1 State
7 Days (2 of flying)
1,657 Miles
~ 53 Hours driving time
23 Restaurants
23 Bakeries
9 Ice cream shops
3 Chocolate shops
2 Drink places
1 Whole Foods Market
Time to go visit The Family, a friend and see some more of California. By my tally trip #9 to The Golden State.
Despite being fond of greater L.A. I intimately know it so applied the time to other pursuits.
Before & after.
Friday, August 13th, 2010
Lesson learned: don't travel on Friday the 13th. After hours of delays, having a fat woman spill into my seat for 4 hours, getting to LAX 5 hours late I got to the car rental place to find they only had a Smart left. What a horrendous ‘car’.
Made haste to get out of L.A. and 60 miles east to The Family's beautiful home.
Saturday, August 14th, 2010
A labyrinth of sweet, crunchy and soft this Apple Fritter had chunks of that fruit surrounded by spongy tufts of cinnamony dough; all made better by still being warm. Made it on the Best Donut and Best Things I Put In My Mouth lists.
After a vigorous run drove 15 miles down the 210 to Glendora to the famed The Donut Man on legendary Route 66. Famous for their Fresh Strawberry & Peach Donuts it was the stone fruit that was in season.
The primary intent of this trip was to see The Family. Regular Travelogue readers know this is my cumulative term that fondly refers to Rachel, Rodolfo, Julia and Monika.
Monika put out a marvelous breakfast spread and I finally got to enjoy Rodolfo's smoothies having heard about them since we first met in China.
They left to help Rodolfo's brother move and I headed south to fill in the map. I-15 is lined with typical strip malls except these have stucco walls and tile roofs in hues to match the desert landscape.
Moving further south the population thins out and eventually nature is the star.
One of Santa Ysabel’s few businesses is Julian Pie Company with a charming café attached to the factory.
Julian is a great example of how a town can get the right merchants and attract hordes of tourists.
It wasn't without a respectable selection of eateries.
Raspberry Crumble.
A 1932 soda fountain.
The south central end of the state is covered with mountains formed by blocks of rock created by primeval underground molten activity.
It was 108 degrees.
There it is- the border fence.
Sand dunes drift over the SE corner of the state.
Brawley didn’t have much going on…except for a couple Mexican bakeries. On the left is ratcheted up banana bread; heavy and dense attributed to a liberal use of leche. Phenomenal.
From the 1920s to the 1950s Salton Sea was the time-honored water paradise in Southern California. Rising salt levels made it inhabitable for fish and repugnant for tourists. Today is it ringed with structures rotting from that salt and trailer homes.
Back to The Family's for some more cherished quality time. Despite not being hungry I had three servings of Monika’s creation since it was so good. Or was it 4?
Sunday, August 15th, 2010
What a delicious surprise to bite through the sugary, cinnamon grit to find a chunky filling of spiced apples. These donuts are going to kill me. And I'm not even a donut guy.
More camaraderie at breakfast.
Julia showed her talent on the drums. What was up with the ear protection??
Late morning we headed to their mountain home in Crestline. The drive threading up the San Bernadino Mountains had vistas of the distant valley and massive mountains.
It is homey and conveys images of past gatherings of family and friends.
The cooler mountain air was scented with pine which demanded lounging on the deck.
Lunch was in town at Tonis Mexican Kitchen overlooking Lake Gregory.
Back to their main house to hang with the ladies.
That evening Monika and Rodolfo departed for a wedding reception in Orange County and the ladies and I went to a mega outdoor mall....
...and then for dinner and frozen yogurt.
Monday, August 16th, 2010
A pre-work out snack the yummy glossy top of this Bran Muffin covers an uber dense interior.
One last breakfast together joined by their charismatic friend Yuliett.
More wonderful scenery driving east.
How many Kodak moments do you suppose there have been at the World’s Biggest Dinosaurs in Cabazon?
The Wheel Inn Restaurant couldn’t be more of an archetypal old school truck stop.
The Coachella Valley has many fruit orchards with Hadley Fruit Orchards featuring a store and their World Famous Date Shake.
Joshua Tree National Park covers 789,745 acres east of Palm Springs.
Besides featuring its namesake the terrain has mountain ranges and gardens of cactus.
Shields Date Gardens in Indio is another one of those orchards with an expansive store. A counter proliferated with samples just about brought me down. I love dates. They had fresh dates. A dozen varieties of dried dates. Date bars. Date bread. Date tortas. Date cookies. Date cake.
At 103 degrees I had Palm Springs to myself. Pretty sure my eyeballs started sweating.
Palm Canyon is the downtown strip for this winter resort town.
Headed to Orange County getting to, once again, experience that LA commodity in abundance- traffic.
Bill (right) is the president of a company who was a vendor of a former (and now defunct) employer. I had the pleasure to get to know him professionally and then personally. We went out for sushi in Tustin and were joined by his buddy John.
Bill always wins everyone over with his amiability, energy and joviality. In a work situation this is combined with a professionalism including timeliness and thoroughness.
We shared a Spicy Tuna Roll, Blue Claw Crab Cakes and Kaisen Ceviche.
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010
Bolsa Avenue in Westminster has been labeled Little Saigon due to its large Vietnamese populace.
The intention was to hit every bakery spotted. Invariably employees and other customers stared at the Caucasian in puzzlement.
In the case of the Vietnamese, bakery often means a meat filling so it isn’t the sweetness we are accustomed to. Both of these had a ground pork filling in the forms of a dumpling and flaky pastry.
This was my favorite of all. Dense, glutinous, hint of coconut.
Unwrap the banana leaf of the Banh Gio for a scrumptious mixture of black fungus, ground pork, rice flour and fish sauce.
Xoi Banh Kep is rice paper wrapped around mochi rice, coconut and crushed nuts creating a sensation of sweet/salty.
The high speed ferry takes an hour to cross the 22 miles from Long Beach to Santa Catalina Island.
Avalon is essentially the only town on the 22 by 8 mile Catalina.
Chewing gum magnate William Wrigley successfully transformed this rocky island into a destination for movie stars and the wealthy who created an sensation to lure more tourists.
Most of the waterfront of Avalon is pedestrian only.
The juxtaposition of the harbor, beach, shops and temperate climate create an exquisite situation to stroll.
This Art Deco and Mediterranean Revival building houses a theatre and ballroom and has been identified with Catalina since being built in 1929.
It’s a climb to get to the Chime Tower.
And the reward is this view of the harbor and Avalon.
Food, bakeries and ice cream? Duh. 7 total.
I wrapped up the visit enjoying a frozen banana while walking the beach.
After dealing with more of that LA commodity headed northeast out of Orange County, through the San Bernardino Mountains, past Victorville and to Twentynine Palms.
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010
A day covering a LOT of miles. Started in Twentynine Palms at 4:30AM, headed east, south and east again towards Blythe on the Arizona border. A rising sun backlit the mountains and clouds.
Rolling north the terrain revealed ruggedness.
After heading west by Needles the Interstate borders the Mojave.
Back to Los Angeles for lunch at the venerable Pacific Dining Car.
The dining car is a far cry from its simple beginnings in 1921.
Walking back to the ‘car’ could not pass up this truck for a buck twenty-five Lengume Taco. Which created quite the contrast to the thirty dollar salads at Pacific Dining Car.
The care in creating this was shown in the succulent tongue cradled by grilled corn tortillas and given color with crunchy sliced radishes and zippy cilantro.
Even with eating here in 2006 you cannot pass up this programmatic architecture, made famous by movies and TV.
Choosing a French Cruller was overridden with the inspiration to see how their Apple Fritters are. It wasn’t good. It was stupendous.
Frequently an image associated with Los Angeles, the Theme Building at the Los Angeles International Airport has been Encounter Restaurant since 1997.
The whimsical décor complements the 1961 flying saucer exterior from that era of the blossoming space age.
A typical meal. See, it isn’t all bakery! But how fun is this picture?
Thursday, August 19th, 2010
Day of travel. Whew. Back to driving a REAL car. Thank goodness for the German car industry.