Fifteen Days In California: Part 1

As you all know, we just got back from an incredible two-week vacation from California. Since we had been planning this trip for a while we had a lot on our to-do list. Omar and Gabe had never been to Los Angeles so we needed to hit the top "must-see" places plus all of Lisa Vanderpump's restaurants obviously. Since we had an overflowing list of things do we, I'll be reviewing every restaurant we are at, telling you what's worth it vs. what's not and just sharing some of our favorite moments.

Wednesday: Travel Day, Hollywood & Some Really, REALLY Good Food
After a rocky start to Omar and I actually getting to California (Thanks Spirit Airlines) we finally arrived to our AirBnB and met up with Rocio and Gabe. We didn't want to waste a single moment so we got ready and headed to find first and foremost some authentic Mexican food. We found a great hole-in-the-wall taco place before we headed to Hollywood. A must-see is the Kodiak/Dolby/Chinese Theatre...the name has changed so many times, but whatever you call it it's a must-see if you've never been to Los Angeles before. We walked up and down admiring the stars on the sidewalk. There was even a movie premiere happening when Omar spotted the main guys who create Buzzfeed videos. I don't really know who he was talking about, but we'll count that as celebrity spotting #1 of the trip, because yes, there are a few more. After we ate and everything I had a craving for ice cream and found this ice cream shop around the corner from where we were called Afters Ice Cream and they had a Ricky & Morty themed.. well everything. I'm not sure if they paid for licensing to Rick & Morty or what.. but the ice cream was good. Everyone agreed it was some of the best ice cream we've ever had.. even though the brownie batter flavor was staining our mouths and clothes.. totally worth it.

Sandals | Jeans

Thursday: Griffith Observatory, Warner Brothers Studio Tour & SUR
The previous night we had tried to visit The Griffith Observatory at golden hour, but it just wasn't happening, so this was our first stop that day. I mean, if you've been here you know that nothing beats this view. I think every city needs something like this because there's something about being that high up, it just makes the city look small. Then, the moment that I had been waiting for. We all agreed to go to the Warner Brothers Studios Tour. This was something I've been wanting to do for so long and I was really happy everyone else wanted to do it too. I highly recommend this to anybody visiting California, especially if you're a fan of any Warner Brother's shows or movies. The tour alone was really cool, especially since we got to see behind of the scenes, the prop building and new production stages being built. Some of the cool behind the scenes included; Space Jam 2 and all the extras in their costumes walking around, the Batcave with all of the Batmobiles, Patsy's Pies from Shameless (which was a dressed set so everything was still set up and ready for the new season of Shameless), the lovable Fuller House set and the actor who plays Luke from Gilmore Girls (celebrity siting #2) at Luke's Coffee Shop. Then of course being able to go to Central Perk and sit at the iconic couch and the Big Bang Theory's Sheldon & Leonard's apartment (I sat in Sheldon's Spot!). This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me. Later that night we had dinner reservations at SUR. My Bravo fans... if you know, you know. The restaurant and bar are way smaller than you'd think, but aside from that it looked exactly like it does on television. The drinks were awesome, the food was okay. I will say, being a vegetarian I wasn't impressed with the menu, but on the other side of the Gabe said his lamb rack was fantastic, so to each their own. I came, I saw, I ate the goat cheese balls. The infamous goat cheese balls... we're they good? Yes. We're they worth $11... hell no. the tiniest little gum drops and I only got 3 of them.. just no. The upside to this expensive dinner though was celebrity siting #3 & #4... Max (Lisa Vanderpump's Son) and Peter the manager. We tried to go to Tom Tom and Pump but the bar's closed at midnight so we didn't get a chance to really experience this two places, but they looked nice!

Friday: Hollywood Sign, Venice Beach & WeHo
To start the day Rocio found out the location to get the perfect Hollywood Sign pictures. We drove through these hills and our jaws dropped as we view some of these houses. Honestly, sightseeing was a huge part of this adventure. After we got our epic pictures we headed to Venice Beach. Venice Beach is something that everyone needs to do at least once. It's just such a different vibe than most beaches and even though Gabe was battling food poisoning we still managed to get out at night and meet up with some friends in WeHo.

Saturday: Virtual Escape Room, Rodeo Dr.
This is the day that Gabe & Rocio had to leave, but we made sure to squeeze just a few more things before the left. The first thing we did was a virtual escape room. Omar is the one who found this and it was a good call!! It was so different and fun and doing it with a good group of friends makes the experience funny. We couldn't stop laughing! Then we went to Rodeo Dr.! Rodeo Dr. is always so much fun. It's the luxury side and it's fun to shop.. even if it's just window shopping. Rodeo Dr. was really cool, we saw some luxury cars and took some pictures before having lunch at Villa Blanca. Villa Blanca was hands down one of the best meals we had. Way better than SUR. I had a glass of Vanderpump Rose which was really good and the pasta I had.. I mean I literally licked the plate clean. Actually, everyone really liked their food. We all ate every last piece and agreed that Villa Blanca had way better food than SUR did. Then we went to a little gelato shop around the corner before dropping Rocio and Gabe off at LAX. This was honestly just a great way to end part one of this trip.