L.A. - Day 1

Plane Ride To L.A., originally uploaded by barbsteele.

I'm off to L.A. for a two week trip today! I left from Philly at 6.50am after getting only a half hour of sleep. It seemed clever at the time I was booking the flight to leave early, so that I could arrive in L.A. early and have the whole day ahead of me to do stuff, but I should have practiced going to sleep early in the days before my flight (yeah, like that would ever happen).

It's all good, though. I got some awesome pictures during my flight -- I've never flown father than Oklahoma before, so flying over a desert fr the first time was really neat, especially when we passed the Grand Canyon.

Roozbeh picked me up from the airport and took me to The Griddle Cafe for breakfast. I was jet lagged and feeling like it was noon, so originally I was going to just get lunch... but man, those pancakes just looked too temping. I didn't even eat a quarter of them, though. I've got the rest of them in Roozbeh's fridge.

We stopped back at his place so I could shower and zone out for a bit, then we went out to the Arclight Cinema to see Ironman. I've never seen a movie theater with assigned seating before!

After the movie we went to B---- (I forget) for dinner, then home to watch some Adult Swim before bed. Despite the fact that I'd been up for, what? 36 hours? I still managed to stay up until 2 am L.A. time. Either I'm a trooper, or that's how much of a night owl I am =)

L.A.'s been interesting so far. The palm trees look so weird! Whenever we're out I feel like we're driving through a movie -- and seeing as so many films are shot in L.A. I guess in a way we are. I think I also recognized some of the "Afghanistan" shots in Ironman as one of the mountain ranges we flew over. Very surreal.

Bowing, University of Pennsylvania Biology Garden

Bowing, originally uploaded by barbsteele.

“It was only a bit before noon, but James was already thinking of his afternoon nap.”

Tree on a Hill, Chester County

Dr. Rosato's Carriage Ride, 6-1-2008, originally uploaded by barbsteele.

“You’ll regret it if you don’t come,” she said. “You’ll regret it forever and ever.”

“Don’t just throw around words like ‘regret’. You won’t understand such big words until you’re older.”

Chains and Wheels, Eastern State Penitentiary

Chains and Wheels, originally uploaded by barbsteele.

“Someone would come looking for him before long. The place was so quiet even a whisper could be heard from far off. He would be part of the silence for awhile then, sucking in his breath and thinking like the dust.”