Santa Monica << foodcoma >>

Santa Monica California was the first stop on our trip.

It's also taken the prized title as our favorite place to visit in California.

We flew into LAX and I was amazed at how easy it was to get out to Santa Monica from LA.

I had heard horror stories about how long it took to get around using Public Transportation...

It really was not bad at all, in fact it was wonderful.

We stayed on Ocean Park Blvd. which is a street that leads straight to the beach.

This is the main reason it was my favorite place...no hassle in getting to and from the beach.

Santa Monica has an AMAZING bus system called the Big blue bus.

It's $1 per trip or like $4 for a day pass which is really really cheap!!

When we first got to Santa Monica we started learning the bus system right from the start.

By the time we left Santa Monica we pretty much had our bus routes memorized.

It's a cool feeling when you start to get comfortable in a new city.

We hit up the beach two out of the three days we were there.

The first day we just had a chill beach day.

We went and sat in the sand and talked for a few hours.

A few too many hours....

I didn't realize what was happening while we were sitting there...

but once we got up to leave i looked down at my legs and they were stop sign red.

In fact as we were walking people kept staring at my legs and i was so

confused as to why until i realized i was a walking lobster.

That was probably the worst sunburn i've ever had.

Way to start out a trip right???

We stopped for some Sunscreen and Aloe Vera the next day...

Sadly that sunburn stayed with me the entire trip..

In fact it just recently healed up completely :/

But that didn't stop us from having an amazing time in Santa Monica!!

 The best part, other than the beach...had to be the food!!!

We ate at three places that i specifically remember...

Mostly because we were repeat customers at two of them.

We ended up having a regular breakfast and lunch spot.

For Breakfast we found this place called the Coffee Bean.

Simple like a Starbucks but better.

<< The Coffee Bean >>

For dinner the first night we decided to just find a random place to eat at

since neither of us had a clue what was around.

We walked into this place called The Counter...

{Cue angelic music}

Tom and I are seriously the luckiest people ever to have no plans

and then walk into a place like this...

It's a build your own burger restaurant.

AND They use 100% Natural Beef which is a huge plus because who

enjoys some all natural hormone free beef???

Answer - Everyone does!!

Well except Tom since he's a Veggie ;)

But they have Vegetarian options as well.

Anyways, Tom and I built our burgers and ordered a huge plate of fries and it was

basically the most magical hamburger i've ever had :)

<< The Counter >>

So we had our breakfast place, and our dinner place and now for our lunch place.

Introducing...The Novel Cafe!!

Once we got to Santa Monica and got all settled we were pretty hungry.

So we started walking down Ocean Park and came across this little Cafe.

Another random place we found that knocked our socks off!!

I love when that happens.

Basically this is just a cute little cafe that serves delicious food.

I think the first time we were there i had Chicken Fettucini Alfredo

and it was the best Alfredo i've ever had!!!!! 

It was such a great restaurant that we went back for dinner on our last night there.

<< The Novel Cafe >>

Santa Monica has beautiful beaches and delicious food.

I wish we could have stayed here longer too but that just means

we liked it enough to go back one day!!

If you're ever in the Santa Monica area you will have to check these 

restaurants out so you can try them out for yourself.

You won't regret it!! :)

Have a wonderful Tuesday!!

-Emily