My Most Excellent Emmy Adventure

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This…

…will not grace the studio of my dear husband, the Big Bison. Well, not this year, at least.

We are back from our trip to smokin’ hot Los Angeles. Smokin’, because the skies were full of not only smog, but the smoke from the wildfires burning on the hillsides north of Los Angeles. Hot, because they were having temperatures around 105º while we were there.

Can you see the plumes of smoke from the wildfires rising up on the hills on the left in the distance?

Baby, it was hot!!!

We went to LA because the Big Bison had been nominated for a daytime Emmy for a piece of music that he did for the Today Show, promoting their newest hour of coverage. Unfortunately for us, his piece did not win the Emmy, but we are still thrilled that he was nominated in the first place, realizing that it really IS an honor, just to be nominated. Anyway, that’s our story, and we’re sticking to it! 🙂

Care to hear some of the details?

Well, OK, twist my arm… 😉

We arrived on Friday around noon, and picked up our PT Cruiser (which the BB called a piece of junk) at the car rental place and cruised on down to Huntington Beach, to meet my friend Cheri. Isn’t she gorgeous?

Since you are techno-savvy enough to be reading a blog, I’m sure it will not surprise you to know that this was the first time I have ever laid eyes on Cheri in my life, even though I call her (true enough) my friend. Cheri is a friend I met through the Sonlight forums, a homeschooling forum I frequent on line. In the old days, meeting a friend like this would have been called having and meeting a pen pal. Julia Child had one in her good friend Avis, who was largely responsible for snagging Julia a publishing deal for her masterpiece, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”. So, if Julia can have a pen pal, I can too. I have met some of the finest people I know through the internet: friends who were initially emaginary, who became near and dear to my heart in a virtual kind of way, and who ultimately, I met in real life, and they became even more dear to me. Just like the velveteen rabbit. Only different….

So, anyway, we met Cheri in Huntington Beach because it was halfway between LA and her house. We met at an In ‘n’ Out Burger restaurant, a place I ate last year in June when I was at a Big Fat Meetup of 50 other emaginary Sonlight friends. You’d think there was nowhere else to eat in southern California, huh? But it was AWESOME to hear what God is doing in Cheri and her family’s life, and maybe next time I’m back, we’ll have some more time to spend together, and I’ll branch out a bit in my culinary adventuresome-ness.

Then the BB and I drove down to the pier in Huntington Beach (and that is the Goodyear Blimp that you can see up in the sky in this picture, by the way)

and strolled along, sniffing the briny air, enjoying the ocean breeze, and watching the surfers do their thing.

What’s not to love? Does this bring back any memories to any of my Sonlight friend/BFM Huntington Beach fellow attendees? It should! Yvonne, Rosie, Kristi, Bethany, and Chloe, this shot’s for you, in memory of some specific mental souvenirs I have of each of you the evening we ate there:

And this is a freebie, just because I like him, and he put on such a show for us.

We took the long way back to LA, and checked into our wonderful hotel, which had been recommended to us by Cheri, who is very knowledgeable on such subjects, having worked in management of a very prestigious one in Beverly Hills at one time. We stayed at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown LA, which was about a block or two away from The Westin Bonaventure, the hotel where our Emmy ceremonies were to take place. The Biltmore is an older hotel, and stunningly gorgeous. Their service was the best! Our room was lovely, and really, I just can’t say enough nice things about the place. I would go back there in a heartbeat!

Our room had a canopy bed, an incredibly comfortable mattress, a fluffy duvet… Here I am enjoying the wonderfulness thereof:

We were staying on the Club level, which gave us access to free hor d’oeuvres and drinks…which became our Friday night dinner. Awesome! Platters of cheeses, crackers, breads, prosciutto and salamis, assorted olives, veggies, little quiches, and eggrolls and on and on. Yum!!! My favorite things to eat!!!

Then, on Saturday morning, we decided to avoid the stress of driving around. This was my idea – the BB wanted to go to Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive, I think, but he acquiesced to my desire to keep it simple.

So, since we are from a different time zone, we woke up early, and breakfasted at the Club Level again, since that was a part of our package. I loved the pain au chocolat (that’s a croissant filled with a chocolate bar) and the yogurt with fresh fruit and granola: Birchermuesli to my Swiss friends. And then, it was on to a walking tour of downtown. We walked up Grand Ave., past the skyscrapers,

and the Walt Disney Concert Hall where the LA Philharmonic plays. We toured that later, after we went

to the Cathedral-Our Lady-The Angels.

This must be my year to tour the cathedrals of the nation. Since May, I have visited and LOVED Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., and now this incredible cathedral. I really recommend ANY of these grand houses of worship as a wonderful part of your tour of any of these cities. The Big Bison snapped some great pictures inside, and I’ll just share a few of them with you:

Here, inside the sanctuary, we saw this man in worship. I hope no one will find this photograph disrespectful: for us, it was a very beautiful, holy moment.

I love this shot as well, taken from the front of the sanctuary. If you look on the sides, there are tapestries hanging that depict saints (including their names) both from this present time, and saints from days long gone. It reminds me of the great cloud of witnesses who are always with us, surrounding us, a part of our forever family, cheering us on.

I love to think about them, since my parents and the Big Bison’s parents are a part of that cloud of witnesses.

In the basement of the cathedral is the mausoleum: it is large enough to hold 6000 saints who have gone on to be with the Lord, but at present holds the remains of only around 400 souls. So, if you have a hankering to have your remains reside there someday, you can get your reservation in now. It is an absolutely beautiful place. Much to my surprise, we stumbled upon the crypt of one of my favorite movie stars of all time, the man who so perfectly played the role of Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Note the look of mourning on my face. Sorry, the spot just above Mr. Peck is already reserved…I could make jokes, here…but I won’t….

And then, it was time to come back to the hotel, rest for a while, and then shower and get ready for our BIG NIGHT OUT.

Frankly, I’m getting tired of writing, and I bet you’re getting tired of reading, too. How about I save the Emmy Ceremonies themselves for my next installment?