Hollywood Sign Hike

Hey guys,
I'm back in the United States.  Since many of you are international readers, I thought I might add some of my fun US adventures into the blog.

Over Christmas, I decided to hike to the Hollywood Sign.  There was a video circulating on Facebook that pointed out that there was a trail that could get you right up to the Hollywood sign instead of the view from the Observatory 3 miles away.

If you type in the Hollywood Sign into Google Maps, it sends you to the observatory.  So, you can either view the Hollywood sign from Lake Hollywood Park, Griffith Park or venture up through the finicky Beachwood Canyon neighborhood and get up close and personal by taking the Mount Lee Trail.

Griffith Park is a long hike.  It's approximately 6.5 miles round trip.  The trail is mostly dirt and gravel, but there is not a lot of shade along the hike. The benefit, however is that the parking situation is fairly good.

Lake Hollywood gives you a really nice view from a few miles away and again, the parking is tolerable.

But if you're in for adventure and an easier hike to the sign, you can battle parking restrictions and get to the sign fairly quickly.  Neighbors within the Beachwood Community have gone to great lakes to prevent visitors from parking on their wind-y, narrow streets.  However, if you venture up on a weekday, you're in luck as the parking is not restricted.  You can get right up to the trail opening at Deronda Dr. and Rockcliff Dr.

Here are the directions:
From the 101, get off at Beachwood Dr., take a left at Ledgewood Dr.  It will jog around for a bit and appear to dead end. Take a left for a couple of meters, then a quick left to continue onto Ledgewood Dr.  Then, you'll take a sharp U-turn to Rockcliff Dr.  Where Rockwood Dr. meets Deronda Dr., there is a white entrance...BINGO!

There is a gravel platform that gives you an amazing and unobstructed view of the Hollywood sign.  Perfect for jumping photos, selfies and other debauchery.

The only riff raff on the mountain, was us.

If you walk back down toward the front gate and take a sharp U-turn, you enter the Mount Lee Trail. This 1-mile walk takes you up and behind the Hollywood Sign.  You can literally get within 10-feet of the letters.  No, you can't sit inside the 'O' like Hollywood films like you to think you can.  There is a strict trespassing policy and violators will be cited.

You can see from downtown LA to the Pacific Ocean

This hike is definitely on the easier side.  It's a steady incline up and pets on leashes are allowed.  Everyone hiking is very friendly and it's secure and free of peddlers and riff raff.  if you make it to the top, you can see from the valley to the ocean.  You can even see the controversial vineyard on the side of the mountain.

Made it to the top!

Hike away, folks.  It really is worth the parking hassle.

Trying to go viral...

So, I started writing fun "checklist" articles and posting them on BuzzFeed.  If you need a mindless bit of fun, you can follow me on buzzfeed.com  http://www.buzzfeed.com/emilym160.  Share them on Facebook and help me go viral….you know you want to.  For all of my international friends, getting "published" will help with an "exceptional skills" visa….I'm just sayin'.

Here is a screenshot of 3 fun articles that I've written to wet your whistle… and the links because I'm super duper nice...

http://www.buzzfeed.com/emilym160/power-ballad-playlist-a-crucial-road-trip-necessi-ikky

http://www.buzzfeed.com/emilym160/travel-warrior-12-steps-to-conquering-berlin-ikky

http://www.buzzfeed.com/emilym160/30-dating-9-ways-to-tell-if-hes-marrieda-ikky

Ringing in the New Year: Queensland, Australia

Scene of the crime: Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia

We had hoped to go up to Brisbane for New Years but the tickets for the party all of our friends were going to were already sold out.  Instead, Lance found a party for us at Alto. Lance, Owen, Tim, Bianca, Nat and I had a fun night of unlimited drinks, food and fireworks in Broadbeach.  At midnight, there were some pretty good fireworks over the water which closed off the evening nicely.  We ended up taking the free public bus home, which was very crowded, but in the end a lot easier than waiting in queue for a $50 maxicab.

Dress party!

Roommates!

Em and Bianca

Em, Bianca and Nat at midnight fireworks

First duck lip selfie of the new year!  Andy, this is for you!

Owen looks like he's having a good time despite getting faceraped by Lance

New Years Day, I was a total wasteoid.  We layed on the couch all day and watched the entire first season of American Horror Story and I was introduced to a horrible British television show called Geordie Shore.  It makes the cast of Jersey shore look classy, pretty and well behaved.  These idiots piss and shat themselves on the regular and they actually show them humping...its vile and I feel dumber having been exposed to it. (I was going to post a link, but I don't want to support this trash)

January 2 was my half birthday! We didn’t really celebrate it, but we were super active that day (which almost makes up for how sluggish we were on Jan 1). Nat, Bianca and I took a girls trip to Springbrook which was an amazing 5K hike through rain forest, caves and waterfalls.  On the way there, we stopped at a haunted house.  Since we had just finished American Horror Story, we had to go inside.

"Haunted House"

Springbrook National Park was super fun. It has 2 trails, a 5K and a 17k.  Fortunately, (because I am a fat, lazy American) the 17K trail was closed and we were forced to take the shorter hike.

The obligatory "jump" shot

The obligatory "missed jump" shot

Em and Bianca

Pretty girl, pretty view

Blue Tongued Lizard

Even the trees try to hurt you in Australia

Nat, getting her fitness on

Nice "waterfall" Bianca.  Not impressed :)

Em and Nat in a hollow tree…Don't worry, there's nothing in here but snakes...

and drop spiders….ah! 

When I run…. I run so fast I'm blurry.

Evidently, this waterfall is usually gushing…today, not so much.

Lance and I capped off the daylight with an hour of Stand-Up Paddle and then the four of us went to Justin Lane for Pizza.

It was a lovely way to cap off a great visit filled with slightly too much booze, but the perfect amount of laughter, friendship and family time.  Thank you for being such amazing hosts.  Can't wait to host you guys for an American road trip next November…. LA, Vegas, Nashville, Chicago, Detroit, New York….it will be epic.  We should consider a camper van!

Copenhagen by night....

Copenhagen is Amazing...
Lets start with the city itself.  It's VERY friendly.  You can't pronounce any of the street names, but it's generally easy to get around using a map and they have created 4-5 pedestrian streets that house hundreds of shops and restaurants.

Rundetaarn (Round Tower)

These people love busts.  There were busts everywhere!

So, I have a confession to make. We went to all of those places, but I don't remember what a single one was called.  The Dutch language is so hard to understand, I just kind of phased out and took in the beauty.  You can be assured, most of them were churches or government buildings...sorry.  FAIL.

I may have failed at daytime sightseeing, but I excelled in Copenhagen nightlife with the help of my trusty sidekicks, Anosha, Kara and Bron (not pictured because she's a day-walker and couldn't come out until later).

Off to Fashion week.

Kidding.  Here's Bron, too.

We took a detour on the way to our fashion week party.  What?  They rolled out grass in the streets and had a fashion show.  Then, all the Danish people grabbed beers and camped out on the grass.  Another surprise, some chick got on the mic and started singing to an electro backup DJ.  Boom.  That happened.

Impromptu street party

I'm here, bitches!

And the people came...

The chick on the mic might have "sang" 5 words per song, lol.

OMG, i love this place.  Animal print skinned ciders!

Giraffe, check. 

Leopard, check....drunk.

We went to the fashion week party, but we were late and missed the fashion show.  Oops.  We attempted to dance, but those damn Danish people just stood around not dancing, so we retreated to Siemans and partied until the wee hours.

Note to Siemans, techno music + strobe lights + fog machine + dance floor  + drunk people = bad idea. This is a horrible idea for many reasons:
1. The strobe lights could have induced seizures
2. You can't see with the fog or hear with the decibel level of the music (which I didn't mind)
3. The fog might have been okay once every 15-20 minutes, but every 3 minutes is a bit of an overkill
4. Wasted people are clumsy, impeding 2 out of 5 of their senses is just dangerous
5. In any other city, this would be an invitation for sexual assault, but the trustworthy culture of the Danish made this moot.

After the club, I needed to pound a hot dog.

OMG OMG, I'll have a skinny one with EVERYTHING on it.

Everything = katsup, mustard, some weird Danish sauce, fresh onions, fried onions and pickles!  Boom!

This happened.  I killed it.

The most remarkable thing about Copenhagen is that it is 100% a bicycle culture.  Everyone has a bike and they ride them EVERYWHERE.  There is a specific bike lane on every street and you are NOT to step in it under any circumstances.  I forgot to get a picture of it, but there were literally 300 bikes in front of the club we went to... both nights!  They all look like they are unlocked, but Danish people only have a locking mechanism on the back tire, so you can't roll it.  If this were in LA, some asshole inlander would have piled them all in his pickup truck and had them resold within 20 minutes.

Trying to experience Copenhagen by day...

We had great intentions of exploring Copenhagen by day, but we really only made it to Kaffe Laboratorie, the farmers market and to the pedestrian shopping streets....

Pitstop at Kaffee Laboratorium

Very, very bad kitty

Yes, I love ice cream. I'm a fat kid at heart.

While shopping, I had to stop at the Games Games store.  They had walls and walls of boardgames. I completely took a minute to embrace my inner nerd.  I LOVE BOARDGAMES!

embracing the nerd...

The largest pedestrian walk street in Europe

These street artists were awesome playing cardboard and strings...and guitars

Check out the Benefit Brow Bar chick's eyebrows!

I did buy a few things in Copenhagen.  My big purchase was new "leather" pants.  They are not really leather, but they look hot!  It will be a chore to find a place for them in my already stressed-out bag, but I will find a place or sacrifice something else.

Copenhagen splurge: NEW "LEATHER" PANTS!

Last Night in Copenhagen

Mexican in Copenhagen???  Ok.

Pictures of me eating never get old!

Danish tacos...

Fashion Week closing party

Anosha and Bron

Love you, Kara

Fancy nails for Fashion Week

It's challenge time!
Emily's Challenge: Find a guy wearing and American athletic team hat and get him to let you wear it in a photo. Easy.
Kara's Challenge: Find a man wearing a belt that is not brown or black and get him to take it off and you take a photo wearing it.

Success: Thanks bro...LA, seriously?

Kara's challenge was more fun since we got to walk up to beautiful men and lift up their shirts to see what color belt they were wearing.  Unfortunately, NO ONE had on an off colored belt except her landlord!

Success: Does this really count since its her landlord?? 

Copenhagen by day to come.... largest chill out festival in the world....canal boat tour...