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DAY 96: Friday,
July 20, 2007 (San Jose, CA)
So the last time
anyone knew, we were in Las Vegas, baby! Turns out Vegas really wasn't
our scene- although Jonathan reminds me it MIGHT have been our scene if we
could have really afforded to do Vegas right- you know, stay in a swanky
hotel, see a few shows, gamble all night, etc. However, we are on
 a
budget here, and trying to extend it all the way back to the east coast.
So all we really managed to do in Vegas was visit the Hoover Dam, lose a few
bucks at the Hard Rock Cafe casino (not enough to be ashamed about), and
catch my cousins before they flew back to CT for a quick visit with family
and friends (the highlight of our stay, to be sure!). We also saw the
new Harry Potter movie (it was okay, but not my favorite- since I don't read
the books I felt a little lost during this one). After a relatively
sin-free stay in Sin City, we were off to California.
We made it to the other
side of the country, 3,500 miles away from home, on Monday. My first
time to California, not Jonathan's, I was pretty psyched to have made it to
the west coast. We decided to head straight to L.A., bypassing San
Diego, unfortunately (we just can't make it everywhere), in an effort to see
Hollywood and perhaps meet up with Josh, a family friend who works in "the
business". We set up camp at a KOA in Pomona, CA.
Our first evening at the
campsite in Pomona we had a "snacky" dinner- fruit, veggies, and cheese and
crackers, while listening to as many songs about California and we could
think of on the Ipod (California- Joni Mitchell, California- Led Zeppelin,
California Dreamin'- The Mamas and the Papas, Under the Bridge and
Californication- Red Hot Chili Peppers, All I Wanna Do
 is
Have Some Fun- Sheryl Crow). It would have been fun to find them all,
but a long drive and our first California sunset together made us sleepy.
We headed for shelter inside the tent before it got completely dark, and
drifted off to our own California dreamin'.
The next day we decided
to get up early to drive into the city for the Grand Tour of Los Angeles, a
Skyline Bus tour we found online. We were trying to get in touch with
Josh, who was possibly going to be able to get us onto a production set for
a movie he is working on, but so far we were having little luck getting in
touch with him. He works in the wee hours of the night/morning, and
sleeps until about noon- such is the life of a Hollywood sound man. So
we decided to let Josh sleep in, and headed out to L.A.
Everything you have heard
about L.A. traffic is correct. I'll leave it at that. We barely
made it to the ticket booth on time, but make it we did. We climbed
aboard our air conditioned tour bus and headed out to see the sights!
The best sights included: Grauman's Chinese Theatre- where all the celebrity
hand and footprints are (I knelt down on the dirty sidewalk only for
Marilyn), and the Hollywood Bowl- where the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Orchestra was rehearsing. The rest of the "sights" left us wishing we
hadn't spent the extra dough on a 5 and a half hour bus tour, including: a
"famous" ATM machine where Hugh Grant extracted some cash for a now famous
"date", some street signs, a few famous clubs and restaurants, Rodeo Drive,
 Beverly
Hills, the Sunset Strip, a barely visible Hollywood sign, and other less
memorable sights. Jonathan and I agreed that L.A. (or at least the
version of it that we saw on our tour) was not our scene either.
Everything appeared much
less glamorous than I had expected it would, based on my preconceived
notions taken from magazines and the E! channel. Part of the reason
for our disappointment may be due to the fact that our entire culture seems
to be so taken with this scene. Young girls and women in particular,
appear to be so swept up in emulating their favorite Hollywood celebrities.
It seems the vast majority would sell their soul for the right bag,
sunglasses, shoes, or jean skirt. In fact, just as I was thinking this
very thought we happened to catch a "news" story about a group of girls
somewhere in America who got into a very nasty brawl over something about
Britney Spears. It involved a knock down, drag out fist fight and a
flying wig. Oh well, I'll get down from my soap box now.
Suffice it to say that
even though we may have been a bit disenchanted by L.A., I am glad that we
came here and saw it for ourselves. There is something a bit magical
underneath the thick veil of superficiality that hovers over most everything
here. It is intriguing to be in the place where so many dreamers come
to make it big- and to stand in the places they stood during the height of
their fortune and fame. I did feel strangely "connected' while placing
my hands in Marilyn's prints, my size six feet dwarfing her even tinier
heels. Come on, who doesn't secretly hope to be "discovered" while
walking down the street?
After our brief stay in
L.A., and realizing the timing with Josh just wasn't going to work out-
although we did greatly appreciate his offer to meet up with us on Thursday,
we decided to travel to San Jose a bit earlier so that we could meet up with
Jonathan's cousin, Matthew. Currently, we are staying at Matthew's
place- he has most graciously offered us his place, his food, and even took
the day off yesterday from his very busy job at Cisco to show us around San
Francisco.
 Our
first night here, Matthew treated Jonathan and me to a delicious pizza
dinner we were craving. At my friend Beth's suggestion, Jonathan and I
had been listening to the audio book Eat, Pray, Love on our trip to San
Jose. There is a part in the book where the author describes the most
delicious-sounding Neapolitan pizza. It really got our juices flowing.
So Matthew took us to a local Italian joint and we shared a Margherita pie,
a pesto pie and fried zucchini blossoms. DELICIOUS!! It
definitely hit the spot.
The next day, we left for
San Francisco. Our first stop was the Golden Gate Bridge, which we
walked across and back. Then we headed to Fisherman's Warf for lunch
at Boudin Bread- a famous sour dough joint where we enjoyed sandwiches and
clam chowder on fresh baked sour dough loafs and in wonderful bread bowls.
And what could top off a great lunch better than a Ghirardelli hot fudge or
caramel sundae? Well, we have no idea, because that's just what we
had- and it was perfection.
After a long day of
walking and eating, we decided to head home to relax and watch a movie- we
decided on "Waking Ned Devine" from Matthew's extensive movie collection.
Very funny and highly recommended if you've never seen it! We fell
asleep shortly after, since Jonathan and Matthew had to get up early
(Matthew needed to get on a plane early the next day to fly to L.A. for
work, and to meet up with his girlfriend Jamie). We are most
appreciative to our excellent host, and couldn't have been more welcomed at
his place. Matthew, thank you for your hospitality, your generosity
and for being such a great inn keeper, taxi driver, tour guide, and
comedian. Also, I thank you for the champagne and Jonathan thanks you
for the mint chip ice cream!! You made our trip to California a true
delight.
Today, Jonathan and I get
to choose between visiting Santa Cruz, Monterey, and Sonoma/Napa Valley.
What a tough decision!! But I'm sure we'll make a good one, and we'll
tell you all about it next time on "The Amazing Adventures of...Jonathan and
Elena". Bye for now ~ E
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DAY 98: Sunday,
July 22, 2007 (San Jose, CA)
As we wind down
our visit to San Jose and prepare to leave for northern California and
beyond, I too would like to thank Matthew for
 being
the gracious host he was, and also for letting us crash at his place while
he left for a business trip to Los Angeles this past Friday morning.
We hope we have not raided his refrigerator too much, despite his plea to
"help ourselves to anything and everything!" (at least that's the plea that
I heard!). Matthew has done very well for himself out here in
California, and I have been quite impressed with his successes and his
continued genuine kindness. Thanks for everything Matthew.
Yesterday we visited
Monterey Beach. It's hard to imagine any part of the coastline of
the west coast being anything other than beautiful, and this was no
exception. Despite much traffic on the road to Monterey, we found
parking at the Fisherman's Wharf, where we had lunch, walked the pier, and
met an artist named
Baila (a.k.a. Gypsy, a.k.a. Barbara). Baila and her daughter were
doing caricatures of people, so we decided to have ours done as well.
(Wouldn't you know it: she got the entire likeness of us perfectly - those
push-ups have really been paying off, you know!!!) We rode our bikes
along the bike path, most of which was by the road rather than the beach -
except for one section that was close to the sand and water and waves and
birds. And that was our Monterey experience.
Today, we were not so
lucky. We drove to
Santa Cruz only to find bumper-to-bumper traffic by the boardwalk and
zero parking. (We would have gladly paid for parking in the only lot
available, except the attendant turned the sign to reveal it was full - just
three cars ahead of us!) So we drove to Santa Cruz, and we drove right
back to San Jose. It did seem like a pretty fun place to be - lots of
rides like roller coasters and bumper cars, two-person volleyball games on
the beach, tourist trains riding along the street. Great place to
people-watch.
 Okay,
so we didn't exactly get the true experience of Santa Cruz. I guess I
(and we, I think) prefer a less populated area - you know, one with parking!
So we're off to
Sacramento tomorrow to have lunch with Elena's cousin and wife (Dean and
Katina), then we'll likely head back west to Napa and Sonoma Valley.
Not sure where we'll be staying tomorrow night, but that's nothing new.
The main attraction for us left in California is the Redwood National Park.
Of course, there are lots of other great-sounding places to visit, but we
can't do it all, though we'd like to, of course. I kind of miss being
around National Parks. The big cities have lots to offer, but these
days, I think I prefer the more natural environments, even if some of them
are a bit touristy. I definitely don't miss the traffic of big cities,
though I am continually awed by man-made marvels (like skyscrapers and
Starbucks on every block!). I will say that the weather out here has
been consistently beautiful, mostly sunny and breezy, with highs in the
mid-80s (except for yesterday when it actually broke 100!). After
staying at this 5-star accommodation (a.k.a. Matthew's Place), we'll be back
to tent-life soon enough. Until then... ~J
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