Day 33 of 33 - The Final Post

What a day! Thanks to some great friends and family, I had a fantastic time in Los Angeles. I could not have asked for a better final day.

I have many pictures and videos to add, but that will come later. I'm shooting for 1 hour of sleep tonight.

I woke up very early this morning, which was rather hard to do considering the opening night party and my late night completion of Alex's video. I was nervous about using the San Diego public transportation for the first time. That's right - I was NOT riding my bike somewhere. It turned out my fears were unfounded and I made quite a quick trip to the Amtrak station. In fact, I was over an hour early for the train and the previous train had not yet left. The first strike of luck in my favor was that I was able to exchange for the earlier train and I gained myself an extra hour in Los Angeles!!

The train ride north was great. For at least half the trip the train followed the coast line and I got a great view of the beaches, hardcore surfers, and fun beach towns and camp sites. I arrived in LA in just over 2 hours and it definitely beat the heck out of driving.

I had made tentative plans to meet up with Ben and Emily, but they were both busy until later. I was left to my own devices, which is a dangerous thing. I bought myself a daily metro card (only $5) and stared at a map, deciding where to go. I toyed with rhe idea of going out to UCLA to check out their facilities and see if anyone would talk to me about their MFA program. However, it was rather out of the way, and they are not a well known program anyway, and their graduate coordinator never answered my email, so I decided to pass. I thought I would try something touristy.

I saw a stop on the map called Universal City and I decided that sounded like a place where I might see fun movie things. I rode the metro like a pro and found myself at the entrance to Universal Ciry. A free shuttle bus beckoned to take me atop the hill. As I dew nearer, I slowly realized this was not quite what I thought it was, and really was just the entrance for Universal Studios theme park. I got off anyway because at this point I really needed a bathroom. I took the opportunity to wander around their shopping and restaurant area and gather what photos I could.

I walked back to the metro and decided to head back into town. I wasn't really interested in going back to Hollywood Blvd, where Alex and I visited last time, but I thought I would check some famous streets like Sunset Blvd and Santa Monica Blvd and see of there was anything interesting.

In short, I found there was not. By this point, I had decided to consult my IPhone on "Things to do in LA" and among suggestions for 6-7 star hazing tours, there was one mention of park just north of where I was. That sounded free, so I set my sights North.

I found myself looking at the famous Hollywood sign in the distance and I kept heading toward it, like a wise man following the north star. Eventually I ran into the aforementioned park, Griffith park. I found an awesome little walking path that wove its way up a small stream. Let's call it... fern gully. Eventually, the fern gully ended and I was standing in a more traditional LA setting of scrub brush.

At this point I had to go to the bathroom, again, probability due to Mama Testas famous fish tacos. I spied a public toilet and headed in. Now, it is dubious enough to use a public toilet in a park, in major city. But I have not before been met with the challenge of stalls with no doors!

I took care of business and headed back outside. I was thinking I should head back to the city to go meet Ben when my eyes met with a particularly steep and treacherous looking trail and... well... by now you should know what I did.






I reached the top of the first hill and saw not only a great view of Los Angeles and the Hollywood sign, but I saw a cool building situated on the next hill. I continued on this crazy trail and spilled out upon the front lawn of the Griffiths Observatory. It turned out to be free museum. My kind of place!

I did just miss the planetarium movie, but that cost money (not my kind of movie). However, I was able to catch "local noon" where the sun ACTUALLY crosses the meridian line, despite the time on my watch. See if this video gets you as excited as I was.

Ben called me and was on his way to meet up with me. I thought I would make it easier for him by going back down the mountain into town. I found a small paved path which I thought would be a responsible way down, however it ended at the iron bars of some estate. Well you know I loathe retracing my steps, so instead I slid down the side of the mountain. I ended in someone's back yard, but I fought the urge to go swimming and started walking down a beautiful street lined with rich people houses. I picked a lime off a tree in someone's yard to assuage my growing hunger.

It turned out Ben had already made it to the observatory and now had to work his way down to find me. We eventually met up and Ben took us to a neat restaurant called Home where we got sandwiches and drinks and caught up. After he drove over to Melrose and we spent some time wandering in and out of funny shops.

I then traded hosts as Ben headed off to a prior commitment and Emily swung by to pick me up. Emily took me straight to a funny little shack with fantastic fish tacos. I may not have been that hungry, but it was worth squeezing in as many fish tacos as possible before I headed back to the north east.

We then headed downtown LA, checked out a cool used bookstore called The Last Bookstore, and met up with her boyfriend Brian to grab some beers at their favorite local bar. Brian is a great guy and was a real trooper to hang out, as he had just finished an incredibly long and hard work week and had apparently exchanged words with Jessica Simpson.

Time was sneaking up on me and we began to think about my departure train. First we decided to walk over a couple blocks and check out Little Tokyo, which proved a funny little neighborhood. Emily got a hankering for Gyoza (fried dumplings) so we stopped again at another trendy bar for Gyoza and Japanese Brown Rice Lager. Ok by me!

At last, the sunset of my trip was upon us. Due to some smart planning, we were actually only a block away from a metro line where I could hop a train right to Union Station. Travel home went off without a hitch. I finished packing and while I should be exhausted from this trip, I'm afraid I may be up all night in anticipation of my long-awaited return.

New Jersey, here I come!