Life Out Of Wack

Sheeh, talk about a crazy month.

Dan got laid off in mid-February, boo. But! It's actually quite alright. We were already mentally moving on from Los Angeles and this gave us the kick in the bum we needed to make the leap.

We had already planned a trip to Denver, and decided although it would be in the middle of everything to go anyway, and I'm really glad we did.

Although faster and more chaotic than I would have liked, within two weeks (to the day) of Dan getting let go, we were on the road with our goods and cats to our next adventure. Like tumbleweeds we are going to be exploring around the country for a new home base.

In March alone we will have visited 5 states. Le-sheeh!

How Did That Get In LA? The Culver City Scenic Outlook

Over the holiday break, Dan and I decided it was time to stop lounging around so much and enjoy the sunny, warm weather we had.

We decided to go on a hike and I mentioned how I wanted to check out the hill in Culver City that we can see on our neighborhood walk.

I looked on a map and figured out it was most likely Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area that we were seeing and decided to see what the little spot of nature was doing in the middle of Los Angeles, well off to the side at least.

So, we set off on our adventure.

Downtown Date Night - Little Tokyo

Dan decided it was high time to surprise me with a trip downtown with a day packed with adventure and mystery. I had no idea what the plan was other than that it involved taking the metro downtown and that it would be all day, therefore involving food! Yum and fun!

We recently discovered the LA metro on an excursion to Angel City Brewery. We didn't want to drink and drive or pay exorbitant taxi costs and stumbled upon the well kempt, fast, and cost efficient metro! I never thought we would actually going downtown, but quickly discovered this to be an enjoyable adventure.

Anyway, back to date night. We hopped on the metro and ended up at Union Station. While that could have lead to a very different type of adventure, we walked away from the train station. I have a very apt sense of direction and quickly noticed we were headed in the direction of Angel City Brewery, but I decided to keep quite in hopes that we were indeed headed that way, and didn't want to ruin anything.

Vasquez Rocks

One of the things on my Los Angeles Resident to-do list was going to Vasquez Rocks Park, so when a friend asked us to join her and some of her friends I said yes without hesitation, dispute the fact that I was still having serious back issues. Luckily, it was getting better by now so Dan didn't override my invitation acceptance.

You may not know what Vasquez Rocks is just by hearing the name, but it is a Trekkie heritage site. It has had multiple appearances throughout the many, many years of Star Trek (including the planet Vulcan in that crap they call "new" Star Trek), but it is perhaps the most well known for the fight between Kirk and the Gorn.

If you watch even just the first minute or so, you can see that I'm standing right about where they are fighting, the only thing missing is the dead tree.

Ventura

Ventura is just south of Santa Barbara and we recently took a trip up there to see family and enjoy the beach.

The drive up was very relaxing and beautiful and since it wasn't too far away from us we decided to take Highway 1, which travels along the ocean. It was a clear day and we were able to see the ocean almost the entire ride. Perfect!

When we checked in we were pleased to see that our room had an ocean view. We headed downstairs for a beer on the patio and to chat and catch up with our family.

Once we started to feel the chill of the fog rolling in we split up and Dan and I walked around the downtown a while. The stores were mainly second hand shops with a lot of interesting things in the windows. From Star Wars Pez to classic sewing machines. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to go into any of them and see if we could find any hidden treasures, because we were in charge of finding a place for dinner. Seeing as how Dan and I were the only veg heads we didn't pick the only vegan joint in town, although I was very curious to see if it was good. Next time.

Farm Sanctuary

So, I'm very excited about this post (it will be long!). I've been wanting to go to the Farm Sanctuary for quite a while and it just has never seemed to pan out. We had decided to try and go on the weekend after the Worldfest, but while we were there we heard Gene Baur speak. He's the co-founder and president of Farm Sanctuary. After his piece on veganism he mentioned that "Hug a Farm Animal" was coming up in their schedule of events. We decided to go right then and there. :) That meant that instead of going the following weekend like we planned, we waited an extra week to go. Torture!

The Joys Of Bicycling In Los Angeles

People can be jerks. You know it's true. If you've ever been stuck in traffic on the freeway, actually if you've ever been in a car ever, you can understand how people can be jerks. I think it has something to do with the fact that you aren't face to face so people feel more relaxed about their mistreatment of others, i.e. the notorious internet trolls. I believe people create/allow so much stress in their lives and don't know how to handle it that they let it to take over and run rampant. This is most easily observed when driving.

You can show people how pissed you are, knowing that they can't do anything about it. You can take out your aggression on that person closest to you and smother that person with your stress, pissing them off; adding to the cesspool of aggression and anger on the road. Feeling better now?

Worldfest

When Dan and I went to the Vegan Beer and Food Festival, we came across a flier for another veg friendly event, called Worldfest. Based on the flier, I was not completely sure if it was going to be a festival geared toward everyone, vegetarians, or vegan specific. Either way, I wanted to go because it looked like another fun event with vegan vendors, and of course, beer.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that it was indeed an all vegan event and wandered around to see what was there. I was excited (and Dan nervous) that there were pet adoptions from a variety of different places. Of course we went and talked to the cats for a while, it is me after all. And of course we both fell in love with all of them. I was also surprised to find that they had two specific dog adoption groups for the types of dogs I would want once we finally have a permanent yard, Beagle and German Shepard. I really would love to get one or the other, but I refuse to purchase an animal when there are so many in need and in danger of euthanasia. Here is a list of all the vendors from the event, I only wish I could talk about all of them.

Eating Out, Vegan Style

Is it hard? No. I mean, it can be, but it doesn't have to be. You just can't be lazy. >_<

This is one of those things where you may tend to shy away from eating out with friends or going to a hole in the wall joint. I know, I've been there. It can be frustrating when you want to go to a veg restaurant and your non-veghead friends say they don't like/eat vegan food.... um... so no apples? You can't eat any vegetables? And wait, you don't like fruit!? Okay, let me get this straight. You want a salad, but you won't go to a restaurant that makes bomb salads because it's vegetarian?? Sigh. It can feel very one sided when people curl their noses at vegan restaurants, but then want you to join them at their meatfest restaurant. They have that one vegan option! >_< Also, watching people chow down on a burger or chicken leg is very unappetizing.

RenFaire!

Huzzah for the drunkard!

J.R. Organics

I recently made my way down to Escondido to check out our CSA farm for their 6th annual event. I had decided on the first date available because I was really excited to finally get the chance to check out a farm. This is our second CSA and we never had the chance to visit the one we were a part of in Berkeley, so you can imagine how excited I was.

In case you didn't already know, CSA stands for community supported agriculture. Getting a CSA box is a great way to support local farmers, get surprisingly affordable fruits and veggies, get you to eat healthier, and they can on occasion get you to try new foods you would never buy on your own. It's also a great way to find out what's in season, and when. All around a great deal.

LA Galaxy!

We finally made it to a Galaxy game, and it just happened to go hand in hand with Dan's birthday weekend. Double awesome.

Our first American football game, and second game in total. It was very different than when we saw a game in Berlin. It was very fun, but there was no practical public transportation and the beers were $11!! For corona!!! Terrible. In Berlin they were about €5 and good. The food was more diverse and cheaper as well.

I automatically learned a lesson, before the game even started. Bring food, BBQ yourself, and drink your fill before hand. Sheeh. The fact that people actually buy anything at these places is crazy.

Well anyway, we ended up getting a beer (I mean, you gotta!) after a lot of resistance and found our seats.

Of course we got the seats with a pole right in Dan's view, so we moved once it kicked off and people seemed to be settled. We moved back a bit, but were able to be in a spot where no one was in front of us and I'd say it was a better view than our original seats.

Vegan Beer & Food Festival

Golden Road!

We recently enjoyed an amazing day full of music, food, and beer tasting. Did I mention it was a vegan fest?

The 3rd Annual Vegan Food and Beer Festival took place in Hollywood on Sunset Blvd. They apparently expanded the event from the previous year, bringing it across the street from the Roxy Theatre to an empty lot, instead of in the Theatre and it's small parking lot.

This was a great event. Knowing that all the food there was edible was very exciting, especially since they had a lot of yummy things, i.e., sushi, nachos, sliders, pretzels. Believe you me, I could go on.

The Getty Museum

We finally went! Dan took Friday off for his birthday and we decided to head up to the Getty Museum for the day.

Getty from the gardens.

What an amazing place. The architecture is breathtaking and is easily the best part of the entire trip. From my photographer's point of view, this place is the best! I probably snapped a million pictures of the architecture while we were there. The garden is also an experience on it's own.

Textures.

Getty's contrast with the sky.

The whole place was thought out extensively and built on two intersecting axis of Los Angeles. The walls and ground are all in a grid and cut to size in multiples of three. The masonry is very original. I don't remember the type of stone that was used, but it is from Italy and is very old. The way they cut it was done so in a way that gave each piece an individual look and feel. The rock was so old that you could often seen fossils of leaves and supposedly fish (I couldn't find any).

The architect was Richard Meier, who is well known for his love of the colour white. He believes that white embodies all colours. The funny, and perhaps ironic, thing is that one of the stipulations of designing the Getty Center was that it could not be white. Well, of course Richard Meier found away around this, by making the buildings off-white.

Close enough, right?

He did something very clever with the shades of colour when designing the center. There are areas for guests and areas for the foundation and art preservation. He used solid whites to draw people to certain areas. For instance, on the main entrance to the museum he outlined it with white, same as the tram station. Whereas, for the entrances of privates areas he did not use white. I love it.

The exhibits were interesting as well. Of course my favourite was the medieval scriptures they have. The fact that these books were handwritten and the artwork painted with expensive colours is pure craziness. If you understand the colour thing, you must be a historian!

Los Angeles

We wandered around the grounds and took both the garden tour and architectural tour, both of which I recommend. We enjoyed the views of LA and even got a good lunch. They had vegan Korean noodle salad, yes please!

The flowers naturally enhance the architecture. 

Anyway, if you live or are ever in the Los Angeles area, I highly recommend going to the Getty Center, not to be confused with the Getty Villa. We'll save that for another time. :)