Hometown City Guide: Orange County

Last year my boyfriend, Dave and I moved from Chicago to Santa Monica. And this past October we moved down to Orange County. It’s been 6 months now and we’ve found our little spots we like to frequent and take our out of town visitors to. Recently Uber inspired me to share my Hometown City Guide for any of those who are coming to Southern California and are looking for some fun places to go.

One of my friends mentioned the Anaheim Packing District that offers a variety of cuisines and desserts. I loved it as soon as I walked in! They have so much to choose from and everything is delicious. There is something there for everyone. My personal favorite is the ramen, but they also have great Indian food, brats, fried chicken, grilled cheese, etc.

Dave and I absolutely fell in love with their popsicles from Popbar. They have so many flavors, dips, and toppings to choose from. It is such a delicious treat!

Acai bowls are all the rage right now and Banzai Bowls in Huntington Beach is the best. We frequently find ourselves here in the mornings. And if you want an insider tip, I’d sugest you order by phone before you get there. It’s so nice to arrive and pick up your acai bowl instead of waiting 10-15 minutes at the store, especially since they can get super busy.

Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of my acai bowl because I always eat it right away. 🙂 But I did take a picture of the wood sign they have hanging in the store. I always get the V-Land and Dave gets the Maui Sunrise. I love that they have Hawaii inspired names. (I still have to blog about my time in Oahu and running the Honululu marathon!)

One of my favorite things to do after we get our acai bowls is walk the 3 blocks down to the Huntington Beach pier and take in the beach and all the surfers. It’s an awesome view up there and there’s always so many people walking around, people playing volleyball, laying out on the beach, and building sandcastles.

Everytime I’ve taken Uber, it’s always been a really positive experience. The drivers are friendly, on time, the cars are clean and they’re great drivers. One memorable experience I had was taking an Uber in San Francisco last year in the summer the night the San Francisco Giants won the World Series. To say it was mayhem would be an understatement. People were running all over the city, screaming, (and it eventually turned into a riot with some violence involved) but we grabbed an Uber and they whisked us away to safety. They were so reliable and awesome.

And the wonderful people over at Uber want to offer my readers a special coupon code which you can find with this link Uber Promo Code and it’s good until January 1st, 2016! Thanks Uber!

What are some of your hometown favorites? I’d love to hear where you go if you’re in the Orange County area! 🙂