So before I leave NYC behind for the sandier, more Palm Tree-ridden pastures of LA once again, I feel a moment should be taken for NYC's subway system. It is not like the LA transit system, where getting from point A to point B requires 1-2 trains, 3 and a half buses, and possibly bringing your bike along just in case there is a "walking" portion on your google maps directions. No, it actually goes in more then the 4 primary opposing directions. Also they are all silver, and they are all labeled with big letters or numbers. I don't know if you guys in LA have noticed this, but as I was getting onto my 4th train to get to downtown LA from La Puente, I realized that none of the trains/buses match color-coding names anymore.
Seriously, the Silver Line was an orange bus, the Blue Line was comprised of some old Gold Line cars, the new Gold, Orange and Red Line cars are all silver, and the Rapids are red. Really Metro?
Anyways, I digress. NYC metro (MTA) is the shit because to get from Harlem (where I was staying) to JKF Airport, which is comparable to getting from Studio City to Pasadena with a stop in Glendale (as was my daily trip to work this summer), this was the route.
-Walk 2 blocks from apartment to subway stop
-Plant ass on A train heading Downtown
-Arrive at JFK Airport station, catch airport tram to terminals
Now if I wanted to get from Hollywood to Pasadena:
-233 bus to North Hollywood Red Line station
-Red Line to Sunset/Vermont station
-780 to Brand st
-780 later to Pasadena
I'm just saying. It was 4am and I had a little over an hour to kill on an airport bound A train, there was time to think about ridiculous shit like this.
LA: PART 2
Angeles Crest National Park
OK so here's the thing about this weekend. The original plan was to have a lovely camping overnighter/nomadic dinner party hosted by Lea, Lo, and myself in the Santa Monica mountains at a place affectionately known as Top of the World. However, you know who else thought it would be a great idea to spend their weekend up in these mountains? SERIAL KILLERS. Or at least, one particular serial killer who was let out on parole, promptly stabbed a woman to death, lit her home on fire then fled, armed, directly into our planned campsite. After some quick pros and cons weighing ("could we take on a serial killer?" "we could totally take on a serial killer" "guys I don't want to die tonight" "its OK, Amauri would die first) we decided to scrap the plan and find a new camping site. Cue Angeles Crest, about an hour out of LA in another set of mountains. You know what else really likes spending time in these mountains? BEARS. Seriously, the website said "be BEAR-AWARE" and "BEAR SEASON." There may have even been like a color code warning, "Terror Alert Red" style. I can't remember. Anyways, bears, we decided we could potentially handle better so armed with a pack of foam sabers and a hockey stick, we all embarked into the park. Once you get over the possible threat of bears and serial killers and arson it is a really beautiful place. Camp ground was 20 bucks total and it came with bathrooms, a fire pit, and park table/benches, we all had a grand ol'e time with s'mores, delicious food, and a ukulele and nobody died. Not even Amauri, who spent all weekend predicting his own demise and who, had this been a badly-made stereotypical slasher flick, surely would have been the first to go.
Flappers Comedy Club/Fellowship!
Apparently this place is a pretty recent addition to the Burbank shopping center area and I honestly don't know much about it other then it was playing host to one of my favorite cult LA-bred musicals, Fellowship! a musical parody of the first Lord of the Rings movie. This show literally started out with a small group of improvers/performers getting together with a few black boxes, some wigs, and a projector screen in a tiny blackbox theater in Hollywood and almost 2 years later it is now playing at the New York Musical Theater Festival here in the broadway district/near Times Square. It is a truly fantastic little show that I've had the pleasure of seeing in its various production stages, for the first time a year ago in Burbank, then a month ago at Flappers, and now in NYC. Go see it if you ever find yourself with the opportunity to do so, it is well worth it! Especially if you are as big of a LotR geek as I was/am. Seriously, used to watch the first movie like once a week when it first came out, dressed up for the 3rd movie opening, owned an evanstar pendant, the whole shebang. Pretty bad.
WASHINGTON
Washington state has a pretty special place in my heart because it is where my grandparents lived until they passed in the lat 90s and I used to go there regularly to visit them in this tiny little woodland town called Shelton. When I say small, I do mean miniscule, like to a point where my grandpa was considered one of the town's most popular men because he owned the one and only local laundromat/dry cleaners and very few people had in-home washer/dryers so they all came down there for clean clothes. Also their hospital was in the middle of the woods, up a long winding road which seems a little risky to me with the ambulances now that I think back on it but what're you gonna do. Anyways, that all being said, this was my first time going back to the state since they died and I did not get near as much time as I would have liked there but I will post about a couple of places I used to frequent as a kid that I, unfortunately, didn't have time to revisit on this trip.
Mount Rainier
Probably, hands down, one of the most beautiful, picturesque places I have ever been to. Definitely the most beautiful hiking areas. Long winding trails through sprawling green fields dotted with bright yellow and purple flowers with snowcapped mountains in the background, rocky climbs through pine forests, and some trails that ended in snowy glaciers are just some of the things I remember about this place. It gets pretty hot there over the summer but on a cooler day this is pretty damn remarkable way to spend the day. I'm pretty sure you can also camp overnight on the mountain but I have never done it personally. Look, I am so admiring of this place there aren't even any sarcastic/snarky comments peppered through this blurb. If nothing else, that alone should convince you to check this place out if you're ever in WA.
Shelton/Rural WA
Admittedly, its been at least 10 years since I've been out to Shelton so I have no idea how to get out there, or if you would even find anything out there if you did manage to find it but it is a prime example of the more quaint, country-esque areas of WA state. Places where the roads between the houses are loose rock and gravel and just walking through the neighborhood is kind of like taking a hike with green fields and wild blackberry plants surrounding you on all sides. There are so many blackberry plants in WA, it borders on obscene. It is great though because you basically never have to spend money on food. If you get hungry you just grab a bucket or basket, walk out the front door and walk a few blocks picking and eating enough blackberries to seriously throw the ratio of blackberry juice-blood in your system into question. I can't stress enough how important it is to make time for the more rural, old school towns when traveling as you do for the big metropolitan areas. Give up the bars, and shows, and street prowling for a day and go eat some fresh baked bread from a bakery that closes whenever their daily supply runs out, take a long hike in the mountains, and dip your toes in a lake and watch the sunset from your backyard. It's the little things too, that count.
Comedy Underground
A month of watching comedy shows of all shapes, sizes, and quality levels all over the country has done one thing: made me incredibly wary about comedy shows of all shapes, sizes, and quality levels all over the country. Don't get me wrong, I have seen some great comics in shitty hole-in-the-wall club shows, and shitty ones at star-studded hot spots but there is no getting around the fact that there is nothing quite as painful as a bad comedy show that just adds insult to injury by implying a 2 drink minimum. Especially when the cheapest drink on the menu is a 7 dollar can of BudLight. That being said, when Travis and I got invited to an "amateur stand up comedy audition show" in a corner of Seattle red sirens and flashbacks of 2 hours of half-hearted dildo jokes while chugging ridiculously expensive cheap beer were blaring. To my pleasant surprise, however, it ended up being an enjoyable evening. Didn't necessarily have anyone literally choking with laughter (like the one time on the Comedy Cellar boat) but there were still a fair share of genuinely talented local performers. Highlight: Man who did his whole act in nothing but a pair of tight-fighting boxers with a mildly dweeb-ish deadpan and a half-boner. The club itself was cozy and the drink prices didn't make me want to shoot myself and everyone around me. Always an added plus.
On that note, it is time for to go fuck off to the Meat Packing District of NYC for food (form your own conclusions as necessary.) NEXT UP: Boston, MA, and Naples, FL
Also I didn't actually take that many pics of WA, except for the one above and this. FAIL. Enjoy.
No comments:
Post a Comment