bobanddenisewanderlust

Saturday-  I left for a Physical Therapy appt. at 9 AM and returned around 10:30. A little after 11, we left for mission San Fernando, Rey De Espana, the fourth mission built on the El Camino Real. The Mission church was established by Fray Fermin Francisco De Lasuen ( 1736-1803) on September 8, 1797. At native of Vitoria, Spain, Lasuen served as Presidente of the California Missions for eighteen years. This Mission church, is an exact replica of the earlier edifice erected between 1804 and 1806. The church measures 166 ft. by 35 ft. The walls are seven feet thick at the base, tapering to five feet at the top. The interior furnishings were used in the original church. There were 3,188 baptisms, 2449 burials and 842marriages at San Fernando between 1797 and 1846. The 16th century gold-leafed re-dos was installed in 1991. Pope John Paul II visited the church in September 1987.

This is the spectacular alter in the church.

Behind the church, was this memorial to the Native Americans who are buried under this grass.

We walked farther back to the Bob Hope Memorial Gardens. The gardens were beautiful with this waterfall and a stream, meandering through the garden .We followed the walkway….

and found the Bob and Dolores Hope graves. We did not know that they were buried there. The map that they gave us at the entrance just shows that there is a cemetery in the rear. The actual cemetery is behind a fence to the right of the Hope Grotto, which was not on the map.   

The fountain is in the middle of the Mission. The Mission is surrounded by buildings, turning the area into a square. Next we wandered through the workshops. Below is the blacksmith’s area.

Next was the saddle area.

Finally the loom area. There was also a display of Bob Hope memorabilia.

This is an antique picture of the Patron Saints of the 21 California Missions.

Back outside, in front of the church, was a wedding party waiting to enter the church. Note the bride waiting with her father. Bob declared her dress the ugliest he had ever seen! There seemed to be more people in the wedding party then attending the wedding!

The other building in the back area is the Archives for the Diocese of Los Angles. Only recognized scholars are allowed to make appointments to see the items in the archives.

This is the front courtyard, facing the side of the church. Looking straight at the church, the alter would be to the right.

We completed our tour, by visiting the museum .  At the gift shop, I  asked about Bob Hope, thinking that maybe the Hope’s were Catholic and attended Mass here. Not the story. Dolores Hope thought that the Mission was beautiful and they donated the garden for their burial site. It is not advertised that the Hope’s are buried here.

We left here and went to a mediocre lunch at a chain restaurant, Coco’s.

We went in search of our Christmas present to ourselves. We finally found it at Woodland Hills Camera and Telescope, where we bought a pair of stabilizer binoculars. We had wanted these binoculars for watching for signs while driving the motor home and for looking for moose next summer in Alaska!

We stopped and picked up a movie, Tommy Lee Jones and Meryl Streep in  Hope Springs. We took a nap, ate dinner and watched the movie.

Sunday- we slept in until 7:30, late for us. We finally arrived at Walmart at 9:30, did our shopping, stopped at Ralphs to supplement the  groceries and returned to the motor home. At around 11, we left to go to the Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market. Held every month, the second Sunday of the month, this is the largest Flea Market we have ever seen. It took us about 10 minutes to find a parking space in the free parking lot. Then we hiked to the Flea Market. There are over 1600 vendors at this flea market! It is huge!

After a potty break we ate lunch, Bob had a beer brat and I had grilled Teriyaki chicken over rice. We walked into the Rose Bowl to take a look, and it looks like they are ready for the game on New Years!

The Flea Market had everything that you could possibly want. Books, clothes, furniture, cell phone accessories, plates, glasses, pictures etc. It was so overwhelming! .The vendors were in two rows, around the outside of the Rose Bowl, and filling up the parking lot directly in front of the Rose Bowl. There was just to much ‘stuff’!!

Since it was hot, we decided to bail and go get some ice cream! So we hopped back on the 101 and headed to Glendale for what sounded like a nice ice cream place. The GPS took us to an upscale mall. This is the center court, with the fountains. Below is the trolley which ran around the mall. Unfortunately, the ice cream place was gone!

So we left and went back to our own neighborhood. We thought we would stop at a Dairy Queen, but the GPS took us to another mall, this time the Northridge Mall, where we ended up at Ben and Jerry’s. Okay, but not worth going to a mall at Christmas time!

We returned home, walked the dogs, cooked dinner and watched some TV shows we had on the DVR.

Monday- At least it is sunny!  A typical Monday where it is was busy at work.  Bob stays busy with catching up on chores. He does the laundry, cooks the dogs food, etc. Since our mail had arrived, he has been talking to the insurance company and doctor’s offices getting our billing straightened out. Plus, we are still having internet issues. So he has spent a lot of time this week working on that problem.

Tuesday- another pretty day, although the nice weather is not going to last.

Wednesday- I had the Fire Class, so I had to be at work at 8 AM, instead of 8:30. That extra half hour really makes a difference, traffic wise. Plus, there was an accident on the 405, so they were sending everyone south on Balboa Blvd. When we left the RV park, we had to turn right instead of left, then go north to the next traffic light to turn left, to head west to the hospital. It took us an extra 10 minutes to get to work.

If you wonder how come LA and California are so broke, here is another reason! This fire class, while interesting, took a lot of time. For some reason, someone decided it should be a six hour class! It could have been done in two hours, and we could have been on our way. But no, it has to be six hours.

Each hour we had a 10 minute break. Then from 11-11:30, we learned how to evacuate the patients from the upper floors of the hospital. Then lunch from 11:30 to 1;00. From 1-1:30, we had a movie, a demonstration of fire extinguishers, outside, then we finally rec’d our cards.

Your wondering why I am objecting? Because I was not paid by the hospital during this time! On Monday, Laura had found out I would not be paid. So I called the agency and they paid me for the time. the gal who was supposed to be covering for me was pulled to the ICU, so I had to start from scratch at 1:30. I had done everything I could do yesterday, so things went pretty smoothly, but it was a busy afternoon. 

LA city/county have their own ideas about fire protection. The do not do RACE (rescue, alarm, contain, evacuate). Although they do PASS ( pull, aim, squeeze, and sweep). They have their own program, and everyone who works in a health care facility has to take this course. The card is good for 4 years, but it is only good in LA. Oh well, done for four years!

I had PT this week on Mon and Wed, so Bob picked me up at 6:20.

Thursday- It started raining, again. Christmas season has started. Cookies, candy and other crap is arriving in the Case Management office from the vendors.

Friday- Ugh, still raining this morning. It cleared out during the day, and started raining again, just as I was leaving work. Today was pretty busy. We were down 5 case managers today! So there were only 3 of us this morning! I was given an extra floor with 30 patients! Fortunately, the gal whose floor is was arrived at around 11:30, so I just had to do some discharges. Also, my census was down to 10, so it worked out. As soon at Markita came in, I ended up doing reviews for Jackie, after I finished my reviews and discharges.

Bob picked me up at 5:00, we returned home, had left overs for dinner and watched TV. We watched(DVR) Jay Leno, and his Jay walking segment this week was at the Glendale Mall, where we could not find the ice cream place on Sunday. He was standing right in front of the Apple store where we stood, looking at the mall map!

Just a little about Van Nuys. Van Nuys is in the San Fernando Valley. The valley is surrounded on four sides by mountains, so it tends to be a little warmer than other areas, which is okay, since the weather has been cool.

There are main roads going north/south and east/west, located about every 1/2 mile. Balboa Blvd is one of the main roads. When we leave the RV park to go to the hospital, we turn left on Balboa, then right on Satacoy. The speed limit is 40 mph on Satacoy. The road is 7 lanes wide, most of the way. There is parking on both sides, then two lanes going each way, with a turn lane in the middle. The road switches from 7 lanes to 4 or 5 then back to 7 again. Balboa is the same, only there is no road parking during the week.

Between the main roads are ‘areas’. We are in Balboa Lake. Between us and the hospital are Rashida, Rashida Ranch, Wannika, and then finally West Hills. The drive is about 6 miles and takes about 20 minutes. All of this area is in LA county. These areas are not towns, just locations. Police and Fire departments are all from LA county.

Driving in the area is interesting. It is the ‘norm’ that everyone who is turning runs the red light! So every red light you have to wait for up to 2 cars who turn left. We tend to drive in the left lane, because we are afraid some one is going to walk out between cars into traffic or they are going to open a car door. People also do not realize the size of their car, so they tend to drive close to the line between lanes, pushing you to the left. Also, they tend to not look in their mirrors if they need to go past a parking car. So driving is interesting, but still better than it was in Maryland.

Filed under: Uncategorized |