Posts filed under ‘Los Angeles’
SD to LA – Day 6
Slightly lazy morning as we ate breakfast at the penthouse and bid adieu to everyone before hitting the road back to LA. It wasn’t raining in San Diego but as we headed north the showers began and grew harder. This impacted our plans a bit of walking around Santa Monica but oh well. First stop was at Father’s Office for a late lunch/early dinner. BK had seen this spot touted as runner-up for best burger behind DB Bistro so of course he had to try it – apparently it was pretty good (I had shrimp).
Next stop was unexpected but very interesting – as we were parking for lunch we noticed a spot across the street from Father’s Office called Nothing Bundt Cakes. what? Definitely needed to check it out – apparently bundt cakes are the new cupcake 
We got Lemon Raspberry – it was pretty good…
With the rain pouring down, we drove around a bit instead of walking before finally making our way over to LAX. Uneventful flight home, and a day to rest before work on Tuesday. To get a true summary version of the trip, check out the video recap!
LA – San Diego: Day 2
Even though we spent the night on an air mattress we both slept great and it was so nice not have a furry cat paw kneading at your head at 5:30am. For breakfast we all went to spot by Damon & Sarah’s old house called Auntie Em’s. They had great open faced breakfast sandwich, and more importantly, delicious huge red velvet cupcakes. These Red Velvet cupcakes are apparently so good Bobby Flay came to town for the Cupcake Throwdown with her. They were good – big, moist truly red cake, nice cream cheese frosting. mmm…
We parted ways after breakfast and started the drive down the coast. We both love aquariums, so we stopped in Long Beach at the Aquarium of the Pacific which was packed, and then continued down the PCH. I love driving by all the surf towns. As we got close to Camp Pendleton we saw attack helicopters flying around which was cool. Eventually we made it into San Diego and checked into our hotel. As usual we pricelined for a cheap nice hotel and were happy to win a bid at the Sheraton since we both have starwood memberships we could likely upgrade. It was a nice hotel, but not really “downtown” as my regional request confirmed. It was right next to the airport, on the bay, with a big marina. nice view – but far from the downtown core. So, once we were settled we cabbed it downtown to meet up with Kevin.
Kevin was staying at the Hard Rock Hotel in the heart of the Gaslamp district, very hipster like a W. We strolled up the block to Tabule for dinner, recommended by his concierge. Tabule is well know for it’s Chilean Sea Bass. I didn’t even know restaurants could serve sea bass anymore so it was a pleasant surprise and moral quandry to see it on the menu. I ordered it – it was delicious. After dinner we went down the street to a mexican bar that seemed to have lots of purple & gold happening. We were hoping to watch the Husky Hoops game but sadly it wasn’t being televised. Instead we downed several margaritas with the other dawg fans…
Los Angeles – Day 1
Although I grew up a Husky, once I married BK I am now officially a Husky by marriage. With UW football gettignback on track and chosen to play in the Holiday Bowl this of course meant New Years in San Diego (which I was perfectly content with). With thousands of folks from Seattle deciding to descend onto SD all at once, we chose to fly in/out of LA instead. Sea-Tac was packed with purple clad folks Tuesday morning as everyone headed south. We landed a little early thanks to a quick tailwind and began a perfect afternoon in LA.
First stop: Sprinkles cupcakes of course. Once again we found quick and easy parking in Beverly Hills and jumped into the cupcake line. We got a dozen, pretty much one of each of everything offered that day
Second stop: Bliss Spa in Westwood, a Christmas present from BK. He booked us each a Blissage 75 and mmm it was good. I love Bliss because they have some small extra touches that are fun like a paraffin dip for your feet and brownies in the waiting room. (LA has blondies as well!) However, this Bliss is starting to get a little dated - the bathroom needed some help. But the massage was still great – I found myself dozing off several times only to wake myself up with an embarrassing snort.
Sufficiently relaxed, we hopped back in the Altima to join the northbound traffic to Burbank. Damon & Sarah had generously offered up a free spot to sleep for the night so we were excited to hang with them and see their new house. It’s in a cute little neighborhood, but still near the requisite strip malls for all your food and beverage needs. We hit one for dinner (Zankou Chicken, yummy middle eastern fare), and spent the evening playing with Lincoln (becoming quite talkative) and sampling the cupcakes (red velvet excellent as always, dark chocolate delish, strawberry was disappointing). Then it was off to bed with Damon’s new gnome watching over us:
Los Angeles – Day 3
Wednesday was a big day of random in LA. First stop leaving Anaheim was lunch at In-n-Out Burger, one of BK’s favorites. After consulting the internet for the “secret” menu, I figured out I could order a grilled cheese there as well, which I also got with grilled onions. After lunch we hit up the Golf-n-Stuff for some major mini-golf action. Many of you will remember this spot from The Karate Kid, though it looked much different in person – I need to go watch the movie again. We were the only ones on the courses (4 in total) most of our game time (though since it was mid-day Wednesday that is probably not surprising). BK beat me by two strokes, and then beat me in two games of air hockey. Boooo…
Next we headed back into town – thank goodness for GPS by the way. It made life so easy as we cruised around LA, not having to think about how to get from here to there. We wandered around Little Tokyo in search of the magic ninja poo drops but the best thing we could find was Pinkberry. Since we were downtown we also stopped by the Disney Concert Hall because I knew BK would like taking some pics there. Finally we made our way over to Melrose to wander until dinner. It was a little cool out as we strolled Melrose Ave, but ducking into some of the crazy asian t-shirt shops was fun. The best find however was Xooro, a new shop featuring fancy churros. Even though we were about to embark upon an awesome dinner, we shared a maple-bacon Xooro which was weird but tasty.
For dinner we met up with Glo & Larry at Pizzeria Mozza. It was so good – we shared a plate of prosciutto & house made mozzarella as well as meatballs with garlic bread to start. For dinner we split three pizzas: goat cheese/leek/scallion/bacon; fennel sausage/mozzarella; and Bianca (full of cheese and sage). Dessert was a Butterscotch Budino (smooth yummy pudding thing). Unfortunately Glo was under the weather, but it was great to chat with Larry who we haven’t spent much time with. A great evening to end our LA excursion!
Los Angeles – Day 2
Today was a full day of Disneyland Domination. We entered the park right when it opened at 9:00am and left 10 minutes before it closed at 7:50pm. It was a great day – Off-season Tuesdays are a perfect day to visit: we hit 4 of the top rides in our first hour alone and there was rarely a line anywhere we went all day long. The longest line we encountered all day was the submarine voyage (now featuring Finding Nemo) that we had to finally suck up and wait in at the end when it was the last ride we had left to do.
Our favorite new ride though was Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters which is a slow car ride thing Haunted mansion, but you get laser guns to shoot at targets as you go along. This was the only ride we went on twice – BK kicked my ass both times, but I substantially improved on the second ride.
As the park closed, we strolled Downtown Disney, grabbing food at ESPN Zone before collapsing into bed
Los Angeles – Day 1
BK flew into LA this morning and we set out on a big day of fun in our Cobalt Chevy Cobalt. ( I never anticipated that driving a Cobalt Cobalt could be a life goal achieved, but BK likened it to my Nanaimo bar in Nanaimo goal, so check!). First stop was brunch at BLD (Breakfast Lunch Dinner) recommended by Robyn and it was yummy. I had the Ricotta Blueberry pancakes which had apparently been featured on the Food Network as one of the Best Things I Ever Ate. I was skeptical at first given their size (filling the plate) but they were surprising fluffy and light.
Next was the pilgrimage to Sprinkles cupcakes in Beverly Hills. We wandered around Rodeo Drive a bit first, noticing some blank spots in the jewelry windows, likely from the Oscars the night before? Once at Sprinkles we bought six for us to last us through our 3 days in LA, and 4 to take to dinner that night. The first one we tasted was Red Velvet, which BK uses as his measuring stick at any new cupcake shop – verdict is: delicious.
With my pilgrimage complete, we embarked on BK’s: the Rose Bowl. He had never been before! So off to Pasadena we went to scope out tailgating spots for New Years. afterwards we strolled around Old Pasadena a bit where we stumbled upon Dots Cupcakes – we just got mini ones here but they were good too. Mine was Dulce de Leche and BK’s was red Velvet once again.
We spent the evening with BK’s childhood buddy, Damon and his family, Sara and Lincoln. It was great to catch up with them and Lincoln is a hoot (almost 2 years old), so it was a great way to end the day.
The Pineapple Express
The pineapple express is a tropical weather system that ocassionally dumps some moisture on the West Coast. In the last couple weeks, this weather system has hit LA fast & furious as they have already passed their total rainfall of 2004 in these first few days of the new year. Lucky for us, my mom and I arrived just in the middle of it.
We were in LA for the first Coach Wooden Cup ceremony, hosted by Athletes for a Better World. We landed Saturday around noon and headed straight for Santa Monica to get some lunch. We arrived during the lull of teh storm, but it soon ended while we were eating – the rain came and never stopped. I’m not sure our coats or shoes ever dried out. But we made due and ventured out as best we could – shopping and eating our way through Santa Monica, Hollywood, the Grove and the Getty. Pictures can be found here: http://www.ofoto.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=524859132203&page=1&sort_order=0
The ABW event was on Monday and a huge success – Info on the event can be found here: http://www.abw.org/johnwooden/index.asp The professional winner was Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts, and the Collegiate winner was Bill Betz, a swimmer from Brigham Young.
The highlight for everyone in attendence was being able to meet and listen to Coach John Wooden, a true legend and amazing man. At 94 he is having diffculty moving around but is still sharp as a tack. As I sat down for a photo next to him he immediately asked me where I was from and we laughed about the rain. Later, while he signed my program he asked about my name and we talked about his grandkids. It was so great!
Other highlights included meeting Dawn Staley, who currently plays for the Charlotte Sting and coaches the Temple Owls. I have been a fan of Dawn’s since she played at Virginia, but most of you would probably know her as the flag bearer for the US delegation at the Athens Olympics. In addition, sitting next to my mom was Dr. Carole Oglesby, one of the founders of the Women’s Sports Foundation.
I had hoped to meet up with my buddies Molly, Gloria and Brad, but alas, crazy schedules and weather kept us apart – sorry guys! Hopefully we’ll see each other soon!
