We left Yosemite National Park early this morning and started heading to Los Angeles. It’s about a 5-hour drive to my cousin Drew’s place in Granada Hills, where we stopped and had lunch! I’ve never been to an In-N-Out before, so Drew and Joey witnessed my first In-N-Out experience…it was messy! Of course, we ordered everything “animal style”, because if we didn’t then we’d be doing it all wrong.

For a fast food meal, it was great…although I couldn’t finish it all and felt stuffed afterwards. We headed back to Drew’s place to digest all the greasy goodness that we had just devoured! It was so fun to spend time with my cousin in a new state (I usually see him in New York!), and for him to be able to show me around his new town.

Drew’s friend recommended an amazing view of the Hollywood sign, so we made our way to Hollywood Reservoir. The road and neighborhood leading up to the reservoir was so cool…we were admiring all the beautiful homes we drove by!

Everyone warned us about California traffic, but we didn’t know how bad it actually was until we were right in the middle of it all! To avoid it, we decided to get on the Pacific Coast Highway to get to Corona del Mar (known as CDM by the locals), where we’re staying for two nights with Joey’s college friend Ryan and his wife Cait!

It was such a beautiful drive along the coast…we missed seeing the beach! We finally arrived at their house a little later than we expected, because of the traffic and the scenic route. Joey and I were pretty hungry at this point in the night, and Ryan took us to The Place where we had deliciously spicy burritos and loaded chicken nachos!

After dinner, we went to a fun little get together and met their friends at a cute little house, where Cait used to live, right on the beach! We were supposed to go out with all of them for the night…but Joey and I couldn’t hang. We took an Uber home with Ryan and went right to bed. We can’t wait to see LA from a local’s point of view…so stay posted!