We're back! Remember this post? Eric and I finally took his birthday trip out to Cali last week, and we were able to visit everywhere we'd planned on except for San Francisco (not sure what I was thinking visiting three distant cities in a little over a week!). 

The pictures above are from our first three days in L.A. We rented out a place to stay downtown, but quickly realized it was a bit too gritty for us and not a good place to hang out, so we spent most of our time in Hollywood and the Silverlake area.

Our first night we visited Heywood Grilled Cheese, where I had one of the BEST sandwiches I've ever had. Seriously, if you ever find yourself near L.A., it's a must-do (after In-N-Out , of course). We then went up to the Griffith  Observatory, which had some of the best views I've ever experienced. Plus, we got to look into a giant 100-year-old telescope, which was definitely a perk.

Our second day, we hiked in the Hollywood Hills at Runyon Canyon Park. The views here also did not disappoint,  and I was so envious of all the runners in the park that got to run those trails everyday! Afterwards, we explored Hollywood, visited the Mesa Boogie store (Eric's request, of course), and laughed hard at an open mic at the Nerdist Meltdown.

On our final day, we drove out to Santa Monica, which was one of my favorite parts of the trip. The weather was perfection as we walked around downtown and napped on the grass by the beach. We rode the some rides on the pier and attempted to climb the ropes on Muscle Beach, but were shown up by some 7-year-old gymnasts :) Before heading out to visit family (and Vegas!) we stopped by The Misfit for happy hour, a foreign concept for us NC'ers! We sipped on some extremely spicy jalapeno martini's, but who can complain when they were half price and everyone in the bar was super friendly?

We had such an amazing time in Cali, and will definitely miss the views, amazing weather, and tasty food, but we are so looking forward to a relaxing weekend with our pup. Post on our time in Vegas coming soon!