Los Angeles - Feb 2013

Keith, Danelle and Shawna

Keith had to be in LA to visit a few properties for work so we decided to make a weekend of it and visit Danelle and Dan and their two kids who we had not seen since they had the kids.  It turns out that at the last minute Shawna had to be in LA as well for a meeting with a client so the timing worked out perfectly.

Accommodation
Chez O'Hearn - We stayed at Dan and Danelle's house for two nights.  They have a beautiful home in Thousand Oaks with open space behind their house.

Hyatt Place - We ended up staying here one night, close to the airport, to catch our early flight on Monday.

Activities
On Thursday, Keith flew to LA for his meetings and stayed the night near the airport.  Shawna flew to Burbank and stayed the night there.  On Friday, after Shawna's meeting was over with the client, Keith picked her up and we drove to Danelle's house.  After we met their kids (who are adorable), we sat down for dinner (they had ordered in), drank some wine and caught up on life!

On Saturday, we slept in and then went to a coffee house / wine bar where we had breakfast.  The day was gorgeous so we sat outside and talked and ended up tasting some wine there as well.  We went back to their house and went for a short walk to the top of the hill behind their house to see the views - it was a bit foggy by this point so we could not see the ocean but it was still quite beautiful.  We then had a late lunch of cheese and bread and then took a nap to rest up for our night out.  They got a babysitter so that we could all go out to dinner that evening.  On the way to dinner, we got pulled over by a cop and none of us had any clue why - then the cop tells us that we were driving without our lights on.  The roads were so bright that we never even noticed!  The cop asked if we had been drinking (which we had not) and Keith's response was "No, not yet, officer"!  Thankfully the cop realized that we were in a rental car and thus he let us go.  Dinner was really yummy - we sat at the chef's table by the kitchen and ordered a bunch of small plates to share.  After dinner, we returned home and crashed.

Dan, Danelle and Keith

We were supposed to fly out of LA on Sunday morning so we got up early but then found out that our flight had been cancelled due to a snow storm in Denver.  Shawna quickly researched other options and found that we could fly out of Burbank via Las Vegas so she purchased the tickets.  The flight was only 2 hours from that time so we quickly scrambled to pack up, say our goodbyes and head out the door.  When we got to Burbank, we found out that we could get to Vegas but then the flight from there to Denver was cancelled as well.  We got our money back and they booked us on a flight out of LA  early the following morning.  We went to LA airport to see if we could fly standby in the afternoon but everything was either canceled or sold out.  So, we decided to make lemonade out of lemons and see some of the local area - we ended up going to Santa Monica in the afternoon, rented bikes and biked all around that area and over to Venice beach.  Keith showed Shawna the property that they are remodeling which is a huge community.  Later that evening, we had a tasty dinner at Gjelina in Venice.

Venice Beach - Canals

We flew out early on Monday morning and returned to work by mid-day.

Restaurants
Leila's - In Thousand Oaks.  We had dinner here with Dan and Danelle.  Food was quite tasty.  We shared lobster tempura, short ribs, pork belly, spicy ahi tartare, heirloom salad, and lamb tagine.

Gjelina - In Venice.  We had dinner here.  Food was awesome.  We shared the raclette, grilled oyster mushrooms, ribs, meatballs and mussels.