They asked, "Cumulus, stratus and cirrus?"
I said, "Yeah, sure. That's what I said."
Later we landed in Burbank because that's where Johnny Carson filmed and I thought it sounded (cheaper) more nostalgic than LAX. We discovered Burbank's rental cars are 1000 miles from baggage claim-- a distance further than the length of the city, defying all math and spatial laws. Because Burbank too is magic.
We pinched our noses, squeezed our eyes shut, and dove into that David Lynch box of dimensions, like Naomi Watts. We walked and walked and walked, and then finally, when we'd given up, we walked some more. We hauled six bags and three skateboards until we arrived at a white Kia Sol. We thought, "Oh...so for a week, we will be those people."
I drove us to the real Mulholland Drive, and as we wound our way up the mountain, I tried to explain the movie named after it. They said, "So we will watch it when we get home?"
"No."
One kid searched Zillow for "T. Swift" while the other searched "A Youtuber's name I no longer remember," and we found them too. We parked outside each high fence and gated home, nodding somberly. Obviously, the fact that we couldn't see anything proved we'd found them. "That's just like Taylor and YouTube Guy."
Our hotel in Venice Beach was old, small and perfect. Sometimes outside the continental breakfast room window, people were arrested, but it was the interesting kind of arrested, not scary. Well, not too scary, and it gave us the opportunity for "life lessons" over cinnamon rolls.
But watching breakfast arrests is not all we did. We lived like locals, and even went to Target twice and Walgreens once. It was "our" vacation, and no one was the boss. Maybe that's why we didn't check off more sight seeing. We only had one major destination goal: Joshua Tree Desert. We were all really excited about seeing it when we'd planned our trip months ago. However, by the time our day trip came, I'd fallen off a skateboard and twisted my knee. I was dreading it. The morning arrived for the three hour Sol trip, and Walker read that it was disrespectful to do parkour on all the bits of nature, and Courtney read it was 103 degrees there that day. Collectively, we ditched our only goal.
I love my children.
There was a lot more, but those memories are mine, tucked away. On the way home, I marveled at how quickly humans find being in the sky unmarvelous. Everyone napped right next to window that was prime real estate prior. I said, "Look! I've given you those clouds again! Fat, stringy and fluffy-wet ones! Just like the dog after her bath!"
Everyone snored happily.
