Exploring

I am lucky to have friends who invite me places and offer to drive. One friend suggested going to Watts Towers, even though I countered by saying we could just watch a documentary.

 

We had read that there were tours, but that was not
accurate. We were still happy to walk around.

We were not in a rush so we poked around a bit.
The visitor center was closed 

but we enjoyed the outdoor art in the park

and in the neighborhood.

Someone else walking around told us about a garden.

The person working there said it was closed

but she let us pick peaches.

So many turtles!

From the Towers we headed to coffee,

which had an excellent little library.

There were pictures of lots of events here,
but we were the only ones on that morning.

Our last stop was IKEA, where I tracked my route.

Coffee

 

I just finished some coffee brought
by a teacher visiting from Panama.

That's ok because I have some coffee brought
as a gift from a friend visiting from Seattle.

I do have instant coffee because I want
something quick (and quiet) at 5 a.m. before I run.

We have this for mocha cookies.

D. won this in a raffle basket.

I bought this before being given lots of coffee.

I bought this at TJ because I loved having illy overseas,
but I didn't realize it was ground coffee. Now this container
has beans that are the same as the bag in the picture above. 

So much coffee for someone who just started drinking it just over ten years ago.

Expectations

 I love when everything goes even better than I expect, but maybe one day I won't worry ahead of time!

A. and I needed to renew our EU passports and I wanted to do it after he was 18 years old so that he could get a passport that was valid for ten years. We could not get an appointment for the weeks after his birthday before he left for college so we decided to do it this week.

The first step after getting an appointment was to gather our documents. Some were exactly where I expected them to be but one was missing. Glad I checked ahead of time because the next place to look would be our safe deposit box. 

The good news was that it was right near the top so that could be checked off the list. The bad news was that the next day I opened my wallet (not something I do every day so that was lucky!) and my driver's license was missing. I immediately realized it had not been returned by the bank after they took to verify my identification.  All I had to do was ride over to the bank and retrieve it, right? 

Ha ha. The person looked one place and said come back later. I went home, questioned my memory, and looked all over. No luck. Back to the bank, where I could see three different people looking here and looking there. Maybe I left in my box they asked? But I would have to go home and get my passport so they could verify my identity so they could let me get into the box. Aaagh. Time was ticking because I knew I would have to leave town before the bank opened the next day in order to get to LA in time. 

And then, miracle of miracles, it was is the fifth place they looked.
I guess I was the first person to ever leave identification at the bank.

But, wait.  There was another worry to add to the list.

A. wondered about that crack in the tire.

D. said it was fine since I was just going around town. I was relived until I remembered that the next day I would be driving to LA. The tires were going to be replaced over break and for now it would just have to be the fingers-crossed method of repair. I am thrilled to report it worked!

The drive in was uneventful. 

The most exciting thing was seeing the removal of the
Staples sign at the basketball arena. The Crypto sign was
up on by the time we were heading home.

We got there so early we had time to walk over to emili's cafe.
It wasn't the best view but the company was great.

We hustled back to the consulate on Wilshire Blvd., we were escorted to the elevator, and we were immediately helped. We had all the documents requested and even one that had not been on the list. Our pictures turned out ok and it was eight dollars less expensive than expected. What a great experience.

Nothing exciting on the drive home, stopped to get ingredients so A. could make dinner, and home by noon.

Definitely exceeded all expectations!

To Do and Not To Do

 

We did not drive 50+ minutes to the Long Beach area

to do the 2.25 mile CicLAvia event, even though I love them!

Instead we did a family ride

and a couple of us went out for coffee.

I went to the farmers market and did some chores before we all sat down to watch the highlights of

the last time trial of the Tour of Denmark, the first stage/time trial
of La Vuelta, and commentary. We are taking a break and will see some
of the Ladies Tour of Norway (maybe they wear skirts and sit side saddle?).

The afternoon was capped off with a dip in the cold tub. Ahhh.

Another adventure

Happy flag day
not shown - our flags from Denmark, Hungary, and Uruguay

It was another day for not one but two adventures!

Part one included a ride along the Pacific Electric Trail

to get to Rad Coffee,
a coffee shop with punk-rock motif.

On the way home we stopped at a mulberry tree

which was a bit messy but worth it.

Part two was to the Diamond Bar Library, which has been on my bucket list since it opened in 2012.

Unusual bike racks

This is the art on the other side of the wall.,
created by Frank Matranga, who has art in many public places in L.A. Co.

Maybe this will be the summer I get to Watts Towers.

Morning adventure

 

It was hard to find a coffee place that was not a chain and the first one did not have decaf for my friend. Turns out this one didn't either, but it looked more interesting.

Next stop was IKEA.

Thank goodness for coffee in, coffee out. Otherwise I would not have had the chance to use a new kind of dyson hand dryer.

There were lots of things I did not buy.

In addition to their regular blue bags
they had rainbow bags (this is
not one, but the logo from their website).

I might have bought this bag if I had seen it.

I did not buy any paper napkins.

Or hourglass sand timers.

Or wooden birds, two color options.

For the first time I got to go into these aisles.

I did buy onions.

Nice vacation without all the driving or lines at the airport.