Southern California Speed Tour: LA and Orange County

With a few visits from friends and family in the books, we have created a list of destinations we tend to take our visitors. With my brother living in Orange County, and me up in LA, we’ve figured out how to cover quite a bit of ground in a short period of time. Some of these are touristy and cliché, but that doesn’t make them any less great! 

Orange County

The spots we go in Orange County are pretty easy to cover in a day, depending on the weather and how much time you want to spend in each place. Starting in Newport Beach and ending in Laguna Beach, these stops are a great way to see a lot of what Orange County has to offer!

Newport Beach- I may be a bit biased towards Newport, but this is the beach we regularly went to when I first moved here, and one of my favorites. The beach is nice, clean, and parking is rarely an issue. There are good food options, and plenty of activities outside of working on your tan. Beach cruisers are available for rent year round, along with boogie boards, surf boards, stand up paddle-boards and kayaks in the warm(er) months.

 Laguna Beach-  Laguna is small, but if you want a quaint town to mosey along with a coffee in hand, this is a great place to do so.  There are also some great trails in the Laguna, including Top of the World and the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park.

Perfect Day: Breakfast at Stuft Surfer, rent beach cruisers and ride all the way down to “The Wedge”, head down the coast to Laguna for some window shopping, a meal, possibly another quick hike and catch the sunset.

Los Angeles

Due to the infamous traffic, LA requires you to be a little more selective when deciding what to pack in to a day.

Santa Monica- Downtown Santa Monica has tons of restaurants, shops and of course the Santa Monica Boardwalk.  While this area is a little busier, it’s a cool area to walk around and definitely do some shopping. I have yet to make it down here without stopping at either Patagonia, REI or both. 

Griffith Observatory- Seen in many movies, and has a great vantage point of the city and the Hollywood Sign. There are also tons of trails leading up to the observatory if you would rather hike than drive!

LACMA- Los Angeles County Museum of Art is another great place to spend a few hours if you’re with someone who appreciates museums. We found there were some really cool exhibits, and a few floors we definitely skipped. Make sure to check out the Tar Pits!

Rodeo Drive- Because these stores are ridiculous.

Runyon Canyon- a solid workout, great view of the city AND celebrities are often spotted here.

            Hollywood Sign- A longer hike than Runyon, but another                   great view of the city!

Other Day Trips

- The San Diego Zoo
-Potato Chip Rock (San Diego)
-Mt. Baldy

If you've visited out here and have any other great suggestions to add to the list, leave a comment below! If you're planning a visit, let me know and we can meet up!

PC: btfleming.com

Runyon Canyon

Perfect Day: Start the day with a hike at Runyon or the Hollywood Sign, grab a smoothie or lunch at Urth, Rodeo Drive, possibly stop at Griffith before heading down to Santa Monica for shopping and a sunset along the PCH.

Joshua Tree New Years!

PC:B.Fleming (btfleming.com)

Joshua Tree National Park is one of the places i've been most excited to visit since moving here! It is a strange, beautiful place, resembling a movie scene or maybe another planet. Filled with the areas native trees (aptly named Joshua Trees), massive rock formations, and even some tumbleweed, all that was missing was Road Runner. Well, on New Year’s Eve weekend I finally made it out there!

With my new sleeping pad and tent in tow, we set up camp for two nights at Black Rock Campground!  Something unique to camping in the desert is how drastic the temperature changes throughout the day. While we were there the temperature reached 60 during the day, and plummeted 40 degrees by the time we were fireside enjoying our pre-dinner soup (simple camp dinner recipe in my Cookbook!)

As this was my first time to Joshua Tree, and over 1,000 square miles of park to discover we tried to pack in as much as we could! Throughout the weekend we explored 49 Palms, Arch Rock and my favorite, Hidden Valley. 

PC: B.Fleming (btfleming.com)

PC: H.Labadie (hannahlabadie.com)

Girl's Weekend: Seattle Edition

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One of my biggest pet peeves about traveling throughout the U.S. (and i'm sure others share this one with me) is how expensive flights are! I can travel between two different countries in Europe for the price of an extra checked bag in America! With that being said, when I do get the chance to travel somewhere awesome, for a reasonable price, I will definitely take it!

This past weekend we travelled to Washington for the first time (bringing my count to 43/50 states!) to visit a friend in Seattle. This was also my first time going on a quick getaway since working full-time, and my first time flying since Europe!

We were extremely excited to go, so it was easy to make up a list of the things we knew we wanted to do ahead of time. This made it easier to fit in as much as we did, because all we had to do was adjust when we did activities, according to the weather.

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First stop: Pike's Place Market. The flowers were beautiful and the fruit was amazing. I had hands down the best mango i've ever tasted (which i'm SURE was locally sourced), apples, and even tried a bourbon infused caramel.

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PC: H. Labadie

We then had a fun brunch, as you do on a girl's weekend, and made a quick stop at the original Starbucks. The afternoon was spent getting our "Fall Fix" in by going to the pumpkin patch, having donuts and hot apple- cider, and soaking in all the beautiful fall foliage. As Mid-Westerners this is something that is an IMPORTANT part of Fall. After checking out Freemont Brewing, we turned in [relatively] early, to be ready first thing for our beautiful Sunday hike at Bandera Mountain!

PC: L. McGlinn

Hiking Time! We started the 8-mile round trip hike by 10 AM, with plenty of time to beat the potential afternoon rain. The hike was described as "easy-moderate" online, and this was true until the last mile where my trekking poles sitting at home in California were definitely missed (as they aren't allowed in a carry-on!)                      

Gear-wise I wore many layers: athletic shirt, fleece quarter zip, rain coat, and Eddie Bauer "on-the-go" pants. I would also recommend a hat and gloves. 

We hiked up to just around the first summit (or roughly that area), where we had an amazing view of Mt. Rainier and Mason Lake. The second summit was little further, and not as highly recommended.                                                        

Nonetheless, the hike was BEAUTIFUL, and I truly can't wait to go back! As a kid I spent a large amount of time exploring outside, both in and out of the Mid-West. I recently realized how great of an impact this time spent outdoors has had on me. Connecting with nature, and disconnecting with the rest of the world for a few hours, is the best way to re-gain perspective. 

This trip gave me a SMALL taste of what I know the Pacific Northwest has to offer, and i'm already day-dreaming about my next adventure.

Comment below where you think I should go next on a weekend getaway!

Catalina

On the Catalina Express on the way to Catalina

Santa Catalina Island, or Catalina, is an island in the Gulf of Santa Catalina off the coast of California. I lucked out by having friends of friends who invited us along for a couple days on their boat. We took the ferry across from San Pedro to Two Harbors, where their boat was anchored. This is the "less touristy" side of the island, with one bar/restaurant and is mainly visited by campers and boaters.

Woke up, rolled over, snapped this picture.

Although the full day of fun in the sun left me quite burnt, it was amazing falling asleep under the stars, to be woken up by the sunrise the next morning, all while floating on the ocean. Weekend #2 in California was definitely a success!

PC: My brother via his DJI Phantom and GoPro Hero3

Potato Chip Rock

My initial sun-burn is finally starting to turn to tan as I've been in California for a little over a week!

Weekend #1 in California was spent soaking up the sun on a 8-mile, slightly harder than we were expecting, hike up to Potato Chip Rock. The trail winds along Lake Poway, leading to the top of Mount Woodson where Potato Chip Rock is perched. We left around 10 AM, so it was hot, and we probably had to wait a bit longer to take our memorable picture (personally I think this is a missed marketing opportunity for Pringles).
Regardless, the hike was great, and I can't wait to check out more of the San Diego area!

MI-->CA in 4 Days

Hanging Lake

Two Fridays ago (this post is a little late) my mom and I left Kalamazoo to drive across the country so I can give my job search a real shot in the LA area. 

With my car busting at the seams (because i'm optimistic!) we drove to Indianapolis to see One Direction perform at Lucas Oil Stadium!

From there we hit the road and drove a few hours to get a head start on our biggest leg of the trip, Indy to Denver. After a long day of driving on Saturday we ended up not being able to find a hotel in Denver, and opted to save money and slept in our car a little west of Denver. This actually worked out perfectly. We were able to get up early to make our way to our first stop of the trip: Hanging Lake. The hike up was pretty strenuous, but definitely worth it! It's a little over a mile each way, and takes a few hours. This was a great way to stretch our legs!

Next stop: Zion. From Hanging Lake we got right back on I-70 and headed West towards Zion. We stayed at a rustic B&B 15 minutes away from the East entrance, allowing us to quickly get up and get to the park. Due to time restraints we had to chose one hike, Angels Landing. This hike is definitely challenging, including 21 switch backs, and my first experience using chains! 

After Zion we headed to Las Vegas, where my mom would catch the red-eye home. 

This 4 day adventure covered 2,412 miles in 38.33 hours (according to my mom's calculations.) Now, to find a job so I can keep doing these amazing adventures!

Top of Angels Landing