Hello friends! For almost a month now, I’ve been raving about how much sunshine (and creative inspiration!) I got over a recent long weekend down in Southern California. I also, unsurprisingly, took a ton of photos :-) So here are a few (okay, several) snapshots from our early May getaway that took us from our home in San Francisco to Santa Barbara, Malibu, Santa Monica, and Los Angeles–hope you enjoy!

Day 1

Part 1: Santa Barbara

From the rental car place near the San Francisco airport, we quickly got on Highway 101 to start our journey down south. We couldn’t have wished for better road tripping weather! After a late lunch on the go (In-N-Out Salinas, holla!), we continued to make our way down the 101 to Santa Barbara, where blue skies and temperatures above 70 degrees (gasp! exclaimed two San Franciscans) necessitated a few refreshing beverages to be enjoyed somewhere near the beach.

Moby Dick Restaurant (right on Stearns Wharf) turned out to be our Happy Hour spot that day: giant fruity Mojitos to go with giant views of the ocean! Don’t worry, we definitely took our time walking around post-cocktails before getting back on the road. And it’s not at all difficult to linger in Santa Barbara–I always love seeing its coastline with that backdrop of hazy mountains, to say nothing of the gorgeous white adobe houses further inland (which we didn’t get to this time, but something to keep in mind if you’re planning your own visit!).

Part 2: Los Angeles

We made pretty good time getting into L.A. on the 101 from Santa Barbara, finding and getting to settle in a bit at our Silver Lake Airbnb in the early evening. Next on our minds, naturally, was dinner, and how to soak up all that this food town had to offer. We made a beeline for Sunset Boulevard (which was actually not that direct, given all the hills–thought we had left those in S.F.!), where a true bevy of options awaited.

There were restaurants with outdoor patios, little hole-in-the-wall places, dive bars, sports bars, gelaterias, hipster hubs and pubs…We definitely don’t have anything like this in S.F., and this is just one boulevard here. After some Yelp-ing (yes, we be hipster foodies too), we came upon Daw Yee Myanmar Corner, an unassuming (or so it seemed) Burmese eatery in a strip-mall just off the main drag.

Inside, there was a black and white checkerboard wall and colorful kitschy decorations everywhere. I don’t have any photos of that to share (but you can definitely check that out on their Yelp page); I was too busy shoveling crispy duck noodles into my mouth between gulps of fresh coconut juice. We also got a pork belly rice bowl (don’t forget to ask for extra sauce!), which was another delicious dish to share. Overall verdict: tasty food and even tastier prices!

Day 2

Part 1: Los Angeles

The next day, we were greeted with more blue skies and perfect spring weather! We took advantage of the patio space at our Airbnb and enjoyed a light breakfast with some coffee while looking out at the hills.

Part 2: Malibu

After a peaceful and relaxing morning, we headed out to get some beach time. On previous visits to L.A., we’ve stayed closer to Venice Beach, so we knew that area pretty well and were eager to re-visit some favorite food spots (mmm fried chicken sandwiches at Great White). However, L.A. highway traffic had other plans for us, so after a quick Google maps look-up, we re-routed to Malibu!

We drove through some amazing wildflower bloomscapes in the Santa Monica Mountains on the way down to the coast (no photos of that, sorry, just pretty memories in my mind), picked up some lunch at a grocery store (chicken wings, potato wedges, hard kombucha, and beer hehe), and settled in at Zuma Beach.

Zuma Beach is worlds away from Venice Beach! Even on “Cinco Weekend”, there weren’t that many people there. Unlike Venice and Santa Monica, where tourist traps and, well, tourists abound, Zuma just gives you the beach (and a parking lot, and some bathrooms, yay!).

A thing of note, though: beware the beach tar! I had no idea that was even a thing until we got to the showers and had to try really hard to wash the sticky black goo off our feet. I don’t know how I got it in my head to just slather my heels with hand sanitizer in a last-ditch effort; friends, let me save you some future hassle and just dispel that myth right now: it won’t work. In fact, the alcohol in hand sanitizer will more likely dry your skin out and make that tar cling ever more stubbornly (or so it seemed).

When we got back home that night and finally had time to properly wash and scrub (and Google), we found out we had a pretty great solution in my purse the whole time: makeup remover wipes! The ones I had contained some oils that were perfect for dislodging tar (basically really strong mascara on my feet). So there you go.

Part 3: Santa Monica

Okay, enough tar talk. On to a celebratory dinner (the bae’s birthday weekend!) that night at Manchego, an atmospheric little tapas restaurant in the Ocean Park neighborhood of Santa Monica. Yes, we got there in time for Happy Hour. Yes, we ordered a pitcher of sangria (with chunks of fresh strawberries!). And yes, we had some manchego (along with the requisite jamon serrano, marcona almonds, and quince paste). We also went for some garlic shrimp and beef empanadas to round out the meal.

All in all I’d say I had a pleasant, though not amazing, experience at Manchego. Props for the charming decor and a good variety of menu options, although those options seemed more like cleaned-up and well-plated California interpretations of traditional Spanish classics. I believe deep fried brussels sprouts also featured on the menu, so… Dinner at Manchego is definitely a good “date night” or “girls night” version of going for tapas though, and the restaurant is located on Main Street where there are lots of cute shops and dessert places to explore before and after your meal, respectively ;-)

Since we had dinner quite early, we decided to squeeze in one more adventure for the day: scoping out some live music in Downtown L.A. The Blue Whale, a jazz bar surprisingly located in an open-air mall-type complex, promised a live performance and drinks. Unfortunately, the place was way too packed (yet they kept letting people–and their cover charge–in the door), which kind of soured the experience for us. We could hear the music all right, but we had to scramble to find seats in the back, partially walled-off area and could only watch the performers on a TV screen. Not quite the live jazz experience we were looking for, but I did have fun just looking around at all the kinds of people there, what they were wearing (no fleece to be seen, haha), and how they were reacting to the music. Some folks were really into it (like the guys seated next to us, clearly members of the music industry); some found really good spots in which to take group selfies. Ah, L.A. :-)

Day 3

Part 1: San Marino

After a bit of a late Saturday night on the town (I’m usually in bed by 10, so…), we didn’t get moving too early on Sunday morning. It was our last day on vacay, so we had planned to take it pretty easy anyway. I mean, that’s basically how we take everything. On the very flexible agenda for the day was a visit to the Huntington Library and its spectacular gardens (or so I had heard).

“The Huntington” in San Marino is practically next door to L.A., just a 20-minute drive from where we stayed in Silver Lake. I’d been very interested in visiting since I learned that Nan Rae (one of my artist crushes) holds painting workshops there, but we also had a long drive back home so I didn’t want to take too much time.

Friends, plan ahead and take your time at the Huntington. It is so worth it! We were there for almost 3 hours and there was still plenty left to see. And that’s just the gardens and grounds. We didn’t even set foot in the library and museum. I honestly would have been happy to go home after just the Rose Garden, but the Japanese Garden and Chinese Garden are also wonderful areas to explore!

The grounds are well designed and laid out so that you are naturally led onto paths that seamlessly transition you from one themed garden to another.

Just as we were headed to exit the grounds, we saw signs for the Palm Garden and were lured away into yet another exotic botanical world…

If we lived in L.A. (and had a car, which is a requirement), I wouldn’t hesitate to become a member to be able to visit the Huntington to my heart’s content! Highly, highly recommended activity if you are staying in the L.A. area for more than a couple of days (and love beautiful gardens!).

Part 2: Los Angeles

We had one last stop to make before heading onto the 5 to take us home. Back to the north edge of L.A. for donuts!

The last time we stayed in L.A. we had actually walked down to York Boulevard to get a late dinner and passed by Donut Friend, thinking we would of course pop in at some point (donut bae). Well, we didn’t, and we regretted this even more when we later discovered how cool this place is. All flavor names are riffs on rock bands and each one is a completely vegan delight. No pictures of the donuts because we drove home and then ate them too fast, but suffice it to say that Youth Brulee and S’Morrissey are must-trys!

I loved that we got to soak up our most favorite things about L.A. (food and the outdoors) in such a short (but sweet) time! Hoping it won’t be long ’til we go back. In the meantime, I’ll have these fun photos to look back on. Let me know if you have recommendations for me for future trips!

-CG