A Soft Landing in Los Angeles Nov 3-6
The last few weeks in Halifax were a blur of getting our "regular" lives packed up for a year; handing over our house, saying bye to friends and family, tidying up loose ends at work, and getting ourselves into 5 bags for 9 1/2 months of traveling. Walking onto the plane at YHZ in the early morning of November 3rd, the enormity of what we were taking on just started to settle in. We are really doing it! We hit "pause" on our lives and are hitting the road, the 5 of us, on a grand adventure. Vios' excitement on the plane was exactly the boost I needed to move from exhausted to excited. Even though he has already been on many flights in his young life, this one seemed particularly exciting for him, and as we flew over the high mountains and deserts of the SW he wanted to point out and look at every cloud and mountain in sight. He even shared the view with his stuffie "Woody" the turtle who is along for the trip:
Arriving in Los Angeles after what felt like a long day of travel we are greeted by Amy's warm welcome. Leo's sister Amy is one of the most important people in our family's life and she was the perfect person to meet us on the other side of the first leg of our journey. All of us (minus our luggage which did not make the tight connection in Boston) piled into her car at LAX and we hit the freeways of Los Angeles. The kids, eyes wide despite their fatigue, taking in the sights of the cars, the sprawl, the people. Early the next morning (thank you daylight savings for making a 4 hour time change 5 hours!) we drove through Hollywood and we were all struck by the reality of the make- believe glamour. Seeing the "hollywood stars" imprinted on the sidewalk with people sleeping on top of them puts the glossy magazine pictures of another actor getting their "star" into perspective. The number of homeless people living in LA has swelled in recent years and there is rarely an overpass without tents and makeshift shelters below it. This is contrasted with the ever present shiny cars and flashy consumption. The disparity between those who have, those who look like they have, and those who don't, is always evident in LA and the kids are now of an age to be able to notice and reflect on it. We all feel fortunate to be able to live with such bounty.
Sunday we took a walk in the Hollywood hills to a look off point just above the Hollywood sign. It was good to stretch our legs and to share an iconic LA experience with so many others. We were humbled by those riding up the steep slope on bikes and a few incredibly fit people running up the hill.
Amy generously opened her home to us for the few days we were with her as we got our bearings, started to adjust to the time change (sort of...) and settled into our new lives. We started to feel our way around how to do school work while on the road, we made some important logistical stops (Target, Trader Joe's, getting a cell phone plan) and then we were ready to head out of town.
We picked up our home on wheels for the next few weeks, our Jucy Van. It is a Dodge Caravan that has been converted to a mini-RV with a little "kitchen" in the trunk, seats that fold into a bed and a pop top that converts to another bed. Again, Vios' excitement was contagious and he was so excited to be finally getting the van that he patiently waited with us while his older brother and sister took off with Amy for more fun. When we finally got it he said "I can't believe I am about to see it for real, and not just a picture of it."
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