Wow, look at all the wildflowers! We are at the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

Yeah, wildflowers.

When we come to the oceans we try and go everywhere we’ve not previously been in addition to revisiting our favorite places.

I suppose I can see the draw of living in Malibu, even if it’s cliffside and not beachfront.

No visit to the ocean is complete without a walk along the beach.

I wonder if we tend to see Los Angeles through the eyes of someone who’s never been here. Although I grew up here, it always looks different to me now that I only visit on occasion. Back in the 1970s and early ’80s, I never really considered the environment with more than a passing glance; I was more interested in the city’s freakish street culture watching stoner hippies being replaced by cocaine-fueled disco divas followed by drunk punk rockers interspersed with roving gang members and hookers.

Here in downtown L.A., I’d be witness to the homeless, winos, crazy people, junkies, prostitutes, and throngs of people scurrying about; that was not at all like my suburban experience growing up in Monterey Park and West Covina.

Back in those days, we often had smog alerts, and seeing the downtown area or even nearby mountains was impossible. Maybe it was due to those gray, smoggy days that I never really noticed the city I was living in and felt that nobody else was looking at it either. So it is still today that I feel that Angelenos go about their lives oblivious to where they actually live as they dwell within their existence and socio-economic identity.

I’ve always loved this city of lights, and although it’s not Paris it has always been a place of magic for me as I never felt the city slept. It’s after midnight by the time we grab a motel.