The original plan was to leisurely head south from Seattle on a more inland track, since I did Route 1 down the coast last year. I was texting with my daughter Eva who mentioned she was going to Australia to visit Mira, my late father’s wife, who herself is visiting her son Marc and family who live in Sydney. I asked what Eva’s dates were, which caused her to ask if I’d like to come. At first I hesitated; logistics seemed challenging. She agreed, but typed “YOLO”. Little did I know it meant You Only Live Once, used primarily to convince someone to do something they normally wouldn’t. That’s all it took. Why I didn’t fly out of San Francisco is beyond me, (actually I do; I just didn’t want to transfer…) but I drove the 1136 miles to Los Angeles in three days.
I missed a visit with my friend Karen and her partner Sylvan when I was in LA last year, so it was a delight to reconnect. Karen and I met at Noyes Rhythm dance retreat almost 40 years ago. Unlike me, they are still in their working years, so I had a day to explore. I went to the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance. It was deeply impactful and moving; I went through a comprehensive, immersive exhibit describing the lead up to WWII and the Holocaust. The language scapegoating the Jews is not just eerily similar, it is exactly the same today maligning immigrants in the USA.
For an emotional whiplash, I also did the Sony Pictures Studios tour, seeing the Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune set. Did you know they used a 35ft sock to film the tornado in Wizard of OZ?
But to Australia! I hadn’t seen Mira since my dad died and she moved back to the Philippines. What a wonderful reunion, and so great to spend a week with Eva, too! We had only met her son Marc once before, and never the rest of his family. He showed us all around Sydney. What a beautiful city. Eva and I took a guided tour of The Rocks, a neighborhood across the harbor from the famous Opera House. England used to send their convicts to the fledgling U.S., but after independence switched to Australia. Minor offenses like shoplifting were enough to get sent away. Eva and I both had the thought, “perhaps a little Empire building here?” For some reason I became fixated on the sandstone blocks, shaped by long ago convicts’ individual pickaxe strikes.
Marc invited us to his Grappling class. Part wrestling, part self defense, part contact improv, pure play! I can’t think of another environment where people can pretend fight and roughhouse but not get hurt. Totally fun.
Eva and I also did a day trip to the Blue Mountains, a two hour train ride out of town to a canyon. It felt really good to exert ourselves in nature. The loop included the Giant Stairway down, and go figure, just as many steps coming back up.
The last day we saw the Queen Victoria Building and went to the top of The Eye. Throughout the trip we had lots of delicious meals, great conversation and precious time with family.
Back in LA now; I plan to take Route 1 through Big Sur up to San Francisco. It is only recently open again after major mudslides closed it two years ago.
Here is this week’s music video: The first line, not recorded, is “I want to get together with my friend, Lou”.