Los Angeles!

I'm here!  It was an exhausting but entirely rewarding trip here.  We left Sunday at around noon and drove to Cedar Falls, Iowa where Matt and I met some of my really good friends that live there.  Then we hit the road and headed for Boulder, Colorado.  We made it there at about 6am the next morning.  It was a little rough being in the car that long, but we switched drivers and made music and stuff to make it easier.  Plus it was definitely for the best that we drove through Iowa and Nebraska when it was dark.  It was a pretty boring, VERY straight and flat drive.  The good thing was the sun was just rising as we came into Boulder.  If you don't know, Boulder is basically right against the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains.  I didn't truly understand the meaning of the phrase "purple mountain majesty" until that morning.  As the sun began to rise, the mountains were the most beautiful purple in the midst of the black sky.  It was something.  We got to matt's house and crashed.  When we woke up we went into the mountains and hiked for a little while before getting some food and meeting some of his friends.  Then we hung out in the college area of the town before meeting his folks for dinner at a really nice pizza place.  After that we went back to his place and crashed because the next morning we were headed for Vegas!  So we left around 7 on Tuesday morning.  The drive from Boulder to Vegas is about 12 hours and is the most beautiful 12 hours one can spend in a car.  It goes through the rockies and then the beautiful southwest.  We stopped multiple times in Utah just to admire the view.  I also saw a tumble weed for the first time in arizona and nevada!  Then around 8:00 we got checked into our hotel room.  It was awesome.  We were staying in the Venetian in a really nice suite with a super cool view.  We could see the Mirage's pyrotechnics show right out the window.  That night we explored the venetian as well as Ceasars Palace.  The next morning after getting some free breakfast we went to this area about 20 minutes west of the strip called Red Rocks Canyon and went rock climbing for about 2 hours.  It was so much fun and after all the hours we had spent in the car it was really nice to be outside and getting exercise.  (Downside is I'm still sore from it.)  Then we gambled for a little while before meeting some of matt's family for a really nice dinner.  Next time you're in Vegas go to Pieros.  I had this awesome prosciutto wrapped veal cutlet.  Oh man.  So good.  Then we partied the rest of the night away.  We walked up and down the whole strip and stopped in all the cool hotels.  The Bellagio and its fountain show are AWESOME.  I really want to stay there sometime.  We also hit the roller coaster at the NY, NY.  I also want to stay at Ceasar's Palace.  Mostly because the casino was good to us both times we stopped in lol.  We crashed pretty late Wednesday night and woke up just in time to check out Thursday morning.  We got some food at a sonic and headed for LA!  The drive from vegas to la was by far the shortest of the road trip, so it suddenly started to feel very real that I was moving there.  We got to the city at about 5pm and we explored for a little while and went to Hollywood Blvd.  Touristy? Sure, but why not?!  Then we met my friend Noelle and went back to the place where I'll be staying while I find my own place.  And now I'm awake in Los Angeles making this blog post.  I think we're going to the beach in a little while here.  Also, it's almost 80.  I'll post some pictures in a bit.