Road Trip: Cannes

Apr 29, 2019

A visit to the south of France requires a visit to the most famous city, Cannes. The international film festival is held in May. It was a scenic hour drive from Nice.

I admit, I thought the city would be pretentious and snobby but it was as charming as any of the cities in the south of France. There was more traffic than we had seen before and of course more luxury brand boutiques but after we parked Liv found an American style diner and we bought some ice cream.

We were so sunburned from laying out on the beach the day before, ouch! I was so happy to find my first and only Invader in Cannes.

Liv and I rode the ferris wheel. The city was practically empty.

I normally don’t like riding ferris wheels, but I felt brave and I prefer enclosed rides. The view was worth it.

If I ever go to the Cannes Film Festival (because I totally am) I would like to stay at the Splendid hotel. Now I know the famous Eden-Roc hotel is where all the celebrities stay in Cannes but I feel burned that we were turned away at the gate when we tried to get a drink at the notorious bar. Turns out you can only visit the hotel grounds if you have a reservation and the guy at the gate said there was an opening in 11 months. Cool.

We walked across the street to a little park and found a cute brocantes (antique sale).

I was super tempted into buying a Louis Vuitton travel case that was a bargain for €600 but luckily, she only took cash and I realized, I had nothing that valuable to travel with such an expensive bag.

Maybe one day.

Cannes was lovely but also just a normal French town. I have always associated it with such A-list celebrity, even the public bathrooms were just a fancy port-a-potty.

On the lovely drive back to Nice, Liv asked if we could stop and ride one of the beach bikes. Antz was exhausted so I took one for the team and rode in the blazing heat with Liv and Lulu. The things I do for my kid.

It was actually very fun, it would have been perfect if it wasn’t so darn hot. We rode the breezy coastline for an hour while Antz napped in the car with the air conditioner on.

We couldn’t find a restaurant open to have dinner so I ordered my delicious Mediterranean pasta again from the place in Old Town Nice.

Cannes was a lovely day trip. I would only stay overnight if I chartered a yacht, we didn’t find much to do if you aren’t doing some serious shopping.

Road Trip: Côte d’Azur

Apr 22, 2019

Day three in Nice I took the bus to the airport to pick up a rental car so we could drive to a special beach outside of Nice recommended by our friend Louise and drive the magnificent Cote d’Azur.

The only compact car they had with an automatic transmission was a boring black BMW. I always imagined myself driving the cliffs along the south of France in a cute vintage convertible like Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief yet my non-stick driving skills doesn’t make that a reality.

We drove south of Nice to the small coastal town of Saint Jean Cap-Ferrat. The roads were very narrow and curvy.

The roads were right along the cliffs against the stunning blue sea waters and houses were built right into the mountainside. It seemed impossible to walk in the city but we saw women pushing strollers right on the tiny streets. It was such a contrast to the huge, busy beaches of Nice.

It was easy to find our dream house.

Bougainvillea everywhere!

The beach had rocks but we spent most of our time in the water.

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It was a perfect beach, the water was lovely. No seaweed, no sand in your bum and we even saw little fish swimming with our GoPro camera. I can’t believe I just realized that this was the same beach location from one of my favorite Grace Kelly and Cary Grant films…To Catch a Thief!

It finally got too hot for us so we grabbed some lunch at the little cafe and drove back to Nice.

I wanted to take a shower and change clothes because we were driving to Monaco that evening.

There were so many sailboats and yachts scattered in the harbor. It felt like we were in an Alfred Hitchcock movie in the 50s!

The drive to Monaco is less than an hour from Nice. We were stunned by the tunnels built right into the mountainside but also apprehensive driving along the sharp, curvy cliffs. How cute is this fruit stand?

The first time I drove into Monaco, it’s so small I drove right past it! It’s through a tunnel and you have to make a quick turn or you’ll miss it. It took forever to find parking unless you were driving a Maseratti, because there were plenty parked just outside of the Grand Casino.

It was surreal arriving at the Casino Monte Carlo, which I had only seen in black and white on an episode of I Love Lucy.

I just had to play one lucky game of roulette but they don’t allow children inside the casino. Antz and Liv hung out in the ornate salon while I paid the €20 admission fee along with taking €100 out of the ATM. There was a strict no photography policy inside the casino so I was only able to take one shot with my iPhone.

I was surprised to find the casino charged an admission fee. When I went inside there was only a handful of people inside. I sadly didn’t see any celebrities or royalty.

Not as glamorous as I expected. I lost my €100 in an instant. I’m so used to gambling in Las Vegas with free drinks and computerized boards that show the last number drawn in roulette so that threw me off. I was also trying to hurry knowing Liv and Antz were waiting for me.

I disappointingly returned to Liv and Antz and told them about my swift loss. We left the Grand Casino and found another smaller casino right next door.

Since the second casino was free and we felt ripped off from the first one, I sent Antz in and told him to come back a winner. Liv and I hung out in the lobby and waited an hour. He returned with not just my €100 but also another €200! Yippee!

We left just in time to catch the summer night fireworks show.

I don’t know how I made the hour long drive back to Nice but I managed.

Casino de Monte-Carlo
The minimum age is 18 and they only allow Euros to gamble.

Summer in Paris: BFF Visit

Dec 18, 2018

My bestie Aimee came to visit us for ten days in July! The last time we were together in Paris was March 2015.

Since it was the middle of summer and unbearably hot in Paris, we took a road trip to the seaside towns of Deauville, Trouville and Honfleur. Lucky for us, the weather was much cooler. We stayed at a beautiful, historic bed and breakfast in Deauville. I finally struck gold with my car rental skills. Not only did I get the actual car I reserved, a sweet ass brand new Volvo, but it was white which they never have (so sick of driving silver and beige cars!) If we ever buy a car in Paris, I am seriously considering a Volvo. I mean, if I can’t find a vintage Fiat Pop 500 with an automatic transmission or my dream car this light blue beauty. I guess Liv would have to sit on the hood.

It was a quick two hour drive west so we stopped in the village of Buorneville which is in the Normandy region. We needed to stretch our legs and I had to take a pic in front of this adorable Mairie. Little did we know that we stopped right in the middle of an insect horde and we were covered with hundreds of tiny black bugs. It was awful. Liv noticed them first and next thing we knew they were all over us. I have many things I cannot tolerate and bugs is high on the list. They were in my braids, all over the rental car, in our clothes. I was miserable during the rest of the drive. I planned to take photos of the picturesque village of Pont-Audemer but we just drove through without stopping. We felt like there should be warning signs saying watch out for tiny almost microscopic bugs that don’t bite but crawl all over you! Has that ever happened to anyone else? I still itch just thinking about it.

When we arrived in Deauville at our hotel Villa L’Augeval thirty minutes later we immediately jumped into the shower and changed.

Our room was quaint. Aimee, Liv and Lulu had their own tiny room to share.

The view from our window was more impressive than the room. This lovely church bells chimed every hour. Liv was stoked because our hotel had a pool.

We headed to a restaurant in Trouville-Sur-Mer for dinner which was highly recommended by our French friends.

Trouville-sur-mer is a 15 minute drive from Deauville and it’s so cute. Most of the houses have a Art-Deco Victorian style. We drove around picking which mansion would be our future beachside vacation house.

I am no fan of onions, as many of you may already know, however I have always been enticed by the smell of French onion soup in the past. I saw it on the menu and decided that I would be brave and give it a try. Aimee was excited to order seafood and oysters. Antz got a steak and Liv ordered something simple from the kids menu. Lulu just ate bread.

Well my dears, the onion soup was a big disappointment! I was excited to see the raclette of cheese covering the top and it smelled yummy but beneath the bland cheese was a bowl of warm water and big, almost raw onions. I was hoping for the creamy broth of soft onions I have seen at restaurants in LA but this was Normandy style which seems to translate to no seasoning. The plate of shrimp I ordered were served cold to my dismay and Aimee didn’t enjoy her food either. Yet another expensive meal we wish we just went to McDonalds. I swear I am trying my best to open my palette to French cuisine but no luck so far!

Liv got an ice cream cone for dessert. Antz took these lovely photos by the Trouville harbor, I love my new Modcloth dress which was giving me 1950s vibes and it has POCKETS!!

We dropped Aimee off at the hotel so she could take a nap and sleep off her horrible dinner and we drove to the beach to catch the sunset.

The Deauville American Film Festival has taken place since 1975. The Promenade des Planches was built in 1923 and now has the names of popular American actors and directors. I was surprised by some of the names we saw but happy to find my imaginary lover Jeffrey Goldblum. Olivia only knew Jessica Tandy from her role in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.

The next day happened to be July 14th which is Bastille day in France! We began the day with a refreshing swim at our hotel.

She still loves to bellyflop!

We checked out of our room and headed to the beach for breakfast. But first, Liv challenged us to a game of table tennis. I beat them both!

I found the OG actors on the planches further down the boardwalk. Liz Taylor, Bette Davis and my girl Grace Kelly.

After promising Liv we would return so she could spend a day playing in the sand. We headed to Honfleur to spend the rest of the day before driving back into Paris.

Somehow there is an unspoken rule that when we see a Ferris Wheel, Liv must ride it, no questions.

It appears carousels follow this same rule as well.

Being weird with my best friend 21 years later.

The Honfleur harbor is giving me Copenhagen vibes.

Aimee was super stoked to finally get a delicious bowl of mussels! I don’t know how she eats them.

We listened to a French band play while we dined. There was a World Cup game playing so the entire town was distracted. I drove through Versailles to see if we could watch the Bastille day fireworks on our way back to the city but it was so crowded we couldn’t find parking and we were tired, so we zapped a few Invaders (how cool is this beheaded Louis the XVI?) and like the old, lame folks we are, we went home to bed.

Bonjournee!

Road Trip: Cherbourg & Beaches of Normandy

Sep 19, 2018

June is always a busy but special month for me. Liv’s birthday is at the beginning of the month, then Father’s Day and ends with Antz birthday. I rented a car and we drove to Cherbourg for a weekend trip for Antz birthday. I have wanted to visit Cherbourg ever since I saw the French musical “Les Parapluies de Cherbourg” Since Cherbourg is near the beaches of Normandy, we spent the day visiting Sainte-Mère-Église village, the Omaha Beach Memorial and the American Cemetery. The drive was over five hours and even though I normally would be able to drive longer than that in LA (I drove for eleven hours for our road trip to Portland) something about the French highways seems to lull me to sleep. I drove the first three hours and then Antz took over for the last two.

There were many tolls heading west towards Cherbourg. We also noticed livestock on the sides of the highway. At first we thought we were looking at sheep but with a closer look, they were golden cows! They were so pretty we pulled over and tried to snap a photo with some of the cows. The countryside is insanely pretty.

I was surprised at how small Cherbourg was. Our hotel was just across the street from the harbor.

We went for a walk around the town looking for a place to eat for lunch. Of course it was after 3 so we missed lunch and nothing was open until after 7pm.

We found this gorgeous fish market but they didn’t cook the food. Liv bought a bag of apricots, Antz and I got crepes to tide us over.

Les parapluies were everywhere. I only recently saw the French musical in the last few years although I have always been a big Catherine Deneuve fan. I also discovered that the guy who directed The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is one of Liv’s friend’s from school grandfather! How rad is that?!!

We walked around for an hour then hung out in our hotel room. By 7pm, we were starving so we went to the first restaurant we found that was open. We ordered a plateau de fruits de mer for Antz birthday dinner. To our surprise, shellfish is served cold and there’s no melted butter to dip. Sadly, no matter how many times we have tried, we don’t like oysters. As fancy as the meal looked, we really missed our annual seafood meal from Duke’s in Malibu.

We drove around town looking for the Cherbourg sign. Oddly, we could find it’s location on Google Maps so I relied on photos from Pinterest and my intuition. Finally, just as I was about to give up I drove right past it on a steep hill! Since the sign was so big, one of us had to run into the street to get a photo. We waited forever for someone to get a photo of all of us but it’s an isolated area. This selfie has made me want to travel with a reliable tripod. I just don’t see where we could have set one up since there were cars passing in the street.

The next day we grabbed breakfast at our hotel and headed out early.

I had to take a photo with my umbrella by the harbor before we left. Our first stop was Sainte-Mere-Eglise. We learned the heroic story of Private John Marvin Steele. As the 82nd Airborne soldiers parachuted into the village, they were under heavy attack by Germans. John survived the jump but his parachute got caught in the spinnet of the church. He hung there limp, playing dead for two hours before he was taken prisoner. He later escaped and captured 30 Germans. He was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his valor. He is featured in the classic film The Longest Day.

Miraculously, it didn’t rain. The sun actually came out as we headed towards the American cemetery. I spent hours explaining the D-day invasion to Liv and she listened intently. I was surprised to see how interested in history an eight year old was. I think it hit her the most when I told her how many men were drafted into the war and how her Dad would have most likely been sent to fight if we were alive during that time. During the summer of 1944 over 100,000 total men died.

This was the most incredible experience for our family. France has always been a romantic place for us but visiting these sites where close to 10,000 people lost their lives felt very somber. We visited the memorial and watched a short film about World War II.
Below is Omaha beach.

Our last stop wasn’t planned but Liv was asking what happened to the German soldiers so we stopped at La Cambe German war cemetery. It definitely had a different vibe to it. There were very few people there. Over 21,000 German soldiers are buried there. The cemetery has 1,200 maple trees as a gift of peace.

If you are a history buff, I strongly recommend making this trip. Normandy Discovery Tours offers a tour by French locals. We saw a group of school children at the Omaha beach memorial. I really think that the difference between American children and European is our approach to the past. I feel like Americans shield their kids from the dark side of history but I believe that is doing them a disservice. They lack empathy and may grow up to make the same mistakes of bigotry and complacency. I talk to Olivia about everything, not to frighten her but to open her eyes to the world she lives in. She is a multiracial child so she doesn’t have the privilege to ignore the past suffering of her ancestors. Every accomplishment she makes in her life, she has many generations of proud Mexican and Black people cheering her on.

Road Trip to Brussels, Belgium

Apr 21, 2018

It feels like we have been traveling non-stop! My plan was to hit up Amsterdam for the weekend to see the tulip festival but the weather wasn’t cooperating so I drove to Brussels for Belgium chocolate and seeing the little pissing boy. It’s only a two hour drive so we got there easy peasy. We were waiting in line for Belgium waffles when it started pouring raining. It only lasted a few minutes but it was too wet to stay outside.

So this is her go-to thing she does now. I’m old and have no idea where this is from.

Why am I am notoriously clumsy?! Also, the rain didn’t do my Brigitte Bardot hairstyle any favors.

Yep, Mannekin Pis is everywhere! All I gotta say is WTF Brussels? You have a weird sense of humor (known in Flemish as zwanze). There were hundreds of tourists mobbing to get a picture of this little perverse guy. I somehow managed to get a shot of Liv but it was chaotic with the rain.

Most people don’t know this but there is a female peeing statue on the other side of the square called Jeanette Pis. I like her much better. Get it girl!

We left Old Town and drove around. I wanted to see a house I saw on Pinterest. Throughout Brussels there are murals of famous Belgium comics. Did you know the Smurfs and Tin Tin were created in Belgium? All over Old Town are murals of famous Belgium artists. There is a Brussels Comic Book route map to help you find all 43.

We drove around looking for a place to eat when we stumbled upon the Atomium. Do you know what the Atomium is? Good, neither did we. Apparently, Brussels had a World Fair in 1958 and this guy is a giant model of a unit cell of an iron crystal (each sphere representing an atom) an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. Now it’s a huge weird landmark for folks to take selfies in front of.

On the way out of town we stopped at Maison Saint-Cyr a art-nouveau Baroque style house built by Gustave Strauven in 1901. I first saw it on Pinterest so luckily I remembered to see it.

I wish we bought more chocolate. It was amazing and didn’t last more than one day!

I would like to return in August so we can see the Floral Carpet at the Grand Place and watch the Le Meyboom, Procession of Giants. Next time I want to go look at diamonds in Antwerp, see the canals in Bruges and if we have time check out Ghent.

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Pâques aux jardins de Claude Monet

Apr 20, 2018

This was the first year since Liv was born that we didn’t spend Easter Sunday with our dear friends Stephen & Leslie at their annual Easter Party. We tried to FaceTime with them but the connection was terrible. We spent Easter Sunday driving through Normandie to Giverny, France to visit the Claude Monet gardens. To be honest, I am not the biggest Monet fan. I know of his work but it’s not for me. Here’s what Wikipedia says about him.

Oscar-Claude Monet
14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926 was a founder of French Impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement’s philosophy of expressing one’s perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein air landscape painting. The term “Impressionism” is derived from the title of his painting Impression, soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise), which was exhibited in 1874. Monet’s ambition of documenting the French countryside led him to adopt a method of painting the same scene many times in order to capture the changing of light and the passing of the seasons. From 1883 Monet lived in Giverny, where he purchased a house and property and began a vast landscaping project which included lily ponds that would become the subjects of his best-known works. In 1899 he began painting the water lilies, first in vertical views with a Japanese bridge as a central feature, and later in the series of large-scale paintings that was to occupy him continuously for the next 20 years of his life.

Well, the town of Giverny was beautiful! To bad the weather was nice enough to bring out the bus-loads of tourists. We arrived later in the day and it was still crowded. Luckily, we have mastered the skill of cropping out the masses and finding empty spots.

After a long day of trying to get the perfect shot, I was thrilled to capture this candid moment of Liv and Antz discussing something silly. I wish I could get more candids of the three of us together enjoying the day without the contrived posing. I need to keep that in mind for our future photos.

The Claude Monet Gardens and House at Giverny

Rue Claude Monet
27620 Giverny France

Open everyday from 9:30 am – 6 pm until November 1st.

Road Trips: Chantilly & Rouen

Mar 23, 2018

Bonjour,

What a dream it is to wake up in Paris. We spent the first week here severely jet lagged, which meant instead of sticking to my schedule, we stayed up all night and slept in until noon. We didn’t get out of the apartment until after 3 pm! Whoopsie, I always forget how tired we are the first few days in a new place. So originally I was planning to drive to Deauville but the weather was too cold and rainy to head towards the ocean so we drove an hour north towards the little village of Chantilly. I really love driving in Paris. At first it was scary and confusing but by the second day, it was just like driving in LA except a million more motorcyclists to watch out for. Everyone told us that the weather was freezing in Paris but we didn’t mind at all. It rains here much more often than we are used to but other than Olivia and my hair turning into a huge pouf, we were fine.

It lightly drizzled most of the day. The best part of the apartment we are staying at is, it’s on a private street so I get all the free parking I want.

My gangsta ride.

I kinda love how the toll roads work in France however, we got hit hard with one that was 18 euros and I was like, can we get a heads up before we get hit with that high toll?!

How cute are these maisons? The road was so narrow, Antz was nervous about my driving in the rain. I love setting all our navigation and Siri devices to British accents.

After about 50 roundabouts and having to back up on a narrow one lane street because I missed a turn, we made it! Chateau de Chantilly is so moody and beautiful.

The water was frozen, that’s how cold it was. Chateau de Chantilly was closed because it was Sunday but we took advantage of the picturesque scene and popped out a quick photo shoot with Liv’s Animalesque rabbit headress.

This kid is always asking for baguettes, she is a bread addict! We headed back into the city and went grocery shopping. Guess what? Nearly everything is closed on Sundays, so we had to go to Bic C’ Bon. It is tiny and doesn’t have half of what Monoprix carries but we were able to get some necessities.

Our first home cooked meal was breakfast for dinner! It was yummy but I was dying for our favorite rotisserie chicken.

The next day we managed to get up and out of the house by 10 am. I searched Pinterest the night before for French road trips that were under 3 hours from Paris and Rouen kept coming up. I could tell by the photos it would be worth the drive. The funny thing about driving on the freeway here is how the toll road just suddenly appear and they don’t give you any indication of how much it will be.

First we stocked up on croissants from our neighborhood boulanger.

I can’t even describe how pretty the drive was through Normandie. We made a quick stop along the way to check out this Mairie (Town Hall) when Olivia found the friendliest cat I’ve ever met. She wanted to take her with us (after naming her Marie) but I convinced her that she belonged to someone in the town.

Rouen was much bigger than I expected. There were so many churches but you couldn’t miss the Rouen Cathedral. It was so massive we couldn’t capture it in one photo. Antz took this amazing shot using panorama.

I prayed and lit a candle for my family (living and dead), Liv was fascinated! I explained to her the significance of prayer and she should take time to talk to her Grandma Maria. She loves to light candles now, we can’t pass a church without her asking to light a candle.

Antz found a Saint that beared his likeness. Saint Antho-key?

We walked around the town in awe of the medieval architecture.

I can’t wait until our next road trip. I would like to drive to the beautiful town of Giverny, Claude Monet’s home town for Easter weekend.

Bisous.

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Iceland Day Two

Feb 2, 2017

You know those mornings when you wake up feeling like you only got fifteen minutes of sleep? Well, our day was packed so we got our bloodshot eyes up and checked out of the Ion hotel. We didn’t have a set schedule but I wanted to see as much as we could in the area before driving to our house rental in Reykjavik by 4pm.

Before we checked out I took a quick stroll outside for as long as my frozen fingers could bear the wind. I was planning to take a quick dip in the outdoor spa but hells no, I am not crazy. But how lovely is that pool and all the gorgeous moss?

Since we were beat from the night before I didn’t get to the Northern Lights bar so we popped in to take a few photos of the space. I sat in silence and daydreamed that I was watching the Northern lights.

Be lucky you don’t have smell-o-vision because Strokkur geyser smells like rotten eggs. However, it erupts every eight minutes and is quite majestic.

I dig this chicks braids! We arrived at Gullfoss, one of Iceland’s largest waterfalls. Also the most touristy spot so our visit was quick.

On our drive to Thingvellir national park I felt compelled to stop on the side of the road to say hello to these gorgeous horses. They were like, “Uh, we are camera ready lady, get shooting.” Iceland’s scenery feels like a movie set. I was so happy to have the rented wide angle lens, my regular lens would not have captured such beauty.

Yep, unfriendliest animals in the world. That sky is totally unfiltered. We may have missed the Northern lights but those moody, blue skies almost made up for it.

I am a great actress because I look relaxed and happy here but the reality was I was foolishly taking a sitting photo in the middle of the famous Ring Road which was terrifying. We were at the bottom of a hill so we had a three second window between cars and trucks hitting us. I tested my agility to get up from a sitting position in less than three seconds many times before we go these shots. I was literally jumping for joy when I got the last shot. So here’s my tip future travelers: Don’t get out of your car and stand in the middle of the busiest road in Iceland because it’s illegal and dangerous. But then again, YOLO!

Thingvellir is massive. We drove in from the back side of the park which was great because we missed most of the tourists and busses. There is so much to see and do you don’t have to visit the same spots that the travel companies go to. You do have to purchase a day pass which you buy from a kiosk and place it in your car. Bring cash for the day pass because the credit card option wasn’t working when we bought ours. We walked to Öxarárfoss and it was magnificent. Hardly anyone there and an easy hike. I found it funny that we would stop on the side of the road to explore empty spaces and several cars were following us to take the same photos we took. Like the horses, no one was there when we decided to stop but when we walked back to the car, there were about six cars pulling over as well as a bus full of people. Copycats!

I wish we had more time to spend in the park (where Game of Thrones is filmed!) but I wanted to get to the rental so we could shower and go to dinner. It is about an hour and a half drive to Reykjavik.

Liv was stoked to have her choice of two bedrooms and I was elated to have wifi and two bathrooms. We usually have to wait in line to get ready in the mornings so it was heaven to simultaneously get ready. Most Icelandic bathrooms have heated floors!

Our first stop was Kex Hostel which I heard about on Instagram. We had a cocktail and it was a cool place but we decided it was too noisy for dinner.

Off to find some grub!

On the drive to downtown Reykjavik, we passed the lovely Harpa concert hall. My dream is to see Björk perform there one day.

This is the Sun Voyager sculpture. It’s a sun dial that is commonly mistaken as a Viking ship that represents Iceland’s lengthy history. Close to the harbor we came across a restaurant that had a quote from Anthony Bourdain painted on it so that was a good enough reason to give it a try.

I had lobster, of course, prepared four ways. I even tried a lobster shot!!

Our waiter recommended we try the chef’s special dessert which was incredible. I wish waiters in LA were as friendly and helpful (but I understand, most Americans are assholes).

The Timberline Lodge

Jan 1, 2017

Anyone who knows me knows that Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is my jam. I love that movie so much but I’m weird so I know more facts about the filming of the movie than the average person. The film’s famous opening scene was filmed at the Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood so I was stoked that Story and Chris took us there for lunch. It’s about an hour from Portland.

I wore my no direction Grady sisters pin because they are my favorite characters in the movie. I have professed my love for the Shining in this post from the awesome 2012 LACMA Stanley Kubrick exhibit.

I did not order an advocaat because it was in the early afternoon and it sounds disgusting!

We had the best cheese plate in the Mezzanine. It was ridiculously crowded at the lodge so it was an hour wait for lunch. Don’t fret, we were able to pass the time quickly catching…wait for the irony, GHOST POKEMON!!

Liv caught a Haunter but I couldn’t because I ran out of pokeballs. Boo!

My alternate universal family

We wandered the creepy corridors and I was lucky enough to come across the infamous room 217. Now I know in the film, the haunted room was actually room 237 however the hotel requested Stanley to not use room 217 as it was in Stephen King’s novel so future guests wouldn’t avoid it. Lucky for the hotel it caused the opposite effect and now it’s their most requested room!

We bumped into the couple staying in the room when I was in the hallway photographing the door. They had no idea the room was related to the film and thought it was funny their room was “haunted”. FYI, the room was underwhelming and messy because they were in the middle of packing. I didn’t tour the bathroom with the gross naked old lady. I loved the Indian wood carvings and the eerie presence. I

Can you image the Grady sisters standing in the hallway asking Danny to come and play with us?!

It was challenging to get a full shot of the lodge exterior because the parking lot is directly in front of the building so there were tons of tourists in the way. I do find it odd that Antz wore his Mt. Hood t-shirt on this particular day not knowing we were driving there and there was a 1980 VW Rabbit parked in the lot (the same year the movie came out!). I tried to take a photo of the bathroom window Danny escapes from Jack but it wasn’t until I saw the windows that I realized the scene was shot on the elaborate set in England not the Timberline Lodge.

This website has great details to map the film’s impossible hotel layout and ponders many conspiracy theories and correlations. We stopped by the gift shop so I could pick up a rad Overlook Hotel t-shirt for Antz.

Antz and I were in disbelief that there was still snow on Mt. Hood with the 90 degree temperature. I would love to return during the winter when it’s snowing.

Timberline Lodge
27500 W Leg Road
Timberline Lodge, OR 97028

Ojai Meadows Preserve

Mar 28, 2016

All the flowers! Every year I seem to miss the spring flower explosion that occurs in Antelope Valley. I was monitoring the California poppy’s bloom schedule this year and was bummed to find out the storm we had last month killed the flowers in the valley. The other location to find wildflower fields was in Death Valley which is three hours in the middle of nowhere. It didn’t sound like the fun road trip I had in mind so I was stoked to hear that wildflowers were in full bloom in nearby Ojai. The Ojai Meadows Preserve is only an hour and a half drive from LA and no hiking in hundred degree weather to see them.

Liv and I were in flower heaven but I was also thinking “Please don’t let there be snakes in here!”

Ojai has a great park that Liv was dying to play at, so we stopped by on our way back home.

I couldn’t see adding this crazy merry-go-round in our small park. We saw a bunch of kids fall down while pushing it and other kids came close to trampling the fallen kid. Even I thought the spinning metal cages were dangerous. Yet, I can’t help but feel proud of how badass my kid is!

I really would love this modern swing (which can fit a few kids at once) in our York Park. It’s much safer and comfortable than our generation’s old tire swing.

Ojai Meadows Preserve is located just north of or adjacent to the Nordhoff High School football stadium. To get there, take Highway 33 west (towards Maricopa) from the Highway 150/33 intersection at the Rotary Community Park. Go past the high school and the stadium, turn left at the next break in the highway’s dividing island, park in the little parking lot or along the curb.

I recommend taking the Highway 150/Santa Paula route which is less crowded and much more scenic than the 101 freeway.

Due to California’s drought, I’d recommend getting there soon before the flowers wither and die!

Sunkissis

California born family of three living joie de vie in Paris, France

Category Archives: road trippers