Good Morning & Hello Friday!!

• Bozeman has been wonderful. I couldn’t have asked for a better place to celebrate my birthday. People are super friendly, everyone is incredibly fit and outdoorsy no matter their age (inspiring!). It’s a very clean city (no litter and no dog poop even though EVERYONE seems to have at least one dog).
• I’ve not heard a single siren although a cop did drop by the lobby of the hotel yesterday to ask the front desk if they had seen “this guy” and to alert them should he come by the hotel. I also witnessed two campers-ful of homeless guys set up residence on the pristine sidewalk of Main Street (they said they had been “busking” around the country for the last 4 years). They had (been?) moved on by early the following morning.
• MSU students are also piling back into town. Things have gotten very lively on the streets. And with parents in tow, restaurants are fully booked as well.
• Next week’s post will focus on highlights of my time here including best restaurants, best stores, must-dos/sees. My itinerary got me off to an excellent start but it’s been made exponentially better by the people I’ve met, especially at restaurants. Sitting at the bar always elicits the best local tips and Bozeman has been no exception.

And with that please scroll down for the sights and sounds of Bozeman.

Good Morning & Hello Friday!!

• There is a Green Card update. It’s not what I had hoped for but progress nevertheless (#1).
• Mega travel plans are in the works — at least through the first half of 2023 (#2).
• And the most fabulous pre-birthday dinner celebration. It may possibly be my best birthday ever (#10 below). Turns out getting older isn’t as bad as *they* say! Definitely more aches and pains but if you’ve still got your wits about you, it can also be pretty cool! Everyone’s situation is different but for me, as I’ve gotten older, my life has become way more spontaneous, exciting and fun!

And on that note, please scroll down for this week’s Top 10.

Good Morning & Hello Friday!

• TRAVEL IS BACK BIG TIME. And logistics are key (as I discovered after my abysmal experience at AUS). Since then, I signed up for CLEAR (#1), I always Uber (#2), and I NEVER EVER check luggage!
• Let’s get right to it. LA has always been one of my favorite cities. It’s where I’d routinely spend several months a year doing trend work while staying at The Standard WeHo (my second home, Room 135). This time around, my first visit in 4 years, I found many bright spots (# 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 below) but I’ve struggled to stay positive about the overall direction of the city.
• The most daunting issue is homelessness and the now common sight of encampments and utterly scary street people (#10). On my last day in LA, I had to go to Brentview Urgent Care (#5, long story). At 9 am, everyone in the waiting room was jolted from their seats by loud, animalistic howling noises coming from the street. Eventually, we saw a young woman, still howling, but now bashing her head furiously against the metal garbage container. I asked if we could lock the door. The receptionist said they are not allowed to do that…..
• Downtown, which I had previously had such high hopes for, is a lost cause. Why companies are still bothering to build out these gorgeous stores and hotels is beyond me. They must know their customers will flee the moment they have their first encounter with a sidewalk defecator (pants-down-around-their-ankles doing their business outside of the new Apple Store or the Proper Hotel).
• And finally, I’m so done with driving and all this crazy traffic. I like walkable cities and LA is anything but, e.g., I love gallery hopping, but only got to visit one gallery in LA (Jeffrey Deitch) because it would have taken me 30 minutes to drive from one gallery to the next and that puts an entirely new spin on “gallery crawl.”

But all that said, my hotel experience in LA (# 4) was amazing. I spent the entire last day ensconced at “my” table with friends joining me for lunch and dinner. I met other guests, chitchatted with the staff, and just had an awesome time.

I apologize to all my LA friends for speaking negatively about your city – I’m sure people have similar things to say about NYC. It might just be a case of the “devil you know vs. the devil you don’t.” But seeing one of my once favorite cities deteriorate like this makes me sad.

And on that note, if you have any appetite left for travel tips and recommendations, please scroll down. I promise it’s not all doom and gloom.