Friday, July 16, 2021

L.A. And Pasadena

 It's now Friday morning, at 7:31. Just got up, as I had a terribly restless night. Here's a quick synopsis of our mini-vacay, Ellen and me, which had some blips, but overall, was lots fun:

Tuesday: El picked me up later then we had planned because her car had a problem, which had to be fixed first. We were afraid we wouldn't get to L.A in time for our reservations on the Hollywood tour bus, but we did, and that was fun. It was an open air bus, lots of festive people aboard, and we went up, up, up Mulholland Drive in Beverly Hills--scary, but beautiful. From there, we drove to Pasadena and the motel and settled in. Early dinner, as we hadn't had time for lunch. Went to Stone Fire Grille, of all places. 

Wednesday: Went early to the fabulous Huntington Gardens and greatly enjoyed it. However, it's huge and it was 88 degrees out, so even I got tired after half a day there. Had a bite and its outdoor cafe and I companied mine with a Mimosa. Went back to the motel, put on our suits, and swam in the pool. Showered and dressed, then went to dinner at MiPlace, where El had reservations. Nice place, but boy, expensive: El had a salad and pizza, I had raw oysters and a glass of Chardonnay and the bill (with tip) totaled ninety bucks and change. No matter, we had great time.

Thursday: Packed up the car, left the motel, and had breakfast at a nearby Denny's, then went to the Norton Simon Museum, where we had reservations. We both loved this, not only the indoor art (Monet, Picasso, Gauguin, Degas, and many others), but the outdoor gardens, with sculptures. We had to leave there without seeing all of it (we'll come back later, I hope) because we had reservations at the Gamble House for 2:45. This is a wonderful--and huge--Craftsman style estate that was built, of course, by the Procter & Gamble Gambles and not my niece, Carolyn's, husband, I'm sorry to say.  I want to read a bit more on the Gambles soon.

Left there about 4:30 and, as we were driving back to Ventura, Greg called and suggested we three meet at Steven's Greek restaurant on Main Street. We did, had a great time at dinner, then Greg drove back to Ojai, El drove me home, and we said goodbye after a wonderful mother/daughter sojourn. 

Now I have to get ready for T.O.P.S., as Lora will pick me up in a half hour.



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