UCLA and Cousin Ken's Family

Josh was very tired tonight so rushed through his blog and went to bed, leaving me to round out the day.

After sleeping in and missing the hotel breakfast, we had our first real disagreement of the trip, but it worked out after Josh had a "Lumberjack Special" at a diner we stumbled across.

Fought through the traffic on the 405 to make it to UCLA in time...another good tour experience. The campus wasn't quite as pretty as USC's, but it was larger and was in Westwood, a fancy neighborhood with lots of restaurants and the theatres where all the Hollywood premieres happen. It's also right next to Bel Air and Beverly Hills. Here's Bruin Walk, one of the main paths through the campus, which was redone for the 1980 Olympics when all the athletes were housed here:



The tour guide was excellent for the second day in a row...Mike, from Boulder, CO, Biochemistry major, assisted here by a woman from the admissions office. In the middle of this part of the talk, the UCLA cheerleaders took over the other part of this 'inverted quad' for some practice. Meanwhile, Josh was in the front row asking a good questions about SAT scores.



Royce Hall is the most emblematic building at UCLA, unofficially serving as its logo. The architect did not believe in perfection, so intentionally designed 50 'mistakes' into the facade of the building. Can you find them?



Another nice view, with the football team practicing in the background and the dorms off in the distance:



All of the facilities, from the student union to the gym to the grounds to the buildings, were impressive. Especially the UCLA Sports Museum, which in addition to some fascinating exhibits, included a "Hall of Champions" showcasing all 99 of UCLA's NCAA Championships in all sports...the most of any college in the country.



After UCLA we headed to my cousin Ken's house way the heck out in Moorpark, up the 405 and out the 118 nestled in the canyonlands and mountain passes. Once we were out of Los Angeles, most of the drive looked like this:



Had never met Ken's children Stephanie and Kimmy, and turns out I hadn't seen Ken and his wife Susie in 26 years! We had a very nice time in their home, headed out for a lovely dinner, and back to the house to see some video of Kimmy and her high school cheerleading team performing in championship tournaments, coached by Stephanie. And of course, to take a couple of pictures. Here's Josh, Stephie, Kimmy, Susie and Ken. Ken looked great, and all the women were simply beautiful. And talk about charming. Man, what we've missed by being so far apart for so long...it's just sinking in.



Time to get to bed myself, tomorrow's another long day: have to pack and check out and get over to CalTech in the morning, then a long drive along the coast to Cambria in the afternoon into the evening.