Aww, there’s a hospital in downtown LA that lit up its lights in the shape of hearts.

It was late at night and I thought I’d be free and clear to drive down the 405, but of course they were doing construction and we got routed off the freeway onto Sepulveda.  I was pretty tired and the little caravan of cars all following the detour was amusing to me at that point.

Our shuttle to the satellite terminals at LAX had a little head-to-head with the planes on the runway.

Look above the line of tall buildings along Wilshire and you will find UCLA nestled among the greenery. Beyond that you can see the 405 and Getty Center to the left! Now what is that white thing in the middle of the hills?

Just enjoying swimming around on a beautiful day!

All day, Angelenos have been bracing themselves for the 405 shutdown, which has been dubbed “Carmageddon” due to the potential for massive gridlock across the city as traffic diverts elsewhere.  As it is, the 405 is known for terrible traffic conditions, so we were really unsure of what would happen when a 10-mile stretch of the northbound side (approximately from the 10 freeway to the 101 freeway) and a 4-mile stretch of the southbound side was closed for the weekend.  Anyone trying to get over into the San Fernando Valley would have to find an alternate route, ranging from PCH along the coast to the 101/170 or 5 further inland.

We’ve been hearing warnings for over a month, with traffic condition signs flashing: “405 Closed 10 to 101, July 16-17 Expect Big Delays”  It’s been over the news and I’ve heard that even people in Norcal up to the Oregon border were notified!  Caltrans sure worked hard to make sure that as many people knew as possible so locals could plan to stay in and visitors could schedule around the weekend.  As we got closer, we were even told about an app called Waze that could provide us with GPS routes based on traffic conditions to help us get around the congestion.

So Friday afternoon, people started leaving work (wishing each other a Happy Carmegeddon), hoping to get home before the craziness.  Many even stayed at home that day so they wouldn’t have to deal with or contribute to the evening traffic.  By the time I was getting out around 6, the freeways looked clear.  They never looked like at on a weekday!  I was originally going to wait until 8 or 9 to head home so I could avoid the commuter’s clog, but since it looked so good I packed up and left around 6:30.

It was the most amazing commute I ever had.  Even with normal free-flowing traffic, there are still a lot of cars on the road, but this time it was so much more empty.  I only saw one car using the carpool lane, and that wasn’t for lack of carpoolers!  They just didn’t need it.  The only time I really had to slow down was up by the Getty Center, where there had been a crash that needed to get moved over so we could squeeze by.

Thanks to Carmegeddon for freeing up the roads before the closure.  It made my life a lot easier that night!  We’ll see how the rest of the weekend pans out.  I’m steering clear until Sunday night.

I saw this training bus one morning on my way to work and couldn’t help but admire its simplicity. None of the noisy ads we’re used to seeing

It's a beautiful color, one of my favorite, I'd say.

Round and round they go…

A night walk around UC Irvine presented us with some cute bunny rabbits.