Day 1: LA (again)

Day 1: LA (again)

Yes, THB is back in LA, for a long weekend that includes visiting some favorite spots and sitting in J's LA Philharmonic seats at the Sunday matinee.

Best airport art anywhere

Just to make things more interesting, DB is along this time! We start out taking the exact same Southwest flight from the same gate that THB was on 2 weeks ago.

This time the LA airport car traffic is flowing briskly and we're out of the airport in no time.

Guess Obama is somewhere else today

Unfortunately, that means we're at Dollar rent-a-car where THB gets lobbied to use one of their fancy new video kiosks. So Agent Al starts leading THB through the check-in process. First up: please put in your credit card. No problema. Well, actually there is a problema: on the screen it shows the card sliding in vertically. On the machine, the card will only go in horizontally.

Is it a Nissan Sentra...no USB ports!

Hard to believe, Agent Al cannot see what THB's problem is (THB must the one thousandth person to get confused, and the agent is oblivious). Off-line, DB is doing some reconnoitering and finding out the locals are dealing with different versions of the kiosks....pretty slick implementation: fool everybody all the time!

After going through everything twice, Agent Al then tries to upsell THB by saying that they have a discount going on a more expensive car. Hmmmmm....the more expensive car plus the discount is still more expensive than the car THB has reserved. Maybe Agent Al can't see THB's face. 

THB and DB escape with the car we want, well almost: the guy trying to leave the lot in front of us appears to have decided to do his own upsell and is told to go back and get the size car he has paid for...THB has to now back up (and not, fortunately, over those spikes that are every car rental place).

I can see (cars) for miles and miles...

Off we go, it's about 1pm, and sure enough the 405 freeway (THB lived with a stone's throw of the 405 growing up, as did DB) is at pretty much a dead standstill. Well, it is to be expected, the thing probably only flows early in the morning on major holidays, even though they have upgraded it to have 6 or 7 lanes in each direction.

THB once actually pulled in to this gas station in Santa Monica and put in some gas (desperation). Note: in Phoenix gas is $1.50 a gallon now, so you can pay 4 times the rate here

Good news: Chris Martin (of Coldplay) is not hosting a teenager party today at the communal tables, so we get to sit down

Lunch at our fave Santa Monica spot when tending the parental units: Milo/Olive. Terrific Brussel sprouts salad, mushroom pizza with white sauce (bechamel?), toast (yes, THB ordered TOAST with lunch...$4 and a real treat, fresh from the wood burning oven), and ice tea, $55 total. 

Brussel sprouts salad, partly eated

What you get for $4...and it is excellent!

Do some random investigation of Santa Monica and the traffic isn't bad, the light rail construction appears to be calming down as they near the launch date in May. Phew, now the people in cars can get around!

A light rail station with public art in front

Stop off for a salad to-go and some vino to go with our leftover pizza: THB and DB have been staying out late too many nights in a row, we need a rest-up before dinner out tomorrow and the symphony on Sunday.

We're staying at the W in Westwood (for maybe the 7th or 8th time) and our room isn't ready. Rest up in a shaded cabana at the pool area, there are a lot of guys and no gals. 

We have a very nice set of rooms, one for blogging, one for dining, one for sleeping.

Day 7: Phoenix to E-ville

Day 7: Phoenix to E-ville

THB makes another run to Starbucks, and this time the tour leaders are worried enough that they send re-inforcements as back-up for any stray tour members.

THB and DB and D give the Turrell a second chance, going at least a half hour earlier. We're rewarded with more colors and a much better feel for this installation!

These are in chronological sequence from when we arrived so you can see the progression

Fading out and then growing stronger again

Trot back to the Residence Inn for a breakfast waffle, topped with yogurt and nuts and unfrozen blueberries. Included

These guys yelled at THB to stop walking in between the tracks (caught their attention, they must have stopped tweeting to yell, right?)

"STOP" two different way

Another long-ish ride out to what used to be the far outskirts of town and is now considered just down the freeway: Taliesin West, the winter home of Frank Lloyd Wright for the last 20+ years of his life. 

Unlike the Turrell (well, we were there yesterday), THB and DB remember just about nothing from their first visit to Taliesin West; we think it might have been 34 years ago...who can remember that far back!

The first "residents" were camping! So what is shown here is what got built up over the years to replace the tents and firepits 

A great docent, lots of insights and stories, plenty of rooms/buildings visited, and some interesting artifacts. 

The man himself, probably age 75

Char, the docent

Clare Boothe Luce mosaics

FLW and #3 in camping outfits; she's 31 years younger than hubby

FLW's private bathroom

His bed with a huge bundle board in the middle (one side for napping, the other for night time?)

Wife #3's bedroom (no private bathroom!)

Lego version!

Hey, it's time for lunch and another visit at a collector's house. This is one THB and DB saw many years ago (10?) and some of the important work has been deaccessioned because the house is on the market as the owners are downsizing.

The house is the lower one (the one above was referred to by our host as POS...piece of shit!). 

We think there was a huge Kaneko dongo here; it's been donated since our last visit

Almost 100% ceramics, though THB also sees two pictures he really likes. The OMCA policy is generally no pictures inside the house, and THB is honoring that for the this and the next visit. 

Lunch is selection of sandwiches (THB goes for tuna), a couple of salads (THB goes for the greens and tuna), iced tea, and the largest cookies ever seen; THB and DB share a gluten free chocolate cookie (the size of a large plate) and probably go into some sort of insulin shock. In the collection is work by Satoru Hoshino, we visited his and Kayoko's house/studio in Japan 3 (or 4?) years ago.

The last visit of the day is a short ride away, and this one is a balanced 2D and 3D collection, with a fabulous Butterfield horse inside the house (it's the only one we've seen on the trip, even the Museum of the Southwest didn't have one, which is very unusual).

Probably the largest collection of Arneson's anywhere! And, a terrific garden, so THB has included more flora and fauna shots.

Even though for the last two days the tour is just the OMCA folks, for some reason three of the people from the first two days have somehow merged into our visits (they aren't on the bus with us, they arrive by private car), and the two women make barely any eye contact. When the hostess at the last stop asks if we're from OMCA, they don't speak up. Our group started referring to them as "The Shadows"

Peter Held, our local guide, and The Shadows

Easy ride to the airport, the SWA flight is on time (and full, like just about every domestic flight nowadays).