12/24/2018 – Did you know that the Hollywood sign was built for the residential neighborhood named Hollywood? One of the best spots for a picture with the Hollywood sign is at the Lake Hollywood Park, but expect a huge crowd, a parking madness, and cops giving parking tickets left and right.
12/23/2018 – Our first meal in LA was at the food court of Plaza Market, where I had stinky fermented bean soup. Yum. The food was cheaper than the bay area (duh..).12/23/2018 – Next on our tourist itinerary was the Venice beach.
12/23/2018 – At the Santa Monica Pier, one of the liveliest piers I’ve been to, with up-to-date and cool tourist buskers. For example, they had instant 3D pictures, instant sculpture artists (like caricature artists but made of sculpture material), and hilarious singers and instrument players.
12/23/2018 – Okonomiyaki hot dog at the Japadog truck. Delish.12/23/2018 – Awesome view and pretty wave sounds.12/23/2018 – X-mas LED light Ferris wheel.12/23/2018 – Dinner with relatives at Miceli’s on Hollywood Boulevard.12/25/2018 – Stopped by my firm office in downtown LA, just the outside. The building had a beautiful lake-side amphitheater in its court yard.
12/25/2018 – Griffith Park. The observatory was closed for Xmas day, but we took a nice, easy hike.
12/25/2018 – Dash on his umpteenth hike since he was born. When in California, do as Californians do, which is hike and hike.
12/25/2018 – Awesome Xmas decorations at the Grove.
12/25/2018 – Lovely Xmas day dinner with friends.
12/25/2018 – View from the parking lot.
12/25/2018 – The extremely crowded Urban Lights at the LA County Museum of Art. It was an Instagram trap in the true sense of the phrase, i.e., looks much more grand in pictures than it actually is in person.
12/25/2018 – Ending Xmas night with tasty black sesame red bean bingsoo at Sulbing. Sulbing, please open up a store in the bay area….TT
For Christmas holidays, we decided to take a road trip down the famed, scenic “All-American Road” State Route 1 to LA. Dash was six weeks old.
We left on Friday evening after Care Bear’s work. We stayed overnight at a hotel in Carmel-by-the-Sea.
The next day, we spent the whole day sight seeing different parks, beaches, and places on State Route 1, including at Big Sur. We had a late dinner at Santa Barbara at a New Orleans cajun joint, where I had amazing shrimp scampi, one of my favorite Western dishes. Then we arrived in LA and spent four nights at an Airbnb in Korean Town in LA.
12/22/2018 – Point Lobos 12/22/2018 – Point Lobos. You can see the famous Pebble Beach golf course in the background, which is considered one of the most beautiful courses in the world. 12/22/2018 – Point Lobos 12/22/2018 – Point Lobos 12/22/2018 – Point Lobos 12/22/2018 – Point Lobos 12/22/2018 – Point Lobos. There was a beautiful hiking trail (there are thousands by State Route 1) in the background that I really wanted to hike, but we had to get to LA that night so did not have enough time. Would love to go back next time and spend the whole day (or few days) on these state parks, have picnics on the beach, and sleep over on the cute bed-and-breakfasts.12/22/2018 – Bird Island and Gibson’s Beach in the background.
12/22/2018 – China Cove.
12/22/2018 – Dozens of sea lions napping.12/22/2018 – The Bixby Creek Bridge, one of the most photographed bridges in California. There was a huge crowd around the bridge, cars parking, leaving, and waiting, and multiple lines to take pictures on certain view points.12/22/2018 – The famous McWay Falls, which falls onto the beach, at Big Sur. We did a nice 30 min hike through the woods to get to this viewpoint.12/22/2018 – Sunset on the Limekiln State Park at Big Sur.
ALIEN TO AMERICAN 