Travels With Susan

Everything Old is New Again.  Who said that?  Don't know.  But, in these ecologically aware times it is time to reteach a lesson from our grandfathers-- how to stay cool in Southern California without air conditioning.  In the old days, before air conditioning, coastal Southern Californians used strategies based on coastal Southern California's unusual climate. 

What you will soon learn if you stay in Southern California for any length of time is that the temperature nearly always falls below 60 degrees at night.  Nearly every night.  Even in the middle of the summer.  When I was young an naive and didn't know that the whole world was like Los Angeles, visitors would ask me why I was taking a coat when I went out in the summer.  I would reply that I was planning to stay out late, as if that were an answer to the questions.  And, of course, if you know Southern California's climate, it is.  When the daytime temperature has reached, say, 95, 65 feels downright chilly.  And that happens nearly every day of the summer in Southern California.  Heat and sun go together here.  The sun comes up, it gets warm.  The sun goes down, it gets cold.  Seems logical enough.  Doesn't happen in the midwest and the east and, even in the Central Valley of California it happens less. 

So-- here is how to use that fact to make your house more comfortable.  Close all of your windows and put the shades up in the early morning.  Depending on how well your house is insulated, it will keep the temperature inside your house as much as 20 degrees cooler than the outside temperature. 

At night, when temperatures have fallen, your house will start to radiate the heat that it has absorbed during the day.  That heat radiation will make your house warm.  To cool it off, open all of your windows and use a window fan to bring cold air into the house.  This strategy works best when you provide for a cross-flow-- that is windows on opposite sides of the room and a nice strong fan, which uses substantially less electricity than an air conditioner.

This strategy requires some work, but we all probably could use the moderate exercise involved.Try it.  It works to make the heat of summer bearable most days of the summer.

The Rose Garden at Exposition Park, on Exposition Boulevard near the Harbor Freeway is adjacent to the Science and Industry Museum and the Natural History Museum. It is south of the University of Southern California and sits between that University and the Football stadium where it plays, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.  The only downsides to visiting this park are 1) It's hard to find parking on a spring afternoon on a Saturday or a Sunday and 2) it is full of thousands of families and childrens on those days. 

There is a fountain in the middle of the garden.And, although it is strictly prohibited children play in it.  I know I did when I was a kid.

  Roses bloom there from about April to November.  It is one of the largest public rose gardens in the united states with about 10,000 bushes and about 100 different varieties of roses. This creates an imagination problem for us natives.  We hear about other fabulous rose gardens and are disappointed to find that they have only 200 or 300 rose bushes.  Not much compared to Exposition park.  It has all sorts of roses from traditional to black roses (which are really deep, deep purple) Some of the bushes are rotated out each year and new ones put in.   The Exposition Park Rose Garden is a wonderful experience in April May and June, full of weddings and parties and people being, well, happy.  It is an AARS (All American Rose Society) Public Garden.  There are many experimental and new varieties of roses.  Last I heard most of the roses were supplied by Armstrong nurseries which is also located in Southern California. What you need to understand about the blooming and all is that roses love Southern California.  No, I mean they really do.  Because in Southern California, where all but native gardens must be irrigated , roses find it easy to keep their feet wet and their branches dry.  They like that.  They flourish here and bloom well into December. 

When I was a kid a perfect Sunday afternoon might include a visit to the Rose Garden along with a visit to the Natural History museum's galleries of North American and African animals, and if we had time, to see the skeletons of the dinosaurs.   The dioramas in the Natural History Museum are super fun for kids.  I really can't say why, but seeing all those different animals was always a thrill.  Take your kids.  They'll love it.  And you can buy them an ice cream from the many vendors that roll their carts around the park.  We were less likely to go on Saturdays at least in the fall because then there were USC football crowds to worry about.    By the time the game is over, the garden gates are closed, but, of course you can still see it from a short distance as you walk back to campus. 

Exposition Park was the site of both the 1932 and 1984 Olympic Summer Games.  The coliseum and the swim stadium next to it were the site of many competitions.  The Sports Arena , also in the same complex, was the site of the 1960 Democratic Convention at which John F. Kennedy was nominated for President.  He gave his acceptance speech at the coliseum.  The area is suffused with history and the Rose Garden is the beautiful center of it all. 

Poppies on Wilson Road Near AnzaJust in case you didn't know, the state flower of California is the California Golden Poppy.  We are now getting ready for poppy season.  Each year, poppy devotees close their eyes and pray ( or just hope depending on their religious beliefs) for December and January rain in the desert.  Think about it -- desert--rain-- these two things don't go together much.  That's why they call it a desert.  When the weather is right, we are blessed with fields and hillsides and vast rolling meadows full of golden California poppies. Like the picture on the left shows, ordinarily barren rock-covered hills that have been burned by brush fires suddenly look like somebody spilled a bucket of orange fluorescent paint on them.  As you draw closer to the hillside, you see that the orange is real thousands and millions of beautiful golden poppies.

Really great poppy years require excellent rain in December and January followed by weather sufficiently warm not to freeze the flowers that are developing on the stems.  When they come the sight of miles and miles of poppies overwhelms the nature lover.  It is said that the poppies in the Antelope Valley inspired L. Frank Baum's scene of the poppy field in the Wizard of Oz.  I am not at all sure that is true, but it is certain that the sight of those poppies is sublime. 

Since  California has, according to Sunset Magazine,(THE magazine for West  Coast gardeners) at least 24 separate microclimates.   poppies, and other wonderful wildflowers, may grow better in one place than another.  As a result, a number of websites have sprung up which help wildflower enthusiasts track down the places where you can see lots of gorgeous flowers in bloom.   The one I like best is www.desertusa.com.

The author of that website posts the  best photos submitted and invites reports from his audience as to where there are great stands of wildflowers to be seen.  If you drop by the site, be sure to look at the slideshow of the 2005 season.  It was the best season in about 10 years.  You will see pictures showing a thick carpet of gold or yellow that is wildflowers in bloom in the sear, usually dry, desert.  To see it in person is, well, awe inspiring.  At least to the likes of me who loves flowers and wildflowers in particular.  I truly believe that flowers are one of the way God tells us that he loves us.  Yeah. 

In 2005 I was engaged in a wildflower hunt near Anza, California.  It was raining as I drove backup Wilson Valley Road, having taken a lot of pictures of poppies when I looke over my shoulder and saw a rainbow.
Rainbow over poppies  There was something deeply moving.  The canyon I was driving in had been burned by a brush fire the year before.  You could see the burned remnants of bushes still standing.  I had been taking pictures of the poppies which, in all their joyous beauty, seemed to be saying, life will prevail.  Beauty will prevail.  The picture hardly captures the sense of awe and beauty.  But it was the best I could do.  Perhaps that's why I love the wildflowers.  They take you by surprise.  Rain in Southern California generally, and the desert areas in particular, is rare and a reason to celebrate.  The general dryness of the Western States helps to remind people that water is life.  So most Californians, especially those who lived through the drought of 75, never ever say that children's rhyme-- you know the one-- rain rain go away, come again some other day.  Sometimes, if we're having a Rose Parade or what have you we may respectfully chant, could you maybe delay it just a bit?  We want you to come most desperately, just not right now. 

Actually right now, which is January 5, 2006, there is rather a half hearted attempt at rain going on outside.  Not a really good downpour.  And the reaction of most of the old California hands is.  "Wow..  We needed this.".  Yeah.  Rainfall so far this season--less than 50% of normal.  Not good for flowers. Oh well.  I told everyone who would listen in the spring of 2005 that it was the year to go and see the flowers because years like that come along only once every 10 years or so. 

    In the meantime, if you like California poppies you can grow your own.  They favor poor soil and need to be made really wet after scattering them on the ground.  But they will grow just about anywhere. Each year, literally hundreds of thousands of people drive out to the Poppy Reserve in Antelope Valley to see the poppies in bloom, but that is not always the best place.  In 2005 I saw a display of poppies on the slopes next to the Interstate 15 near Elsinore that was more impressive than anything I saw at the Reserve.  The Tejon Pass ( aka the Grapevine-- I -5 between Castaic and Bakersfield) near Gorman often has spectacular displays in April. 

    Other sites to check out for wildflower reports are : Carol Leigh's Wildflower Reports,  the Wildflower hotline,  and  Nature Alley, So go out and buy a spiffy new digital camera and a macro lense and get ready for.  . . . next year.  This year ain't looking so good.  P. s. -- you can see some of my pix under Susan's travel Pix.

The heading is a joke you can find on some tee-shirts up at Mammoth Lakes.  When it snows in California the Highway Patrol requires that you put chains on your drive wheels.  By require I mean that they often have a car or cars out at key points on snowy highways and they will turn you back if you do not have chains on your vehicle.  They are very polite about it.  "Please pull over there and put your chains on" they will say.  But they will insist on it.  Chains are devices which go on the tire to give it more traction in the snow.  The wonderful thing about chains is that you can only, really, use them in the snow without destroying your tires  and the road.  So, when you leave a snowy area, you have to take them off again.  And of course, all this putting on and taking off is occurring in fairly cold weather.  When you put them on, after all, it is usually snowing.  Now, I don't know about you but I have found that a) my arms are so short that I can't get them around the tires without laying on my stomach on the ground and b) that I can't get them to fasten properly if I have gloves on my fingers.  These two facts  plus a third one, that the vast majority of the time if you have four wheel drive you don't have to put them on, lead to my decision to spend the extra $2,000 for 4 wheel drive.  Some people would say that they don't mind lying on their stomach in the snow in 20 degree weather with their fingers exposed to cold metal while they try to put the danged things on the tires, but as for me, it was $2,000 well spent.  And I would do it again.  Hey, I did. 

If you are a skier you will soon be very familiar with the whole chains required thing.  One of the features is that chains that cost 25.00 in Southern California at Pep Boys will cost $75.00 in Mammoth during a snow storm.  Just a little piece of advice.  And Pep boys will take them back if you don't use them. 

Okay, for all of you people who did not grow up here and for the ones who grew up here but didn't pay attention, technically that parade they have on January 1st (so long as it doesn't fall on a Sunday) is the Tournament of Roses.  It is NOT the Rosebowl parade for a very good reason.  Its history precedes the Rose Bowl. The first Tournament of Roses was held in 1890. The first post season Rose parade football game in 1902, some 16 years later.  Michigan won that game.  But Pacific coast teams got better and the Tournament of Roses association started inviting USC to represent them instead of Stanford so the west coast started winning. 

The Rose Parade in person is much more beautiful than the Rose Parade on television.  You can see all of the beautiful flowers in detail and notice the shoes and the demeanor and costumes of the bands.  It is long but not boring.  It keeps moving pretty well.   You can buy tickets for bleacher seats from Sharp Seating.  Or you can show up somewhere along the parade route and watch it for free.  People bring ladders and chairs and other equipment so they can see the parade.  My secret dream is to rent one of the three or four second floor front rooms at the Best Western Ramada Inn on the South side of Colorado Boulevard near Sierra Madre.  Those rooms have balconies and directly overlook the parade.  What comfort.  Drag a chair onto the balcony, snacks and cold water and hot drinks available in the room and most important of all-- a clean toilet.  Those rooms must rent for hundreds of dollars on New Year's eve.