Stop 11: Los Angeles, California

“Bob Marley isn’t my name. I don’t even know my name yet.” Bob Marley

Good

My couchsurfing host this time was a tour guide in Hollywood, so we had a great time exploring that area as well as tons of thrift stores…my favorite! Her roommate, a Disneyland employee, and I went swimming in the pool at their apartment complex, which was a great break from the heat. For one day, I went to Venice Beach, which is a long boardwalk along the ocean with tons of rollerblading hippies, photographers, singers, drunks, druggies, and tourists. I found this environment incredibly refreshing. I loved seeing all the different kinds of people and the acceptance of so many lifestyles. The energy in this place is amazing and everyone should try to go at least one time in their life.

Bad

Route 66 was absolutely my most favorite part of the drive across the country. This very empty road swerves up and down through mountains and red rocks, making it the perfect place to blast music and drive with all the windows down. I was so happy but felt lonely for the first time on my trip. That was such a special experience driving on that road, and I really wish I had someone there to share it with. I usually liked my solitude while driving for 12-16 hours, but I was sad at this moment that I couldn’t smile at someone sitting in the passenger seat next to me.

Crazy

While driving on Route 66, I came across a real ghost town tucked away in the red rocks. There were little shacks everywhere and stores selling fabrics. The people were all very old and wrinkly. Not to mention there were tons of stray goats, cows, and chickens running around. Another crazy experience I had was while exploring Venice Beach. A man ran up to me and claimed to be an energy healer, like a psychic but instead of seeing the future he sees energy. He asked if I would like to hear what he has to say about my energy. I was a bit freaked out but said ok. Based on my energies, he told me two concerns that I think about every day: a physical one and an emotional one. I am not one to believe in this kind of stuff, but he was amazingly accurate. This experience made me wonder more about how our energies influence those around us and if there are people on Earth that really do have the power to see energy. Wow I sound so psychedelic or something right now.

Lame

I was so sleepy after the drive to Los Angeles and really wanted to sleep in the next day. But both of the girls I was staying with had work very early in the morning. So I actually drove from Los Angeles to Venice Beach early in the morning and arrived around 8am. I slept in my car until noon. It was so cloudy and I felt in a daze for the first hour I was there. I was really not feeling it, which was sad because Venice Beach is such a cool place. But then the sun came out, I bought myself some ice cream, got a free makeover from a professional makeup artist that was doing promotions on the beach, received a rose because it was Mother’s Day (Do I look like a mother? I hope not.), and ended up having a very enriching afternoon talking to all the characters.

Quote

I’m not really sure what this quote means. Like it suggests that he has more searching before finding his true self, but still it’s confusing to me. I felt like was my experience talking to about 90% of the people on Venice Beach. They would say things like this, that sound relatively simple but are hugely complex when you get to thinking about the underlying meanings. I didn’t even know how to respond to people when they were talking about finding consciousness through unconsciousness, looking within to find true imaginary versions of the self, or soaking up rays of sun to reach a state of harmony with the universe.

Explore Los Angeles, California now

Route 66
http://www.historic66.com

Venice Beach
http://venicebeach.com

Disneyland
https://disneyland.disney.go.com

Venice Beach Freakshow
http://www.venicebeachfreakshow.com