Trip Report Contents
Intro & Planning: How planning a trip to Hanoi got us to Tasmania
Two Days in LA
(Interlude before the main event)
Quick Summary: We spent two
days in LA at the beginning of our trip, during which we did some sightseeing
and relaxing.
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Changing Hotels and Fetching the Car
Originally we planned to be in LA
just one night and a full day, but the weather forecasters would have it
differently and we were in LA for an additional full day.
Wednesday morning we got up, had
breakfast, and headed over to fetch our rental car. We walked the mile or so to the rental
facility, rather than getting the hotel shuttle back to the airport and then
another shuttle to the rental car garage.
With the car we swung back past the
hotel, gathered our things, and checked into the second hotel, as we could not
get a good rate for two nights at the same property.
The Scent of Sulfur
We then headed for the LaBrea Tar
Pits, about a twenty-minute or so drive from the airport, through some oil
fields, past strip malls and such. Next
to the tar pits is the Los Angeles County Museum, which was closed that day,
though we did explore some of the grounds.
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| Los Angeles County Museum, With Variety Building in the Background |
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| Grounds of the Los Angeles County Museum |
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| A Rock on the Grounds of the Los Angeles County Museum |
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| Philip Poses With The Rock |
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| Los Angeles County Museum |
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| Me Posing in Front of the Rock |
The tar pits are a real oddity. Methane gasses rise to the surface of these
ponds of liquid in bubbles that pop when the hit the surface. This activity gives the appearance that the
ponds are actually boiling. It’s all
quite a sight.
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| Looking across the largest pit |
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| In this photo one sees the petroleum floating in the water |
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| Kitschy animal statue in the tar pit |
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| Another of the tar pits |
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| Excavation site above one of the tar pits |
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| Excavation site; doesn't look like a very nice place to work! |
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| Outside of the Page Museum |
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| Interesting plants on the grounds of the tar pits |
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| Interesting plants on the grounds of the tar pits |
Lunch & Taking to the Hills
After the tar pits we headed over
to West Hollywood to a vegan restaurant Philip wanted to try. Real Food Daily published a cookbook that
Philip uses at home, so we’ve had lots of the things they serve—or have
served—there. The food was good and
satisfying. After lunch we drove up to
Mulholland Drive, from one end to the other, taking in some of the iconic
vistas one sees across the LA Basin from the overlooks.
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| Philip, with the skyline over his shoulder |
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| The iconic Hollywood sign |
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The Hollywood sign again
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| Looking out at Universal City |
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| The LA Skyline |
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| Looking out at rain showers in the distance |
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| Looking down at the Capitol Records Building |
Skipping Hollywood
Coming down from the hills we were
in Hollywood and thought we’d have a stroll down the Walk of Fame. Parking presented issues and a drive past the
Chinese Theatre really felt like it was enough.
The place had the atmosphere of a circus and wasn’t that appealing, so
we skipped it and drove out to Santa Monica.
Santa Monica
Next up we headed over to Santa
Monica. I expected to find some nice,
local shops there but found mostly national chains, so we didn’t stick around long. We did walk over to the waterfront, but found
it quite chilly, with a brisk breeze rolling in off the ocean.
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| Clouds at dusk at Santa Monica |
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| Clouds at dusk at Santa Monica |
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| Palm trees sway in the chilly ocean breeze at Santa Monica |
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| Looking out at the Santa Monica Pier |
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| Santa Monica Pier |
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| Philip, with the Pacific Ocean over his shoulder |
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| Another of the Santa Monica Pier |
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| Sign in Venice Beach |
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| Philip's take on Venice Beach |
By this time it was getting to be
time to head back to the room, after a long day of work and travel the previous
day, and lots of driving that day. We
did stop for a light supper at a fairly unimpressive Chinese place in Venice
Beach, and then headed back to the room and turned in for the night.
A Day of Anticipation
As we were getting ready to head
out from the hotel on the second day, it was clear to me why we had booked just
one day in LA. We were really excited to
get to Australia and the interlude in LA just felt more in-the-way than
anything else. But, we made the most of
our time there, all the while excited to get on to the next step.
Our hotel gave us a late check-out,
so we were able to leave our things in the room while we headed over to the LA
County Museum to have a look at the art exhibits there. It is an expansive museum, quite spread out,
and housed in several buildings. There
wasn’t anything there that was really too remarkable but it was worth a visit.
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| "Art." I won't mention that the folks at JC Penny recreate this just about every day |
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| Me in front of more "Art." This is a bunch of black squares, framed |
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| More ... "art" |
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| Now, yes, big hair does indeed reign supreme in Texas, but this hair is something to aspire toward if big hair is your thing |
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| Um ... colorful ... |
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| Somehow this was interesting. No clue why |
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| Me, photographing the art and the "art" |
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| This may look like a red room, but, in reality it is "art," or, as I call it, an oversized elevator. Given what the energy costs must be to operate this, it had to be the single most self-indulgence piece of nonsense I'd come across in a long, long time |
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| Iron bars with an old smock. Odd |
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| Good thing the smock was so horrible looking or I'd have thought a security guard had forgotten their jacket! |
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| Exit from one of the museum's buildings |
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| This display was in huge room, all by itself. It was a film that played on constant loop, with a ridiculously nonsensical repetition of meaningless words. This photo is very kind to it and looks quite nice |
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| Beige panels line a hallway ... oh, I mean "art" |
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| These three photos are of a piece that is basically a model car track. Sadly it only runs on the weekend but it was really neat looking. I cannot imagine how much patience it must have taken to imagine and create |
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| I enjoyed the geometry of these wavy, steel panels |
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| This installation was quite large and made for some interesting photos. The information about it talked about the difficulty in finding spaces to "properly display" it. Um, yeah... |
From the museum we returned to the hotel to gather our things. We also took some time to repack things so that we’d have with us what we needed for the long flight to Australia and even a few other things, in case we made it but our bags did not.
Back in the car we headed over to
Manhattan Beach to have a look at the oceanfront and at the town in
general. It was a quiet day there, but
there were surfers in the water and other folks strolling around on the fishing
pier. On the beach volleyball areas
stretched as far as the eye could see, all going unused on a breezy March day.
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| Sun starts to set over the Pacific |
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| Manhattan Beach fishing pier |
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| Some kitschy beachfront house |
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| Beach volleyball courts, as far as the eye can see |
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| More volleyball possibilities |
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| Surfers await the right wave |
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| Surfers |
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Surfers
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| Me on the Manhattan Beach fishing pier |
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| Bird takes flight |
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| Perched bird |
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| Interesting cloud floats above Manhattan Beach |
We stopped into a local pub for a
beer and there decided we’d have a light supper, as we wouldn’t be fed on the
plane for a good five hours thereafter.
About dusk we headed back toward
the airport, stopping to fuel the car and drop it off. The shuttle to the airport was waiting for us
and we soon found ourselves at the Virgin Australia departures terminal. Now it was time for the real adventure to
begin!
