9,545 ft. and wheezing

So i've been in berkeley, LA, and now telluride, CO. the air is thin, making it strange to breathe and lift heavy objects. it is nice, however, to be in a state that doesn't hate smoking (like california), regardless of whether or not it actually is harder to smoke...

here's an old post that i wrote when i was in LA, but couldn't post due to lack of internet service:

i woke up this morning to find out that our tour bus had been parked in the hotel parking lot in los angeles for a few hours already, and that we wouldn't be able to check in until 12:00 pm. This was a relatively disturbing discovery, despite the fact that I had known it was coming. I needed a shower badly, and it was nearly torture to be so close to the hotel with no opportunity for indulging in that wonderful watery excess. so i walked with chris to find cigarettes, and almost surprisingly we had quick success - with american spirits, nonetheless. After we were finally able to check in and shower, we walked to a bar/restaurant that is apparently a "roadie must" - some place with "beans" in the name, sounding almost like a coffee shop. I was actually quite unimpressed, mainly because of the service. After eating, I had a bourbon and gradually felt myself slipping into a very tired state, so I walked back to the hotel and took a nap. I was originally going to write about LA - how isolating it is, and how lonesome it feels - like a barren wasteland. Everything is so spread out and the empty space between the buildings seems to vast, with flashy cars speeding by like tumbleweeds in the desert. Maybe that's the appeal - it resembles the southwest before settlement. Wow, that's a bad rambling...

off to the gondola down the mountain...