We were staying at my sister's apartment, so we called her when we got into town. Brought our stuff in, and then went to park the car in the driveway of one of her friend's house behind a locked gate. [Finally, we were a little more at ease with that.] It didn't take long before we crashed for the night.
The next day we had plans to bring Mark's bike to a bike shop to get his tire fixed. He had called them and had them order the part so that it would be there by the time we got there. He was obviously anxious to get that fixed since he had been itching to ride so bad. As they were fixing his bike, we decided to head to the beach.
This was probably one of my favorite moments from the trip. I love water. I love the ocean. It calms me, it refreshes me, it brings so much happiness to me. We saw this huge group of kids that were trying to learn how to surf and it was so entertaining. Especially when all of the girls went out on the surf boards and tried to paddle against the waves. They just kept getting knocked over and we couldn't help but giggle. And then we saw a guy flying a giant kite and we started picking up little shells and oysters and Mark took what instantly became one of our favorite pictures from the trip. An oyster shell opened to look like a heart with the foam of the ocean wave receding. How beautiful.
As we were walking back to the car to have lunch we saw this group of people and all of this video equipment and knew there was some kind of shoot happening. So we asked one of the guys that we passed on the sidewalk what was going on and he said they were from NCIS: Los Angeles and they were filming a scene. It was a fun little thing to walk through and see and make a joke out of later.
We had lunch, picked up the bike, and then headed back to the apartment to relax and fiddle around playing music as we waited for my sister to get off work.
After she got back she gave us a tour of the city. She showed us the Staples Center, the tunnel they filmed a scene from The Transformers in, and the bench in the park from 500 Days of Summer. My sister and Mark both really like sushi, so they had previously decided that we'd be going to a place where they could get sushi. Since I'm not a fan, I went a little more of the Hibachi route.
The next day Mark and I went on our separate adventures. It was the first time in the trip that we had substantial time away from each other. Since the bike was finally fixed, he had set up a route in Malibu and was going to go on a long bike ride. Totally fine with me. My sister and I had other plans. We both wanted to get footage from our different escapades, so I sent Mark with the still camera and I took the Flip video camera, because we thought that was more fitting with what we were doing.
Mark got some absolutely gorgeous shots on his ride, but I won't fill the blog with a ton. He put together a photo montage of the ride and I really encourage you to check it out, because it's really gorgeous.
Anyways, my sister and I went to Hollywood for the afternoon! I got to ride the Subway for the first time ever. We went to an outdoor mall, sat on the giant casting couch, saw the Hollywood sign from a distance, walked down Hollywood Boulevard and checked out a bunch of the stars on the ground. And of course I had to stop for a picture with this Star.
It was the week of the Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Pt 2 premier so Grauman's Chinese Theatre had these huge posters up and a lot of people were hanging out by the handprints. We even came across this Shrek statue and I had to pause to give him a little kiss on the cheek.
My sister took me to a couple other Subway stations because they all look different, especially the ones right in the middle of Hollywood. They make them bright and colorful and have film reels and palm trees and painted tiles. We hopped back on the subway and I made a joke to some stranger and by the end of the ride we had made a new friend.
Before heading back to the apartment we met up with my sister's friend Stephen for giant burritos for lunch at a little mom and pop place.
That night we were putting on a private show for my sister and her friends in the backyard where Stephen lived. A bunch of people came over to help set up and arrange couches, hang rope lights, and set up food. We played for a while over the PA and then did a few old songs unplugged sitting around the couches. After the show a few of the closer friends went over to my sister's for spaghetti and we all had a peach ring in honor of my Dad who always got us peach rings when we took a long trip. It was a special moment for us that they all joined in on. And since it was our last night in LA, we decided to go downtown for a little bit. We went for drinks at a bar just outside of the Staples Center, and enjoyed some last moments of hanging out and then walked around a little bit. We got to see the red carpet from the ESPY's that were there that night.
It was time for us to get some rest before the next stop. Which also meant the last time Daniel was going to get to sleep with Mark. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more. They had a little bromance going on.
Los Angeles was a pleasant surprise. It wasn't as dirty as we anticipated, and it was the longest we stayed in one place. It was cool for me to see my sister's apartment for the first time since she moved out there and fun for us to have a little time together just the two of us.
Until next time,
Jordan
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