California Vacay!!

Hello y’all! 

Happy Sunday! Today is officially my last day of spring break, and it has definitely been one for the books. I traveled some, relaxed some, and ate a whole lot. But I wanted to share a little bit about my trip to California with y’all today, so I hope y’all enjoy this post!!:)) Saturday: At about 7:00 am, my fam & I packed up our car to the brim and headed to the airport! I had stayed up late the night before packing and watching Gossip Girl (I’m only on the 1st season and I’m in LOVE), so hopefully I didn’t forget anything. I had only been to California once before, so I didn’t have too clear of an idea of what I would need once I got there. To be specific though, my family and I traveled to the San Diego area. I am also the craziest over packer ever- case in point: my suitcase weighed too much so we had to pay an extra fee for it lol. Anyways, the flight from ATX-SDCA was about three hours, and was quite relaxing. I (again) watched more Gossip Girl, read a magazine, and wrote a few blogposts. Even though it was still early when we boarded the flight, I am not one to sleep on planes, so instead I was productive. When we landed though, California was not the sunshiney-state I expected it to be. It was rainy and quite cloudy, but the temperatures were so nice. So we checked into our hotel, which was on an island outside San Diego called Coronado. Specifically, we stayed in the Del Coronado Hotel. After we checked in, we walked out of our hotel and into town. If I had to describe Coronado, I’d say it was very family-friendly and walkable like Seaside, Florida, but was definitely California-chill. My favorite store we went into on the first day was absolutely Seaside Papery- what an adorable store! I bought some patches to put on a jean jacket, and couldn’t help but want to buy all the birthday cards too lol. After a brief excursion into town, we went back to the Del to relax before dinner. For diner, we went a few blocks down from our hotel and ate at the Blue Water Grill. It was DELISH, so wish I would’ve snapped a pic of it, because it was so east-coast classy looking and was right on the water. I ordered their award-winning New England Clam Chowder, and I loved it so much. I first had clam chowder in Disney world lol, and I’ve loved it since then. After dinner we went back to the Del Coronado, and went to sleep to have enough rest for day 2! Sunday, day 2: Hello sunny Coronado! I was so happy to be greeted by the sunshine and blue skies, finally. For breakfast, my fam and I got some bagels and then got ready super fast so we could get a good spot down by the pool! This was the day that we took the most pictures, because it all literally looked so picture-perfect. Before we could hit the pool, we walked on the beach. The sand y’all, was literally SHINY! My mom and I couldn’t believe it, it was like a luminescent gold color- so so beautiful. The water though was VERY cold, so my feet only got wet. I did swim in the pool a little though, and it felt real nice. Warm, but still very refreshing. I chilled by the pool, shot some pics, and read some magazines- definitely my ideal day that’s for sure. Lunch though, was absolutely perfect. We sat on this deck overlooking the beach, and I had the tastiest salad ever. Sooo fresh & yummy! We alternated between the pool and the beach, until we took a siesta before dinner. Also, around this time there was the CUTEST wedding going on omg and we almost kinda sorta crashed it lol (on accident, don’t worry). From there we, we went back into Coronado and ate at a Baja style Mexican food restaurant. It was yummy, but not my favorite overall. After that, my dad had a little surprise for us..s’mores on the beach! It was one of my highlights of our entire trip.

Monday, Day 3: This day started with us again getting bagels, before we ventured off to La Jolla. La Jolla is very similar to Coronado, except it’s a little larger. Unlike yesterday, Monday was quite cloudy and the sun never quite came through. La Jolla though, was still so beautiful even without the sun. That day we mainly shopped around (I went to Lucky Brand and bought a pair of jeans and a wrap top) and went to the Children’s Pool. The Children’s Pool was cool, because it was like a ton of these tidal pools on a big cliff. Very pretty, and very windy lol. But before we had dinner in La Jolla to finish up our day, we drove around the neighborhood part of the city and it was SO PRETTY! Literally want a beach house there someday ahhh! Anyways, highlight of the day was when we went to George’s for dinner. I though the food was great (I ordered ceviche, YUM!), and we got to see the sun set over the water. Perfect way to end our time in La Jolla. 

Tuesday, Day 4: Sadly, this is the day that we had to leave the Del Coronado. I literally loved this resort and hope someday to come back. But before we left, my dad and I went to a spin-class on the beach overlooking the ocean. It was a hard class (at least I thought so), but the sun and the cooling ocean breeze definitely made up for that. We took our time however to head into San Diego, and stopped by some stores that we didn’t quite get to in Coronado. My favorite was definitely Avenu, and although I didn’t buy anything (I already blew my vacay-budget at Lucky Brand lol) there was absolutely a wide variety of chic & trendy finds. Our hotel we checked into at San Diego was a very nice Kimpton and I enjoyed it there. We did explore San Diego a little bit though, and ended up eating lunch at a DELISH place in Hillcrest and spent a few hours wandering Balboa Park. After that, we headed back to the hotel to chill before dinner. Dinner in San Diego was by far my favorite dinner of the trip, and we feasted on some yummy Italian food from Barbusa in Little Italy. I was expecting the Little Italy area to be a big tourist trap, but instead I saw a very authentic Italian area. I would really love to come back and explore more of that area- really quite charming. We tried to stop for gelato after dinner at this place in Little Italy called Pappalecco, but sadly they were closed :((. Anyways, we ended up back at the hotel and snagged some dessert from there instead.

Wednesday, Day 5: Today we packed up and left sunny San Diego. I really enjoyed this trip a whole lot more than I thought I would, and the area is one that I’m dying to come back too! So it was hard saying goodbye, but I’m incredibly grateful for all the memories I got to make with my family on that trip. Those are the type of moments that are so priceless in life. Not going to lie though, after landing in Texas mid-afternoon, it felt SOO GOOD to be back in my own cozy bed again.... I hope y’all enjoyed this vacation recap, and I hope everyone had/will have a lovely spring break! XX<33, Ella