Catching up ...

Today, our second full day in the US, we drove out to Pasadena to see Rob and Sue Draper. We hired a late model Camry complete with GPS, but in my jet-lagged state, had forgotten to charge it the previous night ... so two miles into our journey on the freeway, it died.
Hmmm ... not good.
Fortunately I had global roaming on my iPhone, so Janine got that working and we made it OK. Got to say though that there's nothing so scary as being on a US freeway and your GPS dies. Whilst we knew we had to keep going west, I knew we had to change to the Pasadena freeway at some stage. Needless to say at Rob and Sue's I got the charger working. (I did plug it in in the car, but seemed it need a full charge to keep working.)
Pasadena is set in the hills West of LA and its a beautiful city. Lots of gorgeous houses including ones built by the founders of companies like Proctor and Gamble. Also some wonderful old buildings lovingly restored. Some of the tree lined streets reminded me of Sydney's Eastern suburbs.
Rob and Sue moved here from Maine so Rob could re-establish himself in the LA film industry.
He's been shooting 2nd Unit on a new series with an Australian connection. Aussie actor Patrick Brammall is one of the leads - he was also in Shakespeare in Tokyo that Andrew shot. Small world!

Mount Wilson is 25 miles or so further west and from the top, looks over all of LA. There is a small observatory on top and Rob (a keen bike-rider) has ridden many of the bike paths.
We had a great time of catching up - amazing to think our friendship has been over 40 years. And amazing to think we're both still working in our chosen (and loved) careers.
Last night we walked around the Venice Beach canals, based on the other Venice of course when the area was developed in the 20's and 30's. Nothing on the real Venice - but still worth seeing. It was a bit like Sylvania Waters, although the water was no where near as clean.

We had dinner on Abbott Kinney - a street which is the backbone of Venice Beach and although the streetscape is quite old, the new shops, boutiques and speciality stores (think marijuana) are amazing. There is a strong emphasis on healthy food although not sure how that fits in with the marijuana!


We ate at The Butcher's Daughter cafe - recommended by everyone and it was lovely. Good way to celebrate a great day and a birthday.

Comments

  1. UnknownAugust 13, 2018 at 10:24 AM

    Great seeing you blokes at Casa Draper. Have to do it more often zipping back and forth across the Pacific. 40 years......yikes...that makes us.....oh never mind. Have a fantastic trip and when you get home put the kettle on for a cuppa....we might not be too far behind.

    ReplyDelete
  2. the SeaLifeAugust 26, 2018 at 2:56 AM

    Jorge wants to know if you guys went on the roller coaster on Santa Monica Pier?

    Husk: “maybe you could come to our house after Rob & Sue come”

    -Matt

    ReplyDelete
  3. Martin JohnsonSeptember 7, 2018 at 6:22 AM

    Matt - sorry, just saw these.

    Jorge: No we didn't have a ride, but I think you and Husk would have loved it.
    Husker: Yes, we'd love to come to your house, although I think you're coming to see us soon?

    ReplyDelete

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