Two Backpacks One Couple

Nick and I said goodbye to our friends and left early for our direct flight to LA to visit our friends Ian and Anna. Once we arrived the four of us went to Erewhon, a fancy grocery store that is popular online for their fancy smoothies. We got smoothies and crispy rice with tuna. Everything was delicious. It was fun walking the aisles and seeing all the unique food items. With our over-priced snacks we walked The Grove, an outdoor mall, before heading over to the Magic Castle Hotel.

The Magic Castle Hotel had a pool, self serve all-you-can-eat ice cream machine, self serve coca cola, and breakfast. It’s safe to say I loved the place. In the evening we met up with Larry, a magician friend of a friend of ours. We all loved him and he hosted us all evening showing us around the Magic Castle and taking us to different shows. He performed some magic for us, too, in between sets. The castle had many different floors and rooms with both stage and close up magic. We all enjoyed each performance a lot. We saw the following magicians perform: Lorzeno Clark, Rocco, Ken Scott, and Adriano Zanetti. Alfonso, Lou Serrano, and Siegfried Tieber were the other magicians that night, too.

We ate dinner at the castle as well. Most of us got the beef Wellington or prime rib, and we shared the burrata. Everything was pretty delicious. We were expecting it to be worse since we were told it was better to eat ahead of time. I’m glad we didn’t do that, though! There were a few more shows, but by 11:30pm Nick and I were completely exhausted. For us it was 2:30am since we were on east coast time still. Getting into bed was worth missing the last few magic shows.

Anna left bright and early to get to her office for work, leaving us to hang out with Ian for the day. The Magic Castle Hotel was a short walk away from the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The three of us walked the street finding many celebrity stars. No visit to California is complete for me until we have In N Out, so that was our lunch stop. It was much cheaper than Erewhon. After strolling around we got in the car and headed to the iconic Hollywood Sign viewpoint. It was an unusually rainy the past few days so we were blessed with a very green and lush LA.

Once we got our must have LA photo with the Hollywood sign in the background, the next roadtrip stop was a fancy pastry shop. I was excited to try the realistic fruit pastries, but they ended up looking way nicer than they actually tasted. So far I felt like the influencers online were overhyping a few of the trendy LA food places. Next time we visit LA I’m excited to do more research and find some better spots.

The boys were both very full as we drove to several famous beaches. Venice beach was first on the list, with many guys skateboarding and people working out. There were tons of shops and food stalls, but it didn’t seem that busy. I assume in the summer time that place gets crazy packed. Next was Long Beach to see where Ian and Anna used to live. The area right on the beach seemed nice and much quieter than Venice Beach. On the drive we also passed Huntington Beach before finally making it to Orange County where our friends live. We got some takeout sushi for dinner once Anna got home and called it a day. It was nice to get all of my LA must see items checked off in one day.

In the morning Ian took us to Dana Point where we would catch the ferry to Catalina Island. It was a nice area and the weather was misty. During the ferry ride we saw many playful dolphins flipping and jumping behind the boat. Once we arrived on the island it was a short walk to the downtown where most establishments were not yet open. Eventually we found a spot, Coney Island West, that was open so we could get some burgers for an early lunch before our scuba diving. The island was cute with many shops, painted tiles, and stones. It was nice being there not during the summer when it apparently becomes a madhouse.

The reason we went to Catalina Island was to scuba dive from the shore in the kelp forests. It was one of Nick’s wishlist dives. Our first dive was magical, with huge kelp everywhere. We watched huge schools of fish with brilliant blue colors swim together through the kelp. A bird even dove down and was hunting for fish right in front of us. The boys wanted to see a giant sea bass, but didn’t see one. If it was sunny the kelp forest would’ve been even more beautiful, but we’ll have to just come back one day and try again. The water was unbelievably cold. We had thick wet suits, boots, gloves, hoods, and layers on underneath. I was completely frozen after we ended our dive. We all had a decent amount of air left, but it was incredibly cold. I was so bummed I didn’t have my go pro with me, it would’ve been so fun to capture that dive.

The boys opted for a second dive, but I was way too cold to join them. That was for the best as they swam as fast as they could and went super deep in an attempt to see some giant sea bass. It sounded horrible. After they joined me at the surface and got changed we had some post diving snacks. While we waited for our ferry back to Dana Point we had plenty of time for some gift shop wandering. We saw the old boutique pink hotel, sat by the water, and walked on the pier. The ferry ride back was beautiful since it was sunset. We were back home by 7:30pm where Ian and Anna cooked a wonderful dinner for us. Another awesome day done!

Anna took another day off so we could spend the full day all together. First stop was brunch at The Beachcomber at Crystal Cove State Park. We sat outside at a table in the sand with views of the ocean. We got beignets for the table which were covered in maple syrup and were so flaky and delicious. The rest was avocado toast, ranch skillet, and short rib hash. Everything was great and we could see why they loved this place. After walking along the beach and looking at all the little nice houses it was time for ice cream, of course. The place was called Crystal Cove Shake Shack, where I got a salted caramel milkshake and Nick got a cookie dough one. Ian and Anna shared one, a concept very foreign to Nick and I.

Our next beach stop was Newport beach. We brought drinks and a blanket. We were hoping for a swim, but the wind picked up so we all stayed covered up and had to snuggle on the blanket to stay warm. It was pretty hilarious for a beach day. After giving up on that we walked along the beach and saw all the restaurants and shops. It was a pretty relaxed outing. At home we got El Pollo Loco for dinner and watched Selling Sunset. We were so happy we decided to hop around and visit with friends we hadn’t seen in ages after finishing the international portion of our world trip.