Since Los Angeles is only a couple of hours north of San Diego, we decided to drive up there as well. As I said yesterday, with our entire vacation, we did not have an itinerary. I knew I wanted to see the Hollywood sign but other than that we had no real plan.
We spent both days hiking, and it was such a great time. I haven’t been hiking since college, so this was deinfetley a lot of fun. While we didn’t see all of the ritzy things of LA such as Hollywood and Sunset Blvd, we enjoyed hiking and seeing the incredible views that way. It was much more our style.
We went on a hike to the back of the Hollywood sign. You cannot get right behind the letters, but you can get extremely close. The hike itself takes you over the peaks of LA, and then you hike across the top. It was a moderate hike with about 1000 elevation gain and 4 miles round trip. I’m not a hiker, but I made it through.
We also enjoyed some great food while out there. One of my favorite restaurants was the Green Street Tavern in Pasadena. I ordered the Salmon with cous cous and butternut squash, and it was cooked perfectly.
For dessert, I had the apple crisp which was topped with ice cream. To say this was one of the best desserts I’ve had in a while is an understatement. If you are ever in Pasadena, I recommend the Green Street Tavern!
Questions for you:
Have you ever seen the Hollywood sign?
What is your favorite dessert?
I didn’t realize you can even get THAT close to the Hollywood sign! I think its awesome that you guys did LA “your way.”
HOLY HECK RATTLESNAKE! That would have freaked me out for the entire rest of the trip!!
I like how you just casually mention the rattlesnake like it was NBD. Also I really wish we had hiked while we were there, it was just too busy of a trip! Next time!
please tell me that picture of a rattlesnake was using zoom and not actually that close. we have tons of rattlesnakes here and they dont mess around. how cool you took the hike up to the hollywood sign! ive always wanted to do that but the times i have been in LA the people I was with werent “active” people 🙂
My husband actually took that photo. The only way I like snakes are when they are behind glass in a zoo LOL
Yay snakes!! I can’t believe you haven’t gone hiking since college! That surprises me for some reason.
We wanted to go in Phoenix but it was hard when I could move after the marathon. LOL
I’ve only been to LA once and CA two or three times. I’ve never done the hiking thing though- that’s what I would be more interested in than some of the other more touristy stuff that I’ve done before.
Hiking to see the Hollywood sign is something I definitely want to do sometime! I’ve been to LA once when I was in middle school and we went to Six Flags and In N Out Burger haha. We also stopped in Santa Monica and Malibu for a few hours.
Where did you start your Hollywood sign hike? Whenever I’ve gone we parked at the Griffith Observatory and that’s 7-8 miles round trip!!
Love, love, love the picture of you and Tim with the Hollywood sign–so cute!
DUDE that rattlesnake. Is that for REAL?! I went to LA once and never got to hike to the Hollywood sign. I was on a school trip and had to do the touristy things! I prefer LA your way!
EEEEKK that rattlesnake! I love hiking, but that’s in Seattle where maybe there’s a harmless black snake once in the summer. Hiking is definitely how I would want to explore LA – your trip sounds so fun!
I love that you got the picture of the back of the sign instead of the iconic front of the sign pic- that’s just so unique and you :). That salmon and apple crisp look delicious- I am a big fan of ordering the salmon at restaurants as well.
Yay I’m from LA 🙂 Glad you enjoyed it! Green street tavern is DELICIOUS
I had no idea you were out there! That’s awesome and I’m really jealous.
my sister lives in studio city so i get to visit her often and love seeing the hollywood sign, no matter how touristy it is! very cool that you got to hike behind it!