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California 2019

September - October 2019
September 2019 Read more
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  • TravelerCalifornia 2019
    Day 13

    Monterey Bay Aquarium

    September 16, 2019 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

    Today we all visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is right on the ocean’s edge. There’s not much to say other than it was interesting and calming for everyone. Theo only got grumpy a couple of times because he was sleepy.

    Tomorrow we will camp one night at Pismo Beach before arriving in LA, where all of Chris’ friends from Celle will be. Lisa and Judith will arrive at the campground before us to reserve a spot for us, because we were unfortunately unable to reserve a place online.    Read more

  • TravelerCalifornia 2019
    Day 14

    A surprise at McWay Falls

    September 17, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    We left Monterey to head towards Pismo Beach in order to camp 1 night. We didn’t want to drive the 6-7 hours to LA, so we thought it would be a good idea to split the journey into two parts.

    Lisa and Judith drove towards Pismo Beach really early. Chris, Theo and I packed up the rest of the stuff from our Airbnb and headed down the highway along the coast a few hours after them. The views of the coast reminded me very much of home (New Zealand, not Bremen... although I wish Bremen had water that blue). Theo slept for the first half of our 3 hour trip and we stopped by McWay Falls to check out the view and to eat our packed lunches.

    First we headed down a little tunnel to get to the waterfall lookout, but we couldn’t go the whole way because the end part of the lookout was off-limits. I wasn’t disappointed, however, because the sun was shining, Theo was in a good mood and the different colors of the ocean were like something out of a postcard.

    At the back of the car park area, there was a secluded area, which used to be for picnicking, with a little stream running alongside it. It was quiet, shaded and we had the whole place to ourselves.

    Theo and I ate our sandwiches happily and then Chris crouched infront of me, with Theo in between us (always), and proposed. I cried before be could finish was he was saying. Theo handed him a slice of cheese midway through his speech and I didn’t even get to take the ring out of the box myself before Theo had it in his chubby fingers and Chris asked him to put it on me. It was a wonderful moment that I’m so glad we were able to have, just the three of us. Yet another thing to enjoy about our California trip!!

    We ended our day camping at Pismo Beach. Our campsite was great, we spent the rest of our afternoon enjoying the peace so easily found in nature and fell asleep to the sound of the ocean. Such a wonderful, relaxing, joyful day for our family 💕    Read more

  • TravelerCalifornia 2019
    Day 15

    Los Angeles

    September 18, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Finally, an update! We’ve been really busy since being in LA. We’re now in Las Vegas and Judith and Lisa are on their way back to Germany.

    Our time in LA was short in comparison to the size of the city. I can’t believe it can easily take 1 hour just to get from one end of the city to the other. Totally too big for our little family, because driving long distances just to see 1 place is such a waste of time.

    We stayed at an Airbnb within walking distance of Venice Beach. Tbh, I can’t really remember everything that we did, but here’s some of the highlights:

    - having breakfast (eggslut) by the beach with Lisa
    - getting crazy sweet donuts from Donut Friend in the city
    - eating Papi’e Tacos. SOOOOOO GOOOOOOD.
    - a brief walk around Abbot Kinney (wish I had more time to explore this area!)
    - playing arcade games at night while Judith babysit for us
    - catching the sunset at the pier
    - walking around the Venice Canals with all the pretty houses    Read more

  • TravelerCalifornia 2019
    Day 17

    San Diego/Chris' 30th bday

    September 20, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    We left LA as soon as we could in order to avoid Friday traffic on the way to San Diego. The drive was okay and we were happy to arrive at our Airbnb at a reasonable time. We stayed at a big Airbnb big enough to fit 12 people, but in the end there were only 10 people who stayed. Two of chris’ other friends stayed with us too, but slept in their camper van outside.

    The Ocean Beach area is just like many of the other beachside towns, but with a lot more craft beer bars. There are a lot of homeless people that stay around the beach area, so it’s not necessarily the prettiest place, but it’s not ugly either. I feel like I would need to stay here longer to get a real feel for Chris’ love for this place. Unfortunately we never have enough time!

    On the 22nd we of course celebrated Chris’ 30th bday. Everyone slept in (except me and Theo 😅) and once everyone was ready, we started the day. First Chris opened all his gifts (thank you to everyone 💕) and then we started with the birthday festivities. We organized a funny costume for Chris and I had prepared some Schlag den Raab style games to bring out chris’ competitive nature. We enjoyed a bbq together and in the evening, Chris and his friends started a craft beer tour of Ocean Beach that I had also organized. Lots of photo tasks using disposable cameras📸 the photos won’t be developed until after we arrive back in Germany, but I’m sure they’re equally as hilarious as the rest of the day was.    Read more

  • TravelerCalifornia 2019
    Day 20

    San Diego pt2

    September 23, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Chris and I decided to stay one extra night in San Diego to make things easier on Theo, because driving long distances so often isn’t fun for him.

    We decided to stay in the Ocean Beach area, because it was the most convenient. With our final day in San Diego together, we had Hodads for a late breakfast and we visited Balboa Park, which is a huuuuge Park that connects to San Diego zoo. We were able to walk around the area pretty easily and the weather wasn’t too hot for Theo either. The Spanish village area of the park was really pretty and colorful, and it was nice to see something new that Chris has also never seen.Read more

  • TravelerCalifornia 2019
    Day 22

    Big Bear Lake

    September 25, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    We left San Diego and headed towards Big Bear Lake where we would stay for the night so that we didn’t have to the big drive to Vegas in one sitting. Theo can handle up to 3 hours in the car, but anything more than that is a bit exhausting/boring for him.

    Big Bear lake is an area that’s popular for snow sports and if you look on google maps, you can see that the lake is up in the mountains and is roughly the shape of a bear. When we arrived at our cabin, I had an instant liking to it as it reminded me a bit of Yosemite and Lake Tahoe.

    Felix and Anja (our friends traveling in the camper-van) met us there and we enjoyed an evening bbq together. We only stayed one night and left for Vegas this morning.

    On the way to Vegas we stopped by Seven Magic Mountains, which is a very colorful art installation in the middle of the desert. It’s so strange to see so many colors amongst the desert background, but it was really nice to see and take photos of.

    We’re now safely in Vegas, Theo is sleeping and Chris is trying to find us some dinner. Tomorrow we celebrate the very spontaneous Vegas wedding of our friends. Unfortunately only Chris will be able to attend, because I’ll have to stay with Theo for the night. It’s still so exciting that our friends are marrying in Vegas though!    Read more

  • TravelerCalifornia 2019
    Day 24

    Las Vegas

    September 27, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Today we leave Vegas for Flagstaff, which is our half way point to Arizona.

    Vegas isn’t exactly child-friendly and there really don’t seem to be any obvious family-friendly things to do, but we managed to still do a few things here and there that were enjoyable.

    Yesterday we had breakfast at a place called Stacks and Yolks, where you can customize your own gigantic stacks of pancakes, and we also went to see the Neon Lights Museum. The museum would’ve been better at night so we could see the lights properly, but we already had evening plans... a wedding! Not ours, but friends of ours who know Chris from Celle.

    The wedding was actually pretty cute/fun and not super trashy like some people might think. I think having everyone there together is what made it sweet. And now we all the Celle people will part ways and will likely not see each other again until we return to Germany.    Read more

  • TravelerCalifornia 2019
    Day 24

    Camping at Flagstaff

    September 27, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    When we left Vegas, our plan was to either go towards Utah or skip Utah and head straight to Phoenix (Arizona). Unfortunately, time didn’t allow for Utah, so we left Vegas and headed to Flagstaff, which is a midway point on the way to Phoenix.

    The decision to stay in Flagstaff for the night was relatively spontaneous, so we didn’t know much about the place and didn’t have any campsites booked. Luckily for us, we were able to get a campsite last minute (our first choice was completely full), and enjoyed a quiet night alone, eating s’mores and sitting by the fire.

    Much to our delight, Flagstaff actually has a lot of little nature things to offer! We decided on Wet Beaver Creek (A+ for the name) because it was on the way to Phoenix and people had recommended it for families.

    Wet Beaver Creek was the best decision! We had no real expectations, but the little creek was the perfect stop for a quick swim before continuing our drive. We all really enjoyed it and it was such a petty spot to relax :)    Read more

  • TravelerCalifornia 2019
    Day 26

    Phoenix, Arizona

    September 29, 2019 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

    Our first and only full day in Phoenix was really wonderful. It’s a relatively large city, but not densely populated. It almost feels as if there aren’t enough people here, given how big the infrastructure is. It makes Phoenix feel either relaxed (in comparison to busy Vegas or LA) or... maybe a little bit like a ghost town?

    We woke up early, packed sandwiches for lunch and went to the Children’s Museum of Phoenix, which is basically one big playground for kids. It was VERY impressive though, and super relaxed for all the parents since the kids are allowed to play with and touch everything so you don’t really need to monitor their every move. Theo totally loved it and fell asleep super fast once we got him back in the car.

    After Theo’s nap, we had a look at some shops and then drove to Popago Park. There, we ate watermelon on top of the highest rock and watched the sunset. It was such a lovely moment to share as a family (like many moments we’ve had on this road trip).

    It’s strange thinking this trip is coming to an end soon, but we’re certainly trying our best to enjoy as much as we can 😊    Read more

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