Dreaming of California...

Missing California today...

so I made a little video from our trip last year.

Enjoy!*

Can we go back now?!

"Adventure is out there!"

I can't believe it's already been over a month since our Southern California vacation.  I was looking through my drafts of posts and realized I never finished blogging about it.  We had such a great little getaway and we're already dreaming about our next adventure.  But until then, some more California vacation photos will have to do... :)

 First day in California - Stopped at the Bruery for some tastings.

San Clemente is a great surf spot.

Brett surfed every day, all day.

And for being from Pennsylvania, he was damn good!

 I attempted surfing once...

but mostly just relaxed on the beach and took a billion pictures :)

 We are beer geeks (Brett made me that way).

So we made sure to go to Stone Brewery...

which was AWESOME (separate blog post coming for this place!)

Spent a looooot of time hanging out at the beach.

No plans, no worries, no work = heaven

 We stayed in the cutest little beach rental.
It had a grill & full kitchen, which we definitely took advantage of.

 Walking down to the pier...
San Clemente at night is beautiful.

View from out on the pier in the ocean.

 There was froyo...ohhh, there was froyo!

San Clemente... gorgeous when the sun comes out!

 One of my favorite days.
Exploring the coast of California...

 Overlook in Dana Point

We packed a little picnic and ate it right here.
We had the place to ourselves :)

 California is beautiful.

 I love him :)

 Strolling along the pier in San Clemente before dinner

 Happy hour on the pier in San Clemente!
Watching the sunset and all the surfers below us.

 Bagels & coffee from the Bagel Shack.
I still dream about this bagel, YUM.

 Headed into the desert and mountains for some exploring...
and I found Bigfoot!!

 Amazing views...

And sooo windy!

 :)

What a skyline...

 The desert was beautiful...
but so so hot.

Moments before Brett got completely attacked by a cactus...

 I am not a red meat kind of person...
but I'm pretty sure we ate In & Out burgers at least 3 times on this vacation
and they were DELICIOUS.

 Biking along the beach in Santa Monica on our last day of vacation.

 I like him a lot :)

 Oh, hiiii!

 Gorgeous sunset on the last day of vacation.

Studly husband :)

Bye bye California.
You were fun, as always!

Ahh, putting this post together makes me miss this trip so much.  One of my favorite things in the entire world is traveling and going on adventures with Brett.  Being able to explore and discover this big world together makes me so giddy.  I think no matter, throughout our lives together, we will always find ways and make time to travel.  And of course, we're already dreaming of our next exploration...

"Adventure is out there!"

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

One day towards the end of our California vacation, we decided to ditch the beaches and head inland to the desert and mountains.  We drove to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.  The temperature change from the coast into the desert was crazy.  It was a cool 70 degrees when we left San Clemente in the morning and by the time we got into the desert, it was nearly 100 degrees. 

We drove through the state park, stopping every once in a while to take some cool photos or see an awesome view.  Eventually, we made it to a trail head and decided to take a little hike through the desert.  It was SO hot.  We didn't last very long since the sun was beating down with no shade and we went through our water supply pretty fast.  Oh, and the fact that Brett got attacked by a "jumping" cactus... which he said was the most painful thing he has ever experienced in his life.  But other than that, the scenery was AWESOME... 

The desert was AWESOME.  We just don't get that kind of stuff on the east coast.  Brett and I are always blown away by California and the fact that you can be at the beach in the morning, the desert in the afternoon, and the snowy mountains by night fall.  The best of all worlds!