San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad

The NEW (2004) Honda Pilot

LA Story - Day Six

LA Story - Day Five

May 14, 2006
Mother's Day

Esteban was very involved with the Catholic Community on the USC campus and participated in the praise band with other amazingly talented musicians. The University parish had lost their beloved priest and mentor during the year (moved to another assignment) and a lot of people were not too fond of the replacement priest. So, most everyone had designated this particular Sunday to be "The Last Mass". Esteban and many others will be moving to different parishes in the area. It was also a homecoming event as several past members of the praise band were also on hand to celebrate. They celebrated with mimosa's in the foyer before the service started and sang songs they knew Father Lawrence didn't like.

So, most everyone who knows me, knows that I'm pretty liberal in my views of religions. One thing that really ticks me off is going to a Catholic Mass and being excluded from communion. Esteban & I have had several discussions on this issue and we both agree that communion should be open to all who believe and live a life of faith. So, when it came time for communion, I took my place in line and partook of the sacrament. Lightening didn't strike me down so God must have been OK with it. I was never NOT going to participate because communion is an important part of my faith and Esteban later said that he was really hoping I would do it. Gram did not participate in communion and we never talked about it aferwards. I wonder what she thought???

This Sunday also happened to be Mother's Day. Father Bill (the beloved ex-priest) prepared a wonderful Mother's Day lunch for everyone back at Esteban's house following "The Last Mass" and again, there were muchas margaritas. I think that these people will use ANY excuse to have a party! It was a melancholy day for me. I was glad to be in Los Angeles with Esteban, my Gram and my aunt but; I desperately missed my mom, husband and son on that day more than any other. I spent some time alone upstairs looking at photos, missing them and talking to them on the phone.

One of the funny things that I will remember about this trip is my aunt's crazy addiction to CNN. She would watch it constantly and swore that she couldn't sleep at night without having it on (all night). I gave her such a hard time about it. She got me back, though, because everytime she saw me in front of the TV, I was watching a baseball game. So, she started giving me grief about my baseball games. OK, point taken...but really, can you compare baseball to CNN??

We drove by the Coliseum on our first day in LA and I had a great photo...of my camera strap. UGH! So, we never got a chance for a make up drive-by photo and I had to settle for a postcard. This postcard shows the USC campus and downtown LA. My sense of direction was so completely messed up that I don't even know where Esteban's house is in relation to this shot. (Help me out bro!)

LA Story - Day Four

May 13, 2006

So, when Esteban said he was going to take us to "see" a lot of Los Angeles landmarks, he wasn't joking. We did "see" a lot...from the window as we drove by.

We slept in on Saturday morning and then decided to start the tourist part of our trip. First we went to Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles in West L.A. (also known as Korea-Town). It was an interesting neighborhood and I was intriqued by the menu. Since I'm not a fan of fried chicken, I could not wrap my mind around mixing fried chicken and waffles with syrup. I simply could not muster the courage and so, I had waffles sans chicken. I'm told it's a tasty combination but, you won't hear it from me.

Esteban & Gram at Roscoe's

We headed to Figueroa Street and to downtown Los Angeles where we turned west on Wilshire Boulevard. Our mission - travel Wilshire to Santa Monica Beach.

Downtown LA traveling north on Figueroa

We drove by MacArthur Park and I could hear Donna Summer singing in my head, "someone left the cake out in the rain". One would assume that this park is named after General Douglas MacArthur, and it is.

MacArthur Park

So, then, one would also assume that the statue at the northwest end of the park would honor General MarArthur. Not so...I hopped out of the car to snap a photo of General Harrison Gray Otis. General Otis was the publisher of the Los Angeles Times. (Huge let down!) There is, apparently, a statue or monument in the park somewhere that honors General MacArthur but we did not drive by that section of the park.

General Harrison Gray Otis

Next we ventured off of Wilshire Blvd and drove through Hancock Park. We saw beautiful homes with perfectly manicured landscaping. Esteban, Wanda & Gram raved about the many different types of flowers, trees, shrubs, etc. I had no clue...I do know what roses look like and I did see lots of those and they were awesome!

The "June Gloom" burned off enough that we could actually see the HOLLYWOOD sign from this Hollywood neighborhood.

Hollywood sign

Fate had us on Santa Monica Boulevard and we drove by the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. In a sick, twisted way, I love cemeteries and I was able to convince everyone to stop for a few minutes. (I think Wanda agreed because she wanted to smoke...hee hee!) We also saw advertising for The Haunted Hollywood Tour that visits famous sites of celebrity murder, mystery, scandal and death. I would TOTALLY love to do that tour (again, sick and twisted) but I knew I couldn't talk everyone else into it this time. It's definitely on my list for my next visit to LA.

Mel Blanc tombstone

Fay Wray headstone

From the Hollywood Cemetery, we drove by Paramount Studios in Hollywood.
Paramount Studios

We cruised Santa Monica Boulevard and Sheryl Crow was in my head singing, "all I want to do is have some fun until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard".

Gram was looking for a date. Um...I guess she was actually looking for dates (the fruit that comes from date palms) so next we headed south on Fairfax, past CBS Television City, to the Farmer's Market. It was nice to get out and walk around and check out some of the stands. You can find just about anything at the Farmer's Market. Gram found dates and Esteban & I found iced chai. Wanda found a place to smoke. We were all happy!
Farmer's Market

From the Farmer's Market, we headed south on Fairfax to Wilshire, west on Wilshire to Beverly Hills. We cruised up Rodeo Drive and down Beverly Drive. Not much to see except the shops where Julia Roberts as 'Pretty Woman' was not allowed to shop. They probably wouldn't have let me shop there either. We move on.
Rodeo Drive

We followed Wilshire Boulevard west to Westwood where Esteban began to notice an odd odor. We were hungry and tried to make out the smell but then caught on that we were approaching UCLA (bitter rivals of USC). Ha! Ha!

Wilshire Boulevard took us to Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica where we could see the ocean. I LOVE the ocean. We parked at the Santa Monica Pier and I sprinted to the water because I could not wait to get my feet wet. Gram and Wanda were in awe of the waves coming in and out but, were not interested in getting their feet wet.
Julie at Santa Monica Beach

Well, Gram was finally intriqued enough to want to "touch" a wave. She and Esteban walked closer to the water but the waves were not coming in far enough. They kept creeping in further until a big wave came crashing in. Gram got to "touch" the wave...
Esteban & Gram "touching" a wave

...and then the wave "touched" her. See, what this photo doesn't show is the wave coming in over their knees and Esteban lifting Gram up into the air by the shoulders...Yeh, they got their feet wet...hee hee!

From Santa Monica, we took a myriad of freeways (moving parking lots) down to Long Beach to "see" the Queen Mary. It was getting dark and I wasn't able to get a photo. We did "see" it, though.

So, by now we are starving...those Roscoe's waffles are long gone. We headed to downtown Long Beach to find somewhere interesting to eat. Gram wanted to go to McDonalds but I put my foot down...I refused to eat at any restaurant that I could eat at in Alamosa! Esteban had wanted to take us to Gladstone's in Malibu but we ran out of time. As fate would have it, we happened upon a Gladstone's in Long Beach and decided that we had to eat there. We got in and ordered fairly quickly and then waited and waited and waited and waited and waited. When our dinner was finally served, the waitress was extremely apologetic and offered us free dessert. Esteban, the clever one, ordered a free dessert for each of us which left the waitress speechless. Of course, she meant one free dessert for the table but, he did talk her into two. We should've gotten our dinner and four desserts free after the waitress lost my credit card. Aaaargh! (It was eventually found...the hostess saw it sitting on the counter and picked it up so it wouldn't get lost and then forgot she had it...duh!)

So, with tummy's full, we freeway-ed it back to the "ghetto" where Esteban lives. We were exhausted after a very full day of sight seeing and went straight to bed.

LA Story - Day Three

May 12, 2006
USC Graduation Day

Alumni Memorial Park with Doheny Library in the background, the site of the 125th Commencement Exercises for the University of Southern California. We, of course, were seated in the Handicapped seating (Gram & Wanda used wheelchairs because they couldn't be on their feet all day) which was to the right of the main stage. So, again, we saw nothing. LA mayor, Antonio Viallaraigosa, was entertaining as the keynote speaker. Each school was recognized and then sent on to their own satellite ceremonies throughout campus.


Esteban (Julie's cousin) in cap & gown in front of Student Union where we ate ourselves stupid at the Graduation Buffet Luncheon. Before lunch, we walked all over campus and saw the buildings were Esteban attended most of his classes. It is a large campus and we did a lot of walking that day!


After lunch, we headed to the Shrine Auditorium where the School of Cinema Television held their satellite graduation ceremony. John Singleton, director and USC alum, was the keynote speaker.


Esteban received his MFA in Cinema-Television. He says that he is finished with school and now plans to enter the work force full time. We shall see...


About a year ago, Esteban asked me if I still watched General Hospital. (I've watched my favorite soap opera faithfully for over 25 years now.) When he told me that the girl who plays the character of Lulu Spencer, Julie Berman, was a classmate of his at USC, I was excited. She just happened to be seated in front of us during the ceremony and I got a quick photo of her as she marched by. This was, actually, my only "star" sighting in LA. Not a huge deal but, I did know who she was.

So, we were on campus for all things graduation for 10 hours and were EXHAUSTED by the time we got home. Esteban and his roommates had a big graduation party that night with food from La Barca and lots and lots and lots of margaritas. We were able to meet many of Esteban's friends at the party and they kept it going until at least 3:00am. Gram, Wanda & I pooped out and left the party at 9:00-ish.

LA Story - Day Two

May 11, 2006

Esteban and Julie left the other women at home and headed to the Coffee Bean for our morning caffeine fix. We also went to the Fashion District and browsed a few shops. Julie found some earrings and shoes to wear to the Baccalaureate banquet that night.

Julie begged shamelessly to somehow fit a Dodger's game into the LA itinerary. It took some doing but it eventually worked out. Esteban's roommate, Jay, was kind enough to escort Julie to the game, even though he had never been to a baseball game before. Julie grew up watching the Dodger's and, more specifically, their AAA farm team-The Albuquerque Dukes. Going to Dodger Stadium was a kind of a Mecca journey and it was an awesome experience to sit in the stands and actually watch the Dodger's play ball. Thanks, Jay, for helping make this baseball fan's silly dream come true!

While Jay & Julie were at the Dodger's game, Esteban took Gram and Aunt Wanda to the Fashion District. They had a great time and only stopped shopping because they didn't have room in their luggage to bring anything else home.

Esteban was very involved with the USC Catholic Community and was chosen to carry the banner in the processional during the Baccalaureate Service on Thursday evening. We arrived late and were seated on the far right hand side of the stage. We were not able to see anything and, of course, Esteban marched in on the opposite side. It was a nice service, though, and we enjoyed the awesome dinner that was served afterward.

Julie's LA Story - Day One

May 10, 2006

Our plane left Albuquerque at 8:35am and arrived in Los Angeles at 12:45pm. Little did we know that we would hit the ground running and not slow down until we arrived at LAX a week later for our return flight!

Gram, Aunt Wanda & Julie on airplane.

Sony Pictures Studio in Culver City (the drive-by tour).

Lunch at In-And-Out Burger in Culver City.

Rose Garden at Exposition Park in LA.

Esteban, Aunt Wanda, Gram, Julie, Jonathan & Jay enjoying dinner at La Barca in LA. This restaurant is less than a mile from Esteban's house and, apparently quite popular with the USC crowd. The wait staff all knew Esteban and his roommates by name.

After dinner and margaritas, we went downtown to see Esteban's new office in the Wilshire Grand Hotel. We met his future co-workers and learned more about the company, Debris-Free. It sounds like an awesome product and a great opportunity for Esteban!