Labor Day weekend

So it's hard to appreciate Labor Day weekend when you are coming off of summer vacation and have only worked a full week. However, I tried to be at least a little busy every day of the long weekend, while also getting the appropriate amount of rest time after how crazy I've been since moving here. 

Monday we went to Griffith Park and hiked a while. The park is huge and in the middle of LA and Glendale, houses the Griffith Observatory, the LA Zoo, a golf course, a merry-go-round and some mountains. We didn't really realize how hot it was on Monday till we were out in the sun on the trail going uphill, and by then we were already there. I'd say it was at least 95, if not in the triple digits and the sun is much hotter here in SoCal than Minnesota, obviously. The hike didn't last long, as you can imagine, and a few of us went to a neighbor's pool for a dip, beer and pizza afterwards. It was a near-perfect day, all in all.

The trail up the mountain. That's Ryan, a more adventurous type from Texas who took off running straight up.

This was a short cut on the trail that I also decided to take. It lead to a much steeper part of the trail, but got us to the top very quickly.

The city of Glendale from the top of the mountain. I promise you can see our apartment in this photo, but trying to describe where it is would be fruitless...

Here's my newly assembled bike! Its got 14 speeds and works fantastically. My ride to work includes a bit more than a mile of pretty dramatic uphill, but the way home requires no pedaling whatsoever, so I guess the trade-off works in the end. It's very lightweight and has road bike tires, which is a huge improvement from the bike I was riding around Mpls with for the last three years. I finally got out to explore Glendale the other day and found all the grocery stores, the yoga studio I'm hoping to go to and most of the main part of the city. I'm hoping that I can prove to myself and the world that it IS possible to live in LA with only a bike and a bus pass, and that my legs will be strong enough to make it up mountain streets for the next year!

Me and my roommate Sarah on Saturday night at a bbq at the Long Beach intern house. Compared to how hot it became Sunday, Monday and the rest of this week, Saturday was glorious. Felt like a real fall bbq, with sweatshirts, a fire, a bottle of beer and lots of great people around you, which is really all you can ask for.