L.A. Trip Recap

Earlier this month, Joe and I traveled to Los Angeles for a long weekend together. We try to do one trip a year without the kids to disconnect from daily life and just spend time together as husband and wife. Our friend from New Jersey was getting married and since it isn’t a quick flight from SRQ to LAX, we decided to extend our trip and spend an extra few days in L.A. since neither of us had been there.

Buckle up, it’s a long one today….😂

We left SRQ early on Wednesday morning so when we arrived to LAX, we still had most of the day to explore. The weather was beautiful so we hopped in the rental car and went out searching for food because we were getting hangry!

On Wednesday night we were staying in Beverly Hills so we set off towards Rodeo Drive because, duh!

We grabbed lunch at The Hideaway and it was the perfect welcome to Beverly Hills. The ambiance, the food, the drinks…it was all amazing! Instead of eat getting a meal we ordered a bunch of apps and split them because we knew we wanted to eat throughout the day and not fill up at one stop. We stayed for a bit just gathering our thoughts and planning what we were going to do (we like to wing it on vacay) and decided to drop off our stuff at the hotel and head to Santa Monica.

Santa Monica isn’t far from Beverly Hills at all so if you are in the area, I highly recommend you head to the beach and pier and explore! It was just as beautiful as I had remember the Pacific Coast and I could have spent all day just watching the water and admiring the mix of ocean, palm trees and mountains.

We walked the pier a few times and while we didn’t do any of the games or ferris wheel, we both agreed we would love to bring the kids back and experience that with them. It looked like a ton of fun! We are those people who don’t want to be with kids when we don’t have ours, #sorrynotsorry which is why we skipped the fun! Lol.

After we walked a bunch and explored, we decided to grab drinks at The Ivy and we had the best drinks and service. The waiter raved about the food so we split a Gluten Free seafood pasta and I have to tell you, it was the best GF pasta I have ever had. I couldn’t believe the portion size (this was split so Joe and the same plate) and the ambiance was again, amazing. Ya’ll I love California!

It was hitting close to rush hour and we were obviously still on East Coast time so we decided to head back to our hotel and call it a night early. We stayed at The Beverly Hills Hotel and Spa and it was magical. The service, the room, the location it was incredible.

Even though we went to bed super early, it had its perks because the time change had us up at 4:30/5:00 am on Thursday morning and we were wide awake after an amazing nights sleep. Since it was so early, we decided to go watch the sunrise and when I googled the best place to see the sunrise in LA, The Griffith Observatory came up and it-did-not-disappoint. This was one of our favorite parts of the trip.

We parked at the bottom of the hill, hiked up to the top and the views were breathtaking. We stayed for about 1.5 hours just walking around, talking, taking pictures and because we are lame, playing Adele. Lol. I feel like if you watched that special concert, you understand why we belted Adele the whole time we were there.

Afterward we were done at the Griffith Observatory, it was still early (like 9am LOL) so we decided to go explore and find some neighborhoods we always admire on TV. We aimlessly drove around the Sunset Strip, The Bird Streets, West Hollywood and ohhhed and awwwed at the real estate. Literally one of our favorite things to do on vacay.

In our aimless driving, we stumbled upon The Beverly Hills hotel and of course had to stop! We walked around the grounds, ate breakfast and then the lovely valet offered to take our pictures. It will cost you to park if you want to walk around but 10/10 recommend!

After breakfast we went back to the hotel, got ready for the day and packed up our stuff since after a day in L.A. we were headed to the valley to stay closer to where the wedding was.

We spent the day exploring Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive. I got a little something special 🥰 and just enjoyed the beautiful weather and time together.

Because we got such an early start we found ourselves looking for something new to do around noon so set off to explore some more and ended up driving to Malibu along the PCH, then through the Santa Monica mountains into Calabasas and the Hidden Hills. We grabbed lunch, enjoyed the scenery and seeing more of the surrounding areas you always hear about.

We had lunch in Calabasas at The Sixth Chow House and it was delish!

It was all fun and games until we decided it was nearly 5pm and we should head to the Valley….I opened the GPS and it said 3 hours to go 60 miles. 🤪 #welcometoLA

Traffic aside, it was worth it because we had the best most jam packed day exploring. And, I love nothing more than packing in a vacay to see all the things!

We got to the hotel, grabbed In-N-Out and went to bed! The next day, Friday was the wedding so we stayed local to the valley, explored the outdoor mall area where I got a blow out, Joe got a hair cut and we just walked around enjoying the day. That afternoon/evening we had the best time seeing old friends from NJ and celebrating Katelyn + Justin in the most beautiful wedding!

We were out late and after a busy Thursday we were tired so we slept in Saturday morning and then headed back to LA for our last day of exploring.

Originally we had planned to do a hike but after dancing all night long and sleeping in we decided to just roam around again and see more of LA. We headed to Hollywood Blvd, found Nsync’s star 😂, grabbed souvenirs for the kids and realized quickly that its no different than Times Square and once we saw it, we were over it. Lol.

Since we didn’t do the hike we kind of didn’t know what to do since we didn’t plan anything. We thought about doing a tour or something touristy and then decided, google and our rental car could do the same and we could find places we wanted to go. So, I did what any good RHOBH fan does and we set out towards Encino to find our housewives. Lol.

We drove around looking at houses in Encino, and then decided to just turn the GPS off and wander wherever the roads took us. To our pleasant surprise we ended up on Mulholland Drive and drove past all the famous neighborhoods all the celebrities lived in. We stopped and took pictures, took in the views and then since we were starving had to turn the GPS back on because it is harder than you think to just stumble upon food when you are roaming around.

We were close to Sherman Oaks so we hit up Ventura Blvd and grabbed lunch then walked around for a while.

Let me tell you, as much as I loved Beverly Hills…Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Encino…I fell in love with. I would move there in a heartbeat! The views, the homes, the shops, it all was exactly where I would want to live and I soaked it all in. We ate at Casita and it was so so good.

After a day of exploring we headed back to the valley to pack up and get ready for a long travel day on Sunday. We grabbed In-N-Out for dinner because, it’s the best and we just wanted something quick and easy to take to the hotel. We had an early early flight and a layover in Chicago (we couldn’t find a direct flight back) so we hit the bed early with full hearts and tired bodies.

It was a jam packed few days but worth every second. Between Nashville and LA, my travel heart has been so filled so far in 2023, I love exploring new places and I love places where there is so much to see!

Whew! That was a long one but I wanted to fit it all into one post so I hope you enjoyed and got some ideas if you are going to LA soon!