Wanderlust Wednesday: California Dreamin'

Back in early May, Blue and I took a whirlwind trip to Los Angeles and San Diego. I was originally registered for a conference there, but it got rescheduled to October, so we decided to make the most of the trip anyway!

Unfortunately Blue had to go ahead without me for one day because we were finishing up a big project at work. I’m sure she was grateful for a night of rest though, because once I got there it was all “go-go-go!”

We met at the hotel then went straight to Mama’s Shelter, a fun hippie-inspired rooftop lounge complete with oversized couches, giant pillows, tapestry dividers, and an enthusiastic Rasta-wannabe bartender. It was much colder than we anticipated, so we only stayed for a drink before heading over to Grand Central Market for some eats. I wanted to check out Sarita’s Pupuseria, serving up authentic Latin cuisine including “pupusa,” which is a traditional Salvadoran dish made of a thick corn tortilla stuffed with cheese, coleslaw and spices. (The shop was also in a tiny movie you may have heard of called “La La Land,” but I didn’t realize that until after we were seated at the countertop exactly where they were and saw signs posted up.) I tried the pupusa, and Blue had the skirt steak platter- both were absolutely delicious! 

After filling our bellies, we headed to The Grammy Museum. Honestly, I thought it would just be an easy way to kill some time before our scheduled time slot at The Happy Place, but it was so much fun! Not only did they have a lot of very famous outfits from people who graced the Grammy stage, but they also had interactive singing and productions booths, DJ mixers, and other instruments which were plugged into headsets so only you could hear the ruckus you were making. 

After that, we continued to make our way over to The Happy Place. I don't really know how to describe this "museum" so here's what they said about it: "[The Happy Place is a] massive pop-up experience is filled with larger than life size installations, multi-sensory immersive rooms, and dozens of moments curated to Capture Your Happy... Highlights include: dancing in the middle of world’s largest indoor Confetti Dome, jumping off of a larger than life double rainbow into a pot of happiness, and posing inside HAPPY PLACE's signature rubber ducky bathtub of fun! and let’s not forget 7-foot stilettos made of a million candies and 6-foot-tall X and O letters made out of thousands of tiny mirrors, surrounded by a wall of one thousand red lips!!!

HAPPY PLACE will be in Chicago from June 28 – August 6 before it hits the road again!"

Remember at the beginning of this post when I say I was all "go, go,  go?" Well, we weren't done yet! Since this was my only night in LA, we made one final stop at a "speakeasy" called "Good Times at Davey Wayne's." I put speakeasy in quotes because when I read about it online, it made it sound like it would be really hard to find and you had to walk through a refrigerator to get in, yadda yadda... meanwhile we show up and there's a huge bright blinking sign with an arrow pointing down. But it was super cool inside. There were multiple rooms, some open air, some night, lots of seating- couches and swinging chairs- the bartenders were all dressed up in suspenders and the drinks were strong. I wanted to take pics inside but it seemed more like a locals hangout and I didn't want to be that person. (Plus they didn't come out, they were all too dark.) 

And that concludes Day 1! I was going to put the whole trip in one post, but I think we've covered enough today, yah? Check back tomorrow for the rest of the trip! (I'll try to keep it condensed!)