More Southern California Fun

The next day, Amanda and I walked around Encinitas in the morning while Youssef worked. We met up with Orianna, who was one of the first in my stage to ET (early termination) following a family tragedy. We walked past and into cute shops, had muffins at a cute bakery, saw the ocean from a pretty garden. I had also had a tour of Amanda’s garden – she was resourceful in Morocco because she had been so before, and this was an illustration – lots of food plants, egg-laying chickens, rabbits for meat. Another way of life! But Youssef was always resourceful too, and they make a good pair. We watched the inauguration speech, which Amanda had recorded – again, it seemed so important at the time.


He was off buying ingredients, but he and I had alone-time for an ice cream and a sunset walk on the beach, and then he made a delicious pastilla dinner for me – and also Martha and Susan, who came down. They had seen Youssef and met Amanda following Youssef’s arrival in the U.S. (they also helped with the almost-surprise by having Martha’s nephew pick him up at the airport and deliver him to Amanda…but she was so confused and distraught about getting the complete information that I had to spill the beans), but hadn’t seen him in about a year. It was a joyous reunion of those who traveled the north of Morocco, and the pastilla was better than I can ever make it! I went home with Martha and Susan.


The next day, they slept in and I read some guidebooks – all set for the California portion of the trip. We went to Marina del Rey and took a walk by the ocean, leaving sailing for another time. We ordered to-go food at a bar on Venice Beach, and I saw some of the Super Bowl pregame. The Super Bowl – it was 27 months without football, too! Then, joined by a friend of Susan’s, we went to LACMA – an impressive museum! We concentrated on modern/contemporary, which had lots of iconic paintings and many that I had never seen. There’s so much more to see there – another trip is warranted!


On Monday, I finalized my arrangements for the following ten days or so, printed out confirmations and directions, and sketched out a plan for the Chicago-and-east portion of the Drive. I made the chocolate bread pudding, took a walk and shopped for dinner-at-home ingredients. We had a quiet night at home and I got ready for the next stage of the adventure. For those keeping track – I arrived on the mainland on the night of Wednesday, January 21. LA, LA, LA, OR, OR, OR, LA, LA, SF, SD, LA, and Monday was February 2.