Wednesday, March 9, 2016

LA Travel Diary Day 1


I've been meaning to post about this for forever, but just now found the time to really sit down and sift through all of my photos from LA! I went to Los Angeles in early February to visit my friend from high school, Ava, who lives in West Hollywood.

I had never been to California before, so I was excited to explore! Ava was the absolute best tour guide EVER! Ava and I have very similar tastes and interests so it was so much fun to be with her! Today I am recapping day one of the trip-- get ready for photo overload. 




For the first 7+ hours of my day, I spent in airports or in the air. Unfortunately, there is no direct flight that exists from PIT to LAX, so I had a (luckily quick) layover in Denver! I grabbed some coffee in Denver and killed some time gazing at the gorgeous mountains off in the distance. Then I hopped back on a plane and headed for LA. I figured a cocktail was to be had since I still had a ways to go-- and is anyone else obsessed with United's Asian-style snack mix? I wish they sold it in stores because I always get so excited about.... the man next to me gave me his bag, too, haha! I think the best part of the flight was seeing the Grand Canyon from the air! 


When I landed at LAX, I headed to pick up my rental car, which was the cutest VW Bug Convertible! I loved that car so much-- I am thinking my next car needs to be a convertible. The entire time, we zipped around with the top down and blasted our music. It was so much fun! After I picked up the car, a stop at In-N-Out was totally necessary (beaause after all, in Pittsburgh it was dinnertime!). I totally think it is worth all of the hype. I got my burger protein style which is wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun and it was heavenly! I got the fries animal style but I wasn't a fan. 

Afterwards, we headed back to Ava's apartment to get ready for the night. Her apartment is about as cute as can be with spanish tile, gorgeous landscaping and her decorating style is the best. 




Our first stop was to Griffith Park Observatory on Mount Hollywood. It's a gorgeous lookout area that is also host to a museum of science and space displays. The archiecture of the building alone is worth the trip, but the view is the showstopper! You can see for miles and miles and the city lights were so breathtaking! I definitely recommend checking this out if you are ever in LA. I jokingly describe it to my Pittsburgh friends as the Mt. Washington of LA (you'll only get this if you've been to Pittsburgh!). 


Afterward, we headed to the Little Next Door for dinner, which is the cutest French brasserie located on W 3rd Street in West Hollywood. This was one of my absolute favorite meals. We were able to sit 'outside' and ordered glasses of wine and 5 dishes between the two of us! The tuna tartar was amzing, and the french onion soup is the best I've ever had! Really loved this place and couldn't recommend it more! 

Then it was time to head to Tori and Colin's apartment-- Colin is Ava's brother and Tori is his wife! I went to high school with them, too! Their apartment was adorable and it was so fun to chat and catch up. After that, we headed back to Ava's because I was about to fall asleep. I didn't think a 3 hour time difference would be noticeable, but it definitely was. The mornings weren't bad, but I was always super tired around 8pm!! Next, I'll be recapping our trip to Orange County and more! 

2 comments:

Just Jess said...

I have never thought to embroider my last name on a boat tote but I love the look. I agree that In & Out is great but animal style fries are not my favorite. My Mom's family is from Orange County so I hope you had fun driving around there and got to one of the beaches. Jess at Just Jess

Unknown said...

This looks like an amazing trip!

xx Kathryn
www.chicandshimmer.com

 

© Summer Wind Blog 2017 / site design by kiki and co. / disclosure