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4.6.17

LA and San Francisco Adventures

Hi everyone,

Last weekend I arrived back in the UK after an amazing holiday to LA and San Francisco. My now fiancee and I had such a wonderful time and both places were fantastic to visit so I thought I would share a few memories from our travels on my blog. 

On our first day in LA we had booked on to a pony trek up Runyon Canyon to get a good view of the Hollywood sign. In the photo you can't really tell how close to it we were as it looks really far away but the views were amazing. I used to have horse riding lessons when I was younger but haven't ridden in years so it was really fun to do the pony trek and see how much I could remember! 


After the pony trek, we went to the Beverly Centre and The Grove for an afternoon of shopping and also to the farmers market next door where I had the best pasties! This one was filled with mushrooms and cheese - so yummy!


For day two in LA we had booked tickets for Universal Studios. I've never really been that into Harry Potter and have only read a couple of the books, but I was still so excited to see the Harry Potter world and try some of the famous Butterbeer. One of my favourite parts of the day though was going on the behind the scenes tour where we visited the set of Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives which is one of my all-time favourite TV shows. 

Ollivanders - The Harry Potter Wand Shop
This was a plane crash set at Universal Studios
We had booked onto a Hollywood tour for day three in LA which I was looking forward to but was a little skeptical about. I have to say though that it was actually really interesting and a great way to see some sights that we wouldn't have seen otherwise.  I was actually surprised at how close to some of the houses you can get and we saw houses belonging to celebrities such as P Diddy, Madonna, Cameron Diaz, Johnny Depp and the Playboy mansion. It was also great to see where the likes of Pretty Women had been filmed which is one of my favourite films.

This is where the scene was filmed in Pretty Women where Richard Gere climbs up to Vivian.
We went back to Beverly Hills after the tour and walked along Rodeo Drive. I also found the cupcake ATM at Sprinkles which was so exciting - we really need to get these in the UK!


In the evening we went up to the Griffith Observatory which had some lovely views over LA as a huge telescope which you can look out to see Jupiter through. Be warned if you go there though as it is difficult to get a signal to call an Uber!


We really wanted to visit Venice Beach and Santa Monica whilst we were in LA so towards the end of the week we hired a car and drove down. We made a bit of a mistake on this day and decided to walk from Santa Monica to Venice Beach and then look around the canals. However, it was a really hot day and by the time we got to the canals we were so exhausted we didn't have the energy to look round them too much, although it was still lovely to see them and take some photos.


Our final day in LA has to be the most special and memorable as my boyfriend proposed in the rose garden at Huntington Gardens :) It was such a surprise and I was absolutely over the moon, I couldn't have asked for it to be more perfect. Huntington Gardens is a stunning place and there is no where in the UK that I know of it that is anything like it at all. I loved how there was different gardens such as a Chinese garden, Japanese garden, Australian garden and of course the rose garden.


On the Sunday morning we got up early and flew to San Francisco. I was sad to be leaving LA as I had absolutely loved it there but was looking forward to seeing what San Francisco had to offer.

Goodbye Hollywood!
 The first day we just spent looking around Union Square and of course doing some shopping but the second day was a little more active as we hired bikes and cycled across the Golden Gate Bridge. There's a strange fog that comes in over San Francisco in the evening and then burns away again by early afternoon but unfortunately this meant I wasn't able to get a great shot of the Golden Gate Bridge.

San Francisco is famous for its hills but there were a few too many for me to cycle up them all!

Visiting Alcatraz on our third day in San Fran was really interesting and I was especially interested in the stories of the escape attempts that had taken place. As far as we know, no one managed to escape successfully, although there were five prisoners that made an attempt and neither them or their bodies were ever found.

This was were the prisoners used to go to work.
We also visited Pier 39 that afternoon and where all the sea lions are.


For our final full day in San Francisco my fiancee had booked us on to a segway tour of Golden Gate Park. I was a bit nervous of this as I thought it would be really difficult and I would end up falling off but I actually really enjoyed it and I think it was my favourite thing that we did whilst in San Fran. The park was beautiful and it turned out that it was just me and Tom booked on the tour which was really nice. We also visited the California Academy of Science during the afternoon which was so interesting and included an aquarium, rainforest, planetarium and penguins!


We flew back home on the Thursday of week two after a morning spent buying some final bits and bobs in Union Square. It was certainly a jam packed holiday and one that I will never forget.

I hope you enjoyed this post and a quick overview of our time in LA and San Francisco. I hope to go back one day, especially to visit Huntington Gardens where we got engaged!

Have you visited either LA or San Francisco? What did you enjoy doing whilst you were there?

Thanks for reading and I hope you are all having a lovely weekend :)

Hannah xx


31 comments:

  1. LA and San Francisco?! Oh my gosh what an incredible adventure, and especially to have enjoyed with your partner! Love that you picked up a Sprinkles cupcake (would definitely be on my to-do list as well!) and YES to finding Destiny's Child's star, haha!

    aglassofice.com
    x

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    1. It really was an amazing holiday and we had so much fun :) the Sprinkles cupcake was delicious and I had made it my mission to find that star haha. x

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  2. It has been years since I have rode a horse but I enjoyed it quite a lot when I was younger. How fun, it sounds and looks like you really had a wonderful holiday. San Francisco is one of my favourite cities. Thanks for sharing your adventures with us! xx/Madison

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    1. We did thank you, we had an amazing time! I wish we could go back and do it all again but I do hope to visit both places again soon :) x

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  3. Congrats on the engagement! Definitely a memorable trip indeed. I never got to do the Runyon Trail, I regret that one the most. We did Griffith observatory which was so amazing, sadly we went at night and while the views were incredible the don Hollywood sign wasn't lit up which was a HUGE shame. Did get to look through the telescope, I can't remember what we were looking for exactly, I think it was some cluster of stars or something. I couldn't see very well because I didn't have glasses at the time hahaha but it was still so amazing!

    Sxx
    www.daringcoco.com

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    1. Thank you :) We had such a great time and I really enjoyed the Griffith Observatory, we looked through the telescope but were trying to spot Jupiter although it just kind of looked like a white circle! x

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  4. Such lovely photos and looks like you had an amazing time.

    Gemma x
    www.jacquardflower.uk

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    1. Thank you :) We did really enjoy ever minute x

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  5. Thank you for sharing your vacation with us, Hannah and sounds like you both had an amazing time! xx

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    1. Thank you :) we had such a wonderful time! x

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  6. Impressive pictures!! I would like to be there!!
    xx
    Mónica Sors
    MES VOYAGES À PARIS
    NEW POST: GENEVA TRAVEL DIARY, TIPS AND OUTFITS

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    1. Thank you :) I would go back in a heartbeat! x

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  7. First of all, congratulations on the engagement! That's exciting news, you make a great couple, you look like you're having so much fun in the pictures. Secondly, I love Harry Potter, I would have been right at home there haha :) xx

    Velvet Blush

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    1. Thank you so much :) It was such a wonderful surprise! I would really recommend Harry Potter world if you are a fan, it was magical and exciting! x

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  8. Not sure if I said it before but Congratulations on your engagement, your ring is beautiful and you both look so cute together :-)
    Thank you for sharing your vacation with us; it looks like you guys had an amazing time and such an amazing adventure! xx

    Ann-Marie | http://facetocurls.com

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    1. Thank you so much, that's lovely of you to say :) We did have such a great time and I would love to go back soon. x

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  9. What an amazing weekend! You got to see so much- that California sunshine is really amazing. :)

    -Ashley
    Le Stylo Rouge

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    1. The sun really was amazing, we could do with more of that here in the UK! x

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  10. OMG!!!! A huge congratulations on getting engaged, girl! You two are such a beautiful couple, much love and well wishes to you both! I'm glad you had a wonderful time in Cali, I've yet to visit myself; you went to all the must see spots where I'll definitely be visiting whenever I do go! Thanks for sharing, beauty, and I hope you're having a great week so far!

    XO,

    Jalisa
    www.thestylecontour.com

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    1. Thank you so much for your well wishes :) We tried to cram as much sight seeing in as we could and probably need another holiday now we are back haha. We had such an amazing time though and I would love to go back soon. x

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  11. CONGRATS on your engagement beautiful! The rose gardens in Santa Monica sound like such a fab place for him to pop the question. Your trip looks incredible and all these photos are making me so nostalgic for my time in Cali :) The Harry Potter part of Universal Studios looks like an actual dream haha I'm such a nerd

    Rachel xx
    http://www.thedailyluxe.net

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    1. Thank you so much :) The rose gardens were stunning, I have never been to anywhere like that before. The Harry Potter world was amazing and so magical, I would definitely recommend it if you ever get the chance to go. x

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  12. Seems like you got so much fun and momorable time, really love the picture of your nails with the ring <3



    xoxo
    ayu

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    1. Thank you so much :) We had an amazing time and I would love to go back. x

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  13. Congrats on your engagement that's so amazing! I want to visit California so I can pretend I'm in La La Land haha

    x,
    Chanel | Je M'appelle Chanel

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    1. Thank you :) I watched La La Land before we went but want to watch it again now we are back as I will be more familiar with the places and can relive it! x

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  14. Congrats on your engagement! It looks like you had a lovely time, I'm going america for my honeymoon next year so these are some great tips of where to go! x
    A Blushing Beauty Blog

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    1. Thank you so much :) I hope you have a wonderful time on your honeymoon next year, I am sure you will love America! x

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  15. Congrats!! You are making me miss CA so badly right now!! I was last there in Oct.

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    1. Thank you :) I know, I miss is so much too and hope I will be able to go back soon x

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