Our last couple of days were spent back in Los Angeles. We drove in from Palm Springs and headed straight to Erewhon (thanks Tik Tok) for a smoothie and some lunch.
We detoured via Rodeo Drive for a look then headed up the hills to Griffith Observatory.
A must to view the Hollywood sign and look over L.A. It was pretty smoggy when we were there but we had fun cruising the streets in the hills and found a great lookout at Jerome C Daniel overlook on Mulholland Drive.
We checked into the Hilton Universal City and hung out by the pool for the afternoon.
Ready for our day at Universal Studios the next day.
We had booked our tickets online earlier - We chose the Universal Express which gave you the option to skip the lines on certain rides but were offered an upgrade at the gate to VIP tickets.
These were great as there were no lines and we really got to enjoy all rides with no wait times, multiple times. Noah and Jasper really utilised them when they went on a Harry Potter ride 11 times in a row!
We had a great Italian dinner at Buca di Beppo that night at Universal City Walk (a bunch of restaurants and shops near the park)
We had a late check out on the day we were flying out. Our flight wasn't until 11.40pm so we had a whole day to fill. We decided to head over to Santa Monica to check out the pier and Venice Beach.
They are very iconic but a bit gritty and dirty!
We decided to have an early dinner before our flight so headed to the Cheesecake Factory at The Grove.
Some great shops to browse too.
All in all we had a wonderful time and it was so good to have that time as a family together.
It was a busy time and I'm thankful we have a week to chill before school goes back.
