Lake Hollywood Park

 

While we were in Los Angeles we were extremely fortunate to find an Air BnB house with an incredible location, right off Lake Hollywood Drive. Our house was in a neighborhood connected to the hill that the Hollywood sign is located on. Perffeeect location!

We were super excited to find out from our host that there is a dog park at the base of the Hollywood hill, too. We left our house, drove 2 minutes and parked at the Lake Hollywood Park so that Chara could have a fun filled afternoon.  

See all that pretty green? That's a dog park!

On one side of our parked car we had this sun-lit filled view of the Hollywood hills & on the other side, the Hollywood sign. Lovely.

I was actually surprised to see how green & lush parts of Los Angeles were. I always pictured huge buildings, smog and a congestion of people. While there are probably parts of the city that host that, the parts we spent the most time in were gorgeous and green.

Lake Hollywood Drive leading up to the park. :)

We quickly found a quiet spot to sit down at and people/dog watch.

Chara did lots of dog watching, too. She didn't really play with any of the other dogs at the park, just watched them. 

 

Lounging. She's got wide hips, like her mamma. ;)

Look at us. We're taking a selfie in front of the Hollywood sign. Oo la la.

This was an attempt at a family picture with Chara. All we could get in was the tip of her head.

After our time lounging we drove up the hill to try and get as close as possible.

We ended up turning around with hopes to come back another day and actually go up and stand behind the sign (I saw a picture of someone doing it, so I think it's possible) but we never did. No regrets though. We enjoyed our time at the quiet dog park. It was a great picture spot, nice location and not filled with tourists. If you're in L.A. skip the tourist-filled bits and spend some time relaxing at this park! :) If your in the mood for a work out or run, park your car further down and hike up the road. There are sidewalks, shady trees and beautiful views.

Waxahachie: Market Coffee Shop

Should you find yourself in Waxahachie with a need for fresh flowers, farm to table meals or cold brew coffee, check out Fresh Market on S. Rogers Street.  What really set's their coffee apart is the way they brew, roast and select their beans. Henry, one of the owners of Fresh Market said about their beans that they're "going to be roasted that week or the week before...I have got four age barreled beans. What they do is they take an oak barrel and they age that barrel with rum, whisky or scotch. They take the liquor out and put the green coffee beans in it. They let the beans age in the barrel and then roast them. Zero alcohol in your coffee, but they have a flavor that is just amazing.”" -source Zachary and I spent a few hours working at Fresh Market and enjoyed the relaxed, open atmosphere, beautiful flowers on the table & of course, the coffee (tea for him :) ). There are several ways to take your coffee here, including chimex & french press, and they serve all the big city, coffee faves, like; cortodos and cubanos. Yum.
If you are around Waxahachie, or on your way to Dallas via I-35, swing by Fresh Market!

Fresh Market at Crooked Creek Farms is open 7 -11 a.m. and 2 – 7 p.m. Monday – Friday and 7 a.m. – 2 p.m. Saturday and closed on Sunday.

Visiting with David

 Since coming home we've had the opportunity to catch up with so many people! It's been amazing to hear about our friends and families lives the past 4 1/2 years. 4 1/2 years is way to long! Thankfully we have some amazing friends and family & we're able to skip all the awkwardness of being away so long, and get straight to catching up, right where we left off! It's funny how many of our conversations have started with, "Okay, so 5 years ago you were here (insert place), so where'd you go next?" Then the past 5 years' stories begin! We got to meet with David during one of our first weeks back in Austin. David was Zachary's best friend growing up and his Best Man in our wedding.
 We met at a local favorite, now not so local as this dellllicious burger joint is popping up all over Texas, Hopdoddy. I got a refreshing kale salad and Z got a mushroom-swiss burger.
Look at all those delicious burger choices. Nom nom nommm.
After lunch, we went and picked up David's girl-dog and made our way to Zilker park.
We spent hours in the sun, under the trees just talking, catching up on life. We have such a great time with David! After, hours in the sun, we were parched, so we headed to Radio City Coffee for some ammmmmmazing iced coffee.
Do you see the foam on top of that coffee? Love their cold brew! You don't need to add anything to it.
Austin! After dropping David and his pup-pup off, we grabbed a gyro (from the little gyro food truck in front of Spiderhouse, for the Austin peeps.) Those gyros, which as I found out that day, pronounced gee-row, not jie (long i) -row. Did you know this Readers? I think it's pretty much common knowledge. But knowledge that I never learned.
We had a great day outside, enjoying the Texas weather, Austin food & friends! Love you David!