Chasing Adventure: Looking For Authentic Connections
Los Angeles, CA isn’t immediately the community that comes to mind when I envision a backyard fine dining experience amongst new friends. On my recent Chasing Adventure trip to California, I purposed to orbit my decisions around people, adventure and a loose schedule. My son and I found ourselves in a story we didn’t anticipate. We didn’t realize that we were being invited into real connections with real people, not just a meal.
The authenticity of this Los Angeles dinner, reminded us of on another experience we shared years before. We were in London, England over the Thanksgiving Holiday and didn’t have a plan for how to celebrate our American holiday. Months before, I met a local Londoner while he was visiting Colorado. I rang him once we crossed the pond and he asked “What goes with turkey on Thanksgiving”.
By our surprise, we arrived for a sit-down dinner with ten other guests. Only one of the guests had ever experienced an American Thanksgiving dinner before. Our host a famous floral designer, crafted place cards with each person’s name hand written onto a fresh tropical leaf the size of your plate. Unbeknownst to us, we were the guests of honor. At the request of our host, we initiated the multi-country gathering through a round-the-table “Here is what I am thankful for”. Powerful!
Like the backyard long table dinner in LA, the American Thanksgiving in London was over the top. We shared authentic, intimate, meaningful connections with total strangers.
Go looking for authentic connections and you will surely find them. Those same people are looking to find you also.
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Off Script:
If you are ever in Los Angeles, purpose to visit Griffith Park and Observatory. It is amazing. There are miles and miles of trails to walk or run. You can hike right up to the Hollywood sign and the observatory is featured in more movies that you can count. Check it out.