I’ve been meaning to post these pictures for awhile, and a Friday afternoon seems like as good a time as any.
Yes, I spotted that ridiculous van a few weeks ago. My mouth was agape as it drove by.
A leftover pic from the Tax Day Tea Party in front of City Hall.
Nice Track Suit
My wife works closely with International Students who come to the United States & the SCV to study. Occasionally these students bring books/candies/knick-knacks from their country to my wife’s work; by far my favorite of these was this book glorifying the country of Turkmenistan.
The book, which reads a lot like those brochures touting the SCV as a residential/business destination, isn’t so much about the country as it is about the cult of Turkmenistan’s former leader, “President for Life” Saparmurat Niyazov. Niyazov, you see, is the font of all good things in Turkmenistan (at least he was until his death in 2006). This former communist egomaniac renamed months in the Turkmen calendar after his family; he even renamed days of the week after Turkmen mythic figures, and he once banned lip-syncing in his country because he believed it impacted the performance of the musical arts.
Today the SCV has several Turkmeni students and I enjoy hearing about them from my wife.
I’m a wine consumer as opposed to a connoisseur. I’m just as likely to enjoy wine in a box as I am to enjoy a rare French or Italian wine. Maybe that explains why I never went to the Loose Goose Wine Festival. Nevertheless, I was sad to hear last week that they were out of business. Yeah the LGWF was a bit upper-crust for me, catering to the SCV chattering classes, but you can’t argue with a wine festival that became one of the biggest in all of California. That’s quite an accomplishment. I also thought it was cool they supported Old Town Newhall by renting two spaces there.
This sign hung on the front door of their cool HQ in Old Town Newhall.
Spotted last week by my brother in Towsley Canyon. Don’t let your dogs off leash in these areas!
Anyone know what they’re building in the Newhall Pass? I recently cycled through there and really got a sense of the scale of the place. It feels absolutely overwhelming when you’re on a bike or on foot, like a cathedral to transport with soaring spires, loud engines all around, steel and concrete everywhere. This is the chokepoint for our Valley.
Narcissistic collage of yours truly at various SCV locations. From top left proceeding right: Vasquez Rocks, Towsley Canyon, Agua Dulce, Soledad Canyon, Piru, Castaic Lagoon, Lost Canyon & Soledad, Placerita Canyon, and Sierra Highway at the Halfway House. I’m running out of places to ride!
Have a good weekend!