A coyote named Hollywood

Oh man. Today was definitely a great finale to my first week in Los Angeles. My friend Jacky, her sister, and her cousin picked me up to explore Hollywood. Naturally, our first stop was the Hollywood sign, where we met up with Jacky's awesome friend Melvin. The five of us hiked up to a special place Jacky knew of and took some pictures. Honestly, I really didn't think I was going to be excited to see the Hollywood sign, but I really was. I guess finally seeing something that you've heard about your whole life does have an impact. And the view was spectacular.

 

Next, I had my first In-N-Out Burger experience. I got a cheeseburger, and feeling like it was imperative that I order something off the secret menu, opted for a root beer float instead of my usual Diet Coke. Now anyone who knows me even a little should be very aware that I'm make a conscious effort to eat healthily and that fast food really isn't my style, but I have to admit that the In-N-Out burger is definitely a delicious treat. What is in that sauce?! And the place was freaking packed! I've never seen a fast food restaurant with so many people in it. I guess that's just further proof that the Midwest needs to get off its ass and open some In-N-Outs.

After we ate, we walked a few blocks to Hollywood and Highland, where the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Grauman's Chinese theater are. I took a few pictures, most of which you can see on my Flickr above. Here are some of my favorites:

                                           Johnny Depp                                   Jack Nicholson

Harry Potter

There were also the usual various impersonators walking around, demanding money to have pictures taken with them. The non-human costumes were terrifying. I scooted away the most demented Spongebob I have ever seen and avoided eye contact with a crackhead-looking Barney. Trust me, if I wasn't afraid of being run down by them for not paying I would have pictures for you. The only characters I thought were worth a couple bucks for a photo with were Batman and the Joker (who made sure to let me know he would be done working at 11. I love that the first guy to ask me out in California was the Joker). 

 But then, I saw this from across the street:

Oh Hannibal! Where were you five minutes ago?!

I also like these three random pictures of Jacky and I:

 

Finally, we headed towards Griffith Observatory, a gorgeous building waaayyy high up in the hills that has an incredible view of nearly the whole of Los Angeles. This has been my favorite experience in California so far, and even though its only the second Sunday I've been here, I don't think there will be many to top it. I'm not this kind of person at all, but I can say that this is the first place I've been that I've thought "This is where I want to be proposed to someday" (waaah waaah, so lame). I really can't describe it, and none of the pictures/videos I took do it any justice. It was just colored lights everywhere, all the way to the horizon and as far as you could see in either direction. The smog hovering above the city gave it an ethereal orange glow, and the lights were sparkling. Literally sparkling. If you relaxed your eyes and let everything go out of focus, the whole city looked like the twinkling reflection that the moon makes on a calm lake. I want to see that every night.

 I took videos instead of photos because the quality is much better.

After taking some pictures and walking around the Observatory, the real fun started. Jacky, Melvin and I decided to explore beyond what the Observatory walls allowed, so we hopped one and climbed down a very steep hill to an outcropping that was even closer to the view of the city. In order to get a better look at the gorgeousness that was laid out in front of me, I decided to walk down closer to the edge of the cliff. I was musing about wildlife and wondering what would happen if a bear suddenly showed up because it was dark and mountainy all around me and I felt like I was in a scene from Wild America or something, when a freaking COYOTE runs out in front of me! My first instinct was to grab my camera to take a picture, but then I remembered how we had been randomly talking about coyotes eating people or something of that nature earlier in the day, so I turned tail and ran the fuck away. Later, we could hear him barking from the Observatory and we decided to name him Hollywood. (For recorded evidence, check out my Flickr. I have a video where you can hear him barking.)

 

Now I have twinkling lights in my head to fall asleep to. Until tomorrow. <3

(Also, more pictures will be added later; Jacky took a lot of good ones with her awesome camera. I'll post an update once they're up.)