We left Voyager RV Resort in Tucson on Monday, March 14th, in the words of Arlo Guthrie – “Heading into Los Angeles, carrying a couple of Puppies”. All our ‘hood friends waved goodbye to us, and we headed up Interstate 10. We took the Interstate 8/Arizona 85 – Phoenix bypass, thru Gila Bend, AZ, (only 8 miles longer) to avoid Phoenix traffic. Per our usual practice, we were so involved in unhooking and buttoning down the rig for travel that we didn’t eat breakfast, so by Gila Bend we were starving. The Pilot had great croissant breakfast sandwiches to sustain us. We arrived in Ehrenberg, AZ, just after 2:00 PM at The Palms at Rivers Edge RV Park, right on the Colorado River, the AZ/CA border. We bought gas at the Flying J ($4.59 per gallon). You always fill up before going into California because it is always more expensive there. This was a nice little RV park, with a boat dock and beach right on the river.
On Tuesday, March 15th, we continued on into California. The first 90 miles, on Interstate 10 is totally desert, with a climb up the Chiriaco Summit. Again, we missed breakfast, so stopped for lunch in Coachella at the Love’s Travel Center. The breakfast sandwiches didn’t look as appealing, so we ate at Carl’s Jr. – yum a Guacamole Burger – tasted great, but messed up the weight readings for two days. We passed thru Palm Springs and the windmill farm, then arrived in the LA Basin, thru Riverside and into LA. The traffic got heavier with lots of trucks. We had been fortunate to avoid large cities on most of our travels, but not this time. We arrived at Dockweiler RV Park at Dockweiler State Beach about 2:30 PM. The RV Park is a parking lot, but we are on the first row, looking out at the beach. We are about 5-6 blocks from the end of the runway at LAX airport and have jets taking off over our heads and heading out over the ocean. Noisy, but entertaining.
The Marvin Braude Bike Trail (https://www.traillink.com/trail/marvin-braude-bike-trail/), a 22-mile paved bicycle path that runs along the Los Angeles County coastline, from the northern terminus at Will Rogers State Beach, in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, to the southern terminus at Torrance County Beach in Torrance, is right in front of us. Provides some great people watching. To protect the RV Park from winter storms, the LA Beaches & Harbor admin creates a large sand berm between the ocean and the bike path. It is still here, but should be plowed down soon for summer.
We got our campsite set up and went to have takeout Vietnamese food with Brenna and Greg at their condo in Culver City, about 7 miles away. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our grandson, name yet to be determined. Brenna, our daughter is due on Friday the 18th, but the baby does not appear to be in any hurry.
We did meet RV Park neighbors, Tony and Alisha, who are also expecting a grandson in Sacramento. They are almost retired – Tony retires in June from Northrop Grumman Corp in El Segundo (the same Northrop Grumman that Walt and Martha work for in Baltimore in 1995-1997). They sold their house in San Juan Capistrano (about 50 miles south) and bought a Newmar Dutch Star motorhome to go full time.
We rode the Bike Path on Wednesday, March 16th, south from Dockweiler for 6 miles thru Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach to Redondo Beach and then returned, another 6 miles. Great path with many other people out walking, biking & playing beach volleyball. Tony & Alisha’s grandson was born today after about 23 hours of labor.
We became LA tourists on Thursday, March 17th. NO we did not purchase a map to the movie stars homes (Walt’s running joke), but went to the Griffith Park Observatory – great views of LA and drove Mullholland Drive along the top of the Hollywood Hills, from the Hollywood Bowl to Interstate 405. We thought about driving up Sunset Blvd and back on Hollywood Blvd, but we needed to get back to the motorhome to walk the dogs. We drove back via Santa Monica and Venice. We plan to return there to walk on the Santa Monica pier and along the Venice Beach promenade. We again ate dinner with Brenna and Greg (venison burgers). They are big into organic and natural foods. They don’t buy meat, but eat a lot of venison and feral pig. They go to Texas in late fall and over Christmas to hunt, butcher and prepare all this meat. Greg’s Phd. advisor, from the University of Texas, owns a ranch in the Texas hill country. They go there in November and to a Nature Conservancy reserve in west Texas over Christmas.
Walt rode the Bike Path again on Friday, March 18th, from Dockweiler all the way north to the Santa Monica Pier (about 10 miles out and back). The ride along the Playa del Rey beach, thru Venice Beach and Santa Monica was great. Following the path around Marina del Rey was a bit complicated. Walt missed one turn and rode out the Ballone (pronounced BaYone) Creek bikepath a ways before backtracking. The route around the marina takes you on two streets including Washington Blvd which is very busy, although you do have a dedicated bike lane. This was Brenna’s due date, but the baby is not ready. They think it might be the 22nd (Tuesday) or so. With his delayed arrival, we have extended our stay in LA from April 1st to April 5th. It means that we’ll only have 3 days instead of 7 days in Santa Cruz, but there are priorities.
On Saturday, March 19th, we went to Descanso Gardens in Pasadena with Brenna and Greg – https://www.descansogardens.org/. This is a private garden with multiple “forests” and gardens; an Ancient Forest with redwoods and ferns, a Camilla Forest, a Japanese Teagarden, a Tulip Garden and several ponds. Greg has done some coordination with this garden and plans to do more with reestablishing a native turtle population. Afterward, we went out to dinner at Maestro Mexican Grill (https://www.maestropasadena.com/) in Pasedena to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Great food on the patio.
We joined Brenna on her weekly shopping visit to the Mar Vista Farmer’s Market (http://www.marvistafarmersmarket.org/) on Sunday, March 20th. The market is off Venice Boulevard and covers over two blocks of Grandview Blvd. We enjoyed Venezuelan Arepas, Poffertjes (Dutch mini pancakes) and crepes, and bought produce, bread, cheese and pickles.
Walt went to do wash in El Segundo on Monday, March 21st. While waiting on the laundry, he had a California Burrito at La Paz Restaurant (https://www.lapazmexicanrestaurant.com/). A California Burrito contains Carne asada, french fries, pico de gallo & cheese. Interesting with little French fries inside. He then went wetsuit shopping. He had been thinking about getting a wetsuit for the past year. The plan would be to use it while swimming in Colorado next summer (lake temperatures range from high ‘50’s in May to low ‘70’s in August). He had tried on a 3XXX suit before, but at 288 lbs it did not fit. Now at 260 lbs, he was ready to try again. First stop was REI on Rosecrans in Manhattan Beach, but they did not have any. At the REI Garage Sales store, two stores down (they sell used and returned equipment) they had wetsuits, but all too small. He tried Spyder Surf Shop on Pacific Coast Highway, but they didn’t have any big enough. The sales clerk said that his father was big, like Walt, and had to buy online as surf shops would not carry any wetsuits big enough. He said that his father found it a big pain to do so. Walt then visited ET Surf Shop on Aviation in Manhattan Beach. They had lots of suits but only up to 2XX. Walt tried one on and really struggled to get his arms into it. Getting it off was even more comical. He feared that he may be trapped in the suit for life. At that point, he retreated to try again another day.
Walt, Martha & Brenna visited the Santa Monica Pier on Tuesday, March 22nd. We learned that the pier was built in 1909. It ran into disrepair in the 1980’s and was almost torn down. It was a very interesting people watching opportunity. We ate lunch at the Flower Child restaurant in Santa Monica (https://www.iamaflowerchild.com/locations/santa-monica-ca/).
Rebecca arrived from Washington, DC, on Wednesday, March 23rd to visit. That evening we picked up Thai food at Ayara in Culver City (https://ayarathai.com/#home) and ate with Brenna and Greg.
Our grandson has not yet arrived, so Brenna’s physician determined that they should induce her labor on Thursday, March 24th. At age 38, they did not want her to go any longer than a week past her original due date (3/18). She and Greg went to the hospital at 4:00 PM to start this arduous process.
Walt and Rebecca cycled on the Marvin Braude bike path, from Dockweiler south all the way to Torrance Beach, just over 9 miles one way. The pier at Redondo Beach was really nice (https://redondopier.com/).
On Friday, March 25th, our grandson, Owen Nicholas Vredeveld Pauly arrived at 10:02 AM. He was 7 lbs. 15 oz. and 19 inches long. Owen is a name that Brenna and Greg liked, and Nicholas comes from Walt’s dad, Nicholas Gene Vredeveld, although he goes by Gene. Brenna, Greg & Owen will stay in the hospital until Sunday, getting tips from the health care providers and getting accustomed to Owen in their lives.
Walt and Rebecca took the opportunity to hike to the Hollywood sign from Griffith Park. We weren’t sure the best trail to take and ended up “going around our elbow to get to our hand”. We climbed up from the Observatory Charlie Turner trail, that was really a dirt road, but very steep. We had great views at Dante’s View, then summited Mount Hollywood. Unfortunately, we then gave up much of our altitude gain and moved farther north that we wanted to. We eventually met the Mount Hollywood Road, paved but closed to cars (the route that we should have originally taken). We took another dirt road to the west, but missed the turn to the Mount Chapel trail, ending up going around the back side (north) of Mount Chapel rather than the front (south), leaving us with a “bushwack” (there was a trail but not a very nice one) to the Mount Lee Road. This paved road, closed to cars was very steep, but ended up on the backside of the sign. Total distance was about four and a half miles. The views were great of the LA Basin to the south and the San Fernando Valley to the north. We could see Glendale and Burbank to the north, including the Warner Brothers Studio and to the south, downtown LA, Hollywood, Westwood, Santa Monica and much more. There was fog on the ocean most of the day so that was obscured. We returned down Mount Lee Road (very steep going down), the Mount Chapel Trail, then the Mount Hollywood Road, a distance of 3.4 miles, so almost 8 miles total. Walt was exhausted and ended up losing like 4 pounds.
Martha & Walt went to Brenna & Greg’s condo on Saturday, March 26th to let their contractor take inspection pictures of their renovation. This renovation took many months and was difficult for them, but it is now finished and they are pleased with the final result. We returned to the motorhome and relaxed for a couple of hours, then went to cruise Sunset Blvd. We saw many iconic LA sites including the Comedy Store, the Sunset Strip & Sunset & Vine. We meant to also cruise Hollywood Blvd, but opted instead to go to Costco to get some ready to eat meals for Brenna and Greg when they return from the hospital on Sunday.
Walt picked up Michael from the airport on Sunday, March 27th. He flew on a 6:00 AM Spirit Airlines direct flight from Atlanta. He had worked Saturday night and was hungry and tired when he arrived. Brenna, Greg & Owen are returning home from the hospital today. We are all very eager to meet our grandson (Martha & Walt)/nephew (Rebecca & Mike). We spent the afternoon meeting our new grandson and nephew, Owen.
Albert Hammond (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gmq4WIjQxp0 – In Never Rains In Southern California – 1972), led us to believe that it doesn’t rain here, but on this day “It pours, man, it pours”. Just total downpours most of the day so on Monday, March 28th, so we went to the LA Museum of Natural History (https://nhm.org/), where Greg works. The museum is just across the street from the University of Southern California (USC) and in the shadow of the LA Coliseum (1st Super Bowl, 1932 & 1984 Olympics & USC Football). The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is the largest natural and historical museum in the western United States. Its collections include nearly 35 million specimens and artifacts and cover 4.5 billion years of history. The NHM opened in Exposition Park, Los Angeles, California, United States in 1913 as The Museum of History, Science, and Art and is housed in a distinctive main building with fitted marble walls and domed and colonnaded rotunda, is on The National Register of Historic Places. We enjoyed the detailed dioramas and the exhibits on mammals and dinosaurs. The museum is about 40% funded by the county and has a substantial endowment, though it pales in comparison to that of the Natural History Museum in New York. We saw much of the museum, but a thorough tour would take days.
We ate lunch at the Bird’s Nest Café on Vermont Avenue (https://www.birdsnestla.com/), and then returned to Brenna and Greg’s condo to spend time with Owen.
On Tuesday, March 29th, Walt, Rebecca and Michael had breakfast at Playa Provisions in Playa del Rey (https://www.playaprovisions.com/). Great breakfast sandwiches and cappuccino. This restaurant is owned by Top Chef Winner Brooke Williamson and husband Nick Roberts. We were expecting an RV Technician to see about issues with our main cabin air conditioner/heat pump and our propane heater, so Martha stayed back to await him. We did bring her a sandwich.
While Martha was working with the RV Technician, Walt, Rebecca and Michael drove to the Getty Center (https://www.getty.edu/) on the slope of the Santa Monica mountains, next to the 405 freeway cut (from LA to the San Fernando Valley). The Getty Center is a program of the Getty Trust. The $1.3 billion Center opened to the public in 1997 and is well known for its architecture, gardens, and views overlooking Los Angeles. The Center sits atop a hill connected to a visitors’ parking garage at the bottom of the hill by a three-car, cable-pulled hovertrain people mover. The genesis of the Getty collections was the art collection of oilman J. Paul Getty, once the richest man in the world. The exhibits are quite compelling, but the real show is the architecture and the gardens. The Getty is free ($20 parking in a 7 floor garage that descends from ground level) and a great place to visit.
The RV Technician was able to fix the propane heater (a loose connection) and thinks the AC/Heat Pump needs a new starter relay. He ordered the parts and plans to return Thursday to install.
Martha, Walt, Rebecca and Michael went to Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City on Wednesday, March 30th, for a Studio Tour. The studio is about 2 miles from Brenna and Greg’s condo. Founded in 1912, the facility houses Sony’s film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, TriStar Pictures, and Screen Gems. The complex was the original studios of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1924 to 1986 and Lorimar-Telepictures from 1986 to 1989. An enormous number of productions have been filmed here, including the great MGM films The Wizard of Oz and Singing in the Rain to Ghostbusters and The Three Stooges.
We returned to Brenna & Greg’s condo to be with Owen, then Walt took Michael to LAX for his flight back to Atlanta.
Walt took Rebecca to LAX at 5:30 AM on Thursday, March 31st, for her return flight to Washington, DC. The RV Technician returned to replace the start relay in the heat pump. We hope that solves the problem. We returned to Brenna & Greg’s condo to spend time with Owen. It is so nice to hold him while he sleeps Of course, if he starts to cry or needs a changing, we are quick to pass him back to his parents.
On Friday, April 1st, both Walt and Martha rode their bikes out past the Santa Monica Pier and onto Venice Beach There were lots of interesting sites and people to see on the 22 mile ride.
Because we extended our stay at Dockweiler, we had to change RV sites on Saturday, April 2nd. Instead of being right on the beach, we were one row back. However, due to lingering COVID regulations, the park was only renting every other site off the beach. This gave us more room to spread out and erect the dog’s pen. If we return, we think we would stay on this row.
We visited the Mar Vista Farmer’s Market with Brenna again on Sunday, April 3rd, then went to spend time with Owen.
Brenna, Greg & Owen came to the RV park on Monday, April 4th, to visit. We walked on the beach, ate dinner together and watch some people take a nap.