As promised, I am back and sharing the second half of my vacation down to good ole Los Angeles! I believe last post ended with what we did on Thursday night (dinner downtown, macarons and more macarons… not that you needed a refresher or anything because I’m sure you all have read each and every one of my posts 6 times over. Right?! Right, of course you did). Okay, back on track.
Friday morning we woke up and took the drive from Mid City up the PCH to Malibu. Now, up until Friday morning we had not yet experience the typical LA traffic. Weirdly enough, we were able to get anywhere on Wednesday and Thursday in record amounts of time. The drive to Malibu was a whole different experience, though. It took us about 2 hours to go just under 30 miles. We finally arrived at our destination and ate breakfast at Malibu Farm Pier Cafe. I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend this place. Derek ordered the breakfast burrito and I got the quinoa oatmeal and a vanilla latte with almond milk. After breakfast we noticed the nearby beach was fairly quiet so we took a walk and hung out on the beach for a bit. 
From Malibu, we took the PCH back down to Santa Monica. We explored the pier and third street promenade, but honestly I thought it was kinda blah and overhyped. The pier was filled with creepy street performers and interesting characters shoving “FREE LYFT CREDIT” cards in your face, not taking “no thank you” for an answer. It really reminded me of Seaside, OR, which is a very touristy town on the Oregon coast and definitely not my favorite place to enjoy the ocean.
Later that afternoon, Derek and I walked about 2 miles from our Airbnb to meet our friend at his place of employment. The plan was for all of us to go out to some bars that night and we didn’t want to have to deal with leaving our rental car somewhere. So, we met our friend and rode back with him to his place in Echo Park. Before I proceed any further, I just want to mention that it is SO weird that no one walks anywhere in LA. It’s usually perfect walking temperature, so weather can’t be an excuse. And I get that it’s pretty spread out but I mean, COME ON. Walking is healthy. No wonder LA is so smoggy. Anyways, our friend and his roommate took us out to several bars in the area, none of which I can remember the names of. I did notice, however, that you could easily pick up each bar we went to and place it in Portland and it would fit right in. There’s a lot of Portland in LA, actually (looking at you Salt & Straw, Blue Star and Stumptown). After the last bar refused to open up their dance floor, we back to my friends house to hang out in his yurt. Yes, he has a yurt in his front yard. Long story short, Friday night was fun and it was great to see one of my close friends from college. All was well until I left my phone in the Lyft later that night and was convinced I lost it forever. I did miraculously get it back the next night and had an encounter with Nicki Minaj (100% honest truth) at the same time, but that’s a story for another time. This is the only photo I have from Friday night…hiiii Luke if you’re reading this. 
Saturday morning, Derek and I decided to do the Warner Brothers Studio Tour, and let me tell you….BEST decision ever. It was absolutely spectacular and I recommend everyone do it, especially if you’re a TV fanatic like I am. This tour seriously made the Universal tour seem like a kiddie ride. It definitely paid off that our tour guide had been in the entertainment industry for many years and also LOVED his job. Shoutout to Noah! If you ever take the tour, try to request him as your guide! Since we went on the weekend, there wasn’t any filming going on so we were able to see a lot more that if we were there during the week. I am a die hard Gilmore Girls fan and I got to totally experience Stars Hollow (minus the gazebo). The same set is also used for Pretty Little Liars, which I also like, so it was cool to be able to experience Rosewood as well. I can’t explain it nearly as well as I can show it, so here are the photos that I got that day 
Well, that pretty much concludes my trip to Los Angeles. Saturday night was spent trying to figure out how to get my phone back, but like I previously mentioned, I’ll save that story for it’s own post. We had an amazing time, and while I could never see myself living there, I can’t wait to go back and visit again soon.
xoxo,
Samantha
Simply Samantha B. 