Adventures in the USA: Rachel's Travel Diary

The sun has returned! Just as Frankie left for New York as well – typical! We’ve had a lovely week with some great food and cocktails and A LOT of walking! Frankie’s Fitbit reached 30,000 steps on Tuesday!

Frankie arrived on 30th April and we went straight out for a cocktail at a local rooftop bar – she did an incredible job powering through the time difference and we had a good catch-up about all the West-End shows Frankie has seen and the one show I’ve seen out here (Into the Woods, see blog post from 23rd April). On Thursday we went to Alfred Coffee for a breakfast pastry – so far I’ve taken every visitor for breakfast here on their first day. Then we headed to Beverly Hills. We had a look round Erewhon at all the expensive groceries and supplements – they even sell bottled water for around $40! Then we got smoothies (I think they’re officially called ‘tonic drinks’ as they have lots of health boosting ingredients like sea moss and tocos powder). They looked amazing and tasted pretty good as well, but my bank account would not be happy if I made Erewhon Smoothies a regular part of my day! Then we went to the Gagosian Gallery where there is currently an exhibition of photographs taken by Paul McCartney from December 1963 to February 1964. I hadn’t realised that The Beatles first headline tour started in Cheltenham!

On Friday we hiked Runyon Canyon! This was the best weather during Frankie’s stay, and naturally the sun started beating down just as we started our ascent. It made for beautiful views though, and we saw a few lizards and many dogs on the path up to the top. Some people were even running up and down the canyon which we both agreed was a step too far. Chris joined us in the evening for Mexican food at Zarapé – we went there when Rosa visited in February and the tacos were just as amazing a second time around.

For our weekend together, we first headed to Santa Monica – in the rain – so we started out with brunch at Sweet Maple. We had to queue for about 20 minutes for our table, but it was so worth it! Between us we had Souffleggs (a scrambled egg soufflé made in a skillet), fried chicken and croffle (croissant heated in a waffle iron) and French toast. They also did mimosa flights with 4 different flavour combinations – although in future we’d avoid the blue one made with blue curaçao which tasted a little like pond. We went on all the rides on Santa Monica Pier, some several times in a row, and then headed to Anaheim for a baseball game between the LA Angels and the Detroit Tigers. The two teams were playing a four day series against each other and we ended up seeing the only game that the Angels won. Our main focus heading in was to get hats and hot dogs, but we all got drawn into the enthusiasm of the fans around us and now I want to go back to more games. Every time the Angels scored a run, the lady sat in front of us turned around to give everyone high fives! I was quite surprised by how many baseballs get hit into the stands and I did wonder how often fights break out between fans over who gets to keep the ball!

On Sunday we spent the day in Korea-town with some of Frankie’s friends who live in LA. It was my first experience at Korean barbecue and it was INCREDIBLE! Following advice from our server about how much to order, we opted for beef brisket, beef belly, pork belly, rib eye steak and finally marinated beef short rib (shared between 6 people). The meat is cooked over a fire in the middle of the table, and on the side are various salads and sauces – kimchi, rice, broccoli and peanut salad, spring onion salad, tofu, soy bean paste… And you get a little pot of grated cheese to dip the meats in as well – apparently that’s not very traditional but is becoming trendy in South Korea. After that we walked to a bar inside a converted house (think classic American timber house painted turquoise) where we had s’mores and soju-beer cocktails.

For Frankie’s last couple of days we had more grey weather, but it didn’t hold us back. Monday morning we went to the cat cafe – even though it was just over a week since my last visit, there were several new kitty faces and the news that some of my previous favourites had found happy homes! I made friends with a beautiful boy called Poquito who has one yellow and one blue eye, and a nervous newbie who still wanted some cuddles called Atlas! I sat on the floor and he came and snuggled right up next to me. Then we had a turn look round the classic American stores – Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and Target, before watching Bridget Jones 2 and enjoying a glass of wine in the hot tub!

On Tuesday we headed back to the beach and took a very long walk from Santa Monica Pier down to the end of the Venice Boardwalk and back again. Walking back along the beach, we watched a groups of sandpipers running back and forwards, pulling snacks from the damp sand, then running away as the tide came in. We got caught out by the waves a few times ourselves and ended up with damp jean hems. When we got back to the pier we ordered ‘Banana Berry Concrete’ from the pier (a thick blended ice-cream with chunks of banana and strawberry) and I’ve never had a server say my name so many times in one transaction before! ‘Rachel, just to confirm, this is what you’ve ordered, and Rachel, can I just get your signature here? Thanks Rachel, you’ll find the napkins over there, and Rachel, have a nice day!’ – it was difficult to keep a straight face by the end!

I headed out for book club on Tuesday evening – this month we read Say You’ll Remember me by Abby Jimenez. Abby Jimenez was previously a winner of Cupcake Wars and started her own cupcake business in 2009 called Nadia Cakes. The bakery is referenced in the book so someone ordered some of her cupcakes for the meeting – I had a cookies and cream one and it was delicious. After the meeting, I regrouped with Chris and Frankie and we went to The Abbey Food and Bar for a final meal together and we were blown away by the standard of the food and cocktails. A perfect way to round off the week!

I had such a lovely week with Frankie and I’m already missing her, but we’ll be reunited in July for the last couple of Guide meetings before the summer break. I hope she has a great time in New York and can’t wait to plan more theatre trips with her later in the year! Now I just have a few days to prepare before I jet off to San Francisco next week for a four night visit and catch up with a couple of uni friends!

Signing off now from the across the pond,

Rachel