Ending the year in California

It is New Years Eve and I am spending the evening with Foxboy as Dawn has gone out.  I am having a Thai New Years Eve as I have just picked up some take-out:  green curry with chicken, broccoli and asparagus with tofu and dry garlic ribs. For a post dinner snack I have some look yee with chili (a preserved fruit).  My evening's entertainment will consist of several episodes of Land Girls which I discovered yesterday on Netflix. Sounds like a perfect evening to me.

A sidewalk shrine in Thai Town.  

Yesterday Dawn and I took the Metro further down Hollywood Blvd to where all the "action" is. There were swarms of people looking at all the stars on the sidewalks, and having photos taken with same. There were numerous movie characters on the street ready to pose with you for a price.  Take your pick:  Minnie Mouse, Spiderman, Belle, Cinderella, Green Hornet, and even Michael Jackson doing his signature moonwalk. One of our main reasons for going to that area was to go to the Bettie Page store, which I always love going to. The clothing is retro in style, circa 1950.

Using the LA Metro. 

Today I went to The Grove - an upscale retail and entertainment complex, but it is not a mall; all stores face pedestrian streets and there is a lovely fountain in the middle. I bought a book from Barnes and Noble (Bird Song) and sat outside reading at a coffee shop with the sun warming my back. It was lovely.  Then I went to the movies and saw Wolf of  Wall Street.  It was three hours long, was full of sex, drugs, depravity and debauchery and I loved it. I love the movies, even the bad ones.

Fountain at The Grove. 

Happy New Year to to all from me and Foxboy. 

Corral Canyon

Today we took a drive up the Pacific Coast Highway to find a hiking trail.  We had planned to go to Escondido Canyon but apparently a lot of other people had the same idea as there were no parking spots in the vicinity, so we decided to go to Corral Canyon instead.  The drive up the PCH is beautiful but very busy with it being a Sunday and people still in holiday mode. It is difficult to find a parking spot but did manage to find one along the highway. 

Corral Canyon was less popular which was pleasant  because at times we felt like we had the trail to ourselves. The trail is a narrow, dusty trail that winds its way upwards through sage scrub and dry grasses with no shade. The entire trek took an hour and fifteen minutes and gave us spectacular views of the ocean. 

Following the hike we stopped at a seafood eatery (The Reel Inn) across from the ocean and had mussels and sea bass before heading back home to Fox. Fox is Dawn's dog who cannot tolerate walks in the heat so he stays at home and we make sure our excursions don't leave him at home too long. 

Tonight we are going to see the movie Grudge Match with a couple of Dawn's friends. 

I hope everyone is enjoying the snow. 😂

Life in LA

I have settled into a routine here in Los Angeles. Every day there is a trip to one or more gyms.  There is Gracie Barra in Burbank, LA Fitness in West Hollywood and City of Angels Boxing in downtown LA. Let me be very honest about these gym trips; I go but do not do a lot of working out.  I try but I am unable to keep up with Dawn's rigorous training and I really do not want to embarrass myself.  So I go for walks in the vicinity of the gyms, checking out coffee shops where I have been reading and people watching.  City of Angels Boxing is the most unique space as it is an old run down warehouse where people live and work. 

 Dawn lives in a multicultural area between Thai Town and Little Armenia.   It is an interesting area  in which to live and eat. Every afternoon around 1600 hours a group of about 6 older men bring chairs onto the sidewalk down the  street and sit and visit for a couple of hours speaking, what I can only guess is, Armenian.  There are very few caucasians on the block. So different from home and I love it. 

I am enjoying eating out, especially a couple of Jewish diners that we discovered where today I was able to have a breakfast skillet that had brussel sprouts in it.  Yum. 

Enjoying my vacation. 

Christmas Day in California

We started Christmas Day going on another hike in Griffith Park. It is only a five minute drive from Dawn's place so it is a convenient location. Many other people had the same thought and there were families, dogs, couples.........people walking, running, exercising...........greetings of "merry christmas" being called out. 

After the hike we decided to go to the beach and chose Santa Monica as our destination. Santa Monica is the end of the famous 'Route 66' and we had plans to walk along the pier and ride the ferris wheel, and feel the soft sand on our bare feet. That was the plan. 

The drive there was great.  The streets were hauntingly quiet as we talked about it being nice to be away from the crowds and busy traffic.  And then we arrived in Santa Monica and third street promenade.  It was busy and lively and had a carnival atmosphere with musicians and street performers. It was festive and fun. 

After lunch we walked down to the beach and the pier. There were prople everywhere enjoying the great  weather, and obviously taking their families out after a Christmas morning at home. The pier was almost impassable with the multitudes of people on it.  There were too many people for us to enjoy being there so we walked along the beach for a while and then decided to go home.

The day ended with a Christmas dinner of mussels and a seafood amok at a Thai restaurant.  Boxing Day is not a holiday here so Dawn is back to work tomorrow and I will go with her to work out. 😳

Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve has arrived but it hardly seems Christmasy under blue, sunny skies and temperatures in the high 70s.

We started the day by going to Griffith Park, which is one of the largest urban parks in North America, covering over 4000 acres.  We parked at the entrance and walked up Mount Hollywood for about 40 minutes, until we reached the observatory at the top. The observatory has been featured in several movies, most notably 'Rebel Without a Cause, in 1955.  There is a fantastic view from the top of Los Angeles and a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean.  

Our next destination was Olvera Street in downtown LA. It is the oldest street in Los Angeles and is home to the oldest building. It is now a colorful Mexican marketplace and cultural center. I have now been there three times and it never ceases to charm and delight me. 

From Olvera Street we made our way to Grand Central Market which has been part of LA since 1917. It is old and a little grungy but charming and exotic. It has fresh produce, dry goods and several cultural food eateries.  In the two years since I first went there, there seems to be a movement afoot to make it more upscale. I hope the old and new can cohabitate.        

It had been our plan to go to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to listen to a Christmas concert that the City of LA puts on yearly free of charge. We arrived only to find the theatre full and the line ouside extremely long. We were able to listen to part of the concert outside but decided not to join the line-up. 

We did have an excellent view of City Hall from that vantage point. 

Tonight we are going to see the movie 47 Ronin with one of Dawn's friends.  

May you all have visions of sugar plums and to all a good night. 

😊🎅🎄

                                        

Malibu Mountains

Los Angeles day one was spent taking the Pacific Coast Highway north, through Santa Monica and Malibu, and then on to our destination of Ojai. Ojai is nestled in the mountains about an hour and a half out of LA.  It is a small town with lots of businesses selling arts, crafts and clothing. There is a law in Ojai preventing the opening of any big box stores to promote local business. We didn't buy anything but enjoyed browsing through the shops and then through a farmer's market. 

The main reason for going to Ojai was Bart's Books, which made it onto a list as being one of the best used book stores in the world. The book store is unique in that it is mostly an outdoor bookstore, with some books facing the sidewalk that are available 24 hours a day. Payment is made on an honor system.  I loved wandering around this truly awesome space. 

Part way into the Malibu mountains we stopped at a gorgeous Hindu temple built in honor of the Hindu god Venkateswara. We took our shoes off as required and wandered around, remembering to observe the sanctity of the place. 

Dawn had a couple of restaurants that she wanted to take me to. Breakfast was had at a Jewish deli in West Hollywood called Canters where I had a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs and lox (one of their signature breakfasts).  For our second meal we drove to Silverlake to a vegan restaurant called Flore where we ate tofu and kale on brown rice.  The restaurant was full so we ate al fresco; a real treat for a Canadian in December. 

It was a great first day.  Merry Christmas. 

Wandering Solo

I would like to blog about my travels. So far my travel blogging has been solely to look over Dale's shoulder and verbally correct her typos. Dale has been my main travel companion and if I had blogged about our travels I could have called them "Travels with my Daughter"  like Steinbeck in "Travels with Charley" or Graham Greene in "Travels with my Aunt".  I am apparently too "terse" and "concise" to be a good blogger but I shall make an attempt.

Once I decided to have my own blog, the question of a name for it loomed large. I thought of spinoffs of wandering north:  wandering solo, one north wandering" but they did not reflect any individuality.  Mark Twain had "A Tramp Abroad"  and Bill Bryson had some good titles for his travels but Mark and Bill I am not.  I am still attempting to come up with a great blog name.  Dale "wanders", Robin and Karen are "living the dream".   Me........?

Tomorrow I leave the cold Canadian winter behind and wander south to Southern California,  to spend some time with  Dawn.  Stay tuned and see how I do with this blogging.