Los Angeles in Two Days or I Love Palm Trees

I look down on my phone: it’s February 9th 2:30pm and it’s +28 degrees °C. We must be in LA.

Our first day was spent in the wilderness of Hollywood hills. Hiking all the way up to the Griffith Observatory and further to the back of the HOLLYWOOD sign and back has got to be my favourite part of the trip. Firstly, I felt very proud of myself walking over 20km that day. Secondly, I enjoyed the February sun. It’s not too hot and the ‘winter breeze’ was just enough to keep you going. And finally, California looked beautiful form over there. Landscapes are quite different from our ‘northern’ Canadian ones. The mountains are not as tall and are all covered in greens. The hiking trails are mostly in the open sun and sandy, but not as high-low all the time if you were to compare it to Chief in Squamish or even Quarry Rock in North Van. So I’d say it was an easy hike (Actually, I take that back. It’s 20km, remember?)

After getting as close as we could to the infamous sign we hurried back to the Observatory to catch the sunset. From there you can see LA for as much as your human eye allows you too. And, maaaan, Cali sunsets are breathtaking indeed. The sky that night looked like a blood orange.

LA is an interesting city. It is so huge that it can take up to two hours of transit if you want to get, say, from West Hollywood to Santa Monica beach (the route of our second day). Most of the people have cars here, but I think they are pretty frustrated about the distances too as we figured out from the constant nervous honking. I like big cities, but the ones like Moscow and New York. LA didn’t feel like that at all. It felt disconnected, inconvenient and just too big. We hopped off the bus half way to walk around Beverly Hills. This was my favourite area of the city. If I am rich, I wouldn’t mind having a vacation home on Beverly Drive among the palm trees. It’s nice and clean, the grass is well cared for, and did I mention the palm trees?

Here’s a picture of me loving a palm tree:

We continued walking down Santa Monica Boulevard. Mid-day we reached the beach having stopped in a few shops near the Avenue of the Stars – an interesting place as well. It felt like an episode of a sci-fi movie where the world was going to end soon: there was nothing besides the tall, futuristic glass buildings, cars, and men and women wearing suits in blazing sun.

Santa Monica beach and the pier were nice. Any beach in my dictionary is nice. The ocean here is more blue than in Vancouver and had big waves. Some people were even brave enough (and with a very thick skin apparently) and swam in it! We were content with just laying on the beach, enjoying the sound of the waves and reading a book till the sunset. Another gorgeous Cali sunset – a perfect way to end our trip.

Here are some of my conclusions from this trip:

1. Palm trees are cool. I like them. They are like monsters with messy hair on a long leg. What not to like?

2. Bus drivers in LA are the nicest and mostly women. Not sure if one depends on the other or it’s just a coincidence.

3. I came back pretty happy with my shorts tan, but realizing that I am not willing to sacrifice a lot for a nice tan anymore. (Growing up, I know!)

4. Thank you, LA, for a boost of vitamin D aka the sun, but Vancouver has become my home. For real. I love it, I miss it, I am persuaded that it is the best place on Earth and I’m happy to be back here.

Until next time.

Xoxo,

Sasha