Mother's Day Travels

We had a good weekend with a quick trip to Los Angeles. Our son, MusicMan, was going to be there. Since his home turf is Baltimore, MD, (a very long way from the desert) (in many ways) we were excited to go down and spend some time with him. It turned out to be a rather short time, but at least we were able to share a meal and watch him work.

He was hired by a concert promoter to run the sound board for a band whose record company had booked a tour. So for three weeks he hit the road with them. There were 18 shows in this schedule, that took them from NYC to LA, around the Northeast, Upper Midwest, three shows in Canada, and down the West Coast from Vancouver to L.A. Whew...yea. Lots of driving.

The brother in Seattle, and the sister in Portland went to the show and spent some time, and then we met up in LA. He was hoping for a little down time after the final show, so that he, and a couple of friends in the band, could hang out with us in Las Vegas for a day or two. But, they had to get all the gear and rental van back to Madison, WI, by Tuesday, so they just waved at the mountain and thought of us as they drove through Sin City. Actually, they probably got to Nevada long before we did.

We slept in on Mother's Day and then roamed around LA, moseying our way toward the ocean along Sunset Boulevard as we enjoyed the sights of eclectic SoCal with all the greenery. Living here in Xeroscape-ville, I tend to forget about ivy growing up the sides of buildings, and nasturtiums spilling down a hillside. The jacaranda trees were still mostly purple and bougainvillea vines were arranged in every possible configuration, from framing dooryards to cascading over a side fence and nearly covering the alley.

We ate brunch (heuvos rancheros for me, omelet for Coolguy) on a patio just off the beach and then we wandered around again on a scenic route through neighborhoods in Brentwood and Bel Air, and Glendale and Burbank on our way to the freeway that took us back up over the mountains to the Mojave.  But even there, the yuccas were showing off their huge flower-covered stalks, and the poppies and desert sunflowers were blazing away still, even though it was May. We had a wet winter and so the plants were thriving.

Here are  the magic hands of MusicMan as he manipulated the controls for the show.

Here's CoolGuy in the lobby of the concert place.

Here they are outside after the show.

We had a great time, and there is nothing like going to where your children work, and watching them in their element as competent adults, to make one realize that you are an old lady.