February 27-March 2: (Wednesday) We got up by 7:00 and closed up
the trailer to head to Los Angeles for our last campground of this trip. We had
told Ann Robertson that we would be at her condo by 1:00 for lunch. It took a
little longer than expected to get to the city and then we had to frog around
to find the campground, which is in Riverside. It turned out to be a pretty
nice county park which must be really crowded in the summer. There are several
camping loops, a miniature golf park, a big playground and a water play pad
with a large concession area and several small “lakes” (ponds, really) all on a
flat plain. The lakes attract birds and we saw a Great Blue Heron fly overhead,
and the grass beside the lake had what must be hundreds of coots. The coots
gather in huge groups and when one decides to walk somewhere else, the whole
group will line up behind to move with the first. When I opened our door in the
morning they all rushed over to me so they must be used to being fed. Our site
is on the Lakeview loop which has about a half dozen sites taken and no one
very near to us as we pulled in. We had time to get all set-up and then drove
about an hour to get to Ann’s place in Anaheim. On our way out we drove through
Riverside and past the historic Mission Inn, a sprawling complex of mostly Spanish
revival architecture that has been the scene of several movies and has hosted
many dignitaries. The Nixons were married there and the Reagans honeymooned
there. I Googled it and read the history to Marv as he drove. Ann first lived
in Long Beach for 14 years before her tax guy convinced her to buy a place. Her
two bedroom condo has been totally redone and is very nice. She has lived in it
for 25 years. We found it easily and she gave us “the tour” before we made
sandwiches and sat in the sun on her patio to catch-up. Ann is well-settled
into California having left Michigan when she was just 25 years old. Though she
isn’t married she has a large and close circle of friends who look out for her
and serve as her California family. After eating, Ann drove us to Huntington
Beach, where we walked out on the pier to watch the surfers. It was breezy and
a little cool so we stopped off at Rubie’s on the very end of the pier for
coffee and to share one of their wonderful milkshakes, ours a peanut butter
cup. Back at the condo Ann made a wonderful Greek chicken dish with rice and
asparagus on the side for dinner. We talked and talked and ate and laughed
until Marv and I made the hour trip back to the camper and bed.
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| Huntington Beach Pier |
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| At Rubie's on the pier |
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| 'nuff said |
(Thursday) HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KEN!!! We finished up our milk with
cereal for breakfast and then drove back to Ann’s again, hoping to be there in
time to Skype with Ana and the boys before she went down for her nap. Our GPS
failed us for the first time and drove us in circles on the freeway before
getting things figured out so by the time we arrived Ana was down for her nap.
Eli was home with a fever (strep throat he found out later from the doctor) and
not his usual rambunctious self so we talked to the boys for a while. Afterwards
Ann drove us all to downtown Los Angeles. First we went to the Farmers Market,
which has been in the same spot since the 1030s. (Everywhere we drove she took different
and meandering routes so we got to see a lot of the area, including the famous
HOLLYWOOD sign on the hillside.) We walked all around the market before Ann and
I got the vegetarian plate at Moishe’s while Marv found a bacon, Swiss, and
avocado omelet for his lunch. Then we drove to the Le Brea Tar Pits and Page
Museum, which I have always wanted to see. There is an amazing exhibit of some
of the millions of bones that have been excavated from the tar pits and two
places where you can observe volunteers and staff members working on removing
and sifting through the specimens. I found it particularly fascinating. We tore
ourselves away to go to Ann’s Assistance League headquarters for a program for
which she had signed us all up about Medicare. While we waited for 4:00 she
showed us their extensive collection of Chinese and Japanese articles
bequeathed to the society with the stipulation that they be appropriately cared
for and used to educate. She also showed us the display showing the six areas
of philanthropic work they do. By then we thought people should be gathering so
she checked with the front desk and found out that the Medicare workshop was
yesterday. L
Oh well… We went back to the condo and finally Skyped with Ana as Craig was
getting the kids ready for bed. Then Ann chauffeured us one more time, this
time to Long Beach, where she used to live. We went to the Belmont Brewing
Company for dinner at an outdoor table on the patio next to the water, where
Ann told us about the lights we were seeing, including the rigging on the Queen
Mary which is in dry dock north of Long Beach. We had a good dinner with more
laughs and talk, more talk back at her condo, and then Marv and I had to say
our thanks and our good-byes. As we left I got an email from John Rogers
concerned that we were in a fire zone. Sure enough, when we got back to the
camper we found that a large fire was being fought about 100 yards away. The
air was full of copters and planes and there were many emergency vehicles. But
the slight breeze was blowing from us to the fire area and no one at the
campground seemed concerned. The smell of smoke was heavy on the air but we
didn’t see what choice we had but to go to sleep and see what our options were
in the morning. And we had a new neighbor RIGHT next to us, with no one else to
either side of the two of us. Sigh….
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| Camping in the 21st century: recharging, and it doesn't include the laptop! |
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| Mastodon skeleton at Le Brea Tar Pits |
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| Le Brea Tar Pits |
(Friday) We spent a restless night, aware every time we awoke of
the smell of smoke. Several large trucks went by the camper, which when I
looked out, were always fire trucks. But the air was much clearer by morning. We
could still see several vehicles on the other side of the fence, including a
helicopter on the ground, and lots of smoke was rising but we could no longer
see the leaping flames. The helicopters in the air started up again about 7:30
and were low and incessant so we were happy we had already gotten up when they
started. As we drove to John and Barbara
Rogers’ in Claremont we heard coverage on NPR national news of what we learned
was a 200 acre wild fire that was 30% contained. Apparently that 30% included
the area where we were camped. We got to Claremont in about 45 minutes and the
GPS took us to their old house, which is empty and being rewired and insulated.
Luckily as we drove through the gate we asked a man (Paul) where we would find
the Rogers and he took us to their two bedroom apartment in a new building that
has a few independent living apartments upstairs and assisted living
downstairs. After seeing their building they took us all around Pilgrim Manor,
showing us all this little community has to offer. It was started 75 years ago
as a place for Congregational Missionaries to retire and live out their lives.
It has expanded to include anyone who has worked for at least 15 years in a
church related capacity and has become more ecumenical as well; they have a
lesbian Tibetan Buddhist couple living across from them. It is a really interesting
place and they have a museum made up of items donated by the residents that
come from all over the world. There is a big Pilgrim Festival the second
weekend in November that includes interpretive skits, everyone in costumes, and
items for sale made by the residents. With that and other sales through the
year they raise over $200,000 annually which is used to help residents whose
money has run out. We ended out walking tour at the dining hall where John and
Barbara treated us to lunch, seated with old friends from Michigan, Ann Marie
and Don Coleman and John and Shirley Washington. It was so nice to catch up on
what had brought them to California and all the years between. After lunch
John, Marv and I walked through the campus of Pomona University and into the
charming village of Claremont, including the Old Town and the New Town. When we returned their Seattle friends who
were visiting for a night, Jim and Carolyn, had arrived so we visited for a
while and then all went out for dinner at “Walter’s”, a world foods restaurant
owned by an Afghan. Four of us had pasta, Jim had crab tacos and Carolyn had a
sampler plate and all was delicious. We gathered up our things at their
apartment and left after making plans for Saturday. It was a quick and easy
drive back, but first we went through our first-ever Sobriety Checkpoint. They can’t do those in Michigan! The
campground had many more campers and many had lined up right next to us on the
“lake”. So much for our private area. The smoke was pretty heavy again this
evening but we couldn’t see any fire fighting vehicles as we drove to our site
to get ready for tomorrow.
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| That's how close the fire was! |
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| Peggy & Marv with Shirley and John Washington |
(Saturday) This was a perfectly
wonderful day that couldn’t have been any better. Once again the smoke had
dissipated overnight and there was hardly any smell in the morning. There were
still at least four fire fighting vehicles parked and one driving slowly back
and forth along the edge of the park, spraying what we assumed was some sort of
fire retardant onto the ground behind the truck. We made good time back to the
Rogers, taking with us leftover food for them to use and a load of laundry so
we could leave towels and some clothes clean in the camper. We started the
laundry and then John drove us all to the station where we took the train into
Union Station in downtown LA, which took about an hour. We walked to Olvera
Street, where Los Angeles began as a Spanish city in 1789. After walking
through the Mexican market area we continued up to China Town where we went to
the Imperial City to share giant platters of food with egg drop soup and hot
tea, all for $4.95 per person!! That’s got to be one of the best deals in Los
Angeles. Right across the street the gas was $5.19 a gallon. We walked through
China Town and crossed Route 66 before climbing the hill up to the new, very
modern Cathedral with its beautiful computer generated tapestries depicting
saints. After spending time there we walked to Grant Street and the heart of
the Performing Arts District and the Municipal Buildings like City Hall, the
Supreme Court, etc. An usher outside the Disney Music Center told us to go up
the outside stairs to the gardens and then to continue up some more stairs to
the outside catwalk that gives one a great view out over the city. The Rogers
chose not to do the extra stairs but Marv and I went up and enjoyed the view
and took some pictures before going back down and into the lobby area where we
could hear the end of the Philharmonic Symphony concert taking place inside. Barbara
thought we could catch a bus across Grant Street back to Union Street. But then
we found out the bus didn’t run on Saturdays. We started walking back and cut
through the new Grant Street Park with its interactive fountain full of kids
cooling off in the 82° sunshine and the grassy areas full of families and
booths. On the other side we found a subway line that took us right to Union
Station. Everyone got a drink from the Starbucks there and then caught the 4:00
train back to Claremont. We were all pretty tired by then and cold beers tasted
great along with lots of cheese and crackers, pickles and guacamole for a light
supper. The clothes dried as we ate and exchanged travel suggestions from us
for them when they are in Brevort, MI with their family members this summer and
from them for our time in the northwest when we come back in May. Around 8:30
we bid these dear friends good-bye and went back to the no longer smoky
campground for showers and to begin packing to close up the camper for two
months.
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| Still there... |
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| Covering the bases: China Town Gates, Caesar Chavez BLVD, & Route 66 sign |
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| Tapestries in the Cathedral |
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| Barbara, Marv, & Peggy at the Living Waters Fountain at Cathedral |
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| Getting on the MetroLink |
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| Sunset from the Rogers' balcony |
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| Peggy, John, Barbara, & Marv |
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