Long Weekend in California

More and more each day, we are starting to see a shimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

Mask mandates are changing daily, and people are starting to feel a bit more comfortable in the routines of what used to be normal life. A couple of weeks ago, I traveled for the first time since the summer of 2019. My sister, mom and I boarded a flight to California for an extended girls weekend. While a was a little nervous to fly (I’m not a great flyer to begin with, so having not done it in almost two years didn’t make me love it any more) I was still so excited to get out there and travel again.

Accommodations

We stayed at the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood. It was so cute, the rooms were nice and welcoming. While we didn’t love being right on top of the Walk of Fame, it was good location for the apartment hunting we needed to do for my sister. It was only a short drive to all of the locations we wanted to check out so it really was great. Speaking of which, renting a car was a great call because we were constantly on the go and didn’t have to wait for Ubers or busses to get where we wanted to go.

Activities

We drove up the Coast to Malibu on our first night to get dinner and take in the view. Even if you have nothing you need to get to there, the drive is more than worth it even without a destination you have to get to. We stopped at the Santa Monica Pier for sunset as well. Over the next few days we did plenty of shopping at the Grove and stopped at Abbot Kinney Blvd. for lunch and {more shopping}. We started one morning by hiking up to the Hollywood sign which was toughhhh but worth it!

Food

Night one we spent at Taverna Tony in Malibu for delicious Greek food. It was just what we were looking for after a day of traveling and had a beautiful outdoor seating area. The Farmers Market at the Grove offers charcuterie boards to go so how could we say no?! We also stopped for drinks at the Fountain Bar at the Grove {tip: get their Vegas style edamame, it is phenomenal}. Next up, 1212 Santa Monica. Amazing atmosphere and even better food. Their seafood pasta was to die for. And we obviously had to try In-N-Out which was of course fantastic.