A Weekend of New Experiences in Los Angeles

One of the joys of living in the Southwest is the chance to jump on a plane and be on the West Coast in about two hours flying time from my home town of El Paso, Texas.  Recently my husband Wayne and I did just that to visit family members, leaving El Paso at about 8:00 am and arriving in Los Angeles, California at 9:00 am (Pacific Coast time), just in time for breakfast.

Our favorite breakfast stop has to be The French Crepe Company located at the Farmers Market in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles.

French crepe chef

We sat at the counter, watching our crepes take shape before our eyes.  El Paso has breakfast burritos; Los Angeles has breakfast crepes.  Nice change!

After breakfast, we took a walk around The Grove, a nearby upscale shopping center.

Fountain at The Grove

The comfortable 70 degree daytime temperature was a sharp contrast to the 100 degree plus normal summertime temperature in El Paso.

Outdoor Jazz 

Travelers tend to connect new experiences with similar ones in their home towns.  The free outdoor evening jazz concert at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) was a feast for the ears and eyes.  We were especially impressed with elaborate picnic lunches that some people had spread out on their blankets.  Maybe when we attend the upcoming Mariachi Night at El Paso's Music Under the Stars at the Chamizal National Memorial we will be inspired to take food that is little more on the gourmet side than our usual sandwiches and popcorn.

Rodeo Drive

Elegant Rodeo Drive with its high end merchants doesn't compare with anything in El Paso. But that's okay, because I would probably have to buy a whole new outfit just to walk down the sidewalk. This view of Tiffany's made me think of the classic movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's" starring Audrey Hepburn.

1984 Duesenberg II Model SJ

And in the Petersen Automotive Museum, I was reminded of another favorite movie, "The Great Gatsby."  This car was used in the 2013 version of that film, starring Leonardo Di Caprio.

Santa Monica Beach

The beach was our next stop.  It was here that the contrast between life in Los Angeles and life in El Paso stood out most sharply.  The old joke is that El Paso, located in the High Desert,  has lots of sand but no water.

Out of many new experiences in Los Angeles, perhaps the most memorable was an evening meal at a Korean Barbecue restaurant, located in a charming section of the city known as Korea Town. Our first stop for drinks was a restaurant open to the sidewalk and featuring a fountain in the middle of the room. The fountain reminded me of the many attractive fountains found in El Paso in Mexican food restaurants.

I was charmed by this restaurant.

The restaurant where we had dinner reservations was a few steps away.  And it was a good thing we had reservations.  We had to make our way through a crowd of hungry patrons who were being informed that the wait would be two hours.

Diners outside the restaurant

The presentation of the Korean barbecue meal was nothing short of amazing.

Korean BBQ

I had to pretend I could eat with chopsticks so I wouldn't look quite so much like a tourist.  Each small dish contained a new flavor.  The meat was cooked on a grill in the center of the table by a waitress.

Once again, I could see that my husband Wayne and I were on the same thought track - "We really need to try something new once in a while!"  And El Paso has Korean restaurants, as well as those of other ethnicities.

We were only in Los Angeles for three days, but it felt like we had vacationing much longer.  New travel experiences can stimulate new ways of thinking about life.  I love my home town, but I'm ready to go back to LA soon.

Where is Corrales, NM? Mystery solved!

Let me begin by giving my husband Wayne his due.  He not only recognized that the charming village of Corrales, New Mexico would make a great weekend vacation spot, but he also took pictures to document our recent visit.

This tale begins several years ago when Wayne and a friend were driving through the Albuquerque area and happened upon a long, tree-filled road that captured his imagination.  For several years, the exact location of the road remained a mystery.  We made two abortive attempts to locate it on subsequent trips to Albuquerque, but to no avail.  Finally, he discovered that what he had fallen in love with was the village of Corrales, New Mexico, located just north of Albuquerque.

The bed and breakfast we chose for our stay from the Internet was the Chocolate Turtle, an award winning bed and breakfast.  First we checked out our room, the Sandia Suite (room, bath and private patio).  Ah, yes, a king-sized bed.  And a very classy southwestern decorating scheme.

Suite at the Chocolate Turtle ( nighttime chocolates were, of course, turtles)

   
The very large back property invited us to sit and watch rabbits and quail feeding in late afternoon.

The rabbits ignored us completely.

A tour of Casa Ortiz was the first stop after breakfast outdoors at the Chocolate Turtle.  Casa Ortiz is a partially restored 19th century home filled with Spanish Colonial artifacts. We were given a private tour by a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic docent.

Patio of Casa Ortiz.  Wish I could grow hollyhocks like these at home!

 An authentic adobe horno (oven) made us proud of a similar one we have in our own back yard.

Imagine the taste of a loaf of bread cooked in this oven!

Saturday evening's entertainment was enjoying the music of a band in the gazebo in Old Town, Albuquerque.  It was a family event, with people of all ages, grandchildren to grandparents, dancing around the gazebo to corridas and cumbias.

Tanya Griego with her band

We ate a late dinner at the Church Street Cafe, where we had been instructed by our b&b hostess, Denise, to ask to be seated in the courtyard. A lovely setting.

Great place to savor my very large serving of guacamole.

It had been a short stay in Corrales, but we may have found the getaway spot we have been looking for. Corrales is enough like our home town of El Paso, Texas to feel familiar; and yet, in this rural setting, I can let my mind drift back to earlier times.  Are the ghosts of conquistadors, soldiers, and laborers still present on the Camino Real?