We're now sitting in Casey Andrews and Lisette Polny's cozy living room, where we've been sleeping for the last few nights. We zoomed into L.A. three days ago, on the evening of Sep. 30. Memories sparked by familiar geography entered my consciousness as we drove out of Las Vegas and into the desert. Driving toward Pasadena, I remembered my time here 10 years ago. This is my first time back to L.A. since living here just after college.
Backing up a bit to our stay in Colorado, I'll give a brief overview. We spent a couple of nights in Denver with Dan, Michelle, and Claire Nesson. What a treat--and what a little sweetheart Claire is. Brother Ben met us at Dan's, and I soon gave Jessie a ride up to Fort Collins, where she visited with Anatola and Brent Swan (old Santa Cruz pals) for a few days. Meanwhile Ben and I headed to Buena Vista for some time in the Arkansas River Valley. Ben and I chilled, went for a hike to Ptarmigan Lake, sipped beer, and partied in downtown BV before I headed back to Fort Collins to catch up with the Californians. After hanging with Jessie, Tola and their boys at Oktoberfest, Brent and I had an awesome day fly fishing on the Big South River, a tributary of the Poudre.
Departing FC we were bound for the Pacific after a two night stay in Zion National Park--a truly enchanted, spectacular place. Jessie and I took a thrilling and vertigo-inducing eight mile hike to Observation Point, which overlooks Zion Canyon. A blustery night forced us to pack up our tent around midnight and sleep in the back of the car. The next morning we took a short hike and watercoloring expedition, and then jetted toward Vegas and L.A.
Now we're here, overlooking the San Fernando Valley from Casey and Lisette's Mulholland Drive bungalow. We're getting the true L.A. experience: a chic salon haircut for me, hiking in the mountains overlooking the valley and downtown, and trying on clothes at Lisette's fashionable "three dots" office.
Like trying on cool t-shirts, this trip is an opportunity for us to try on different places. We've been highly motivated to consider the questions: Where could we live? and What could we live with? We've reached conclusions about what type of habitat we'd enjoy. Walkability, tasty and eclectic dining, good music scene, an open-minded populous, educational opportunities, minimal reliance on the automobile--these are all attractive aspects of place. Areas where we differ: Jessie loves the energy of the big city (i.e. NYC and San Francisco); I like to visit these places but would prefer to live in a place where I can find a quicker and easier escape to the freedom of the natural landscape--and away from the madness of men and machines. We both loved Fort Collins; we both dislike Vegas. Parts of L.A. are fun, but the enormous sprawl and lack of easily accessible public transportation is uninviting. Seattle is great, a little large for my taste, but the mountains and ocean are only a short drive away.
Ultimately, though, I've come to the conclusion that the comfort of place is often more related to comfort with yourself and with those around you. And, we've encountered so many places on this trip where we've felt welcome, at home, and surrounded by loving friends and relatives. Additionally, we're very at ease with each other and continually adaptable. These qualities of place combined with our grounded, loving relationship allow me to conclude that we could truly make any number of places home. Thankfully, we have some exciting ideas for where that might be--The Big Island, The Pacific Northwest, The Front Range? Across the Pacific? Where will it be?
Luckily we have plenty of time to answer this question--and many adventures in between...
next post: Jessie shares a story of friendship and punk music in beautiful Colorado...
No comments:
Post a Comment