A Journey from the Glitz to the Bay

I left Los Angeles at 7:30am this morning on an early train from Union Station in downtown LA. Was originally planning to leave at 9, but got there earlier than expected and Amtrak was flexible about letting me take an earlier ticket. It turned out to be a really special gift; the earlier train took the train route all the way to San Luis Obispo, CA instead of just to Santa Barbara and then along the freeways.
The scenery, at first, was irritatingly metropolitan. The commuters on the train were gradually weeded out through towns like Glendale, Burbank and Moorpark. After Moorpark, the train went through a short tunnel and seemed to emerge in a different world. Suddenly I was in a mini Mediterranean area going towards Santa Barbara, with wine fields extending from the tracks and then incredibly spectacular Pacific blue ocean on the other side. After Santa Barbara we had to wait a whole hour for the next stop on the train, appropriately called "Surf" (yes, it's really a town called Surf, and it is right by the ocean.) The weather seemed to not know what to do with itself as the train sped north by west. First it was sunny, and then there was thick omnious fog coming off the sea.
But then, the fog suddenly lifted and revealed an unparalleled seascape with bold cliffs and wide sandy beaches like a mini version of Big Sur farther north along the coast. At the exact same time, I was listening to Daft Punk on my IPod. A song came on that I had not heard before (called "Voyager") and the title, funky beat and adventurous electronics perfectly matched the feeling of the moment: adventure and spontaneous exploration on the absolute edge of the American coastline in the sunshine. So I kept playing the song on repeat for at least ten minutes as the scenery continued to be spectactularly dramatic. I even filmed some of it on my new video camera (and will definitely use the Daft Punk song to underscore it...!).
The woman sitting in front of me pointed out the alternate-launch site for the NASA space shuttles in a place called Lompoc, CA, located right next to the train tracks and in the middle of a working air force base. Of course there were no official signs pointing that out!
The coastal scenery shifted to inland wine country and mountains again by the time we reached San Luis Obispo. I found the transition to an Amtrak bus to be easy, and significantly nicer than its Greyhound counterpart, as I continued another six hours up the coast to SF.
It's wonderful to be back in the city by the bay that has captured my imagination since the first visit here six months ago. At the time I would have never anticipated that I'd have the chance to come back so soon, but am very grateful for the experience of being here again and plan to make the most of it, in the sun and in the city with a cool breeze on my back.

from the LA High Scene to the coast

So, this morning at 7:30am I arrived in Beverly Hills, seeking early morning substance through a latte and coffee cake at a Starbucks on Beverly Drive. Immediately after sitting down i felt the "high scrutiny" style over substance moods of the city start to seep in ... people walked in the door looking at everyone else, seeing how they were dressed, what they were doing, if they were with someone or not, etc, etc. I stayed there for an hour until I had enough of the shop, although interestingly, the coffee cake was half the price that it is in Boston. Continued to wander around the Beverly Hills shopping area, passing very chic stores that specalized in somewhat ridiculous things, such as a store devoted to bags ranging from purses to ornate knapsacks, and then other stores that had different types of rings. It does have a certain market...but it's obviously not for me. I was more amused by knowing that I'd been in Beverly MA just two days ago (Beverly Hills namesake) and that I was probably the only person in BH today who had been in Beverly for the past month, at least.

It was staggering to see the amount of flashy cars and how that reflected people's wealth...from ferraris to lamborginis to BMWs to rolls royces and everything else under the sun, but mostly things with high price tags.

Eventually I found a Jamba Juice and a small park on Rodeo Drive to do exercises in the sun. Was able to meet up with an old friend for lunch and I enjoyed the reunion. I went off to visit the Museum of Television and Radio afterwords, which offered a staggering range of television programs, radio advertisements, commercials and historical television to pick out of an old Macintosh computer and then watch on a video station in an adjacent room. Eventually I decided to watch:
taped footage of the Apollo 11 moon landing (novelty)
and then three retro-fabulous tv shows:
You Can't Do That On Television
Square One TV (finally seeing Mathnet in LA!!!)
and the "Star Wars" guest episode of the Muppet Show
all very silly, but nostalgic and fun ... until I suddenly wanted to get out in the sun again and out of Beverly Hills.

So that meant it was time to take the bus to Santa Monica! The beach, sun and sand were intoxicating in a very holistic way and very welcome after the smoggy start to the day. The ocean seems endless on the other side of the continent :) and backed by the mountains, it is simply majestical.
Spectacular. Amazing.
Unforgettable.

California Love

Have arrived in LA, after one of the best airplane flights I've ever taken. Something about the combination of perfect weather, having a window seat, being on a cheap flight and getting to chat with the rest of the passengers in my row (one of whom was a professional stage manager in NorCal!) made it memorable and fun for me. Saw a ton of landmarks across the country including a bird's eye view of my neighborhood as we left Boston, Lake Erie, Lake Michigan, a bird's eye view of Interstate 80 in Nebraska that Russ and I will be driving through in about two weeks, the Continnental Divide, the Utah desert, the northern reaches of the Grand Canyon, the southern area of the Hoover Dam, and metropolitan LA's mountainous borders.

Now am here in LA-Land for a day and a half, seeing friends and doing my best to get around the city without a car. We'll see if that's successful or not. It is off to a chilled out and good transitional start hanging around Whittier College with my cousin before shifting gears to Pasadena tonight and the gliteratti of Beverly Hills and Santa Monica tomorrow.

Significant Victory

I have a driver's license.

Analytically

Why is it always a challenge to write about myself analytically? Like this question in a job application: PLEASE PROVIDE A STATEMENT OF YOUR PERSONAL QUALITIES AND EXPERIENCE THAT YOU BELIEVE ARE RELEVANT TO YOUR SUITABILITY FOR THIS POST.
... I kept putting the answer off, but now I don't really have time to, as the form is due tomorrow. I feel like I am writing a term paper again.

I finally got myself and KC (my cat) into the same picture frame tonight:

Back in Beverly

and glad to be here.

test

Vineyard Vitality

MV was spectacular, as always. .

Martha's Vineyard keeps calling me home

Heading down to MV today for the weekend to see family, friends and the beach. Should be a welcome change from the home monotony and a good way to get my mind off wanting to be there with you all in Amherst.

We must always return to the sea....

The Coast Starlight

March 20-21, 2006
from the journal archives

1) Midnight -- March 20 2006 -- somewhere past the Bay Area

Riding the train in the dark Northern California night is giving everything an air of intense, foreboding mystery. I wish I had the speed or energy to write down the words as soon as they dropped into my head. From the moment I got to the station (in Emeryville, CA) I felt like I'd entered an intense ambient groove and vividly painted dreamscape where the darks compliment and outnumber the lights. SF was everything that I wanted it to be and was begging for a return visit, so I hope that a return could be arranged for some time. (and it will be at the end of this month!)

2) later -- early the next morning
The train is passing through a snowy landscape thick with fir trees and I thought we were in Oregon already until we went right by an onramp for I-5 that still had CA destination points, and are now passing cars that still have CA license plates. We've also been officially declared to be running three hours late and have had to pull over for several freight trains, including one where I counted 66 cars were attached to the frame of the carriage. This all feels like worlds away from home and even from SF, which is why I was surprised to have it still be in CA with all the snow. There's something appealing, yet mysterious about traveling by train here in the northwest. To me it feels like entering a foriegn landscape only special visitors can enter, with the implicit understanding that you won't disturb it...

3) 11:30am 3/21/06
Have made it into Oregon at this point and the scenery has become spectacularly dramatic, with snow-covered mountains backing a large lake. The train is still running three hours behind schedule (and eventually it would arrive in Portland five hours late) and people are starting to grumble a bit about the length of time. Colin was right to warn me, but I am glad to have gone on north this way anyway, rather than a plane flight or a monotonous highway bus drive.

4) 1:45pm
Quite a bit of snow has fallen here in the southern OR woodlands and the train just made it's second stop of the state in a place called Chemault, FOUR hours later than scheduled. We are going through the most snow I have seen all winter; there must be between 1-2 feet of whiteness sitting alongside the tracks. I think we might be past the "freight train gets the right of way" part of the trip, and would enjoy seeing some more varied landscapes beyond just the woods.

5) 5:00pm
Am feeling a bit claustraphobic since I've been on the train much longer than I was originally anticipating to be. However, we just passed Eugene, and Portland is next. So we're in more metropolitan areas, relatively speaking. We passed the southbound Coast Starlight which was just pulling into Eugene as this train was leaving. The train staff is getting way too excited about the dinner reservation part of the trip and having people come to the dining car in stages to have their food; it's very silly. I'm relieved that Portland is just an hour or so from here.

From the travel archives

A fun, and interesting part of being at home is getting to look through my old journals which date as far back (though not consistently) to 1996. I thought it would be interesting to post some of my written observations on past trips, and will publish them here, with a corresponding photograph.

It occurs to me that several of you might be interested in this event

http://shambhalaboston.org/program_viewer.asp?program_id=925

Khandro Rinpoche in Boston

Mom's principle Tibetan teacher Khandro Rinpoche will return to Boston for the 9/11 anniversary, giving a talk on compassion in times of war. I'm looking forward to hearing her and would love to see some of you all there in Brookline Monday. Open to anyone, just preregister.

Home Again

With the rain gently falling outside, it's the type of weather that makes me want to sit around a warm fireplace and drink cider while munching on apple pie. That might be a little too soon for this fall weather, but it's definitely bringing those "ideal" sensations to mind.

It's been welcome to just take things easy -- for a few days -- through movies, exercise and rest. Everyone needs a little decompression, right?