Trip to Bakersfield

For work, I get to attend lots of events, some of which I host an informational table at.  There is a company, First Books, who gives cases of books away, donated by publishing companies, if you are a school or government entity and pay the shipping.  However, on occasion they host distribution events in warehouses.  Pi Sigma Phi organized one in Bakersfield in their behalf.  They gave away 20,000 children's and young adult books in 3-4 hours one Saturday.  I was allotted 200.

So, we as a family made the two hour trip so that I could collect them.  We had lunch beforehand at Sonic and stopped by a trampoline park afterwards.

Allison's Birthday Party

We let Allison host a birthday party at our house with a nice group of friends.  They came over to roast marshmallows and make s'mores in the fire pit, eat snacks and watch a movie.

Allison's Birthday Presents

Jeremy and I bought Allison a new phone for her birthday, an iPhone.  It is an upgrade from her previous basic Samsung.  She was very excited, to say the least.  Pam and David's annual silver coin also arrived with Grandma and Grandpa Wood's card and check in the mail.

L.A. Fun Day

For Allison's "birthday dinner" she requested to eat at Din Tai Fung.  There are a handful in Los Angeles and a few in Seattle.  We ate at the restaurant during our time in Singapore.  It is a restaurant chain that started in Taipei.  We chose to eat at the one in Glendale.

It did not disappoint.  Our favorite item is Pork XiaoLongBao, seen in the round wooden dishes, which is a steamed dumpling.  We also ordered:  Vegetable and Pork Wonton Soup, House Chicken Noodle Soup (Boneless), Pork Chop Noodle Soup, Shredded Pork Fried Noodles, Chicken Fried Rice (White), Sauteed string Beans with Garlic, Sauteed Taiwanese Cabbage, Vegetable and Pork Dumplings, Shrimp and Pork Pot Stickers, Chocolate & Mochi XiaoLongBao, and some smoothies.  They do not serve my ultimate favorite lemon grass drink.

Wanting to not waste a long trip on just a restaurant, we set out to hike to the Hollywood sign.  There are numerous trails, ultimately starting either from the Griffith Observatory or from the historic Hollywoodland neighborhood.  There are three main trails from the observatory, each ranked easy, medium, or difficult.  I learned that the easy trail from the observatory puts you at the top of a different mountain looking at the side of the sign.  Jeremy and the kids talked me out of the medium and difficult trails.  However, I didn't want anything but a spectacular view.  The trails from the other side, the neighborhood, give that.

I found that reading a few google search hiking websites was helpful to get a good idea of what to expect and where to go.  My favorite article was: https://www.hikespeak.com/trails/hollywood-sign-hike-innsdale-drive-mulholland-highway-mount-lee-drive/  

When entering the "neighborhood" there was a big yellow sign that said that access was not available to the sign.  Ignore that.  Shortly after winding through what you think is the whole neighborhood, you come to a field area and street parking.  Keep going.  Basically, we ended up parking on Mulholland Drive on a steep incline at the Lake Hollywood Park.  There is no more public parking after this.  Walking through the neighborhood, on Mulholland, to the actual trail head is easy.  Also, lots of people were around doing the same.  There is a yard or two with large signs for "No trespassing" or yellow police tape to "Do Not Cross"--pass by and under.  Next, when you think you've reached a private gate, you kind of have and you kind of haven't...proceed through the walkway to the other side of the trail.  The last 0.9 miles is a bit steep, but all paved.  Up and back took 2-1/2 hours.

Annnnd, we stopped by Cupid's for dinner on the way home.  Plus, I learned that Jeremy's elementary childhood home was literally a couple streets down, so we stopped and took a picture.

After we got the kids home and in bed, Jeremy and I "ran an errand" to hang Allison's birthday sign on the traditional high school fence.