We spent the last two days of our very fun, very brave eight-day road trip with baby in Los Angeles, which I fell deeply, inconsolably in love with. I'd never been before.
Coming home on the plane today, I felt heartsick. I can't remember the last time I felt that way coming home from a trip. I felt like I was leaving behind a great love, not knowing when I might see him again. And he's not even, like, a love that people approve of. Lots of people say lots of nasty things about L.A. but I don't care.
This wasn't totally unexpected, my feelings for Los Angeles; I like to keep up with celebrity culture and I greatly prefer warm weather and the general happiness that accompanies it. But I didn't expect to get such a
feeling from this city. Today, as our airplane tilted upwards into the sky, I looked out the window, down at the long, skinny palm trees and the curving coastline and all the rest of it. I thought: If only I wasn't married to this sweet man and mother to this sweet little baby, I would just pack it all up and move out here. I would live in a crummy old apartment and eat canned pork and beans for dinner and take public transportation. I haven't felt like that about a city since I felt that way about New York. I got over the New York thing, and I will get over this one. I'm an adult after all.
It's just that we had a really lovely last two days. It was sunshiney and 75 degrees, and we walked everywhere -- along the beach in Santa Monica, on a Laurel Canyon trail choked with eucalyptus, down Robertson Blvd. and Sunset Blvd. We hired an angelic, patient sitter named Andrea and went for cocktails at Bar Marmont. We stayed in a perfect art deco hotel with a nice bathtub. We ate lobster and burgers and Pinkberry and pastries and lots of pretty salads. And Tessa even slept until 6 a.m. both days.
That's the funny thing about traveling. You never know how a city will hit you. The other funny thing about traveling, I think, is how changed you can feel afterward. I met so many people and saw so many places that I feel like I have a whole new palette of colors to paint with now. I'm tired, but I'm inspired. Truly the best way to feel after a long, magnificent trip.
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| Tessa's first time at the beach |
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| She loved it. She ate sand and kicked her feet in the water. |
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| I promise I comb her hair. |
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| Love this picture! |
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| ... and this one, too. |
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| Our turquoise hotel in Santa Monica. |
