Vacation! Part 2 / Southern California

If you missed it – you can go back & get caught up on part 1.

Did I mention that we absolutely loved California? Seriously, it is so beautiful there. Photographs simply do not do it justice! It is so different from the East Coast – I mean parts of it are the same: the rolling ocean, the sand, & seagulls, but there’s differences too: you don’t have to wake up before the butt crack of dawn to watch the sun rise over the water – instead you can watch it set, the mountains are brown & dry with no trees, and the clouds are always incredible!

The way we “did” this vacation would probably drive a lot of people insane – we played it almost completely by ear. We planned our Disney days, but the other days we planned as we went. We had some things that we definitely wanted to see [the Hollywood sign, the Chinese theater, the sun setting on the beach] but we didn’t have a go-go-go plan to accomplish it all. We got up, had breakfast, and decided what we wanted to do that day. It was so relaxing and wonderful!

We had to get there first: flying is my favorite! I could sit at the window and look out for the whole flight.

For the most part, on the days that we weren’t at Disney, we were at the beach. Even on the days when we were doing “other” things – like when we went to the San Diego Zoo – we still stopped at the beach on our way back to our hotel. Why not?!

We watched a couple guys surfing – so cool!

Since Derrick is a roller coaster junkie – there was no way we could go all the way to California and not hit up a major roller coaster park. We went to Six Flags Magic Mountain and it turned out to be the hottest day of our vacation – we only stayed a few hours it was so so hot.

Most of the days we stuffed ourselves at the hotel’s continental breakfast, ate a large meal as a late lunch, and then ate a light dinner – but one night we splurged and went to a Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse that was close to our hotel. Oh my soul – I think we died and went to heaven – it was the most amazing meal we have ever eaten!! WOW.

We drove down to the San Diego Zoo and spent the one day there – talk about a huge place! I’ve been to the Pittsburgh Zoo a bunch of times and that place has nothing on this zoo! We attempted to conquer it in an organized and methodical way, but all I can say is I’m SO glad that Derrick has a good sense of direction, or else I may still be wandering around that place!

I really wanted to take this fuzzy lil guy home – Derrick convinced me that I wouldn’t be able to pass him thru airport security, so we left him there [much to my pouting & whining that it wasn’t fair]. Isn’t he the cutest thing EVER?!

The zoo has a rainforest-like dome filled with colorful birds and waterfalls and greenery. We found this one little spot where a bridge went over a small waterfall and it looked just like the place where Derrick proposed – so we had to take a selfie there!

One of the things on our list of mandatory California things was eat at an In-And-Out Burger – it did not disappoint!

We found this one particular beach that we loved – it was so beautiful and peaceful – it was the only beach we went back to a second time. While we were hiking around the beach – I turned around and looked up at the mountains around the beach & spotted The Resort At Pelican Hill. I may have freaked out just a little bit and had to try to explain to Derrick why I was so excited: SO many incredible weddings have taken place there & been photographed by amazing wedding photographers! It was like seeing a celebrity – lol.

Watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean was the coolest thing ever! SO beautiful!

SO – funny story! It was our last day at the beach and we were just about finished and getting ready to head back to our hotel – when we decided to take one last photo. We hopped over the little rope that was keeping everyone on the path [trespassing? yes] & set my camera up on the little post to take our picture – this picture:

We took one last look at the view and I climbed back over the little rope. Derrick decided to jump over. As he swung his legs over the rope, one of his flip-flops decided it wanted to stay in California and went careening over the hill. It landed about half way down – unfortunately impossible to reach from climbing down from where we were or climbing up from the bottom [especially with only one flip-flop on your feet]. So, you know how sometimes when you’re hiking on a public trail and you see strange things off the path & you wonder how they got there? Well, there is a flip-flop in California that we left there because Derrick decided he wanted to show off his super cool jumping skills.