We had planned an almost 3 week road trip around California visiting Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite, San Francisco and back to LA. However, a couple of weeks before setting off wild fires started in Yosemite and the area was closed. We quickly changed our itinerary and removed Death Valley and Yosemite and added Paige & Zion National Park.

Day 1 – Travel to LA

We were on an afternoon flight from Heathrow to LA with British Airways. We were flying on the A380 so had great seats on the upstairs floor by the window with a 2:2 configuration so Stu & Tom sat in-front of Izzy and me. I have always wanted to visit Greenland and as we flew over the sky was clear and I had the most amazing views of the icebergs

We landed at sunset and headed straight to a Hampton Inn near the airport for the night.

Day 2 – Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Malibu Beach

We had booked an AirBnb in Thousand Oaks for the next 3 nights but couldn’t check in until 3pm so had some time to explore Beverly Hills. We began by visiting the sign and walking along Rodeo Drive. There were loads of hanging baskets and hummingbirds were attracted to the flowers in them.

^{An early morning in Beverly Hills}

We then drove to Hollywood for lunch where we found the Hard Rock Cafe and Stu & I ordered burgers, Tom chose a hot dog and Izzy ordered chicken strips. We found the Hollywood walk of fame where Tom (who was really into Star Wars) found Harrison Ford’s star and the footprints of the characters from the movie. Izzy found the Harry Potter cast handprints.

At this point jetlag was starting to kick in so we decided to move towards our property. We drove passed Malibu beach and there was space in the carpark so we stopped for a paddle and Tom & Izzy played with the waves for almost an hour!

^{Malibu Beach}

We made it to our property where we spent the evening playing in the pool and watched an incredible sunset.

^{Views from our AirBnB in Thousand Oaks}

Day 3 – Griffith Observatory

We set off early to visit the Griffith Observatory. We parked up and did a short hiking trail to see the Hollywood sign.

^{Views of the Hollywood sign in the distance}

We then made our way back to the observatory, had a wander round and looked at Los Angeles in the distance.

^{Griffiths Observatory}

We really enjoyed our time here but were keen to head back to the house to make use of the pool.

Day 4 – El Matador Beach and Santa Monica Pier

One of the closest beaches to our property was El Matador beach so we headed there for the morning. There was a really small carpark on the cliff top and we were lucky to get a space. We walked down to the beach which had lots of rocks and we played with the waves for about an hour.

^{El Matador Beach}

It was our last afternoon in LA as we were headed to Vegas the next morning so we drove to Santa Monica to have a walk along the pier and buy ice creams before heading back to our AirBnb to play in the pool for the evening.

^{Santa Monica Pier}