Travel Page: Southern California

A month late, but at last—a recap of my trip to California to see my little sister. It was so nice to be able to take a week and pop out for a visit and some road tripping around LA. I miss her! But man, did I run her ragged during my stay. Seven days seems like so much time, but there is so much to do where she lives. What I learned: All plans need to be made with LA traffic patterns in mind. ;) Still, we had such a fantastic time. Here, some pics if you'd like to see what we did...

On the first day, we drove down to the San Diego Zoo's Safari Park. What's super cool about this place is all the wide open spaces where animals can roam. This park has 1800 acres of land! I loved the gorillas the most. They were so playful! We also paid for a front-row seat to see the Cheetah Run. Completely worth it. 

Next, my sister and I drove to Santa Barbara for an overnight at this hotel. After a day of wine tasting and lunch at Lucky Penny (a delicious spot!), we nabbed a front row seat to watch the sunset at Butterfly Beach in Montecito. Then, the next morning we got up and made the drive to Santa Ynez for more wine tasting. Sunstone Winery is hands down the most beautiful place. There's nothing quite like sipping wine and looking out at the mountains and clouds! 

Later in the week, we spent some time in LA. My sister took me to Venice Beach and Brentwood, we rented paddle boats in Echo Park Lake—we even took a meditation class here. Then, we made our way over to Hollywood Boulevard for dinner and a surprise: tickets to see Jersey Boys at the Pantages Theater, a gorgeous Golden Age movie palace. Other things we did in LA: Visit the Hollywood Costume Exhibit at the LACMA. I also had my first taco truck experience, a la Roy Choi. Yum!

For the next couple of days, we kicked it near my sister's place, beach-hopped between Newport and Laguna, and ate lots of yummy Mexican food. Then, on my very last night, we treated ourselves to wine with a view at our favorite rooftop spot in Laguna Beach. It's hilarious to me that blankets are available for "chilly" nights. It was about 65 degrees when the sun set. ;) How cute does my sister look all bundled up? 

I miss her already and can't wait to plan another trip back!

More of my California visits here and here and here.