I always love going back to California – it’s a perfect minimoon destination.
Pat and I still have plans to go to Scotland for an actual honeymoon someday, so we decided to call this trip our minimoon. Two full weeks in Cali. Funny enough, California is where I was born and lived until I was 5 – and Pat was born there too! We had such a wonderful time during our vacation. I haven’t felt that relaxed in a while!
Unfortunately, my hard drive died once we got back and I lost all my vacation photos, plus everything I worked on/shot in the last 7 years plus our engagement photos. Many tears were shed over this. I’m not going to lie, I’ve felt pretty defeated ever since my drive crashed. I really haven’t had much motivation to do anything, even with this blog. Ever since the incident, my editing software has been on the fritz, my Lightroom presets are gone, and all my nursery progress photos are lost, along with everything from the last 6-7 years.
But I do have some photos from my phone so today I want to share a few of my favorite places in California. Sorry if the quality is not as great as it usually is.
📍 Joshua Tree
Joshua Tree was freaking gorgeous! We spent an entire day poking around various parts of the park. There were gorgeous views everywhere we stopped. If you get a chance to go, I recommend checking out the Cholla Cactus Garden.
📍 Laguna Beach
When we were still living in Santa Clarita, we would always stop at Laguna Beach on our way to see my grandparents in Carlsbad. So many of my family photos include pictures of us here. Pat had never been so we made sure to stop so he could see the unique beach and watch the sunset.
📍 Fort Bragg
I think this was my favorite part of the whole trip. We drove through the Redwoods to get here, which was amazing. As you come out of the forest, BAM – there’s the Fort Bragg beach! We spent a lot of time taking photos (all of which were lost) even though it was like 35 degrees outside. We stood cliffside and watched the sunset, wrapped in a beach blanket. I know my photos are mostly gone, but I will never let myself forget how wonderful this day was.
📍 Carlsbad + Cafe Tropes
I have spent most of my childhood summers swimming and playing on Carlsbad beach. It’s definitely one of my happy places. While we were there we decided to stop by this insanely popular brunch spot and we were not disappointed! The food and drinks were top notch. It tasted as good as it looks!
📍 Los Angeles – LACMA Light Display
Since my sister just moved out to LA, she hasn’t had many opportunities to do some sight-seeing, so we checked out the LACMA Light Display one night! So many bloggers were there taking fancy photos, but there we were, clowning around, taking silly photos, and laughing. We did manage to get a few ‘nice’ poses in, but majority of the photos and videos from that night were us, being ridiculous.
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I loved our minimoon. It was exhausting, and after day 10 we really started getting homesick, but we had the best time. Going back and touring California as an adult really expands on your childhood memories and is a completely new experience.
