I’ve been in southern California for almost a week now so here are some of my comments on things:
Most of the people I’ve interacted with have been super friendly! This is not necessarily surprising or anything, but it’s really stuck out to me.
The air can be hard to breathe sometimes, and some mornings there’s a bunch of visible smog that reduces visibility (I wish I could enjoy the mountains but you can barely see them!).
Very interesting variation in temperatures - yesterday when I was over the mountains and in the Mojave it was around 105 (40-41C), but today in Costa Mesa where I’m staying it’s in the 70s (23-24C) (which is also cooler than where I’m from would be).
Certain things are very expensive, but some things cost the same. Gas is of course pricey, always at least over a dollar more per gallon than back home. I have seen gas in the $7-8 range in downtown LA as well. General groceries at say Walmart haven’t been noticeably higher, but when eating out food and drinks have been all over the place price wise.
There are so many people and LA (proper and metropolitan) is so big. I knew this of course going in, but it’s something else to actually witness it in person. I’m not a city person so it’s kinda like my idea of a big city magnified by 100, it’s bizarre to try to imagine this as normal for millions of people. The traffic isn’t quite as bad as I was imagining, but I also was mostly on LA roads on the weekend and there are still always people who drive crazy.
I’m sure there’s a lot more but I can’t think of anything else major at the moment. I can definitely say I understand the enchantment of the American West a bit more now.
Leaving the desert this morning to head back to LA for a couple days. It’s a little sad but I’m so glad I was able to come out here. I was originally planning on visiting the Channel Islands, but Joshua Tree has been amazing.
From now until Friday when I need to catch my train I won’t have any transportation or much to do, so I’ll probably sit down and go through my pictures to find which ones I want to post.
Here’s a Joshua tree with the town of Joshua Tree in the background
guys I took some amazing pictures in Joshua Tree yesterday
Here’s a really basic photo for now but at some point I’ll find some of the really nice ones to share
my eyes have been opened to the truths of the west coast; what goes in must come out…
700 posts! - I have landed in California so here we go. I know LA is supposed to be big but man the scale really is crazy when you see it in person. Maybe I also just don’t have much experience with cities, who knows. I can’t really give many impressions / thoughts yet cause it’s been dark but I’ve also been up for 23 hours now so I don’t really know what’s going on. It’s 4:30 according to my body right now so I’m going to go to bed for now - but my adventures on the west coast shall begin tomorrow!
I did it. Today is July 1st which means I am finally officially employed at a full time job.
In other news I bought an Amtrak ticket this morning for two weeks from today and I’m really excited for that!
not to get too political but it is a bit frustrating that people are just now realizing the 80 year old is 80 years old
we still have four months and I don’t think things are official yet, can we please pivot now and find someone who won’t cause the country to be run into the ground
I was frustrated four months ago when I voted in the primaries (no one else cared then!) and I’m just as frustrated now. Partisanship is actively killing our country and no one cares!
okay I’ll shut up until something else makes me mad
I think it’s about time for some Bahamas pictures, don’t you?
This is when I first got to the beach after landing, right before it poured