California Part 3! The third and final part of our California trip, haha! I’m glad I’m finally getting this posted because I have gotten so many questions about this part of our trip. These last few days we did all the touristy things, all the must-dos of LA!
I think the best way to organize everything we did is day by day, which is slightly different from my previous travel guide blog posts. I think it’s going to make it much easier! Now let’s dive in.
Day 1
- We woke up bright and early and drove to Santa Monica! We shopped on Montana Avenue and stopped by Roller Rabbit, Splendid, and this cute paper, balloon, birthday card store. It was very quiet and not busy at all! For breakfast we ate at a macaron cafe, it was so delicious!
- Next, we had lunch at Ivy at the Shore. It is truly just the prettiest restaurant. I loved everything about the atmosphere, and the food was great too. I had the grilled vegetable salad with salmon. So yummy!
- After lunch we walked across the street to the Santa Monica Pier. You can’t go to LA without stopping here! We walked up and down the pier, took pictures in front of the Route 66 sign, and we went to Pacific Park (the amusement park on the pier). We loved the Ferris Wheel!
- Next, we walked 3rd Street Promenade and went to several of our favorite stores. This is another great area for shopping. The Lululemon was huge with so many selections! We also stopped by the Nordstrom and the Urban Outfitters. We didn’t spend a lot of time here, mainly because it has stores that you can find almost anywhere!
- After walking 3rd Street Promenade we drove to Venice Beach and Muscle Beach. There’s a gym right on the shore and people work out there all the time. It was really neat! Venice Beach was modeled after Venice Italy, so it also has the iconic canals that Venice Italy has. We had to stop in the middle of the street to get a pic, haha!
- Next stop, more shopping! We walked along Abbott Kinney and shopped at some of our favorite places, Aviator Nation, Goodr, and Free People. We also tried some new places too! We went to a delicious ice cream shop, Salt and Straw with the most unique flavors, and a pudding place as well. My dad really liked it!
- We topped off our night in Malibu and drove through Pepperdine. It is the PRETTIEST campus ever! It’s right on the cliffs of Malibu and has the most incredible views.
- We enjoyed dinner At Malibu Farm on the pier! It was a little chilly but the food was so yummy! I had the best spaghetti squash! For dessert, we went to Duke’s, just a couple minutes from Malibu Farm and had their famous dessert, Kimo’s Original Hula Pie. It’s made up of chocolate cookie crust, macadamia nut ice cream, hot fudge, toasted mac nuts, and whipped cream (straight from the menu!). It was AMAZING and ginormous, haha!!!
Day 2
- We began day 2 in LA at the Warner Brothers Studio. We enjoyed a tour and saw sets of some of my favorite TV shows! We saw the church from Pretty Little Liars, Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls and the famous white gazebo, the All-American set, and the iconic orange couch and fountain from Friends. I learned so much about the process of how shows and movies are filmed. This tour was definitely one of my favorite things we did on our trip.
- Another must-do to add to your LA trip, In-N-Out Burger! We ate there for lunch and I had their classic burger and sauce, fries, and a chocolate shake! Yum!
- Next up, the Hollywood sign. We viewed it from Lake Hollywood Park. I really don’t think there is a better view than that! It was perfect.We also drove past Griffith Observatory and was able to see the Hollywood sign from there too. It wasn’t as great as the Lake Hollywood Park view though!
- To continue with our Hollywood theme, we drove through Hollywood (the city) and did the Hollywood Walk of Fame. We saw Mariah Carey’s star, Reese Witherspoon’s star, Carrie Underwood’s star, and many others. It was so fun to look for all our favorite Hollywood stars!
- Later in the afternoon we went to Melrose Avenue and did all the shopping there. We stopped at two of our favorites, LoveshackFancy and Golden Goose!
- We ended our day with dinner at the Ivy. It was SO YUMMY! I had the best mocktail, a salad, and of course dessert! It is such an elegant restaurant!
Day 3
- Day 3!!! Another early morning and we were off to UCLA. It is a HUGE campus and so so pretty! I loved the location of such a big campus right outside of Beverly Hills and in the middle of LA!
- We then drove to the downtown LA museum and saw the “Urban Light” lamp posts. It was really neat! We got lots of fun pictures in front of them!
- USC was our third and final college visit of the trip. Again, such a pretty campus! Right nearby was the LAFC stadium so we made a pit stop there for Libby. She loves all things soccer!
- We ate lunch at the Hotel Bel Air and it was by far my favorite meal of the whole trip! Everyone in my family loved it! We got the coolest drinks that had ice cubes with swans on them and all of our entrees were delicious! I had the best Mediterranean dish with several different dips, peppers, and olives. And our desserts were so yummy too! This hotel is amazing!
- The houses in Bel Air were incredible! We drove around and picked out our favorites. We passed the Spelling Manor, where Tori Spelling grew up and it is a 57,000 square-foot house. Gigantic!
- Next, we drove around Beverly Hills and saw the houses there, and we walked Rodeo Drive. We had the best time just window shopping and adding to our wish lists, haha!
- Finally, for dinner, we ate at Spago. It is one of Wolfgang Puck’s restaurants, and it was so great. I loved the atmosphere, the location, and the food!
Day 4/5
- Our final destination in LA, the Beverly Hills hotel! We spent two days and one night there, and we truly had the BEST time. We had great food, we enjoyed the pool, and we just relaxed! I couldn’t think of a better way to end a trip to California!
I hope you enjoyed my three LA travel guides and I hope they helped you plan your next trip to California! Happy end of summer everyone!
xoxo, Joanna