Where's Chris Been?
So i went on vacation this past week. Escaped from work a week ago last Friday and went out with Noelle, Wendy, and Esther to see Delirium, the new Cirque du Soleil project at HP Pavilion in SJ. I've never seen anything from Cirque and it was really hard to take in, like having someone else's acid trip poured into your brain. There was so much happening on stage it was quite difficult to keep track of it all. Incredible acrobatics and a great sound track too! I'd definitely see this show again.
The next morning, Noelle and I piled into the convertible and drove down highway 101 to Laguna Beach (with a pit stop at a really good italian restaurant in San Luis Obispo). Hwy 101 is clearly the way to go if you're not in a huge hurry and more importantly, if you're driving in a convertible to get to SoCal. The drive is much prettier than the central valley (duh). We got in around 8 or so and had dinner with Coalee and Sean in Laguna Beach. The next morning there was more socializing and seeing Noelle's old haunts, including a trip to a scenic Orange County mall! ;-) After that we headed north to Universal City (where we located a largish Death Star Pez for Jon) and then on to Hollywood, where after a certain amount of adventure (Damn you, Yahoo Maps!) we located the Hollywood Bowl where we met Kyle to see Massive Attack. I've never been to that venue before. It's pretty cool. We were in these little corral style boxes and relatively close to the stage. Sound was excellent and MA put on a fabulous show, well worth driving south for. The set was about the same as at Coachella, but the sound was better.
The next morning we scrambled out of Hollywood and drove through Palmdale/Hwy 14 to get to 395 to do the Eastern Sierra portion of the trip. We got out kinda late, so we made it to the Bristlecone Pine Grove around sunset. We were completely alone there and the silence was eerie, but also very cool. It's inspiring to me to be able to walk up and touch these trees that are hundreds if not thousands of years old. We made it to our hotel, late after being screwed over by Yahoo Maps again. Fortunately Noelle's self-aware cell phone can get on teh Internets and we got directions from it.
The next day we went down to Mountain Light Gallery and some of the fabulous work of Galen Rowell. I was a little disappointed that Macduff Everton was no longer in the featured artist part of the gallery, but it was still a trip well worth taking. We drove back up to Devil's Postpile around sunset and saw the cool basaltic columns there. I also got what look to be some great long exposures at the river there.
The next day was my birthday! I got a bunch of really cool presents from Noelle right off the bat! We checked out of Austria Hof and drove north around the June Lake Loop on 395. The colors are starting to come out on the aspens and the lakes on the loop (there are three) were really pretty as well. We stopped at Mono Cone in Lee Vining and then drove out to the south short of Mono Lake to see the tufa at sunset. I was surprised because the water level was a bit higher than last fall. Could be part of the restoration project the LA Water and Power Company was ordered to do a few years ago. Some day it will be impossible to take the pictures Nancy and I took last fall at the lake. I have mixed feelings about that.
After a bit of dinner in Lee Vining, we took a drive under the stars up 395 to Nevada and crashed at David and Nancy's family's Tahoe place for the night. Had a very late breakfast at Syd's Bagelry (yay!) and rushed back to the valley just in time to make it to the birthday party Noelle was sweet enough to organize for me in Sunnyvale. OMG! There were about 20 people who showed up! That was super cool. Got some nifty gifts and had a great dinner with friends. It was the perfect way to finish up a great vacation.
The next morning, Noelle and I piled into the convertible and drove down highway 101 to Laguna Beach (with a pit stop at a really good italian restaurant in San Luis Obispo). Hwy 101 is clearly the way to go if you're not in a huge hurry and more importantly, if you're driving in a convertible to get to SoCal. The drive is much prettier than the central valley (duh). We got in around 8 or so and had dinner with Coalee and Sean in Laguna Beach. The next morning there was more socializing and seeing Noelle's old haunts, including a trip to a scenic Orange County mall! ;-) After that we headed north to Universal City (where we located a largish Death Star Pez for Jon) and then on to Hollywood, where after a certain amount of adventure (Damn you, Yahoo Maps!) we located the Hollywood Bowl where we met Kyle to see Massive Attack. I've never been to that venue before. It's pretty cool. We were in these little corral style boxes and relatively close to the stage. Sound was excellent and MA put on a fabulous show, well worth driving south for. The set was about the same as at Coachella, but the sound was better.
The next morning we scrambled out of Hollywood and drove through Palmdale/Hwy 14 to get to 395 to do the Eastern Sierra portion of the trip. We got out kinda late, so we made it to the Bristlecone Pine Grove around sunset. We were completely alone there and the silence was eerie, but also very cool. It's inspiring to me to be able to walk up and touch these trees that are hundreds if not thousands of years old. We made it to our hotel, late after being screwed over by Yahoo Maps again. Fortunately Noelle's self-aware cell phone can get on teh Internets and we got directions from it.
The next day we went down to Mountain Light Gallery and some of the fabulous work of Galen Rowell. I was a little disappointed that Macduff Everton was no longer in the featured artist part of the gallery, but it was still a trip well worth taking. We drove back up to Devil's Postpile around sunset and saw the cool basaltic columns there. I also got what look to be some great long exposures at the river there.
The next day was my birthday! I got a bunch of really cool presents from Noelle right off the bat! We checked out of Austria Hof and drove north around the June Lake Loop on 395. The colors are starting to come out on the aspens and the lakes on the loop (there are three) were really pretty as well. We stopped at Mono Cone in Lee Vining and then drove out to the south short of Mono Lake to see the tufa at sunset. I was surprised because the water level was a bit higher than last fall. Could be part of the restoration project the LA Water and Power Company was ordered to do a few years ago. Some day it will be impossible to take the pictures Nancy and I took last fall at the lake. I have mixed feelings about that.
After a bit of dinner in Lee Vining, we took a drive under the stars up 395 to Nevada and crashed at David and Nancy's family's Tahoe place for the night. Had a very late breakfast at Syd's Bagelry (yay!) and rushed back to the valley just in time to make it to the birthday party Noelle was sweet enough to organize for me in Sunnyvale. OMG! There were about 20 people who showed up! That was super cool. Got some nifty gifts and had a great dinner with friends. It was the perfect way to finish up a great vacation.
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