April 11th: LA Trip: Driving (Day 1)

Today was fine.

I got pulled out of boring Chemistry class a couple minutes earlier so that I could head out to LA; I'll be going to a tour of UCLA, as well as visiting Universal Studios, with my auntie, grandma, and baby nephew. It will be my first time getting outside of the bay area since the start of high school, so I'm very excited! Unfortunately, I did not tell some of my favorite people that I was leaving, which was my mistake.

I quickly gathered everything I wanted and got into my aunt's cramped SUV (They had packed... a lot of things.) and we headed towards 580. There wasn't too much traffic, and we stopped at my dad's restaurant to eat lunch before continuing on until we reached highway 5, which we were on for 300 miles. Throughout the car ride I was mostly incapacitated, unable to do any of the homework I wanted to do, because of a mix of exhaust and nausea, despite the energy drinks that I purchased. We stopped by some rest stops to rest and get gas two times, which slowed us down a bit. 

Once we entered the LA area, we met up with a family friend who is from the same village as my family, and she took us to a spot for dinner.. It was pretty good, especially after kicking the day off with boring Chemistry class, and 5-6 hours of driving. After dinner she took us to a shortcut, where some FOB Chinese elementary school kids opened the door for us to cut through. It was actually really cool to see how the ethnic enclave of Chinatown was so embedded. 

Finally, after everything, we checked into our hotel room, took a quick shower, and went to sleep. Unfortunately, my baby nephew was very fussy and didn't want to sleep.

Thanks for reading,
Issac