Fun With Friends

We recently hosted some East Coast visitors and made a point of packing in as much fun as possible. Here's a roundup of all the activities we jammed into a few mere days!

Our friend Randal arrived on Thursday night. On Friday, the boys (Chris, Sam, and Randal) went hiking in Franklin Canyon. We spent Friday evening in Santa Monica, where we caught this amazing little kid playing rock n' roll drums:

As the sun went down, we also got to see a pretty orange sky by the beach.

We finished off the night with a viewing of X-Men: First Class and headed off to LAX to pick up our friend Eran and Randal's fiancee, Ginny, who were both arriving around the same time on different airlines.

On day 2, we drove to Orange County for a brunch with a group of friends in the area. Then we headed to Hollywood, where we took in the Walk of Fame and Grauman's Chinese Theater. A few tacos and frozen yogurts later, we were winding our way up into the Hollywood Hills for a visit to the Griffith Park Observatory. (The Hollywood sign appears faintly at the right side of this shot.)

This may have been my favorite LA experience so far. Once a month during the summer, the Observatory is host to a public Star Party, where amateur and professional astronomers break out their incredibly fancy (and pricey!) telescopes, and let anyone use them. As you stargaze, these fine folks excitedly explain what you're looking at. I saw the moon and Saturn (along with one of its moons)--at such high qualities that I could see details of the moon's craters and the shadow of Saturn's rings against the planet.

Post-Star Party, we headed out for a late dinner at A Frame. Formerly an iHOP, this nifty building now houses a hip eatery featuring imaginative takes on classics, like banana bacon cream pie and Hawaiian-style kettle corn. (According to 2 of the boys, this joint also features the best burgers they have ever had.) The menu is designed for sharing, and food is served on hipster-rific vintage-y plates. Instead of a traditional place setting, silverware sits on each table in metal picnic-style caddies. When the check comes, it's tucked inside a vintage greeting card with a random message, sometimes even with a personal note from the card's original sender. (This time, we got "It's your bar mitzvah!" No note.)

Full and happy, we made our way back home to crash for the night. Randal and Ginny had to head back to NYC the next morning, but Eran stayed a little longer. We decided to venture out to the Getty Villa, which we'd heard good things about.

Built by oil magnate J. Paul Getty to house his burgeoning collection of classical Greek and Roman art (I mean, I know my house is simply overflowing with my collection of ancient art), the Getta Villa is quite the sight to behold. The building itself is modeled on a villa in Herculaneum, which was buried in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. The original villa has been partially excavated, and details that could not be copied from that site were modeled on similar period structures from the area.

The idea is that visitors will view the classic works of art as they stroll through a building of the same period. The museum is free (though parking is not). I imagined myself lacing up my leather sandals and perusing the gardens in some kind of light, summery tunic.

In the large gardens, I sat by the calming blue pool and appreciated the cheerful statues of reveling satyrs.

Finally, I imagined myself popping out to the herb garden to pick some fruit or seasoning for a meal. I wish these gardens were really mine, so I could pick some of this fresh-smelling lavender for the table:

The herb garden made us hungry. Thanks to the magic of the iPhone and Yelp (which snapped me out of my ancient Roman fantasy and back into reality), we stumbled upon a low-key seafood joint right on the water in nearby Malibu. Right next to our table, we watched the waves crash against the rocks and saw pelicans dive-bombing for fish.

We bid farewell to Eran on Tuesday. Then, instead of collapsing, we kept our energy up just long enough to make it to a movie-theater screening of Stephen Sondheim's Company, starring my favorite singer/dancer/actor triple-threat, Neil Patrick Harris.

All in all, it was so nice to have our friends here. Seeing them is one thing we really miss about NY. Plus, showing people around really made me feel like I live here, and I got to discover some new things, too. Come back soon to read more about our California adventures. (There's more to post, and we'll post posthaste!)