I Went To California!

"Let's pack up and move to California/She's got lots of friends out there..."

No, I have no plans to move to California, but I do love the song "California" by Hawk Nelson. It was definitely playing in my head while I was out there. What a trip! It's been almost a month and I still feel like I'm processing things. I guess I'll just take you through each day and add photos. Lots and lots of photos!

Friday, February 16th/Saturday, February 17th
I wasn't leaving until 8:55 pm, so I had the day to do normal things and pack and mildly freak out :) I mean, I was flying across the country for Pete's sake! Well, then I got a notification that my flight was delayed an hour. Oh well, nothing I can do. But then... my cousin called. The one who was flying from New York to Detroit to fly out to California with me. I knew this was not going to be good and it wasn't. She was stuck in the worst NYC traffic she'd ever seen and was going to miss her flight to Detroit. The only flight she could get was direct from NY to LA. I was going to be flying alone.

I cried. I did. I was stressed and tired and this was not the start to the trip that I'd hoped for. But I made it. I got through security just fine, walked all the way down to the end of the terminal, and got on the plane. I didn't sleep but did doze a little. I picked two movies that I knew well and just listened to them while I rested.

It was 12 AM PST when I arrived and I was exhausted. I asked about the flight direct from NY and the lady said it was expected at 2:30. I almost cried right there but I didn't. Thankfully that gate was literally around the corner from mine, so I walked over and sat. There was a nice lady who I chatted with off and on while I waited (she helped me feel more calm and more safe just by being there). Thankfully, Abby's flight landed a little earlier than expected and we got our rental car and drove up to Santa Barbara. Let me tell you, LA traffic is great at 3 AM ;) We couldn't see anything, obviously, but there was really cool fog.

Saturday, February 17th
We got to our hotel in the wee hours and got to bed around 5 AM. We had to be back in the car by 11 to go back to LA and get Emma. So we got about four hours of sleep, went to Whole Foods for smoothies, and started driving. It was sunny and gorgeous and we could see the mountains! I had no idea there were mountains that close to the ocean. What was super cool and the photos don't do justice to, was how the tops of the mountains disappeared in to the clouds. It was magical. The drive from Santa Barbara (SB) to LA is beautiful. We just ooohed and ahhhed the whole way. We picked up Emma, got some food, and went to find a beach to experience the Pacific! That's it's own story.

We found a beach that looked good and when we got there, all we see are private houses along the road. But supposedly there is a public beach so we park and start walking. Finally, we find a sign that says "Coastal Access" with an arrow. So we turn and find ourselves in a little cul-de-sac with three houses and another sign saying "Coastal Access" with an arrow that looks like it is saying to go through this person's fenced in yard! What we finally discovered was that there was a small, concealed path between two fences and that was how we got to the beach.

It was gorgeous! Much murkier than I expected it to be but that may not be normal. The waves also went up the beach a lot higher but it wasn't consistent so we got a little wet :) I was a silly goose and didn't have my camera batteries with me so I didn't get any camera photos of the beach that day but the phone photos are stunning. It wasn't a full sunset but it was the prettiest evening we had.

After leaving the beach, we went to Whole Foods again to get some groceries for the next few days. To save money on meals, we had booked an Extended Stay which meant we had a fridge so we picked up sandwich supplies, some veggies, and some chips to have for one meal each day.

Sunday, February 18th
Saturday morning, after not sleeping for 24 hours and not eating for too long, I felt horrible (which is why we got smoothies). Sunday morning was much better. We got ready and went to church. There was a church in our denomination just six minutes from our hotel! It was a beautiful church and the people were very friendly. We took some photos outside and then headed over to Stearn's Wharf. It has a lot of shops and great views of the ocean, as well as places to eat. We walked around first, because it was supposed to rain, and got our souvenirs. I got my standard postcards and sticker, but I also got an ornament. It was a sand dollar with purple shells, I couldn't turn it down. 

Lunch was in a restaurant with an upstairs and a great view. There were also TONS of pelicans sitting on the roof! They looked nothing like the pelicans from Finding Nemo, so maybe California pelicans look different from Australian pelicans.

After eating, we went and spent some time looking around the Sea Center. They had touch tanks and I touched a starfish, a sea cucumber, and a sea urchin. By the time we were leaving it had started to rain, but I really wanted to go under the wharf. Emma decided to adventure with me and we were greatly rewarded because there was a sea lion under there! I swear, he was posing for us :)

Monday, February 19th
We went to the Santa Barbara Zoo this morning. It's not a very large zoo but it's cool. They have a red panda and it was out and about! It looked right at me! We got to see the lions and Abby really wanted to see the otters, who were very hyper and playful. My cousins were also very into the capybaras. I was still geeking out over the plants. I never knew there were so many different kinds of palm trees and the succulents were huge and there were even cacti! It started raining just as we were getting ready to leave so we only got a little wet.

Then we went to lunch at a little pizza place called The Lucky Penny. The whole building is covered in pennies! Thankfully it stopped raining for a bit because the seating was all outdoors. (See, it never rains in CA so everything is outside!)

Someone had told us about the tower at the SB County Courthouse that had great views so, even though it was raining, we went and WOW! This building was designed to look like a castle and it does! There was a tour going on that we joined and learned a lot of cool things. After it finished we went up and it was a cool view, despite the limited sight distance.

It was quite cool (the natives were so cold) but we wanted ice cream so that's what we did. With our treat in hand, we decided to just drive around and we found a parking lot where we could sit and watch the stormy sea. I could sit and watch waves all day, I really could. Eventually we did leave and continued driving around SB to just see sights. We decided to drive north on the 101 until it turned east again and we saw a bit of a sunset! Most of the time, the fog and the hills just looked like England or Scotland. It was pretty strange to know we were actually in California!

When we got back to our hotel, we ate dinner and played some games. We all love music so we did some of those YouTube games where they play part of a song and you have to guess what it is. It was a lot of fun!

Tuesday, February 20th/Wednesday, February 21st
"We're formulating a Plan B. Although technically it's a Plan C."

Our plans for our last day were foiled not once but twice! A word of caution - don't book a trip to the Channel Islands if it's been stormy. They don't offer refunds. With that and the Santa Monica Pier no longer options due to weather, we decided to go to the Griffith Observatory. My cousins are big La La Land fans. Well, somehow, and indoor location was closed because of the rain too! Again, everything to do in California is outside so we were running out of ideas. We took our lunches up to Elysian Park to eat in the car at an overlook. What we could see was very pretty :) Because Abby and I were flying out of LA that evening, we needed to be heading south anyway and we ended up going to the California ScienCenter and an art museum called The Broad.

It was pouring rain. Like, Michigan levels of rain. Insane. As the day went on, it did lighten up some but of course it was also getting dark. We ended up driving around Bel-Air, Beverly Hills, and we drove on Sunset Drive (we did see Sunset and Camden :) for a while before getting food, taking Emma to her hotel, and then going to the airport.

We dropped off the rental car, our plane was thankfully on time - it even got in early! - and I survived the bumpy ride. I got pretty stressed a few times but we made it to Detroit safely. I had a small issue finding where my brother was waiting for me but we did find each other and I got home at 7 AM EST after another night with no sleep. I was going to try and tough it out but just sitting in the car I could feel myself almost wanting to cry so I definitely needed some rest. I slept for about four hours and had a great day!

My mom and other brother had messed with my room decorations so I was discovering what they'd done for the next few days. Nothing major. They thought it was hilarious. I was just kind of like, "why"?

And that is it! My adventures in SoCal. Nothing went as planned but it was a great trip and I am so glad that I went. One of the coolest things I saw as we drove around LA on Tuesday was a giant glowing cross on the hillside. It's mentioned in and Anthem Lights song called "Dear Hollywood" but I guess I didn't know it was a real thing. On our first day, when we saw the mountains disappearing in the clouds, Abby said, "The glory of the Lord has not yet departed" and I joked, "I'm pretty sure the glory of the Lord left here a long time ago". But of course, I know that is not true. God is just as much in California as He is in Michigan or New York or Florida.

I have no plans to go back to CA but if you want a place to go, Santa Barbara is pretty nice. If you've ever been, I'd love to hear some of your story!