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Onto LA! My Silverlake airbnb was very quirky. It had a toilet in the shower, but it also had a lemon tree and a Little Free Library out front.

As soon as I dropped my bags, I wolfed down an excellent burger at Win~Dow and headed right to the Museum of Jurassic Technology, which wouldn’t be open at any other time during my stay.

The above is, I’m sorry to say, an illegal picture (no photos are allowed to preserve the mystique), but I knew it would be a long time before I would be able to come back and I wanted to remember this place always.

The museum honors the weird and the mystical at the intersection of science, art, natural history. The exhibitions are esoteric, unsettling, and displayed in ways that require the viewer to get very close. There are a lot of miniatures and taxidermy throughout. The space prominently integrates scent and sound into its exhibitions in a way that few others do. What I most appreciate is that the museum doesn’t explain itself to the viewer — you either get it or you don’t.

On the roof, there’s a little garden area where they serve tea (didn’t have) and cookies (had one), and a walk-in birdcage where you can watch zebra finches flitting around your head. What a brilliant fever dream of a place.

I ordered my 400th Lyft of the trip to get dinner at an open-air restaurant called Bacari. Enjoyed the schwarma tacos, salad, and rosewater-infused malabi for dessert.

Then, I walked back to my airbnb and was greeted by the pretty string lights illuminating the patio. I listened to Nimet Habachy on New York at Night until I fell asleep.

Second day in LA! Katelyn and I met up and we GALLIVANTED. First stop was the LACMA — just a perfect visit, no notes. LA does museums very well.

We then hit up the La Brea Tar Pits next door. They were bubbling up through the pavement!

No footage of our trip to All Seasons (a very cool bar in a converted gas station) or Brass Monkey (a divey Koreatown karaoke spot), but perhaps that’s for the best!

The next morning, I felt a little worse for wear. Recovered with a morning walk, looking at all of the weird Cali street signage and sniffing the bitter orange-infused air.

This perfect diner breakfast from Millie’s Cafe brought me back to life.

Hours later, Katelyn and I met back up and hiked to the Hollywood Sign! I am not an experienced hiker, and I would say that this hike is easy-ish, only if you know what you’re in for. The path is wide and straightforward, but it’s a lot of work trekking uphill — according to my iPhone, it was the equivalent of 50 flights of stairs!

We parted ways briefly, then reconvened to see the Sklar Bros’ show at Largo. I really like this venue and want to make it a point to see a show here every time I visit the city. The show was a lot of fun and a perfect note on which to end an amazing, action-packed, yet surprisingly rejuvenating week.