Category: California

Some of the things I planned for my trip to California in January of 2014 were as follows:

1. Visit my sister in Los Angeles and explore the Venice Walk-Streets at Venice Beach.
2. Visit a fellow blogger, Rosie, walk to Bob’s Big Boy and attend Poets and Writers LIVE!
3. See some of the California missions in Ventura and Santa Barbara.
4. Go to the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and Stearns Wharf.
5. Visit Hearst Castle at San Simeon.
6. Visit my friend Jayne in Danville, near San Francisco.
7. Go wine tasting with Jayne on the Silverado Trail in Napa Valley.
8. Drive the 17-Mile Drive at Pebble Beach.
9. Visit Monterey.

Venice Beach 2014

Venice Walk-Streets 2014

Monterrey, CA 2014

Fog-enshrouded San Francisco 2014

Hearst Castle 2014

Hearst Castle 2014

Mission Ventura

Malibu Seafood

On my way home from China in July of 2015, I also stopped in California.  This time, my plans were as follows:

1. Visit my sister again in Los Angeles.
2. Explore Anacapa Island, part of Channel Islands National Park, with my sister.
3. Go with my blogging friend Rosie to Joshua Tree National Park.

Anacapa Island

I didn’t read many books to prepare for my trip to California, but I had read a number in the past and had a huge list of books to choose from (this list is the tip of the iceberg):

1. China Dolls by Lisa See **
2. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan *****
3. The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan (& China) ****
4. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck ***
5. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck ****
6. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
7. The Physics of Sunset: A Novel by Jane Vandenburgh ****
8. The Monk Downstairs by Tim Farrington ****
9. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan ***
10. The Infinite Plan by Isabel Allende ****
11. The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende ***
12. Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
13. The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin (& N.Y. & Nevada)
14. An Invisible Sign of My Own by Aimee Bender
15. The Book of Dead Birds by Gayle Brandeis
16. The Metaphysical Touch by Sylvia Brownrigg
17. Slouching Towards Bethlehem (Essays) by Joan Dideon
18. Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion
19. Where I Was From by Joan Didion
20. Blue Nights by Joan Didion
21. The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
22. Queen of Dreams by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
23. House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
24. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
25. White Oleander by Janet Fitch
26. Abandon by Pico Iyer
27. The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin
28. Like Family by Paula McLain (memoir)
29. Song of the Seals by Christy Yorke
30. The Library Book by Susan Orlean
31. Wild by Cheryl Strayed
32. The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea
33. Failure to Zigzag: A Novel by Jane Vandenburgh
34. The Golden State by Lydia Kiesling
35. A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
36. Delayed Rays of a Star by Amanda Lee Koe
37. Homebase: A Novel by Shawn Wong
38. The Forgetting Tree by Tatjana Soli
39. The Whip by Karen Kondazian
40. The Other Americans by Laila Lalami
41. The Weight of a Piano by Chris Cander (also Soviet Union)
42. A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood
43. The Tortilla Curtain by T. Coraghessan Boyle
44. Slow Days, Fast Company by Eve Babitz
45. Bone by Fae Myenne Ng
46. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
47. Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block
48. Big Sur by Jack Kerouac
49. The Octopus: A Story of California by Frank Norris
50. This Wicked World by Richard Lange
51. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
52. The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West
53. Ask the Dust by John Fante
54. Telegraph Avenue: A Novel by Michael Chabon
55. Perfidia by James Ellroy
56. The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy
57. The Mountains of California by John Muir
58. West of Eden by Jean Stein
59. Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures by Emma Straub
60. My Hollywood by Mona Simpson
61. Farm City by Novella Carpenter
62. The Circle by Dave Eggers
63. The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo
64. The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson
65. The Midnights by Sarah Nicole Smetana
66. Another Side of Paradise by  Sally Koslow
67. The Dirty Book Club by Lisi Harrison
68. The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
69. The Summer of Jordi Perez (And the Best Burger in Los Angeles) by Amy Spalding
70. The Girls in the Picture by Melanie Benjamin
71. Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins
72. There There by Tommy Orange
73. Golden State by Stephanie Kegan
74. Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes
75. The Party by Robyn Harding

Native California plants

These are multitudes of movies set in California, many of which I have seen:

1. Vertigo (1958) *****
2. The Graduate (1967) *****
3. Duel (1971) *****
4. Play Misty for Me (1971) ****
5. Dirty Harry (1971) ****
6. Heaven Can Wait (1978) ****
7. Top Gun (1986) ****
8. Father of the Bride (1991) ****
9. Clueless (1995)
10. The Parent Trap (1998) ****
11. Erin Brokovich (2000) ****
12. Almost Famous (2000)
13. Life as a House (2001)
14. The Hours (2002) *****
15. Punch Drunk Love (2002)
16. Crash (2004) *****
17. Meet the Fockers (2004) ****
18. Sideways (2004) ****
19. Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005) *****
20. The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
21. Bobby (2006)
22. Babel (2006) ****
23. Little Miss Sunshine (2006) *****
24. Into the Wild (2007)
25. Milk (2008)
26. Frost/Nixon (2008)
27. Changeling (2008)
28. Bottle Shock (2009)
29. 500 Days of Summer (2009)
30. My Sister’s Keeper (2009)
31. Easy A (2010)
32. The Kids Are All Right (2010) ***
33. Larry Crowne (2011) *****
34. Hangover Part II (2011)
35. We Bought a Zoo (2011)
36. Just Go With It (2011)
37. Drive (2011)
38. Chasing Mavericks (2012)
39. Blue Jasmine (2013) ***
40. The Call (2013) ****
41. If I Stay (2014)
42. Wild (2014) ****
43. San Andreas (2015)
44. Steve Jobs (2015) *****
45. McFarland, USA (2015)
46. Concussion (2015) ****
47. Straight Outta Compton (2015)
48. 20th Century Women (2016) ****
49. La La Land (2016) ****
50. The Founder (2016)
51. Home Again (2017) ****
52. Lady Bird (2017) *****
53. Bumblebee (2018)
54. Free Solo (2018)
55. First Man (2018)
56. The Sisters Brothers (2018)
57. Echo in the Canyon (2018) ***
58. The Biggest Little Farm (2018) ****
59. Winchester (2018)
60. Bird Box (2018)
61. Destination Wedding (2018)
62. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
63. The Dirt (2019)
64. The Intruder (2019)
65. Ford v Ferrari (2019)
66. Captain Marvel (2019)
67. Wine Country (2019)
68. Us (2019)

I would be in California from January 3-13, 2014 and then again from July 10-15, 2015.