Not as Planned

I have been going on some adventures with a friend and it was decided to go to Watts Towers (I even found the books we had, see above). While the local train is in a great location, it is expensive and runs infrequently. The more-frequent and cheaper train doesn't come to Claremont (yet?) so we drove to the end of the line in Asuza only to find the parking garage full, despite the sign that said there were seven spots. The local streets had signs forbidding parking so we drove a couple more blocks and found a spot. We were excited to see stairs to the tracks, but not so happy to see a fence around them. Sigh.

So it is not Amsterdam, but there were a few bikes at the station.

We made our way to the train, found good seats, and waited for the train to leave. Eventually an employee came through to let us know that this train and the next one would not be going anywhere any time soon because of maintenance on the track further along. Looking at the electronic map we could see that it was going to take us quite a while to our destination. It felt like the universe was nudging us (no parking! delayed trains!) so we adapted our plans and went somewhere else I had never explored - South Pasadena (which I learned is its own town, not just south of Pasadena).

The highlight of the trip was (I know you won't be surprised) the library! It may not have been Simon Rodia's work, but we did get to see Jolino Beserra's Smoke and Mirrors.

We loved the Friends of the Library book sale, too!

my receipt

Why an ostrich you may ask? There used to be a farm in South Pasadena started by someone who was hoping to "cash in on the popularity of ostrich feathers as fashion accessories". 

We found The South Pasadena Ostrich Farm &
Marengo Elementary School Mural, as listed in Atlas Obscura.

We tried Munch Company for lunch (who knew pickled jicama would be good?),

resisted so many temptations at the toy store, Dinosaur Farm. Lucky for me we already own so many of the good things they had.

from their website
We did not have a malted or phosphate (or get a prescription filled) at Fair Oaks Pharmacy.

Our last stop before heading home was a little library (which is a little tidier now).

I was happy not to spend three hours getting to Watts Towers, but we'll try again in November.