Katie & Paul's Excellent Adventure

01.09.09
Day 8: Las Vegas, NV -- Los Angeles, CA

17 states, 12 waters, 5 hotels, 6 days, 1 Harry Potter on CD


We made it! All the way from Boston to Los Angeles. We're a little fatter, a little more pimply, but very satisfied and very accomplished! Looking back on the blog, it's amazing how quickly we did this trip. We were in New Mexico by our third day. That is pretty crazy.

We left Las Vegas filled with anticipation. In just a few short hours ( five of them) we would be in sunny Los Angeles filling Paulie's new apartment with all his belongings. Paul did all of the driving this time and we made our second trip to In & Out for lunch. I wonder why we're gaining weight?

Then we turned a corner and there was Los Angeles, a mirage in the distance. We were still half an hour out, and with the L.A. haze, we could only see the outline, but there it was. When I pointed it out to Paul, his face lit up, he sat a little straighter in his seat, and his eyes got wider. We were almost home.

We got into town around 1:3opm to the smiling faces of our parents, who had flown out there the day before. Armed with the knowledge of where Home Depot, Target, and other important moving-related places are, they had been preparing for our arrival by purchasing extra keys to Paul's apartment and getting materials to help the move.

We jumped out of the van--our home for the past week--and after a quick hello, got to work unloading it.

My dad's best friend since high school, Larry, lives here with his family. His daughter, Alejandra, has become more like a little sister to Paul over the years and they've both become really more like family than anything. Turns out, they live only six minutes away! Convenient! Actually, most of Paul's friends from college live here now, so by the end of the night, it was more like a reunion than a move-in day. But that's later.

Larry and Alejandra came to help unload, which made it go much faster. Paul's best friend, Scott appeared at the end of the move, and opened himself up to some jeering after his first load to the apartment were two books on CD. Don't worry, he certainly pulled his weight later when he and Paul hoisted two giant bookshelves up three flights of stairs!

The most difficult thing about the move was the elevator. It doesn't have a laser sensor, so it closes immediately after opening. Woe to anyone who gets stuck in the doorway! It'll squish you before opening again! My theory is that the elevator DOES have a laser sensor, but just has a sick, sick, desire to squish all who enter it. The elevator situation led to what looked like some nice dance moves as you tried to hold the door open while balancing everything you were carrying. Then you would leap out the door before the elevator realized it could squish you. Pretty fancy.

Everything was unloaded fairly quickly and we left Paul and Scott to hang out and unpack while we all freshened up for dinner. We met Larry, Elva (his wife), and Alejandra for some take out at their place and then crawled home to bed. Well, not Paul. He, Scott, their friend Joe, and maybe Alejandra went back to Paul's place for late-night tacos. Crazy kids.

One quick word about how beautiful Larry's place is. He lives in the Hollywood Hills, so his neighborhood is studded with celebrities and his house overlooks Los Angeles. It's one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen. Because you can't grow grass easily there, L.A. is technically in a desert after all, his land is filled with fruit trees, olive trees, and other pretty plants and flowers. He has literally 10,000 decks to observe this view of plants and city. It really is beautiful.

The plan for today so far is to (1) Go to King's Road Coffee, which is my favorite coffee place from back when I did a summer internship out here. So good. (2) Get me some Jamba Juice. This will probably happen on the way to the airport tomorrow though. (3) Help Paul unpack. (4) Once there is room, take Paul to buy a sofa.

It's gonna be a busy day.