Los Angeles is what’s happening.

A few weekends ago, we drove down to LA to visit our dear friend Britt, and, of course, to explore. I had only been once, long ago, and Alex had not yet gone. I didn’t have the most favorable impression of the city after my first visit: found it strange that people didn’t walk places, felt dramatically different from everyone (and especially pale), and was frustrated by the traffic.

This time, we really got to view it from a resident’s perspective, which is how I always prefer to visit a city. It was blazing hot the whole time we were there, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying ourselves. Our very gracious hostess showed us the hits in West Hollywood, Silverlake, and Venice Beach, introduced us to her friends, and made sure we ate only delicious things. My impression of LA now: full of interesting people (who are not that different from me), beautiful things, and people do, in fact, walk places sometimes. It feels so much more California-y than the Bay Area. It is a great city to visit – especially if your hostess is as wonderful as ours.