In all the time we lived up in the Bay Area, we never had time to visit most of our favorite spots on those few occasions when we did drive down to visit. Katy coming to visit less than a month after we arrived helped to jumpstart our trips to the wonderous places.
Victoria Gardens
After arriving a day late and a couple suitcases short, we take a quick trip back to Ontario Airport to check on that luggage situation. Nope...not there yet. Apparently, Katy's clothes are still enjoying their side trip to Nashville. Snow is smothering the Midwest and East Coast, yet, here we are sunshiny and lower 60s for temperatures.
Early in that first day, we take Katy down to Ontario Mills Outlet Center. Thank goodness the pre-Christmas crowds have dissipated. Just a couple of weeks ago, there were long lines outside most stores. People waiting forever just to begin shopping. Then, to top off the day, we went out to Victoria Gardens for ice cream. I was hoping their Christmas tree would still be up, but by January 5th it was gone. 😞
Sake 2 Me
On our second trip to Sake 2 Me in a month, we met up with Tessa and Adam. It has been years since these three sisters were all together. 💖
Chinatown -- Los Angeles
As weekend number one rolls around, we head to Los Angeles to visit Chinatown. Always beautiful, it is sad to see how many of the tiny shops have not survived the Coronavirus. We parked in our normal parking lot, up near the Twin Dragon Gate and walked down to the Chinatown Central Plaza. In and out of a few shops for some small trinkets and a stop at the Wonder Bakery for almond cookies and butterfly pastries.
Farmer's Market -- The Grove
We finish up the day at The Grove. Just blocks away from Thomas and Zach's old apartment, it is bittersweet to be there without them. Dinner at The Original Farmer's Market, and we head back home. On Sunday, we spend the day at the beach! We walk the sands near Balboa Pier. After having pizza in the
Balboa Fun Zone, we ride the ferry over to Balboa Island. Finally, we sit down back into sands at the beach and watch the sunset over the water.
Newport Beach
Natalie's Birthday -- Tessa and Adam's place
Mid week, we celebrate Natalie's birthday at Tessa and Adam's place. They moved into their new place three weeks after we came back to SoCal. This is the first time we have seen their sweet new home. We bought dinner at Buca Di Beppo, just blocks from where they live and ate in their brand new dining room.
Disneyland
Fast forwarding to weekend #two, we find ourselves at San Diego Bay on Tsunami Day! A volcanic eruption in Tonga caused all of the beaches from San Diego up through the Bay Area to be closed due the possibility of a tsunami. Add some rain, and the day was interesting.
We toured through the
Maritime Museum of San Diego. A fascinating place that I would be sure to visit again. We were told that the
Soviet B-39 Submarine that we saw was due to be taken out and sunk within the next couple of weeks. In amongst the ship we were able to walk through was the ship used in the filming of the movie, "
Master and Commander" with
Russell Crowe. There were several photos posted around the ship to show movie scenes.
Intending to show Katy the humungous statue of the kissing couple, the rain and tsunami threat had us pointing out the statue as we drove by when leaving. We finished off the day with food, of course! We met Natalie's friend, Nicole and had pizza at
Pizza Nova down on the Bay.
San Diego
Our last big adventure during Katy's trip was a visit to
Universal Studios Hollywood. We had butter bear to the
Wizarding World of Harry Potter, got soaked on the
Jurassic World ride, has a face to face encounter with
Blue and watched the water burn at the
Water World show. We also got wet at the show!
Universal Studios
Venice Canals
A few days after Katy flew home, we drove down to visit the Venice Canals. One of my favorite places of all to go, I didn't even know these canals existed until seeing them in the movie, "Valentine's Day". At lastly, we walked out to the end of the Venice Beach Pier for the very first time. In all of our trips to Venice Beach through the years, we had never actually walk out onto the pier.
The pier at Venice Beach
Our first month-plus back in the Southland was busy, busy, busy. It is great to be home!
