My Trip to California: Non-Knitting Stuff

The Wildfiber pictures and other knitting stuff will come later.

For now, here's a look at my trip to California to see Jules. I've linked to some of the pictures to keep the post from being ridiculous.

I arrived at the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank. The airport was like none I'd never been to. We got out on the tarmac. The baggage claim was outside. Luckily I found Jules quickly and my luggage without too many problems.

We took the train to the valley. In fact, we took public transportation and cabs the whole time. I regret not getting a picture of an extension bus with an accordion thingy in the middle. I asked Jules what the accordion was for.

Jules: You haven't seen an extension bus before.
Me: No. What's the accordion for?
Jules: To fit more people.
Me: But what about the accordion?
Jules: To connect the two buses.
Me: But why is it an accordion.
(continues like this for a while)
Jules: To fit more people.
Me:(Thoroughly confused) Does the bus expand?

Jules is still teasing me about this. But he didn't answer my question the first ten times.

BTW - The accordion is there to make it easier to turn corners.

After checking in at the motel, we went to A Major Knitwork. They were closed, and there's a whole story about that for another day. We had time to spare, so we went to Sepulveda Basin, where Jules likes to hang out.

After that we had dinner with his Mom at an Asian buffet. I'm kicking myself for not getting a picture of her. But I did a picture of Jules' apartment complex.


The next day we took the subway to Santa Monica. We went to Wildfiber, and that will get its own post later.

Then we went to the Santa Monica Pier and visited Pacific Park.

We stopped by the arcade, where Jules won the jackpot in a coin game.

100 tickets don't go very far. He got a glider. I had enough for a plastic necklace and a eraser (and this was after Jules gave me a few of his.)

Of course, our main goal was to ride the Ferris Wheel. We'd been dreaming of riding it together for a while now. Here's the view over the side.

After we got off the Ferris Wheel, we walked to the very end of the pier, and took the best picture of the whole trip.


We went to Venice Beach for a little while after Santa Monica, but it was getting late. We decided to come back the next day when we had more time.

The next day we took the same train, and it stopped in Hollywood again. This time we had a little more time to look around.

We spent the most time in front of the Chinese Theater, taking pictures of the stars' hand prints. I took this one with Stacy in mind.

I also stood in Adam Sandler's shoes and stomped on Donald Trump's star on the walk of fame. (I don't like Donald Trump.)

Then we took another bus and walked through Jules' old neighborhood. We visited the farmer's market Jules visited a lot as a kid. I had what I think was a called a Bourek at Moishe's Village. I also had ice cream.

After lunch we went back to Venice Beach and saw some interesting people. We then went to the drum circle Jules has been telling me about. My camera doesn't have sound, but this video gives you a good idea of what it was like.


Unfortunately they always break it up.

Next we spent some time on the beach.
Jules showed me where the waves break on the rocks.


After that it was back to the boardwalk, where we met Lucho.

Lucho was selling his crafts on the boardwalk. I picked out a few rocks from a pile on a towel and asked him to make pendants out of them. He pulled up a kiddie chair for me and I sat while he got to work wrapping wire. He took a lot of pride in his work. Some of the rocks lent themselves to having little hooks on the bottom. He told me to pick something to hang on the bottom. (I ended up going with the crystals he recommended.) Then I picked out some leather cord to hang them on.

Here are the finished products.

Soon it was time to go back to the motel.

The next morning I had to go back home. But not before we stopped by the apartment, and Jules made me breakfast.

Then I flew home.

You can see all of my pictures from California here. You can also see it as a slide show. (Click in the middle if you want to read the captions.)

More on Wildfiber soon, I promise.