The perfect day for a hike in the mountains...

California really stepped it up for our last weekend living here...

the weather was amazing!

We spent all day Saturday hiking in the Cleveland National Forest.  We had so many great views along the trail and the visibility was so clear, we could see the ocean!  We hiked up to Sugarloaf Mountain, plopped down on a huge overlook boulder, ate some oranges, and took in the awesome scenery.  I'd chalk this up to one of my favorite hikes we've ever done in California.  And how fitting that it would be on our last weekend living here.  Going out with a bang!*

Scenes from the Weekend

Dinner at Beachwood BBQ in Seal Beach Friday night

Spent Saturday hiking in the Cleveland National Forest

It was such a gorgeous day!

Views of the ocean from the top of Sugarloaf Mountain!

Made our way down to San Clemente after our hike

and was pleasantly surprised with all the Christmas lights on the pier!

Dinner at Pizza Port of course

(getting in as many visits as possible before we leave!)

Sunday morning coffee at the beach

I'm going to miss this being right down the street from our place

The rest of Sunday was spent brewery hopping!

Rough Draft, Saint Archer, Hess, and Ballast Point!

Can never have enough beer tastings!

Hess Brewing had a gigantic Jenga game!

Perfect sunset to end our last weekend in California

Well, thus concludes our last weekend living in California.  We made sure to live it up doing all of our favorite things.  I'm sure going to miss having the beach right down the street from our place.  But I'm looking forward to getting back to Pittsburgh to do all our favorite things there!  This week is going to be busy, busy.  My last day of work is Thursday.  And besides working, we've got a lot to do: start packing and cleaning our apartment, plan our cross-country road trip back, finish up our Christmas shopping, and hopefully hit up a few more of our favorite places one last time.

I'm going to need a lot of coffee to power me through these next few days...

Then it's time to hit the roooad!

Let's get to it!*

Hiking in the Cleveland National Forest

Brett and I have been wanting to hike in the Cleveland National Forest since we moved here.  It's the set of mountains that we can actually see from our apartment.  We attempted it once in the summer but the temperatures were over 100 degrees, so that was not happening!  So we quit and decided to wait until late Fall when it wasn't so hot.  Well, we finally got around to going back this past weekend and the temperature was perfection.

We did an awesome mild 9 mile hike and caught some pretty great views.  We got back to our car just as the sun was setting (at like 4:30pm... ugh, daylight savings!!!).  I love hiking with my guy.  Always a good time!

Cheers to the outdoors!*

Scenes from the Weekend

Stumbled upon an awesome bar in Costa Mesa Friday night: Goat Hill Tavern

Then met up with our friend Brandon for dinner and drinks - fun times!

Saturday morning breakfast on the beach!

Headed up to the mountains for a hike in the Cleveland National Forest

We made patatas bravas!!

(An authentic Spanish dish that we ate almost every night while we were in Spain - so delicious!)

A leisurely Sunday walk around Irvine Regional Park while Brett mountain biked

Sunday afternoon beers at Noble Ale Works!

And winding down from the weekend with some tasty snacks, delicious wine, and our owl friend =)

 Lots on the agenda for this week, so here we go!

Happy (?) Monday!*

Scenes from the Weekend

It's back!

 Per request from the husband :)

Using our awesome potholders we got in Santa Fe on our cross-country trip

Homemade pizza night!  A little burnt, but still delicious

Brewery hopping in San Diego -- First stop: Alesmith Brewing Company

Alesmith beer samplers (we didn't love their beer)

Second stop: White Labs Pure Yeast and Fermentation

Sampling beers with different yeasts to taste the differences (beer geekdom at its finest!)

A stop at the beach for some frisbee on the way home from brewery touring

Exploring the Cleveland National Forest on Sunday!

A short (and really hot!) hike

Awesome views for miles and miles

Cooling down with some In-N-Out milkshakes

And rounding out the weekend with some fresh sandwiches and bruschetta before calling it a night

My 'Scenes from the Weekend' series is back!  After a short hiatus due to moving across the country, I am finally getting back into my regular blogging routine.  And it feels great!  We had a fun time exploring different places this weekend and are slowly getting accustomed to the areas around us.  Lots more adventures to come!

Now, let's get on with the week!