I love LA! I love the weather, architecture, food, canyons, beaches, mountains, beautiful people, Trader Joe’s and the fiendish Farmer’s Market. LA is noir. Anything can happen there and I like that. Our first stop was the In & Out Burger on Sunset, this is my sons favorite burger joint. It’s fast, fresh, delicious and cheap. We then high-tailed it to Beverly Hot Springs for a massage and a soak in the natural hot springs that shoot up in the middle of Hollywood. I recommend this highly–it helps take away the stress of travel and your skin will feel like velvet. We lived in LA in the ’80′s and many of our friends still live there. So off to dinner with lovely friends Marina Muhlfriedel and Judy Thomas for Thai food at Chao Krung on Fairfax. It was delicious and  I especially dug a salad with fresh greens and hot and spicy lime dressing. There are many Thai restaurants in LA; sort of like there are many Mexican restaurants here. The next morning we had breakfast at Swingers Coffee Shop on Beverly then over to the Farmers Market for meetings, shopping and more eating of course. That night was a reunion with my beautiful friends Cayce Cage and Teresa Darling and their husbands at Farfalla an Italian restaurant in Silverlake. Great food that is delicious year after year. We shared many memories and pictures of our children and then hurried over to the Dresden Room to catch Lisa Gamache Rodrieguez. The Dresden is a 1940′s supper club/lounge with white booths that hosts the lounge act Marty & Elayn.  They have had residency there since 1982 and our lovely friend Lisa belted out a few tunes with Marty & Elayne that capped off our fast and furious two days in LA!

We left LA and drove North on the 101 to San Simeon to visit the Hearst Castle. Breathtaking views from the castle to the ocean. The castle is amazing and completely over the top. The inside is gorgeous with fantastic art deco furnishings and there are two swimming pools on the property, one indoor and another out. I thought that we were wild and decadent in the ’80′s but I think these guys had it all over on us.

We then cut over to Highway 1 and headed up to Big Sur. What a gorgeous drive as one side is high cliffs and heartstopping ocean views and the other side is huge old redwoods and forest. We stayed at the Glen Oaks Lodge, a modern, remodeled old time motel type set up. It’s a really great place, with a fireplace that was on the inside of our cabin and on the outside on the patio. Super cool. Another highlight was the Big Sur Bakery for dinner! Wonderful, fresh, delicious, innovative food served in an old gas station. The owners have written a cook book about Big Sur and how they happened to end up there putting out this incredible food with their wood burning oven. I bought the book and they graciously signed it. Recipes from that soon.

On to Monterey and whale watching. We saw three whales! Incredible! Then onto the boardwalk for dinner and every restaurant gives away samples of clam chowder. I was cold and wanted chowder but ate too many samples to actually order a bowl when I sat down. All were really delicious and it was difficult to choose where to eat.

San Francisco is sexy and moody and it was cold. The doormen at our hotel, The Clift, wore overcoats and it was July! We had just come from weeks of triple digit temps in Texas so this was refreshing and exotic to us. The Clift has an gorgeous art deco bar from the 1930′s. The whole room is exquisite but the bar itself is all glass and how it has survived all of these years is truly amazing. A must see. Dinner was at Plouf, a really great French seafood bistro in Belden Alley with other French restaurants. It’s really cool to have a cluster of French restaurants in an alley like that. The best part of dinner was the company, Kathleen Maher and her husband Jon Peddie. Lovely night to remember and what a way to end our trip!