Road Trip: Los Angeles

Growing up in the car culture that is Texas, I am no stranger to road trips. Some of my favorite childhood memories involve road trips to the beach with my parents and sisters. As an adult, I have had my fair share of roaming by car, but nothing for more than a few days at a time… until this year, when my Belgian friends came to visit me here and we collectively decided that their three weeks should be spent not just soaking up the SoCal sun but exploring other parts of the vast United States.

On paper the itinerary seemed ambitious but manageable. In hindsight I would surmise that we should not have been so zealous…ambition tends to get in the way of substance (as odd as that may sound), but more on that later.

I’ll unfold our adventure in photography (all of which was taken with my iPhone 6 Plus) here over the next few weeks, and today I’ll begin our adventure in LA. You know, the LA most of us Californians take for granted until we see it through our visitors’ eyes…such as LA’s first fire house/Old Plaza Firehouse and Chinese American Museum in the El Pueblo historical area. There are interesting exhibits and artisans we’d only encounter if we actually went to these touristy places that we’d otherwise avoid.

And there's the La Brea Tar Pits near Hancock Park, and quaint neighborhoods like the Venice Canal historic district.

Though I should say none of us here ever really take this for granted: the sun and coastline.

The running joke is that with the next big earthquake we may all become beachfront property owners, and the irony isn’t lost on us that for all the coastline we have, water is the number one luxury during this time of a severe drought.

Funnily enough today’s entry ends with this photo of the “end of the trail," since our journey is only beginning. 

When I took that shot on the Santa Monica pier, I had no clue what was about to unfold in the days to come. I was only hoping that (1) we’d not get a flat tire during the trip, (2) we’d still remain friends after being in close quarters for so many days, and (3) I’d have some awesome photos on my phone.  The rest I left in the hands of the universe.

May 16, 2015