6/8/16 - Amtrak Day 4 & Los Angeles

While I slept last night the train made its way through Arizona and finally into California.  I kind of wanted to see Barstow when we went through as I had been through there a few times before but alas I slept through that stop. I woke up just before we hit San Bernadino and realized the surroundings outside the train were very familliar.  I pulled up a map on my phone and realized I was currently going through Cajon Pass, which is where the PCT is crossed and I hiked through 8 years ago.  In fact I even remember seeing an Amtrak train go by when I was hiking through there.

 

 

These pictures are kind of hard to distingush but the first is the Best Western many hikers stay at and the second is the McDonalds everyone eats at.  

Getting all my stuff together we finally pulled into Union Station at 7:45AM which was actually 30 minutes early.  I was going to be staying with my friend Scott from college and his wife Sara for 3 nights before the trail.  However, they both had to work so I figured I would play tourist.  I took the LA Metro up to a part of LA I had never seen - Hollywood Blvd.  I got to see the walk of fame and Grauman"s Chinese Theatre.  The street in front of the theatre was closed down and they were setting up for the Finding Dory premeire on Friday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even though I was going to be staying with Scott, I really wanted to see a couple more people while in the area, so I had been messaging back and forth with my cousin Chris who is a grip in the film industry out here.  He had to work as well but invited me to come by the set of the movie he was working on, so I went.  Took the Metro again to North Hollywood and walked about a mile to the location.  I got to sit and watch all the behind the scenes work that goes into making a movie for a couple hours and it was a really cool experience.

I didn't want to be in his way all day, so I took off after a couple hours and headed back to the Metro with the intention of going out to the Santa Monica Pier, but once I realized how long it would take to go out and back I decided instead to just get off downtown and walk around and get some lunch.  Walked by the Staples Center which was pretty impressive as well while I was down there.

With time winding down, I headed back on the Metro to Union Station.  I actually had to get back on Amtrak and go one stop back to get to Fullerton and where Scott and Sara live.  I met Scott at the station and we went to his house which is gorgeous and in a nice andquiet neighborhood.  Sara came home shortly afterwards and we all went out to a local burger joint.  It's been a long week but I have arrived in California!!!! I still have a lot to do in the next 2 days before heading out to the trail, but I'm almost there....

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