If I HAD to pick a favorite part of the trip, it would be this one, because John is my best friend in the world, and having him there to go on adventures with is just the best thing ever. Hands down. When I buy my plane tickets, I almost always go for the “hacker fare”, which basically means I purchase two one way tickets instead of a round trip ticket. I feel like I’ve always gotten better deals that way and like I have more control over when I arrive and depart too. After I bought my ticket TO California for Foster, I started thinking about my return. It just made sense to have John fly out to meet me so we could adventure around LA for a few days. I mean, once you’ve bought one plane ticket, another hardly seems like a huge life expense the way it would seem to just decide one day to buy two tickets to and from the West Coast….or at least, that was my thinking at the time.

John flew out just as the workshop was ending. We had tickets to the Jimmy Kimmel Show, but missed it due to some issues we had while trying to pick up our rental car. Just a quick sidenote…renting a car at LAX is NOT a fun experience. So instead of Jimmy Kimmel, we had dinner and went to the most touristy place ever, the walk of Fame! Seeing this whole thing in person was very weird…it’s so much smaller than I thought based on what I’ve seen on TV. And it’s so hard to imagine all of these super glam celebrities with dressed to the nines basically walking the Oscars red carpet in front of a bunch of tacky souvenir shops and an American Eagle Outfitters. So surreal! We followed it up by a trip down Rodeo Drive, (which was super clean and super expensive looking, as I felt was appropriate) and drove by DASH, which if you didn’t know, is owned by the Kardashian sisters. We’re unashamedly obsessed with the show Keeping up with the Kardashians, so this was fun! This was also a lot smaller than I thought it was based on TV.

My favorite part of the trip was on Saturday, when we went out to Malibu. In my mind, when I hear Malibu, I picture Malibu Barbie and/or people with trust funds and convertibles. Is that weird? Hearing Malibu doesn’t make me think of somewhere I’d personally feel at home right away. But once I got there, I immediately felt like I never wanted to leave. We drove up the Pacific Coast Highway to El Matador State Beach and what I saw when I got out of the car took my breath away. The rocks, cliffs, and waves are so unlike the beach here in Virginia. I felt so inspired by the natural beauty all around us there in California!

Other trip highlights: Griffith Observatory at Sunset, Venice + the Santa Monica Pier, Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles, In N Out Burger, Warner Brothers studio tour, and the Getty Center!