7/04 The Fourth of July

Today’s the fourth of July, one of the most celebrated national holidays of the USA, yet I’m stuck here in LA remote area waiting for my friend Ariel haha. But it was okay, I just kicked back and relax near the hostel, wait until Ariel called me at the airport and started giving her a list of instructions of how to get to the hostel I was staying.

     

   

It took her a long time, with the customs, the shuttle bus waiting and the Metro transport, but we weren’t really in a hurry. And I was being nice so I waited for her at the Metro station to carry the luggage for her and we head back to the hostel for the lockers. Unfortunately things didn’t go that well as planned and Ariel’s suitcase was just a little bit too big for the lockers and we had no choice but to change plan. 

We decided to abandon my backpacker-bag and joined our stuff together at the big suitcase. It wasn’t a smart move to have a big shiny suitcase with you the whole time but we were really out of options. After checking in the bags, we walked for another 30 minutes back to the Metro Station where we came from earlier.Then we started searching for places that have parades and special events, further on we located the best spot near the Grand Park, just next to the Union Station and the City Hall. We also went for a stroll in Olvera Street, Little Tokyo and the Historical Concert Museum. 

        

It was quite hard to drag along the suitcase in the crowd but we managed. It was my first time to visit the city center among these days and it was quite different to the remote areas. With more people, of course, and skyscrapers. We had dinner at Subway and I had a footlong sub instead of just 6 inch for I was so hungry at the moment. The weather is getting cold and it’s around nine that the fireworks were about to start. We were shopping for water and beverages in a grocery store in Little Tokyo then when we heard the boom from the sky and Ariel just yelled: I have to see this and ran out! Leaving my stunned in the supermarket alone, but the security guy also abandoned his job to the fireworks so what the heck, I also went out and enjoyed the 10-minute long show.

        

 It wasn’t really at all impressive, the 101 show and the Fireworks Festival in Penghu was around 100 times better, but it was still good to see the show and have a taste of the 4^th of July.

We got into the crowd, and it was an immense crowd for all of the people were trying to get home after the show and the Metro was packed. Finally we made it to Washington Station and started walking for around 40 minutes to the Greyhound Station for our bus to San Francisco at 1:45am.

It was actually a quite good day, even with the crowd, the big luggage, and all the walking from spot to spot. Ariel has proven to be a fine company, no complaints and nice chats. The sleep on the bus was awful though, a bunch of dark-skinned people sat around us and kept sticking their legs out and brushing their feet against our legs. 

We’ll be arriving in San Francisco at around 12 noon and both of us are in desperate need of shower and a comfortable bed.