DAY 3- June 7th: Getting to LA
We didn't arrive to Venice Beach until 8:30 at night. It takes approximately 8 hours to get there from the Grand Canyon, but we were able to keep ourselves entertained:
When we finally got to our rental house we were tired, cranky, and pissed off at our location, at first... for ONE, it was incredibly loud & there were people and bums hanging outside our house & we were next door to a bar. SECOND, the fence surrounding our patio {which faced this busy street} was only 4.5 feet tall instead of 5 feet like I was told, & Third, the hot tub on the patio had a deck around it so when Diesel stood on it his chest was over the fence… I started freaking out!
After expressing my concerns to the owner {who is awesome} we came up with some simple solutions. He was going to come by the next day with bamboo fencing to raise the fence for us which would fix problems 2 & 3 and by 9:30 pm Problem 1 solved itself. Apparently after 9 o’clock our entire street becomes a ghost town, actually Venice Beach entirely does. Our house was only 0.3 miles from the Beach and we were only a few blocks from Abbot Kinney street which is “the happen spot,” so the fact it became dead silent seemed like a miracle. We would definitely rent this house again! {To check it out: http://www.vrbo.com/252561}
DAYS 4-6: Slide Show
If you're curious, and I hope you are, Here are ALL of the Photos from Our Los Angeles Trip:
If you're curious, and I hope you are, Here are ALL of the Photos from Our Los Angeles Trip:
DAY 4- June 8th: Venice Beach
We started our first day by Cody going to Home Depot and spending $7 on 15 square feet of grass {I’ll get to why in a second}. On the way home from Home Depot he saw four people running behind a van that had its back doors open revealing a professional film camera. After closer inspection Cody realized that one of these three people were actually carrying the Olympic torch, cool right?!
Okay, so why did Cody have to go to Home Depot for grass? It was for the patio so Diesel could poop… seriously, we’re not making this up… Diesel refused to go anywhere but on grass. Once he saw the grass laid out, his booty shook, he started jumping with excitement and he attended to his business, it was hilarious!!
Still waiting for the owner to get there with the fencing we decided to enjoy the weather out on our newly sodded patio and we noticed a looong line of cars piling up & people crowded around the taco truck parked across the street; we took this as a sign, walked over, and placed an order. While waiting a HUGE gust of wind caused my dress to blow up "Marilyn Style," and I flashed anyone that was looking in my direction {thank goodness I was wearing boyshorts & not a thong}! Shortly after the embarrassing “wind up the dress,” fiasco our order was ready. We set up shop on the table outside and devoured our tacos, they were delicious! It was a great way to start the day.
Around noon the manager of the property, John, came over and applied the bamboo fencing so we could finally leave the house. We started it by walking down to Venice Beach where I got my nose re-pierced,
checked out the skate park,
Cody got a work out in,
shopped at American Apparel where I bought Cody these amazing green jeans, matching Venice Beach T-shirts, & 2 amazing tops just for yours truly:
watched funny street performers put on a show,
*Video to be uploaded Soon*
& we people watched in general {this guy was a hoot}
For dinner we met up with Clyde at Cha Cha Chicken {so good! If you go there, order the jerk chicken}. The line was to the street & parking can be difficult, but it's well worth it.
After visiting with Clyde we came back to the house where Matt {Cody’s longest friend who now lives in LA, and I mean longest knowing, not like Stretch Armstrong} came over. We drank a few beers, caught up on what was new, then made our way to find an open bar/restaurant on Abbot Kinney Street {which was hard believe it or not!}.
DAY 5- June 9th: Los Angeles Cram Day
Our first stop was eating lunch at Nickel Diner, which is AMAZING!
The tables are extremely close together, so it’s like you’re eating lunch with the strangers next to you, but lucky for us, the people next to us were super nice/ We talked to them for the entire duration of our meal. Speaking of our meal, we started it off by ordering a few Bellinis
Cody ordered a Patty Melt {fontina cheese, carmelized onions, dijon sauce on rye toast}, while I opted for a burger, the Lowrider {Ano chilis, pepperjack cheese, red onions, lettuce, tomatoes} which also comes with freshly cut onion rings {and we all know that I’m a sucker for onion rings, and if you didn’t know, you do now.}
We ended our meal by eating a Maple Bacon Donut…
it sounds better than how it taste, they have MUCH more impressive and tastier desserts on their menu that I suggest you get instead. After filling our bellies we met up with Clyde at the Griffith Observatory,
he then took us up the Hollywood hills to the closest point you can get to the Hollywood sign
which made for some spectacular photos
Cody & I wanted to see the neighborhood where Clyde works {which is gorg!} and I'm happy we did this, because I ended up finding a store called Heavenly Couture where NOTHING is over $15! When I asked if this was true, the lady pointed to a wall where in HUGE bold words “REALLY, NOTHING IS OVER $15!” was painted. I ended up spending $140.00, I got tons of stuff!! After my retail therapy we drove down Hollywood blvd since Cody has never been. He got to see the the stars on the ground, Grauman's Chinese theater,
and we drove around fancy neighborhoods while Clyde pointed out famous people’s houses, it was like having our own personal tour guide!
We ended the night with dinner at In & Out Burger & then it was off to bed. We had been out for over 9 hours!!! If it wasn't for Clyde we wouldn't have had as much fun, so thank you so so so much for taking time out of your life to spend an entire day with us & show us around, WE LOVE YOU CLYDE!
Day 6- June 10th: The PCH & Malibu
Since we were gone so long the previous day, we wanted to do something with the puppies, so we packed the truck with beach essentials, loaded the dogs, and headed down The PCH to explored Malibu
to see the insanely gorgeous landscapes
& even more insane houses
We also drove through Pepperdine University {I can’t believe people get to learn there} & the views those students get to see every day, are incredible
and the grass reminded me of Dr. Sues books!
Walking around made us hungry, so we drove down the coast until we found a place called Giovanni Ristorante Italiano.
The owner is originally from Brooklyn, NY so we took our former Austin, TX waiter's advice and order some pizzas, which were amazing.
Originally we were going to go to a beach in Malibu that I was told was a dog friendly beach, but I was lied to, it wasn’t, so we ended up going home to drop off the dogs, take a quick nap, change, & then back out to Santa Monica Pier.
The BEST part was when Cody & I went into a photo booth that takes 5 different photos.
The 1st photo, horrible, we were trying to figure out where to look, etc… the 2nd photo: Normal & cute, the 3rd & 4th photos were us being silly and the 5th photo we kissed… WELL, while we were kissing we hear what sounded like a heard of people say, “AWWWWWWWWWWWWE!” so Cody opened the curtain and there were at least 13 people standing outside the booth watching a TV screen of us inside the booth!!!!! It was hilarious, I was laughing so hard and paying attention to Cody & the group’s conversation that I just hit “enter” not realizing that you don’t get a sheet of all 5 photos, just 1 picture… and of course I accidentally picked the 1st one which was THE WORST ONE!
to see the insanely gorgeous landscapes
& even more insane houses
We also drove through Pepperdine University {I can’t believe people get to learn there} & the views those students get to see every day, are incredible
and the grass reminded me of Dr. Sues books!
Walking around made us hungry, so we drove down the coast until we found a place called Giovanni Ristorante Italiano.
The owner is originally from Brooklyn, NY so we took our former Austin, TX waiter's advice and order some pizzas, which were amazing.
Originally we were going to go to a beach in Malibu that I was told was a dog friendly beach, but I was lied to, it wasn’t, so we ended up going home to drop off the dogs, take a quick nap, change, & then back out to Santa Monica Pier.
The BEST part was when Cody & I went into a photo booth that takes 5 different photos.
The 1st photo, horrible, we were trying to figure out where to look, etc… the 2nd photo: Normal & cute, the 3rd & 4th photos were us being silly and the 5th photo we kissed… WELL, while we were kissing we hear what sounded like a heard of people say, “AWWWWWWWWWWWWE!” so Cody opened the curtain and there were at least 13 people standing outside the booth watching a TV screen of us inside the booth!!!!! It was hilarious, I was laughing so hard and paying attention to Cody & the group’s conversation that I just hit “enter” not realizing that you don’t get a sheet of all 5 photos, just 1 picture… and of course I accidentally picked the 1st one which was THE WORST ONE!
*Photo proof coming soon*
It was so funny!!! After being thoroughly embarrassed we took a ride on the iconic Ferris Wheel.
It took me a while to calm my nerves, I’m super afraid of heights, but I found looking through a camera lens helps!
Once we enjoyed all the entertainment the pier had to offer we headed down to the beach to get a few shots of us with the Pier behind us. It was a perfect way to end the day & our last night in Los Angeles...
