I’ve lived in Los Angeles for a few years now (and in Southern California my whole life) and I’m still discovering its hidden gems and beauties.  Take the Hollywood Reservoir for example.  I only learned about it a few months ago while watching the film “Seven Psychopaths” (which I don’t recommend).  There is one scene at the beginning of the film right on that very bridge in the first photo, and even though someone is getting murdered in the scene, Kyle and I looked at each other and thought: WHAT IS THIS HEAVEN ON EARTH??  Minus the murdering, of course.  Oh but the beautiful lake and lush greenery!  And then I immediately felt like an ass for never having been to this gem literally in the middle of my own city.  Blasphemous.

So we went and explored.  It was so peaceful and as a bonus, we saw deer in their natural habitat.  There is a paved path around the reservoir that’s about 4 miles long and we just walked as far as we could (to a locked gate) and then back around.  A large team training for the marathon was running along the path as well, giving us dirty looks as they passed us, probably thinking that we too were training for the marathon and must be real lazy with all those walk breaks we were taking.  Sorry marathoners, we were not training.  We just really wanted to take pictures of deer.

Here’s more info on the Hollywood Reservoir if you so happen upon LA, are stuck in traffic on the 101, and in dire need of fresh air and nature.