Perhaps I will devote this one to impressions. I haven't even been in California for 24 hours yet but I have essentially spent a "day" doing stuff and being here so I certainly have drawn a few conclusions.
Some things I noticed:
1) LA is pretty spread out. I didn't understand what everyone meant about having to drive everywhere but now I do. It's kind if sprawling. As we were flying in I noticed the grids upon grids of low-lying, neatly-stacked houses that seem to stretch on infinitely in all directions.
2) There are a LOT of crazy people here. A man holding a stuffed monkey projectile sneezed on my leg in the bus and then said "God bless you" to himself.
3) Veince beach is pretty much the stereotypical picture of LA that I had in my mind: colors, skateboards, break dancers, graffiti, surfers, etc. I didn't really get a chance to explore the boardwalk much because I made a beeline for the ocean but I think I will walk around a little more today.
4) LA is a city, after all, and it is a lot like a typical city in a lot of ways--but everything is outside. Every restaurant has permanent outdoor seating because the weather is perfect every single day (70s/80s during the day and cool 60s at night--very little humidity and no rain). Everything is colorful and kissed with an air of beachiness.
5) Despite the crazies, people are way nicer here overall. Even the crazy people are nicer. Crazies in DC yell at you. Crazies in LA sneeze on your knee after asking how you are doing.
Being on the beach yesterday was wonderful (despite forgetting a towel--see photo). It was nice to smell the ocean again. I grew up on the jersey shore. My grandparents have a house there so we spent every weekend of every summer of my childhood on the beach. In recent years I have really begun to miss it. This summer, I hadn't even put on a bathinsuit once until yesterday's beach adventure. This being my first trip to a west coast beach, I definitely noticed some key differences but overall, a beach is a beach and I felt right at home. It was easy to walk to Santa Monica from there to meet up with Blythe and Brian after they finished work. We went to happy hour, then to dinner, then to karaoke.
All in all, it was a really good day and I already feel significantly less stressed. The antsy, on-edge feeling has all but dissipated and now exhaustion is setting in. As I sit here in their living room at 9am listening to the sounds of some people rustling around outside, I don't even want to get up to go to the kitchen for food. Haha. I will. But for the moment, I'm enjoying the rest. I would like to have more of this so-called rest.
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