Salvation Mountain, Hollywood, New York

There's a lot to catch you up on!

I'll do it in order, starting a few days ago.

Allison, Alyssa and I drove out to Salvation Mountain on Thursday, which is about a three hour drive from Long Beach, way into the desert. It was a killa drive, sandstorms and crazy wind and no visibility ... it was scary shit at some points! Salvation Mountain is basically this big mountain that this dude, Leonard, has set up as a 'shrine' to Jesus, I guess. He covers the earth on the mountain with this clay-like substance called adobe, which hardens after time, and then he paints it. Check it out:

So you drive for HOURS, and there's no colour, no life, no nothing in the desert - literally just a trailer park, and then a little town which is the exact same town that you'd see in any horror film, the town that the van full of young kids stop at on their way to the campground to pick up some beers, and the locals look at them and spit their chewing tobacco and there's flies and silence, and then the store is all dark and low-ceilinged and it's about 100 degrees ... that was the town that we passed through to get there, and then all of a sudden, like a mirage or something, this mountain appears, all colourful and amazing. It was so stunning. You can walk on it and climb it, and Leonard was there and gave us a bit of a tour, and then got us to help him make up some adobe. It was so tight.

Me and Allison on the 'yellow brick road', which leads up the mountain.

Here you can see the stark contrast to the desert surrounding it.

I have 1000 more photos, none of them do this place justice. Incredible.

So that was Wednsday. That night, Stacy, Allison, Kate and I went to this bar called Red Room, near their house. We just had a few drinks, this girl there told me I should go to Oregon, and she kept telling me, then we sang songs in the car and went home...

Stace, Kate and Allison...

Thursday I hit Hollywood Blvd, walked the Walk of Fame, all that shit. It was all very nice, but actually a bit tacky and gross. Had fun at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, taking photos of all the hand- and footprints of the celebz! On the left there are the Harry Potter kids, but there's also Shirley Temple and Matt Damon and Brad Pitt and George Clooney and Meryl Streep ... is that the gayest collection of names you've ever read? Shithouse.

Managed to somehow score a $25 front row ticket to Wicked, in the lottery. Right in the front, dead centre ... it blew me away. I still get tingles just thinking about it! Amazing show, going to try and see it again in New York (where I am now) and in London, too, with Jes.

Friday I flew to New York, leaving behind the LA girls. I can't even explain how good it was to be with them and see them again. It's hard being so far away from your own world, but these girls were so incredibly warm and welcoming and just really cool.

So, now I'm in NY. Haven't seen a whole lot yet, the big week starts tomorrow. I did, however, see two shows yesterday - Dangerous Liaisons with Laura Linney (really great, very enjoyable) and Top Girls with Martha Plimpton and Marisa Tomei (good, too, but the British accents were so unbelievably bad that it was really offputting). Today hopefully going to see Spring Awakening, tomorrow the Sex and the City movie, and then a play pretty much every night for the rest of the week! I'm staying with Erin, who I met at Interplay, and she's showing me around. But I'm checking into a hostel tomorrow, so I'm going to be flying solo for a little bit! Yesterday we wandered around the top part of Greenwhich Village in between shows, and went to Magnolia bakery, with the amazing cupcakes - so good. Erin's in Hamilton Heights, just near Harlem - very diverse, noisy, but a really cool vibe.

Heading to NikeTown now, to scope some clothes out for my brother. Tomorrow is hostel checkin, walking through Central Park, and possibly the Guggenheim!

Sorry if this is boring. Missing all you guys quite a bit, really.

xd