Day 60: Two Months Gone
It's been one month since that day in the park in Budapest, and two months since I took a flight out of Boston. I can't repeat it enough, how much it feels like I've only just left, and how it feels like I've been gone a lifetime. I feel like a broken record typing that out again, but it still amazes me every day.
Before I spiral into self reflection (actually I already did, I just took it out because reading it over again, it made no sense), let me just talk about my day in Los Angeles.
A friend of mine was kind enough to take the day off from work when she heard I was coming to town, and used her day off to show me around some of the top Los Angeles sites. The ones that weren't as easily reachable by foot.
The first stop was The Hollywood Sign Hike. There's probably a better name for it, but I don't know it, and calling it that pretty much explains what it is instantaneously. We parked at the bottom of the hills and began the steady uphill battle to the top. The trail twisted and turned its way up the hills, giving way to expansive views of the city that stretched into the horizon, or in this case, the thick smog. Los Angeles is a great city, but looking at the cloud of what looked like fog, made me wonder what exactly I was breathing down there.
The sun was hot and the hike was long, but we had water and each turn opened the trail up to a strong cooling breeze. Without any trouble we made it to the top of the hill, just behind the Hollywood sign. The hike was somewhat crowded (for a hike), but there was a solid ten minutes at the top of pure silence. I was able to sit and gaze out at the city in peace. Little did I know that my friend was behind me taking a panoramic photo. Came out pretty good though:
Another panorama from my point of view.
Once back down in the car, we made our way to Santa Monica Pier. This is where I will have to mention the TV show Rocket Power for the second time in this blog. The show takes place in a place that either is or was inspired by the Santa Monica Pier, I don't quite remember the specifics. But either way, it caused a lot of flashbacks to childhood. That show might have a had a bigger influence on me than I ever thought.
The Pier was crowded, but awesome. I've been on piers before, but this one was still pretty iconic. We had lunch on the pier, which in retrospect might not have been the best idea, since the food wasn't great and it was on the expensive side. But the great part, and the part that is usually the best part of all piers, was the end. There's something about the ocean that I can stare at for a long time, especially when my feet are on solid ground. But of course the other interesting part that piers always have is the fisherman. It's as if the pier is their own vessel that they take out in the morning and bring back to shore at night. The constant reeling and hurling of the lines can be somewhat hypnotizing.
We walked down the beach a short distance, mostly just to see the crazy things going on at Muscle Beach. This part of the beach has all kinds of equipment set up, there are swings, rings, and all kinds of things (couldn't resist the rhyming opportunity). But the coolest thing was probably the slack lines people had set up. I've seen slack lines before, there were some in Europe and even back home in Boston. But the people on the beach today were way better than anyone I've seen before. These people were bouncing up and down on the lines, changing position mid-air, landing on the line, and sending themselves back up again. I made a bold prediction, but I stand by it: four olympics from now, there will be some kind of event involving slack lines. Maybe in some kind of gymnastic routine sort of way. I wonder if there's already competitions out there somewhere.
A quick google search revealed a "US National Slackline Competition" video from 2011. So it's already on its way.
Tomorrow is my last full day on this adventure. Thursday I fly home, arriving in Boston late that same night, and so will end my exploration of this giant world. At least just this one journey. I would be pretty upset with myself if I let this be the final venture out into the world. I might just have to write a best seller or two before I can do something as long as this again. But there are plenty of ways to travel, so I know I will find a way.
I'll save as much of the self reflection stuff for the day I get home. Don't want to spoil all the good fun I had today. Thanks for sticking with me throughout the whole journey and here's to tomorrow.
P.S. I unfortunately had to post this one in the morning rather than before bed because the wifi here in the apartment completely vanished on me. Apologies to anyone who went to find this post but didn't find it. It's here now though!
