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Staycation: Jetting out to the Channel Islands

October 24, 2011 in Adventures, So Cal, Uncategorized | No comments

Santa Cruz Island

My partner in crime for the day, Karen

I had 50 bucks and a dream. I wanted to be in a beautiful place away from my cell phone ringing and/or my dog barking. People who don’t visit Los Angeles often (or at all) usually DON’T think of it as being an outdoorsy-type’s paradise. I beg to differ. I’ve lived in the area for about seven months and I’ve seen things that would make your mouth drop. Canyons, wildflowers, crazy ass bugs, the bluest blue and the greenest green waters. And all within a 45 minute drive!

One of my best friends, Karen, came to visit from Sacramento on a whim this past weekend. We decided: let’s go to the Channel Islands. They’re about an hour boatride off the coast of Ventura. That’s a small hippie/surfer/farmer community about 45 minutes (without traffic mind you) north of LA. There’s a company called Island Packers. You reserve a slot on the boat. Once you get on it’s very chill. You can move around, buy some hot chocolate. We got on the boat and not even ten minutes later, we saw DOLPHINS! They were so cute jumping in herds of four or five chasing birds and fish. I don’t know if they were actually chasing the birds…but it sure looked like it.I tried to get pictures and then I was like…meh…the best moments you just can’t catch on camera. You just can’t. Karen and I spent a good half hour speaking with a cute couple from Missouri. They were visiting the islands for their 40th wedding anniversary. They gave us a tube of sunscreen after we told them we forgot ours back at the car. They had a bottle of wine to take hiking with them. They had done all sorts of research, printed maps and permits to hike in special areas. They made Karen and I look so unprepared. But hey, there’s more than one way to skin a cat, right? The couple ended up going to a different part of the island than us so we didn’t get to hang out with them for too long, but it was nice to just chit chat about outdoorsy stuff with visitors and not sit by tons of people clicking away on their i-phones or laptops.

Karen and I spent about five hours ashore Santa Cruz Island. It’s the largest of the Channel Islands National Park. You can camp there. I saw dozens of kayakers manuvering caves. The adobe visitor’s center is solar-powered. The cool ocean air was so refreshing. As soon as we started our five mile hike, I had to strip about three layers of clothing off my back. We lived on granola bars all day. There were no services on the island. There weren’t even bushes to squat behind! Weird. No gift shop. No snack bar. That part I didn’t mind. Like I really want to buy cheap crap when I’m trying to relax. It was so quiet there! No cell service…no dogs….peace and quiet. I could stay out there forever. A boat came back to get us in the late afternoon just as the fog was surrounding the entire island. I’d say there were about 40 people on the boat. Karen and I sipped some cheap canned beer on the way back to shore and talked about life. It was the best 50 bucks I’ve spent in a long time. Some days I feel like I need a vacation. But sometimes staying close to home can feel worlds away. I like that :)

Meet my twin

October 20, 2011 in Reflection, Uncategorized | No comments

Cody and I were inspired by Storycorps’ National Day of Listening project to stage an interview. It asks people to interview those they love… ask them questions you’ve always wanted to ask. The point is you become closer to the person you love and have a memorable keepsake to share with others for the rest of your life. I approached Cody and asked him if I could interview him. He was a little hesitant at first, but he was game. I grabbed my cheapie Olympus recorder. We sat on a thrift store couch in my teeny-weeny apartment in Sept. 2010. We talked for about 45 minutes. I had a list of some pre-thought out questions and I also asked some off the top of my head. I learned a lot about Cody…I hope he learned a lot about me, too. Cody and I have been through some tough times together. I live in Los Angeles now, about 12 hours away. I miss him so much. When we are together, we laugh at jokes that no one else would understand. We know all the words to random Mariah Carey songs. We both have an unhealthy obession with cheese. We make up words…like stummy.

“Happy Birthday dear codyandashley…ashleyandcody…ashcody…codley…” Our names always get mashed together at our mutual family birthday parties. I’m used to it now and actually love it. It reminds me how lucky I am to have my brother, Cody. We’ve always been known as Cody and Ashley: the Bailey twins where we grew up in Arcata, California. Our family’s lived there for three generations…we are kinda hard not to recognize. People see our faces and immediately know: You’re a Bailey!

I used to hate being a twin. Cody and I would fight all the time growing up. I hit him in the eye with a hockey stick. We had salt and pepper fights. (Oh, you don’t do that? It’s when you run around the house screaming like banshees with spice shakers in hand when you’re mom’s at work) Most siblings feel some sort of competitive edge. But being a twin feels a little bit more challenging at times. Like the day we took our driving tests. My permit test – I failed. He passed. I cried all the way home. He was all smiles. My driving test – pass! His driving test – fail. He got his license three weeks later. Then there’s the whole sharing friends and classes at school. I had a hard time when some of my best girlfriends stopped calling the house for me and instead called to hang out with my “cool brother.”

Cody and I grew up. I now pretty much consider him my best friend. And who wouldn’t want to know as much as they can about their best friend?

I hear his voice in this interview and know that he’s just a phone call away. It makes me happy. I posted an edited portion of our interview on youtube, click the link at the top of this post. I hope you enjoy Cody as much as I do.

 

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Space Shuttle Endeavour is one step closer to resting at LA museum

October 11, 2011 in Radio, Reporter's Notebook, Uncategorized | No comments

Astronauts (from right to left) Drew Feustel, Mike Fincke, Greg Johnson and Commander Mark Kelly speak about their journey on the Space Shuttle Endeavour at the California Science Center on Tuesday. Ashley Bailey/KPCC

NASA officially transferred ownership of the Space Shuttle Endeavour to a Los Angeles museum Tuesday.

The transfer was celebrated at a ceremony at the California Science Center. There, cheers greeted four current and retired astronauts in their royal blue uniforms.

Crewmembers of the Space Shuttle Endeavour displayed pictures from the spacecraft’s last mission, which returned in June; and kids lined up at a microphone to pepper the astronauts with questions.

Questions included things like “How many people fit in a space shuttle?” and “What do you eat in space?” One eager child asked shuttle pilot Greg Johnson if space was fun.

“Did you see us smiling in every picture?” laughed Johnson. “We have fun morning to night. We’re very busy, but it’s important for us to take a little time for ourselves and enjoy the company of each other because we are so busy.”

“We train for so long,” he added, “but we also try to not lose sight of what a wonderful opportunity it is and how beautiful the Earth looks and it just makes you happy inside. So was it fun? Yes, it was very fun in space.”

Museum and NASA officials say they’re displaying the retired shuttle at the California Science Center to teach future generations about how fun space exploration can be.

The shuttle will be open to excited kids — and parents — as part of an interactive space exhibit that will open within the next five years. Before that happens, however, the space shuttle has to get there. Officials say that won’t be an easy move. The Endeavour will have to piggyback atop a 747 jet from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center to Los Angeles International Airport. The city of L.A. hopes to parade the craft from the airport to the science center in Exposition Park sometime next year.

Note: This is a re-post of a story I reported for KPCC Southern California Public Radio. Listen to the story here.

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Rolling Hills Estates gives up control of one of the last public horse stables

October 10, 2011 in Reporter's Notebook, So Cal, Uncategorized | No comments

Most boarders who keep their horses at the Peter Weber Equestrian Center don't live in the city of Rolling Hills Estates. The city council has turned over the public operation to private concessionaires to save the city money. Ashley Bailey/KPCC

Rolling Hills Estates, distinguished by tiers of three-railed white fencing and tree-lined streets, operates one of the last city-run horse stables in Southern California. Horse lovers travel near and far to enjoy its scenic beauty, and 90 miles of riding trails, on the South Bay’s Palos Verdes Peninsula. But after almost 50 years, the city of Rolling Hills Estates is handing off the reins of its horse stable.

Jan Spak feeds her horse “Mr. Big” piles of hay inside a stall at the Peter Weber Equestrian Center. The center’s wooden sides have some holes. It’s not as clean as she’d like, either. But other than that, Spak said she can’t complain. The green countryside in Rolling Hills Estates reminds her of the farm she grew up on about 100 miles west of Chicago.

“When we ride, we often say ‘I can’t even believe this is Los Angeles’ because it’s so beautiful, so quiet, so rich with streams and birds and trees,” she said.

Horses and Rolling Hills Estates go together like a saddle and a bridle. Click on the city website and you’ll see horses, fence rails, trails and more horses.

Jan Spak of Santa Monica boards her horse "Mr. Big" at the Peter Weber Equestrian Center in Rolling Hills Estates. She says the public stable is more welcoming than those closer to her home. Ashley Bailey/KPCC

Spak makes a daily journey to “the hill” from Santa Monica where she sells real estate. She said this stable is more welcoming than those closer to home.

“One place I was looking at a horse and they wouldn’t let my horse come in because he was western. They only had English horses. And I said it’s just the saddle and the tack you put on him. He doesn’t breathe any differently,” Spak said. “So that’s when I decided maybe Malibu wasn’t for me.”

Most of the boarders here don’t live in Rolling Hills Estates. They pay monthly fees to keep their horses here.

Rolling Hills Estates used to make a profit from the Peter Weber Equestrian Center. But over the past decade, it’s lost a chunk of change — around half a million dollars — on repairs.

Community services director Andy Clark said sewer lines break, tractors break down and barn roofs blow off. He said Rolling Hills Estates is a “contract city.” It doesn’t have its own fire department, police department or sanitation department; all that work is done under contract by some other agency. So why not hire someone to run the city stables in Rolling Hills Estates?

“We’re one of the last in California I think run with public employees currently. Why are we losing taxpayer dollars to support a facility that’s mostly non-residents?” Clark said. “As we look at the models of concessionaire-operated, there’s always a constant: we’re always in the plus.”

Some equestrians feel hiring a concessionaire is a cold move. Pamela Gibson of Torrance feeds her horse Allie at the stables twice a day.

“I find it very very sad that so many little government places want to just kind of throw things away or throw them out there rather than get through the hard financial times to wait to see what happens,” she said.

What’s happened over the years is the few Southern California cities that ran their own stables decided to get out of the business — except Rolling Hills Estates. Look at Lakewood. It hired a concessionaire to run its equestrian center 20 years ago — and Lakewood spokesman Bill Grady says now, the city makes a nice profit each year of about $100,000.

“We still ultimately have some control, but we don’t have the day-to-day and year-to-year sort of financial responsibility for running that unique business of a horse stable,” he said.

Some boarders worry that fees will go up. City leaders say that won’t happen. Spak, who plans to keep her horse at the stable, says in the end, it comes down to what’s best for the horses.

“We want ‘em to be cared for. We want ‘em to be safe in their stalls. We want fresh water, fresh food,” Spak said. “It’s one thing to be all business. It’s another thing to be humane and business.”

Gil and Doreen Houle, who live and ride in the city, are the new concessionaires for the Peter Weber Equestrian Center. They’ve pledged to be “family-oriented” when they take over next year. That’s what the city council wanted: someone who’d honor the equestrian tradition in Rolling Hills Estates, and make sure that keeping the city stable open isn’t such a hard ride.

Note: This is a re-post of a story I reported for KPCC Southern California Public Radio. Listen to the story here. 

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CD’s – what’re those? A random dump of my musical upbringing

October 9, 2011 in Music, Reflection, Uncategorized | No comments

I found my old leather case that holds dozens of CD’s close to my heart. Well, let’s say 13-year-old version of me would be devastated if something ever happened to this leather case. These are songs I grew up on…all the way up until whenever I got an iPod. I never even saved them to my computer. Yikes! I keep them in my car just in case all other modes of entertainment fail. I cleaned out my trunk today and BAM I saw my leather case of CD’s. So here are the first five discs I pulled out and what I recall about them:

 1. Album: Revolver Artist: The Beatles

I lucked out on grabbing a “cool” album from the bunch. My friend, Julie, burned this for me when I was 16. We went through a Beatles kick. I had never really listened to them before. I experienced this intense head-over-heels falling in love moment with the Beatles, just like I imagine my mom did in the 60′s. My European History teacher Mr. Glassman taught a unit all about them and I fell in love.

Song to listen to: Eleanor Rigby

2. Album: ?? Artist: The Weepies

I LOVE finding CD’s that have no writing on them. I pop it in my trusty Mac. All the songs are labeled “track 1…track 2…track 3…” OOOooooOoohh! The mystery! Come to find out – it’s The Weepies. My friend, Katie, burned this for me my freshman year of college. I’ve been in love with the folksy, upbeat, good country-living songs of this husband-wife duo. Turns out they live in Topanga. Not surprised.

Song to listen to: Jolene

“I only think about you when it’s raining or it’s not.”

3. Album: Celebrity Artist: N’Sync

What 13 year-old American girl DIDN’T love boy bands? Okay. Not all of us, but most certainly me. I won this album from a contest on a local radio station. This was back in the day when you had to actually wait for a CD to come out in a store, run to the store after school and throw your allowance out the window. So I got THIS album the day BEFORE all my friends. I felt SO COOL. The music video for Pop is still awesome…but mostly for nostalgia, cheesy graphics and cheesier dancing. P.S. I still have a mad crush on JT.

Song to listen to: Pop

4. Album: Love 2 Artist: Air

So to be honest, I’ve never listened to this album. My friend, John, burned it for me a couple years back. He was going through an “Air” kick. They’re kinda ambient, transcendental, electronic…and French. They’re great tunes to listen to when driving through the forest. I have a feeling that if you were going to get abducted by aliens, really chill aliens, they would play Air. I’m listening to this album for the first time, now.

Song to listen to: African Velvet

5. Album: The Reason Artist: Hoobastank

Hoobastank…stinks like stank. It’s just entirely too emo for me. I bought this “rock” album solely because my friend, Alex, and I loved the hit single, “The Reason.” I’m pretty sure there’s video out there of 14-year-old us dancing and belting out loud the lyrics. The drummer grew up in Arcata, my hometown. There’s a plaque for him at the local middle school. Tee-hee. Wonder if it’s still up considering they’re not doing much anymore?

Song to listen to (obviously): The Reason

Okay…now it’s your turn. And don’t cheat. I really wanted to cheat and “re-pick” a new CD for this list of randomness. Report back! :)

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Moms who may feel they have no where to turn…do

September 28, 2011 in Reporter's Notebook, Uncategorized | No comments

Jenna Saraf, 4, is one of 87 kids saved by L.A. County's Safe Surrender program. It was enacted ten years ago to give parents an option to leave their newborn infants within three days of birth at a hospital or fire station within without fear of arrest. Ashley Bailey/KPCC

A Los Angeles County program that allows adults to leave newborns in safe hands, without risking arrest, celebrated 10 years Wednesday.

Without Safe Surrender, Ted Saraf from Sierra Madre said he might not have a granddaughter today. Four years ago an adult left his daughter Jenna at a hospital. Jenna’s father, a L.A. County firefighter, adopted her shortly after.

Between bites of birthday cake for the program, Saraf said his family feels lucky to have Jenna in their lives.

“If you don’t want your child, someone does,” he said. “Don’t just leave it in a trash bag or throw it on the street. Walk to the fire departments. Walk to the hospitals. No questions asked. Turn the child in and that child will have a happy life. Somebody wants that child.”

Saraf’s granddaughter is one of 87 children L.A. County’s Safe Surrender program has rescued. Officials hope that by sharing these success stories, the program will continue to prevent the deaths of abandoned infants.

I reported this Story for KPCC Southern California Public Radio (like NPR but for people that live in or around LA)

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Los Angeles the ghost town

September 26, 2011 in Adventures, So Cal, Uncategorized | No comments

Randi and I had the city all to ourselves...and yes, it's actually not sunny every day!

I thought Downtown LA would be a hub of activity, art and excellent people watching on a Saturday. Turns out I was wrong. There was no one there!

My friend Randi and I decided to play tacky tourists for the day. We’re both “fresh meat” to the city of stars. I’m six months in…Randi’s about a month in (she’s lived nearby back and forth over the past year, but hasn’t spent much time in the city).

We had our cameras and adventurous attitudes in tow. We walked the sidewalk virtually by ourselves (in the middle of the day!) for blocks, surrounded by skyscrapers. Carls Jr., Coffee Bean and every other chow place was closed it seemed like. We went to a hotel rooftop and all the patio furniture was covered. Whaaaa?? This is LA, land of sunshine year round. What’s going on?! We checked out a cathedral, a few architectural gems and then ran into a movie set. It was Batman!

We saw Anne Hathaway and Christian Bale in full Catwoman and Batman garb. They were running around a tunnel…we could peek below from above on the street. There was “snow” sprinkled along the sidewalk and Gotham City Post stickers posted where LA newspaper stands usually reside. It was equal parts exciting and boring to be on a movie set…especially because we weren’t expecting to run into it. Exciting: seeing the behind the scenes Boring: waiting for something to happen. People on movie sets do a lot of standing around.

So we finished our walk and ended up going to a game night at a girl’s apartment. There was no one in her neighborhood either. I chatted with some folks that are more familiar with LA…the district we were in is more for business they say…and there’s actually not that many people that live in Downtown. So on the weekend no one really hangs out there. I might be wrong…maybe we were walking down the wrong street. But we walked around for like four hours. It wasn’t like the city you see in the movies. I guess that’s kind of the point.

UPDATE: Ghost town theory only works on the weekends. Weekdays are bat-sh*t crazy!! I was sent out on a reporting assignment on Temple Street and paid 18 bucks for parking (well, actually my job did) after driving in circles for ungodly amount of time. Yikes. At least there’s “culture?”

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This song is so cheesy and I love it

September 26, 2011 in Music, Uncategorized | No comments

I’ll eventually piece together a playlist of musical desserts…just waiting until I find the right ones. :)

The street lights…the people! My first concert at the Wiltern in LA

September 24, 2011 in Music, Uncategorized | No comments

My new fellow-reporter friend, Andrea, invited me to tag along with her to see Two Door Cinema Club this week at the Wiltern. It’s a historic theater in LA. “Everyone good plays there.” That’s what I’ve been told by several people. I felt like such a country-bumpkin venturing down Wilshire Blvd. in the dark of night. The big blue lights of the Wiltern greeted me. I walked in and the antique feel captured me. “The bathroom looks like it would be in an 80′s movie.” It was bright magenta. No joke – loved it!

Back to the music…I enjoy the indie cheerful (and at times emo) beats of Two Door Cinema Club. They pop up on my Pandora stream regularly. I felt kind of left-out when I couldn’t sing along with every other die-hard in there. Half the time I couldn’t decide if they were actually as awesome as the crowd made them out to be. Could it be the excessive strobe lights? Maybe. The $14 beers? Eh, probably didn’t hurt. I swayed and bounced the entire time. I looked behind me and a balcony of hipsters were screaming like they were 16-year-old girls watching the young-version of the Beatles. I don’t know if I would give them another look necessarily…there were so many frills at this show. Made for good photos…but I honestly think I prefer small intimate shows where half the people moshing next to you are your best friends.

Song to listen to: Undercover Martyn

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September 16, 2011 in Music, Uncategorized | No comments

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