Los Angeles: Day 1

We arrived in Los Angeles around 6am on Wednesday, June 13th. The station in LA is huge and it took us a few minutes to orient ourselves and figure out where we needed to go. On the train ticket, it said that we would be arriving at LAX, which we found out was not anywhere near the actual LAX airport. The LAX we arrived in was actually a Union Station in downtown LA and not at all associated with the airport. Unfortunately, we had rented a hotel room for our first night in LA near the airport instead of the train station. Oops! However, this made for an interesting first morning. Once we figured out where the buses departed, we spent the next 2 1/2 hours taking two different buses across LA. Luckily, the machine at the front of the bus where you put your money in to pay for bus tickets was broken in the first bus so we got onto that bus for free. Once we got off at our stop, a kind lady told us where to wait for our next bus. We lugged our huge suitcases across the busy LA intersection and waited. When the bus arrived, the driver saw us with our huge suitcases and let us go in the back so we wouldn't disturb the rest of the bus. So we got another free bus ride!

We finally arrived at La Quinta Inn & Suites where we stored our luggage until we could check in to our room. After we stored our luggage, we attempted to find the nearest Starbucks, which did not work out. Apparently all the Starbucks in the area are either in hotels or in the airport. We ended up going to the McDonald's next to the hotel and hanging out there for a couple hours. We ordered our food and iced coffee and went upstairs to use Lauren's computer to catch up on e-mails and work on our blog. Lynea received an e-mail from a professor at USC who agreed to meet with her on Friday. Lauren e-mailed a dean at the Gerontology school at USC while we were at McDonald's and was able to get in touch with other professors right away, allowing her to set up a meeting on Friday as well. While Lynea was catching up with her life, Lauren called Adey to figure out plans for San Francisco. Adey was serenading Lauren when she asked to be put on speakerphone so she could sing Justin Timberlake to both of us. A McDonald's employee walked by right when she was singing and commented on her (beautiful?) singing voice. He got a good laugh out of it... as did we. When noon came around, we walked back to our hotel to check in to our room. We both took long, luxurious showers after not being able to shower for the past 2 days on the train. We have never been so thankful to take a shower before in our lives.

Yes, unfortunately that IS what Lauren looks like after 48 hours of travel and no shower...

No idea what's going on here

Excited to get e-mails from USC!

Our hotel room in La Quinta Inn & Suites! We were so excited to sleep in our own beds.

After we made ourselves look presentable, we decided to go to the famous Pink's Hot Dogs in LA thanks to John's suggestion. We didn't realize it was over an hour bus ride away from our hotel. But, it was worth it in the end. After taking a couple buses, we finally made it to our destination. There wasn't a huge line at the hot dog place when we got there, but the line continued to grow quickly. There were a variety of hot dogs to choose from and Lynea particularly had a difficult time deciding which one to get. She ended up choosing the Mulholland Drive dog (bacon, onions, mushrooms, and queso) and Lauren had the Chili Cheese dog (exactly what it sounds like). As soon as we sat down to eat our hot dogs, we were approached by an MTV cameraman who informed us that a show was being filmed there and we had to sign release forms since we would most likely be in the episode. Unfortunately, we forgot to ask him what show they were filming because we got into a conversation about DC. So, we do not know what show to look for ourselves in. Oh well. We also didn't recognize the famous person that they were filming; I guess we don't watch enough television.

The famous Pink's Hot Dogs! We made it!

(L) Mulholland Drive dog, (R) Chili Cheese dog

Lynea gives Pink's Hot Dogs a thumbs up! 

The owner of the place is in the pink jacket and the supposedly famous person is sitting in front of her. 

After fulfilling our hunger needs we decided to wander around Melrose Avenue. We walked down the street for a while and came by many funky shops and boutiques. Our favorite one was a store solely dedicated to selling leggings of all colors and patterns. Unfortunately, the store was closed when we passed by but we still enjoyed window shopping. Before heading back to our hotel, we stopped in a frozen yogurt place. The person working there was very friendly and told us about places to hang out in LA. He also took us behind the store to show typical graffiti that was on the back of the building. Graffiti like this is very common in the alleyways off of Melrose Avenue. The artists are very talented and we enjoyed looking at their work. After another hour on the bus, we were finally back in our hotel room and we watched some Law and Order as we settled in for a solid night's sleep.