a cacophony of colors

My trip to Los Angeles—delayed of course

I realized I never made an all encompassing post about my trip to LA.. and I think I should for my sake. I’ve made 2 trips since graduation. No extravagant get away to Europe or Hawaii, just a trip to Las Vegas—the easy go to since we don’t have to deal with housing—and Los Angeles—which I have gone since high school graduation if I remember correctly. 

I love planning. It’s almost disgusting. I like to look through travel books, planning each day, picking the restaurants (most important, btw) and the sites.. I find strange joy in it, but joy nonetheless.

It was a long drive with the majority of us leaving after work. Long, very long drive down with a refreshing pitstop in LA on the way to Irvine (where we stayed). Got to the house at 2:30AM and we were all exhausted. I could barely sleep on the car ride down but boy did I pass out.

DAY 1:

WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL : And this is where it began. This is when our trip became a Frank Gehry trip. This place was as beautiful as I had imagined. We took the self guided audio tour for the sake of time, and it was just as great. Inside, this place wasn’t as extravagant as it was outside, but it was still a sight to see.

DOWNTOWN LA : This place ALMOST made me want to move to LA. ALMOST. Fortunately, I became, yes, I’ll say it, obsessed about the movie 500 Days of Summer before the trip and the movie locations became my must-sees. And it was definitely worth it. People hear LA and they think Hollywood, Santa Monica, and Diddy Riese. But Downtown LA was probably my favorite part of the whole trip. We went to Angel’s Knoll and the Bradbury Building (500 Days locations), and the Grand Central Market. I wish we had more time there.. I hear they’re looking at plans to revive the area. I definitely thing it deserves some love. 

WURSTKUCHE: Are you kidding me? So I had a mozzarella sundried tomato chicken sausage. It came with some of the best fries I’ve ever had. The vibe was good and it was a hidden treasure that everyone just happened to know about.

HOLLYWOOD & HIGHLAND: For the effort that it took to get there and the traffic we had to sit through.. sigh. it wasn’t really worth it. Not much to do except get a smoothie at Kelly’s inside H&H considering how hot it was. 

THE GETTY CENTER: LA could never look this beautiful at ground level. The purple haze almost made it look good from that height. The campus was modern beauty. And I am not about to pretend that I enjoy museums and that I find it more interesting than an episode of modern family, but the exhibits there, I actually liked. I walked through the Gerome exhibit and a modern photography exhibit. It was actually pretty interesting and we ended up spending 3 hours there.

HURRY CURRY: It was Japanese comfort food at its best.. and I don’t even like curry. But this was pretty dang good.

DAY 2:

APPLE PAN: It wasn’t the best burger place I’ve been to, but it was definitely a new experience. Sitting around a counter, listening to that old-fashioned register make a clinging noise.. still worth it.

THE GETTY VILLA: It definitely wasn’t as great as the Getty Center, but boy was it extravagant. Best thing in the museum was that mummy video and accompanying mummy. All those Greek statues.. after awhile they started to all look the same. This is why I don’t do well in museums.

SANTA MONICA: Probably the most relaxing part of the trip. Just walking down the pier, and throwing around the football.. the only thing missing that day was the sun.

GUI RIM KOREAN BBQ: Let’s just say, 2 and a half hours later, we were all 5 pounds heavier.

DIDDY RIESE: Okay, so we couldn’t even help it. Seriously? 2 bucks?

DAY 3:
GREAT PARK (ORANGE COUNTY): We went up a great big orange balloon, 400 feet in the air. Refreshing to say the least. A hidden treasure in Irvine. And all before lunch!

C&O’s TRATTORIA: Those garlic balls! Haha. It was damn good. But of course, we ordered WAY too much and ended up having to take the equivalent of a whole dish home. But it was a beautiful day and that food was delicious as it was filling.

VENICE BEACH/MARINA DEL RAY BEACH: I made everyone go over to the Venice Beach House that Frank Gehry designed a while back. It was the most peculiar thing.. But the thing was, no one knew about it. It was just interesting to see the people around me start to look up at it and think a little when they saw me take pictures. Beside that, I actually put my feet in the water and it actually felt nice considering it was nice outside. A great way to end the trip. 
And off home we went.