Summer Vacation - Hollyhock House, LA

On the last day of our summer vacation, we packed up Klaus and started the drive home. We had promised Celeste that we'd stop at a Q'doba for lunch (her favorite place - the nearest one to us is by LAX), so we slogged through some morning rush traffic en-route. But since we would have ended up at Q'doba a bit early, we stopped at L.A.'s Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Hollyhock house to take in another one of the master's finest works and to kill a little time.

We're very fortunate that Celeste, like Allie and I, thoroughly enjoys architecture tours and loves modern structures. We toured FLLW's Taliesin West on the move out here and previously the three of us have visited the Robie House (Chicago) while Allie and I have toured his Oak Park, IL home and studio and Taliesin (Spring Green, WI).
There weren't any tours scheduled that particular day, and our vacation budget was pretty much shot at that point, so we happily spent an hour or so exploring the grounds.
Built for oil heiress Aline Barnsdall between 1919-1921, the house is perched on a plateau just off of Hollywood Blvd. It's very pleasant up on the hill, most of the sights and sounds of the urban area disappear below you. Off in the distance you can see the Hollywood hills.
Always one to experiment with interesting new materials, FLLW made extensive use of cast concrete for the details of the house and surrounding grounds.
The central theme of the house is the hollyhock, Ms. Barnsdall's favorite flower. FLLW's stylistic hollyhocks are found throughout.
Overall the home is one of "Maya revival" with the exterior walls tilted back at 85 degrees.
It's quite an impressive structure (as they all are IMO). One of the most unique features is the reflecting pool which is not currently filled.
Like most Wright homes, the entrance is low, tight and somewhat hidden from view.
Unfortunately the concrete construction has not held up all that well over the past 90+ years. Numerous earthquakes and weather have taken its toll on the structure.
But it's owned by the city of Los Angeles and restoration is ongoing.
I hope we can eventually tour the place - especially the interior and be able to have some insight into the design of this beautiful home. Oh, and as a footnote, Celeste was very happy to have her favorite "veggie burrito in a bowl" that day.

Summer Vacation - Camping Near Ventura

Okay, so it's been a while since I last posted vaca pix and accompanying tiresome stories - amazing that this was almost three months ago. I just realized that I didn't finish up the series so here's part five of six. After we left Santa Cruz and Big Basin S.P., we took the 101 back south. No Hwy 1 this time, although the view is better if you're southbound as you get the outer lane. Since I don't have a strong urge to write at the moment (haven't had much of one all week - as evidenced by the infrequent and exceptionally lame postings of late), I'm going to let the pix tell most of the story...

While camping, we took in some sights, including the visitor's center for the Channel Islands National Park (the actual park is about 22 miles off shore):
Caught sand crabs on the beach:
Hiking and exploring near the dunes:

swing them arms!

Some nice forest fire haze-enhanced sunsets:
And sleeping in the bedroom-on-wheels (EuroVan):
All's well. The next day we headed to the L.A. area to enjoy an architectural masterpiece. More on that later. Hopefully I'll feel more inspired.

Summer Vacation - Big Basin State Park

After we left Don and Stacey's in San Jose, we headed off to the mountains just north and slightly west of Santa Cruz. Our destination? Big Basin State Park.
Established in 1902, Big Basin is California's oldest state park and home to the largest continual strand of ancient coast redwoods south of San Francisco. Some of these behemoths are more than 2,000 years old. The section below was from a tree that was 1,392 years old when cut down - and 948 years old when Columbus landed in the Americas.
Many have also lived through hundreds of forest fires, leaving hollowed-out trunks on these still-living trees. A great place for a grrrl like ours to hide.
We arrived in the late afternoon and only could score one night's reservation, so unfortunately we didn't get to explore all that much. However, we did take in the short Redwood Trail...
...which winds around some of the oldest and tallest trees in the park.
Even the root stocks were impressive.
That downed tree comprised one side of the forest "auditorium":
After our hike we went back to camp and roasted the obligatory marshmallows.
How peaceful and surreal it was to sleep under these giants of the forest.

Summer Vacation - San Jose

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit with Don and Stacey in San Jose (California's third-largest city). Surprisingly I didn't take a ton of pix while we were there - and the ones I did take were with my iPhone. L-A-M-E.

Here's their sweet new garage/toy storage/guest quarters and turf block driveway. Ironically their driveway is the only part of their property that they have sprinklers on.
Celeste and I went out one exploring the neighborhood one morning. Like a moth to a flame - or Sarah Palin to a monster truck rally - or she was drawn to the creek for some critter catching.
Nothin' here but a few waterbugs. Better luck next time.

We also wandered around downtown San Jose and, drawn, once again, like a batshit crazy person who likes to yell to a health care townhall meeting, Celeste found a way to get wet.
Celeste ended up thoroughly soaked (obviously), Don and I only slightly less, so we headed across the street to check out the awesomely-cool kinetic sculpture Science on a Roll outside of the San Jose Tech Museum.
Did a little drip-drying as we watched a dozen or so billiard balls roll through this Rube Goldberg-esque display of coolness.

Hit the gift shop briefly and then on to the San Jose Museum of Art.

or "fart star" as I like to call it

Don and Stacey graciously re-upped their membership and were able to get us in for free. Super cool as we had to be extremely frugal on this trip with mortgage and rent payments soaking up most of our free cash. A surprising find - an exhibit by American surrealist Todd Schorr.

Freaky, cool, spooky and highly detailed works here that your parents are bound to hate and are likely to provide ammo for some pretty surreal dreams.
"Clash of Holidays":

"Into the Valley of Finks and Weirdos":My personal favorite - "The Hydra of Madison Avenue":
And who can't resist a little simian art:

Summer Vacation - Day Two

Day Two had us waking up in San Luis Obispo with San Jose being our destination and a whole lot of US Hwy 1 to get us there. We packed up camp under clear skies that morning and headed west to Morrow Bay. Unfortunately the coast was socked in fog, so the cameras sat idle for a couple of hours.

just rolling in to the coastal fog

Allie grabbed a mocha at a local coffee shop in the sleepy town and we hit another great stretch of 1. North of Morro Bay lies San Simeon and Hearst Castle. Just as the clouds started to break, we noticed a number of minivans and RVs pulled along side the road with families gawking at.......holy crap - zebras(?!?!).

I threw the telephoto lens on and snagged a few shots. Apparently they're just some of the many exotic animals from the legacy of William Randolph Hearst. We didn't have time or budget to tour the castle this time, maybe the next time we head north.

putting the binoculars to good use

Miles and miles later we all needed a bathroom break and came across Ragged Point Inn at the perfect time. Situated on a, yes, ragged point jutting out high above the Pacific, this also proved to be the most-photogenic stop on the entire trip. The magnificent twisted trees also satiated Celeste during her summer of climbing.

Rocky Point even has a nature trail that takes you down to the water's edge. See it below? No?It's a long way down and an even-longer way back up. Legs already comfortably stretched from wandering the grounds for about an hour, we wisely stayed up top as I was itching to get back on the road.
At this point Hwy 1 becomes extremely winding. Fun in the van, likely not-too fun for those piloting lumbering RVs along the coast.

mandatory thru-the-windshield shots

For the second day in a row we managed to find another nice, wide spot in the road and pulled over for lunch.

rest for Klaus

sadly I can't find the third shot of this series - the one from Celeste's card

Of course a few turns up the road we found an even-better turnout with a fantastic view, barking sea lions and beggar squirrels.

"nom nom nom" -squirrel

The journey continued...
...we did quick detours through downtown Monterey and Santa Cruz and then met with friend Don at his office in Scotts Valley. Got stuck behind a car crash on CA State Route 17 (one of the most dangerous highways in the state), then soldiered on to Don and Stacey's place in San Jose.

And to satisfy someone who says I never post any pix of me, here goes:

dork with camera