We planned a (sort of) last minute trip to California for my birthday.
I was so happy to see Mama Mia available on this flight. It's such a comfort movie for me. The flight was pretty easy and uneventful and we landed at LAX in the afternoon. After picking up our rental car--that was quite the experience--the bus you about 15 minutes away from the airport to the rental car facility. The line was so long but luckily we had booked through Costco and we had our own counter with no line!
Our first stop was Erewhon. I've wanted to go to this fancy "Whole Foods on steroids" since I had heard about it. We were overwhelmed with the selections and picked a few items from the hot bar to share for lunch.
We also got one of their freshly pressed juices. So good!
We sat outside to enjoy our lunch in the warm California sun near Venice Beach.
City Girl #1 had recommended visiting Abbot Kinney Boulevard, a shopping and dining mile long strip near Venice Beach.
We were happy just to window shop and walk around after our flight and travel day.
We headed to our hotel in Manhattan Beach. We stayed at The Belamar which is a Hilton boutique property in the middle of a residential neighborhood.
Our room was bright and cute. We had a tiny balcony that looked out onto their courtyard. We had a little time to unpack and relax before meeting up with our niece and her boyfriend. They moved to the LA area a few years ago and this was our first time visiting them.
We had reservations at Nick's Manhattan Beach and ubered over there from the hotel.
We explored the shopping area while we waited. We had a wonderful dinner and it was so great to catch up with our niece and her boyfriend.
After dinner we walked down to the Manhattan Beach Pier. It's a very steep incline going down toward the water (and a steep walk back up!). We got to see the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean all in one day! They drove us back to our hotel. It had been a long day but we were ready to take on the rest of our California adventure.
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9 comments:
What a fun getaway! Is that grocery store where they have like $25 strawberries? (Per berry!!) My daughter showed me a tik tok of it over the summer. I think it was that store. INSANE!! Everything looks so lovely where you were and how fun to get to spend time with your niece and her BF. Looking forward to more :).
Happy Birthday! It looks like such a fun getaway!
Jill - Doused in Pink
Not that sounds like fun. Happy Birthday. Love the sound of an impromptu getaway.
ditto what he a said! How fun!
What a fun getaway!!
That sounds like such a fun birthday getaway!
What a nice birthday trip Heather. We have a friend who lives in Venice Beach and has a beautiful house. We liked too liked the shops and restaurants at Abbot Kinney Boulevard. I can't wait to hear more about you CA trip.
Happy Birthday - what a great trip and fun to see family. Also - kudos for representing the Phillies in LA area!!!
Travel Post ... yippee!!
Happy Birthday too!
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