Jen

We went hiking in Malibu State Park. In my head, I expected Palm Trees, pretty flowers and a lush green landscape. Think again. It's pretty much a desert except for the occasional green shrub or tree. It was hot as hell. We only hiked four miles, but it felt like so much more to me. This website makes it sound like it's "picturesque. . .pretty enough to be in a calendar" as well as "an easy hike with lots of variety." I must be blind/out of shape.

It's no wonder that you can't start a fire anywhere in the park.

We did hike to the MASH site - where the television show MASH (go figure!) was filmed.


Looks exactly like Korea, right?



Becky and Greg - I can not even image how the hiking in Peru went. You guys are troopers! I can't wait to hear more about the trip and see some pics!

I also wanted to share these pics from The Decemberists show at the Hollywood Bowl. For those that have never been, I really think its worth the time to see a show here.

There are two jumbotron screens on either side of the stage, so if you happen to be as far back as I was, you can still get some close-ups of what is happening on stage - like this pic I took of Colin Meloy.


If you didn't have the screens - they would pretty much look like this.


As you can see, we have the internet back at our place, so I can write and e-mail as usual. Bring it on cable connection! Otherwise, I have no big plans for the weekend except sleeping and cleaning.

Jen

I'm back!

Kind of.

Once we get the Internet installed at our new place, I'll be back officially. Until then, I'll be typing out my blogs in word and then hoping that I can steal a connection long enough to post. With luck, the Internet people will come this Saturday (even though they were supposed to come last Saturday and didn't) so I can e-mail and blog like a normal person.

I have some amazing photos to share of our journey across the states. I regret now that I didn't take pictures through out the boring states (aka Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska) because it really would have completed my "Penske Series." Because our lovely friends Annie and Peter drove to Los Angeles with us, I was able to actually enjoy the scenery around me and always have a driving companion (and always see the Penske truck, hauling all of our stuff, in front of me.) It was much better than the last two times.

Colorado

Utah

Arizona



Since I have been in LA, I went to see the Decemberists play with the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. It was advertised in LA like this was the only event of it's kind - but I knew better. Ahem. Anyway, it was an amazing show, and the Hollywood Bowl is really beautiful. They should have more good shows there. What I mean by this is that the show schedule looks very similar to Ravinia's show schedule. I love Hall and Oates and all, but it would be great to see younger, hipper acts there.
(Picture to come!)

I also ran into Seth Green. Well, not literally. But we had a very short conversation, only because I had no idea who he was until he started talking, I heard his name and I got a better look at him. I was in the elevator at the 4th street parking garage in Santa Monica, when I heard someone yelling for me to hold the doors. I couldn't find the button right away, but I managed to before I started heading towards the ground floor. The doors open, and there he is, Seth Green, lying on his back. He slipped on the tile by the elevator. I asked him if he was okay, and he said he was fine - that is when his girlfriend, lady friend, whoever, said, "Seth, are you okay" which is when I realized who he was. I rode the elevator down with them and kept thinking of ways to discreetly take a picture. This is only because my Celebrity Sightings list is really pretty terrible. And proof is always nice. Here is the list of every famous person I have seen in my 28 years of existence. (it's sad, really)

1. Host from Street Smarts
2. Helen Hunt
3. Ron Eldard
4. Brittany Spears
5. Paulie Shore
6. Pete Yorn
7. Janet Davies (only known in Chicago)
8. Joan Cusack
9. Seth Green

Otherwise, we are settling in quite nice. Expect more pictures and more news soon!

Greg and Becky

Buenos Dias!

Beck and I are sitting in an internet cafe in the city of Arequipa, Peru.

We´ve been traveling since Wednesday and it´s been a good, but challenging, trip so far. We arrived in Lima at two in the morning, to find out Air Canada had lost out luggage. We bummed around lima for the next two days in the same clothes we put on to board the plane. We bought some new skivies at the Peruvian depatment store, Ripley´s, so we didn´t smell too bad.

Lima is an interesting, but overwhelming city. It´s constantly in motion and the taxi drivers drive like they have a death wish. There´s a lot of political unrest in Peru right now, so there were soldiers and police everywhere in Lima. Armored cars with machine guns and lots of police carrying batons ringed the Plaza Aramas down town. There was a pretty big march on our second day there, but it seemed fairly peaceful. We´d post some pictures, but this computer won´t let us. We´ll try tomorrow.

We hung around Lima for two days. We saw a little folk concert with a choir of like 10 people and a few guitarists and drummers in the middle of a park in Miraflores. They were playing Peruvian folk songs and the crowd was singing and dancing along. Very cool.

We flew to Arequipa yesterday. The airport doesn´t even have gates. We walked down those stair things on to the tarmac. The weather here feels like heaven. It was cold, overcast and damp in Lima. Down here it is warm enough for short sleeves in the afternoon, although it gets quite chilly at night.

The unrest continues throughout Peru. There was a candle light march last night around the main square of Arequipa, with a few hundred protesters participating. They´ve blocked roads all over the region, so we´ve had to cancel out trips out to the Colca Canyon and down to Lake Titicaca. We´ve talked to travelers who´ve been stuck for up to a week on the wrong side of roadblocks. We´re heading to Cusco on Tuesday by air, so barring any major striking we should be fine.

Rock and Roll!