California archive at andipantz

Archive for the 'California' Category

Mar

Day 9: The central coast

By Andrea 0 Comments

Categories: flowers, California, Animals, Plants, Landscapes, Photography, nature and Travel

After treating myself to a nice night at a hotel, I felt well-rested and ready for an adventure. This was probably my most adventurous day so far. I wasn’t going to let some stupid infection get in my way. Ok, so it was difficult being sorta in the middle of nowhere with no bathroom when you really needed one.

The central coast is probably my favorite place in the whole world. It’s absolutely gorgeous…especially this time of the year when the hills are just covered with patches of yellow, purple, and orange wildflowers. And where there aren’t wildflowers, the hills are rolling green. Put that next to a rocky coastline! I lived in this area for a year. Sometimes I still ask myself why I ever left. But if I had never left, I wouldn’t have gotten to where I am today.

Anyway, my first stop was Moonstone Beach. The beach is littered with the most beautiful stones! It’s legal to collect them so I grabbed some for a keepsake. It was quite foggy, but I tried to grab what shots that I could.

Moonstone Beach

stones

rock

I had hoped to stay at an amazing campground in San Simeon State Park while I was on the coast, but the website said that they were full. I decided to stop by to see if they had any spots left for the night and snagged one! I chose a great spot on top of a hill above the ocean, though my spot overlooked rolling green hills and a big valley. I wish I had taken a photo.

Next was a trip up to Piedras Blancas to see the elephant seal rookery. There were mostly pups on the beach and they were so cute!

There’s a lighthouse in Piedras Blancas, but it was foggy for most of the day so I couldn’t get a clear shot.

ighthouse

I drove up the coast for about 20 minutes to get lunch at Ragged Point. There’s a beautiful view from there, but they’ve changed the area since I’ve been there. Anyway, I just have to share that I had the best veggie burger of my life at the restaurant there! So tasty!

And all I’ve gotta say is that I’M ON VACATION!

Mar

Day 8: I went to the hospital

By Andrea 2 Comments

Categories: California, architecture, Urban Decay, Photography and Travel

So that night I mentioned in my previous post….Went to sleep around 9:30. Around 10, I started to have insane pain on my inside parts. Possibly another kidney stone. All I know is that I spent 4 hours praying that the pain would go away and hoping that I’m not waking up the family from numerous trips to the bathroom. At 2:30am, I knew that the only person who might possibly be awake is my cousin. After a text message, she convinced me that I needed to wake someone up and go to the hospital before it got worse (if that was even possible at this point). So I woke up Andy and Melanie and then jumped in my car, headed for the ER. Thank goodness I bought that GPS! I never would have found the hospital without it.

I was seen almost immediately, they did some tests and concluded that I did not have a kidney stone but a really bad bladder infection of sorts. They gave me a shot in the ass with some heavy duty antibiotic for the worst of infections, and some pain medication.

An hour and a half later, I was out of there. I drove around with the goal of finding a 24 hour pharmacy to fill my prescription. Not a chance. Nothing was open. But a donut shop was open so I stopped in to grab two donuts. After deciding that I wasn’t going to go back and wake up the family, I found a grocery store parking lot where I curled up in the backseat of my rental car with my sleeping bag for 2 hours before Andy called me. They were awake so I went back and slept for a few hours. I had to go out to get gas in my car and get my prescription filled. On the way back, I decided to photograph an abandoned Drive-In theater.

theater

I felt tired and groggy for the day, but I needed to get up the coast. I had made a reservation at a hotel for the night and man, was I happy about that. It had a fireplace, a couch, a huge bathroom, and a king size bed and was along the beach. I took full advantage of everything that night. I started to feel quite a bit better.

hotel

Mar

Day 7: Leaving LA

By Andrea 0 Comments

Categories: California, children and People

I left LA in the morning and headed up the 101 with my next stop in Lompoc, CA to visit my old roommate Andy and his family. Andy and I lived together for the two years when I lived in the Mojave Desert working as a biologist for the U.S. Army. It’s been at least 4 years since I last saw Andy and in that time, he and his wife had gotten married and had two little boys! Time sure does fly.

After getting settled, we went to a great Japanese restaurant and stuffed ourselves silly. When we returned, their oldest son found great interest in my camera. We had a fun time taking photos (both serious and goofy). It was fun just hanging out and then it was sleep time. I went to sleep much earlier than I usually do, but didn’t really sleep. Little did I know what the night had in store for me….

nathan

timothy and ginger

Mar

Day 6: The Marriage of Food

By Andrea 0 Comments

Categories: California, architecture and Photography

Went to a wedding at the Pepperdine University chapel. Lovely building, lovely wedding. The reception was in someone’s backyard in Malibu. We arrived at the house and it was incredibly cold and windy. Being that I’m an east coaster, you’d think I could handle it, but we were all huddled up on a couch in front of the outdoor fireplace. We should have played a few rounds of golf on the outdoor putting green to warm ourselves up. Instead, we left and went to Taco Bell. Yes, we ditched delicious wedding food in Malibu for Taco Bell. It was unbearably cold.

Later that evening, we went to an Irish themed house party with LOTS of delicious food. mmmm food. Everyone was incredibly nice and the hosts were very hospitable. One of the hosts had just won an Oscar for doing sound on The Bourne Ultimatum. She had also worked on a lot of other films including Memoirs of a Geisha and the recent Bucket List. I had a good time there, but we had more business to attend to! Next we went to a bar for someone’s birthday, but it became so incredibly crowded and loud. Then it was home to relax and sleep!

Anyway, here is a shot of the chapel interior. I apologize, but for some reason, all of the colors of my images seem to be diluted when I post them online. They’re much better than this!

chapel

Mar

Day 5: Goodbyes, Hellos, and flowers

By Andrea 0 Comments

Categories: flowers, California, Plants, Macro, Photography, nature and Travel

So first, I would like to say that my blog posts are really a few days old at this point. For instance, this post is about March 14, 2008.

I said my goodbyes to Jay in the morning. I was sad about leaving because I don’t know when I’ll see him again; it’s been 8 years since we last saw each other. Now he’s going to Australia and hopefully I can visit next year, but who knows.

I left Culver City and drove up to Pasadena to visit Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens. I had been there before about 7 or 8 years ago, but it deserved another visit. I spent most of the day there…until they closed. I didn’t even see the artwork; I spent the whole time wandering around and photographing the gardens. The Japanese gardens are my favorite. I honestly almost gave myself a heart attack tonight when I thought that I had deleted half of the photos that I’d taken there….but I did not.

Afterwards, I left and went to get a bite to eat at an amazing restaurant called Hugo’s in Valley Village. I hadn’t eaten lunch, but I was starving…knowing right well that I’d probably be eating later. Fantastic food, but there was a family next to me that made my visit a bit unpleasant. I then met up with my friend Brownie in Van Nuys for a brief minute before meeting up with Robyn for dinner at Out Take Bistro in Studio City. Note that the food at Hugo’s was just 2 hours prior. BUT this trip seems to revolve around hanging out with friends, taking lots of photos, and eating lots of good good food. So far on this trip I’ve had Thai, Chinese, Mexican, Cali cuisine, and now it was time for Italian. We had a big dinner…complete with 2 huge desserts…because one can never have enough dessert. We laughed about how I’ve been so loyal to only drink California wines on my trip. We finished the night off with some chillin and watching a movie.

And here are some photos from Huntington gardens…

bee

aloe

Mar

Day 4: wandering

By Andrea 0 Comments

Categories: California and Travel

I woke up with no real plan: just the way I prefer a vacation to be. I went to a coffee shop and then went to meet my friend Robyn (another college friend) at CBS (where she works). From there, I headed to Venice Beach. I haven’t been to Venice Beach for a while, but I think that the novelty has worn off. I was ready to leave after 30 minutes, but decided to plant my butt in the grass for a while and people watch. Lots of interesting people to be seen in Venice Beach, for sure. Then I went to find another coffee shop. And then I had dinner with Jay at an amazing Chinese restaurant. It was a pretty laid back day and I didn’t take many photos. But the weather was enjoyable and that was good enough for me.

venice

Mar

Day 3: The Getty (cont’d)

By Andrea 1 Comment

Categories: flowers, California, Plants, Macro, nature and Photography

Some of the amazing plants at The Getty…

flower

Mar

Day 3: The Getty

By Andrea 1 Comment

Categories: California, architecture and Travel

It was my first full day in sunny southern California. It was nice to wake up and sit outside to check my email. I dropped Jay off at his work and then headed to purchase a GPS. My navigation around LA is not what it used to be and I felt a bit in over my head. Man, so happy that I got that thing. Then I decided to head on to The Getty. It’s one place that I always wanted to visit, but never made it there. Wow. What a great place. The architecture, the art collection, the gardens, the views…everything about the place was amazing. I took almost 400 photos (mostly plants, which I will share later).

getty1