Driving Lost in LA...Again

Driving lost...well if you read my blog or follow me on Facebook at all, you'll know that it's nothing new for me. I am in a constant state of being lost, somewhere...san francisco, nashville, los angeles, burbank, westlake village..

my last trip though was the most time i've spent in a car in la and it was a combination of lots of ground to cover, lots of traffic and driving lost...day one--lax to burbank, studio city, sherman oaks, hollywood, venice...in the car at 11:30. in venice by 7:30. friday afternoon. oh, and there was that unexpected tour of encino...

sure i had mapquest for the first place i was going and then BB Navigator, but i couldn't get it to work. it was a very LONG afternoon. BUT, i found lots of drive-throughs and I had a sun roof, my iPOD and lots of time.


which was good, except for when i started to get a little hungry and cranky when i couldn't find hollywood and saw signs for encino. i still don't know where encino is. it has no relation to anything i am familiar with. but i was told that it's a long way from hollywood. in fact, it's the opposite way. so turn around and try again. thanks to a friend of mine who texted me back after my desperate plea for help.

Day 2: Venice, Santa Monica, Malibu, Westlake Village, Los Angeles and back to Venice. Easy!! no, not easy...Sure, venice, santa monica, malibu--beautiful, easy...westlake village--no problem. and i knew that downtown LA would be no problem because the guy at the golf shop told me if i just stayed on 101 and took the figueroa exit, i'd be where i needed to be. easy. except i never saw a figueroa exit, but i did see downtown la fading in the background in my rear view mirror. hours and hours later i made it back to venice.

but i did learn something--when in doubt, don't use mapquest, don't use BB navigator. ask your friends on FB! Day 3: Burbank, Hollywood, Venice. I wasn't sure about what street to take to get back to venice and within seconds after posting on FB, i was home free!!

But here's the thing about driving lost...it gives me lots of opportunity to shoot. shoot things that otherwise i wouldn't see. early morning fog, evening sunsets...good parts of town and parts of town i shouldn't be lost in. but then i look at the images that i got by sticking my arm out the window and i'm amazed. what luck to drive lost and be able to see such beauty...

i'm actually pretty fortunate to have this opportunity and i'm especially lucky to have people following me enough to be able to help me out of a jam and get me going in the right direction...