During our weekend in Santa Monica the weather was warm and sunny but not hot, the perfect weather for doing things. I find when the temperature starts getting over 25 I really do not feel like doing anything other than sitting around, so with a high of 22 it was time to go hiking.
The Topanga state park is within the city limits of Los Angeles and it is amazing how away from it all you can get with in a city of just under 4 million.
The entrance to the canyon was a 15 minute drive from where we were staying, so we headed north on the Pacific Coast Highway for a couple of miles then turned inland at Topanga Canyon Boulevard and drove up to a parking lot Trippet Ranch and headed up to Eagle Rock.
It was a beautiful walk along a well groomed trails.
With out much shade this would have been a hot dry trail in the summer, but on this day it was perfect. We made it up to Eagle Rock, where the views were magnificent, back to the Pacific Ocean and in the other direction over the San Fernando Valley.
We walked down going a different route that my husband assured me was a shorter way, this turned out to be not exactly true, but with the promise of a nice lunch I soldiered on.
After our hike we stopped at the Canyon Bistro just outside of the park, we were drawn in by a cool shady patio.
I ordered the nicoise salad made with fresh tuna.
The tuna was delicious barely seared as were the salad greens with a light tasty dressing. The potatoes and green beans could have done with a little dressing, but all in all a nice light lunch accompanied with a crisp cold white wine.
My husband ordered the shredded pork sandwich.
This was also good and he had his served with a salad as well.
After lunch, we headed back to Santa Monica and another cycle along the beach. After all this activity we decided to go a restaurant which specialised in pasta for dinner. Anyone who knows me, will know that pasta is not my favourite, but the reviews were great and the description of the pasta house made fresh daily with your choice of sauces really appealed to me.
The restaurant was called Fritto Misto and was on the outskirts of the trendy core of Santa Monica.
It was Sunday night and the place was packed, though we were lucky to get a seat right away. They allow you to bring your own wine and charge a very small corkage, I think it was $2.00 a person, so we brought a bottle of good red wine we had picked up at Vons.
I chose fettuccine with cilantro pesto, artichoke hearts and shrimp. This was absolutely delicious and the picture really does not do it justice.
The shrimp plump and tasty and the pesto was not too rich and oily which I often find they are. Dave ordered fuisili with arrabiatta sauce with artichoke hearts and sun dried tomatoes and mushrooms
His was also very good, but he said that he probably should have ordered a linguine or spaghetti.
This was a good end to a very pleasant weekend in Santa Monica, which if it hadn't been the pesky immigration issues would have been rather perfect.
The Topanga state park is within the city limits of Los Angeles and it is amazing how away from it all you can get with in a city of just under 4 million.
The entrance to the canyon was a 15 minute drive from where we were staying, so we headed north on the Pacific Coast Highway for a couple of miles then turned inland at Topanga Canyon Boulevard and drove up to a parking lot Trippet Ranch and headed up to Eagle Rock.
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| A view of Eagle rock |
With out much shade this would have been a hot dry trail in the summer, but on this day it was perfect. We made it up to Eagle Rock, where the views were magnificent, back to the Pacific Ocean and in the other direction over the San Fernando Valley.
We walked down going a different route that my husband assured me was a shorter way, this turned out to be not exactly true, but with the promise of a nice lunch I soldiered on.
After our hike we stopped at the Canyon Bistro just outside of the park, we were drawn in by a cool shady patio.
I ordered the nicoise salad made with fresh tuna.
The tuna was delicious barely seared as were the salad greens with a light tasty dressing. The potatoes and green beans could have done with a little dressing, but all in all a nice light lunch accompanied with a crisp cold white wine.
My husband ordered the shredded pork sandwich.
This was also good and he had his served with a salad as well.
After lunch, we headed back to Santa Monica and another cycle along the beach. After all this activity we decided to go a restaurant which specialised in pasta for dinner. Anyone who knows me, will know that pasta is not my favourite, but the reviews were great and the description of the pasta house made fresh daily with your choice of sauces really appealed to me.
The restaurant was called Fritto Misto and was on the outskirts of the trendy core of Santa Monica.
It was Sunday night and the place was packed, though we were lucky to get a seat right away. They allow you to bring your own wine and charge a very small corkage, I think it was $2.00 a person, so we brought a bottle of good red wine we had picked up at Vons.
I chose fettuccine with cilantro pesto, artichoke hearts and shrimp. This was absolutely delicious and the picture really does not do it justice.
The shrimp plump and tasty and the pesto was not too rich and oily which I often find they are. Dave ordered fuisili with arrabiatta sauce with artichoke hearts and sun dried tomatoes and mushrooms
His was also very good, but he said that he probably should have ordered a linguine or spaghetti.
This was a good end to a very pleasant weekend in Santa Monica, which if it hadn't been the pesky immigration issues would have been rather perfect.
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