Over Thanksgiving weekend in October I went down to Los Angeles with a couple of friends. We had 5 days in the sun - gorgeous weather, abnormally warm, it got up to about 34 degrees! Perfect. Being Thanksgiving weekend, the airport was crazy busy, and I managed to almost miss my flight, thanks to being singled out for a thorough check at security. Luckily I made it and we were on our way! A quick 2 1/2 hour flight had us arriving into LA and on our way to stay at Anaheim.We got to the hotel a little before check-in, so dumped our bags and went off for lunch. The original plan was to spend the afternoon at Disneyland, but we decided to hold off and spend the day at the pool instead. It was so hot and we'd all had an early start, so what better way to spend the day! For dinner we went to a Mongolian grill place, which was nice, we sat outside on the patio and had drinks - lovely!
Saturday morning we headed off to Disneyland! All three of us had all been to Disneyland as young kids, so we remembered bits of it, so we were looking forward to seeing it as adults. We'd been lucky enough to get a free 3 day pass each thanks to great travel agent deals - they're normally over $200 each! We picked them up and headed into the park, walked along Main St and then saw the castle! All of us commented that we remembered it being a lot bigger, but then I guess we were a lot smaller back then too! The park was all done up for Halloween, lots of pumpkins and orange everywhere. Now, I'm not one for big rides, and Disneyland wasn't the main reason for me going on this trip, but the others went on lots of rides. I went on a couple, shat my pants at the fast ones (which weren't even fast by normal standards), and hit the shops while the others continued. They raved about a lot of the rides, there are plenty to please the adults as well as the kids! The line ups for a lot of them were long, but you can get fast passes, which means you get to come back at a certain time and skip the line, so you can work it out.
Then it was back to the hotel pool before dinner, we went back towards Disney for dinner, to Downtown Disney (just outside the park). We went to a fantastic place, with New Orleans style cuisine. It was a big typical Southern style building, with a big veranda, you really feel like you could be in the South! Our waitress was amazing - and we tipped heftily. The food was really good - great steak & jambalaya. The whole thing was a real experience. We had a few too many drinks and then went to another bar, where Lindsey finished off her bottle of wine she'd smuggled in from the other place...... we're classy girls.
Sunday morning was a slightly slow start with slightly sore heads, and then we went to the California Adventure Park, which is still part of Disney - the neighbouring park. It has a lot more of the bigger rides - including a big big rollercoaster than Nat went on. We did a few things around there, went for more swims at the hotel, and then in the evening we went for another good dinner at the Rainforest cafe, and then back to the Park again. We were going to see the World of Colour - it's a show they have on twice every evening. They have fountains going in time to music, which they colour. They'll also show pictures from Disney movies in the fountains - very impressive! They're like the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas, but with colour.
The next morning we picked up our swanky black Dodge Charger and headed up towards Malibu. It took us a while to get up there, as LA traffic isn't the best! Most of the beaches there are private, so we couldn't do much, so turned around and drove back to Santa Monica for a nice lunch on a patio on 3rd St Promenade, and then a spot of shopping. Nat & Lindsey went down to the pier and the beach, but as I'd been there just in July last year I chose to shop instead! Next stop was Venice Beach, where we saw lots of great street performers, eccentric people, it's such a great spot for people watching! Also Muscle Beach, with the outdoor gym, and outdoor basketball courts a la White Men Can't Jump. Late afternoon we drove down to Newport Beach and Huntington Beach, in Orange County. By the time we got there it was getting dark, but we found a great place for dinner - a packed little bar with the BEST Mexican food I've ever had - and it was super cheap! It's definitely on my re-visit list for next time. I was proud of myself for driving everywhere - I drove more in LA than I ever have in Vancouver!
Tuesday was our last day - Hollywood, including lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, then a drive around Beverly Hills. I love driving around Beverly Hills, all the flash houses and palm trees, it's like the intro to 90210 back in the day. We had a quick stop at the Beverly Center for a last minute shop, then it was time to drop the car off and head to the airport.
Everyone knows security at LA Airport is supposed to be top notch, so I was surprised to find 310ml bottle of sunblock in my handbag halfway through the flight home. Turns out security is pretty shit and you could probably get any old thing through! Comforting.
