Gal Pals Girls Trip

Sometimes, you love a place - not for its location, but for the people that are there. To understand my attachment to Southern California, you have to understand some things about my gal pals.

Kaitlin and I happen to work at the same place. We happened to go to the same undergraduate institution. We happened to grow up 30 minutes away from each other in Dallas suburbs. We happened to move out of DC at the same time. I wish you could have seen our attempts at saying goodbye in a parking lot of a bubble tea shop, right before I drove to Boston.

I met Kathryn through Kaitlin. She was one of my first real friends in DC. We have shared many a cheese board, Bollywood night, and rooftop rager. She is fierce and brilliant and left DC a few years before us to become the lawyer she is today. When Kathryn moved away from DC, I wondered what distance would do to our friendship. Despite the miles and miles between us, I think we got closer. She’s listened to my boy problems, walked through outfit and makeup choices, debated the best rom com, and still dominated at mini golf when she had the chance (I’m still not over the loss).

The three of us are split across the country - representing the east coast, the mid-west, and the west coast. The Gal Pals reunited in May, to visit Kaitlin in her new habitat. We got to see a little bit of everything, thanks to Kaitlin - the best host anyone could ever ask for. We split our time between the Farm, Malibu, and LA.

“The Farm” is an actual tree farm an hour outside of LA. At the Farm, we enjoyed leisurely walks amongst the trees, picked avocados and various citrus fruits, made shrimp tacos, and discussed paint swatches. We had the most peaceful start to our trip and it took no time to fall back into our Gal Pal rhythm.

From there, we headed to Malibu. We stayed on the beach, and I mean THE BEACH. I actually cried when I first saw the view. There is nothing like falling asleep to the sounds of the ocean. We did a lot of walking, a fair amount of eating, and some sight seeing/museum attending. I didn’t really take any photos. I’m not mad about that. I think I have more to say, but I’d rather sit with the memories from the trip and use the rest of my words to thank Kaitlin and Kathryn for their friendship. I really don’t know where I’d be without friends like them.

Because I’m supposedly running a travel blog, here’s a list of places we visited:

• Meals

  • All Time in Los Feliz - A great little place that’s farm to table, and I still can’t stop thinking about the scone I had.

  • Broad Street Oyster Co. in Malibu - A lobster roll I can actually get behind.

  • Sunset Restaurant in Malibu - Don’t eat there, just go to the beach that’s right next to it. Trust me.

  • Quarters Korean BBQ in Koreatown - You literally can’t go wrong with Korean BBQ. There’s a little shopping complex, so you can pop into shops while you’re waiting.

  • Eggs ‘N’ Things in Camarillo - A precious little breakfast place, known for their Swedish pancakes. They do not have turkey sausage, they will give you a turkey burger patty if you ask.

• Sights

  • La Brea Tarpits - Kaitlin made us go, and I was a brat the entire time… but it was a good laugh.

  • LA County Museum of Art - It’s popular for a reason. The Barbara Kruger exhibit was thought-provoking, and I think I spent the longest in the Modern Art exhibit - specifically, I enjoyed the Camille Pissarro pieces, the Clyfford Still piece, and “Wrong” by John Baldessari.

• Shops

  • Abbott Kinney

  • Malibu Village - I fell in love with a vintage surf shop, called Surfing Cowboys. I wish I could take all of their prints home, but I settled with a t-shirt instead.

• Movies we Binged

  • Princess Diaries 1 and 2

  • Mamma Mias 1 and 2

  • Notting Hill