tomorrow morning we'll be off to the airport at 7:00 - aargh! And then, back to reality.

Catalina

As the skies continued to be cloudless and the temperature continued to rise, an unfortunate side effect also showed up today - a nice even layer of brown smog. I think this is, unfortunately, the story of Southern California and their love of cars.

Because it was promising to be even hotter today, we decided that a trip to Catalina would be in order. Betty and Gary were working so off Dawn and I went. Our drive from Gary and Betty's to the Catalina dock in Long Beach was a fairly quick 30 minutes on the infamous 405. Since we had no reservations, the general boarding seats were already full and we were obliged to choose the Commodore level, which came with an early morning glass of champagne. Yeah I know, life is tough!

As we left the harbour, we passed the Queen Mary, which is now a luxury hotel with swanky restaurants.

It was a 90 minute cruise aboard the twin hulled Catalina Express Jet Boat to Catalina, which is the only inhabited channel island along the California coast. During the cruise we sighted both porpoises and the largest and rarest of whales - the blue whale.

Catalina has had a long history of mostly private ownership, with the last notable owner being William Wrigley Jr. of chewing gum fame. Because of him and his philanthropic endeavours, 88% of the island is now part of a conservancy that forbids any development and protects natural flora and fauna. His home sits proudly above Avalon.

Car ownership is discouraged on the island and there is a 15 - 20 year waiting period for anyone wishing to import a car. Each home is limited to one golf cart which is the principle method of transportation.

We arrived on the island at 11:30 and immediately set out to book some kind of tour that would take us into the interior of the island. We were set to return to Long Beach at 3:45, so we needed something that would fit into our time line.

We settled on a two hour and fifteen minute tour called the Skyline, which would take us up into the hills and to the unique airport at its summit, a cool 1600 feet above Avalon. Since it left at 1:00, we had time for a quick sit down lunch. We chose the Bluewater Avalon, a restaurant right on the harbour and had a great lunch of wedge salad for me and fish tacos for Dawn.

Our mode of transportation for this excursion was a 1952 Flxible bus - no typo here. We felt fortunate to get on one of these historic vehicles since they are being decommissioned next month due to the California law regarding excessive mileage. This bus was not neither air conditioned or comfortable, so are we crazy or what?

The trip on the island's rugged roads with their regular and extreme switchbacks took nearly 90 minutes to arrive at the summit. Twice, we encountered buffalo who have lived here since the 1920's when they were brought over to make a movie that was never made. When the producers went to find their buffalo, they were no where to be found and so they got left on the island. Ever since, they have thrived, increasing in numbers from the original 14 to now 150.

We also saw, but I wasn't fast enough with the camera, one of the island's indigenous foxes, of which present day, there are around 2000.

When we arrived at the Airport in the Sky, a short break was in order. That included snapping up one of the best cookies we have ever had - chocolate chip oatmeal peanut butter.

Our return timing to the pier was impeccable, as we arrived just as the boarding began for the Catalina Express. We returned to Long Beach at 5:00 and anticipated that our quick 30 minute trip this morning was going to be a lot longer going back. We didn't bargain for 30 minutes to get out of the parking garage. But we weren't surprised that the return trip had swollen to one hour after that. For dinner this evening, Betty and Gary ordered chicken pot pies from the Daily Grill and along with a wedge salad - the second of the day for me and I ate it all - we had a great meal. Canasta was, once again, a barren land for the boys.

Santa Barbara

It's heating up in southern California. Today it hit 80 and the temperature will be in the high 80's by Tuesday. Since it was Sunday, we were hoping to do something as a group but Betty still hadn't rebounded. So off Dawn and I went to Santa Barbara. This is an hour plus drive up the coast and the traffic was heavy but moving. When we got to Santa Barbara, we parked at the pier and walked about the marina.

It was lunch by the time we arrived and we thought we'd eat at Brophy Brothers, but alas, there was a 45 minute wait and it was super hot inside the restaurant. So we left a did a little drive around downtown Santa Barbara.

We were a little surprised by the number of oil rigs off the shore of Santa Barbara.

With a cruise ship in the harbour, the town was packed, so we headed up into the hills towards Montecilo. This is Oprah country and after driving in the hills we could imagine the setting for her estate, but of course we would never be able to find her home.

As well as the huge estates, there were numerous ranches up in the hills. This is also where Ellen had a ranch. By the time we got back on the 101 to LA, it was still bunged up, so we escaped the 101 and took the Pacific Coast Highway - #1 - (PCH) for the remainder of the trip. Of course we had our share of sites along the PCH, like the hot cars and the Malibu stilt homes.

That was a Lamborghini, by the way, in the previous photo. We got back to Brentwood in time for Happy Hour and ate at home yet again. It was a long driving day, but pretty amazing!

Palisades Park

Today was yet another beautifully sunny Pacific Coast day. Most of our morning was spent lounging about the apartment and sitting on the balcony catching a few rays.

For lunch, Gary, Dawn and I went to the Five Guys in Westwood for a burger. Betty was still ailing, so stayed in bed. We all voted the Five Guys burger and fries to be seriously better than In 'N Out. This Five Guys is on the street with the iconic Fox theatre at it's end.

From Westwood, Gary took us to the Brentwood street called La Mesa that has amazing trees on its boulevard that don't seem to want to bury their roots. Roots rule!

Then it was time to walk off the effects of lunch, so we drove to Palisades Park and relived the song, sung by Freddy Cannon - for you younguns, check out iTunes - parked the car and began our walk atop the bluffs above the Pacific Coast Highway and the Santa Monica beach and pier.

Along our three kilometre walk there were many fabulous views of the Pacific shore and others wonders.

The last stop of the day was at Ralphs for tonight's dinner essentials and since Betty had recovered sufficiently, she was back in the kitchen cooking a chicken piccata. Another amazing view! Dinner was great and later the girls finally rose to the top in Canasta.

Out and About in LA

When we awoke today, Betty was still feeling a little under the weather, so after breakfast Gary went off to work and Dawn and I set out to do some shopping. We first headed down to Santa Monica in quest of a Barnes and Noble to get some canasta cards - meant to bring them from Canada. We succeeded with that task and went for a walk on the 3rd St. promenade. There was a Db Shoe store enroute which we did not escape unscathed.

We had discussed a course of action for the day with Betty before we left and so the next stop was Le Petit Four on Sunset Blvd for lunch. We anticipated some celebrities here, but alas, none showed up. It was a great lunch however - beef tenderloin sandwich and fries for each of us.

From there we drove up Sunset into West Hollywood and The Grove shopping area and farmer's market. There is not much of a farmer's here - at least not today or not in this epoch. But there are lots of high-end shops and tons of people milling about.

By the end of our walk through the Grove, it was time to pick up some groceries at Gelson's for dinner tonight. I've already commented on the Tesla electric car that we've discovered while in California. Gelson's had 5 parking spots reserved for Teslas, where they could charge their cars. Nice!

Finally we headed back to Betty and Gary's. We made one final stop at BevMo for some more chardonnay. Tonight's dinner was salmon and we introduced canasta as our card game for the evening. We actually plyed a whole game before dinner and the boys beat the girls. C'est la vie!