Big Summer Trip: Part 2--LA

After our 3 days at Disneyland, we went to stay with Mark's brother Damon for a few days. He's been living in LA for a while now, so we were definitely overdue for a visit.

Our first big outing was to the Huntington, a great library and garden. Damon's friend Stephen is a member, so he offered to take us (for free!) first thing in the morning before it's open to the public. That gave us a chance to explore at our own pace with very few other people around. My favorite garden was the Chinese one, and it was also cool to see some of the library's collection, like a Gutenberg Bible (though at that point, we were having to catch glimpses between groups of school kids there on a field trip...).

in the Chinese garden

A few more pics, courtesy of Stephen:

Our next adventure was a trip out to the Channel Islands National Park. We drove out to the beach in order to catch a boat over to Santa Cruz island, where we spent the day hiking around. The island has a bunch of trails and a small visitor center in an old farmhouse. We packed a picnic lunch and caught the boat back in the late afternoon. On the boat, both ways, we passed by a huge pod of dolphins and got to stay for a few minutes watching them swimming and jumping--it was amazing! We also saw some sea lions. This day was definitely a highlight of the whole trip.

A few more pics from Mark & Damon:

Another day, we got to meet up with our good friends the Wallaces (who we know from Hoffmantown in ABQ, but who have lived in Southern CA for several years now). I last saw them in 2012, when they met up with me in San Diego, but it had been longer for Mark. They suggested we meet for lunch then go to the Griffith Observatory, where we ended up spending the better part of the day. They've got 5 great kids, and we had a blast catching up and hanging out.

On our last full day, we took a walking tour of downtown LA and learned all about the movie industry there. The tour guide seemed to know everything about the area, and he showed us clips of different movies that were filmed in the places we were walking around. We also walked right down a street where filming was in progress. After the tour, we took a quick peek in "The Last Bookstore," then we went to dinner at Cliffton Hill, a unique cafeteria the tour guide recommended.

Besides all that, we spent some time hanging out at Damon's place, and the guys got in some quality video game time together. We're so glad we finally got out there for a visit!