After having not left our little bubble for the first 18 months of COVID, and with viral spread in a lull, we decided to book our first major trip in far too long. We wanted to stay in the US to make things easy, and we wanted to extend our summer, so Southern California was a natural fit.

Itinerary

4 nights in Los Angeles at the Santa Monica Proper Hotel.
2 nights in Joshua Tree at an Airbnb.
4 nights in Palm Springs at an Airbnb.

Logistics

Enjoying your time in Los Angeles is all about planning for traffic and parking. Pick a section of the city per day to minimize driving. Make a parking plan, and be prepared to have to adjust when lots are full or you can’t find street parking. When you do inevitably hit traffic, try to embrace it as part of the LA experience.

Day 1: October 30, 2021

Flew from Boston to Los Angeles.
Rented a car from Avis for the whole trip.
Drove to Venice. Parked at LADOT Lot 731.
Lunch at the Butcher’s Daughter. Tasty vegetarian food.
Walked around Abbot Kinney Boulevard. Walked down to and through the historic canal district. Walked up to and around the Venice sign. Stumbled upon a low-rider car show, part of the festivities for a hometown War concert, part of their 50th-anniversary tour.
Checked into our hotel and settled into Santa Monica. Our booking included valet parking.
Relaxed with a snack at Calabra, the hotel’s rooftop bar. We wouldn’t recommend it.
Grabbed donuts from Sidecar Doughnuts is right around the corner from our hotel.
Dinner at Shojin in Culver City. Delicious vegan Japanese food with excellent service.

Day 2: October 31, 2021

Drove through Beverly Hills and Hollywood on our way to Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA).
Went to ROW DTLA and Smorgasburg. Parked at the main ROW DTLA parking garage.
We especially enjoyed KINTO, Still Life Ceramics, and Hawkins New York.
Lunch from Señoreata. Highly recommended. Britt still dreams about the potato balls.
Enjoyed some Churros from Churro Boss.
Drove across DTLA. Visited the Last Bookstore. It was just OK.
Drove across DTLA. Visited Hauser & Wirth. We enjoyed the exhibitions by Günther Förg and Lorna Simpson.
Dinner from In-N-Out. Our first In-N-Out experience. Fortunately for us, they offer some vegetarian sandwich options. We picked up our food, then drove to Johnson Overlook on Mulholland Drive to enjoy it with sunset views of San Fernando Valley (“the Valley” for short).
Took the scenic route through Bel Air on our way back to the hotel.

Day 3: November 1, 2021

Hiked in the Santa Monica Mountains at golden hour. We did Backbone Trail to Sandstone Peak, the highest peak in the range, but we parked at and started from the Mishe Mokwa trailhead instead. This was a very memorable hike, and we didn’t cross paths with other hikers until the very end.
Drove down to Malibu.
Visited El Matador Beach.
Drove to and around Point Dume.
Lunch at John’s Garden in Malibu.
Got back to Santa Monica.
Early dinner at Élephante in Santa Monica. Cool vibe, nice views, and tasty bread (with delicious whipped eggplant), but our main meals weren’t great.
Rented bicycles from our hotel. Rode along the beach from Santa Monica down to Venice at sunset, hung around the Venice Beach Skatepark for a while, then rode back up to Santa Monica.
Enjoyed some room service dessert.

Day 4: November 2, 2021

Drove through Brentwood and Beverly Glen.
Lunch at Bistro Jolie. Great food.
Drove most of the length of Mulholland Drive.
Hiked Cahuenga Peak via Burbank Peak Trail. Parked at 34.131684, -118.337924. This hike includes the famous view from the Wisdom Tree. We also extended the hike past Cahuenga to the viewpoint behind the Hollywood sign. Great little hike, but the view of the Hollywood sign itself is disappointing.
Drove to Glendale and visited the Pit LA. We enjoyed the work of Ryan Schneider, Devin Troy Strother, and Maryam Yousif.
Sunset from Griffith Observatory. It’s impossible for this not to be memorable.
Drove through the Hollywood Hills.
Dinner at Gracias Madre in West Hollywood. Rico’s wet burrito was one of his favorite meals of the whole trip. The dinner was made all the more special as some of Rico’s friends from Berklee College of Music joined us.

Day 5: November 3, 2021

Drove from Santa Monica to the southern entrance of Joshua Tree National Park.
Hiked the Mastodon Peak Loop Trail. Great little hike that packs a lot of variety in a short trail. We really liked the part of the trail that went through a dry river bed.
Walked the Cholla Cactus Garden Trail. Very easy, but very interesting.
Checked into our Airbnb and settled into the town of Joshua Tree, a 20-minute drive from one of the northern entrances of the park.
Our Airbnb had a partial kitchen which we used over the course of our stay to cook some of our meals using fresh ingredients from local grocery stores.
Takeout dinner from Frontier Cafe in Yucca Valley.
Visited the Noah Purifoy Outdoor Desert Art Museum at sunset. Very quirky.
Joshua Tree is well known as a stargazing haven. Our Airbnb was in the northern reaches of the town of Joshua Tree, with little light pollution. The host of our Airbnb provided hammocks for this very purpose, and we stargazed each of the two nights we were there. We were very fortunate because both nights were almost completely cloudless, and, in a happy accident, we happened to be there during the new moon. It was one of the most memorable parts of our trip.

Day 6: November 4, 2021

Went back into the park.
Hiked the Hidden Valley Nature Trail. This is one of the most popular trails in the park, and for good reason. The loop is only a mile long, but it packs a massive punch. We recommended doing this trail first thing in the morning to avoid crowds.
Hiked the Barker Dam Trail.
Lunch at Natural Sisters Cafe in the town of Joshua Tree.
Drove back into the park toward the end of the day for sunset from Keys View, the park’s highest point. From this vantage point we could see our next destination way down in the distance: Palm Springs.

Day 7: November 5, 2021

Drove from Joshua Tree to Palm Springs.
Visited Moorten Botanical Garden.
Lunch at Chef Tanya’s Kitchen.
Visited the Pit Palm Springs. We enjoyed the work of Keith Boadwee.
Walked around downtown Palm Springs. Nothing to write home about.
Desert X is an art program that aims to showcase works as part of the desert landscape. We visited Serge Attukwei Clottey’s “Wishing Well” at the James O. Jessie Desert Highland Unity Center.
While waiting for our check-in time, we drove around some of the nice suburban parts of Palm Springs. So much great mid-century modern architecture to enjoy.
Checked into our Airbnb and settled into Palm Springs. No doubt one of the best Airbnbs we’ve ever stayed in.
Our Airbnb had a partial kitchen which we used over the course of our stay to cook some of our meals using fresh ingredients from local grocery stores.
We rented bicycles from Big Wheel Tours for the duration of our stay in Palm Springs.
Lounged by the pool.
Dinner at Elmer’s in Palm Springs. So, so good.

Day 8: November 6, 2021

Hiked the Carl Lykken Trail. Instead of tracing the path back a second time, we went one-way from south to north and then Ubered back to the southern trailhead. Another great hike on this trip. We’re glad we did it first thing in the morning, because it started to warm up very quickly once it hit 9am.
Takeout lunch and dessert from Sherman’s Deli & Bakery in Palm Springs. We highly recommend it, especially the egg salad sandwich, the potato salad, and all the varieties of pie.
Lounged by the pool.
Bicycled around the southern part of the Indian Canyon neighborhood.
Dinner at Norma’s at the Parker Hotel in Palm Springs. The crunchy French toast was good, but the award-winning potato pancakes were just OK.

Day 9: November 7, 2021

Visited the Sunnylands Center & Gardens.
Visited Palm Springs Art Museum. We especially enjoyed the Robert Longo, Helen Lundeberg, and Helen Frankenthaler exhibitions.
Lunch at In-N-Out. Because you can’t go just once.
Lounged by the pool.
Snacked on some cake from Sherman’s Deli & Bakery (take-out).
Bicycled around the Indian Canyons Golf Resort.
Dinner at Workshop Kitchen & Bar. Good food and friendly service.

Day 10: November 8, 2021

Visited Indian Canyons. Hiked the Victor Loop to Palm Canyon. An excellent short hike. We recommend doing it clockwise instead of counterclockwise; that way, you get the more strenuous part done first.
Takeout lunch and dessert from Sherman’s Deli & Bakery.
Drove to the Kaufmann House to appreciate it from afar. We happened to get there at the same time as a bicycle tour group, so we listened in to learn more about the house.
Lounged by the pool.
Bicycled around the Indian Canyons neighborhood.
Dinner at Elmer’s in Palm Springs. We couldn’t say “no” to a second visit.

Day 11: November 9, 2021

Drove from Palm Springs to LAX.
Returned our car.
Flew from Los Angeles to Boston.

If We Ever Went Back

We would have visited the Eames House, but it was closed to interior tours due to COVID.
Next time, we would make time for the Stahl House.
Ideally, we would have spent at least one more day at Joshua Tree National Park. If we had a second shot, we’d do the Indian Cove Campground Trail, the Fortynine Palms Oasis Trail, and Ryan Mountain.
We skipped the Salton Sea (namely, Salvation Mountain and Bombay Beach) on purpose, but we would definitely go if we were ever in the area again.

After having not left our little bubble for the first 18 months of COVID, and with viral spread in a lull, we decided to book our first major trip in far too long. We wanted to stay in the US to make things easy, and we wanted to extend our summer, so Southern California was a natural fit.

Itinerary

Logistics

Day 1: October 30, 2021

Day 2: October 31, 2021

Day 3: November 1, 2021

Day 4: November 2, 2021

Day 5: November 3, 2021

Day 6: November 4, 2021

Day 7: November 5, 2021

Day 8: November 6, 2021

Day 9: November 7, 2021

Day 10: November 8, 2021

Day 11: November 9, 2021

If We Ever Went Back

© CIAO FABELLO

NAV