Tag: Covid-19

A Visit to Zurich, Switzerland in the COVID Age.

Visit to Zurich Post COVID

The city of Zurich, Switzerland may seem like a strange place to visit in winter, but the offer of a really cheap roundtrip ticket kind of sealed the deal, so off to Zurich I went. But in the age of COVID travel a few things are different than they used to be.

A Day in Zurich – A Short Film

First, every different country will require some form of COVID vaccination proof and that includes countries that you are just passing thru waiting for your next plane at the airport. My flights were through London Heathrow and then onto Zurich. Britain requires you to fill out a form called the Passenger Locator Form that you can find at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/passenger-locator-form-how-to-guide. This will tell you everything that you need to know about the form and what information that you will need to provide. You have to do this within the 48 hours before you take off or the airline will not let you board the plane at all. There is no debate about this – no form, no fly. The UK will process it quickly and let you know if you pass. If you are full vaccinated you will have no problem but you must upload a digital copy or a photo of your vaccination card with the form. You need the plane number and your arrival time and takeoff time. They will give you a QR code you can use on your phone but I suggest to also take a paper copy along just in case. Remember this form is only for passing through Britain, if you are planning on staying that is an entirely different process so check ahead. You may still need to quarantine for up to 10 days if not fully vaccinated and you will have to pay for tests and other fees on top.

Limmet River

Because Switzerland is not part of the EU, I also needed to get permission from Switzerland to enter and stay. You can find out all the needed information from this official website of Switzerland – https://www.bag.admin.ch/bag/en/home/krankheiten/ausbrueche-epidemien-pandemien/aktuelle-ausbrueche-epidemien/novel-cov/empfehlungen-fuer-reisende.html – here you will find information on requirements and a link to the form that you have to fill out. They also have a handy link called Travelcheck that can take you through exactly what you need to do step by step. Remember the form must also be filled out and approved before you can even get on the plane or a train to enter the country. They will also give you a QR code but take a paper copy along as well.

Cathedral in Old Town

Switzerland also gives you a separate Vaccination QR code so that you are able to go into bars or restaurants or theaters or concerts. Any place where people gather inside. I must stress that all stores and restaurants and bars in Zurich check this QR code religiously. You cannot enter into any establishment and stay unless you can provide them with vaccination proof. I could never quite figure out how to download that code although that QR code and the information are also on the Switzerland site. The official name of that department is the Federal Office of Public Health or the FOPH. When people asked for my QR code I kept showing them the one on my entry document which always came back negative, and I was even asked to leave a restaurant once when I could not provide it to them. However if you carry your American passport and your American vaccination card around, they will accept that and you will be able to get in any place and do normal things. Just don’t lose it!

Lake Zurich fountain

And one more thing before we move onto what it’s like to visit Zurich. Please wear your mask! The Swiss do not play around with this. You are required to enter any establishment with a mask on and if you do not they will ask you to leave. If you want to argue or fight with them about your right not to wear a mask, they will just call the police. Please remember this is not the United States. This is a separate country with separate rules that their people follow in order to get along. You are expected to follow those rules. It doesn’t matter what you believe or how you feel about the subject. You are required to wear a mask indoors. Now when you sit down to eat you can take your mask off, but you must wear your mask even when getting up to go to the bathroom.

Limmit River

Now after all that required research and form filling out, did I find Zurich to be a a good place to visit? The answer would be yes. I was using Zurich as a jumping off point to cross into Italy which has its own separate rules and regulations about COVID and traveling in Italy which I will cover in my next article. Yet the city of Zurich is beautiful, very historic and a very modern city with all the conveniences that you would want in terms of transportation, entertainment and things to do and see.

Zurich Operahaus

Zurich is a global center for banking and finance. It lies at the north end of Lake Zurich in northern Switzerland. I chose to stay in a part of the city centre which is called Old Town because it is truly where the city was first founded as a military outpost by the Romans around the time of Julius Caesar. Old Town is very picturesque and runs on either side of the Limmat River. Here you will find historic buildings that reflect the deep and rich past of the Swiss like the 17th-century Rathaus (town hall) or massive clock towers and giant cathedrals.

Old Town at night

I flew into Zurich International after dark and while most people in Zurich speak English, the official language of this part of Switzerland is German. French is the preferred language on the side of Switzerland closest to France. Despite the fact that English is a prominent language there are no signs that are in English. Everything is in German, so at first I was confused trying to find my way around. There’s a large train station right outside the airport with trains and subways and trams running in all directions. I finally with the help of strangers found the correct train that leads into Old Town and also the main railroad terminal for the city of Zurich. Coincidentally the train station is located on the most prominent and upscale shopping street in Zurich which is Bahnhofstrasse.

Fountain on Lake Zurich

I chose to stay at a highly recommended hostel which provided me with a private room and bathroom for about $100 US a night. The hostel was on the other side of the river from the train station about a 10-minute walk. The hostel is called the Old Town Hostel Otter and is recommended by both traveladvisor.com and booking.com. It still had all the standard aspects of a hostel with a public kitchen and shared dorm rooms and bathrooms but also offered private accommodations. There’s also a fully stocked and friendly bar downstairs. Their check in process is a little complicated so I will leave it to their website to try and explain that to you, but I do recommend them as a high-quality hostel. You can find their website by searching on Google or information and ratings about them on traveladvisor.com or booking.com.

View from Uetilberg

I was in Zurich for three days. The first day I did nothing but walked the quaint cobblestone streets and narrow alleyways of Old Town. I wandered up and down ancient streets and over bridges coming across interesting alleyways, upscale stores, little churches and giant cathedrals. I did not hire a tour guide or use any particular tourist map of Old Town. It’s not real large and very hard to get lost in because everything is centered off the river which splits Old Town down the center.

Lake Zurich

The next day I walked along the promenades that line both sides of Lake Zurich discovering marinas, parks and interesting neighborhoods plus the impressive Zurich Operahaus. I also went sightseeing on Bahnhofstrasse and admired the pre-Christmas window displays of the high-end stores that reflect every famous fashion brand. It was fun to watch the chic and well-dressed Swiss as they rushed from place to place as I sipped my café latte in one of the many cafes and coffee bars that line both Bahnhofstrasse and the alleyways of Old Town.

View from Uetilberg

On the third day I just went to the train station to make sure I knew what train I was taking to Italy the next morning, and on a spur of the moment decision, I took the S10 train to Uetilberg Mountain. Uetilbeg overlooks the city giving you panoramic views of Zurich, the lake, and the surrounding area. It was beautiful this time of year and I imagine in summer it is breathtaking.

View from Uetilberg

The cuisine choices of Zurich are broad and mostly good. I found everything from Asian to hamburgers to jazz bars and first rate restaurants. If you’re looking for something good to eat, I am sure that you can find it in Zurich, but it won’t be inexpensive. The Swiss have maintained their own currency which is known as the Swiss franc and currently the exchange rate is $1.15 US to 1 Swiss Franc.

The temperatures in the first part of November were in the 40’s F but there was no snow anywhere except on the mountain tops in far distance. Make sure that you have an umbrella just in case because the weather on the lake can change at a moment’s notice from sunshine to rain and back again in a matter of minutes. Time in Zurich runs on a 24 hour clock as opposed to our 12 hour clock in the United States. So what Americans would consider as 1 PM would be 13:00 in Switzerland and in most of Europe.

Enjoy Zurich, it’s a great city!

All photos and short film are by James Carey @CareyON, LLC.

Escaping LA and the Salton Sea

Leaving California

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door. You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off too.” J.R.R.Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings.

It was 3:15 AM on March 16th and the Road was calling. I was wide awake staring at the ceiling. I had been trying to go back to sleep for the past 45 minutes and it just wasn’t going to happen. What I didn’t know was the strange last-day-in-California adventure that awaited me over the next 24 hours that would include casinos, a salt water lake, an apocalyptic ruin, an Alaskan in the middle of the desert, and a stripper/dance contest in Yuma, AZ. How did the Road sweep me away on this adventure?  Well, that’s where this story begins!

The Hacienda. My home for 20 years!

My house was empty! The place I had called home for 20 years was now completely empty.

Everything is gone except these things!

Every stick of furniture, every piece of paper, every knickknack, tchotchkech, and geegaw that I had ever possessed was gone! Over the past week I had sponsored an estate sale and then a truck from a local charity had come by and picked up the last possessions that I had not wanted to keep. For weeks before that I had been packing and sorting and throwing out massive amounts of junk. Then out of a large 17 room house, I only had two small U-Haul pods of possessions left that I had personally loaded and sent on their way towards Atlanta. The only thing that was still left in the house was the long-time caretaker of the property that had allowed me to travel the world as much as I had and who also happened to be my roommate, Kirk. He would be staying in the house for about another month until it sold and then he would be off on his own new adventure. I had said goodbye to Kirk and then booked a room in a Koreatown hotel. After checking in, I had gotten a takeout pizza and two large cans of beer which I had in my hotel room while watching some terrible movie on TV. About 10:30 I realized that I was emotionally exhausted and just crashed only to find myself waking up at 2:30 AM. For the next 45 minutes as I struggled to go back to sleep, my mind kept going “It’s time to go. James, it’s time to go! The Road is calling! Let’s go!” 

The Road Calls!

So finally giving in, I got up, took a quick shower and got packed. I was checked out and had the car loaded by 3:45 AM. Before I left Los Angeles perhaps for the last time, I drove by my place one last time. My house, my home, my Hacienda that had been the center of my life for the last 20 years. As I sat in the car and looked at her there in the moonlight, I said one silent last goodbye. I was off on a new life adventure, and she was waiting for the next family that would call her home. I said a silent prayer for both of us, started the car and drove the two blocks to Interstate 10. I merged into the late-night traffic and headed east out of the City of Angels.

For days before leaving, I had tried to think of which highways I wanted to head East on. My sister had urged me to take my time driving across the country and see all the things that I wanted to see. Yet, I had made this trip four times in the last year and a half, and I had stopped every place that I had wanted to stop and had seen everything that I needed to see. So that morning as I drove out of LA, I had no clear plan as to where I was going to go or what my timeline getting to Atlanta was going to be. So I just decide on Palm Springs. I didn’t know if I was going stop in Palm Springs, chill out at Desert Hot Springs or just keep on moving, but Palm Springs was going to be my first stop.  Palm Springs is about 90 miles from Los Angeles and that 90 miles even on 8 lane freeways usually takes at least two and half hours because of the California traffic. Yet at four in the morning there is little to no traffic, so I pulled into the parking lot at the large Morongo Casino on the outskirts of Palm Springs about 5:30 AM.

Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa is an Native American gaming casino, of the Morongo Band of Cahuilla Mission Indians. The Morongo Casino was opened in 2004. It is open seven days a week, 24 hours a day. The hotel has 310 rooms, and several restaurants and bars are part of the complex. I was already vaccinated so I went inside to find breakfast. The 24-hour restaurant was closed because of Covid and reduced hours, so I got a muffin and coffee at the bakery. Then wandered around and played video poker with the help of a Bloody Mary until 7 AM when the Road called again urging me on.

It is at that moment that I decided to drive the 60 miles to the Salton Sea and check it out. I had lived in Southern California for almost 40 years and never even thought much about seeing it and it was now or never. I headed east on I-10 toward Indio and got off on California 86 South and drove pass Coachella, the home of the famous music festival, and continued on toward the Salton Sea. You reach a point where you can take either the eastern shore on Highway 111 or the western shore on Highway 86. I choose the eastern shore which would lead me toward an artist colony I had heard of called Bombay Beach.

The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked body of water that has a high concentration of salts. It was created by water runoff from the Colorado River in 1905 when an irrigation canal head gate was broken through by spring floods diverting a portion of the river flow into the Salton Basin for two years before repairs were completed. The water in the formerly dry lake bed created the modern lake that is about 15 by 35 miles. The lake would have dried up, but farmers used generous amounts of Colorado River water and let the excess flow into the lake. In the 1950s and into the ’60s, the area became a resort destination, and communities grew with hotels and vacation homes. However, by the 1970’s, the lake had begun to shrink and become more inhospitable to people and wildlife. In the 1980s, contamination from farm runoff promoted the outbreak and spread of diseases. Massive die-offs of the avian populations occurred, especially after the loss of several species of fish on which they depend. Salinity rose so high that large fish kills occurred, often blighting the beaches of the sea with their carcasses. Tourism was drastically reduced. During the 1990’s, the lake continued to shrink and the lake bed became exposed, the winds sent clouds of toxic dust into nearby communities making people sick and driving away what was left of the tourist communities. The Salton Sea has been called “the greatest environmental disaster in California”.

Advertising a place that no longer exists!

As I drove South on Hwy 111, I started to pass nurseries that grew palm trees but after a few miles even that sign of activity ended. You came into open arid desert with panoramic views of the lake on your right and nothing but endless desert on your left. I drove by what at one time had been communities, but now all the buildings were either boarded up or in disrepair. I drove by one community where people still lived, and I pulled off the highway to see what I could see. Most everybody in the community was older and at a local Community Center they were handing out food and supplies to the residents possibly because of COVID. What you soon began to understand is this is one of the last places that people with little or no resources can come to and stay in California. They could buy a cheap piece of property, or they might be able to find a room, small apartment or trailer for not much money, but there was just a sense of poverty and loneliness as I got back on Hwy 111.

The US Department of Interior has taken over much of the eastern shore of the lake and turned it into a preserve trying to maintain the wildlife and keep the lake from further eroding. There are many areas where the river has retreated so far from the lake that you can almost not see it from the highway, and these areas unless you have a pass or are willing to pay the daily entrance fee is the only way that you can get close to the lake. Finally I came to Bombay Beach which I had heard about on a television show which they had described as a colony of artists who were banding together on the edge of the Salton Sea. I turned off the highway into Bombay Beach and for the first few blocks as I headed towards the lake it seemed like it was doing well. There were a few art galleries, a restaurant, a couple of bars and a grocery store. Yet, as you drove the last few blocks toward the lake it suddenly became a cross between The Walking Dead and Mad Max. You had the feeling that you were in an apocalyptic ghost town and zombies were going to start walking down the road at any moment to eat you. For blocks, yard after yard of burned out houses and trailers were surrounded by junked furniture and trash. Every once in a while, you would see someone who had a small house or trailer who was trying to take care of their property but they were surrounded by chaos and garbage and ruin. It looked like a whole army of crystal meth heads had ransacked the town looking for anything that they could sell and moved on. The few people that I saw driving on the street or walking were all above 50 and they seemed old and beaten down. I drove out of Bombay Beach with a feeling of sadness at what looked like a desperate situation.

Desperation this way!

Continuing south on Hwy 111, it ultimately dumps out on Interstate 8 that runs between San Diego and Phoenix along the US southern border with Mexico. I turned left and headed east towards Yuma, AZ. A few years ago was the first time I’d ever gone to Yuma, and I have now been back five times. There’s something about this desert community and its colorful history mixed with it easy paced lifestyle that just appeals to me, although the extreme summer heat can makes it very inhospitable. As I drove east, I decide to stop one more time in Yuma before I headed towards Atlanta.

Yuma is located on the southwestern edge of the state of Arizona near the borders of California and Mexico. It is home to a number of snowbirds in the winter and other visitors are often enroute to Los Algodones, Mexico for cheap medical services or for the shopping. Yuma has been a stopping point for centuries. Before dams were constructed up and down the Colorado River, the river ran fast and deep and stretched wide in places, yet because of granite outcroppings the river was squeezed into a narrower channel and Yuma Crossing became known as the safest and easiest place to cross the river. The first Spanish conquistadors who helped settle Los Angeles and San Francisco did not sail up the California coast to settle those areas, they used Yuma Crossing on their way towards California.

Gowan Headquarters in the former US Post Office Building.

I pulled into town and checked into one of several hotels located in Yuma. There are all levels of hotels here from cheap to very luxurious because of the flow of Americans who cross into Los Algodones for easy to obtain medical treatment and prescriptions. I choose one relatively near the historic downtown area of Yuma. It was about noon and the weather was in the mid-80s in March as I headed downtown to get something to eat. Arizona had fairly open Covid laws so as I walked around, I saw people wearing masks and some people not. After lunch, I walked around the historic downtown area and saw many of their restored historic buildings. Some dating from the late 1890s all the way up until the 1960s. Yuma is one of the wealthiest farming communities in the United States specializing in growing winter vegetables for the US market. The Gowan Company is a family-owned agricultural business that started in Yuma and grew into a global leader in seeds and agricultural solutions. They have bought up many of the historic buildings and preserved them using them for office and storage space including many mid-century architectural gems.

Former JCPenney’s store from the 1950’s!

My odd schedule finally caught up with me and I went back to the hotel for a nap. Later, around 8 PM, I ventured out for dinner in the same downtown area. Afterward, I took another walk and ended up at the Red Bird Cage, one of the oldest saloons in Yuma, a real dive bar with friendly bartenders and a great juke box. It was a little close in there with a very casual mask and social distancing policy, but I managed to find a quiet corner of the bar to seat by myself.  As the bar began to fill up, a young couple sat down next to me, and we started talking. They were cousins and both really attractive people. Turns out he was an exotic dancer working in the Phoenix area mostly, and she (who I will call Ann) lived in Alaska working at the canneries up there about half the year. The other months, she returned home to Yuma to work in a family business, but she now really preferred Alaska. She told me that she almost did not return to Yuma this year because she just loved Alaska so much.

Colorado River

After talking for about an hour, some of their friends showed and things got a little rowdier. After a couple of rounds of drinks, they started talking about going to the strip club for the “dance off”. I asked what that was, and it turned out that there was some kind of dancing/stripping contest at the local club to see who had the best routine. Ann seemed to be in lust with one of the strippers and wanted to go support her. The whole gang got up to leave for the club, and Ann invited me along. With nothing better to do, I tagged along. Now going to a strip bar in the middle of pandemic is a very interesting undertaking with everyone wearing masks inside including the strippers as they walked around trying to get men to buy drinks. It was very strange to see a woman wearing almost nothing sit at a table chatting up a potential customer with a mask on. The image was just too weird for words.

The “dance off” began and Ann’s favorite came on second. Ann enthusiastically cheered her on while throwing dollar bills on the stage. By now it was about 1 AM and this time the Road was not calling, it was my Bed. So I said good night and drove back to the hotel. Yet as I got ready for bed, I reflected back on the past 24 hours and marveled at all the different things that happened. My leaving LA in the middle of the night, the casino, the desolation of Salton Sea and Bombay Beach, then driving to Yuma, meeting a woman in a desert bar who worked in Alaska and the strip/dance off contest. All in all, an extremely interesting way to leave California.  

Thanks for coming!

*Special thanks to Wikipedia for historic information on Salton Sea, Morongo Tribe, and Yuma, AZ. All photos by James Carey except The Open Road @ Popular Science/popsci.com and Leaving LA @KCRW LA.

**Quote from The Fellowship of the Ring, JRR Tolkien, Houghton Mifflin, Inc., 1938.

Obtaining Cliché Status!

I am sure you have heard the old cliche about the guy who gets a divorce from his wife, sells his house and all his possessions and then takes off on a trip around the world to find himself? Well, I always thought that was a stupid idea! The wanderlust part of me always thought it was kind of cool, but the practical part of me thought it was absolutely ridiculous. Who gives up their life, their possessions, their job, their business to set out around the world to find themselves because wherever you go there you are. So just deal with it!

Well I have become that cliche!

The Cliché

Due to a dissolving marriage caused by lies, cheating, manipulation, and resentment, my wife and I decided to divorce each other after nine years together and five years of marriage. A very stormy relationship filled with passion and anger and arguing and love. Our views on marriage were just too different, and so what at first was two people trying to figure out how to hang onto each other became two people who were tired of the battles until it became two people who just didn’t care anymore. Like most guys, I hung on longer than my wife did. It has been my experience that when a woman tells you that she’s no longer in love with you, that’s the end and she’s not coming back. Guys tend to hang on longer and rehash the relationship over and over again to find out where it went wrong or what they did wrong or how they can put it back together or will she come back, and the answer is always no. So I found myself still hanging on and waiting for my wife to come back even though she had already found another lover and had moved on with her life. Unfortunately, she never told me that. She kept telling me that she was still just licking her wounds and staying at home to avoid the pandemic and working extremely hard at her job as a film translator. We had decided to blocked each other on social media to save conflicts and hurt feelings, yet one day a good mutual friend showed me her Facebook page and it was filled with references to her new boyfriend and the exciting new life they were leading. So what had started out as an amiable divorce proceeding that we did ourselves quickly dissolved into anger and accusations that ended up with us both ending all communication with each other.

So much stuff to get rid of

The result of which was a deep depression that was helped along by the COVID-19 restrictions in Los Angeles which took me a long time to work my way out from. Then one day I woke up and knew it was time to get out of here. I’ve lived in my home for 20 years. It has taken care of me, provided for me, created a business for me, and for much of my adult life as it was the first thing I had ever owned it defined me to a degree. It’s a large arts and craft house located in a historic neighborhood in Los Angeles and I have lived there with great pride as I have tried to restore this home over 20 years. In many ways I thought I would always be there till the end of my life. Yet with the dissolution of my marriage I realized that the City of Los Angeles a place that I’ve lived in for almost 40 years had suddenly seem to become two blocks wide and one block deep. That all my neighbors seemed to know more about me than I did. I felt like I had become a social pariah and that nobody wanted to talk to me or be my friend. Of course that was not true but everything in my house and everything in Los Angeles had become an emotional trigger for me that made me recall my wife and our failed relationship.

The stuff that is going with me.

So one morning I woke up and I became the cliché. The feeling became so strong then I could literally not sit still. I became the man who is literally getting rid of all of his possessions in an effort to find a new direction and a new life. My destination at least temporarily is an apartment in Atlanta, Georgia where as soon as I arrive and unpack my few possessions, I will probably jump on a plane and go to the Caribbean for two months to work on a suntan, lick my wounds and drink my share of umbrella drinks.

One of these is mine!

Yet, trying to sell your house and get rid of all your possessions takes a little bit more time than you might think. I was thinking that I might be able to accomplish this in just a few weeks. Yet this odyssey has been now going on for three plus months. My house is 116-year-old, and while wonderful does need a few upgrades. It’s a hot market and it’s a hot property but there’s a lot of stuff to get rid of, there were things that my realtor wanted me to deal with before he would put it on the market, and I had to deal with a tenant problem. I have a guest house in the back and a tenant that I needed to move out yet because of the COVID-19 rent restrictions and California’s tenant relocation laws, I had to pay this man several hundred dollars to leave because it’s not his fault that my life has imploded. There is a sum that I’m legally required to pay him, yet he wanted to hold me up for much more money because of the COVID-19 eviction restrictions so this caused a logjam. My realtor wanted me to spend hundreds of dollars on fixing up certain parts of my house which I knew the next owner is just going to come in and rip out, so we came to an understanding. And trying to find a reputable estate sale company took some time but we’re almost there. The few repairs start in just a couple of days, the tenant will be leaving by the middle of the month and the estate sale is next week, so progress is made. If all goes well, I’ll be out of here in a month saying goodbye to LA and headed to my next adventure wherever that may be, Atlanta or beyond.

The packing never ends.

This will be a little bit of an ongoing series that every once in a while, I’ll drop in a new story about my wanderings as I transitioned from one life to another. I hope you enjoy the ride and thanks for continuing to be part of my blog.

Life in the Big Easy Ain’t so Easy!

COVID-19 Devastates the French Quarter.

I was driving cross country on my way back to Los Angeles from spending Christmas in Tampa. It was the week between Christmas and New Year’s, and I decided to spend a couple of days in New Orleans.

I’ve been going to New Orleans since I was 17 years old when my high school band, the Valdosta Wildcat Marching Band won a band contest, and our prize was to march in a parade that went through the French Quarter on Bourbon Street. I’ve returned many times since then. Eaten amazing food and listened to wonderful music. I’ve also been kicked out of bars and had some pretty wild times in New Orleans. Yet, I hadn’t been back since before Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, the Quarter and  the Ninth Ward.

I’d heard that New Orleans had made a comeback, but I was wondering what COVID-19 effect would be on the Big Easy.

I’m sad to say that I think COVID-19 has decimated New Orleans almost as bad as Hurricane Katrina did. Why would I say something like that? Because the economic damage that I saw when I walked through New Orleans and the French Quarter was prolonged and it had been going on for months. There was not the catastrophic devastation that happened with Katrina, however the continual loss of life for over a year and the economic downturn that came with the pandemic in its own way had as much of a devastating effect on New Orleans as the hurricane did.  

I checked into a hotel about eight blocks away from the Quarter. The hotel gift shop was closed, and the bar was closed, and the restaurant was closed. The reservation concierge behind the desk told me that the staff had literally been cut in half over the preceding months. After settling in my room and relaxing from the road, I walked down Canal Street to Bourbon Street and turned into the Quarter looking for some real New Orleans cuisine. As I walked down Canal, business after business was boarded up or had for lease signs in the windows. There was a lot of street construction going on so New Orleans is not completely dead, but the theaters were shut, restaurants were closed and even the few package stores that were open looked like they weren’t doing well.

As you turned into the Quarter you noticed that a lot of the store fronts were shut up. Now this was a weekday, but it was also 7:00 PM at night and as anyone who’s ever been to the Quarter knows that it never sleeps. Restaurants were closed, bars were empty or if they were open, they were only doing takeout drinks and there would only be one employee working. And even the bars and restaurants that were open were not full and some of them closed early. Pat O’Brien’s, a bar that I have never seen closed in my entire life was shuttered for the two days that I was there. The Quarter was a shell of itself. There were still tourists and there were still crazy people running around doing crazy things, but it certainly wasn’t the jam-packed Quarter that I remember from days gone by.

The only area that was full that I could tell was around Jackson Square. The restaurants around the square seemed to be doing OK especially Cafe Du Monde where you went to get chicory coffee and beignets. Yet even the street merchants and artists who sell their work around square seem to be struggling.  There weren’t many street musicians who were out performing. In the two days that I was there I literally saw only one street jazz band.  While the art galleries and souvenir shops around Jackson Square seemed to be attracting a lot of business, elsewhere in the quarter there were signs for apartments and storefronts for lease everywhere, and empty buildings with going out of business signs on every street.

Now maybe people were waiting for New Year’s Eve or they were waiting for Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to come into town so Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints could beat them in the NFL playoffs (which did not happen), yet there was just a feeling as you went from street to street that there was a pall over the quarter. I don’t know what the rest of New Orleans was like. Maybe restaurants are doing well. Maybe people were going out and shopping, but the tourist area of the French Quarter was hurting really badly. And it was so very sad to see such a lively and vibrant place brought to its knees by an invisible enemy that no one has an answer too.

New Orleans is a resilient city. It will come back once people have found a cure for this pandemic. I just hope there’s enough of it left for people to want to visit when they do return.

Whale Sharks @ The Georgia Aquarium

The Amazing Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, GA

A city that I visit frequently is Atlanta, GA, and one of the places that I have never been in Atlanta is their world-famous Georgia Aquarium. So one winter afternoon I walked over from my Airbnb condo in mid-town Atlanta to this amazing complex and was absolutely enthralled with how it is set up, the size of their main aquarium and the five giant whale sharks that they have swimming around.

Georgia Aquarium is a public aquarium and is home to hundreds of species and thousands of animals across its seven major galleries which contain over 10,000,000 US gallons of water both fresh and saltwater.

The Whale Sharks are a major attraction since they are so rare in captivity. They are members of the shark family, so they’re not mammals like whales. They are a slow-moving filter feeding carpet shark and they do not hunt or eat other fish. They will not attack you. They do eat plankton like whales, so they have that in common along with their size.

They’re not whales but they are the world’s largest fish. These huge creatures can grow up to 40 feet long but despite their size, whale sharks are often referred to as gentle Giants. The largest known whale shark ever recorded came in at around 62 feet long.

And for those of you who are offended by aquariums, these sharks do not do tricks. No creatures in the entire facility do any kind of tricks for humans or human audiences. The aquarium is an observation and study space for all creatures both freshwater and saltwater. Whale sharks are not well known as they keep to themselves and are usually solitary. These five make up the most whale sharks in one place anywhere in the world that are in an aquarium setting.

The aquarium is not inexpensive to get into. My ticket ran me $39.00 with online service charges because during Covid this is a non cash facility only accepting debit and credit cards. You must buy your tickets in advance and only online.  Tickets may be purchased at this address. https://www.georgiaaquarium.org/tickets/

Parking is another $18.00 per car. However inside they have a full restaurant and bar offering cocktails, wine and many local craft beers from the Atlanta area. They have a petting area where children and adults can touch and feel the texture of starfish and various other sea creatures. They have albino alligators; they have flesh eating piranha from the Amazon River, they have fish and sea snakes and sea eels from all around the world plus they also have a freshwater section for fish that you would find in streams in North America. Of all the aquariums that I have visited including Long Beach, CA’s Aquarium of the Sea this is by far the most extensive and largest aquarium facility I have ever seen.

They also have an extensive collection of Penguins from various parts of the world and they are considered one of the best facilities for rescue and treating injured and orphaned fish and sea mammals in the world. Oddly enough, they are considered the top rehabilitation facility for rescued orphan and injured California sea otters.

An as an added bonus for $350.00 you can go scuba diving in the main aquarium area with an experienced diver as your guide. There are no sharks in this particular tank although they do have a very extensive Shark Tank filled with nurse sharks, hammerhead sharks, and tiger sharks. All of these are deadly predators.

This is one fun day to spend with the fishes! This is something that the whole family can enjoy or a couple looking for something different to do on a romantic outing or just a solo trip by yourself to enjoy the amazing Georgia Aquarium.

The aquarium is located at 225 Baker St NW Atlanta GA 30313. Phone number is 404-581-4000. Website is www.georgiaaquarium.org.

Three Days at Zion National Park – Day 1

Wonders of Utah

I’ve lived in California for over 30 years and I have been to Las Vegas at least 25 times, yet I had no idea that Zion National Park was only 2 1/2 hours away from Vegas in south-western Utah. So it was with great excitement that I decided to travel to Zion National Park when my wanderlust had become overwhelming.

View inside the park

First, I stopped off in Las Vegas for an evening before driving all the way to Zion which turned into two days when I woke up the next morning with a bad case of food poisoning that of course made me think I was suffering from COVID-19. After spending the entire day in my room recovering, I woke up on the third day hungry and refreshed. Two and half hours later, as I drove across the desert out of Nevada and across the northwestern corner of Arizona, I entered Utah. I had not been in the state of Utah for 25 years, and I had forgotten how incredibly beautiful it is.

View from Springdale

Turning off on Utah State Highway 9, I wandered through the towns of St. George and Hurricane and La Verkin and Virgin until I reached the gateway to Zion National Park which is Springdale, UT. I had started looking for a hotel to stay starting at La Verkin, and the prices increased exponentially the closer I got to the entrance to the park. I finally settled on a slightly rundown but comfortable hotel in La Verkin about 17 miles from Zion called the Hotel Zion Inn. The hotel had seen some hard times but had recently been taken over by an Indian family who was rebuilding it slowly. The hotel was a huge complex with four separate buildings but at the moment they only had about 50 rooms available. The beds were comfortable, the air conditioning was great, they had wonderful cable television and the hotel was clean if not a little dated. And the price was perfect if you weren’t looking for luxury at $34 a night. The price including tax was $117.00 off Hotels.com.

Hotel Zion Inn, 150 N State St, La Verkin, UT 84745, Phone: (435) 635-0965

Theories about the origin of La Verkin’s name suggest that it may be a corruption of the Spanish la virgen, after the nearby Virgin River, or possibly an error in the transcription of the term “beaver skin.”

Oldest store in Virgin, UT

The next morning after a simple breakfast at the hotel I drove the 17 miles to Zion. Along the way I passed through the very small-town Virgin, Utah. The first settlement at Virgin was in 1858. It’s also the name of the river that carved out the canyon that creates Zion National Park.

Very interesting rock on the Watchman Trail.

Arriving in Springdale you immediately become aware the town is set up completely to service the tourists that visit Zion National Park on a daily basis. The elevation is 3800 plus feet and the average hotel price in the town is around $230. There are several restaurants, bars and art galleries and other things to do both family related or otherwise in the town so there is a bit of a nightlife there.

Views on the Watchman Trail

Parking is quite easy in Springdale because there is a free shuttle that runs from the edge of town all the way up to the opening of Zion National Park. However there are a few peculiarities about the parking situation. Everything is based on a credit card and there are three choices. Parking is a dollar an hour in all areas and you can choose one hour, two hours or twelve hours and nothing in between. Those are the only choices. There is parking inside Zion but there is no driving in Zion. Everything is either by shuttle or hiking or by bicycle.

Vista from the end of the Watchman Trail

There is a shuttle inside the park which is a one dollar ticket, but you must (https://www.nps.gov/zion/planyourvisit/zion-canyon-shuttle-tickets.htm) buy the ticket online the day before and have verification either with a paper print out or on your phone or iPad when you show up at the park. For those people who did not know how to get a ticket they start handing out free shuttle tickets on the day of on a first come first serve basis at 3:00 PM in the afternoon. The shuttle will take you deep into the park to Riverside Trail, the Emerald pools both lower an upper and to other trails. It is not recommended to hike to those places because some of them are literally 10 miles in one direction. So unless you’re going to stick around the entrance of the park the only way to see those other sites is either by renting a bicycle or taking the shuttle.

The Watchman

Around the entrance of Zion National Park are two trails one is the Watchman trail and the Pa’rus trail. Both are 3.5 miles round trip, but the Watchmen is a grade two trail that goes up the face of the Watchmen a singular tower of stone that kind of feels like the sentinel or guard for the park hence the name the Watchman.

On the Watchman Trail

Starting in between the Visitor Center and the South Campground, the Watchman Trail heads up to a viewpoint on top of the first layer of cliffs roughly 300 feet above the canyon floor. While the trail doesn’t actually take you to the top of the Watchman, you can still get a good view of the famous and photogenic peak to the south as well as a good bird’s eye view of the canyon and Springdale below. The trail is mostly family-friendly but keep a close eye on children as there are a few cliff edges to pay attention to. This trail is completely exposed to the sun, so during the hot summer months, this hike is best done on a cloudy day or in the morning when this side of the main canyon is still in the shade. The trail is not paved and there are lots of rocks and strenuous areas to get through. The view is worth the hike.

More of the Watchman Trail

Part 2 of this three days In Zion National Park will focus on the Pa’rus Trail and trying to get to the Emerald Pools and the Riverside trail.

Part 3 will focus on the Kolob Reservoir on the backside of Zion National Park where there are really great trails away from the crowds and the commercialism at the entrance to the park.

Gallery of Zion Shots, Day 1

  

The Making of Divorce During Pandemic!

Shooting a short film during Covid 19!

When you are a director of either film or theatre, or any other type of live or filmed performance art form, the ultimate excitement is to be able to do your project with a truly excellent group of professionals. Professionals who are dedicated to their craft and actually know what they’re doing. That was my experience recently when I shot the short film Divorce During Pandemic, a short film script that I had written based on real events and I had the opportunity to turn into an actually short film.

Crew shooting a close up of the lead actor.

Of all the types of directing that exist in the performing arts, directing film is the ultimate experience for a director. In any other form of live performance as much as the director wants to control the final product they cannot, because it’s live and the final product will change every single performance. Live performance is up to the live performers not to the person who conceived it or directed it or produced it. Yet with film, the director gets to choose how to tell the story because they control the edit of how the film will look. Now of course they had to get the correct shots and coverage in order to be able to tell that story but once you have that you can tell a story out of sequence, or you can change the narrative of who the story is about, or really the possibilities are limitless given the imagination of the director and the amount of footage that they shot.

Director of Photography Fernando Madero framing a shot.

Divorce During Pandemic is exactly that. It’s a true-life story of what happened when a married couple that is breaking up exchanges divorce documents during the early weeks of the pandemic. That could be sad, but the situation could be surreal as well, because the couple is wearing masks and gloves and practicing social distance. The film could be funny or a comment on not only the breakup of the marriage but the distance that’s created between a couple when they’re forced to wear mask and gloves to deal with each other. So in the editing room I was presented with the opportunity to either make a dark comedy or a sad tale of two people struggling to move on with their lives. I’m not going to tell you which choice was made you’ll just have to wait to see the film. Yet the opportunity to work with skilled professionals – a director of photography, a sound mixer, a camera assistant, a grip, a production manager and first assistant director who were top notch and a team of producers who gave me everything that I needed to shoot my movie under budget was amazing. Who could ask for more!?

The director discussing the next setup with the DP.

Yet we had the added element of shooting during a world changing virus, so we had to be concerned for the safety of the cast and crew who were truly heroic in shooting this short. My producers provided us with all the PPE that we needed and tried to keep following social distancing, but shooting a film is so all encompassing when you are doing it that it is hard to always remember to stand 6 feet apart. Yet, we managed and all are safe and well, and the film looks great.

The talented Laura Walker (The Wife) waiting for her next take.

So the film is currently in post-production as we do color correction, fix the sound, and work on the opening title and closing credits. Hopefully, the film will be on the festival circuit in the next few weeks and we’ll be talking about it more here at TripswithJames.com. I would like to take the opportunity to thank my cast and crew for the outstanding work that they did that day, and to thank them for the amazing ultimate experience of directing – shooting a film with professionals on a script that you have written and watching it all come to life beautifully ! What more could have film artists ask for? My answer – absolutely nothing!

The gifted David J. Phillips plays The Husband.

More to come on Divorce During Pandemic in the coming weeks!   

Special thanks to Corbin Timbrook, Shelby Janes, David J. Philllips, Laura Walker, Fernando Madero, Garrett Stone, Reece Miller, Genaro Magana, Kirk Bruner, Attic Studios.

California Snapshot – Santa Barbara, Pismo Beach, Carmel, Monterrey -Where Are the Masks?

Where is your mask?

Leaving Los Angeles on Thursday, July 16th, I drove north on US 101 on a brief road trip to get out of Los Angeles after being cooped up in my house for months. I wasn’t going to go visit anyone or go party, I just needed to see some different environments and to experience what was going on in the world of California during a pandemic.

Fort Ord Beach, Marina, CA

The observations that I’m going to make are wholly unscientific . I didn’t take any polls or do any headcounts or any interviews. This is strictly my observations as I walked through sections of different communities and noticed roughly how many people had masks on and did not have masks on as they interacted with other members of the public. While every store that I went into required face coverings of some nature, I was surprised at the amount of people in California who were not wearing face coverings at this moment of increased infection rate and a new push by the governor for people to stay home, wear face masks, and practice social distancing.

The Author at Cannery Row, Monterrey, CA

The first place I stopped was in Santa Barbara for lunch. I first took a long walk on the bike path along the shoreline just south of the Marina. It was about 11 AM when I got to Santa Barbara. The sky was overcast and it was a cool late morning. Most of the people that I passed along the bike path were doing some kind of exercise and they are allowed not to wear a face covering while their exercising, but of the mothers is walking their babies, couples casually riding bicycles or people walking their dogs, I would say 50% of them were not wearing a face covering.

Pismo Beach with Pier in background.

As I drove up State Street was one of the main shopping streets in Santa Barbara I notice that the street was blocked off in many areas so that the restaurants could move outside to have outside dining. I parked in one of the many municipal parking lots that Santa Barbara has in that part of town and went to a CVS to get some supplies for my trip and get a sandwich for takeaway. Now many people consider Santa Barbara to be a very upscale community and overall that is true , but along State Street there has been a noticeable decline in the quality of the businesses. You see many more homeless people and people who were just down on their luck than you used too. So the population that I was looking at was everything from a homeless person all the way to very affluent people and many tourists. You could not go into any store or any restaurant whether it was ordering inside or sitting outside without having a face covering. Yet, I was amazed at the sheer amount of people who walked around either with a face covering underneath their chin or with nothing at all who were interacting with other patrons or service people who were waiting on them. The strangest situation for me is when a family of four or more people will be walking around and half of them will have masks and half of them won’t. I can’t quite figure that out. The choice of wearing a mask or not wearing a mask seems to cross all ages and all races from very young to very old, from white to African-American to Hispanic and Asian.

Local signs in Pismo Beach that no one seemed to consider.

Back in the car I headed north towards Pismo Beach where I was going to spend the first night of my road trip. Pismo Beach is quite spread out but I stayed in a tourist area known as the motel district off of Price St. This is a four by four block section filled with restaurants, bars, gift shops and hotels that are near the beach and near Pismo Beach Pier. I got to Pismo Beach about 3:00 o’clock in the afternoon and checked into my hotel and went out walking around this area until about 8:00 o’clock at night. The beach was very crowded and all the takeaway places had long lines in front of them since out indoor dining was completely closed off. The three places that offered outdoor dining were jammed with long lines waiting. This part of Pismo Beach has a large cross section of all types tourists and easily 75% of the people that I saw on the streets either had no mask at all or just did not wear them. They would hold them in their hand, in their pockets or wear them underneath their chin. It was like nobody knew that we were in the middle of a very contagious pandemic and that you could infect or get infected by the person standing right next to you. Again the family dynamic of some wearing a mask and some not wearing a mask was very interesting.

Sand Dollar Cove off PCH in Pacific Valley, CA

Next day I drove up PCH through San Simeon and Big Sur. I also stopped at my favorite place along the coast which is an area called Pacific Valley and specifically a State Park that leads down to a beautiful beach called Sand Dollar Cove. I’ve been coming to Sand Dollar for over 30 years as long as I’ve lived in California. It is always been a very popular place but in the last 6 to 7 years it has become exceptionally busy. This weekend was no different with 50 or more cars parked along both sides of the highway and the small parking lot at Sand Dollar completely filled. Now of course we’re in the outdoors at a beach and a campground and social distancing is very easy to practice here but at least 60 to 70% of the people that I saw walking around had no masks on them at all. This was a very white group of people . I didn’t see a single person of color the entire 2 hours that I was there, but it was families, surfers, backpackers, and people who were on the road in vans and large campers so again a cross section of people all ages and not many masks

Tree on the beach in Carmel, CA

My stop for the evening was Carmel, California home of Clint Eastwood and a very wealthy white enclave with a much older population. After I checked into my hotel, I wandered over to Ocean Street which is the center of this shopping area of Carmel. I noticed almost everyone had masks on. Of course again no indoor dining but a lot of outdoor establishments for people to sit drink wine and have dinner. All service personnel had masks on and the majority of the people walking or standing in line getting into places had masks on. It was actually noticeable when someone did not. Maybe that’s because they’re wealthier or they’re older so they’re more concerned about their health or whatever reason you would like to come up with, but Carmel had the highest ratio of people wearing a mask on the street that I had seen thus far. It does not mean they like it though. I heard several conversations of people complaining about the uselessness of masks.

Fort Ord Beach and Dunes

The next morning I drove a short distance to Seaside, CA where I was staying the night. This was definitely a working class neighborhood and the percentage of people I saw wearing masks was about 50%. I stayed here so I would be close to the Fort Ord Dunes Park which is located along the Monterrey Bay where the former military base Fort Ord was located. It is now a federally and state protected area with wonderful biking trails and a lovely mostly unused beach which stretches for 4 miles along the coastline. After the spending the day hiking around Fort Ord. I drove over to Cannery Row in Monterrey for dinner. Cannery Row is a huge tourist magnet and here you got a pretty good cross section of races and ages. The very interesting thing that Monterrey was doing was you were required to wear face mask and if you got caught not wearing one by the police, they gave you a $100 fine. So almost everyone had a mask on all the time.

Cannery Row at Sundown

So what is this little snapshot show us? Really nothing definitive. Just that there are still a large contingency of Californians or tourists who visit our state, who don’t wear masks. Also it’s just not when they’re walking by themselves or they’re with their family, they do this when they’re interacting with other patrons, other tourists and service personnel at the height of an incredibly contagious pandemic. Make of that what you will.

Please be safe! Be well! And please wear a mask!!     

All photo credits – James Carey, Attic Studios

Daily Photo – July 5, 2020 and Coming Next! Victoria Falls!

Nothing compares to standing in front of the world’s largest waterfall, which stretches in length for a full mile. Visit between February and May (after the region’s rainy season) for the clearest views of the 500 million liters of water that pour over the falls every 60 seconds. Credit – Getty

COMING NEXT –

VICTORIA FALLS, ZIMBABWE

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, one of the Seven wonders of the world. The coming series will be about Victoria Falls before COVID-19 and the effect that the pandemic has had on this tourist community since the virus.

Victoria Falls is one of the most vibrant tourist communities on the planet. Its sole reason for existence is to serve the tourists that come from all over the world to see the majesty of the falls. There are luxury hotels and luxury safari camps, you can walk with elephants and walk with lions, bungee jump into the Gorge at the bottom of the falls, zip line across a lagoon full of crocodiles and eat wonderful food. These are just of the things that you can do on any given  day in Victoria Falls pre-coronavirus. Yet since the pandemic and the lockdown in Zimbabwe and especially in Johannesburg, South Africa which Victoria Falls depends on as a regional hub for air traffic, Victoria Falls is now a ghost town. With my good friend Melanie Mostert (africanizedmc@gmail.com), a luxury travel consultant based in Victoria Falls, we will explore Victoria Falls before the virus and after the virus.

The town is waiting for your return and we hope to intrigue you not only to visit but also to consider the effect a lock down on a third world country that depends totally on tourism. There will be good stories, great photographs, and a lot of human interest. I hope you enjoy.

LA Begins to Open with Uncertainty

The City of Angels is awake.

The City of Angels is awake. It’s not that it’s been asleep, it’s only been taking a nap. For the last three months, we have been doing what is known as ‘sheltering in place’. Meaning that our local government authorities wanted us to basically stay in our house and not go anywhere. And they did make that difficult because they closed all the beaches and the parks, all the bars and restaurants, and all the stores. So really where was there to go?

(Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP)

But finally we are starting to open. Bars and restaurants, barber shops and hair salons, nail salons and department stores are all open for some kind of business. But is it too much too soon or was this all Much Ado about nothing. It depends on who you talk to and what your opinion is of COVID-19. Is it a great pandemic or is it a left wing hoax?

Through history man has always dealt with pandemics before with diseases that could not be cured and that killed hundreds of thousands of people through the ages. There’s the Spanish flu of 1918, polio, black plague, measles, and one of the greatest diseases of all time although not many people think about it anymore is tuberculosis which for centuries all the way back to the Greeks was the greatest killer of humans on the planet. Of the five diseases that I just mentioned only two of them forced humans to change their lifestyle to such degree that it caused people to leave cities or to stay inside. That’s the black plague and the Spanish flu. The other diseases that I mentioned plus many others while horrible did not cause society to change. People caught these diseases and many died but the general population just went on living their lives. So which approach was the correct one? Well we’re told that the difference between this disease and other ones is that it’s so contagious and it has never appeared before on the planet. That we possess no natural defense for it. That’s why health officials said wear a mask, wash your hands, social distance and stay inside.

Bartender Jennifer Priddy, left, and bar manager Kandis Conner of The Blue Door Bar in Fullerton (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

People want to stay well . They don’t want to go out in public and get sick. But people also cannot stay home forever. It’s summer in Los Angeles and the sun is shining and the weather is perfect. And everyone in the city is suffering from Lock Down Fever. Even before the ‘shelter in place’ order was lifted since Easter you could already tell that people were beginning to disregard the laws. Gone were the empty freeways and the empty side streets and the empty parks. People began coming out more and more and driving places and riding bikes and getting out in the weather and just trying to find some normalcy in a time where there is no normalcy

For 2 1/2 months I stayed inside. I faithfully wore my mask, washed my hands and rarely went out except to go to a grocery store or pharmacy. I sanitize my kitchen every other day with Clorox wipes and every time I stepped back into the house I used hand sanitizer. I also carried hand sanitizer with me everywhere that I went . And I got it! I got a very mild case of it, but it got me. So, I am very scared of COVID-19. The idea of going to a restaurant or a bar is now almost frightening. While I understand that people have to get back to their daily lives and make a living, the casualness with which some seem to deal with COVID-19 to me is mind boggling.

The bars and restaurants in Los Angeles opened on June 5th, and I ventured out to see what would happen. I live not far away from Culver City which for many years was a very sleepy little town that would close up at about 5:00 o’clock in the afternoon but now is a happening crossroads with 20 to 30 restaurants and bars in its downtown district. Culver City for movie aficionados is the home of MGM Studios which later became Sony Pictures. The area that I went to investigate was where Culver Blvd. crosses Main Street in Culver City.

In this area there are 25 bars and restaurants, a Trader Joe’s, and the world-famous Culver Hotel with its jazz club lobby all in a six block radius. The rules were that people had to wear masks as they came into the restaurant, sitting was limited to only 25% capacity and people needed to maintain social distance. Every place handled it differently but the idea of socially distancing when people have not been out in public for 3 months is kind of silly at best. People who wanted to come were doing so to see their friends and eat in a restaurant. Some were coming out in groups of 10 to 15 people and sitting at large tables. One restaurant known as Public School has a very extensive patio but they were only seating 4 tables on the patio at a time so there was immense space between those customers. However, you went around the corner to Roscoe’s Tavern where you were met at the door by a man wearing a mask who took your temperature and told you to wait until a table became available based on social distancing rules. Yet seated right next to the maitre-d’ and potential new customers less than two feet away was a table of 15 people all day eating, drinking and nobody had a mask on, so at best the results were mixed. There were new restaurants that had just opened few months before the COVID-19 fiasco hit and somehow they managed to hang onto their spaces for 2 1/2 months with no business and now they were just trying to make as much money as they could. There is a new Irish bar that had just opened about six months before COVID-19 hit with the social distant rules posted at the door but there was no one practicing social distance. In an Irish bar it’s impossible, it goes against the very fabric of an Irish bar.

(Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

I have taken an informal poll of my very good friends here in Los Angeles to see who was up for going out to grab something to eat or meet somebody in a bar for a drink. Well the results were pretty much 85% of those polled were not ready to come out because they were afraid of catching the virus in public, the other 15% couldn’t wait to go someplace where they could actually socially interact with other people.

Myself I’m kind of on the fence. Staying at home for 2 1/2 months and missing social interaction and the daily activities of my life was very difficult for me. I would honestly say that it affected my mental state. Yet the fear of catching this disease in a social setting when there is no cure and no vaccine scares me even more.

So, Los Angeles is open! But we are open with uncertainty! There is no clear path to the future, and it causes dismay and restless nights about what the future will hold for you as an individual, your city as a community and our country as a whole. New cases of COVID-19 , new hospitalizations and a rising death toll are concerning to health officials here while to others it’s just the price of living your life. Which is the right philosophy? Well that’s up to the individual but as we try to return to something that resembles normal life before the pandemic we’re actually looking at a whole new reality with no conclusion and no clear solution.