Friday morning we were jet lagged so we woke up at 5:45 and watched the sunrise on the beach. It was so pretty and was a perfect way to start the day.
The plan for the rest of the day was to hitch a ride down to Long Beach with AJ's parents. They ended up needing take his grandparents, so we decided to rent a car and take a fun little road trip. And that is exactly what we did....we drove from Pismo Beach to Long Beach with just a map. We were so tired the night before that we didn't charge either of our cell phones so we had no phones, no internet, no GPS. It was such an adventure!
We decided to go inland and stop at a winery we found somewhere in Santa Barbara county (I think near you, Chiada) and while we were there Alson got a call from one of the law firms in my hometown and was offered a summer associate position for next summer!! So then we hit up four more wineries in the Santa Ynez Valley to celebrate! Don't worry, we shared tastings to avoid a DUI. How happy does my husband look?!
We also ate lunch at one of the wineries that doubles as a culinary school. We shared a wood fired pizza and it was delicious.
Once we hit the coast again we took the Pacific Coast Highway down through Malibu and Santa Monica. So beautiful!
Saturday morning we woke up and went to a bar at 9 am so that we could watch the ECU game. We're hardcore like that! Luckily the bar caters to the east coast football crowd and had mimosa specials all morning. It was a lot of fun. I'm so excited for football season!
Sunday we went to the beach and did a lot of walking. We also had some fun playing in the sand.
In the afternoon we went to the harbor area for lunch.
That night was the "reception" which was more like a beach party. It was very casual, but it was very close to the ocean so it made for an amazing atmosphere.
So that concludes my California trip recap. It was definitely nice to get away!
What an awesome trip! Yes, the Santa Ynez Valley is about a 30 minute drive south of where I live. Although Santa Maria isn't the hippest place to live, it is located right inbetween the Santa Ynez/Santa Barbara areas and the Pismo Beach/San Luis areas to the north, so in that sense it is ideal. The Santa Ynez Valley is chock full of wineries, many made famous by the movie Sideways. Los Olivos is a cute little town full of wine tasting shops. It is always very warm there so whenever we are feeling the Santa Maria chill we'll just hop in the car and drive into Santa Ynez for the day to warm up. I love the golden rolling hills and all the country. In the winter and spring when it rains all the hills around us turn a beautiful emerald green. There is also a lot of hiking in the area. Pismo is cooler (weather-wise) but has the neat harbor feel to it, especially over towards Avila Beach and Port San Luis. I'd love to live in other parts of the world, but I'm always scared that once I leave here I'll never be able to afford to move back, so I haven't moved yet! Thank you for sharing the pictures. I loooove the sunrise pic of Pismo. Those clouds! Love!
ReplyDeleteThat looks like an amazing trip - I'm so excited for your husband's offer. In these times, that is SUCH good news. I'm glad you both got to get away and relax - you can see how relaxed he is in that picture - I assume it was after the offer? :)
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you had a fun, and really relaxing time. Who would have thought a family wedding could mean such a relaxing weekend.
ReplyDeleteThe picture of the sunrise is absolutely gorgeous!
So beautiful and relaxing! I'm glad you had a good time. The pics are gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great trip, your pictures are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteAwww it looks like you two had a blast!!!! Love the photos :-) Miss you babes
ReplyDeleteJust found your blog! Love it! So nice to meet you!
ReplyDeleteMy husband lived in Santa Barbara for a while so your trip to Pismo and the wineries at Santa Ynez took me down memory lane. Thanks so much! Your trip looked like a ton of fun! Congrats to your SIL and to Alson for scoring the summer position! YAY!
ReplyDeleteYou were right in my neighborhood!! Glad you had fun!
ReplyDeletelooks like you had a fabulous trip!
ReplyDeletethe beach looks amzing!
The pictures are amazing! Glad you had such a great trip and congrats to your husband!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a very fun trip. I just did the 101 drive this weekend-so pretty!
ReplyDeleteCongrats to Alson on the job!
What great pictures!!! And a Winery that serves brick over pizza? Just. wow..
ReplyDeleteSo jealous. A month and a half til my own vacation.... I think I can, I think I can...
ReplyDeleteIt looks beautiful!