california love

 

I've been gone and more specifically, completely gone. 7 days in California. No true excuse or celebration to make the trip which made it all more wonderful. Without a start, without a finish. Too much for a single post, I thought it would be nice to give each day the attention it deserves. The trip began in LA.

When I was at my last job I always called bullshit on those having a getaway weekend with organized work out activities planned. That was until I was stretching out at The Gym at Hayden in Culver City. After a quick work out we headed across the street to the Baldwin Hill. 511 feet up and 282 stairs later I simply wanted to lay down and take a nap. However from the top, Matt was able to point out different parts of LA to me. Some of which we had visited the evening before for a Saint Patrick's day party in West Hollywood. It also meant the wonderful fish tacos I had at Kay'n Dave's the night before didn't count against me. Not that I care much about that because 30 minutes later after a stop at Jackson's Market, a charming market just down the street from Matt's, we were devouring his famous french toast.

Breakfast down we drove over to Pasadena for a few hours to spend at The Huntington. Library, art collections and magnificent gardens, we escapes the afternoon rain for a walk through a pretty decent park of the property given our time restraint. My favorite part of the garden was the Rose Garden. I've never particularly been a fan of roses, the smell isn't something I care for but they do remind me of my mom and being several 1000 miles from her it felt comforting. The Huntington is somewhere I hope to spend more time at my next trip out and I very much recommend for anyone else to visit. 

Another interesting surprise from my trip to LA was my venture to the Somosa House East. The vegan Indian food here was far beyond what I thought it was going to be. I was happily full and eager to get to sleep as we started up the coast the next day. Off on our coastal road trip, the trip that I couldn't have dreamed up better. 

*Most, if not all of the photography shown for the next few days and linked to this trip was taken by Matt. You can see more of his work here.