California Day 1: Venice Beach + Omi

Carol | December 25, 2021 | California, Featured | No Comments

Hello Los Angeles! In November Karl asked me what I wanted as a graduation gift and I very quickly answered ‘a trip to California’ so here we are. I’ve never been to California before so I’m really looking forward to exploring and seeing what all the fuss is about. Karl lived here for several years when he was a kid, and last visited in 1997 so this trip will be a mix of old and new for him. We’ll be spending a few days in LA, a day at Joshua Tree National park, a few days in San Diego, and then wrapping our trip up with a visit to Disneyland and California Adventure. It’s going to be great!

Today was mostly a travel day. We flew direct from Atlanta to LAX. It was a five-hour flight that left at 11 am Eastern time, however thanks to the magic of timezones, we gained several hours and arrived in LA around 1 pm. I napped for part of our flight and killed the rest of the time watching photography videos and taking photos of the changing landscape. Seeing the mountains and desert as we flew into California was really interesting. I also enjoyed all the lovely cloudscapes.

After we landed in LA and picked up our rental car we drove in search of coffee and accidentally ended up at Venice Beach which was a great surprise. The area is both hip and grungy with lots of street art, murals, colorful buildings, and people out and about enjoying the beach, skatepark, and nearby shops and restaurants.

After our brief stop at Venice Beach, we headed to Culver City to visit Karl’s grandmother ‘Omi’. We walked to a nearby Chinese restaurant for dinner and then hung out at Omi’s house for several hours talking. I learned a lot about her life, including her love of the arts, and it was great to see Karl bonding with family. We had a really lovely time and hope to visit her again while we’re in town.

My first impressions of LA are all positive. It’s huge and sprawls out in all directions. Most of the buildings I’ve seen thus far are all very boxy and mostly stucco. I love the color palettes of the city from trendy pastels and muted beach colors to bold neons. Most of the neighborhoods we drove through looked like a very eclectic mix. I am also really digging the plants. All the palm trees remind me of Florida, but LA seems to have a wider variety of trees and plants. I’ve seen a lot of succulents, cacti, and several very interesting varieties of trees I’ve yet to identify. It was dark when we drove into Hollywood to check into our hotel so I couldn’t tell much about the area.