SoCal
After a busy couple of days in Santa Cruz I was ready to head down south and slow down a bit. Before we left in the afternoon, we celebrated Father's Day with a special lunch with my family. For the second portion of our trip I had been imagining colorful sunsets, walks along the beach, and the lulling sound of the warm waves. But first, we had a long, hot, expensive drive in front of us. The cheapest gas along our route was around $6.25, and we had about 450 miles and 8 hours to go, all the way from Santa Cruz to Encinitas. California is my favorite state, but sometimes I forget just how long it is. Driving along the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) is beautiful, but in the name of saving money on gas, we opted for the quicker and less aesthetic route. We drove all day through flat plans, between dry mountains, along cow pastures, and finally crested the hills above L.A.
We made a brief stop in San Clemente before heading to our Airbnb. There is something I love so much about coastal towns like these. There are always surfers and swimmers milling about, people gathering to watch the sunset over the ocean, and lots of delicious beachside dining options.
For this portion of our trip we spend a good couple hundred dollars on an Airbnb located fairly close to the beach. Booking farther out in advance is always better, there are more options and a larger range of prices.
We wanted to stay relatively close to the beach while also not paying on the water costs, which could get up to thousands of dollars just for one night.
On our first night in Southern California we stopped in Carlsbad to watch the sunset and then walked through the downtown Carlsbad area to find some dinner. We ate at Senor Grubby's, a delicious Mexican restaurant with great burritos and beer.
Day 1 - San Diego and Solano Beach
The next morning we woke up early and headed to Pipes Cafe in Cardiff-by-the-Sea. They have the most amazing breakfast burritos here and a variety of other yummy breakfast and lunch foods to choose from. We then headed to Torrey Pines State Park for a mid morning hike. If you are thinking of doing this hike, aim for an earlier starting time, especially in the summer when it gets hot quickly.
The park is open from 8 am to sunset each day. There is an entrance fee of $10 per vehicle. If you want to avoid paying that, there is limited parking available on the side of the road. This works fine if you just want to head to the beach, but if you are looking to go on the hike, there is a long, steep road to hike up before starting the actual hike.
After our hike we swam and laid out on the beach for an hour or so. We then decided to drive down to La Jolla and explore the area. We stopped by a super cute coffee shop near the water called Better Buzz. They have delicious acai bowls and iced coffee.
We walked by the La Jolla cliffs and coves, admiring the blue water and soaking up the sunshine. This was one of my favorite places that we visited on the trip. I loved that La Jolla felt similar to Santa Cruz in a lot of ways, but also distinctly Southern California and with wonderful warm weather.
Later in the day we drove to Old Town San Diego to explore the historic section of the city. There were beautiful buildings, great food, and lots to see in the area. We also drove through Balboa park and through the downtown area of the city. The last time I had visited San Diego was when I was about 2 years old, so it was great to get to actually see the city.
For dinner we headed back up to Carlsbad and stopped at Pizza Port in Solana Beach. The pizza here is amazing and the prices are reasonable too! Definitely put it on your list if you are in the area.
We spent the evening watching surfers and dolphins out on the water as the sun set over the horizon at Swami’s Beach.
Day 2 - Oceanside and Laguna Beach
For breakfast the next morning we headed to the Oceanside Harbor and ate at Stratford at the Harbor by the water. It was a beautiful sunny day and we decided to do some shopping at the Irvine Spectrum Center afterwards.
After doing some shopping we drove down to the Laguna Beach area. One great thing about this area is that there are so many towns close by each other, but each area has a distinctly different feel. Everything is so accessible!
Laguna Beach was one of my other favorite spots that we stopped by on our trip. Before we went down by the water we stopped at a super cute cafe called Laguna Coffee Company. The food and coffee was absolutely delicious. I was becoming more and more addicted to the iced coffee in this area of California.
The beaches there were perfect - not too crowded, warm water, lots of soft sand. I had just picked up a new book so I got lost in the story while tanning and lounging on the beach for the afternoon.
For dinner we drove to a nearby poke shop and brought our food back to the beach to catch the sunset.
The sunset that night was stunning - the most amazing orange and purple colors. We even saw a pod of dolphins just off the coast!
Day 3 - L.A. and Malibu
For our third day in SoCal we slept in a bit and then drove up to L.A. to do some sightseeing. We started out by going for lunch at a very unique coffee shop called Tartine Bakery and Cafe.
The cafe is set inside a refurbished church. The interior is so unique and beautifully crafted. There is also ample outdoor seating that we took advantage of.
Next we headed down to Venice Beach and walked along the strip of stores by the water as well as the Santa Monica pier.
It started to get hot so we ventured back to the car and took off to go see Griffith observatory. Seeing this spot was super special for me, ever since seeing the movie La La Land I have wanted to see this specific site for a long time. After exploring the observatory and admiring the view from the hills we set off for Malibu.
Visiting Malibu was wonderful. It was a smaller town than I expected but the hills dipping into the coastline was stunning. We enjoyed dinner at Ollo, a super cute spot inland with a delicious menu.
We ended our last night in southern California with another gorgeous sunset. The colors were amazing and it was a special way to close out the second part of our trip.
This part of our trip was super fun for me. I was sad to be leaving such a beautiful area but excited for the next and final stop on our trip, Lake Tahoe!
