On Saturday we were up bright and early (and I mean early) to catch our Megabus to L.A.
We started off very excited as we crossed the Bay Bridge...
...but our excitement deteriorated a few hours along the I-5, especially when the scenery ended up looking like this for pretty much the ENTIRE way:
I resorted to making up my own game, looking for number plates from different states - if anyone cares, I saw a lot of Oregons, some Washingtons and one or two from Idaho, Texas and Arizona. Emily laughed at me for being such a loser.
We stopped at the most depressing service station ever (as they ALL seem to be in America) at Button Willow, which is somewhere in the Central Valley of California.
I thought I'd make my sister jealous by telling her we went to Denny's (she's obsessed, for some reason)...
But we didn't. We went to Starbucks.
After 8 long hours, we made it to L.A's Union Station!
My roommate Vicki, who is from L.A, picked us up and from there we drove to Griffith Park and Observatory.
The scenery was beautiful! From the park, we could see Downtown L.A., Hollywood and even the famous sign, all the way up in the Hills.
Inside, the observatory holds a planetarium, so we were able to sit under the (projected) stars.
We got back quite late to Glendale, the part of L.A. where Vicki lives, so we just grabbed an In-N-Out burger (a first for Emily, but she wasn't convinced) on our way home.
On Sunday, we begun our day with shopping at the Americana in Glendale - SO American.
It's a huge outdoor mall, and it all just looks so perfect, from the manicured lawns to the synchronised water fountains.
It's so funny visiting places like this, because it's so different to San Francisco, which seems very low-key in contrast.
We always have to make a wish!
We had a leisurely lunch at a lovely place called the Granville Cafe - yes, pizza again...
...before we bussed through Hollywood, making a quick pit stop on the Walk of Fame.
I was VERY excited to come across Billy Joel.
We then got to The Grove, which is another huge outdoor shopping mall in central L.A. Though it's more famous, I actually didn't like it as much as the Americana.
Still, they had an outside stage with a live band so instead of shopping we chilled and listened to them for a while.
Afterwards we got dropped off in Santa Monica, said goodbye to Vicki (until later in the week at least) and checked into our hostel.
We were staying in the HI-Santa Monica, which was only two blocks from the beach. The rooms were pretty basic, but the common areas were really nice!
We grabbed a healthy-ish dinner at Buddha's Belly after having a walk down the Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica's main shopping area (by that point, we were a bit out-shopped)...
...before falling into bed at a ridiculously early hour ready for tomorrow.
On Monday morning we went to (a slightly overcast) Santa Monica Beach. I'm glad we decided to stay near the beach though - it's definitely one of my favourite places in L.A.
We took our time on the Santa Monica Pier...
...before being picked up by my friend Andy in his pickup truck. We made a quick stop in San Clemente, his hometown, before arriving in San Diego.
We couldn't have been more excited to see some more of SoCal!
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