Grand Central Market and Angel's Flight

Grand Central Market is an iconic landmark, and a must-do when visiting Downtown Los Angeles.

Built in 1917, Grand Central Market is located on the ground floor of Homer Laughlin Building, right in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. The market is comprised of vendors, mostly food, representing the many cultures that call Los Angeles home.

Entering the market is a feast for the senses. The clashing fragrances assault your nose, and the visuals of neon signs and displays of food are dizzying. It’s crowded, loud, and exciting.

The biggest dilemma is figuring out where to direct your limited stomach space. Ideally, if you’re staying in Downtown Los Angeles, you’d make multiple visits Grand Central Market, trying different stalls each time. Initially, I wanted to try Egg Slut, one of the trendier vendors, but I was in the mood for Mexican food, and grabbed a carne asada burrito at Ana Maria. It was delicious. If you live outside of Los Angeles, trying Mexican food in California is a vacation must.

My dessert was a scoop of coffee ice cream from McConnell’s Fine Ice Cream. I was thrilled to see McConnell’s at Grand Central Market. It’s original location is in Santa Barbara, and having their ice cream immediately takes me back to sunny vacation along the coast.

Directly across from Grand Central Market is one of the most famous Los Angeles Landmarks: Angel’s Flight.

Angel’s Flight is a funicular that was built in 1901, and ran until 1969, when it was dismantled to make way for a new development. However, the parts were saved, and Angel’s Flight was reconstructed on a new site in the mid-90’s. It ran off and on, closing for years at a time due to safety concerns.

This was my first time actually riding it!

Costing only a dollar per ride, I caught the train going up to the top of Bunker Hill. I had the train to myself, and I was giddy with excitement over having a chance to finally ride on the historic Angel’s Flight. During the short, steep ride, I thought about my parent’s riding Angel’s Flight during their childhood in Los Angeles. To ride Angel’s Flight is like stepping back in time.

Coming soon, I continue my Los Angeles journey with a trip to The Broad.

Social Distancing in Littleton: Week Fifteen

It looks like reopening the country is backfiring. Cases are skyrocketing, and many areas are making the tough decision to close down again. I’ve not noticed any changes in Littleton. It still feels like things are somewhat back to normal here.

We were invited to our neighborhood block party on Saturday. A few weeks ago, it felt okay to go, and I signed up to bring a “Better than Brad Pitt” cake. I don’t particularly have a thing for Pitt (give me Gosling, Reynolds or Bale), but many years ago, I found the recipe online, and it has been a big hit every time I make it. It’s a pineapple and coconut cake= delicious. In the end, we decided that it was too risky to attend. The gathering was somewhat large and some, not all, of our neighbors are not as worried about wearing masks and social distancing. I felt guilty for signing up to bring the cake, so I still made it. I walked over with another neighbor, who had also decided it was risky, and we dropped off our stuff, but only stayed for a few minutes. I was sad to miss out. I hope this doesn’t knock us off the list for future invites, as I’d love to get to know our neighbors better when it is safer. Ultimately, I know this was the right decision for us.

Instead of the party, we took a drive, and ended up in a very strange part of Colorado, called Central City. In the mid 1800’s Central City was a gold rush boomtown. Several streets are still preserved with Victoria era architecture and old signage.

It was like walking on a movie set and very cool. Unfortunately, the area is also depressed, with many stores shuttered. I would blame it on covid, but when we drove to the other side of town, we discovered several huge casinos. I think this is the likely culprit. The old part of Central City could be very trendy, if they cleaned it up, and filled the vacancies. Right now, it seems dodgy with some old, small casinos, America’s first dispensary, and several antique shops.

In other covid news, today I spoke with a student that I tutor from Brazil, and he told me that a family member had just died from Covid. My student was distraught and crying. Although I only spoke with him for five minutes, as he was kind enough to call me to explain why he needed to cancel, I felt overwhelmed by his suffering. This is the first time I have spoken with someone who is grieving a Covid death. I felt incredibly sad and overwhelmed by the situation.

In non-covid news, I was excited to learn that I passed to the second round of NYC Midnight’s 100 word Microfiction Contest. On Friday evening, I received my round #2 assignment = I needed to write a comedic story that involves the action of snorkeling and I needed to use the word “Scam.” It was a fun challenge, but I’m not as confident with my submission as I was for the first round.

We are on a revitalized health kick. Dan got some scary news at the doctors, but luckily it is something that can likely be controlled with diet. Last winter, I also got different, but in the same vein, health news. So we both need to stop the covid baking/drinking/eating crap shenanigans. We went to Sprouts, and bought a bunch of produce. In a first for me, we bought a whole pineapple. I usually buy the pre-cut fruit. Dan had a cool pineapple coring tool from when he was single, and he showed me how easy it is to prep pineapple. It was delicious and my husband is adorable!

We missed not having rum with our pineapple juice!

Other exciting news is we booked a trip to England at the end of October. The kids will meet us in England, and we will have a week with them, plus an extra week for Dan to work in London. I’m trying to temper my excitement, in case it doesn’t happen, but it isn’t easy. I’m so excited to see the kids and family, plus have some tourist time in London- including on my own, so I can go to all of the museums that no one else in the family cares about. It’s the best of all worlds.

We had an amazing sunset this week.

And the obligatory cute cat picture. This is a rare moment when they are sharing the cat tree. Tom always wants to be on the top, but Slinky usually wins.

Social Distancing in Littleton: Week Fourteen

This week was pivotal in our Covid-19 situation. We had to cancel my step-kids summer visit. They were scheduled to be with us for five weeks, but with the current health situation, the Swedish government extended its recommendations to cancel all non-essential travel until the end of August, and SAS Airlines canceled the flight.

It’s heartbreaking, especially since we have not seen them since last summer. Luckily, within a few days of canceling, we were able to work out an alternative plan. State of the world aside, our new plan is to go to England for their fall break. They will meet us in England, and we can spend time with Dan’s family. We will also have the kids for four weeks in the winter, and ten weeks next summer. It’s difficult to wait to see them, but this new plan is exciting and making us feel optimistic for fun things ahead.

And fun we will have…hopefully we can move our plans from this summer to a future vacation. Our plans for this summer were so epic, that I need to share them with you.

The vacation was going to start with me. I was going to drive our Subaru from Denver to Chicago, with two night-stops along the way. I planned on driving through Nebraska and Iowa, with a stop in Mallard, Iowa, where my maternal side has roots.

Dan was going to fly to meet me in Chicago (he had to work, which is why he couldn’t do the first part of the road trip with me), to pick up Zoe and Felix on a direct flight from Sweden to O’Hare.

We were going to spend a few days in Chicago, including the 4th of July.
Indianapolis Speedway for NASCAR
Kentucky-The National Corvette Museum, The original KFC (and museum), and the Jim Beam Distillery- which apparently is family friendly.
Tennessee- Pigeon Forge and Gaitlinberg: which look tacky, touristy, and wonderful. We had planned 2-3 nights here.
Georgia - Atlanta, so Zoe could go on a Stranger Things filming locations tour. She’s a huge fan. Felix loves cars- so NASCAR and the Corvette museum were more for him. In Atlanta, we would also go on a CNN Tour and visit the Coke Factory.
Alabama - The US Space and Rocket Center
Tennessee- Graceland
Missouri- St. Louis Arch
Kansas- Largest Ball of Twine
Home

We were planning to spend one week at home, and then fly to Orlando for ten days of theme parks- Universal and Disney. It was crushing to have to cancel this trip, but luckily we were able to easily get refunds, and we can plan this for a later date. I feel a bit relieved, as I’m not sure that I feel confident that it is a good idea to travel. I’m a firm believer in wearing masks in public, and grateful that the theme parks are enforcing masks, but I also can’t imagine wearing them in the Orlando heat.

This week we completed two more social distancing firsts. We went to an outdoor mall to find a housewarming present. It was a ghost town, very few customers, and some of the stores were closed. The present was for our friend’s Julie and Ryan, who have recently moved to Colorado from Los Angeles. We felt safe enough to visit their new home, which was lovely. It was great to see them, and catch up over homemade pizza and ice cream. As we’ve all been very cautious, we felt that this was low-risk. It was the first time going to a friends house since quarantine.

The cats went to the groomers on Saturday. They are all fluffy and smell nice. I took a picture of a funny sign at the groomers. I’ve had cats my entire life and never groomed them, but this sign makes me reconsider.

We saw a beautiful rainbow on a bike ride.

I took an online course through Colorado State University regarding growing vegetables. It was simply called “Vegetables.” The course was offered for free, but normally costs forty dollars, and is part of a series of gardening courses. If I were to complete all of the courses, I would receive some sort of qualification to be professional gardener. Honestly, the course wasn’t very useful. It took about an hour, and the only information that I can remember is to take a soil sample every year. I certainly don’t feel more qualified to plant vegetables. I passed the quiz at the end and earned a virtual “vegetable” badge.

This evening, I attended an outdoor yoga session in our housing estate. It was hosted on the lawn by our community center. I’ve tried yoga several times, but it’s not an exercise that I love. I prefer pilates. However, it was nice to stretch and look up at the amazing, Colorado clouds. It started raining as I walked back to our house. I met a few new neighbors, who were very nice.

And to end, a picture of Tom with his new toy that we bought at the groomers. Tom and Slinky love this new toy.