Day 10: what the hell am I doing drinking in L.A

Waking up in Santa Barbara, what a feeling! We grabbed some breakfast, packed the car, and headed downtown to the one Main Street. I always thought SB was bigger but it comes down to everything being on the one street (State Street). We climbed the courthouse tower to take in the view of the entire city and we checked out the murals inside - not your standard looking courthouse and everything was so old and full of history. Super cool!

We drove out of the the downtown area and made our way to Montecito, a suburb town 10 min away to drive through the neighbourhoods and look at houses. Oprah and a gazillion other celebs live around here, so you can imagine what the houses looked like. It was hard to see a bunch because of the hedges but looking up into the mountains, you could see the backs of these houses with their ridiculous views facing the ocean and it was jaw dropping. We drove around for a little while, Justin drooled over one of the rarest cars you can find just parked out in a parking lot, a Jaguar E-type - also the rarest and most sought after colour. Obviously.

Once we hit the road, I don’t think we stopped until we got to Malibu. We pulled in to Neptune’s Net for a seafood platter to take and eat on the beach. Read good reviews and it was right on the pacific highway... as we pulled in to the parking lot, justin flipped out and recognized it from the Fast and the Furious. So we had a good laugh and he took a picture from the exact same angle. But oh man, the food was SO good. We drove up the road to a beach and sat on the fresh White sand looking out at the waves and shoving our faces with calamari, shrimp, crab, and ridiculously good fish and chips. Stuffed, we drove up to the next beach, and the next beach. The most famous Malibu beach, Zuma, was closed as the sun was setting so we went to the next point - Point Dume. We climbed up to the peak and flew the drone as the sun was hitting the horizon. Justin got the drone right down the coastal cliffs and did a full pan of the houses overhanging. As we were staring at the screen and the drone was moving, it seemed some of these houses never ended only for the next one to be even bigger!

We got into Santa Monica and the half hour drive to LA Downtown was showing up as over 1.5 hours, so we parked and wandered the pier. It was a full on amusement park with its lit Ferris wheel, rides, and stands everywhere. Lots of buskers and fisherman. We had about 2 hours to kill for traffic to subside so we watched the fisherman - this was entertaining. It went from an 8 year old kid pulling up his rod that caught 2 fish in one go and he masterfully unhooked then and threw them in the bag, to a couple that caught a fish and clearly had no idea what they were doing. She had her iPhone out trying to record the whole thing with one hang while trying to help him grab the reel and pull it in - definitely thought the phone was going in the water. The guy gave up trying to pull it in, so he swung the whole thing over and brought his reel with 4 empty hooks still hanging over the rail and swung it over everyone’s heads until it flopped down on the pier in between people. It doesn’t stop there! With the fish flopping all over the place, the girl grabbed a GLOWSTICK and started smacking the fish with it continuously. It only angered the fish that flopped more violently, until eventually the guy had enough of it and full on stomped on the fish. The girl got mad at how inhumane that was and the guy just yelled “fish our food, not friends!” While whipping his heel on the ground. The crowd gathered around them was baffled with everyone exchanging “wtf” looks.

Our phones were dying and we still had some time so we went into Bubba Gump for a drink and a charge. Interesting decor and definitely made me want to watch Forrest Gump again. We got back to the car and Justin flew the drone around the pier with everything lit up and we got back on the road to LA.

We pulled up to our hotel, the Ace (it was highly recommended by everyone) and was Dead Center Downtown. By the time we remembered to message our friends from last night, they were probably all cozy at home and ready for bed. We walked around a bit on our own and soaked in the fact that we were in LA!! Unreal. We walked around, took pictures and were surprised as the ghost town that it was, Monday night or not, it was L.A...

It was already 10:30 at this point so we hit up the speakeasy bar. It was pretty funny - the internet said the speakeasy was in the back of this other place so while Justin was standing at the bar on his phone trying to figure out if there was a password or something to get into the other one, the bartender said it was last call for drinks but that the one in the back is still open and to just go ahead through the door. Lol.

It was a tiny room lit with candles only, live piano and cool decor. The 2 ladies behind the bar started chatting with us and we ended up hanging out by the bar the entire evening. We planned on only doing one round and hitting up the rooftop at the hotel where it was Soul Night until 1am. We ended up getting carried away in conversation until 12:40 and barely made it in time to the hotel to find out it was going until 1:30, luckily. It was pretty dead except for a few people here and there and 2 girls, clearly drunk, dancing their heart out wearing tiaras and a helium butterfly balloon attached to their waists. We grabbed some drinks and sat by the fireplace until I #YOLO’ed and got up to dance with them. We danced and chatted and became friends and they might even join us at the festival this weekend since we were all into the same music!

Justin and I went downstairs to a taco truck outside once we were kicked out of the bar and inhaled the most delicious tacos. Wowwwwww. So much for an early night and early morning because tomorrow as a last minute decision.... we’re going to DISNEYLAND!!