Los Angeles Adventure Part 3

Time to wrap up our LA adventure. Saturday was another long, but awesome day. After hitting the hotel gym and breakfast bar for loaded vegan oatmeal bowls, we headed out to the La Brea Tar Pits.

I honestly did not know much about the tar pits beyond what I’ve seen in movies like Volcano, so this was very cool and interesting. And for a Saturday, it was not too packed – easy to park and navigate around the museum and tar pit displays.

We started with the 30-minute 3D movie about the history and environmental changes over the years which I found fascinating and sad. The tar pits are famous for the preserved fossils being recovered dating as far back as the ice age. Poor animals think it’s water to drink, get stuck, and … you know the awful rest. But the asphalt preserved the fossils and allowed us to learn a lot about the environmental conditions, how the environment has been changing, and all kinds of cool things.

Crazy to see bubbling asphalt lakes in the middle of busy LA.

And whew, the whole area smells like fresh asphalt.

After we headed to nearby Powerplant Superfood Cafe for lunch.

A vegan/vegetarian cafe focusing on healthier options and it had such a fun and quint atmosphere. I tried the vegan power mac burger with salad.

Which had cashew sauce that tasted exactly like a certain fast food chains special sauce, it lived up to the name. Hubby tried the vegan chili cheese burger with house made kimchi which was also great, the kimchi was the super star of this plate though.

After lunch we made our way to The Grove to do a little luxury shopping. The parking garage for this place alone was bananas! We ended up at the top level before finding a spot.

And there were plenty of ways to spend big bucks, I just felt classy walking around. It was also dog friendly, I saw tons of cute pups even in the shops.

It didn’t buy anything, just had fun exploring the shops and nearby farmer’s market and flea market. Check out the valet waiting lounge in the parking garage.

After that fun, we headed back to the hotel to rest and clean up for a live show/party we were going to for an internet movie review show. The show is based out of Austin and hubby has been a fan for awhile. The hosts and crew were in town hosting a live show for dedicated fans at a recording studio in an industrial area that we knew little about. Turns out it wasn’t the nicest part of town! While driving there for the party, Waze navigated us around “police activity” that I figured was an accident or something. When we got there, we found out from others it was a shot out – yikes! We heard there would be food trucks at the party and did not bother getting dinner before – but there weren’t and the show was packed, so packed we couldn’t get to the bar or snacks, or even find a place to sit and ended up standing for the entire show. So we left after 9pm starved and not sure where to get late dinner.

I wanted to check out Pizzanista because it was in the area, but it was packed with lines out the door. After heading back towards the hotel, we ended up at by Chloe. I know there has been controversy about it lately, but I’ve never been before and it’s still 100% vegan and connected to a 365 by Whole Foods store.

The service was fast even though it was packed too, our orders were ready quick. I got the Quinoa Taco Salad which was more of a loaded grain bowl and super satisfying.

It hit the spot after being starved for hours!

Hubby got the Spicy Thai bowl with a hearty scoop of sriracha glazed tempeh in the center.

Apparently The Vegan Zombie just went there and did this video review too! The food and service is great, so I’m sad about the controversy around it and wanted to support the great vegan place it still is hoping that won’t change. After we went back to the hotel and crashed after another packed day.

Sunday we had a few hours to kill before heading to the airport and started the day in Pasadena checking out the city hall building from Parks and Recreation, one of our favorite shows. And spotted a street named after another one of our favorite shows.

While exploring the area on foot, we also stumbled into a massive Ferrari car show that spanned blocks and blocks of classic Ferraris and new ones – millions of dollars worth of cars just lining the streets – so it’s a nice, ritzy area of LA!

We decided to stick around for an early lunch and found there were also tons of vegan restaurant options in Pasadena including another VeggieGrill location. We decided on One Veg World because the menu looked pretty unique.

Ready to get freaked out? Check out the vegan bacon on my brunch Power Up Plate.

I did a double take and had to make sure it was vegan when I saw it! It was good, but truthfully I’m not looking for an authentic bacon experience and was happy to share with hubby. The vegan scrambled “eggs” on the other hand was awesome with onions and a savory turmeric flavor.

Hubby got the Sunrise Sandwich with more insane vegan bacon, grilled vegan egg patties, tomato, and vegan cheese.

He said it was probably the best thing he’s had on this trip and this sandwich will haunt his dreams! So there you go, try it if you’re in the area.

We started slowly making our way towards the Burbank airport and ended up in a cute, boutique shopping area in Burbank killing more time since out flight was delayed an hour. This stretch of Magnolia Blvd. is lined with fun eco shops, a pet shelter adoption shop where I wanted to take them all home, and many great thrift shops like It’s A Wrap, a large thrift shop selling clothes and items from shows and movies.

There was so much to look at it was overwhelming, but lots of great clothes at thrift shop prices. Most of them had what show and/or studio they came from on the tag and I wish I had more time to browse. But ended up with two cute tops from a murder mystery show I’ve never heard of and Warner Brothers Studio.

Then it was time to get back to the airport to head home and the cute little Burbank airport is a great way to fly into LA if you’re not into the madness of LAX.

It was such a great little getaway and I’m already looking forward to going back. To bad not this weekend for the huge LA VegFest or next month for the massive Vegan Beer & Food Festival. Aw, so many great reasons to go back!