Adventures in the USA: Rachel's Travel Diary

Good Morning/Afternoon all!

I’ve had a quiet week this week due for two reasons. Firstly, it’s been quite cool and drizzly for most of the week, and secondly, I turned my ankle over last weekend and seeing as I bruise like a peach, I’ve been letting that rest and heal.

Monday was warm and sunny (the only day of sun this week). Chris and I met to pick up lunch at a nearby sandwich shop before he headed off to LAX to pick up a colleague returning from the UK. I took most of my sandwich up to our rooftop and enjoyed it in the sun – bacon, ham, tomatoes, mushroom and pineapple, YUM! Then in the evening we went to an independent film screening of ‘We’re All Gonna Die’ which was written/directed/produced by Freddie Wong (who Chris used to follow and learn from on Youtube nearly 16 years ago) and Matthew Arnold. The film takes place in the near future in a world where an alien presence has appeared in the sky, and the two main characters are thrown together in peculiar circumstances and have to take a road trip across the USA together. It was hilarious at times and emotionally raw at others and we really enjoyed it!

I spent Wednesday working on my Girlguiding related projects. First, more sewing for my Queen’s Guide Award. I finished making a zip up pouch to store my sewing accessories in – I really like the contrasting colours of the main panels, zip and tabs at either end of the zip. I think the front is a bit plain though so I’m toying with the idea of adding an appliqué patch on the front. In the afternoon I worked on a preliminary design submission for the Lord Mayor’s Show later this year. For context, the Lord Mayor’s Show is an annual ‘civic procession’ dating back to the 13th century as part of the inauguration of each Lord Mayor of London. Every year, two Girlguiding Counties in London and South East Region (LaSER) are involved with the show, one preparing packed lunches for the several thousand participants, and one joining in the procession with 50 adult and young members. In November my county (London South West) are taking part in the procession and as this opportunity rotates between all the counties in the region, it only comes up every 10-15 years, so I volunteered to be on the organising team. We had a meeting on Monday to decide what we want our group entry to look like, then I put together some annotated plans on Wednesday for the initial submission.

On Thursday I finally got around to visiting out local Cat Cafe, Crumbs and Whiskers! The cafe has been operating since 2013, along with a sister location in Washington DC, and they’ve rescued over 5000 cats and kittens from the streets and from euthanasia lists in crowded shelters. All the cats are available for adoption, or you can just visit for a coffee, pastry and cat cuddles. They have around 20 young cats resident at the moment, many of which have only been rescued in the last couple of months, and all under 2 years old. I spent a lovely hour playing and fussing the kitties. One little gent called Kombu ran up to me meowing and insisted on head scratches for a good 5 minutes or so, before losing interest and skittering off to find a playmate instead. They’re all such sweet, sociable cats, it’s a shame adoption isn’t feasible for me as I’d readily take any of them home with me!

And just like that it’s Friday again! I arranged to join a historical tour of the El Captain theatre – the one I saw in Hollywood a few weeks ago and is used for Disney Movie Premieres! This time I walked part way then got the bus up to Hollywood. I stopped off at Ghirardelli next door to the theatre for an ice cream (they do a ‘world famous’ hot fudge Sunday, but I opted for a salted caramel variant instead). I was the only person signed up for the tour, so I had a private tour of the theatre with the assistant manager. They were in the middle of dressing the theatre for the Snow White premiere on Saturday so I got to see lots of additional themed decor for that, including a model of the dwarves’ cottage. The theatre has such an interesting history – originally built in 1920s, then refurbished in 1940s but luckily all of the original decor, plaster work and facade were retained, just boarded over, so when Disney bought the theatre in the mid 1980s, they were able to undergo extensive restoration work to return the theatre to its former glory. The theatre can seat 1000, 500 on the balcony and 500 downstairs and they have a curtain show before each screening. There is also an old Wurlitzer organ which is still played before each Saturday and Sunday screening. 

It was another gloriously sunny weekend so on Saturday we went for a walk in Pico-Robertson, stopping for lunch and cake at a cafe then went for a dip in the rooftop hot tub – the heating has been broken until recently so this was the first time we used the pool area. Then on Sunday we went to a flea market at a nearby high school, with lots of vintage clothing stalls, small businesses, food vendors and live music, before finishing the weekend with a screening of Anora at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures – a brilliant film (can understand how it won 5 oscars!) in a beautiful cinema! 

I’m writing this at lunchtime on St Patrick’s Day – we’re hoping to go to an Irish pub near Chris’s office this evening, so hopefully I will have a few photos to share of that for next week’s post!

Signing off now from across the pond,

Rachel x