FOLAR clean up

I was not expecting an experience that I actually got when I participated in FOLAR. I was very excited to help clean up the LA river by participating in this event. When I heard that we were going to be at a pretty and more nature oriented location, what I imagined was not the reality of it. I pictured an area where there was no cement incline leading into the river, where the water met the bank of the river, and there was perhaps a grove of trees that ran along the river bank. I don't know if a place like this exists for the LA river, but if it does, it was not what we went to. Another surprise for me was the fact that I had to dig to pick up trash. I was expecting to walk along the river bank that I had imagined and pick up plastic bags, water bottles, water bottle lids, and general trash like that. I couldn't have been more wrong. What I got was a mission to dig up cables, plastic, software, shopping carts, and the list goes on. While the experience was nothing that I imagined it to be, I did enjoy myself and loved the fact that I was helping clean u the environment and save some animals from a horrible death.