Our last road trip of the year was to spend Christmas in Santa Barbara with my Aunt Ann, a.k.a. Tata, and Uncle Woody. Before getting there, we must drive through the desert many miles, and then only late at night will we finally arrive.
A Bit of Culture in L.A.
We went over to Little India in Artesia to get breakfast at Annapurna Cuisine because we love pongal (the stuff on the right), and idle and sambar are pretty good, too. In Phoenix, there is zero opportunity to have such a meal unless a friend makes it and invites us to their house.
From there, we went over to Chinatown with Raenu and Arturito, looking for bargains. Actually, I don’t think Arturito cared one bit about shopping, he was a hard read to know if he was even having fun. I guess he’s kind of like his dad, Arturo Silva, an old friend of mine (this is his son) who is the master of the emotionless face.
Hanging out on Olvera Street in the old Pueblo of Los Angeles.
Shopping for more bargains.
From there, we hopped over to Little Tokyo but took no photos of that excursion before we started our drive east in earnest.
Earnestly until we got to Diamond Bar so we could stop in on Ten Ren’s Tea Time and introduce these guys to boba tea, at the time in the early 21st century, it wasn’t a thing among America’s youth yet. And so, this was Caroline’s birthday weekend.
Disneyland – Caroline’s Birthday
Here we are at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, also known as The Happiest Place on Earth. Indeed. Tomorrow is Caroline’s 37th birthday, but that’s a Sunday when we have to drive home, so here we are on Saturday, planning on being here until the wee hours.
It’s the holiday season, not that you’d know it by looking at Tom Sawyer Island or the paddleboat, but this is a clue to where we are heading the first thing this morning.
That’s right, the Haunted House in Jack Skellington style because we just love its “Nightmare Before Christmas” theme.
Now as I run out of things to write about, I’ll point out that it is September 2022 when I’m writing this post. This trip to the Magic Kingdom was taken the year before I started blogging, and I’ve just now gotten around to adding it to our semi-permanent record (as if something can exist on the internet permanently).
Because it is Caroline’s birthday, we’ll do all the sappy romantic things.
Oh yeah, we brought friends along with us! Meet Raenu and Arturito; no, they are not a couple; they just met yesterday, as a matter of fact. You might notice we have a Park Hopper Pass.
The shirt Caroline is wearing was purchased in December 1992 while visiting Paris, France, and EuroDisney because that’s where we went for her 25th birthday. Then, in 1994, it was the shirt she wore when we were married in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the Little White Chapel.
The flash on the camera foiled Caroline’s ability to keep her eyes open. This might be the last time I ever attempted to use a flash with her.
We’re down for a Christmas parade.
And then back to California Adventure for some thrill rides.
Maybe too thrilling.
Even more thrilling.
If I’m not mistaken, California Adventure closed before Main Street, so we still have time for more Disney excitement.
Nope, we’re done.
More Driving to California
Friends Raenu and Arturito are joining Caroline and me on Caroline’s birthday weekend for a visit to Disneyland.
Thanksgiving 2004 – Day 5
As this blog entry is only being put together in early 2020 from notes we took back in 2004 there is some reflecting on the differences the intervening decade and a half has brought. While this photo is poor in quality, it’s what it shows that is important. One, it’s obviously a cheap place, but look around. The TV is not a flat-screen but a big old picture tube there on the right. There’s an ashtray on the table next to Caroline, while on the bed with her is a paper map of the U.S., and under it is a holder of about 200 CDs we used to take with us for music. Since that time, phones from rooms have mostly disappeared as wake-up calls have become a thing of the past. Paper bills are no longer slipped under the door as they are now emailed with our smartphones the connection to the outside world; they are our alarms, maps, and source of entertainment.
We were out before sunrise and passing through Stockton, California before the first hint of the sun peeks over the horizon.
Somewhere near Kettleman City off Interstate 5, it’s only 8:45, and we’re already 210 miles closer to home. It’s amazing the distance we can cover when we aren’t distracted with frequent stops.
Time to turn on our idiot mode as we are now feeling we are making such good time we can afford detours. At the turnoff for the 58, we head towards Buttonwillow and McKittrick to visit a national monument we have yet to see.
Over the hills we go, driving west when we should be going east.
But if we position ourselves just right, we can head south after our detour and pass through Los Angeles, and who doesn’t want an extra side trip to L.A.?
We’re almost there.
Caroline Wise and John Wise on their first visit to the Carrizo Plain National Monument. Those are not the faces of regret for taking the wrong road in the wrong direction to see something not seen before. They may be the faces of idiots, but at least they are still happy after having already driven over 2,000 miles on this trip.
And this is what we drove out to. This area of the California Central Valley is about all that remains of the original landscape before farming and cities took over and erased what the land once looked like. Maybe we can time a return following spring rains to witness the wildflower bloom that is supposed to be spectacular out here.
The drive out of Carrizo is on the Soda Lake road going south.
Hanging out at the intersection of Soda Lake Road and the West Side Highway. From looking at Google Earth, I can tell you that somewhere before the end of 2018, the Union 76 sign was cut off the building, as I’m guessing it was more valuable as an item exchanged for cash than an aesthetic artifact that added to the view.
Call this a late lunch or early dinner, but arriving at the North Woods Inn in Covina, California, at 2:15 p.m. is a luxury as it means we’ll likely be on the road to Phoenix by 3:00 and that screams at us that we’ll be home by 9:00 which is EARLY EARLY EARLY!
Thanksgiving 2004 – Day 4
Welcome to Junkie City, USA, a.k.a. Eureka, California. What is the attraction of this place to those who prefer life on a needle instead of working to find something akin to happiness? Oh, I know the answer is that those who’ve taken this path are suffering from deep pain inflicted upon them by those who have denied them love and betrayed the trust that should exist between family members. Well, that’s likely the most common cause, as why else would someone have so little self-confidence and self-loathing to try a little bit of suicide every day?
As for this small town of only about 27,000 people, it is beautiful and loaded with Victorian homes, so it’s certainly worth a visit.
Across from Old Town Eureka is Woodley Island, and behind that is Indian Island.
By 8:30, we were out on Clam Beach, walking north to the Little River State Beach.
There was a lot of ice out on the beach and even something called Frost Heave. When ice is forming below the surface and pushes up it can create some very strange soil extrusions. While I got a couple of photos of the phenomenon, I wasn’t happy enough with any one of them, so I give you a giant jellyfish, of which there were many on our oceanside walk.
I have no idea where this was, but it adds to the beauty of the day, so here it is.
This is on our way to Fern Canyon at the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park and marks our second visit.
Yes, it’s still that cold out here.
Fern Canyon and our camera do not like each other. What a strange place this is with these vertical fern-covered canyon walls. We weren’t able to hike too far in as we weren’t wearing the right shoes for getting through the creek that runs through the canyon.
I’ve got a hunch that we’ll be bringing my mother-in-law Jutta up into this corner of America on her next visit.
About to leave Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park and head up to the Redwoods National Park.
Into the woods we go with god rays leading the way.
Big, thick bark on big old Redwood trees makes big old me happy.
The roads less traveled are the perfect trails for us to follow.
Has anyone ever seen all the redwoods that there are to see? How many people will attempt to hike the few remaining forests where these giants continue to exist in order to witness them firsthand before we lose our minds and finish the process of pushing them to extinction, which we were almost successful with?
How could we have ever been so merciless to just go after these forest dinosaurs and never consider anything other than the financial gain?
We take the energy of the sun while it smiles upon us, giving life. The symbiotic nature of it all is so easy to take for granted, as though reality is just this thing that happens and always has. I wish to know if, even for only a day, how the minds of early humans walked past this scene and interpreted the air visualized with the light of the sun that seemed to reach out to the observer.
Caroline is over there behind the door on the right. We are in O’Brien when we have a really great stupid idea.
How about we drive up to Grants Pass for a cup of coffee from Dutch Bros? But wait a second, don’t we have to be in Phoenix tomorrow? So, what’s your point?
If you think this “bath mat” is indicative of our $50 room at the Gold Star Motel in Sacramento, you wouldn’t be too far off. Good thing we only have 750 miles and about 11 hours of driving tomorrow otherwise, we’d probably have to remain on the road tonight beyond the already late hour of nearly 11:00 p.m. My apologies in advance if there are no photos posted tomorrow, as we’ll have to focus on driving.