Welcome to the Hotel California (i.e. my sister's pad in LA)

Oh my goodness, my belly is so distended right now ... I look like I'm pregnant. What happened? Well, I arrived safely in L.A. My sister and I then headed to Santa Monica and neighboring Venice Beach, where we walked along the canals. Afterwards, we drove down the Pacific Coast Highway (Route 1) to Malibu. I'd been wanting to check out the Paradise Cove Beach Cafe since watching Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels, and it was indeed worth it. My sister got the shrimp baja beach tacos, and I got their award-winning clam chowder. Everything was delicious. The shrimp was very flavorful and came with a spicy salsa & rice. The clam chowder was the best I've ever eaten. It was smooth & rich, with lots of big juicy chunks of clam. That brings me to my current state, induced by the gallon of water I drank after we got back to my sister's apartment. We got really thirsty on the car ride home, since we had to wade through an hour's worth of traffic on the PCH to get back to UCLA. It was so worth it, though. Some pics below: