los angeles is burning

i was proud of myself this morning - i accomplished the particularly difficult goal of leaving las vegas by 8am. so i rolled into the la area around noon, first stopping at san bernardino. well apparently they were going through some sort of wind storm, because there were huge palm branches flying around the street. i also actually saw a tumbleweed going down the middle of the street - it was like an old western. but anyway, that area isnt that nice (i think i saw a gang - black guys standing outside a convenience store in huge white t-shirts, right?). afterwards, i went to pasadena, which is really nice.

on my way to my hotel in van nuys - in the san fernando valley (anyone remember the movie 'valley girl'?), i got stuck in some of that notorious la traffic. also, in the western distance i could see huge plumes of smoke extending for miles. because im stupid, i thought to myself 'golly, there really is a lot of air pollution here'. but once i got to my hotel, all over the news were reports of huge wildfires coming our way. theyve yet to be contained, but theyre still a good 10 miles from me. but the area over there has undergone a mandatory evacuation, and the newly homeless folks have been sent this way. remember the san bernardino windstorm i mentioned earlier? well thats not helping matters - apparently the wind has gotten up to 50mph and dragged fires with it. also, it hit 100 degrees today. if all goes as it seems to be going, ill be on fire in a few hours.

tomorrow im going to explore the hollywood / beverly hills area. i think i have more than a days worth of stuff id like to see there, but ill do my best. then friday id like to explore around the valley, which has some towns youve probably heard of (like burbank, studio city, sherman oaks, encino, etc). i only have this hotel for three nights, and then im thinking of going to san diego to see two cousins saturday, but the cousin with a house (and hopefully a couch) has yet to call me back. after that i think ill come back here for a few days to explore more west and south la stuff that i wont have time for before saturday. you know, like compton.