Sunday, July 26, 2015

our trip to california & a big move

LOS ANGELES


{runyon canyon}


{venice beach and canals}

MALIBU


{el matador state beach, malibu}

SANTA BARBARA // MONTECIDO


{hiking to montecido peak}


{downtown santa barbara}


{the mission}

DRIVE TO SF


{a stop in SLO and hearst castle}


{driving the pacific coast highway}


{hiking in big sur}


{a stop in carmel-by-the-sea and monterey bay aquarium}

SAN FRANCISCO


{day 1 of the touristy spots and hilly hills}


{biking in the mission and exploring golden gate park}


{lands end hike}

our california road trip was, literally and figuratively, a dream.  when i was in high school, i joked with my dad that i wanted to go to college in california.  my dad non-joked back that i was only going if i got into stanford, so i don't think i ended up applying to any schools on the other side of the country.  since college applications went out, i'd been dying to drive up the california coast.  the views were everything i dreamed of and more.  as J was the only 25 year old on our trip (of 2), he did all of the driving - something i was grateful for, as i was free to weild the camera towards mountain and sea at my disposal.  multiple times i was forced to scream EYES ON THE ROAD as J would turn his head to the left on a particularly windy road and point to something far off in the water.

as the only times i had been to california were both for volunteer trips (and i lived in homeless shelters and churches), this was quite a different trip.  we visited friends in los angeles and san francisco, and cousins in los angeles and santa barbara, and were so grateful to have these connections in such beautiful places.

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i arrived in DC this past tuesday and have been setting up my apartment // meeting friends to explore with // sitting around relishing the last few days of freedom that i have all to myself.  during the day, circa 11 am, i've come to realize that i'm probably the only tenant in my apartment building save for the doorman and the contractor who is going door to door, fixing AC units.  the doorman's name is stanley and he reminds me of the character with the same name on the office, and every time i request something of him he sighs and gets out of his chair slowly, as if attending to the needs of tenants is absent from his job description. i love him.

i love this little town so far.  everything is super accessible and walkable, yet i still feel a bit subway-dumb - not in the sense that i don't know how to use it, but in the sense that i don't know where anything is located.  going up and down the 1 train became second-nature during my time in new york, and i could probaby recite to you the stops on the local track in my sleep from brooklyn to harlem.  this, along with never stepping into an empty subway train for fear of death smells, is what i learned from my two years in the city.  while we're on the topic of the cleanliness of public transportation, the DC metro is unlike anything i've ever seen.  people have their clothes on!  and no one is dancing on the poles and harrassing you with fist bumps! and if anyone dares to eat something on the DC metro, they're there to subsequently pick up the crumbs.  saints, i tell you.

"everything i was i carry with me.  everything i will be lies waiting on the road ahead."
- majian 

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