Where is Los Angeles?

Well, we have been quite the busy bees with work and friends' visits and (work-related) travel! I hope to get some more pictures up in this space soon, but I had to show you what's now hanging by my desk: A hilarious postcard from Hold the Mustard Productions. Check them out, because all of their postcards cracked me up. This one perfectly summed up the continual confusion I expressed while apartment-hunting:

An excerpt from the text below the picture...

Strange But True: Another common-but-rarely-talked-about tourist probelm is the inability to actually locate the 2nd largest "city" in the U.S.A. The confusion is mostly caused by the fact that once you get close to it you discover that it's really a lot of little places trying to pass themselves off as one big one...If all else fails, it is good to remember that the Pacific Ocean is almost always Southwest of you & going to the beach instead is likely your best bet.

This was just too perfect. Whenever we'd schedule an apartment viewing in a new neighborhood, my questions would start: "So, Culver City...is that 'L.A.'? Is it like a borough? Like, the Queens of L.A. or just 'L.A.'? What's considered 'the city'?

To help us learn where Los Angeles is and isn't, this handy Ork Poster hangs in our kitchen:

I think I'm starting to get it...but most of the time I do give up and go to the beach instead.

Just one shout-out before I wrap up: I got the postcard at Small World Books, my favorite hippie bookstore in Venice (which you may remember from my gushing review). I just love that joint. It's tiny and tucked away, but everything on the shelves is clearly curated by people who love books...and other fun, unique, artsy things, too. Plus, you can pet their bookstore cat, Conan the Librarian, as you browse.

The world is small like that.

We're slowly starting to add a few more things to the apartment. It's fully functional, but some things could function better. For example, we realized that we really could use a small bookshelf in the study to help keep work files organized and accessible. We found the perfect candidate on craigslist and went to pick it up last night.

The person we bought it from is moving to New York with his fiancé and is still going to be freelancing for his current LA employer from afar. How strange that he is making my move—in reverse! The world is small (and weird) like that.

Viva Las Vegas: Part 2

After a very busy Saturday, we woke up on Sunday, got some coffee, and headed off to the Hoover Dam. We were shocked to feel actual rain that morning, but were grateful that temp had cooled all the way to 92.

The dam was amazing. Both of us spent our time in the mini-museum just imagining the lives of the brave people who flocked to the dam for work during the Depression. I also marveled at the fact that it was completed about 2 years ahead of schedule—that has to be the first (and last) time in history that a construction project was completed early, right??

From the museum building, I looked down and got a peek at what we were in for. It was freaky.

Since I know you're dying to ask: Yes, we did take the dam tour. We took the whole dam tour and Chris couldn't stop making dam jokes. ;) The tour actually takes you INSIDE the dam. You go down this tiny tunnel (it pays to be short in this case!) and can look out at the water from one of the vents on the front of the dam.

When we resurfaced after the tour, we found our state represented in front of the monument by the dam. The American flag flies here, in memory of those who died during the construction.

The dam is still functioning, and even the beautiful floors inside are original to the construction. The whole experience made me think of that saying: "They don't make 'em like that anymore."

My favorite part of the experience was actually not an official part of the tour. It was a teenage tourist (Indian, we think), who was excitedly asking intelligent questions of every single guide and docent in sight. He clearly knew a lot about engineering; probably more than the guides. We heard him thank one guide for answering his questions, and then he enthusiastically told the man that it was his dream to see the Hoover Dam. Still warms my heart days later.

Finally, as must all good things, our time at the dam came to an end. We drove off into the sunset (and into Labor Day traffic). The desert was beautiful at night.

We basically collapsed of exhaustion when we got home, but don't worry, Vegas...we'll be back.

Viva Las Vegas: Part 1

Apparently this is a summer of travel. As Fabio from Top Chef would say: "I love it!" This past weekend, Chris and I took a road trip to Las Vegas for his 10-year high school reunion. Many of his international school classmates now live in the US, so it was a fun place to meet up. Here are some highlights from the first part of our trip...

As we drove through the desert, it started to get hot.I took a trillion pictures from the car because I'd never seen desert before. Some parts featured scrubby little trees, while others were just vast stretches of sand.It kept getting hotter.Before long, the Vegas strip came into sight! The Paris was one of the first casinos we drove by.We stayed at the Luxor with the reunion group. This hotel is shaped like a pyramid and features crazy Egyptian-style statues, including a giant sphinx out front. Neither Chris nor I had ever been to Vegas, but something about this joint looked very familiar. I think this hotel must have been featured on Wheel of Fortune when I was a kid. (I also kept feeling inspired to say things in game-show announcer voice: "Today's prize is a trip to fabulous Las Vegas! You'll be staying at the famous Luxor resort. Take a ride on the Inclinator. Enjoy a cocktail at the luxurious Oasis pool!")The first night, I did my first-ever gambling. (Well, if you don't count playing poker for Bugles snacks on camping trips with my neighbors as a kid.) We came out ahead $27 on the slots! We packed the next day as full as possible. We hit the pool as they day heated up. Then, just as I was wondering if it could possibly get any hotter, the car told me the answer.As we headed out for the day, I took a shot of New York, New York. (Hey, we're not that far away after all!)

From there, we scoped out Old Vegas. Next time we'll go at night to see these awesome signs lit up. It is really nice during the day, though—much lower-key than the strip. Plus it's covered and they have some kind of fan system set up under the big archway. There's a zipline that stretches down the whole little promenade, so as we were walking, people were flying by overhead.We moved on to Sigfried and Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat at the Mirage. Obviously, I was incredibly happy here. We saw 2 baby dolphins, and these older dolphins loved hanging out by the window!There were also lions, tigers, and leopards. The lions were especially close to us! I even caught them doing an affectionate head butt.

We checked out the inside of some other casinos during the day. It was so cool to see the different themes inside each one.

Before I go on, I have two words of advice to Vegas visitors: Buy water. For some reason, there are stores and cocktails everywhere, but water is hard to come by. And by the time you realize you're thirsty in the dry heat, you're practically ready to pass out. I tried filling my Earthlust bottle from the tap, but the water was really, really icky (seriously, we were later told that unfiltered Vegas water will eventually give you kidney stones) and warmed up so fast. So if you see water, buy some.

At night, the temp cooled and we walked down the strip. We made it to the Bellagio just in time to see the dancing fountains. (I was too absorbed in the outdoor shows we watched that I forgot to take pictures. Here's a nice HD video of one of the songs we saw.) I loved this part. I love that someone even thought of this, and I love that they actually went ahead and built it. Since I didn't catch the outside, here are some of the tiny leaping fountains we saw during the day.

After the fountain show, we hauled our tired legs back down the strip to the Luxor and geared up for Part 2 of our road trip. Stay tuned...!

Los Angeles, the Land of Outdoor Movies

One of my favorite things about LA so far is that there are so many opportunities to be outside, even in the evening. Outdoor movie screenings are especially awesome. So far, we have hit a grand summer total of 2 outdoor movies and 1 outdoor play.

A while ago, we watched Young Frankenstein at the Hollywood Forever cemetery. (Yup, INSIDE the cemetery! They project the movie onto the side of a mausoleum. I had my vampire-slaying skills at the ready, but they were not needed.)
Luckily, we had friends on the inside to tell us important tips for this event: get there early, bring snacks, bring games, bring layers. They also inspired us to get the exact same backpack chairs they're sporting in this pic.
We later toted our backpack chairs to this Outdoor Cinema Food Fest in Beverly Hills. This time we saw Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark. It took place in a baseball field with a huge inflatable movie screen.

Before the movie, we all got dinner (and then dessert!) from various food trucks stationed around the edge of the field. (Chris already has a post planned on food trucks, so I don't want to steal his thunder.) I got chickpea sliders from this truck.

One thing I didn't expect: It became SO. COLD. at night. LA is deceptive like that. For the Young Frankenstein screening, I had enough layers (flannel shirt plus hoodie). My face and hands were chilly, but that was okay. This time, my sweatshirt was not nearly enough. I plan to attend plenty of these, but next time I'm seriously considering long johns and a ski hat. If that happens, I promise to post a picture of me wearing full winter gear in Los Angeles for your amusement.

Day and night

The East Side of Los Angeles on a Sunny Day from clark vogeler on Vimeo.

LA Light from Colin Rich on Vimeo.

(HT: The Daily Dish).

California Kills

I know, I know, from these posts, you'd think that California is all sunshine and lollipops. But let me tell you a secret. In California, deadly things lurk at every turn. I know this because I just confronted my first poisonous spider: a brown widow.

I failed to take a good picture of this beaut' because I was only willing to view it through the balcony's sliding door. However, it had a telltale orange splotch on its belly. (Was it an hourglass, exactly? I wasn't close enough to see, but what else has an orange splotch on its belly??) It had created a web stretching from the side of our camellia planter to the balcony wall. For hours, it just hung there, upside-down, giving me a good, long look at its belly.

I hate killing things, but this sucker had to go. Sorry, spider. I can be deadly, too. (OK, I'm being a bit unfair to the brown widow. Apparently their bites are rarely deadly.)

I have also been watching Shark Week on iTunes, where I learned that great white sharks are coming closer to shore than ever before. Tagged sharks were even traced to one of their favorite local hangout spots—right under the Santa Monica pier!

And don't even get me started on mountain lions, rattlesnakes, and everything else that can kill you on a hike.

Now, I know that these species are all largely misunderstood and that probably 99% of the time, deadly encounters are either very unfortunate mistakes or human-incited (shark thinks you're a seal; you stepped too close to a snake's hideout). But...they can still KILL you. So could a rabid subway rat, I guess, or a diseased pigeon, but this is a pretty big wildlife shift from the sights of old NYC.

image credits: shark, mountain lion