Shae and I visited the Los Angeles area a couple of times earlier this year. We spent a couple of weeks in Irvine at the end of January/beginning of February, then another four days in Irvine in March followed by a week in Los Angeles itself.
Despite spending all that time there, we didn’t end up doing anywhere near as much as we thought we might. During that first visit, Shae flew to Detroit, MI and Des Moines, IA to see a friend and for the RAGBRAI route announcement respectively; I stayed in Irvine but took that opportunity to rest a little but also get caught up on some work rather than exploring, so it was a sort-of wasted two weeks there.
We did end up doing some fun things in the area though, so here’s a roundup of what we got up to in and around Los Angeles.
Where We Stayed
Hyatt House Irvine/John Wayne Airport
During both our stays in Irvine we stayed at the Hyatt House Irvine/John Wayne Airport. That first stay we paid for in cash as I was able to take advantage of Hyatt’s Best Rate Guarantee which reduced our room rate to $86.34 per night with tax – a very low rate compared to how much other hotels were going for.
For that first stay I used a couple of Suite Upgrade Awards to guarantee us a one bedroom suite with a kitchen to make our stay much more comfortable. It was a very nice suite and a lovely place to stay, although there was a downside in that they charged $20 per night for parking.
For our second stay of four nights, we booked using points. Room rates were higher during those dates, so paying 9,500 points for the first night and 8,000 points per night for the next three nights worked out to be better value. We didn’t use a Suite Upgrade Award for that second visit, so we ended up in a standard room without a kitchen or separate living room.
Fairfield Inn & Suites Los Angeles LAX/El Segundo
Fairfield Inn is one of Marriott’s brands and we booked a week-long paid stay there, this time taking advantage of Marriott’s Best Rate Guarantee to reduce our nightly cost to $105.22 with tax.
Hotels closer to downtown Los Angeles were very expensive, so this was our most economical option if we wanted a shorter drive to attractions like the La Brea Tar Pits.
The Fairfield Inn wasn’t anything special, but it was a decent enough place to stay for the week. With it being an airport hotel I was worried that it could be noisy seeing as people would be checking in and out at all times of the day and night, but it was much quieter noise-wise than I’d anticipated which I was grateful for.
What We Did
La Brea Tar Pits & Museum
Although the La Brea TV show isn’t any good, it did encourage us to check out the La Brea Tar Pits & Museum while staying in LA. All of the outdoor exhibits are free to visit and are pet-friendly, so Truffles got to join us that day.
It was a fascinating place to visit, especially seeing how fossils from hundreds of thousands of years apart could end up getting clumped together in the tar pits (which actually contain asphalt, not tar). It’s definitely worth a visit while in Los Angeles and it’s also worth paying to visit the on-site museum to learn even more. Check out this post for more about La Brea.
Petersen Automotive Museum
Pretty much next door to the La Brea Tar Pits is the Petersen Automotive Museum. That’s not pet-friendly, so I wandered back around La Brea with Truffles while Shae visited the museum so that she could use it for one of the virtual field trip classes she teaches online.
Even though she isn’t really a car person, Shae had a great time checking out the museum as it had all kinds of interesting car exhibits such as the DeLorean above, Formula 1 cars, a 1905 four cylinder motorcycle with 3.5 horsepower, a Batmobile from a couple of Batman movies and much more.
Huntington Beach Dog Beach
After an extremely cool cotton candy experience in Huntington Beach (more about that in the food and drink section below), we drove down to the beach itself to take Truffles to the dog beach there. It was nice and quiet, so she enjoyed chasing after her ball while the sun set over the ocean.
Newport Beach Whale Watching & Dolphin Cruise
One of the reasons we returned to the LA area is because we wanted to visit Disneyland. Unfortunately we didn’t realize we needed to book tickets in advance (read more about that Road Trip Mistake here), so we had to find alternative fun.
That fun involved heading down to Newport Beach for the afternoon. On the way down we booked a whale watching and dolphin cruise on Groupon. We had a fun time, although we didn’t get to see many whales or dolphins.
Rosie’s Dog Beach
Huntington Dog Beach wasn’t the only dog beach we visited in LA. On our final day in the area we drove down to Long Beach to take Truffles to Rosie’s Dog Beach. She’s not a fan of swimming in the ocean, but she had another great time playing in the sand and chasing after her ball.
Hollywood Sign Hike
Although I enjoy hiking, I wasn’t up for getting up early one Saturday morning to hike up to the Hollywood sign. Fair play to her though, Shae had the motivation to get up and do it and had a great time seeing the iconic sign from all kinds of angles. See her post here for more about the hike.
Santa Monica Pier
We met up with one of Shae’s friends for dinner in Santa Monica on our final night in the Los Angeles area, so after dinner we took a wander down to Santa Monica Pier to make the most of our last day by the ocean until next year.
Where We Ate & Drank
Polar Playground
Earlier in this post I mentioned some amazing cotton candy we had in Los Angeles. That was from Polar Playground in Huntington Beach which makes some incredibly artistic creations using cotton candy. There are all kinds of cool designs, with Shae picking a unicorn for hers. Read more about Polar Playground here.
Shae got the cotton candy unicorn while I ordered their Hella Nutella – a sundae with Nutella ice cream, toffee bits, cocoa puffs and chocolate sauce. It sounded awesome, but it wasn’t quite as delicious as I was hoping – the ice cream was far more like hazelnut ice cream rather than Nutella ice cream which I’d expected to have more chocolate.
Indian Curry Cuisine
While staying in Irvine we ordered dinner from Indian Curry Cuisine using Uber Eats. We love Indian and so were looking forward to our dinner, but it was the most bland food we’ve ever eaten – very disappointing.
Krave Asian Fusion Restaurant
A much better meal was the one we ordered from Krave Asian Fusion Restaurant. Shae ordered their Taiwanese Garlic Noodles with chicken, while I went for their Japanese Curry Katsu which was very flavorful.
CAVA
One evening I drove out to Santa Monica to meet up with a couple of friends. They’d suggested CAVA which I initially thought was just a local place, but it turns out that it’s a chain with locations all around the country.
They have create-your-own bowls and it was so delicious that I’ve since made sure that Shae’s tried it too. I got it with rice, spicy lamb meatballs, roasted eggplant, harissa, red pepper hummus, shredded romaine, pickled onions, cabbage slaw, tomato & onion salad, tomato & cucumber salad, pita crisps, lentil tabbouleh, fire-roasted corn and garlic dressing – so delicious!
Barney’s Beanery
On our final evening in Los Angeles we went to Santa Monica to meet up with one of Shae’s friends for dinner at Barney’s Beanery. I got their corned beef hash which hit the spot, while Shae ordered their margherita calzone which was massive.
Final Thoughts
When Shae and I actually got out and about to do things in and around Los Angeles, we had a great time. We ended up booking way too long in the area for what we actually did though; in hindsight, I wish that we’d spent longer in the San Diego/Carlsbad area or Temecula rather than spending about a month in LA.
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