California Vacation: Day 5

Leaving Sequoia and Veggie Grill

The next morning we made our way down the mountain. You can see several levels of roads from the far left side to the right.
We got out at several look-out points to take pictures and soak in all of the beauty.
We stopped to use the restroom (you know it's a big, long mountain when it requires a restroom break) in the foothills area of the park, known as Potwisha. It seemed like all of the sudden that we were out of snow and in the midst of green grass and flowers everywhere.
We kind of wished we had been able to play in such a beautiful area yesterday when we were tiptoeing through the slick snowy paths.

Dash took some good pictures of us. He was turning the camera vertical and everything. (I'm posing with my arm out to make me look thinner.)

The road between Sequoia and L.A. is lined with orchards of all kinds.
Back in L.A...we stayed on the 4th floor of this apartment building. The Venice Beach boardwalk is right in front of these steps. We knew going into it this might not be the BEST place to stay with a family (there are a lot of different "personalities" present in Venice), but we really wanted to stay RIGHT on the beach, to make it easier with the kids. (My favorite place to stay in CA is Santa Monica; I think it's fabulous. However, even the beachfront hotels require crossing traffic and a bit of a walk to get to the ocean.)

It ended up being a great place for us to stay, though. We had a full kitchen, fold-out couch and separate bedroom. One of my only complaints: there was no air conditioning (a lot of places along the beach don't have it because of the cool ocean breezes) because there were certain times of day we got pretty hot inside. (We weren't inside a lot, though, anyway.) Also, I felt like we had to "shush" our kids more than in a bigger hotel.

The hotel was old but renovated, with lots of remaining character, including the cage-type elevator.

After we got all checked in and unloaded, we drove to El Segundo, which wasn't too far away. (It took us awhile to get there because we took a wrong turn...Ryan was remembering once again why he hates L.A. traffic.) We ate supper at the Veggie Grill, and we loved it.

You can always tell when we are HUNGRY going into a restaurant because we order a lot of food. The kids loved being able to order off the kids' menu for a change. The kids' meal was veggie nuggets, carrot sticks or sweet potato fries, chocolate pudding, and lemonade. Ryan and I shared the Chickin' Caesar Wrap and the Santa Fe Crispy Chickin' Burger, which were both delicious. The kale and sweet potato fries were yummy, too.The largest Whole Foods in SoCal is located in the same shopping area as Veggie Grill. I ran inside and stocked up on a few items for our apartment. I hate having to rush while in a new Whole Foods. I would have liked to mull slowly down every single aisle, looking for products I've never seen. I actually didn't see that many new and different things. They do sell Daiya cheese, which was thrilling. They also had fresh pizza made with Daiya. And I had been wanting to try Amy's new rice macaroni and cheeze (also made with Daiya...do you ever get tired of me saying that word?). It was delicious, but I only ate 2 bites because it has 520 calories and 22 grams of fat in one container. It was great for the kids, though.

That seems like a weird way to end my day's story, but it's all I've got for now.