0224 road trip

It was overcast today and rained in the morning but my Koinonia lifegroup decided to go ahead with a planned outing to the Huntington Library and Gardens in San Marino, so Sheri stopped by to pick me up around 11am. With her was Liz, Wendi and April. We were meeting the rest of the group at the main entrance.

After loading me up, I navigated them to the Library by the route I took about fifteen years ago. The main entrance is accessible via Allen St from California, but that’s if you come from the north side. We were coming from the south, so my directions took us through residential areas. After a few turns, we made it through the Library gate on Oxford Road.

I shared a story with them about my last trip to the Huntington by the same route (yes, fifteen years ago). My girlfriend at the time asked me if I were lost as we passed the third set of houses. I was waiting for the same comment from this group but it never came. Of course, I’d never hear the end of it if I did get them lost.

We found a place to park in the handicapped parking near the front (one of the perks if I’m in the car) and we met Sam, Stephanie, Jennifer and Eric at the main entrance. The rain had let up and the sun was peeking out from behind the clouds. We didn’t have enough people for the group discount (minimum 15) so we paid our entry fees, applied our stickers, and walked through the entrance to the grounds.

Sam acted as our tour guide and we started in the new Chinese Garden, which just had its opening ceremonies yesterday (Saturday the 23rd), so the grounds were still decorated with red Chinese lanterns, leading the way.

My friends took turns pushing my wheelchair through the grounds. I’d like to thank Sam, Eric, Wendi and Sheri for helping me out. I’ll try to be walking before our next outing.

After looking through the Chinese Garden we made our way to the Japanese Garden by way of a shaded path lined with camellias. Sam mentioned the romantic locations on the grounds and this path was a great place to take a date. This had me concerned for a moment since it was Sam pushing my chair by himself when he said this.

We soon passed through the Japanese Garden, stopping momentarily by a karesansui (don’t ask me, just google it) for a group photo, before continuing through a bonsai-lined walkway and a bamboo forest. We then explored the Australian Garden, past the Jungle Waterfall, and were most of the way through the Subtropicals when suddenly the walk ended at a grassy slope. It wouldn’t have been a problem except for my wheelchair.

The group scouted ahead and found a paved drive just a short distance across the grass, so Eric and Sam decided to push me across. We made it, but we must have found every low spot in that slope, not to mention the mud pit that I was almost thrown into (and I would have, if I didn’t have a death-grip on the armrests of my chair).

Once we were on smooth pavement, we went through the Desert Garden. Eric was helping me brake as the path was downhill. At one point, Eric asked me a “hypothetical” question. Would I be able to stop myself if he were to lose his grip? I told him not to worry, since that hill of barrel cactus in front of us looked soft enough for me to land on. But the way that Jennifer laughed made me put my hands on my wheels, just in case. Eric was also surprised that my wheelchair did not have a seatbelt. Hmmm.

We found ourselves on a broad, curving drive near the back of the Gardens. Sam said that he knew where we were and we should continue forward, so we did. After about ten minutes, we ended up at the point where we had come out of the bamboo forest before entering the Australian section. We had gone in a complete circle!

The only path that remained was an uphill slope. Sam said that he would push me up the hill, but first he had to stretch.

We passed the Japanese Garden again, but this time we saw the large wooden bridge, so we stopped for a photo op. Eric & Jennifer ran down to be by the bridge, as we took pictures.

The road passed by the Chinese Garden, too. But we continued on until we were amongst the buildings of the Library. The group had enough with the natural landscapes and it was almost 2pm, so we headed indoors to look at some art. We ventured inside the Boone Gallery and saw La Rose Imperiale, a collection that traced the history of the modern rose, through books, art, and an interactive fragrance display featuring rare rose oils from Bulgaria, Morocco, and Turkey.

As we departed the Boone Gallery, Sam was being drawn to some ripe oranges on some nearby bushes. We quickly made our way inside the adjacent Erburu Gallery, which houses the European Art at the Huntington.

The group sat down and admired Thomas Gainsborough’s “The Blue Boy”. We wandered into the Scott Gallery (in the same building) to see some American Art. Liz found a sculpted bust of Ruth (not Babe, but the Old Testament heroine), by Chauncey Bradley Ives, with strands of wheat woven through her hair (Ruth’s hair, not Liz’s). After some more wandering, the group ended up on some benches, resting.

Eric commented that maybe we should move on, since it seemed like we saw everything in the two galleries (Erburu and Scott), and everyone saw the blue bear.

Everyone turned to look at Eric. What blue bear? Eric corrected himself. “Blue Boy,” he said. We all laughed, then picked ourselves up and wandered out of the building.

Sam guided us through the Library Exhibition Hall, which is laid out chronologically from end to end. Of course, he led us through the exit, so we had to walk past everything in order to start the exhibits from the distant past. The exhibits focused on Anglo-American documents including a volume of the Gutenberg Bible on vellum (one of 12 known to exist), and one of the 13 original copies of the 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which abolished slavery. Whether it was one of the few copies that Lincoln actually signed (he didn’t sign them all – I’ll explain in another blog), I can’t remember. Ask Liz.

On the way out, we stopped at the gift shop. I wasn’t up to shopping, so I sat outside. Through the gift shop window, Liz and Wendi were pointing toy rats in my direction. Oh-oh, they remembered.

We made a mad dash to the cars as it started to rain. Sheri and I left our jackets in the van, so we led the procession. Fortunately, we parked close so we didn’t get too wet.

Sam led the way to a dumpling house on Valley that he was familiar with, but they were closed until 5:30pm (which was more than an hour away). Plan ‘B’ was the Phoenix Inn, on Valley about four blocks east of Garfield. After parking in the back, we made our way inside and found are large communal table that would seat all nine of us.

We decided to dine family-style, so Sam organized the ordering. Liz got herself ready by tying her hair back and staking out a 12-inch zone around her plate (Wendi had to count her fingers later, just to be sure).

As we got to dessert, a small cheesecake with a single candle was brought out. The group sang “Happy Birthday” to me, and I was given a card signed by all of them. It was nice that they only used one candle instead of the true amount. They knew the real number (remember the toy rats? read the 2/07 blog) but were probably deterred by local fire ordinances.

We finished up and exited to the parking lot. After saying our goodbyes, I thought that Eric was pushing me to the van until I passed it. Then I heard Eric’s voice but he sounded several yards away. I realized I was rolling independently at the same time the group did. Fortunately, someone caught me before I rolled out of the parking lot (I was also accelerating) and pushed me back to the van.

Sheri dropped me off at home around 6:30pm. She didn’t actually drive up the driveway, but that’s another story (hint: read the 12/23 blog).

A YEAR AGO TODAY: My sister and brother-in-law brought the two nephews for a visit.