Santa Monica

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Michael and I took a trip to Santa Monica, CA, to see an old friend - old, only in the sense that we have known him for a long time. His name is Stephen Grosscup, and he lives on the top floor of the Pacific Plaza, the twin-towered building on the right in the photo above. (Click on photos for a larger image)

Stephen and doggie friend in front of Pacific Plaza

We arrived very early Saturday morning, and took a taxi to our hotel, The Georgian, the turquoise building to the left of the Pacific Plaza, where we enjoyed breakfast on the ocean view terrace.

Breakfast view

Pigeons on the terrace

Later that day, we took a walk out onto the famous Santa Monica Pier. The pier, and views from it, below.

Below is the view from Stephen's apartment. This was taken on Sunday morning, when the sun was out. It's looking north, up the coast to Pacific Palisades and Malibu.

From the 16th floor

Earlier that morning, we had gone for a stroll along that green space to the left of Ocean Boulevard, Palisades Park. The plant life is spectacular, and so is the view. Below the palisades (those steep cliffs) runs State Route 1, the Pacific Coast Highway.

Palisades Park

Eucalyptus trees

Looking north toward Malibu

Looking south toward Los Angeles


Hanging on for dear life


Looking west

Michael and the giant jade plant

Gnarly!

The only souvenirs we brought home were wonderful memories of a great time with Stephen, and some eucalyptus seed pods which we gathered from the ground in the park, although on Saturday we had walked into the Santa Monica shopping district to see if we could find any small Christmas gifts. We wandered inside a store called Kitson. It was full of (high-priced) eclectic, cutesy, trendy stuff, but nothing we wanted for stocking stuffers, and we left empty handed.

It was only when we returned home that I realized how derrière la garde we were not to have purchased something from the store. According to an article in the November 30th Wall Street Journal, Kitson is the store where Britney Spears bought baby clothes! And to think that we could have come home with pair of $395 Diddy Beats by Dr. Dre headphones, whatever that is, and didn't!

I guess we'll just have to go back.

Winner!

Now that winners in the various categories have been officially announced, it can be told: I won! I entered a contest called "Get Caught Reading The Dinosaur Hunter" which author Homer Hickam and his wife, Linda, promoted on their Facebook pages. Since I've read most of Hickam's other books, Rocket Boy, Back to the Moon, I thought I would give his newest a try. It's great fun. Set in the badlands of Montana, it tells the story of a retired LA detective, Mike, who moves to Montana to work on a cattle ranch and fall in love with the ranch's owner, Jeanette. Along comes a paleontologist who wants access to the ranch to dig for dinosaur bones, and pretty soon, trouble ensues.

Once I'd finished the book, I thought I would enter the contest, and made a little photo-video. I had great fun making it. Thank goodness I saved my grown sons' toys.

Re-bopping

I've re-taken up the camera and the keyboard and started posting again, so be on the lookout for more regular articles.

Today, while taking Matilda the Welsh Pembroke Corgi for her morning walk, I decided to climb a hill. It's only a construction hill, build about two years ago by digging a big hole in the ground nearby for a drainage pond. I think the builders had hoped to put some kind of retail store there, but then - well, everybody knows what happened in late 2008.

Anyway, the hill is dotted with mice holes, which Matilda loves to poke her nose in, so that was fun for her, and we did some exploring. Atop the hill is a great view of our area. Looking southwest, we saw this. That is the drainage pond down at the bottom right.

(Click on all photos for a larger image)




Looking due west, toward Boulder, this is the view:


Here is the view to the northwest:


Turning around to the east, it's a completely different story:


Up at the top of the hill, Matilda found something. I just finished reading Homer Hickam's latest book, The Dinosaur Hunter, so I was sort of halfway hoping I had stumbled on an artifact from "deep time." Alas, while it may have come from semi-deep time (the last few hundred years or so), it was not a dinosaur bone. It probably got dug up from the drainage pond, and re-deposited on the top of the hill on which Matilda and I were standing. I'm pretty sure it's a cattle jaw bone, although it could be from a horse. This was, and mostly still is, ranching territory, but as you can see from the photos, our immediate area is suburb territory.

The bone is rapidly disintegrating, and is very flaky. Most of the cavities are filled with dirt, and parts of the jaw have fallen off, as well as some of the teeth. I collect stuff like this, so I brought it on home. Where I'll put it, I don't know. Perhaps I can turn it into a Christmas tree decoration . . . or not.

In any case, Matilda and I had fun. We'll be back tomorrow with more exciting tales of discovery. Until then, Happy Trails!