Tag: Los Angeles CA

ART, Attractions, DESTINATIONS, Memory Keeping, Museums, Photography, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

Petersen Automotive Museum

Jane Sadek

MAKING MEMORIES: I LOVE CARS

The Grand Finale

As I’ve mentioned, I didn’t do much in the way of research for this trip. Nephew was supposed to cover LA, Lizbet planned Huntington Beach, we know the Central Coast and Bill found Casa de Herrero. All I can really take credit for is bringing the glue that turned all of these disparate things into a vacation.

Petersen Automotive Museum was not anybody’s list, but we passed it when we were leaving LACMA and I made a mental note of it. When we decided to go, I just put LACMA in the GPS and looked for the place I saw across the street. We spent more time in the car museum than we did in the art museum! It was one of our favorite things of all the new places we visited.

If you don’t love cars, then this is not the place to go. That’s all there is: cars, cars and more cars, with a few motorcycles thrown in for good measure – floor after floor of cars. They tell you to take the elevator to the top and then work your way down.

My favorite part was this section of the museum. Here’s some of the cars they had. Yes, I do keep showing you various shots of Steve McQueen’s sports car, but it’s only a fraction of what I have.

This car museum spoiled me forever. In a few months time I would go to another famous car museum, but all I could thing of was how inferior it was to this one.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Eventually we had to leave the car museum. Perhaps I should have covered it in more detail, but there were cars, lots of cars and then some more cars. It was heaven.

After some fast food it was back to the car rental place and then onto the airport via a shuttle. (We used Fox.) The weather was glorious all the time we were in California, but the story was different back at home. North Texas had been caught up in the annual freeze over for most of the time we were gone, which was odd, because we used to have one snow day a year and that was it.

We enjoyed the final day in LA. Our flight left LAX a little before 7, but the time difference was against us and it was midnight before we crawled off the plane. Thankfully, the flight was to Love Field, because things are much closer together and our car is always just across the street. We don’t have to wait for a parking shuttle.

Remember the cold weather? Well, Bill had me stay in the building and went to get the car. What a gentleman! But he was soon back without the car. It wouldn’t start. We feared we’d be sleeping in the terminal, but Bill called some emergency number posted in the garage and it was no time at all until a guy showed up and jumped a start.

We made our way home and went to bed. Directly to bed!

Before I move on, I’ll share a few more of my favorite cars with my photobook pages.

The famous Hollywood sign
DESTINATIONS, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

And We’re Off to Cali!

Jane Sadek

MEMORY MAKING: CALIFORNIA 2024, THE FRIENDS & FAMILY TOUR

The Lure of California

I’ll confess, when I lived in California I couldn’t wait to get back to my beloved Texas. My mom told us before we left, “California is someplace you go on vacation, not someplace to live.” Well, for us she was right, and six years later we boomeranged right back to Big D, but a funny thing had happened. We left a part of our hearts behind. Yes, California is beautiful, but believe me, we’re happy enough just making visits. But there were friends and family who moved out there while we were there and friends we’d made while we were there who hold pieces of our hearts hostage in the Golden State. Them we miss. The land of fruits and nuts, not so much!

Our vacations usually result from a seed planted at an earlier time, but this time someone else planted the seed. We had a new grand nephew. He’d been born in late September of 2023, so come January 2024, it was time to go meet him. I’d love to show him to you, because he’s cute as a button, but his mom and dad have requested no social media images, so you’ll just have to believe me.

And since we were going to be in California to meet our grand nephew, we made plans to spend time with other dear friends. Come see how much fun we had.

The Rough Start

My alarm went off at 3:30 AM as I planned, but the music I’d chosen was so gentle, I snoozed on for 10 minutes. When I finally woke, Bill and I we both were in a panic. Bill, who’d planned to wake up about 3:40, set his alarm for PM instead of AM (Freudian Slip?) so it was by the grace of God we woke up at all.

It was Keystone Cops Revisited as we raced around to get out the door, but we didn’t make our 4 AM deadline. We were only 10 minutes late getting away and got to Love Field in plenty of time, but that was by the grace of God, too. Westbound I-30 was smooth sailing, but something had happened on the Eastbound and it was bumper-to-bumper, wall-to-wall semis as far as the eye could see. We said hallelujahs all the way to the airport.

We hadn’t needed to be so panicked. The Delta desk wasn’t even open when we got there. Everything else about the trip was routine. Even the Chik-filet biscuit I had for breakfast. Little did I know that it was going to be one of my last. (I was about to go gluten free, unwillingly, but necessarily). The other end of the flight was routine, too. We picked up the rental car and hit Mickey D’s.

At Our Nephew’s

For the next few days we were at our nephew’s home in Canoga Park. We loved getting to know the grand nephew and mostly we just hung out. We were on Egyptian time, which is always difficult for me, but it’s great for Bill to speak Arabic and return to his natural flow.

The first evening they grilled steaks for us and on the next they took us sightseeing. I appreciated it very much, but it did have it’s challenges. Nephew has a cute Mercedes and for the tour, Bill and Nephew sat up front.

I was in the backseat with Niece and Baby. First, there’s the issue of motion sickness. I have it if I ride in the backseat and there was the baby, too. I never babysat as a child and never had children myself, so as cute as a baby might be, I’m done after about 10 minutes and riding for hours around LA right next to one was an exercise in prayer.

I also couldn’t see out of the backseat. Nephew and Bill were having a grand old time, going through neighborhood after neighborhood discussing real estate, architecture and potential business plans, while about all I could see was the retaining wall in front of all the homes.

Nephew made every effort to please me and there was no way I was going to complain, but it was a tough few hours. Specifically for me, we visited the Hollywood sign and Rodeo Drive. It was late on a Sunday afternoon, so Rodeo Drive was not exactly humming, but it was very chilly for LA.

Below are some of the shots we took at Rodeo Drive. Next week we’ll head to Malibu. Don’t miss that and remember to check by for Memory Preservation and Memory Sharing on Wednesday and Friday.

Architecture, ART, Attractions, DESTINATIONS, Gardens, Restaurants & Bars, Road Trips, TRAVEL, Travel Planning, United States

Le Pain Quotidien and the Venice Canals

Jane Sadek

Le Pain Quotidien, Los Angeles CA
Le Pain Quotidien

TRAVEL THERE:  LAST DAY IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

It was our last day in LA. The family had arrived in waves, and now Bill and I would be the first departing wave. There were only a few hours left. At 1:18 AM, my nephew texted me the location where we’d meet at 10 AM for brunch. At 4:13 AM he texted me to let me know it would actually be 11.  The nieces and nephews were keeping different hours than Auntie Jane.

Brunch at Le Pain Quotidien 

Before Steven married and moved up to San Francisco, he and Bassem were a pair of young studs enjoying the single life in LA.  I can imagine them landing at Le Pain Quotidien to break their fast after a wild night on the town or even for a quiet Sunday morning reading the LA Times.

However, with thirteen people ranging in age from toddler to retired teacher, perhaps we should have gone to IHOP.  The little ones couldn’t find anything they wanted to eat and for that matter, neither could I.  It was all very healthy, fresh and chic, but I’d been awake since 4:13 AM and I was seriously hungry.  Also, we were spread out over several tables in a corner of the cafe and I’m sure our chatter was disruptive to everyone else.

Next Stop

When brunch was over everyone turned to me for our next adventure.  I was honored that I hadn’t been disbarred from the family after the Huntington Garden fiasco, but maybe Bill’s telephoned assurance that there actually were amazing things behind the tall hedges saved face for me.  Problem was, I’d seen everything I’d put on my wish list except one and I was afraid the Venice Canals might not be appropriate for this huge crowd of people.

I confessed that my bag was empty except for the Canals, but suddenly I had a groundswell of support.  Steven and Shannon had courted nearby and Bassem thought the area was amazing.  Bill, too, was anxious to see the canals.  So we loaded up and headed out.

The Venice Canals

Saturday afternoon with a caravan of cars is not the optimal time to see the canals – still I’m awfully glad they were included at the last minute.

The Venice Canals, Venice Beach CA
The Venice Canals

You can’t see much from the car, so the entire caravan had to find places to park.  I think that privilege came with a price tag of twenty-something dollars per vehicle.  I thought that was outrageous, but everyone else took it in stride.

The Venice Canals is a neighborhood built on a series of man-made canals just a few blocks from Venice Beach.  The cute bungalows were affordable back in the day.  Now if you’ve got two or three extra mil laying around, you too can live there.

Except for the parking, it actually turned into a great outing for our large group.  In ever-changing groups of three or four folks, we strung out all along the canals with everyone strolling along at their own pace.

Venice Canals, Venice Beach CA
Auntie Jane at the Venice Canals

The canals were a real boon to me.  I don’t see my grandniece and grandnephew often enough for them to remember me.  So, I was about to leave, but they’d finally decided to let me into their special circle.  I pushed their stroller around the canals.  We made up a silly game to play as we went over the bridges.  We laughed, giggled and sang nonsense songs.  I’m sure the residents hated it, but I was in heaven.

Farewell to the Golden State.

Finally, we couldn’t put it off any longer.  There was a episode of fruit basket turnover as we re-arranged everyone to accommodate Bassem driving us to the airport. We were going to have to return the Maserati to him.  I would miss it.  My real car is a Nissan.

I’ll share a few more shots of the picturesque canals, but come back next week.  Who knows what I’ll have up my sleeve!