coming up...

I haven't done any travel since my mother went back to CT, and my life has revolved almost entirely around hiking, running, writing, and Groundlings (Basic).

Now Groundlings is over, I'm not exactly being swept away by any writing projects, and all my hiking training is done. What was I training for? The Queen Charlotte Track in New Zealand, silly pants. Are we only connected through this blog? How sad for you.

I'm flying to New Zealand Wednesday morning (well, Hawaii on Wednesday, and I end up in NZ on Thursday night b/c of the International Dateline/time travel element of the flight), where I'll be staying through my birthday plus a day ('cause who wants to fly across the Pacific on their 30th birthday? NO ONE).

So this ignored little blog will soon be filled with photos and tales from Wellington, Auckland, and Picton.

AND THEN I'm going to Eastern Europe for Thanksgiving. UNEXPECTED for real. My Groundlings class wasn't exactly the life-changer I'd hoped for, but I did meet some amazing people including an opera singer who lives in Vienna most of the time and from whom I wrangled an invitation to visit. So I jumped onto getgoing.com, booked a cheap Thanksgiving flight to Budapest (with a layover in Moscow) where I'll spend two days, take the train to Bratislava for another overnight stop, and then end in Vienna for some Christmas market and classical music fun.

But one major trip at a time. Keep an eye out.

Monterey and Mom roadtrip

So my mother came to town last Friday, and Sunday we headed up north to visit where she was born. We struck out early, grabbing breakfast from Noah's in Sherman Oaks, and not stopping till Santa Barbara where we hit Sambo's just to buy my grandmother, who is a mildly old person-racist fan of the book, a souvenir. Then we headed to Los Padres National Forest where we intended to visit the Chumash Painted Cave. Now, let me warn you, if you dislike heights AT ALL, you might have a major panic attack on this steep, barrier-less, 1 1/2-lane, blind curve-riddled road. My mom, God bless her, started whimpering and demanded I turn around, which I was not able to do until halfway up (because there really wasn't a place to turn). So, again, if you have any anxiety about heights at all, DO NOT ATTEMPT to go to Chumash Painted Cave.

Adrenaline pumping, we pushed on to Solvang, this super strange little "Danish" village north of Santa Barbara. On the way, we came across Ostrichland. Yes. Ostrichland. My mother, who was so freaked out about the road to Chumash, jumped at the chance to feed the world's largest flightless bird and for my money the most aggressive. Emus are cute and less threatening, but ostriches look like they want to climb over the fence and peck you to death just for the pure joy of it. I have photos of my mother thrusting a pan of pellets at a group of competing ostriches as proof, but they're stowed away on my mom's camera, purely for private eyes. Sorry.

Solvang had nothing to scare either of us, though it bugged my mom a lot that the village was as much Dutch or German or Swedish as it was Danish. We wandered the stores (I liked the store with all the cuckoo clocks best), had lunch at Chomp, a decent burger joint next to the replica of Andersen's Little Mermaid statue, and then went on our merry way.

Our last stop before Marina (a town just north of Monterey that's far cheaper to stay) was the Avila Valley Barn, an orchard and shop in San Luis Obispo a roommate from college took me to once years ago. There I bought peanut butter yogurt pretzels. Though my mom and I scarfed them down, I'm not sure either of us know really if we liked them at all.

We stayed at Best Western Beach Dunes Inn, which was a stone's throw from Marina State Park, and has make-your-own-waffles as part of the included continental breakfast. A beach and waffles are all I need in life to be happy, so I was pretty darn happy.

Our first mission was to go to Fort Ord National Monument and sort of explore where my mom was born and (for a few months) raised. We sort of went the wrong way (because Google Maps doesn't have the young monument properly mapped yet) and ended up walking around the military roads, which are mostly used by bicyclists. We finally gave up and drove down to Monterey and Cannery Row. Had lunch at Bullwackers and talked to an Aussie couple who were on the last leg of a bus tour of the American West (sounded exhausting), bought a t-shirt that was insensitive to victims of shark violence for my stepdad that I subsequently decided to keep for myself and two pairs of adorable socks. Had middling cupcakes at Mrs. Delish and then...

Point Pinos, the lighthouse at, wait for it, the end of Lighthouse Drive. We just happened to go when it was open. It feels less like a lighthouse than a lighthome. Looks over a golf course. Run by a sweet lady. Entered a raffle for a psychedelic quilt.

Then 17-Mile Drive. Saw sea lions. Heard them first even with the fierce wind gusts. Lone Cypress. Ghost Tree.

If you can't see the Ghost Tree, that's because it's a ghost. Duh.

Then, because we're crazy, we decided the day wasn't over and went to Carmel-by-the-Sea. There is an amazing store called The White Rabbit, which sells a great deal of Alice in Wonderland-related paraphernalia. If I had the money, I'd overspend a lot at that store. They also had some Sherlock Holmes chess pieces ($20 a piece) that were calling my name, mostly in a taunting you-can't-afford-me way.

THEN we went to Santa Cruz in an attempt to see redwoods before sunset, which we basically failed at, and then had a less-than-fab dinner at Kianti's. BUT we got some cookies from the Pacific Cookie Company, and I have to recommend the chocolate chip walnut. That's some good stuff.

The next morning we headed to Pinnacles National Monument, and WE FOUND IT. After the luck we'd had the two days before, this was a miracle. We decided to do the easy 5 1/2-mile trip from Old Pinnacles Trailhead to Balconies Cave. It was gorgeous, and we saw a turkey and her babies, as well as a lizard. Only two other people on the trail, so we had it all to ourselves. When we got to the cave, there was what appeared to be a rock slide. My mom was over it and wanted to turn back, but I hated to get so close and not see the cave, so I scrambled over the rock slide, showing her it wasn't so bad, and then ditto going inside the cave. Here's the one photo I got with my phone.

We went under that rock near the bottom. I had to duck.

After that we grabbed snacks and souvenirs at the camp store, and I mourned my jeans, which, what with all the hiking and walking over the last few days, I had destroyed. Then we tried to find a place to stop for lunch. This took FOREVER. We finally stopped in Paso Robles and ate at Margie's Diner. They serve breakfast till 4pm. This gave me some joy.

Got back to LA before 8, which was amazing. Great, exhausting trip. Now to think about New Zealand...

more awesome things

Very Mary Kate is hi-larious, and with three seasons under its belt Burning Love continues to be amazing.

Kazakhstan. I know, 'cause I read Apples are from Kazakhstan. Now I want to go to Kazakhstan. Which brings the number of people in America without family from Kazakhstan who have heard of Kazakhstan and want to go there up to one.

Couch-to-5k. I mean, I'm only halfway through, but I've stuck with it and didn't die. Basically, that's magic.

Hawaiian Airlines for having an under-$800 RT fare to Auckland from LA. So guess where I'm going for my 30th birthday???!!!

Larabars. Particularly, coconut cream pie and the Jocolat chocolate hazelnut. No added sugar. Crack. I've never eaten so many dates in my life (get your mind out of the gutter, you know what I mean).

Rectify. Aden Young is like soft serve ice cream and fireworks and the shawl your grandma knit you and the devil priest from Carnivale all in one. Trust.

true thing

Whenever I'm in a public restroom and someone else enters, I'm terrified for a nanosecond because my lizard brain thinks it might be the Terminator coming to kill me.

Vancouver

You're gonna read a lot about how awesome the UBC Museum of Anthropology is. BELIEVE IT. If you like totem poles, you will love this museum. If you like rattan motorcycles, stingray skin breast plates, and even more totem poles, this is the greatest place on the planet. I love it. Coolest thing about Vancouver. Also excelletn: Stanley Park. Kitsilano. Seeing a Tim Horton's on every other block instead of a Dunkin' Donuts. The Wunderbar, a candy bar you cannot get in America. Canadians. Boy, do Canadians like to talk. Some store owners will chat your ear off, but you can't help but love 'em anyhow, those adorable Canadians. Overall, Vancouver is a little more urban than I had hoped for, a little sharper around the edges than other cities of the Pac NW (Portland, Seattle), but a good place to visit, even when it's raining the whole time and you can't get a single decent photo.

Emmys 2012 hopes, dreams, whatevers

Quick best-of-all-possible-world predictions: Comedy series: Someone invents time travel, goes back in time, and nominates Parks, Community, and Louie and one of those win instead. Lead comedy actress: Amy Poehler and she gets up on stage and Will Arnett runs up from behind the curtains and says he wants to give it one more chance and the rest of the cast Arrested Development hoist the kissing lovebirds up in the air and carry them off stage. Lead comedy actor: I don't have a horse in this race. Supporting comedy actress: Don't particularly care here either. Supporting comedy actor: Bill Hader. He's a genius, and Stefon has done so much for all of us. And how fucked up is this category? No Danny Pudi? No Nick Offerman? Are you kidding me with this? Drama: Breaking Bad. Or Homeland. But probably Breaking Bad. Lead drama actress: Claire Danes. Julianna's awesome, but she doesn't have that new car smell. Lead drama actor: Cranston. Always Cranston. Sorry, Jon. Supporting drama actress: Anna Gunn finally won me over this year, but I honestly couldn't shrug less about it. Supporting drama actor: Nail biter! Last chance for Giancarlo and Jared, I guess. I haven't seen the past season of Mad Men, but I know what happens. How about a shared Emmy? Let's do that. (Seriously, though, how great are all the other guys, though? And Aaron Paul? Come on. That's never the wrong answer.) Miniseries: Sherlock or Luther. 'Cause those are the only ones I've seen anything of, except for Hatfields, which I don't get the popularity. Lead miniseries actor: Benedict or Idris. Lead miniseries actress: No horse. Supporting miniseries actress: See above. Supporting miniseries actor: Martin Freeman. I friggin' love Martin Freeman. Who's excited for The Hobbit? Variety: Ooh, tough one. Lots of deserving nominees. Stewart's got a ton, though, right? He probably doesn't need it. I'm good with either Colbert or Fallon. Reality: Uggggggghhhhhhh. Who cares? Make this not a thing. Host: See above.

Things I love right now

My old virus-riddled laptop cracked at the hinges and became a desktop, so I finally had to suck it up and buy a new laptop. Got a 14-inch Acer Aspire Timeline X (or something like that), and I love it. Less than $500, and it's like an Ultrabook, but with a DVD player. The sound could be better, or I'm just not using it right, and I kind of hate Windows 8, but overall having a great experience with my new computer. Watched the HBO version of Mildred Pierce recently. So good. Sit-ups. I do those now. Cashews and Chobani yogurt (not together). I eat those now. Gavin DeGraw. Went to see him at the Greek, and he's both a very solid performer and, strangely enough, funny. Like, really funny. Not having any more payments on my car. At last, the piece of junk is all mine.