LA Day 7

Thursday, March 24th

We started off our morning by planting the community garden. We spread out all the plants and arranged them how we wanted. Then we started to work pulling out all the weeds that were already there. When we got them all cleared out, we finally got to work putting in the new ones. As we were planting all these different things, neighbors kept coming out and talking to us. Kim said that she has never talked to these neighbors before so it was cool to see that it was already working. We spent like 4 hours on this garden, but the final result was well worth it. Hopefully, it will accomplish its goal and really create community within the apartment complex.

Then, we decided to head out for Hermosa Beach. For our last day, they wanted us to spend it on the beach. Mostly, because it’s super close to LAX, so less work in the morning. But, for Ashley, we made sure to find a cupcakery to test out what LA cupcakes taste like. I got a fantastic Reese’s cupcake and even Ashley agreed that they were better than in Sioux Falls. Then we headed out to Fairfax. It’s pretty much like a regular mall but with no roof. We got some different food and then headed out to shop. Since the shops were all out of my price range, I just tagged along for the ride. If anyone watches Extra, it’s filmed right in the middle of the Square. I hung out at the fountain while people shopped. I’m watching the show right now while typing this and I can see it in the background.

Then we headed to our huge hotel room and Emily and I quickly went to the beach. We were super excited because neither of us had really spent time on the beach. So we decided to collect a bunch of shells on the beach. We got a ton of them but we haven’t quite decided what to do with them yet. It was fun picking up the shells on the beach. There was a storm brewing and so we had to run away from the waves. We also made sure to get some pictures for the Lying Down game so look forward to seeing those. It was super fun to just hang out on the beach.

Afterwards, we met up with Ashley and headed out to shop. It was like a completely different place than LA. The shop owners were super friendly and talkative. So we talked to them quite a bit. Later, we met up with Kim and Annie at a New Orleans Cajun restaurant. There, we debriefed about the trip and I enjoyed some alligator on a stick and gumbo. I wish my stomach had been feeling better because the gumbo was fantastic!