I'm on Cloud 9! On our way to California

After nearly 7 hours of flight including a layover, we finally landed in San Diego, California. The weather was so warm that my clothes seemed to suffocate me when I stepped out of the Airport.

San Diego was the first city that we wanted to visit for our road trip to California before heading to LA and then to San Francisco.

San Diego is a relaxed and decently populated city. People are very friendly that it almost seemed unreal. After 4 nights in San Diego, I confirmed that they are truly welcoming.

I travelled to San Diego for a special occasion, and I wholeheartedly recommend people to visit it when they plan a road trip/vacation to California. It has a prominent Hispanic population since it's bordered with Mexico.

View of Downtown San Diego from the Coronado island

The list of activities is numerous when in the Southern part of California.

First off, it is of utmost necessity to go to the BEACH for a city girl like me.

Favourite Beaches in San Diego:

1. El Coronado beach: situated on the Coronado Island right next to the El Coronado Hotel, which was inaugurated in 1888 (beautiful beach venue for a wedding reception or a romantic dinner). Also, it is a great place to walk around and see the Sunset. You need to take the ferry to cross from downtown to the island.

The view from Hotel Coronado (great for a wedding venue or romantic dinner)

2. La Jolla Beach: The second favourite on my list was La Jolla beach. This is where your eyes need to be wide open to meet the Californian seals (they’re everywhere). Also, there is a delicious Organic Gelato spot nearby that makes gelato ice cream from local organic products and with no dairy.

Natural and Local Gelato place in La Jolla

No Dairy Lime Gelato mixed with berries and orange

Touristic sites we were able to visit: the Gaslamp Quarter (At every corner of the street, there is a gaslamp, great place to dine and shop), Seaport Village, Balboa Park (Hispanic/Spanish architecture), Mount Soledad, Sheraton Hotel Bay and Marina, Mission Beach, Ocean Beach and the beaches mentioned above.

Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina/dress designed and patterned by Mary Wazirian

Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina Sunset-Bay area

On August 17th, we took the road towards the City of Angels. Los Angeles is a vast city and first thing to notice when driving from San Diego, a lot more people day and night.

Los Angeles is the second largest city with the second most populous in the US (which explains why there are more people).

Our hotel was situated in the heart of West Hollywood, approximately 10-minute walk to the famous Walk of Fame. We stayed 4 nights in LA.

There are two beaches we visited in Los Angeles:

1. Venice Beach: One of the reasons why I wanted to visit this beach is to take pictures of people in action while skating, to see the Venice canals and to see the sunset at the beach. I have to say it wasn’t my favourite, but it’s nice to see it when you are out and about in Los Angeles. We walked and took lots of crazy/awesome pictures. We also ate at Larry’s; the food reminded me of Montreal(I know were not supposed to compare cities, but Montreal’s and Quebec’s food and restaurant options are just remarkable). Montreal doesn’t have real oceanic beaches though and its not always warm in the city.

Hip skater at Venice Beach (I showed him this pic, lol, what a cool skater kid lol)

Caught in action (this kid was so tanned)

Badoit Sparkling natural water taken from the Source

It feels like were in the sahara or something- Venice Beach Sunset

2. Santa Monica Beach: We visited this beach at night. My cousin recommended it and I wish we would have seen it in daytime because it looked awesome! This is where the ‘road 66’ ends apparently. We only stayed for an hour since we were very tired.

Road 66- End of the Trail in Santa Monica

Other exciting touristic sites in LA:

The Famous Hollywood Walk of Fame: Our hotel was only 10-minute away from this area. I have to say it is my least favourite from this trip. It is nice to take pictures with the walk of fame stars, to see the Chinese Theatre and the Dolby Theatre. We weren’t able to see the Dolby Theatre due to schedule conflict.

Hand and Footprints at the Chinese Theatre: It was nice to see some of the celeb hand and footprints. Took a picture with my all time favourite actor Robert De Niro’s footprint. I just wish Josh Hartnett was there to join me in the pic.

Robert De Niro Hand and Footprint at the Chinese Theatre

Rodeo Drive: If you’re feeling rich and glamorous, you should TOTALLY shop at Rodeo Drive, if you can afford any of the clothes in the stores. AS IF! Rodeo Drive is a fashion mecca where you can encounter many celebs and if you’re lucky enough, they can wave their hands to say ‘Hello’.

Le Mervetty French Pastry in Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills

We encountered actor/rapper Common from the movie Selma, Just Write and Terminator Salvation. He was the one who waved ‘Hello’ at me when I smiled at him looking all confused in my motions and didn’t recognize his face for about 20 seconds. We also were lucky enough to spot Kevin Dillon aka Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase from the smash TV show ‘Entourage’ dining out with ‘SOME’ friend. Finally, when we wanted to try out ‘Le Mervetty’ pastry shop, we saw Pat O’Brien, the famous TV host from the talk show Access Hollywood. A journalist was chasing him for an interview and he courteously stopped to answer. When we asked the journalist, he told us it is Pat O’Brien, I did not recognize him at all!!! Lo Siento Pat!! I left Rodeo Drive empty handed (no Gucci, no Prada, no Yves St-Laurent, no Versace for me).

Red Velvet Merveilleux at Le Mervetty- Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills

Beverly Hills: This is a nice area in Los Angeles. It is very clean, very rich and somehow I thought it would be bigger than I pictured, but it was a small neighbourhood. We were able to go to the Beverly Hills Mall for a shopping spree, not really, but everything at the mall is at affordable prices.

Farmers Market: This was a very local market where they supported farmer products. I usually enjoy going to places like this, because you find many organic products freshly and locally cultivated which interests me.

Fresh Watermelon from the Market in LA (I don't like watermelons)

Paramount Studio: I loved the Paramount tour so much; it was very informative describing all the little veiling secrets of Hollywood movies such as Forrest Gump and TV shows such as Dr. Phil or the Doctors. Here’s a useful info: Everything is fake!!! I am not going to giveaway more!!! Unfortunately, I can’t post Paramount pictures due to copyright issues. Must visit when in LA.

Universal Studios: It is 40 minutes drive from Downtown LA. The Universal Studios is a recreation center where you can find Roller Coaster rides created based on famous Universal Picture movies such as the Jurassic Park, Despicable Me, Transformers, Fast and the Furious, the Mommy, etc. Since this was the first time in LA and Universal Studios, we spent the whole day and were able to do all of the rides. My favourite rides were the Jurassic Park and the 50 minutes long Universal Tour. Alex was our guide at the Universal Tour and was hilariously entertaining.

Post Jurassic Park water ride!! I was all wet!! Amazing!!

Griffith Park Observatory: Going to the Griffith observatory was suggested but was not on our list during our stay in LA. We initially wanted to hike to the Canyon Lake Drive to see the Hollywood Sign, but the road was closed for some reason so we had no access. The only other place was Mulholland Drive or the Griffith Park Observatory. We decided to visit the Griffith. The sign was further away but still very clear, but we also had the chance to look into the telescope to see the Planet Saturn, which was cool and had an informative presentation about it. You can also take amazing scenic pictures of the city.