This morning felt surreal; I knew last night she was leaving, but part of me thought she would change her mind. I faintly remember hearing her get up, and walk out the door, and that was it. I woke up to hear the apartment taking their showers one by one, and didn't feel like getting out of bed. I had a lot of figuring out to do, and I felt if I could just lay there all day, maybe it would figure itself out; doubtful. There was all but a note left on top of my computer. Justin came out and asked we could get a ticket for me to go to the show would I want to, we thought they were sold out but he said some became available. I asked how much, he said it was free; sounds good to me. He entered in all of my information to the IPad and we were just waiting on a e-mail confirmation. When it didn't come through to my e-mail, he re-entered it with his e-mail in hopes that the activation code would come through. We left the apartment and he ran back inside to get in the wi-fi network when he saw that the e-mail came through. Well at least I know my plans for tonight! I walked to the car and decided it needed to be re-organized now that half of the contents were gone. I gathered all of my laundry, and put it in a bag to be taken to the laundromat. I organized everything back to basically how it was in the beginning, got rid of a bunch of trash, and cleaned up a little. After the car was situated, I put in the laundromat into my walking GPS; only a couple blocks away taking about 8 minutes to walk there. Laundry in hand I walked to Tiffany's Laundry, where I soon realized I didn't have detergent. Well, I could wash my clothes without it, I could ask someone nearby to borrow some in which I wouldn't give it back, the third option was to buy some; but since I only had about $3 in quarters, and the wash was $1.75 that was not a viable option. As I heard a Spanish talkshow on the television,I looked around and spotted a woman nearby folding laundry. I walked up and asked her if I could have some detergent since I was traveling cross country and forgot to bring it, she handed over a container of Tide. Thank goodness for generous people still in this world! I filled up the cup, tossed in the laundry, and returned the bottle thanking her again. I took a seat to wait for the 25 minute wash to conclude, and made a call to the Spot GPS tracker I had with me on the Appalachian Trail, seems they auto renewed and I needed to cancel the subscription. After the wash was done, I threw the clothes in the dryer for two 10 minute sessions, I love how laundromats are so much quicker than machines at home. I sat outside in the back ally of the laundromat and started today's blog post, once the clothes were done I folded them all back into the bag I carried them in and headed back to the car. I felt like such a local walking around with my laundry, apparently others thought I was too since a guy asked from his car window if I knew where a street was, unfortunetly I did not. Back at the car, I put away all of my clothes, made an oatmeal breakfast, and stopped by the local post office to send out some outgoing mail. From there, I headed to a nice view of the city at Baldwin hills where I drove up and took some photos. After, I decided to go to Hollywood Boulevard for the walk of fame. I parked the car, put in an hour in the meter, and walked up and down the streets. I was in search of Vin Diesel, however since I was alone I didn't want to venture off too much. I didn't end up finding Vin Diesel's star, but I did see Rascal Flatts, Will Farrell, Jerry Lee Lewis, and many others! I walked down one side and up the other with my head down staring at each star, about every 30 seconds someone would try to talk to me about a tour, or try and give me a flyer. I kept my head down reading the names and ignoring them. I spotted the car with 20 minutes left on the meter and headed to Griffith Park to see the Hollywood sign. The navigation took me through a park with some playgrounds, and then a dead end. There were a few cars parked and a gate that looked like people could hike to the sign; I asked a woman who just pulled in next to me and she said that it would take awhile to hike up that way. She suggested I drive to Griffith Park Observatory, and there would be a trail that would take you to the sign that way. I thanked her, and headed towards the observatory. It was just down the road, and the parking was along the mountain-like road. I didn't actually go to the observatory, but instead walked up the path towards the Hollywood sign. The walk was a dirt path, hillside, with great views of the city. I walked for awhile, but decided not to walk all the way to the sign. I asked two French guys if they would take my photo in front of the sign for me, this was the point where I turned around after and headed back towards the car. At this point I still had about two hours until I needed to meet Justin and Echelle at Justin's work. I was exhausted so I pulled down the mountain road, and turned to a pull off parking area to take a nap. It is not the most comfortable sleeping in the driver's seat, but when your that tired you make it work. I napped for about an hour or so, blogged a little, and then headed 15-20 minutes to where Justin worked. I wanted to get there early to make sure I knew where it was, account for any traffic time, and make sure I could find a parking spot. I sure do hate the city in that respect, the parking sucks! The traffic wasn't bad, your typical in LA; everyone is in a rush. I circled around a few times looking for parking, and I found one almost directly across the street. As long as the curb isn't painted yellow or red, your in the clear. I parked and a UPS truck pulled up really close behind me, I texted Justin to come and see if where I parked was alright just in case. He had me pull up a little just to give some room behind me, but the spot was fine. We took Echelle's car down to Hollywood Boulevard where I was earlier. The show cutoff was 5:45, we had plenty of time, Justin ran to get a piece of pizza even while we stood in line. It wasn't long until we were in front of the Jimmy Kimmel stage, pretty cool for a free Tuesday night! We stood and waited for the concert, we could hear the show live over the speakers, and then saw part of it on the screens on stage. Jimmy came out to where we were and I was only able to get a shot of the back of his head, but still pretty cool! He announced Alabama Shakes and they came on stage for their first song. I was not familiar with the band but I really liked their live performance. They are kind of a chill, southern, soul band and you could tell in the life put into the music. Since the concert was being recorded on live television they only played 4-5 songs, still a really awesome experience. After the concert, I asked if they minded us checking out Vin Diesel's star (Jon had texted me saying it was by Roosevelt's hote, and I saw the sign for it just down the sidewalk.) They agreed, and a couple minutes later I was taking a selfie with it! After we got back to the cars at Justin's work, I told him I'd meet him at the apartment in a bit that I was gonna stop at In N Out burger by the house since I was starving. I figured it would be quick, cheap, and a good way to end my last night in California. I waited in the drive thru for my double double animal style, after about 15 minutes I was off to try and find a parking spot. I circled down by the apartment, nothing. Over by the grocery store, nothing. Once more by the apartment, still nothing. I took out my burger and began to eat in search of a spot, I knew this wouldn't be a quick process so I better eat in the meantime. After circling around the block maybe 5 times I finally found a spot right outside of the apartment, the closest I've parked since staying in LA, perfect! I threw out my burger wrapper, and met Justin at the door. Kevin wasn't home yet, and Garvey left when Justin got there. We just hung out on our computers, drinking a beer, and talking here and there. He looked up the Fast and the Furious house for me and it was only like 18 minutes away! I think I will head there in the morning before I leave California. If you couldn't tell, I am kind of obsessed with the saga. Kevin came home with some side tables from storage and then around 8:30-9:00 he headed to hockey. We wrapped up the evening earlier than the past two nights so I could get some rest since I planned to wake up at 4:00am to head out. After seeing the house from Fast and the Furious, I will have almost a 7 hour drive to Zion National Park in Utah.
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