Los Angeles

2017

This was my first ever trip out west, and it was thrilling! My partner and I took the train from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Los Angeles, California, and it was a little more than 40 hours of travel in each direction BUT I got to savor the gradual change from prairie to scrub grass to desert landscapes, and savor it I sure did. This trip was a mixture of tourism and visiting friends, and I feel I got to see a pretty good slice of the city in the four or five days we were there. At the very least I got to see the Pacific, meaning I am now able to say I have visited both American coasts! I saw a bunch of other cool stuff too, but I would have been happy even if I had only seen the ocean, as long as I still got to see my friends too. The west coast somehow seems even further away, now that I have visited and can fully grasp the distance.

2021

This was the first non-family related trip I took in a long time, in July of 2021 after I had been double vaccinated and felt it was safe enough to fly across the country. Due to the ongoing pandemic + my personal lack of interest in most tourist-oriented things, this trip was strictly for visiting, no restaurants or museums on the itinerary. Thus, I went on a lot of walks and got to enjoy more of the natural sights of LA County. I really loved the variety of rocky landscapes, I had just finished up a geology course and it was so neat to be able to apply that knowledge as I hiked around! I was a little disappointed that it was so much cooler than I had been expecting; I forgot how cold the ocean air is, and at night I sorely regretted not bringing more pants with me.