How is it already the end of summer?

Labor Day is usually a signal that summer is over and fall is on the way. That's not really the case in LA. Our summer is still going strong and it will be HOT for the next couple of months. All of a sudden, I blinked and it was September.

My friend Brittney came to visit in July and I had all the intentions of writing this detailing all the fun activities we did and then life happened and I got behind. If you are coming to LA for a few days or a friend is coming to town and you have no idea what to do with them, here are a few suggestions.

Britt was in town from Friday morning through Monday night, she took the red-eye back to KY Monday night. If you are traveling from west to east, I highly recommend traveling overnight. It won’t be the greatest night of sleep but you maximize your time this way. You’ll lose the three hour time difference in the air so you might as well loose it overnight but that's just my opinion.

Friday Activities

I picked her up from LAX at 8:30 in the morning, going to LAX is never fun but that maybe one of the worst times of day. Anytime between 7am-9am and 4pm-7pm will be rough when it comes to traffic, just something to keep in mind when traveling here. When Jeremy and I came here for the very first time, our flight landed at 5 pm on a Friday and it took over 2 hours to get to our Airbnb, the worst, but we didn’t know any better.

After picking her up, we came back to my apartment to change and freshen up for the day. My office is close to LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) and The La Brea Tar Pits so we went to that area first. We walked down to the Urban Light art display first. The installation consists of restored street lamps from the 1920s and 1930s, most of them once lit the streets of Southern California. I walk by these places on a daily basis when I go down to Starbucks to feed my coffee addiction so it's nice to bring a friend here to see a small part of my daily life.

I haven’t been to LACMA yet but it's on my list of places to go. The Tar Pits are really cool, you can see a lot by walking around the park outside for free or pay to experience the museum. The museum is pretty cool if you’re into that sort of thing. We also decided to check out this “translucent, rainbow pavilion” which was pretty cool, as of now it's still there!

After that, we went to lunch at Mama Shelter. Mama Shelter is a hotel in the heart of Hollywood that offers a nice restaurant downstairs as well as a rooftop bar upstairs. The rooftop is a great place to come for brunch and/or happy hour, food isn’t always served on the Rooftop so be mindful of that when you go. During the summer, they offer a Rooftop Food Menu.

We were both ordered the Mama’s Classic Le Royale Burger, it was good, not sure if it was $21 good but good none the less. The name makes me think of Pulp Fiction which makes me chuckle as I type this. The burger was served with “Mama’s Secret Sauce” and there are no other options so don’t ask for mayo because they’ll say no. The sauce was good, most burgers out here are served with 1000 Island but this was more like a tangy ranch so I liked it. I also ordered Mama’s Cosmic Lemonade which was good and I always appreciate places that offer fun Mocktails.

Saturday Activities

Saturday was a Runyon hike. I live at the base of Runyon so this is an easy hike to do and it has great views. Runyon is a great place to people watch and if you go to the more secluded trails, you might stumble upon a celebrity. We were up there taking these pictures with no shame even though everyone was judging but who cares what they think?

On Saturday night we went to Yamashiro for dinner. I cannot recommend this place enough, yes it is on the pricer side of things but it's worth it. It was over $300 for the three of us but we definitely ordered what we wanted. Jeremy started off with a Spider Roll and we all shared the Salt & Pepper Calamari. Brittney and I both ordered the Creekstone Farms Filet Mignon and a side of the Vegetable Fried Rice. Best steak I’ve ever had! Jeremy ordered the Westholme Wagyu Burger.

EVERYTHING was good, it was all well worth the price. The service was wonderful and the atmosphere here can’t be beaten. This was our third or fourth time eating here and I like it more every time.

Sunday Activities

Sunday was a beach day! We started by renting bikes in Santa Monica and rode down to Venice, one of my most favorite things to do. We usually go to Sea Mist Rentals, it’s located right at the pier which makes it easy to jump on the bike path and go left towards Venice or right and go to Malibu but there are tons of rental place options. This one is $20 for the entire day or $7/hour, we stayed out a couple of hours so it was fairly inexpensive.

We had lunch at Seaside on the Pier. I’m not usually one of this type of touristy restaurant, or go to the Pier at all, but we wanted to eat before heading to Malibu and this place had a short wait and a rooftop with a nice view. Being by the sea I was in the mood for seafood so I ordered the Seaside Fish and Chips, they were your average Fish and Chips but still pretty good. Jeremy ordered the Pepperoni Pizza and I honestly can’t remember what Brittney ordered here but it was all your average American bar food.

The final activity for the weekend was a trip to our secret spot in Malibu. Sorry, Jeremy won’t let me post the address but DM me on IG if you really wanna know and maybe I’ll tell ya :). This is one of my favorite places to go, its secluded and beautiful, I have dreams of living in one of these houses one day.