Out and About Town: Part I

I retrieved my other SD card that had the photos I wanted to add here. Recently, I have taken the MetroLink from Santa Clarita to downtown twice. The first time was for Chinese New Year's with my California family. The second time was a couple of Sundays ago, I walked around downtown, went to the Contemporary Art Museum and grocery shopping in Little Tokyo. I guess you can take the girl out of Japan but you can't take Japan out of the girl. After all I spent my formative adult years in the Land of the Rising Sun--which by the way in the summer would make it's debut at about 4:30 in the morning. More than once I would leave the darkness of Mac Bar and emerge into the brightness of morning. Anyway, on the first trip down during Chinese New Year, I met the family on board at the Santa Clarita Station, they had all boarded up the road at Canyon Country. There were about 15 of us and it made for a jovial ride downtown. The goal was to pick up some decorations for the family birthday party with a Chinese New Year theme. All parties must have a theme! We arrived at Union Station in due course and then boarded the Metro Gold Line for one stop to get to Chinatown. As usual Chinatown was hustling, we ducked into one of the markets and winded our way through the stalls. We popped out and ran immediately into a Lion Dance.

I almost didn't get a photo because I hadn't expected the dance. Later, I got a better photo of the dance we ran into back to the Metro.

Up close and personal on this one. I didn't think I was going to get that one either. A couple of the previous have only partial heads.
We crossed the street from the market to check out a couple of stores along the way to the square. I found some artificial roses that I thought were pretty, I purchased them and then realized that I would have to carry them around all day. But I got a lot of compliments on them. Here they are with a couple from the group waiting for the Metro back to Union Station.

We continued to walk around and I stopped for a little bit to watch the show on the stage. It was pretty amazing, I love Chinese acrobats.

Once back at Union Station we crossed over the Olvera Street and into the Pueblo of Los Angeles. I lagged behind to watch the Indian Dances in the square. It's amazing to go from the sights, colors and sounds of one culture and then 15 minutes later find an entirely different set from another culture.

We had lunch at El Paseo Inn which was established in the 1930s and is located in one of the oldest building in the Pueblo. Very good eats, atmosphere and yummy margaritas. During lunch the Mariachi's came over to our table to sing a couple of songs. I love Mariachi's, I love the sound, the costumes, and the fun that surrounds them. I had a hard time getting a photo of the band due to lighting, movement and me not really knowing which settings to get the right photo. Here is one that came out OK.

Completely sated and a little tipsy, we shopped for a little bit at the stalls. M showed me all the Mexican toys that they played with when they were kids. One is a gambling game sort of like dreidles. M, explained "Yes, we learned how to gamble from a very early age." Now, I understand why half the family events are in Vegas and not just because one sister lives there.
After a while, M and I wonder over to the square and relax on the benches while we wait for everyone else to join us. Little by little everyone came. J and K arrived with J carrying his brand new marionette. Here is him providing us with a little entertainment.

Eventually everyone arrived, we gathered our belongings, headed back to Union Station to catch our train. Happy, still full but tired I got off at Santa Clarita and waved good-bye to everyone.