Greetings from L.A.!  I have just completed my road trip of California and I thought I’d share my trip with you all (while sharing some fun travel tips)! 

 My roommate and I started from our hometown of Sacramento and drove down to San Francisco to visit one of our friends (Travel Tip #1: Instead of spending loads on a hotel, stay with a friend.  They’ll be happy to have you… although don’t stay longer then 3 days, you don’t want to impose).  While there we shopped on Market St., walked around Haight and Ashbury, and had a picnic at Golden Gate park.  (Travel Tip #2: Pack some groceries.  Eating out can be fun, but it can also be unhealthy.  Instead of going to fast food joints, pack trail mix, fruit, and sandwich makings.

From San Francisco, we left for our 6 hour drive to L.A.  Neither one of us wanted to stay in the car for that long of a time, so we thought it’d be fun to make a little detour to Solvang.  Solvang is an old Dutch town with fun shops and amazing restaurants/bakeries. We ended up choosing a place to eat, and indulged in a dessert known as Aeble Skivers. These are pancake-like balls topped with Raspberry syrup and powdered sugar sprinkled on top. Delicious!

After our amazing meal, we continued on the road and eventually made it to L.A. The next day we ate lunch with a friend at Mini Kabob (Travel Tip #3: Don’t judge a book by its cover, especially when applied to restaurants). Mini Kabob is this tucked away Greek restaurant run by a loving couple, and I have to say, it was the best Greek food I’ve ever had! 

Next we went to Santa Monica!  We walked through the 3rd St. promenade where there were a bunch of cool stores and some street performers.  Then we headed to the Venice boardwalk where there were more street performers and street merchants.  A lot of cool art and jewelry can be found here. 

Last, but not least we finished up in Hollywood!  After some shopping (Hello Rodeo Drive!), we went back to Graumen’s Chinese Theatre where I got to compare myself to the stars…at least with my hands and feet.  FYI I fit perfectly into Marilyn Monroe’s hands and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s hands are HUGE!

 P.S.  Do you have a crazy vacation story?  What tips do you use to travel?

If you haven’t checked out our vintage section lately, you really should take a look! We had a recent photo shoot in L.A., and model Diana D was happy to dish about modeling, fun and life in L.A. She is even one of the Paul Mitchell faces, check her out!