lala land

up early again (i suppose that happens when you go turn in at 10pm), we managed to watch a full episode of law & order and still hit the road at a decent hour. on the way out of joshua tree we saw windmills - only a few at first and then dozens and maybe even hundreds. before long we were on the highway and it was clear we were approaching big cities again.

oval office replica

we bypassed LA for the time being and headed straight up to simi valley - quite a trek but my mother wanted to see the reagan library, a first presidential library for both of us. there were a TON of people there - which we first sensed by the parking. all the lots were full, and so visitors had to start parking along the steep hill that leads to the library and take a shuttle to the top. after a brief wait in line we made our way through the self-guided exhibitions. it was pretty interesting to read about reagan's early life and career. there were even a few interactive elements. towards the end of the tour we were able to walk through an older air force one. surprisingly cramped actually! i'm sure the current one is a bit more luxurious. still, it was cool to see how the president and press would have traveled (right down to the jellybeans they had interspersed throughout the cabin).

drought-resistant plants, spanish colonial house

from there we were still quite far from LA proper and it was already past one so we figured we'd stop for a quick bite. the are around there is clearly suburban and pretty nondescript. we could have been in northern virginia. we found an interesting little hawaiian place that had stir fry, which was good enough for us. after a quick meal we were back on the road and anxious to get into the city. we didn't make it for well over an hour - not because there was traffic but because we were just that far out of the city. eventually we made it into downtown and then we started to hit a few lights/traffic. it was close to rush hour so people were already trying to get out of the city. we eventually made it to our destination, lacma, one of the few museums that's open on mondays. parking around the museum proved challenging, since it was located next to another very popular brand new museum (the broad, pronounced broh-d, i learned) and in the midst of lots of big office buildings. we circled around and around and eventually found a parking garage for a hospital on the other side of a residential area. we wandered through the fairly quiet streets, noting the southern california architecture and plants along the way.

detail of sam francis

eventually we made it to the museum but the line was rather daunting. i later discovered this was because LA county residents get in free after 3pm every weekday. i tried my luck and went up to the members window and asked about a discount for museum employees. sure enough, it was free for me and she even let me buy my mom's ticket at the window without waiting in line. sometimes it just pays to ask. we were a bit rushed since the museum closed at 5 but i'm pretty certain we hit the highlights (and by that i mean things i most wanted to see). this was made a bit more difficult with the layout of the museum (or campus, rather) since it's really a conglomeration of buildings. we started in one that had ancient art, contemporary korean art, and a children's studio. see? not exactly intuitive. eventually we made our way to one of the bigger buildings (one senses that it was originally the only building that housed the museum's collection, and indeed it still looks very dated - the dark paneling and overall interior betraying its 1965 opening) which housed a substantial part of the collection. we made our way through the islamic art section (natch) which had a great mix of unusual pieces (like ceramic tiles from pakistan and bizarre portrayals of stereotyped westerners in miniature paintings) along with works from contemporary artists. the modern and contemporary galleries had a lot of great stuff, although i confess we had to move through them a little more quickly. i particularly liked this sam francis print (detailed at left) and a few other odd pieces. after a quick stop in the shop we made our way back to the car.

if only the car in front were a mustang

from here we figured we should get to the hotel and figure out things from there. despite being about 5.00 we made it to the hotel without hitting tons of traffic. we stayed at a little boutique hotel that was clearly once an unremarkable roadside hotel (as evidenced by the exterior and teeny rooms) but had been transformed with high-end, mostly white decor and an almost-too-fancy breakfast. we wished we could have made use of the central patio area, but it really just a bit too chilly to enjoy it. after a bit of a rest we set out again (this time with uber - after yelp, probably the app my mom is most impressed by) to a nearby movie theater. after museums, my top priority in LA was to check out great movies that hadn't come to our smaller cities yet. we made it to the theater but realized there wasn't as much in the way of restaurants as we had thought. it was odd, the closest things to the theater were a nursing home and a school. we ended up grabbing a quick bite at a little italian cafe before making it to the theater to see mustang. what a GREAT movie! it's about five turkish sisters growing up in a conservative town and how their lives are increasingly restricted. it's truly one of the best movies i've seen in the past year. i have high hopes that it will come to the nick in columbia.

getty structures from the gardens

the next day we were up fairly early in hopes of being among the first to get to the getty. what an ordeal that is; it's almost like getting through the airport. we drove to the parking garage and even well before opening time, there were quite a few cars there ahead of us. (parking, by the way, is $15, so admission isn't quite as free as it seems.) we made our way to the line for the shuttle, which snaked around quite a bit and included a bag check. the shuttle ride, much like an airport might, had introductions (in this case from the director) and instructions in several languages. we were eventually dropped off at the museum complex at the top of the hill. like the lacma, there were several buildings we moved between, which would have been fine had it not been unseasonably cold! we made our way in and out of the various galleries, especially enjoying the west pavilion which had some of the more modern pieces. there were some lovely degas drawings (did you know he did sketches of folk dancers as well as ballerinas?), turners, cezannes, and some spanish painters whose work was new to me. the museum has quite a bit of european decorative art, which was really how the collection began. one of the pavilions also had a sketching room which was quite busy while we were there and full of art from past visitors. we really enjoyed the gardens as well. they, like many in california it seems, have switched to drought-resistant plants so it's a mix of tropical plants like bougainvillea and then cacti and succulents. even with these constraints they had quite a variety of plants. the grounds were nice but i wish we'd had time to visit the getty villa whose setting looks really lovely. oh well, it's on the list for next time. still, of all the museums we visited on this trip, i myself was surprised to note that the san diego art museum was my favorite.

koshi box

by now it was getting toward lunch time but we wanted to make our way towards our next destination, which of course (like everything on our list) was way across town. thanks to yelp i was able to find a nice little korean fusion place (koshi) just off the highway on our way. before our trip i'd had high hopes for different types of cuisine or restaurants i had wanted to try in LA. (not to mention book stores and thrift stores..) but when we got there it became clear that going to a particular destination just for a restaurant wasn't going to work with our ambitious, and spread out, schedule. even without traffic (because somehow we'd managed to avoid the ubiquitous LA traffic) we just couldn't afford the time to stop anywhere but along the way. this, combined with the fact that in the desert we had to rely on whatever was around, all contributed to us not having had proper mexican food up until the second to last day of the trip. but i digress. the korean food, at left, was delicious. their combo lunch included sushi, bulgogi, rice, and  veggies. i topped it off with a delicious thai iced tea.

overlooking LA, from afar

we pressed on to the griffin observatory. or as close as we could get. what an ordeal. we figured parking at the top would be packed so we parked on the street and figured we'd take the nearby shuttle. we got into a line of about 50 or 60 people but figured it wouldn't take too long. as it turned out there were only two shuttles and it took each one a loooong time to get up and down the big hill to the observatory. arguably longer than it should have. nearly an hour later we were finally at the top of the hill where we could, as promised, see the hollywood sign. of course the observatory is also the site of that famous scene in 'rebel without a cause'. as soon as we made it to the top we immediately got in the line for the shuttle and took turns exploring. the observatory itself did seem neat and they had a planetarium show that seemed popular with families. the view was also fairly impressive, making it clear just how far we really were from downtown LA. but was it worth the several hours it took to get there and explore it? well i'm not sure.

art deco stylings at nuart

we had initially hoped to see 'theeb', another movie on the top of our list that sounded good, about a young boy in the jordanain desert. since the observatory turned out to be such an ordeal we figured we wouldn't make that one. we settled for our third choice, son of saul (like the other two movies, also nominated for a best foreign film oscar). we decided we'd have enough time to go to the hotel and uber out so we wouldn't have to deal with parking. we managed to make it to the theater with plenty of time to spare so we found a place for dinner. it was an odd area, not many people and restaurants were few and far between. luckily we happened upon an iranian restaurant where we had delicious food. we were just about the only people in there but i suppose that's not abnormal for a tuesday. the theater was just a little further down the street and it had a nice vintage movie house look. the movie was.. bleak i think is the only way to describe it. it was hard to watch, but then for a movie about working in a concentration camp i suppose that's the point. it was a very good film but i have to say i preferred mustang.

song and dance men

our last morning we did a quick walk through the hollywood walk of fame, which my mom had really wanted to do. it was cheesy and touristy, as you would expect, with souvenir stores and people hawking bus rides to celebrity homes or studio tours. the walk of fame (the modern one anyway) goes on and on, with a star every few feet. there are so many (and some of such questionable caliber) that you start to wonder what their criteria is. i was most interested to see the original walk of fame with the cement hand and footprints. it's now all roped off since grauman's chinese theater is using it as a plate for people to line up for tickets (i think?). i was pretty excited to see that gene kelly and dick van dyke, two of my all-time faves, are right next to one another! the very nice woman working at the theater offered to take a photo for me. my mother's main criticism of the experience was that there weren't enough people she wanted to see (namely brits).

taco wednesday

with that done we were back on the road on our way out of town. our destination for our last full day was la jolla, which we'd only heard great things about. we made it there and for the first time hit some traffic as we got near the city limits. on our way into the city we passed some houses near the coast that we knew must have cost a small fortune. it was well into lunchtime so as soon as we found a parking spot (no small feat) we headed to lunch. we knew it was ridiculous that we'd yet to have any real mexican food in southern california so that was a must. nearby we found a little place called, quite simply, the taco stand. it was fairly small but obviously well loved, if the crowds on a wednesday were any indication. and well-deserved, i'd say, because our tacos were absolutely delicious. we sampled four different kinds and washed it all down with a squirt soda. honestly, i'm still thinking about those tacos a little bit.

coastal vegetation

mainly what we wanted to do in la jolla is enjoy the views of the coast so we made our way towards the water. the water was a beautiful blue and the rocky coast was dotted with flowers and that odd thick grass-like plant you only seem to see in california. we wound our way around the coastline admiring the views until we came to the cove, where we happened upon some sea lions basking in the sun (my kind of animal). they didn't seem to mind people, even letting them walk in between them - although they didn't hesitate to bark if anyone got too close.

yes?

most of them were just napping, occasionally lazily raising their head to see what was going on. only one was a bit more active, waddling and barking all over the little rocky outcrop and posing for people's photos. with our remaining time in town we explored a bit more, stopping for a library book sale and at a thrift store on the other side of town.

we were amazed at how quickly we made it from la jolla back to san diego. i guess we just didn't realize it was quite that close. we dropped off our rental car at the airport and we're preparing to take an uber when the company offered us a free ride to our hotel in the car we'd been using. so convenient - i guess it pays to have the airport so close to the city. about three minutes later and we were at our hotel. we stayed a bit closer to the water (and airport) this time but still quite close to little italy, where we'd stayed before. we were able to meet my friend kelly for one last dinner - we had wonderful pasta at bencotto - and capped off the evening with gelato at our favorite italian place, pappalecco. we retired early in anticipation of our very early flight - luckily we didn't have far to go in the morning. our flight took off early on the morning of new years eve. overall not a bad way to cap off 2015.