Awesome Day Five: Picnics and Parks and Pedaling (Oh My!)

Awesome Day Five was the kind of day that makes you love Los Angeles and wonder why you would ever, ever dream of leaving.  And when you live in LA, you need these kinds of days, because there are many, many more days that make you want to pack up and leave immediately (usually due to some kind of freeway closure or parking enforcement officer).

It was beautiful--the kind of weather that Los Angeles is famous for, but doesn't always have.  Clear, blue, cloudless skies, perfect 76 degrees and just enough humidity to keep your skin nice, but not so much to make your hair frizz.  It had the kind of sunshine-mixed-with-smog effect that made every color look over-saturated (a #nofilter kind of day).  There was a slight breeze that carried with it the abundant perfume of rosemary and lavender and carne asada that makes Echo Park so undeniably Awesome.  In short, it was a day screaming for a picnic.

So, armed with picnic backpack, local beer, and blanket, we headed off for Echo Park Lake, a newly re-opended (after closing for two painful and parkless years) beautifully restored neighborhood space that just makes Los Angeles feel like a real place for real people and real families.  And it's walking distance, which are not two words often put together in Los Angeles vocabulary.

As the picnic was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing, we headed off to Sage Vegan Bistro for some to-go grub, and then took a graffiti-filled stroll to the park itself.  (I guess we are now following the Meatless Monday trend--totally cool by me, since I don't eat meat anyway, but an interesting move for the carnivore I'm dating.  Stay tuned.)

The picnic was nothing short of Awesome, but what really capped off the Awesomeness of the (beautiful, perfect) day was taking a pedal boat ride around the lake.  It should be noted that I have wanted to do this since moving to LA eight years ago, but since the park was closed basically the exact moment I finally moved to this neighborhood, I have been waiting, longing, wishing for the day the pedal boats would return.

(I was so excited, I made my very first Vine video about the experience:)

Thankfully, that day was two weeks ago, and I am now one happy Awesome-loving gal.