So, Matt and I had this plan to watch one Christmas movie a night during December until Christmans, but because of work and clashing schedules, we haven’t really stuck to that. Instaead, we’ve just been watching movies when we’ve had time. We started with a list of classic favorites and I’ve added a few cheesy feel-good films. This complilation includes a few of the Hallmark and Netflix originals that I’ve binged as well as some of my old favorites that I still hope to watch this season! Let me know if you see your favorite on this list or if there’s any you’d add!
What started out being planned as 10 days on the road camping and driving past beautiful views turned into more of a lowkey, variety of a vacation. My original plan was to rent a camper van or something similar and spend 10 days camping and driving down Highway 1. After a little more research about the types of raods we would be on and the price of camper vans, we opted for a more lowkey city-hopping adventure with a few saught out coastal views.
I am writing this partially as a journal of sorts to remember our trip by and also to share our experience for anyone looking to do something similar – I know I read many blog posts while we were planning our trip.
Here is a quick run down of our schedule for our trip:
Days 1-3: San Fransisco
Day 4: Big Sur, Santa Cruz
Day 5: Montaña de Oro State Park, Santa Cruz
Days 6-9: Los Angeles
Days 10-12: San Diego
San Fransisco In SF we staying in an airbnb close to Golden Gate Park. We stayed in a private room in someone’s townhouse. It was a great way to explore the city while feeling like a local, and our host was super nice! Private rooms in someone’s home isn’t for everyone; it wasn’t very private, but we just needed a place to sleep and it was affordable, so it was perfect for us!
Some of our favorite sights to see were the Fisherman’s Wharf, The Pink Ladies, and the Exploratorium. The Fisherman’s Wharf is a well known area of San Fransisco with lots of touristy shops and lots of bread bowls and chowder. We spent the afternoon here exploring the bay and nearby streets. The Exploratorium – an interactive science museum – is also nearby. We spent the afternoon tinkering and feeling like kids again. We would highly recommend! Just be sure to check the current guidelines as we had to be masked and show proof of vaccination before entering!
Our favorite restaurant we visited in SF (and arguably our favorite of the whole trip) was nestled in the streets of Chinatown. Z & Y Restaurant has fed “presidents and several Foreign Ministers of People’s Republic of China” and has been recognized by the Michelin Guide.
Big Sur, Santa Cruz, Montana de Oro State Park In between SF and LA, we just stayed in roadside hotels. However, we still had a blast because we love hotels and one of them had a hottub!
Montaña de Oro State Park was one of my favorite places we visited the whole trip – the views are stunning! Honestly though, the whole section of Hightway 1 that we were on, especially through Big Sur, was amazing and the views were incredible.
We also stopped in Santa Cruz briefly to eat at a taco restaurant for lunch. Just like all of the other smaller towns we were in – I would love to come back and spend time exploring around Santa Cruz.
Los Angeles In LA we stayed in another airbnb. This one was lowkey like a hostel, but it was perfect (and affordable) for us! We had our own private room in a three or four bedroom house, and then there was a shared bathroom, patio, and kitchen. Our host was super kind and gave us great recommendations.
Here in LA, we explored Hollywood Boulevard, the Hollywood sign, Venice Beach, and the LA County Museum of Art. My favorite part was hiking the trails to the Hollywood sign; such a cool thing to see in person! We did some other touristy things that are fun to do once, but if we went back I think we’d spend more time exploring around Venice Beach!
San Diego We only stayed for a couple of nights in San Diego, so we chose to stay in a camper van by the beach! We stayed in La Jolla at Windansea beach. It was definitley an experience, but I think we’re both glad we only stayed in the Van for two nights. Our host was awesome though. He met us when we “checked in” to the van and messaged us an extensive list of restaurants and bars to check out in the area.
This was the last leg of the trip, so we mostly just relaxed by the ocean. We would love to come back some day and explore more of San Diego!
Hello! My name is Miriam, but practically everyone calls me Mim. I recently graduated from a BSN program and am practicing as a nurse on a pulmonary/renal medical unit. During nursing school, I didn’t have a lot of free time, and what free time I had, I spent sleeping or hanging out with friends. Because of that, I am still trying to figure out what hobbies and activities I most enjoy filling my free time with. I do enjoy being active and being outdoors – hiking, camping, swimming, skiing – although I don’t get outside as often as I like because as it turns out, as a nurse, I still only sleep and hang out with friends (as much as one can during a pandemic) on my off days.
On top of just starting my nursing career, I also just recently moved to a new city. I know I’m not the only one to move to a new place alone during a pandemic, nonetheless, it doesn’t make it any less difficult to settle in and make connections in a new place. BUT I am enjoying my cute little town and all it has to offer and hope to continue exploring it as long as I’m here!
Some random facts about me: I love warm weather and hope to live by the beach someday. I just adopted a kitten named Beau and she is the most cuddly thing ever. I have no idea what kind of nurse I want to be; I have a new dream job every day. I love to swim and swam competitively in high school. I studied abroad in Europe and India during college and can’t wait to travel again once it’s safe to do so.
This blog will contain a wide variety of posts. I hope to use it as a space to document all the new hobbies I want to try as well as write about topics that are important to me and just braindump what’s on my mind. I’ll cover topics from sustainable living to DIYs to travel to nursing and wellness and everything in between. It’s going to be a hodgepodge of all my current, future, and potential interests – it’s gonna be fun 🙂
The first time you do anything it’s not going to be good. That’s certainly true about this blog at least. I’ve been wanting to start a blog for awhile, so I decided to just go for it instead of waiting for it to be the absolute best blog before I publish posts. I have a lot of different ideas for what I want to write about. I’m still learning about the blog writing process and how everything works. Regardless, I hope you’ll join me on this journey and that you’ll find at least one of my posts entertaining or helpful. Lastly, I hope to connect with everyone reading this! One of the main reasons I’m interested in starting a blog is for the community. So, don’t be afraid to reach out and connect with me or let me know what kind of posts you want to see!
Miriam B 