We meet up with Mike, Tracy, Willa and Katrina in Claremont where they have some business to attend to. Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden is highly recommended and within easy walking distance. Willa joins us to check it out while Mom and Dad are busy at work. It is a natural setting with zones that include pretty much every desert plant you might expect to find in the US. A special exhibit of large origami sculptures makes for great accents among the plant life. Unfortunately, our timing is off and very little is blooming; add a few dark menacing clouds that bring a chilly rain and our visit is cut short.
We move to an Airbnb in Hollywood/Little Armenia that is perfectly located for the kids’ business meetings and a great place to stroll. Kent and I check out Barnesdale Park and tour Hollyhock House, a Frank Lloyd Wright house that has been preserved by the city of LA. It has an architectural motif that looks very Aztec-like to me and appears everywhere both inside and outside the house. As it turns out, it is Wright’s geometric interpretation of Mrs. Barnsdale’s favorite flower, the Hollyhock. The poured concrete entryway and door are a bit tomb-like and the motif almost overwhelming. Great for a visit but probably a bit much for everyday living. They continue to fight with reoccurring roof leaks – our docent says that is a frequent issue with FLW houses – guess he is too focused on the creative and unique to worry about mundane stuff like roof leaks? The docent is great with lots of stories to tell and pictures on her ipad to show various remodels and a look at original construction.
Our neighborhood strolls take us past (well not always past) a great Armenian bakery with a huge assortment of sweets and shelves loaded with loaves of crunchy outside chewy inside bread. The pastries never make it all the way home but everyone seemed to enjoy the bread.
Lunch at a street vendor includes chicken marsala and a spinach dish over excellent spiced veggie rice (delicious) all accompanied by cucumber lemonade (refreshing).
This one is a hike not a stroll
Kent and I head to Griffith Park and the top of observatory hill. The sandy trail up the Ferndell side is all steep switchbacks but it is a clear cool day so a wonderful hike. The view is fantastic: LA and the ocean beyond, snowcapped mountains to the east and Hollywood just below us. I stop to take in an observatory talk about the life of stars with a reminder of exactly how amazing it is that this one place called earth ever even came to be and how many things had to come together just right for humans to even come into existence. There are lots more displays and some great sounding shows in the theatre and planetarium. Those will wait until another visit.
Meals make for perfect family time – Everybody out for great Thai food in the neighborhood and a simple spaghetti dinner at home.
Check it out: Willa on a star. We strolled the walk of fame and posed on the red carpet – never mind that it is plastic covered! This is Oscar’s weekend so things are all set up around the Dolby theatre.
We meet up with Tracy and Katrina at a coffee shop. There is outdoor seating with a fountain and as it happens, a shop called “I love pie”. Who could skip that? We enjoy an assortment of mini single serving pies; cherry, mixed berry, chocolate brownie and vegan apple. They have savory pot pies too …
The kids and Willa head to la Brea tar pits and Santa Monica beach with a stop on the way home at a vegan sandwich shop. They brought us sandwiches that were amazing. Typically, if I go vegan, I avoid the meat substitutes and just enjoy the savory vegetable dishes, but these were full on meat substitute meals and they were not missing a thing. Kent’s BBQ brisket burger was spot on flavor wise and the texture pretty darn close. The BBQ sauce cinched it…just plain delicious. I had grilled chicken. Both flavor and texture were so close I would not have known it was vegan if they hadn’t said so. We all hike- Mike, Tracy, Katrina, Willa, Kent and I plus friends from the girl’s earlier years all meet up at Griffith Park for a great afternoon hike before we all must head out. LA haze veils the view from the summit, but it is still a nice way to close out our visit. Back down at the trailhead the kids grab a Lyft for LAX while we gather up to head out of town for a bit more desert time.