On my last day visiting my friend Stephanie, she had me meet her at a favorite coffee shop of hers in Old Town Pasadena. I was glad for some more hangs… The whole trip was last minute and it was so nice to be welcomed into Stephanie’s daily life with her friends and her local lifestyle of her favorite coffee shops for a few days.

So we met at Copa Vida, definitely a coffee shop with classic style vibes, for some last convos.

Of course, I got coffee, and this Nutella croissant that the barista recommended to me.

After coffee, we parted and I explored the area. I’ve come to appreciate exploring on my own in travel. I prefer experiencing a place with someone for the memories it makes, but a lot of time, travel means no alone time to have your thoughts to yourself and relax, so it was extremely nice to see this new place alone for a few hours.

I found an Urban Outfitters… A favorite of mine. So I bought some “souvenirs.” Haha. I feel like during travel you have to pretend money isn’t an issue. It’s kind of nice to live like that for a few days before going back to reality.

There were lots of great stumble upon spaces that day . Everything had great style, architecture and light. Like these shops with warehouse-esque style featuring high ceilings at Intelligencia, and her neighbor of various vendors selling pies, juices, etc.

Before she left, Stephanie had recommended wandering the alleys, so I did. Down one of the alleys, this juice bar was hiding.

And from this moment on, I was really into ginger lemonade. Seriously, the best, and I recommend it if you ever discover it somewhere. So glad I took that advice and looked through the alleys.

Definitely loved Old Town Pasadena. One of Stephanie’s favorite cities became one of mine that day.