California Girls

Sorry for the delay in posts. For the past three days we have been in a hotel that does not offer free Wi-Fi and charges you to use the business center. Crazy or what? Now we are in Califronia (not sure where) and are in a Starbucks using the Wi-Fi from the store next door. Anyway, we arrived in LA on Saturday, but we didn't do anything. On the way there we stopped at Sprinkles, a cupcake shop we were going to visit in LA, but they had one in Scottsdale, so we decided to get cupcakes there instead. My mom had a Dark chocolate cupcake and I had a key-lime cupcake. We both thought they were a bit much for our taste. On Saturday, we spent the day touring LA. We got up bright and early (Except it was around noon MN time) and drove to the Getty, a museum that has paintings, sculptures, a glorious view of the city and a garden lush with flowers and trees. We spent a couple hours there then drove to Watts, a neighborhood in the outskirts of the city. A man named Simon Rodia immigrated for Italy as a teenager, and in the forties and fifties built towers in his backyard called the Watts towers. They were made from cement and stuff. Stuff being things like shells, broken plates, 7-Up bottles shards of glass, ect. Later, they built a fence around it and made it available for touring. After our tour there, we drove around LA going back and forth, not sure where we wanted to go (much to our fatigue.) We eventually ended up in Hollywood. We walked for a while on the walk of fame, seeing a few (literally a few) stars that we recognized. You would not believe how long the walk of fame is. We passed by where they film Jimmy Kimmel Live and we walked around the Kodak Theater building. (We didn't actually get to see the theater.) We had no idea that when all the stars walk the red carpet to the theater, they have to pass by all these stores. Apparently, the building doubles as a shopping mall. No kidding. When you first get into the building, there are pillars lining the stairwell with years and the winning motion picture of that year lining down the pillar. If you face one way you see all the awards from the 20th century and the other way you see the 21st. The future years are already on the pillars all the way up to 2066. They really have it all planned out. (Who says the academy is even going to be around for that long?) If you walk for a while through the building, you get to a place with the best view of the Hollywood sign. You could even look through a telescope to get a better view. We had dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen and had some of their famous flavored lemonade. (Or at least famous to a few people out there... hint hint) Afterwords we tried to get to the beach, but we couldn't find a parking spot. Discouraged, and extremely tired, we went back to the hotel. We tried to find a Starbucks to post, but obviously, we didn't find one. The next morning we were in higher spirits for we knew what lay ahead for the day.... Disneyland. We didn't go on that many rides, but all of them were so fun, it didn't matter. Some were...
Pirates of the Caribbean, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (so cute), the Enchanted Tiki Room, Tarzan's Tree House, Mickey's House, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Autopia, Innoventions and Space Mountain. I recommend all of them. The first thing we did was buy me a Mickey hat. (That said "Mara" on it of course.) I had no idea there were so many choices! I didn't know that you could personalize your own hat! But we had to go with the classic one, because... well, you just have to! We didn't get to meet that many characters except for Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore. All of our souvenirs were all Pooh. I got a shirt, a pair of earrings, a pin and a key-chain. We ended the day with a fire-works spectacular which was simply "magic". I had no idea how enchanted the place really was. Each attraction has the power to make you believe. It can make you believe it's midnight, when it's really noon. It can make you believe you're in the middle of a thunderstorm. It can make you believe you're in outer-space. Speaking of which, I have to admit one of the best area was Tomorrowland. (For those of you who don't know, Disneyland is divided into eight sections: Main Street U.S.A, New Orleans Square, Frontierland, Critter Country, Adventureland, Mickey's Toontown, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland.) Tomorrowland was basically like you tumbled into the future. We waited in the longest line ever to get to Space Mountain. Then, when we got inside, there was a malfunction, and we had to wait longer. But when we actually got on the ride, it was all worth it. Zooming through space passing stars at the speed of light. That's what it felt like. We also got to go into a building called Interventions, where you were pretty much in a house from the future. And that's what it was! Soccer you could play with a digital carpet, a kitchen that does what you want when you ask it to, a room that tells a story for you. They could even predict what you would look like in the future! (But it was inaccurate, unless in the future everyone can see their muscles, veins and blood cells through their skins. Creepy!) The most authentic area was Toontown. It was like you were in a cartoon! Everything was big, goofy, and flamboyant. Not much to do, but everything to see. The cutest area was Critter Country. Long lines to meet characters from Winnie the Pooh, and everything was supposed to look like you were in the woods with "critters" and things. (A lot of it looked like the Hundred Acre Wood, in fact.) And last but not least, the area with the best rides was no doubt, Adventureland. Each one was like we were on a different safari mission. (Specifically, Indiana Jones. Pretty frightening as well.) But at the end of the day, we had to go home. We left around 10:30, but it felt like MN time which was 12:30, so we were exhausted. We did pass by the IHOP, but like I said, it was after midnight, so we couldn't stop by. We never went to Disney's California Adventure, not that I had the urge to. Today we drive to Vegas, and tonight we see Ka, the Cirque de Soleil performance.

Desert Life

One of Frank Lloyd Wright's pools

One of the walls of Taleisin West

Cacti

Mara cowering in fear under the fire breathing dragon

A sculpture with the moon shining through

Mara and her pigs

Yellow snake

A bird that was so kind to pose for us.

Gemstones!

Sara as a bat...?

This morning, we went to the Sonora-Desert Museum, which is more like a zoo. It was 112 degrees while we were there, so we really got a taste of desert life. Animals, being rather smart, stay hidden and sleep in that kind of heat, but we did get to see a bear, mountain lion, prairie dog and lots of snakes. On the way to Scottsdale, we stopped at Eva's for an authentic Mexican lunch, or so the sign said. It was quite tasty and our server was Eva. We are staying at the Doubletree resort in Scottsdale. It's very nice with two pools, many fountains, tennis courts, and a putting green. More stuff to do than we have time for. This evening we went to Taleisin West. The winter home of Frank Lloyd Wright for the last 20 years of his life. (In the summer he stayed at Taleisin in Wisconsin.) It is easy to see why he liked it here. The current students are in Wisconsin. We had a very interesting tour with a guide that told us not just about the building, but Wright himself. Mara has made it her life goal to see all of Wrights buildings that are still standing. This building was not only in nature, nature was in it, so we saw a lot of things scurrying around. There was a pack rat that ran into a man's camera as he was trying to take a picture of it. Mara was the one who noticed it at first. We also saw a lizard, rabbit and a kangaroo mouse. Most entertaining. Tomorrow - L.A......;)

City of Rocks, and that is all.

Today, I woke up to the iPod quacking at me. My mom was already up (as usual) and I was not ready to get out of bed. After an un-filling breakfast, we drove near the places we had planned on visiting yesterday before they closed. We went to a small art museum with some cool paintings, and a science museum with... fractals. What are fractals? I'm not sure. They are cool computer generated pattern art. Just look at the picture and you might understand. Apparently it has a lot to do with math. Yuck. Then we spent the rest of the day driving and hanging out at the City of Rocks State Park. It's a large oval area of huge and small rocks everywhere. You can stand under some and look up, and you can climb to the top of the hills and look down at the "city". The rocks look like buildings, hence the name. Not only were the rocks cool, so was everything else. There were beautiful cacti, speedy jack-rabbits, neon-orange-moths, and camouflaged lizards. (Notice my adjective skills, which were taught by Mr. Ford while I was gone!) We couldn't get any pictures of adult jack-rabbits, since they were so fast. We didn't do much after that besides eating, driving, and solving murders before Monk reveals who did it. Incase you were wondering, hotel TVs never have good shows on. We've been continually watching AFV and the occasional Wipeout, both of which I find entertaining, but my mom doesn't. Incase you were wondering. Right now we are in Tucson, (pronounced without the C) and tomorrow we drive to Scottsdale.

Hola New Mexico

Welcome to New MexicoBeware of Snakes!

Today we left Texas behind and headed on to New Mexico. We are staying in Las Cruces tonight. Just south of town is the historic village of Mesilla. We stopped there before heading to our hotel. The town is nice and filled with old adobe buildings, but the shops were full of touristy stuff (other words could also fit). We plan to see a bit more of Las Cruces in the morning and then drive on to Tuscon.

Billy the Kid was arrested here, but he got away...

not sure what happened here

the GPS is chicken

I often wonder, as I'm driving along, if a side trip to some roadside attraction is warranted. How much time will it add to the day (to my driving)? Will the site be interesting or boring? A few days ago, I told my passenger that if I ever asked her if we should make a side trip she should say "NO". I don't remember what prompted my saying that and she does not seem to remember the conversation at all. Today, on our way to Midland, TX (home of George Bush), I had planned to make a side trip to San Angelo. I checked the GPS before leaving Austin, and it said the trip would take over 8 hours. The trip directly to Midland was supposed to be 6 hours. My Google information said 3 hours to San Angelo and another 3 to Midland. I decided to just head to Midland. About half way there, there was a sign to San Angelo that said it was only 60 miles away. I asked my passenger what I should do and she said, "I have no opinion". So we went. The first stop was a restaurant that sounded really good. It served lunch until 2:00 and then closed until 6:00. We got there at 3:30. Second stop was the Chicken Farm Art Center. We were greeted by the owner who told us we could walk through any studios and watch the artists work. He bought a chicken farm about 20 years ago and it gradually turned into a place for artists. He is a ceramic artist and we were able to watch a couple of his assistants throw and glaze bowls. There are usually about a dozen other artists working there, but they were all on a trip to China, so their studios were closed. Bad timing. Like the car art. We did see six cats, and one dog and Mara got to pet two cats, a little taste of home. We are at about 50/50 for our side trips. We'd love to hear your opinion on whether we should continue to explore. The entire trip from Austin to Midland only took about 7 hours with the side trip. I think something is up with the GPS.

Chicken Farm Art Center

owner Roger Allen wrapping my bowl

MN State Fair escapee

Mara and two quarreling kitties

We followed this to freshness and replenished our groceries!

Austin Exploring

Mara hammering art
Mara and the creator of the Cathedral of Art

Junk and Mara

This morning we got up, ready to drive to Austin. We drove a couple hours then stopped at the Magnolia cafe. (Recommended by Daphne!) We both had really good sandwiches. Then we took a look at the gift shop next door. Then we drove to the Yard Dog Folk Art gallery. We saw lots of cool art like bottle cap chairs, paper cut outs and wood cut paintings. We stopped at a couple nearby stores, but didn't buy anything. Then we went to Women and Their Work. It is a gallery devoted to art by women in Texas. It was very small and hardly any work in it, but what they had was nice. (A lot of nudity, though.) One of the most interesting things was a wooden shed, with a pile of wood, nails and a hammer sitting by. They invited you to build onto it. I tried to hammer a nail deeper into the wood, since it was sticking out, but it made a great deal of noise, and some people were eyeing me, so I stopped. We looked in the large gift shop for a while, but didn't buy anything. Again. Last, before finding our hotel, we stopped at the Cathedral of Junk. We pulled up in front of the house, which was purple with.... junk all over the front yard and on the roof. I imagined it was a house filled with junk. After taking a few pictures we saw a woman with a camera leaving the yard, and a man standing behind the fence to the yard. He told us that it was closed, but he let us in anyway. We walked through the fence to his backyard where we saw what looked like at first a giant pile of crap. But no. It was a cathedral made out of crap. A structure made only of random things. Road signs, bikes, shopping carts, dolls, CDs, tires, you name it. There were three levels and about five rooms in the entire thing, but we weren't allowed to see anything above the ground level. He told us that the city government said he had to get a permit to have the cathedral. They already made him tear down some of it. He has been working on it for twenty-one years, and it would be a shame to have to take it down. People come to see it from all over the world, hundreds coming each year. We thanked him for letting us in, wished him luck with the government, and went off to our hotel. After relaxing for a bit, we drove to Iron Works BBQ for dinner. All of their pop was in glass bottles, and all of the bottle caps were in buckets around the restaurant. I stole a bunch for my collection at home. (I'm thinking about making a chair out of them....) We were planning on visiting Amy's Ice-Cream for dessert (Also recommended by Daphne!) but we completely forgot. Maybe on our way out of Austin. Tomorrow: Midland! We really enjoy reading your comments, so if you have anything to say, don't hesitate. If you can't figure out how to comment, send us an email. We also like suggestions!

Art! (in Houston)

Drummer boy on top of museum

Giant Jack

Yard Art

Light Art

Car Art, Museum

Today we drove from New Orleans to Houston, Texas. The only reason we planned on coming to Houston in the first place was to visit the Art Car Museum. We couldn't find the exact location on our GPS, so we found a nearby location, and just decided to search for it. It took us a long time, but we finally found it. (Actually, I, Mara, found the metal, artsy building.) We parked our car at the Citco next door, walked up to the fence surrounding it (quite odd...) and saw a sign hung on the fence. Closed for Installation, it read. Wow. Sad. But don't worry, we had other places to visit. First, we visited the Rothko Chapel. When we first entered the room, it looked... boring. It was a room, surrounded by what seemed to be all black canvases, and rows of brown benches. There were people meditating, looking around, sitting. Then, after sitting for a while, you realized how peaceful it was. And, the black paintings, weren't just black. They were navy, brown, purple and red. After sitting for a while, we drove to a museum which claimed to be the Menil Collection. I thought it was the metal collection. And what's a menil? Not a what, a who. We're pretty sure it was someone who gave all the art for the next two museums we were visiting. I guess. (I still have no idea who he is!) The first museum, wasn't the Menil Collection, frankly I have no idea what it was, but it was cool. The first room was large, and almost empty, with windows on the ceiling, revealing the light blue sky, with perfect clouds. Then if you looked out the front doors, it looked like it was night, because they were tinted black. Along the walls were rainbow colored fluorescent lights. In another room were white lights made into designs. Not as interesting. But we stayed in the rainbow room for a long time. Next we visited the real Menil Collection. It was an odd one. At the entrance, there was a drummer boy sitting on the roof, occasionally tapping at his drum. There were a lot of interesting paintings and sculptures, a lot of boring ancient stuff, and the freaky stuff. When we first walked in the building, we didn't see the fake kid sitting up there, so we weren't prepared for what we were about to see. The first thing was a dead horse. It wasn't a painting, it was a sculpture. It wasn't real, but I sure thought it was. It was just lying on the ground with a sign sticking out of it saying some word we didn't understand. I think it meant "glue". After walking through more paintings and mirrors with pictures in them, we came upon a room with dead bodies in it. It looked just like bodies covered in sheets, curled in different positions. They were made out of white marble. There was also arms sticking out from walls, small suited men lying in bed, and cheese that grew hair. The most startling of all was put in the center of an ancient Egypt blah blah blah exhibit. It was a girl hanging from the wall, tied up and stabbed. Very lifelike. Cheery, huh? While we were leaving, I noticed some ditches in the middle of the lawn. They were twisting into different shapes. It was lawn art! After walking in the lawn art for a while, we walked over to the Byzantine Chapel. It was surrounded by a lovely moat and a mini waterfall. On the inside were clear, thick, plexiglass panels and frescos that came over from the ground to the ceiling. Around it were pictures of God, Jesus, and other lord-y stuff. It was pretty, though. All of these museums and chapels were surrounding a park where there were lots of people doing lots of things. People sitting in trees, playing ball, doing yoga and people doing karate like stuff with bendy poles. I really have no idea what that one karate person was doing. We stopped by a book store and visited a giant jack. Then we drove to our Super 8 where I am only allowed to go to the pool after I finish this post. So excuse me, but I must go swim. And visit our past two posts filled with Graceland and New Orleans pictures!