Los Angeles

Sunday morning we headed to Los Angeles for a day of adventure and fun. It was a great time!

We went to the Santa Monica Pier first because Jackson had never seen it. It has a little amusement park on the pier that is pretty cute. We didn't stay for long because it was chilly. From there we went to The Grove. It is an outdoor shopping mall/lifestyle center in the center of L.A. It was really nice. It was a lot like City Place, but bigger. (I still prefer City Place. Hands down.) We walked around and ate lunch at Cheesecake Factory. I know, I normally try to eat somewhere that is a local treat, but we were hungry and wanted to know what to expect. Plus, I hear Victoria Beckham eats at this location sometimes. Not on Sunday, though. Boo.

We went into Coach to buy my gorgeous red purse and they did not have it! WAH! (It is now a good thing that we didn't drop cash on a purse because a lady bumped into Jackson and made him break his iPhone-GRR!!) I left empty handed and a bit miffed because the saleswoman was a witch. That's not the Coach I know and love. Someone in corporate is getting an email about that trip.

After looking for parking for about 30 minutes-I'm not kidding- we hiked at Runyon Canyon Park. It was an awesome place. It is an off-leash dog park that climbs into the Hollywood hills. We loved it. It was a little slice of paradise in the middle of a huge city. My knee held up pretty well. I may have winced 56 times or so, but darn it we got to hike!!! 

I collect college t-shirts and I love campuses so we had to head to USC. It has a gorgeous campus. For some reason that surprised me. It shouldn't have since John McCain calls it the "University of Spoiled Children." That was totally true. The cars on campus were unreal. There was not a single non-luxury car in sight. Wild! The buildings were awesome and the campus felt safe right there in the middle of L.A. We got our t-shirts and all was well. 

That night we had planned to have dinner with our friends Kyle and Megan Parton. They live in San Clemente. It is a great location almost exactly half-way between L.A. and San Diego. We got to San Clemente a little early and walked on the pier and sat on the beach. It was so nice to see the ocean and hear the waves. We love that. Megan cooked a lovely meal for us and we enjoyed catching up with our friends. 

It was quite a busy day and we went back to the hotel and slept like logs. You have to love sleep like that. :)