Somewhere Sunny and 75...

 About a month ago I was feeling slightly overwhelmed with life (and honestly who isn't) and texted Eric that I needed a vacation to the beach for some warmth and sunshine. Much to my surprise, he followed up with asking which beach I wanted to go to, if we were going to fly or drive, and when we should do it. Talk about a husband who prioritizes my mental health!

We decided to go over Easter weekend since I wouldn't have to take any time off from school and he would only have to take off two days. I immediately went to work searching for a place on the beach with a killer ocean view. While I wanted to stay more in the Seaside/Rosemary Beach/Aly's Beach area of 30A in Florida, I wasn't finding exactly what I was looking for. We finally settled on this adorable condo on the western end of Panama City Beach with the views and beach access I was looking for. And since we were on the western end of Panama City, we had all the benefits of being close to the city, without all the people that a condo in the middle of the city would entail. 

The plan was to leave Thursday after I got off of school since we released a little early for Easter Break. Little did I know that on the way to daycare that morning, Ashley would throw up in the van. So it was back home for the three of us, and a call to work that I wouldn't be coming in that day at all. I kept the kids with me that morning, but my mom and dad were gracious enough to let me bring them over to their house for their nap (they were going to watch them after daycare that day anyways) so we could leave around 1 instead. Thanks to this, we made it all the way to Birmingham before stopping for the night.

Friday morning we were up bright and early to get a head start on our final leg of the drive. We made it to that Panama City Beach sunshine at about 12:30 Friday afternoon. We stopped for a quick lunch, and then made our way to St. Andrews State Park to catch a ferry to Shell Island, a seven mile long undeveloped island just off the coastline. 

This island lived up to its name, with so many different shells to be discovered. I spent a good hour walking the shore line picking up shells, while Eric stayed up a little higher (and dryer) carrying the ones I decided to keep. Even though it was about 80 degrees, it is still April, so the water wasn't that warm. If I'd been a little braver, I would have walked out a little deeper to search for the bigger shells that others on our ferry boat ride home had found. But I'm happy with the ones I did find, and didn't have to get freezing cold, so I'd call it all a win.

We stayed here for a few hours, collecting shells as we walked, and eventually sitting down for me to read in my book and Eric to take a nap (which he took a lot of this vacation ha!). After a quick Walmart stop, we went to our condo to check in for our stay.

I wanted a view, and boy did this condo provide that! We had gorgeous ocean views from the living room/kitchen and our bedroom, and spent a lot of time out on the balcony listening to the sounds of the crashing waves and taking in the sea breeze. 

That night we ate at Runaway Island and I had my favorite meal on the entire trip- a blackened grouper topped with crab meat and a lemon butter sauce- absolutely delicious. 

After a yummy coffee shop stop for breakfast, we decided to battle it out in some mini golf. I wish I could say that I beat Eric, but we did tie the last nine holes, so it wasn't a complete loss on my part ha! 

We ate lunch at another restaurant on the beach, then went back to the condo to get our suits on to sit by the water. I again did some reading, and Eric, again, did some napping. I was surprised by how many shells our beach had as well, though they were much smaller than the ones on Shell Island. 

After getting dressed up again for another night on the town we headed to Captain Anderson's and had another favorite from the trip- She Crab soup. This is one that we want to try to make at home some time. 

Sunday morning I watched a dad hiding eggs on the beach for his children to find, and it really made me miss Brayden and Ashley (even though they were part of the reason I needed a nice and quiet vacation ha!). Luckily they were both feeling well enough to have a little egg hunt back home with my parents the day before, and mom was nice enough to send some pictures. 

This day we decided to drive down 30A and check out all the cute little towns along the way. One town was even having an adorable farmer's market, but Eric and I were way too underdressed to stop and check it out. We were heading to Grayton Beach State Park for some more time in nature, and that's just what we got.

When we arrived, the park ranger said that they were expecting to be full today, so once we got a parking spot, we shouldn't leave until we were ready to go. There were minimal parking spots by the beach, but I'm glad that her version of "full" and my version were totally different. Walking just a little ways down the shore, it felt like we almost had the entire beach to ourselves. It was peaceful and quiet, the water seemed bluer and the sand seemed whiter. And there were practically no shells, which was a big change from the beach at our condo. We spent a few hours soaking up the sun, enjoying the sounds of the waves, and a nap and a nice book. 

After some beach time we took a little one mile hike through the coastal sand dunes and trees that edged Grayton Beach. It was quite sunny this afternoon, despite the weather forecast that I'd checked earlier that week that said it would be overcast and probably rainy. So needless to say, after our hike we were sweaty messes. We grabbed a quick lunch then drove back to the condo for a shower and some rest. 

Eric opted to stay up in the condo for a nap, but I wanted all the beach time I could get, so I went ahead and carried my stuff down to the beach. In the time it took us to drive back from Grayton Beach, eat lunch, and get ready to go outside, the sky had turned very cloudy. I opted to leave my cover-up on and almost put a towel over my legs to keep warm as well! Needless to say I didn't stay out on the beach too long, though it never did rain on me during that time. We got ready to go out on the town for our final night and headed to the marina for dinner at The Grand Marlin. This place was top notch, and so many desserts looked good that we ended up getting two instead of just one- which was an excellent choice in my opinion!

Monday morning we actually slept in the latest we had all weekend, which was kind of funny since we wanted to get an early start home, but oh well. We were out of the condo by 7:30 that morning, and by 7:30 that evening we were finally home. I knew that we missed Brady and Ashley while we were gone, but it was nice to see how much they missed us as well. Nothing beats those big smiles and hugs we got when we walked into my parent's house. And now it's back to the old grind, but with a clear and refreshed state of mind. 

California 2019

I think this summer should be titled "Our Summer of Travel", because that's what we've been doing! A few weeks after getting back from our family vacation in Colorado we were back on a plane heading west again to California with our friends Brian and Mara. We had the best time driving down Highway 1, taking in the scenery, and making all sorts of memories.

We flew into San Francisco and made our way to our AirBnB. We had planned to go to Muir Woods that night, but we were warned at our lunch spot that you needed to make parking reservations to get in. So needless to say we did not hit up Muir Woods that day. But we immediately booked our time for the next afternoon!

Instead we decided to hit up the Golden Gate Bridge. It was quite a site! We were there late enough in the day that the fog had lifted from the top of the bridge, but we also got to see it with the fog and there is something just magical about that.

 After the Golden Gate Bridge we did our own little tour of Chinatown and enjoyed some dim sum at a local little restaurant. Dim sum just means bite-sized portions of food, so we had lots of different dumplings, steamed buns and rolls.

The next morning we were headed to Alcatraz! A short ferry ride across the bay and we were on the island. I knew enough about Alcatraz to know what the island was about, but actually being there gave me a whole new perspective on the island and the people that were imprisoned there. The worst of the worst stayed there, and they were teased every day with the sights, smells and sounds from the city. We were able to learn about the most famous escape attempts and walked the halls like a typical prisoner would have. If you're ever in San Francisco, this is one stop I wouldn't leave out!

That afternoon we headed across the Golden Gate Bridge to Muir Woods, home of the coastal redwoods, some of the tallest trees in the world. Pictures do not do these trees justice for how tall they really are. But take my word for it, these things are tall, like you have to crane your neck up to see the top of the tree tall.

The next morning we started the drive south on Highway 1. Once we were finally out of the city, it didn't take long for the beaches to turn downright gorgeous. The rocky coastline, the bluest water, the crashing waves, we spent literally the entire day stopping at all the beaches to get out of the car and stick our toes in the sand.

We had planned on stopping at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, but after driving by and seeing the mess that was the parking situation and how incredibly packed it was, we decided a drive-by would be just fine for us!

By that evening we made it down to Point Lobos State Natural Reserve. We stopped by China Cove, which people used to be able to go down to and get in the water, but is now off limits. It was still beautiful regardless, and we got to see some harbor seals basking on the beach.

On our way back to our house for the evening, Mara and I said we should drive through the 17-Mile Drive. All we knew was that it was supposed to be a scenic drive. Apparently it's known for Pebble Beach, a famous golf course. The boys were blown away when we drove past the golf course and asked us how we didn't know that it was there. Sorry boys, golf is not my thing! We were able to see some sea lions feeding and the Lone Cypress Tree, as well as some beautiful views.

The next day we were Big Sur bound! And man does this drive live up to the hype! You are literally on the edge of the cliffs driving by the ocean, so if you're afraid of heights you might consider sitting on the driver's side so you're a little farther away from the edge. That morning we found a beach that we had all to ourselves for at least a half hour, and it was magical! I could have listened to the waves crashing all morning long.

We made a pit stop at McWay Falls, and then found some elephant seals before we made it to Hearst Castle. We had a great tour of the lower rooms on the main building (Hearst had three smaller buildings built to accommodate more guests to his home). On our way out, we even got to see some zebras that are decedents of the original zebras from the property's zoo!

That evening we made it to Morro Bay, where we admired Morro Rock, enjoyed watching some surfers, and collected lots of sand dollars!

The next day we ventured inland to Sequoia National Park- home of the largest trees by volume. Just like the redwoods, pictures do not do these things justice. They are WIDE. We were able to see the General Sherman Tree, which is the largest tree in the world. It's dead at the top, so it won't get any taller, but man was it impressive. The park was conducting controlled burns, so we weren't able to hike the Congress Trail like we had planned, but we were still able to see enough giant trees to remind us just how little we really are.

We unfortunately got home too late to do any of the wineries, so instead we enjoyed the beautiful scenery at our AirBnB on our own little olive grove. I think I could have spent all week at this place!

Los Angeles was our next stop! On the way we visited Huntington Beach to relax for a bit, and even stopped at Venice Beach to take in all the craziness there. We walked down the Walk of Fame, and that night we met a High School classmate Michael Benefiel and his wife Leah (where we majorly failed to take a picture!).

The Hollywood sign was our last stop in LA before driving down to San Diego. We naively thought that we would have some time to spend in San Diego before our flight the next morning, but we were sorely mistaken. The traffic was so terrible that we didn't arrive in San Diego until that evening. So we only ended up grabbing a bite to eat that night, and some delicious ice cream!

And that concludes our California Friends-cation! We ate way too much, took way too many pictures, listened to Eric's questionable music choices (and smelt his awful gas), and enjoyed all the scenery that coastal California had to offer. In short, we'd do this trip again in a heartbeat!