Where's Auntie: Jet-Lagged Edition

My first day in California.

My brother took me to the Griffith Observatory to get an overview of Los Angeles. I thought the building was really pretty, so I took this detail shot.

The southeast view from the observatory (so my brother tells me; I am directionally challenged).



The view to the north, with the San Gabriel mountains in the background.

We left the observatory and drove down to Hollywood. I think that in my mind I had it confused with Beverly Hills because I was surprised at how tacky Hollywood was. I mean that in a good way.

I enjoyed seeing Mann's Chinese Theater, where apparently they had a big opening last night for a scary movie starring Anthony Hopkins that I guarantee I will never see.

This is a random elephant on top of a building. I have no explanation for it, but I felt duty bound to share its coolness with you, gentle readers. You're welcome.

Speaking of cool, look whose star I found!

Also speaking of cool, my brother tells me that this very spot, on the corner of Silver Lake and Sunset, is the hipster center of the universe. I could feel myself becoming cooler by the moment while we were there, but alas, the effects are already wearing off.

In the afternoon, we went to a Mexican marketplace that had a plaza nearby where Mexican musicians and native dancers were performing. A guy was singing a song that appeared to be a cautionary tale about getting involved with a "hot woman" while his friends in native regalia filmed it to post on YouTube. I could not make this stuff up if I tried.

Words of Wisdom: Joseph Campbell

If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track, which has been there all the while waiting for you, and the life you ought to be living is the one you are living.

Why Not Working Is Awesome

Wednesday, 9:00 a.m.

Rock On

In my continuing quest to share with you the awesomeness that is The Madonna Inn, I'm going to show you a selection of the extremely popular "rock rooms." This one is called "Caveman." It's one of the solid rock rooms with a waterfall shower. The bathroom also features a caveman stained-glass window, which makes me happy beyond all reason.


Too bad I can't sing. I'll bet that bathroom has some fun acoustics.

I love how the leather furniture in the Caveman room is dyed to look like pelts. Obviously, no effort was spared in creating as authentic a cave home as possible. I never realized our cave-dwelling ancestors had it so good.

This one is called "Yosemite Rock." It features a sort of Wild West theme and a huge rock fireplace.

I just realized that all these rooms, regardless of color scheme or decoration, have bright yellow bath towels in them. I can think of no explanation for that.

This room, called "Rock Bottom," looks like it's the home of the Phantom of The Opera in the basement of the Paris Opera House. That fact alone makes it easily my favorite of the rock rooms. I hope they have a dry ice machine in there someplace.

All Images: www.madonnainn.com

Think Pink

The Madonna Inn, San Luis Obispo, CA

I have been in love with The Madonna Inn ever since my friend Annie first sent me the link to their site.

I do feel that for a place called The Madonna Inn, it's short on images of the Blessed Mother. The "Portugal" room doesn't even have one, and that makes no sense whatsoever. Other than that, the inn is truly awesome. The question is not if I want to go there some day (because obviously I do), but which of the 110 uniquely decorated rooms I want to stay in. Decisions, decisions.

Fortunately, I'm a big fan of pink, because apparently the owner's wife is too. This is the Madonna Suite, which she decorated. The "pink rose" carpet is custom designed. Personally, I find those giant blooms a little unnerving.

This room is called "Love Nest," and it features a spiral staircase to a private viewing tower. It also features a plush purple curved sofa and weird chairs that can't seem to decide if they belong in Versailles or a spaceship.



Now we're talking! Check out the pink, sparkly walls and the chandelier right over the bed. This room (called "Carin") has the same bedspread as the previous room but the sparkly walls make it look so much more fancy, don't you think?



"Krazy Dazy" is an elegant homage to 1960s pop art, with a pink shag carpet and giant daisies on the walls. I think this is my favorite of the pink rooms. Enormous daisies don't scare me the way gigantic roses do. I have no explanation for that.


Feeling hungry? I blogged about the Madonna Inn's restaurants here.

Images: www.madonnainn.com

Maiden Aunt Explores The Great White North

Yesterday, the Army Dude and I decided to go snowshoeing in Greene, Rhode Island. We suited up and then the Army Dude began blazing the trail, as army dudes do; I took five steps and tripped over a wire. I had not yet adjusted to my new foot size. The Army Dude said, "You're not very athletic, are you?" I replied, "Shut up and take my picture."

Where I grew up, nobody had ever heard of Title IX and very few girls participated in organized sports. I danced instead -- and I don't recall Anna Pavlova getting rave reviews for doing her Dying Swan performance while wearing 25-inch flaps on her feet. But ha, ha, Army Dude! Just look at my skiing skills!

And now for some Extreme Snowshoeing! Note the level of danger and difficulty, my friends. I could plunge at least two feet off that precipice. Not athletic, my ass.

Old Maid Avoids Injury Through Ballet Training

I was taking out the trash this morning in snowy and icy conditions. When I stepped back into my apartment to get the recycling while wearing snowy boots, my leading foot planted firmly on the hardwood floor. My back foot slid. This would not have been a problem had I not already been reaching for the bag of cat food tins and soda water bottles.


Did I fall and hurt myself? No, my friends, I did not. I quickly shifted my weight so it was over the toes of my leading foot and I kept the other foot off the floor. My ballet teacher, Mr. P., has been drilling us in quickly changing our weight distribution, and apparently, it's beginning to sink in.


And my father always said ballet would never be useful to me in the real world. Ha. Shows what he knew.