Franklin Canyon Park

Usually when it comes to going out I will explore and stumble upon some "new" place. Rarely do i ever read emails of "Best Places to see" and other articles like that. That changed recently as i read through the February issue of "Los Angeles" magazine. The theme of this issue was 'Your guide to Hidden LA: 65 secret places to escape from it all'. I quickly browsed through the subcategories, bars, museums, outdoors, etc. and a few places caught my eye. So we decided to pursue one destination and headed out to Beverly Hills -Franklin Canyon Park. Its a short drive off the 101 up and down a winding road leaving you smack dab in the middle of a beautiful canyon. I have probably passed this place 100 times in my life and never would have expected to see what i saw. The walk is pretty calm but once you go in the trails its up and down with alot of stairs. 

After about a mile or so we found a small pond and the noises coming from around the corner were nothing we've ever heard before. 

This is just a short clip because i was so drawn to the sound that i couldn't pull my phone out and 

record it

Once you reach the middle of the canyon you stumble upon a large pond and the sceneery was quite relaxing.

Nice right??

The walk back was much tougher because it was mostly uphill, it was a definite deep burn on the way back haha. On of the strangest things was the out house available for restroom use.

Natalie sat where there was suppossed to be NO PARKING

It was a great outdoor experience / exercise / escape from everything

You can also drive the entire canyon (minus the trails of course) and it leaves you off on Beverly. From there we cruised Beverly Hills and Rodeo drive and its surroundings. On that trek we ran into once of the few new BANKSY pieces on the way.

That was a cool find.

Aside from turning to Los Angeles Magazine for advice i have become very fond of the Yelp application on my Droid and have been constantly using it for recommendations to try new places. We were both in the mood for Pizza and were being guided to this "gourmet" pizza spot on Highland and upon arrival we were shown that it wasn't a place for us considering we had a few hour hike and we had no reservation. Back to Yelp we went and got directed to the next closest place Joe's Pizza on Sunset. I must have passed this place 500+ times in my lifetime and never have stopped. It's dubbed as the best "New York Style" in LA , now neither of us have been to New York so we have nothing to compare it to but i will say one thing ......... It was pretty DAMN good and very fairly priced. I had the Cheese and Natalie had the Pepperoni. Worth the $2 a slice .

Overall another great day 

Til the next one...

-Joey

On to the Next One

Saturday was the Round 2 Game between the La Salle Lancers and 29 palms. Last year my younger sisters  basketball team reached the 2nd round against 29 Palms. It was a nightmare to have to drive all the way out there to LOSE! Almost a year to the day it was time for REVENGE . They really played great and Jacq finished with 12 points, 2 steals, and about 4 rebounds.

                                                     What a great start to a fun weekend.
Day two Sunday i decided to wake up at 5 am (actually i didn't decide i kinda have a mental alarm clock) and i was out the door by 6 o' clock on a nice little bike ride. My initial idea was to ride to Staples Center and check out the All Star setup around L.A. Live but it was cut short, i rode all through El Sereno and caught some Graff by the tracks .

My Favorite Piece i stumbled upon

Once i got back home My family decided to go to Costa Mesa Marketplace and then hit Laguna Beach.

We explored a little bit 

It was a beautiful day

See the heart?? ^

Some kids drew the United States in the Sand

Family

After a lil beach time we went to grab some grub at Joe's Crab Shack

I told Natalie to say Cheese and she said ...

If you have been to Joe's Crab shack then you know its tons of fun and the food is pretty good. For birthdays they always go ABOVE AND BEYOND. They made this girl ride one of those Stick Pony and ride around the restaurant yelling "YEE HAW!" haha Classic.

Pretty much every time i go to get Crab i gotta go with the KING CRAB its like top shelf for me

Crab and Beer MmmmMmmmMmmmm

Gotta rock the Bib, dont wanna get dirty

Natalie's Shrimp and Fish

We were gonna go bowling or something after dinner but decided to come home and watch some All Star Action and yes of course my man KOBE BRYANT... THE BLACK MAMBA went OFF! and scored the M-V-P!
Lets Go LAKE SHOW pick it up for this half of the season. 

Nice fun Sunday

Valentines Day weekend

I know its been almost a week but Valentines Day just passed and it couldn't of been better. I know alot of people HATE on Valentines day (ex. Singles Awareness day, yadda yadda) But i had the bright idea of "getting away" for the weekend, It wasn't a Real far trip but it was an adventure. I decided to (with the Help of my man "Psycho" Mike Catherwood) to book a hotel at Hotel Erwin in Venice Beach. The hotel is right on the boardwalk and puts a very modern feel on a mid to upscale Hotel. Thank you to Heather and  Erin for all the help setting this whole occasion up.

As we arrived the first thing we saw is the Hotel Sign

We checked in and i could not wait for Natalie's surprise.

The room was a good nice size on the top floor.
I had a special surprise of Roses and Champagne that She was totally unaware of.

We had our own balcony

Our view, right outside of the skate park and muscle beach.

The room was hooked up with a 42" Flat Screen a mini bar, and a snacks spread

Once we got situated we got to go explore and walk around the boardwalk.

We saw some interesting things and interesting people. As we strolled around we saw one of the biggest bulldogs i have ever seen

haha he had a Kobe jersey on

It seemed like every fourth person had a dog, i roughly counted at least 25 pitbulls,4 pugs, a couple chihuahua, and a daschund. 

We went to the skatepark and i snapped a couple shots 

bail

this dude was shredding

We also walked to the permit walls, shit was pretty weak but this one was the best out of 5 pieces

We entered the night on the balcony chillin,relaxing, and popped the bub'

Didn't do much but lounge and watch movies into the night and have a late night pizza delivery. =)
Day 1 was over.

Day 2: The next morning we decided to walk the boardwalk early and walk further down the boardwalk. We ended up stopping at this breakfast spot supposedly voted best food on the boardwalk. (i cant remember the name) Pretty much everything on the menu looked tasty and all items were organic / locally grown. 

Nat decided to start off with a Vanilla Latte

Then we ordered our meal , i ordered Huevos Rancheros : Black bean salsa with Huevos Rancheros, egg whites, Jack cheese, Sour cream and Guacamole. Nat ordered the "Puffed Pancake" souffle filled with fruit and side of Apple chicken sausage

After that we did some more sight seeing / people watching

check the middle finger.

The Predator

Wallllllll-E

This guy rocked the boardwalk with his Jimi Hendrix covers

When we walked back we stopped at the courts and the ball happened to roll to us but Natalie decided to SHOOT IT! She coulda balled them up bc they were playing like the damn Lakers. HA!

Check out time neared and on a whim we decided to rent beach cruisers and took a 5 mile ride down to Santa Monica and Back. Man bike riding is fun! We both Enjoyed it greatly!

It was a GREAT weekend in a comfortable, relaxing setting. We really got to spend time with eachother and just not have a worry in the world.

a very HAPPY VALENTINES DAY