Venice, Mulholland, Hollywood and more in our final hours in Los Angeles

Venice Beach Skatepark

After our misstep staying at a stinky AirBnB in Santa Monica on our first night in Los Angeles, we regrouped to get a refund and book the final night of our trip at the luxury Le Parc on Melrose in West Hollywood. It would prove to be the New Year's Eve climax to yet another perfect family-vacation day.

And it wouldn't have been our family without starting it at Venice Beach, and letting Jackson watch the famed Venice Skatepark on the beach for a bit. He only had his scooter with us and they are not allowed there. But I was pretty impressed that he said he would definitely get in and ride if it was allowed, without any worries about the hot-shot skaters and hordes of tourists watching. I always love hanging out in Venice and, after our walk, we headed to meet our cousins, a newlywed couple of musicians, at Gjusta on 3rd and Sunset for a tasty and fun outdoor breakfast.

I had to forego my planned celebrity-gawking stop of the O.J. Simpson murder house on Bundy in Brentwood so we could swing through the Culver City Skatepark. While Jackson scootered, the rest of us took a little climb up to the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook. We then killed a little time before checkin at our hotel by strolling the Hollywood Walk of Fame. You need about 30 minutes for that, unless you want to truly try to see all the stars on the pavement or want to spend more than the 10 minutes we did in the awesome Amoeba Music record store. At that point, we were more than ready to enjoy our hotel room for the rest of the night.

Venice Beach

The next morning we awoke to 2024 by playing tennis on the roof of the hotel, with magestic views of the Hollywood Hills and downtown L.A. After checkout, we wanted to make the best of our remaining hours on the West Coast before our 3 p.m. flight back to Baltimore via Phoenix. After grabbing some breakfast and snacks from Whole Foods and driving down Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, we set out for a drive up the 405 to take winding and famed Mulholland Drive from west to east. Jackson read out famous addresses and we noted them as we passed the homes of Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, John Lennon, Madonna, and many others. As expected, most of the houses are well hidden behind gates and hills, but there are plenty of great sites and overlooks along the whole way, culminating in great views of the Hollywood sign at the Wonder View Trailhead.

Wonder View Trailhead

The three of us got In-N-Out Burger and Zoey got lunch at Ike’s Love & Sandwiches (which incidentally serves a John Ritter Burbank exclusive sandwich of fried chicken, wasabi honey mustard, and provolone). Then it was long, tired flights back home after a very successful family vacation.

Tennis at Le Parc on Melrose

Santa Barbara to Malibu to Los Angles for a beach driving vacation

Santa Barbara

The last day of our coastal car trip arrived and it literally turned into sunny Southern California for us. We woke up in beautiful Santa Barbara, with those rain showers of Northern California in our rear view, and took the 101 (there are very few slivers of the Pacific Coast Highway - aka Highway 1 - at this point) on our route through Malibu and into Santa Monica in Los Angeles.

It’s always kind of eye opening, like it was for us in Santa Barbara, when you arrive to a new place in the dark and wake to see part of what you missed upon arrival. It rained again through the night in Santa Barbara, but the sun peeked out as we began our morning walk from the Mason Beach Inn to get açaí bowls at Backyard Bowls. Jackson was happy that the skatepark dried before we left town, so we hung out there, alongside the bustling beach, played a bit in the surf, and did some window

From there, we weaved in and out, back and forth on both the 101 inland and roads along the coast - passing through byways in Ventura still suffering from the remnants of flooding that injured several people in recent days - on the way to Malibu. The highlight there was spur-of-the moment stop at the Malibu Bluffs Park, where there happened to be another skate park to keep Jackson happy and a beautiful short hike down through rattlesnake territory and brush-covered ocean overlooks. 

Jackson/Santa Barbara Skatepark

We then made a quick stop to check out the ritzy Malibu Country Market, where the guidebooks say makes for a good place to spot celebrities coming down from the hills. I pictured it as a kitschy convenience store, but it’s actually a bunch of high-end shops, so we got out of there quickly since it was less unique and interesting than we thought it would be.

It was on to our final destination of the trip. Upon arrival, our AirBnB about a mile from the beach in Santa Monica was still being cleaned. It smelled like beer, and when we returned after dinner hoping to give the cleaning crew enough time to scrub it clean, it reeked of cheap cleaning solution. Luckily, dinner at Cassia on 7th and Arizona was a Vietnamese taste treasure. It’s off the beaten path of the cheesy beach and upscale shopping areas. 

The stinky garden condo and the bad smells of what must have been a recent frat party remained. The owner’s initial communications were very kind, but he hadn’t yet returned our messages by the time we were exhausted from the day, and we were already falling asleep when he messaged us to say he would fully refund us. We’ll look for an acceptable place in the morning. Hopefully one with a pool where we can lounge and watch the fireworks for New Year’s Eve.

Zoey/Chasing Santa Barbara waves

Jackson/Malibu Skatepark

Me/Malibu Bluffs

Santa Monica sunset

A race to the sandsurfing dunes in California

The dunes appear bright, even though it was dark

The most ambitious day of our California coastal journey took true ambition to get to our final, most anticipated, and favorite stop. Seemingly a bit of a secret, we found the Oceano Dunes Non Vehicular Area by parking in the Pacific Dunes Ranch Campground (also known as an RV campground). 

These are among the greatest sand dunes in the United States. We had aimed to arrive before sunset but it had been dark for a good half hour by the time we arrived. We still, stubbornly, parked and headed out with boxes - for sledding - firmly in hand. Our eyes adjusted quickly and our cameras were still able to take amazing night photos. And even though visibility was limited, we leaped, sledded, and skied barefoot accordingly down the slopes. It was so much fun and will either demand a trip back or a separate one to the other best dunes in the country.

Rachel on the dunes 

We drove the rest of Friday night in darkness to get from the dunes to the Mason Beach Inn in Santa Barbara, first stopping at a cool little dinner place on State Street, the main drag in ritzy Santa Barbara.

Back to the start of the day, we woke up in Monterey and, with the streets still wet from an overnight rain, we had to skip Jackson’s skatepark, but he remained his usual upbeat self, as we quickly got involved in other adventures. We drove past the John Steinbeck statues along the cute area of Cannery Row near the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Then we spent quite a bit of time at Lover’s Point, where the sea otters played in the water at the end of a high rock outcropping. From there, we were able to hit the 17-mile private drive along the shore through Monterey courtesy of one of my brother’s great friends who lives there. Our first stop was the spot where John Denver, in 1997, lost control of his little plane off the coast and now has a plaque on a rock to commemorate his musical legacy. 

The massive waves from the day before continued to pound the coast, and we stared in awe at almost every scenic overlook we stopped at along the way. Point Joe (where many early mariners crashed because of the rocks under the waves) and the iconic views at Cypress Point, where waves can be viewed sparkling in the sunshine off into the distance for many miles away, were my two favorite spots in this part of the drive. Golf aficionados will also want to stop at - at the very least - the 18th hole of the Pebble Beach Gold Course, but we had no time for it.

We stopped for a coffee and some reminiscing with long-time friends at their place at the Robert Louis Stevenson School before making our way to the also iconic Bixby Bridge on the way down to Big Sur. Because of coastal erosion, we needed to double back, but that didn’t keep us from stopping and hiking a bit at several very scenic overlooks high above the crashing waves. Although we had planned to take Highway 1 the whole way, it was not to be on this trip, so we headed back inland for a lengthy portion of the 101.

Big Sur needs to remain on our travel bucket list for now, but the dunes at Oceano made the day overall wildly successful.

Driving south on Highway 1 from San Francisco to Monterey

After grabbing the rental car from near our hotel in Fisherman’s Wharf, we again ate breakfast (açaí bowls and breakfast sandwiches) from Café de Casa and hit the road pretty early. The highlight of the day arrived right away, when we decided to pull over at Pacifica, just south of the city, because of the massive waves breaking down below Highway 1.

We followed other cars down a street that was closed due to flooding but got through and ended up in a perfect spot where we pulled over out of harm’s way. Then we walked a half block over to the water. I had never seen such big waves before, not even in Brazil. They were breaking higher than the top of a nearby pier. And they were crashing against the wall in front of us and even occasionally blasting water all the way across the street onto the houses unlucky enough to be situated there. We later started to get emergency warnings on our phones advising people to stay away from coastal areas.

We actually were lucky enough to speak with some San Francisco locals a couple of days before at breakfast who advised us that we may not be able to get through Highway 1 about half the way between San Francisco and Los Angeles, in Big Sur, because of an eroded part of the road in one small stretch. That means our California coastal dream vacation takes a little bit of a hit since we will have to take a bigger stretch inland on the 101 than we had planned.

Anyway, the waves continued to be pretty huge all the way down to our next stop, which was a beautiful short hike along the beach at Half Moon Bay. The flowers and steep overlooks down to the beach in this spot make it a definite must-see of the California coast. We had also hoped to stop a little further down at Ano Nuevos State Park to see the seals, but it was high season and, without tickets to those tours, it wasn’t worth the simple non-tour hike.

We opted to keep going and ended up getting to meet our cousins from Potomac, Maryland in Santa Cruz. They were on their way back from Monterey to San Francisco where their immediate family is, and so it was a perfect collision for lunch near the boardwalk and pier. The beaches there looked a little like they had been through the wringer overnight, with kelp and seaweed everywhere, and the remnants of an angry sea at high tide pocking the landscape. Somewhat lucky for the parents, the amusement park rides were closed because of the high and dangerous tides, so we just hung out on the beach a bit then ate a lunch (clam chowder in a bread bowl) at the Ideal Bar and Grill on the waterfront.

Next we hightailed it down the coast, stopping only once, at a farm stand in artichoke country, to the Monterey Bay Lodge, a funky little motel chosen mainly for its proximity to a nice skatepark for my son. We took in our luggage then went to meet a friend of my brother’s who lives nearby and who offered to hand off free passes to the famed Monterey Bay Aquarium, located along John Steinbeck’s equally storied Cannery Row. We had about an hour to race through the building, which ended up being ideal because the crowds had thinned out right before closing time. The jellyfish and tuna were definite highlights.

By the time we finished with the aquarium, we were out of steam and opted to skip dining out and instead picked up some understated but excellent sushi from Ocean Sushi Deli and some much-needed food from Trader Joe’s, which appears to be cheaper in California than back home - which is saying a lot for California, where we’re no doubt spending a fortune, especially on food. Then, despite thinking our motel might be a little bit of a dump, Zoey and I headed to the pool and had a great time playing football catch, the crusher game, and getting pruned in the hot tub and warmed outdoor pool, both of which were saltwater. The other folks in the pool area we talked to agreed that this place is a little bit of a gem and definitely does the pool more right than a lot of the big boys like Marriott and Hilton sometimes do.

Hopefully it will be a good night’s sleep because tomorrow might be the most action-packed day we’ll have on this trip.

Alcatraz, Lombard, dim sum and the beauties of San Francisco

We recovered from our long journey west with a good full night of sleep and packed plenty into our second and final day in San Francisco. The morning was cloudy but not bad at all for our trip to Alcatraz, and a rainy afternoon and evening didn’t keep us from seeing the seals at the touristy Pier 39, walking around Nob Hill and sampling coffees and pastries and tacos, and walking all the way back to our hotel with a detour down Lombard Street.

We started the morning across the street from our Hotel Caza at Fisherman’s Wharf with Brazilian crepes (made with tapioca flour) and an açaí bowl at Casa de Cava. Then it was straight to the short ferry ride to Alcatraz. Jackson and I definitely think Rachel and Zoey should see Escape From Alcatraz after this must-do experience. The tour almost makes you feel like you are there with Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly and Frank Morris and the creepy wardens and all the other iconographic elements of the federal prison, which operated from 1934 to 1963 in the middle of San Francisco Bay.

 It started to rain on the ferry back and proceeded to continue throughout our long afternoon of walking. But it was fine and the whole family stayed in good spirits. First we checked out the sea lions at Pier 39, as they woofed and barked and slipped around together on the marina boat docks. We opted not to eat lunch with the crowds and instead took a taxi up to Nob Hill, getting dropped off at the corner of Polk and Jackson. There are tons of restaurants in that area so we walked along in the direction back towards our hotel and stopped along the way for bites of food and drink at whichever places we desired.

I had never actually walked down Lombard, one of the world’s curviest streets, when previously visiting the city. I had always traveled down it by car, like the endless string doing so this afternoon. But walking was a really fun, new thing to do. It’s amazing thinking about how the people in the houses along the way live there. And then it was just a short walk back to the hotel to rest up for dinner.

We were determined to get good Chinese food, so we went with dim sum at the Palette Tea House in nearby Ghirardelli Square. We ordered various dumplings, smacked cucumber salad, fire wings, and tasty cocktails and mocktails. And afterwards, we ended our San Francisco experience gorging on sundaes from Ghirardelli.

Family biking in San Francisco in December? Who would have thought it would be so pleasant?

Our California vacation started today in as-expected style, with a Lyft arriving in Edwardsville, Illinois at 4 a.m. Lines at the St. Louis airport for our 6 a.m. flight were very long but fast moving, so we embarked on our Southwest flight to Los Angeles, then a 2.5-hour layover, and finally into San Francisco.

We’re staying at Hotel Caza at Fisherman’s Wharf one block off the main drag. Since we got in too early to check in, we left our bags, grabbed a complimentary bike from the hotel, and rented three others from Bay Area Rentals two blocks away and proceeded to bike through the main part of the Wharf, past Ghirardelli Chocolates, past the gorgeous houses on Marina Boulevard, Crissy Field (a former Army airfield that is now a major recreational hub), and to our furthest destination of the ride - the Warming Hut on the Bay Trail. That’s a great place to stare in amazement at the Golden Gate Bridge and the surfers below, especially if you have a kid who won’t make it up the climb to bike across the bridge, and double especially if it’s a little chilly. Even 58 degrees can seem a little chilly along the San Francisco waterfront.

We were glad to get the decent weather we got today as tomorrow is supposed to be pretty rainy and windy.

Zoey is an amazing kid. If I slept as little as her and ate the bird-like amount she had today, I would be very grumpy. 

But we rallied after a few moments resting in the hotel (while Zoey rampaged around the cool array of games like pool and shuffleboard in the lobby bar) to Lyft it to The Stinking Rose, one of my old favorite restaurants, we started with the must-have Bagna Calda, which is butter and olive oil with garlic cloves and anchovy. Perfect with bread. I got the creamy fondue crab pasta, the kids for pizza, and Rachel had a salad. Then we got genuine Italian gelatos across the street in the Italian neighborhood.

A 20-minute walk back to the hotel straight down Columbus was the perfect ending to walk off some of the garlic and crawl into bed before 8 p.m. local time.

Seeing it first-hand, scootering is becoming a big-time sport

Jackson at the Troy skatepark

It’s been a bit of a journey in my mind to fully appreciate my son Jackson’s commitment to the sport of scootering. I played non-stop as a kid at team sports, especially soccer and baseball, and while Jackson did make the JV baseball team last year, he decided not to play because his heart was not into six practices for many, many hours per week. He needed time for his true love of scootering.

On our winter trip, everywhere we’re staying is based on proximity to skate parks. At least that’s the case when we’ll be traveling nearly the length of California. Visiting my parents first in Edwardsville, in southern Illinois, there is a great park in nearby Troy. But today we’re at Ramp Riders, in Soulard, just south of the St. Louis Arch. It’s a cool cavernous old warehouse (a lot like Charm City in Baltimore) that helps display how far this individual sport has moved to legitimacy. There’s even a strong push to get it into the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Jackson at Ramp Riders

Skateboarding, which Jackson also enjoys, was essentially the only choice for skate kids until about the turn of the century. But then the Razor came along from Micro Mobility Solutions, creating a generation of interested kids. Now it’s progressed to big business, with trick scooters being made by many companies and diverse investments and sponsorships for many scooter riders. Jackson has been to the famed Woodward skate and scooter camp in Pennsylvania Amish country for the past three summers, and storied pros regularly visit to teach and mentor the campers.

Those early razor scooters were prone to breaking and really were only best used for transportation. But the trick and kick scooters of today can take a royal beating, even if Jackson is constantly replacing pricey parts. Fenders, wider wheels, bigger bearings, and better grips are among the many recent advances.

Back in 2005, the first scooter competition was held, in Switzerland. Since 2012, scootering world championships have been happening each year (other than the 2020 Covid year) and there are three categories: men’s park, men’s street, and women’s park. Lucas DiMeglio of France was named the rider of the year in 2022 and 2023.

A perfect near-spring day in DC

If you ever have to go to a DC United game, go with my friend Peter. Not only is he just a generally great guy to hang with, he also cheers relentlessly for the home team. 

We tend to ride our e-bikes everywhere together, which is by far the best way to zip around Washington DC. That means that we can efficiently get around to see much more than the average traveler in this city. We can also drink a little more than the average traveler. Sure, you're not supposed to drive and move around, but it's quite a bit safer on a bike than behind the wheel, as long as you know what you're doing. 

Anyway, I had missed seeing DC United last year in their first season in the beautiful new stadium in southwest DC. This was the first game of their second season there, and they came back for a 2-1 win over Miami.

Before that, we went to the final Georgetown game of the regular season - a heart breaking 1-point loss to #ll Villanova. And after that, I moved on to my buddy Jason's kids-friendly 45th birthday party. 

It was kind of the perfect day in the fantastic city that I've now called home for 21 -21! - years. Life is good. And I'm glad I get to spend it with friends and family. And sports. That I love.

Escape Campervan-ing, an Arizona safari, and ending Spring Break in Phoenix

I never wrapped up the blog series on our recent family Spring Break #vanlife trek out west. Having already recounted our time in Vegas, Zion, Lake Powell, the Grand Canyon, and several other places in between, we headed to Rachel’s grandmother’s house in Scottsdale, a suburb of Phoenix.

But first we spent an afternoon north of the city at Out of Africa, a well-done safari in the desert. My favorite animal was the grizzly bear, which we were able to get within an arm’s length and is a majestic and downright pleasant-looking creature. One of several tigers also stretched up into a massive form along a gate next to our walkway. And a baby tiger jumped out from its hiding spot at one point to nearly surprise Zoey and I out of our shoes. But perhaps best of all was when Jackson fed a giraffe right out of his mouth, including a smooch on the lips that incorporated his very long tongue.

I highly recommend a visit to this American/African safari. 

And I should also mention the I-66 shop we visited in Williams, Arizona, if only because of all its pop-culture lunch boxes (and signs).

Finally, anyone who rents an Escape Campervan, which are now available in many cities throughout the country, won’t regret it. The customer service was incredible, the price was maybe even less than renting a typical minivan without a kitchen or pop-up bed, and we were able to pick up lots of groceries and other necessities like a cooler and firestarter wood in our pick-up location where others returning from their trips left the materials in a community-share area. And it was fun to count the other Escapes along the way. Jackson’s final tally was 27, and we talked to many of their occupants about our similar travel experiences.

Can we make Grand Canyon visits mandatory for all humans?

The experiment, which we had no idea how it would unfold, turned out to be a success.

Nobody tried to kill each other on our week-long Spring Break Escape Campervan trek across Nevada, Utah, and Arizona.

Sure, there were some times like this.

But it was mostly like this.

Our kids weren’t just troopers. They were flat-out buddies. And the van was beneficial because they were much further away from the parents than in our regular car rides.

After an already full Wednesday of hiking, we arrived at the Grand Canyon in early afternoon to explore about a 30-mike stretch along the South Rim.

Although our kids are too little to do major hikes down to the bottom, we did get down a switchback trail a good little ways.

And the day was absolutely stunning weather-wise, turning the sunset into our Grand Canyon highlight. We watched it on a point with far fewer tourists than the other spots we had visited throughout the afternoon.

It’s tough to believe it took me this long to get to one of the Earth’s true wonders, right here in our own country. It should definitely be a requirement that anyone from the U.S. visit the Grand Canyon. All the pictures and postcards capture it well, but they still can’t compare to staring out across that vast space.

We decided not camp for the night and stayed in a hotel about an hour away in Williams, Arizona, which is the starting point for the Grand Canyon train. Promotional materials says it helps keep “about 50,000 cars out of the park every year.” Sounds like a good thing, although as a car-trip expert, that seems like an extremely conservative estimate of how many cars the train actually keeps out of the park. I’d like to know how they make that estimate.

Anyway, after Williams, our trip will conclude further south in Phoenix.