We landed in SFO at 9:30 PM PDT. Our flight from San Francisco was delayed till 12 AM, so we took a walk around the airport. Very modern airport! We landed in LAX at 1 AM PDT. They were doing construction in the airport, so they had everyone walk through the United lounge, and out a side door.
We headed over to national, and got into a nice Chrysler 300. The gate attendant asked me for my Honeywell ID, and would only let me take the car for an additional $500. I returned the car to the stall, and went to wait for the outgoing shuttle. We convinced the driver that since no one was going to the airport anyway, and because it was 2 AM, to drive us to Hertz. I made a compact reservation at Hertz, and got into a Hyundai Sonata. It normally wouldn't be my first choice, but there were very few cars on the lot. We drove to the house that we were staying at, and called it a night.
The next morning we went to the first kosher place we saw for breakfast which happened to be Eilat Bakery. I got the breakfast burrito, and DW got the Santa Fe salad. I found the sauces very random. Peanut sauce on eggs?? And neither of us liked the salad. Its a bit pricey too. Not a fan.
Eilat Bakery's Santa Fe Salad (2) by
shulem 92, on Flickr
Eilat's Egg Breakfast Burrito by
shulem 92, on Flickr
We went to Pico Kosher Deli to buy some takeout food for shabbos, which was reasonably priced, and tasted pretty good Friday night. We made a small stop by Ralph's to get some more stuff for Shabbos. Shabbos we just relaxed and rested up, after our very full week.
Motzai Shabbos we drove over to Santa Monica, and checked in to the Le Meridien. They upgraded us to a king suite. Unfortunately all 3 suites with the outdoor hot tub were already taken
It's a fairly modern hotel. Free valet. The suite we we're given was "only" 500 ft². It had 2 balconies with lounge chairs overlooking the pool. Our room had Apple TV. It's the first time I've seen one, and I'm not too impressed. (It did help though, that the last 5 people who used it never logged out😎.) It had that downtown city feel though, where the hotel is trying to jam as many rooms as possible into their design.
Le Meridien (3) by
shulem 92, on Flickr
Le Meridien (5) by
shulem 92, on Flickr
Le Meridien (7) by
shulem 92, on Flickr
le meridien (10) by
shulem 92, on Flickr
After putting our bags down, we went to Nagila Pizza for Melave Malka. The nachos were just that, nachos. I mean, they weren't bad, but nothing to write home about. We also had the mushroom pizza which was pretty good.
Nagila's Nachos by
shulem 92, on Flickr
We went for a walk down to the pier, (it's around 15 minutes walking distance from the hotel). When we got there, we thought there was a concert going on, as hundreds of people were streaming down the pier. Turns out they were all engrossed in their phones. I'll give you 3 guesses what it was. Pokémon Go! After a drop of googling, we found out that Santa Monica Pier is one of the hottest places in America for rare creatures. (I'm still not sure how this game works, so if anyone can enlighten me, it would be appreciated.) Utterly ridiculous! People weren't even watching where they were going. We saw a couple pushing 2 strollers, and both parents were totally engrossed in their phones! On the way back we passed the original Muscle Beach, which is a pretty cool concept.
Santa Monica Pier (2) by
shulem 92, on Flickr
Sunday morning dawned bright and early. Our last day of vacation
We went to Bibi's Bakery for breakfast and got the breakfast special.
Bibi's Breakfast Special by
shulem 92, on Flickr
We also bought some mini pita's for our flight the next day. We then went to Glatt Mart to buy some food for the flight, and a bottle of wine for our Shabbos hosts. I made reservations to go jet skiing in Oxnard at 6 PM. Followed by a reservation in Tierra Sur for 7:30. I disregarded Waze's concern for traffic, and headed north on the PCH. The drive was stunning!! It was totally worth the extra 20 minutes of traffic.
pch by
shulem 92, on Flickr
pch (3) by
shulem 92, on Flickr
pch (4) by
shulem 92, on Flickr
Our destination was SoCal rentals in Channel Islands. We got there early so we could go to the beach there, without the pressure of having to run to the jetskiing place. I never knew we had such a town in America, but Channel Islands, is like a mini Venice. Every other street is a little canal. Everyone's got their boats in their "backyard's". In a way its nicer than Venice, because of the palm trees😂. We tanned on the beach for a bit, soaking in the last rays of sun on our vacation. The beach was totally deserted, as there are miles of beaches for very few inhabitants who live out there.
channel island beach by
shulem 92, on Flickr
channel island beach (2) by
shulem 92, on Flickr
channel island beach (3) by
shulem 92, on Flickr
Pricing on the jetski wasn't bad, $120 an hour for a 2-seater. We also took the wetsuits for an additional $10 pp. We headed down to the dock, and were shocked to see tons of seals hanging out on the dock. We followed our guide out of the harbor and took it full throttle. Kind of disappointing, as they don't let you out into the ocean by yourself, instead you have to stay behind the breaker. It's a pretty long stretch, so I was able to get it up to 50mph, but it felt a drop restrictive. Almost ran over a bunch of seals, a couple of times. Sunset was incredible at the dock. Its a 20 minute drive from Channel Islands to Tierra Sur. We were both too bombed to do any of the wine tasting, so we skipped that. (I know, I know, what was the point of going, then?) The food was out of this world! We started with the Charcuterie Board, which consists of: Chicken Liver Custard with Chicken Cracklings and Strawberry-Balsamic Compote, Beef Cheek & Sweetbread & Veal Tongue Pâté en Croûte, and Veal with Black Truffle Terrine.
I didn't like the liver custard, the texture threw me off. The Beef cheek was pretty good, and the Veal was amazing. For the main course I ordered the 12 oz Grass Fed Uruguayan Ribeye steak which was one of the best steaks I've ever had. I especially liked the red wine demi. DW got the Spencer steak, which was also delicious. For dessert we ordered the Molten Chocolate Cake and the Blueberry Crumble. The blueberry crumble was amazing if you're a blueberry-type-of-person, (which we are😁). Instead of bringing us the Chocolate Cake, they brought us the Churros. They corrected their mistake and brought us the cake also. The Churros aren't bad if you like cinnamon, and the cake had too much cherry flavor in it, but the pistachio ice cream that accompanies the cake was pretty good.
Overall it was one of the best restaurants I have ever been to!
Tierra Sur's Charcuterie Board by
shulem 92, on Flickr
Tierra Sur's Charcuterie Board (4) by
shulem 92, on Flickr
Tierra Sur's 12 oz Ribeye Steak by
shulem 92, on Flickr
Tierra Sur's Spencer Steak (3) by
shulem 92, on Flickr
Tierra Sur's Blueberry Crumble by
shulem 92, on Flickr
Tierra Sur's Churros by
shulem 92, on Flickr
After dinner we quickly took the self guided tour. In our case it was a drop more literal, as I used to work in Kedem during Pesach Bein Hazmanim's, so I was able to give DW a fully detailed tour of all the equipment😁.
Somehow we made it back to Santa Monica, even though we were bombed. We packed up, and prepared food for the flight. The next morning we checked out of the hotel, returned our car to Hertz, and checked our luggage in with Southwest. TSA pre was a breeze, (even though we got pulled to the side because our guacamole looked suspicious, I guess...). We had a flight back to EWR with a stopover in MDW. The stop was totally worth it, because the route to Chicago passes right over gorgeous scenery in Utah. The Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon National Park, Arches National Park, Zion National Park, Canyonlands National Park, and Capitol Reef National Park. Since I had done the national park road trip in the past, I was able to point out all the different parks to DW. I never had such good entertainment on a flight before.
Departing LAX by
shulem 92, on Flickr
Departing LAX (5) by
shulem 92, on Flickr
flight over utah by
shulem 92, on Flickr
flight over utah (5) by
shulem 92, on Flickr
flight over utah (2) by
shulem 92, on Flickr
flight over utah (3) by
shulem 92, on Flickr
flight over utah (4) by
shulem 92, on Flickr
We passed over these interesting circles and half circles. i refer to them in my pictures as Area 51. If anyone knows what they really are, feel free to PM me please...
Area 51 by
shulem 92, on Flickr
Our plane was delayed in MDW for a bit. Before we knew it we were back on the East Coast. Our grand honeymoon was over
I would like to thank all my fellow ddf'ers who helped make this trip a reality.
Any particular questions, feel free to PM me
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed, because we definitely did!😂😂
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