A year or two ago I developed a severe nostalgic longing to visit Disneyland. Once my parents tricked me into thinking they had gone to Euro Disneyland (they took a photo of the castle on a pamphlet) and I freaked out with jealousy. I reluctantly passed it by on the road trip in August due to time constraints, so I was thrilled when my parents assured me that on our trip to California for a family wedding in November, we would be sure to fit in Disneyland. They kept their promise! And we went TWICE!

The first trip was a small group: myself, my parents, my brother and my cousin Brendan and his girlfriend. We went back the day after the wedding with all of my cousins, their partners, my aunt, great-aunt and grandma. Phew!

Disneyland was decked out in Christmas finery. It’s a pretty insane operation there. The amount of work and detail that go into running that park for one day boggle my mind. We certainly covered a lot of ground– the first day we were on our feet from 8:00am until 10:00pm that night. By the end of the day I developed severe pain in my life foot (note: Saltwater sandals, while comfortable, will cripple you if you walk on concrete in them for more than 8 hours) and I limped around the park for the next two hours. The next day my parents had to take me to the mall and push me around in a wheel chair to all the shoe stores so I could find some better walking shoes.

There was a super intense parade every night. The Princesses had an uncanny knack for making eye contact with and waving to every single little girl watching on the sides.

On the second day we went for a nice dinner at Ariel’s Grotto (it’s hard to take a restaurant seriously with a name like that, even though the food was pretty good), where we dined with a view of the giant Mickey ferris wheel in the California Adventures park and then enjoyed the insane water show.

Here’s some choice ride photos. I went on more roller coasters outside my comfort (wimpy) zone than usual. I went on one that went UPSIDE DOWN. We got soaked on Splash Mountain but not as badly as my cousin did on the Grizzly Rapids ride. Two giant waves washed over the side and over her head. My favourite rides were California Screamin’, Indiana Jones, Space Mountain and the Rachel and Jeremy narrated version of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. I knew I would hate Tower of Terror and I was right. See that look on my face? It’s the look of wretched acceptance. “I have done this to myself. I knew what I was in for. But goddamn do I hate this.”

I went to California a few times with my family as a kid but I had no memories of ever visiting the beach so Jordan and I went to Venice Beach, rented bikes and checked it out. Bikes are the best way to see things when traveling! Here’s an interesting article on seeing L.A. on bike (and for $100 a day!). We actually checked out the bike store recommended in the article but they mostly rent mountain bikes and we just wanted goofy cruisers.

Knick knacks and fancy lady portraits at the Melrose Trading Post flea market. There were so many cut-off denim shorts for sale there! I couldn’t even believe it. This is where I bought my yellow rose dress for Kim and Luke’s wedding. Jordan bought himself a denim jacket. I was pretty stoked on the selection there. I eyed a lot of woven flats, vintage Dooney & Burke purses and jewelry.

We went to Square One for breakfast because we wanted to peek at the Scientology building across the street and we ended up being mega stoked on this breakfast sandwich. It was oh-my-god-how-did-they-even good.

We visited Brentwood Country Mart where we met this funny pug in the Monocle Shop (now closed) and had the BEST ice cream I have ever tasted at Sweet Rose Creamery. Their fresh mint chocolate chip ice cream was without a doubt the #1 thing I ate on the trip. Jordan had salted caramel but we also sampled a stout flavour and sweet corn and it was all AMAZING. If you live even remotely close to Sweet Rose, please go!

When we were having a particularly hangry (that’s when you’re so hungry you start to get angry) afternoon trying to track down a bike rental shop, we stopped in at Father’s Office for a burger and fries. Smart decision!

We went to Hollywood so I could put my hands in famous hand prints. Here I discovered that Joan Crawford and I have the same tiny hands! Then we went to visit some of my family in Rancho Santa Margarita where I discovered me, Joan Crawford AND my Grandma all have the same tiny hands!

When Jordan and I were planning our time in Los Angeles, we really wanted to stay in neighbourhood situation rather than in a hotel. We rented a cute apartment (for cheaper than a lot of hotels in the surrounding areas!) and ended up loving Silverlake. The lush, rolling hills,  chuby little bungalows and easy access to great restaurants and cafes was ideal. We were also right near the freeway so we could easily zip over to get in line with all the other cars stuck in traffic.

Our apartment was very close to the Silverlake Reservoir. Cresting the hill in the above photo was terrifying. It really looked like the car was going to drop into space. The outdoor succulents were a favourite of mine. I would love to have a little path in my yard lined with them someday.

Jordan was really taken with Intelligentsia Coffee. We also tried LAMILL  and while it was a beautiful space, it was also a little stuffy for sipping coffee. There were a lot of intimidatingly beautiful people there too. We went to Intelligentsia a few times and I bought a pair of Saltwater sandals at Driftwood, a cute boutique next door.

We made a stop at Food+Lab to get sandwiches for our day. Lucky us, they had Coolhaus ice cream sandwiches! Totally delicious. Later on in the trip we saw on the Coolhaus twitter that their ice cream sandwich truck was near us but we looked for it in vain.

On our first Friday in Los Angeles, Jordan and I went up to the Getty Center. En route we encountered our first LA traffic jam. It was pretty frustrating. Naive as we were, we kept expecting to encounter some sort of accident or obvious reason why the cars were backed up for miles, but no cause ever revealed itself.

At the Getty, we saw an exhibit about a day in the life of a Parisian in the 1700s, with furniture and clothing and household items — my favourite kind of stuff! Also, a great collection of photographs from Cuba, my favourites were by Alex Harris. I made Jordan go through all the pre-Modern rooms as well.

Without a doubt, however, it was the Getty Center itself that stole the show. I always love museums but just being there was an experience, wandering throughout the architecture and landscape, bathed in the warm glow of a California sunset.