Back in August, Eric and Jess (who you may remember from our
Chicago blog a few years ago) got married in LA! David was honored to be chosen as one of
Eric’s groomsman, and we were both excited to spend a long weekend on the West Coast.
As we began planning our trip, we decided to head to California early to celebrate our seven-year wedding anniversary in Santa Barbara. We flew out on Wednesday after work, and got into LAX late that night. We set off for Santa Barbara after a brief mishap at the rental car office …
We have been traveling so much lately that I just assumed I had booked a rental car for LA. I had it on my to-do list along with booking a car for our trip in October to Jackson Hole. I even remembered getting a confirmation email from Alamo with the great price of $13/day plus taxes and fees. Well … turns out I must have dreamed up that entire scenario in my head because we showed up to Alamo around midnight and they had no reservation in their system for us. Nor did I have the confirmation email I could have sworn I’d read a few days earlier. Apparently I’d lost my marbles and hadn’t booked any car for LA! David was shocked, as that is so unlike me.
That was an expensive mistake.
After paying full price for a last-minute vehicle (thank goodness they still had cars available!), David decided he would be the one driving to Santa Barbara that night while I ‘rested’ in the passenger seat.
Santa Barbara was beautiful! The weather was gorgeous, the food delicious, and the scenery of the mountains against the ocean stunning. It lived up to its nickname of the American Riviera. David and I stayed at Hotel Milo across the street from the beach.
We woke up early Thursday to have breakfast at D’Angelo’s a few blocks away, behind the historic train station. David enjoyed his eggs ‘Rose’ with Kalamata olive toast and Mediterranean artichoke spread while I devoured a ham and cheese croissant and fresh-squeezed orange juice. From there, we walked back to the marina. (This was my first week in the boot after I broke my foot, but I was determined to not be an invalid and walk everywhere.)
At the marina, we boarded a whale-watching cruise in the hopes of finding a humpback. The humpbacks migrate down the coast in the late summer, but the captain warned us that it was still early in the season so we may not get too much action.
So imagine our surprise when we found a whale just a mile or so from shore! We had only been on the boat for about an hour before we found that first humpback, and from there, we saw four more! It was amazing how the whales, dolphins, birds, and sea lions all worked together to corral the huge schools of fish beneath the surface for lunch.
I have never seen so many dolphins before in my life! They absolutely loved playing in the waves made by our boat and would quickly swim over any time we revved the engine and gained speed.
The sea lions were curious, and would come up to the boat to observe us.
Usually humpbacks are a bit shy, but we were incredibly lucky to find a couple that stayed with us the entire morning and swam back and forth under the boat to entertain us.
One of the whales had stark white pectoral fins, which made them look like they were glowing underwater. He was easy to spot, and one of the more playful whales.
We didn’t see a full breach, although we did see plenty of the humpbacks as they ate and played. It was a really remarkable, once-in-a-lifetime experience and a perfect anniversary gift to ourselves considering how much we love the ocean and marine life!
We had lunch at Brophy Brothers in the marina. It was a great recommendation given to us by
the Watsons, who got married in Santa Barbara.
I had the scampi and chips with creamy coleslaw and a local rose wine,
while David had a local wine with his shark burger.
That evening, we went to Bouchon for our anniversary dinner. This small French restaurant is just off of State Street, the main tree-lined avenue in Santa Barbara. We split a bottle of wine and toasted to seven years while indulging in an organic mixed greens salad with goat cheese, fresh blackberries, almonds, and blackberry vinaigrette and venison medallions with white bean puree, braised black kale, and pancetta.
Before heading back to LA on Friday for Jess’s and Eric’s
rehearsal dinner, we ate breakfast at Jeannine’s in the Arcadia on the
recommendation of Jill and Noah, who loved the place the last time they were in
Santa Barbara.
Then we drove to the Santa Barbara Mission for a history lesson.
When I was a little girl, I loved the book Island of the Blue Dolphins. It was an adventurous read, and helped cultivate my love of dolphins. In the graveyard at the Santa Barbara Mission, there is a headstone for a woman named Juana Maria. I flipped open my guidebook to discover that Maria was the Native American woman who inspired one of my favorite childhood books! Her tribe abandoned the island of San Nicolas, in the Channel Islands off the coast of Santa Barbara, in 1835. For some unknown reason, Maria was accidentally left behind. Eighteen years later, a fur trapper discovered the island’s sole inhabitant and brought her to the Mission. She lived on the mainland for only seven weeks before passing away from illness.
After soaking in a bit of culture and a lot of fun out on
the ocean, we headed back down the coast to Los Angeles. We took the Pacific Coast Highway back, as it
was a beautiful, sunny day and we had time to enjoy the scenery with a more
leisurely drive.
We checked into our hotel, the Sheraton Universal, and immediately headed down the road to the LA Equestrian Center so David could take part in the wedding rehearsal.
After ensuring the bridal party was ready to go for the big day, we had a great dinner at Pickwick Gardens across the street. It was so nice seeing Eric’s family again. It’d be years, since our last trip to Maine, that we’d seen them. And it was lovely meeting Jess’s family. Jess is so fun, and now we know she gets her great attitude from her parents and the rest of her extended family.
Jeff and Jacque flew into California on Friday night, but they stayed in Brentwood so we planned to meet up with them the next morning before David started his wedding party responsibilities (which for guys is really just getting dressed and taking pictures … nothing compared to the ladies’ schedule). So on Saturday morning, we met for brunch at Square One Dining.
Thrillist had recommended the restaurant as one of the great breakfast spots of LA. It was very, very good and also kind of strange, considering that Square One is positioned directly across the street from the Scientology headquarters. The massive, ridiculously blue building loomed over us as we ate.
The food was really yummy. David ordered a healthy fresh fruit bowl, while I went for the pancakes with bacon caramel sauce. The reviews raved about this signature dish, so I had to try it! It was incredibly indulgent, but I didn’t eat it all myself – I made sure to share with the rest of the family. To balance out the sweetness of my meal, we also ordered a side of the cheesy bacon grits.
Once we finished eating, we dropped David and Chris (another high school friend whose wedding we attended in Chicago a few years ago) off at Eric’s rental home in the Hollywood Hills to start primping for the wedding.
Jeff, Jacque, and I decided to spend the afternoon at the La Brea Tar Pits and LA Natural History Museum. I think I may have visited the tar pits when I was a kid staying with my grandparents in California, but that was so long ago, that I couldn’t remember.
We walked through the park, viewing the various pits before coming to the huge lake filled with hot, bubbling tar. It’s amazing how many animals the scientists have found beneath the sticky surface. Did you know that LA was once home to thousands of woolly mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, and American lions? American lions look almost identical to the African lions we see today, according to the museum’s replicas.
After walking through the museum and back through the park, we all needed a cold treat, so we stopped for ice cream at Sweet Rose Creamery. The creamery specializes in all-natural cream and ingredients sourced from the nearby Santa Monica Farmer’s Market. Full of ice cream, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding!
The ceremony was so nice, and a true testament to the couple’s style. The reception was held on the equestrian grounds as well, and featured a great band, lots of dancing, eating, drinking, and being merry!
About halfway through dinner, David went to the bar to grab a
drink. A couple minutes later, he came
running back to the table asking, ‘Guess who I found at the bar?!’ I had no idea what he was talking about, so I
spun around in my seat to find Ross standing there!
Ross and Amy had been invited to the wedding also, of course, as they were neighbors of Eric’s in Boston and the Houses and Robinsons have been family friends for years. But they sadly declined, as they weren’t able to make it … or so we thought! As luck would have it, Ross just happened to have a last-minute work trip to LA come up so he crashed the wedding! (Although technically, he was invited, so I guess he didn’t really ‘crash’ the event.)
Jess and Eric had some really fun touches at their wedding, like a donut machine and a photo booth. We ended up camping out next to the donut machine for most of the night, and when Ross realized that I still had my boot on (even though I was trying to be sneaky by hiding it under my long dress), he declared, ‘Das Boot in Das Booth!’ and we made our way to the photo booth to take some goofy family photos.
It was a TASIS high school reunion with Eric, his sister, and their good friends.
After partying the night away, we spent Sunday before our
flight at the Liu’s open house for brunch, and then soaking up the sun at
Manhattan Beach.
It was a weekend of celebrations – from our anniversary in Santa Barbara to the Robinson/Liu wedding in LA. Congrats to the happy couple! We can’t wait to see you again soon!
As we began planning our trip, we decided to head to California early to celebrate our seven-year wedding anniversary in Santa Barbara. We flew out on Wednesday after work, and got into LAX late that night. We set off for Santa Barbara after a brief mishap at the rental car office …
We have been traveling so much lately that I just assumed I had booked a rental car for LA. I had it on my to-do list along with booking a car for our trip in October to Jackson Hole. I even remembered getting a confirmation email from Alamo with the great price of $13/day plus taxes and fees. Well … turns out I must have dreamed up that entire scenario in my head because we showed up to Alamo around midnight and they had no reservation in their system for us. Nor did I have the confirmation email I could have sworn I’d read a few days earlier. Apparently I’d lost my marbles and hadn’t booked any car for LA! David was shocked, as that is so unlike me.
That was an expensive mistake.
After paying full price for a last-minute vehicle (thank goodness they still had cars available!), David decided he would be the one driving to Santa Barbara that night while I ‘rested’ in the passenger seat.
Santa Barbara was beautiful! The weather was gorgeous, the food delicious, and the scenery of the mountains against the ocean stunning. It lived up to its nickname of the American Riviera. David and I stayed at Hotel Milo across the street from the beach.
We woke up early Thursday to have breakfast at D’Angelo’s a few blocks away, behind the historic train station. David enjoyed his eggs ‘Rose’ with Kalamata olive toast and Mediterranean artichoke spread while I devoured a ham and cheese croissant and fresh-squeezed orange juice. From there, we walked back to the marina. (This was my first week in the boot after I broke my foot, but I was determined to not be an invalid and walk everywhere.)
At the marina, we boarded a whale-watching cruise in the hopes of finding a humpback. The humpbacks migrate down the coast in the late summer, but the captain warned us that it was still early in the season so we may not get too much action.
So imagine our surprise when we found a whale just a mile or so from shore! We had only been on the boat for about an hour before we found that first humpback, and from there, we saw four more! It was amazing how the whales, dolphins, birds, and sea lions all worked together to corral the huge schools of fish beneath the surface for lunch.
I have never seen so many dolphins before in my life! They absolutely loved playing in the waves made by our boat and would quickly swim over any time we revved the engine and gained speed.
The baby dolphins were so tiny and cute!
The sea lions were curious, and would come up to the boat to observe us.
Usually humpbacks are a bit shy, but we were incredibly lucky to find a couple that stayed with us the entire morning and swam back and forth under the boat to entertain us.
They got so close to the boat throughout the morning that it almost
looks as if the girls up front could high-five the tail! And when they breathed, the water pushed
through their blow holes sprayed everyone on deck!
One of the whales had stark white pectoral fins, which made them look like they were glowing underwater. He was easy to spot, and one of the more playful whales.
We didn’t see a full breach, although we did see plenty of the humpbacks as they ate and played. It was a really remarkable, once-in-a-lifetime experience and a perfect anniversary gift to ourselves considering how much we love the ocean and marine life!
That evening, we went to Bouchon for our anniversary dinner. This small French restaurant is just off of State Street, the main tree-lined avenue in Santa Barbara. We split a bottle of wine and toasted to seven years while indulging in an organic mixed greens salad with goat cheese, fresh blackberries, almonds, and blackberry vinaigrette and venison medallions with white bean puree, braised black kale, and pancetta.
Then we drove to the Santa Barbara Mission for a history lesson.
When I was a little girl, I loved the book Island of the Blue Dolphins. It was an adventurous read, and helped cultivate my love of dolphins. In the graveyard at the Santa Barbara Mission, there is a headstone for a woman named Juana Maria. I flipped open my guidebook to discover that Maria was the Native American woman who inspired one of my favorite childhood books! Her tribe abandoned the island of San Nicolas, in the Channel Islands off the coast of Santa Barbara, in 1835. For some unknown reason, Maria was accidentally left behind. Eighteen years later, a fur trapper discovered the island’s sole inhabitant and brought her to the Mission. She lived on the mainland for only seven weeks before passing away from illness.
We checked into our hotel, the Sheraton Universal, and immediately headed down the road to the LA Equestrian Center so David could take part in the wedding rehearsal.
The Sheraton was hosting The Young and the Restless convention that same weekend. All of the stars from the hit soap opera were there, including 'Stitch,' who we met at the bar after the wedding on Saturday night.
After ensuring the bridal party was ready to go for the big day, we had a great dinner at Pickwick Gardens across the street. It was so nice seeing Eric’s family again. It’d be years, since our last trip to Maine, that we’d seen them. And it was lovely meeting Jess’s family. Jess is so fun, and now we know she gets her great attitude from her parents and the rest of her extended family.
Jeff and Jacque flew into California on Friday night, but they stayed in Brentwood so we planned to meet up with them the next morning before David started his wedding party responsibilities (which for guys is really just getting dressed and taking pictures … nothing compared to the ladies’ schedule). So on Saturday morning, we met for brunch at Square One Dining.
Thrillist had recommended the restaurant as one of the great breakfast spots of LA. It was very, very good and also kind of strange, considering that Square One is positioned directly across the street from the Scientology headquarters. The massive, ridiculously blue building loomed over us as we ate.
The food was really yummy. David ordered a healthy fresh fruit bowl, while I went for the pancakes with bacon caramel sauce. The reviews raved about this signature dish, so I had to try it! It was incredibly indulgent, but I didn’t eat it all myself – I made sure to share with the rest of the family. To balance out the sweetness of my meal, we also ordered a side of the cheesy bacon grits.
Once we finished eating, we dropped David and Chris (another high school friend whose wedding we attended in Chicago a few years ago) off at Eric’s rental home in the Hollywood Hills to start primping for the wedding.
Jeff, Jacque, and I decided to spend the afternoon at the La Brea Tar Pits and LA Natural History Museum. I think I may have visited the tar pits when I was a kid staying with my grandparents in California, but that was so long ago, that I couldn’t remember.
We walked through the park, viewing the various pits before coming to the huge lake filled with hot, bubbling tar. It’s amazing how many animals the scientists have found beneath the sticky surface. Did you know that LA was once home to thousands of woolly mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, and American lions? American lions look almost identical to the African lions we see today, according to the museum’s replicas.
The Urban Light Fixture outside the LA Museum of Art
After walking through the museum and back through the park, we all needed a cold treat, so we stopped for ice cream at Sweet Rose Creamery. The creamery specializes in all-natural cream and ingredients sourced from the nearby Santa Monica Farmer’s Market. Full of ice cream, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding!
The ceremony was so nice, and a true testament to the couple’s style. The reception was held on the equestrian grounds as well, and featured a great band, lots of dancing, eating, drinking, and being merry!
Ross and Amy had been invited to the wedding also, of course, as they were neighbors of Eric’s in Boston and the Houses and Robinsons have been family friends for years. But they sadly declined, as they weren’t able to make it … or so we thought! As luck would have it, Ross just happened to have a last-minute work trip to LA come up so he crashed the wedding! (Although technically, he was invited, so I guess he didn’t really ‘crash’ the event.)
Jess and Eric had some really fun touches at their wedding, like a donut machine and a photo booth. We ended up camping out next to the donut machine for most of the night, and when Ross realized that I still had my boot on (even though I was trying to be sneaky by hiding it under my long dress), he declared, ‘Das Boot in Das Booth!’ and we made our way to the photo booth to take some goofy family photos.
It was a weekend of celebrations – from our anniversary in Santa Barbara to the Robinson/Liu wedding in LA. Congrats to the happy couple! We can’t wait to see you again soon!
Your culinary adventures are amazing. I am so glad you and David have such good friends and stay in touch and see each other in the variety of exotic locales. I loved the whale watching. When we went to visit Grandma and Grandpa every Thanksgiving in San Diego, we were told the whale watching season was over. Keep up the blog, with your writing and David's photographer skills I have a lifetime of travelogues to enjoy.
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