A Wandering Sole

Montage Monday: The Most Amazing Sunset I’ve Ever Seen

// April 30th, 2012 // 15 Comments » // America, Photo of the Week

Dramatic sunset at Hermosa Beach

Maybe this should have been titled, ‘The Most Amazing Sunset I’ve Ever Seen (Surprise! It’s not in Africa)” because I always brag about the sunsets in Africa. But while staying in Los Angeles, Stella and I asked my friend’s mom, our host, where to go for dinner. One of her recommendations was in Hermosa Beach, so that we could watch the sunset and overlook the water. We get unbelievably lucky with a magnificent sunset. Earlier in the day it had rained, and the clouds still lingered in the late afternoon. We walked out to the pier when we arrived, and slowly the colors started to appear. Check out these photos from Hermosa Beach and see just how stunning and dramatic the sunset was for us. Even our host confirmed that it’s one of the best sunsets she has seen while living in L.A. (more…)

Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall

// April 27th, 2012 // 2 Comments » // America

Emily landed in Los Angeles on the day that Stella was due to depart. Originally she was scheduled to fly to San Francisco, but we found a cheap last minute deals so that she could meet me in LA instead. Luckily, their time overlapped for about 3 hours or so, and we made the most of it! Emily and I met in design school, so our first stop of the day was to Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall. (more…)

Hollywood Walk of Fame

// April 26th, 2012 // 5 Comments » // America

When Stella and I headed for Los Angeles, it was bittersweet. We had many good road trip memories to laugh about, but she was also flying out two days later. We drove the beautiful coast of Highway 1 and rolled in around dinner time. My coworker in South Africa offered up her mom as a host for us in L.A. Her mom was a great host and took us to a Brazilian restaurant in her neighborhood as soon as we arrived! (more…)

Montage Monday: A Spark of Creativity (South Africa)

// April 23rd, 2012 // 8 Comments » // Photo of the Week, South Africa

This photograph turns out to be one of my favorites from South Africa. I can’t help but smile every time I see it. Our village was set about 5 km. down a dirt road off of the main tarmac road. We could use this route to drive to town, however on one particular day, my coworker and I decided to try an alternate route. Though it was about the same distance to town, it cut through other villages and took us on back dirt roads. We wanted to get better views of the mountains that surrounded our beautiful region so we made a few stops along the way to get out and take photos. Satisfied after a couple of stops, we continued driving through villages and were busy chatting, when I yelled to my friend to stop the car- immediately. I saw this boy out of the corner of my eye, and it put an instant smile on my face. She of course stopped, threw the car into reverse, and this boy and his friend eagerly approached us. I rolled down the window, showed him my camera to see if I might be able to take his photo, and he flashed a grin. His toy car is made from scrap metal and the wheels are probably bottle caps. And while most kids I know would throw out the plastic that holds canned drinks together, this boy used some ingenuity and fashioned it into a mask. Doesn’t that just put a smile to your face?

Two Stops in San Francisco

// April 19th, 2012 // 10 Comments » // America

Abe & Alan are Full House fans

“If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear flowers in your hair…” ~a song Stella had us listening to again and again on her San Francisco CD.

If you saw my road trip map, you noticed that I drove from San Francisco, down to LA, and back again. Stella was flying out of LA and really wanted to go to San Francisco. So we stayed in SF, then drove down to La where I dropped her off at the airport and picked up my friend Emily before we headed back up to SF. (more…)

Feeling Like Death in Death Valley

// April 18th, 2012 // 5 Comments » // America

Abe & Alan (and Stella in the background) at Sea Level in Death Valley National Park

One very good reason why you should not go out the night before you drive out of Vegas? The heat of Death Valley! I think Stella and I were both grumbling about how Vegas had gotten the best of us as we hit the road for Yosemite. But as we neared Death Valley, we realized it lives up to its namesake, and I was miserable. (more…)