Los Angeles Adventure Part 2

Day 2 of our Los Angeles adventure started early at the Griffith Observatory, an iconic spot in LA I’ve seen in plenty of movies but have never actually been to. If you’re not actually going into the observatory, just taking in the views and hikes – before noon on a weekday is perfect since the observatory does not open until noon, it’s not crowded, and parking is free. The hiking trails and views are just breathtaking.

If I lived in the area, I would be regularly running all the fabulous trails leading up to the observatory and amazing city views. The warm, sunny weather was a nice change after chilly days of rain here.

Everywhere we explored had amazing views of LA from different angles, it must be an amazing sight at night too. Next trip.

Just a short drive later we were in Hollywood where I had to laugh at this sign over the Walk of Fame that greeted us after finally finding a parking spot.

After doing a little walking, shopping, and exploring in the area – I was starved. Luckily we stumbled upon a Veggie Grill. I know it’s a chain and there are many locations in the bay area as well, but I’ve never been to one and couldn’t wait to check it out.

So many options on the menu it was tough to choose!

The the bright and clean decor with a healthier soda, juice, and tea bar was great.

Hubby got the VG Beyond Burger with a Beyond Meat patty, vegan cheese, house made vegan special sauce and onions.

I went with the B.T.L.A sandwich with smokey tempeh “bacon”, avocado, and grilled sourdough bread.

Both awesome, but I loved the smokey blend of flavors in the sandwich paired with the crispy texture of the bread. Hit the spot after running and hiking in the heat.

We continued to explore the Walk of Fame while we had some parking meter time left and it was cool, lots of great shopping options along the way.

Then we jumped back into the car and headed to Venice Beach for more exploring passing through trendy areas and taking in the nice views.

The beach was nice, peaceful and the area had a more laid back vibe.

I’m not a huge beach person. I like the beach, it’s fun to run on occasionally and look at. But I’d rather relax by hiking through hilly woods, vineyards, etc. And I hate that sand and sunburns always seem to be a problem whenever I go. So this was fun to see and take in the shops and beach city scene a bit. Then head back to the pretty hills.

By the afternoon we headed back to the hotel to rest and get ready for a meet and greet event at Canter’s Deli that evening for a web show hubby enjoys. After a day of navigating through LA traffic, we were both a little burned out and I knew this deli was in a cramped and hip area with crap for parking. And there would probably be drinking involved so we decided to use Lyft to get to and from. Stop laughing, but it was the first time we’ve ever used Lyft. I know, what took me so long?! Lyft is insanely easy and everywhere in LA. A driver was at our hotel within minutes and it was a fun ride watching an experienced LA driver navigate around Friday evening rush hour traffic taking the back way through ritzy and hilly neighborhoods to get us to the deli, we learned a lot of tricks like mastering the suicide left turn and dodging parked cars and other Lyft drivers parked in slow lanes.

The deli had no vegan options on the menu, they seemed to specialize in non-vegan sandwiches with offensive amounts of meat shoved in. Thankfully the waitress knew what to recommend – the avocado melt sandwich without cheese, so that’s what both hubby and I got.

We were there for the company, not the food. Considering that, the sandwich was not bad loaded with fresh sprouts. And we weren’t the only ones in the group ordering it – so that was cool. Hopefully they’ll add more options down the road maybe. We stayed late hanging out and chatting, turns out Canter’s Deli is a popular late night bar scene because lines to get in started forming around 10. Not long after we left and caught another wild Lyft ride back to our hotel in Glendale to crash and get ready for the next day.