And Baby Makes Three

All good things must come to an end, and so came the last day of my fantastic weekend getaway to L.A. We managed to fit in one last excursion before I packed my bags and headed to the airport.

• 9:15-10:45 a.m. – Lindsay and I made our way to Venice Beach for a brisk morning walk. We parked a few blocks inland, then meandered through the canal walkways. It’s a beautiful area that I had never seen before. There’s a reason it’s called Venice Beach. Like Venice, Italy, this area has a series of canals, and they are bordered by beautiful homes. Most of the residents have a small dock and a canoe just outside of their front door. I took lots of pictures of this quaint, picturesque area (see below). Once we got to the boardwalk, the atmosphere changed quite drastically. The beautiful homes, waterways, and flowers were replaced by the strange characters that inhabit the Venice Beach ocean front area: body builders, homeless people, street musicians, vendors, people on stilts… There was a little of everything. My favorite aspect of this area is that there are colorful murals on the sides of the buildings (see pictures below). After we walked for awhile, it was time to head back to the apartment so I could prepare for my journey home.
• 12:30-1:30 p.m. – Lindsay dropped me off at the airport, and with no line, I made it through security in about five minutes. Unfortunately, I soon discovered that my flight had been delayed by about 30 minutes. This made me nervous, since I had already been facing only a 55 minute layover in Salt Lake City. With the delay, that would cut it down to 25 minutes. I entertained myself by drinking a latte and listening to the French conversation going on next to me between a cute little girl and her Papa.
• 1:40 Pacific time – 4:15 Mountain time – My flight eventually left LAX, and made up some time in the air. I read a bit and listened to music during the relatively short flight.
• 4:25-4:45 p.m. – Not knowing how far I had to go, I made a mad dash through the airport to go from Terminal B to Terminal C, gate 4, where my flight to DFW was departing. By the time I got there, it was already boarding, but I still had time to make a few phone calls. It was nice to not have to wait a long time at the gate.
• 5:00 mountain time – 8:20 p.m. central time – I really enjoyed this flight, milking this last little bit of my vacation for all it was worth. I read a good chunk of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (great book so far!), listened to music, and enjoyed one of those fun little snack boxes and some red wine. The combination of the wine and music was very enjoyable. I cranked up the volume and sailed away on tunes that included The Gabe Dixon Band, Imogen Heap, Jump Little Children, Offspring (okay, so they weren’t all mellow songs), Live, etc. My experience on the plane was so different this time from my last trip to L.A., when I was holding Benjamin in my lap the whole time and trying to keep him from screaming. It was so nice to just be for a few hours.
• 8:30-9:00 p.m. – My brother Patrick picked me up from the airport and drove me home. (Thanks, Pete!) I walked in the front door just in time to see Benjamin come out of the bathtub wrapped cozily in a towel. An exhausted Brad (by the way, he did a fantastic job taking care of Benjamin all weekend) handed the boy over to me, and I hugged him close. It was good to be home.