Our ostensible “excuse” for this trip out west was my attendance at a Contemporary Women Writer’s Conference, taking place in San Diego, CA. We were fully exhausted when we arrived in the city, at 12:30AM. Jess, thankfully, drove through the day and night in Southern AZ to get us there in time for me to see the opening lecture the next morning at 9:30AM. We stayed at a great bedroom in a cozy condo in central San Diego with our wonderful host named Lydia, who rents her extra room on a great website that we also host on, called
www.airbnb.com. Lydia is a photographer and collector, and her home was a museological wonder filled with strange 1950s kitsch, antique toys, and goth/japanimation-like dark-eyed paintings of fantasy children. Our host had a great laugh and told terrific jokes when Jess and I experienced our first 5.4 earthquake in Lydia’s living room. Not to be overdramatic, but my knuckles became white and I felt like I was shaking for weeks afterward. Unfortunate earthquake nightmares and vertigo ensued. Take care sensitive Midwestern tourists! Come prepared for these West Coast tremors! After a slightly stressful week working on conference papers and navigating the city post-land-jitters, Lydia and her boyfriend Larry took us out to
Torrey Pines State Forest and beach, where we walked along the shore, getting wet from the rising tide. As the sun set we came back to the car to find dolphins swimming at the beach, jumping the waves and beckoning us into the Pacific – our first and best introduction to the western ocean. That beautiful evening, paired with great food at Taste of Thai, and homemade tofu scramble the next morning, brought us a sunny and pleasant conclusion to our stay in San Diego.
Driving in Los Angeles was not as desperate an experience as we first imagined. All those weeks watching the L Word gave us an irrational image of LA lesbians stuck in traffic – okay, we really were stuck in traffic, but only for 30 minutes, and Jess was driving the whole time. Not a big surprise! On our way up to LA we stopped at Yogananda’s S
elf-Realization Fellowship Meditation Garden in Encinitas, that looks out over the cliffs into the sea. We were extremely happy to drive up a windy hillside street to our Silver Lake home for the weekend, where we stayed with my semi-relative/new-friend Kat. Kat’s taste in everything (food, furniture, art) is immaculate, and her home was a beautiful and eclectic mix of mid-century modern and California/Buddhist décor. We spent Saturday evening with my friend Ben and his GF, sharing an amazing dinner at Local and then going for a drink at a gay piano bar called The Other Side where I saw more 70+ year old gay men in one location than ever before. This was a literally hidden in the wall location that had a tangible aura of pre-Stonewall secrecy. Sunday we had a great morning feasting at the
Hollywood Farmer’s Market, which continued on to dinner, after an afternoon hike to the Observatory à la Rebel without a Cause. Dining on a scrumptious grilled menu of salmon, veggies (green onions) and peach/plum pie, we watched the smog-filled sunset with Kat and her bff Margaux. Thanks Kat!
Encinitas
Torrey Pines
Pacific
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