Washington

These past few weeks have been a blur. With some vacation time, I took a trip to Washington State where I visited with the parents. It was a rush trip home since the main purpose was to clean house, have a garage sale, pack my stuff in a moving truck and drive it to Los Angeles, where I have been living the past 2 years.

It seems that where ever I have traveled, I have accrued souvenirs and returned them in boxes for storage at my parents’ home. When I moved to LA, a few years ago I brought whatever I could pack in the car and purchased almost everything else. Now, that the parents are getting older and have a need for a junk-free home, I was requested to claim my stuff or donate it. And most of this stuff I don’t need but also don’t want to give away – old military uniforms, boxes upon boxes of books (seriously, I could open a book store with all my books!), certificates and awards, my collection of Harley-Davidson articles, etc.

“Project Clean Home” took all week and the yard sale only 5 hours. Living out in the country, there were few people and we ended up donating a majority of it. I really didn't think I was going to see any of my friends during this visit - there was no time since there was alot of cleaning to complete but I did end up seeing a friend of mine I hadn’t seen in about 17 years. Luckily and thankfully Kris came over to see me at the parents’ house. When I had first thought about it, I was thinking it was just a few years but time has passed quickly… Kris and I met while working together when I was still in high school! I was amazed to think it was indeed 18 years ago that we met and that her oldest twins are 14 years old! Whew, time flies!

Kris and I at my parents house.

The visit to Washington was refreshing. I think I was tiring from civilization. It was nice to stay home and become a hermit for a week just listening to the wind in the trees, hear the birds, see fields of wheat, corn and nothing else… no hordes of cars, no rush hour, no mass crowds of people - just the quiet of country. And I was actually averaging a sleep pattern of 8-9 hours a night versus the 1-4 hours I’ve been having since moving to LA!

Mom's flower garden.

Wheat fields

Corn fields

Wheat fields

I did get to check up on the chickens dad got a few years ago. There were two 2 month old baby chicks that kept getting attacked. Not sure if the adult chickens were threatened or just liked picking on the smaller ones. One chick died but dad saved the other one and segregated it. Eventually, it escaped and we thought the coyotes got it but it was hiding in the garage.

The adult chickens

Baby chicken that ran away to live in the garage.

Loading up a rental truck with all the items I wanted to keep, my father and I pulled an all-nighter and drove the 18 hours to LA, unpacked and organized. Amazingly, everything fit in the garage… hopefully; nothing will fall over when an earthquake occurs!

Dad and I had time to hangout for a day and we drove all over LA – heading to Japan town, Chinatown, Malibu, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Griffith Park.

Griffith Park and Hollywood sign in the distance.

Griffith Observatory

View of Los Angeles from Griffith Observatory

Click on video to see Los Angeles from the Griffith Observatory.

In the Santa Monica mountains overlooking Malibu. This area is a big motorcyclist area due to the curvy roads. There's a biker hangout that several celebrities are known to visit - Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jay Leno, Jillian Michaels... and just a few weeks ago, I was at the biker place and saw Joey Buttafuoco and met Brenda Fox.

 

Palm trees were all over the place!

Over looking the ocean from Rancho Palos Verdes.

Click on the picture to watch the video. From Rancho Palos Verdes, you can see several cities and the beach... Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Venice Beach, Marina del Rey, Torrance Beach.

Thinking that dad was staying a few weeks I had made a list of restaurants he should try. Since he’s a Sushi Chef, and was nominated in Cambridge Who’s Who 2010 in Food Service/ Restaurant, most of these restaurants were sushi locations. Perhaps it was the shock of civilization – too many people, an over abundance of noise and traffic that made him want to return home after a few days. I can understand the shock since I’m still trying to adjust to the close proximity of people everywhere and little space. It is quite a difference from country living where it is not too populated to being around people, noise and vehicles everywhere constantly. I was glad to have my dad visit me in LA. It's the first time he's come to visit where I live - in all the places I've traveled to.