California Girl

I have a new love affair…and its California. New York I’m sorry, you and I have had some great times together but California is offering me so much more: the ocean and sunshine. NY you can be a little cold sometimes…

Don’t worry I’ll keep you as a casual weekend fun kind of thing.

A cross between Sydney and Europe California is warm, beautiful, fun and full of beautiful people. I was lucky enough to stay Shelby’s step-mother’s house, forever now known as “Resort Renee”. When we weren’t spending our days lazing by the pool, drinking smoothies, exploring secret beaches, having picnics or shopping, Shelby was showing me her home city – San Diego. An eclectic, friendly and summer-loving place, San Diego offered me everything from Acai bowls, hikes, surf and brilliant sunsets.

Shelby – tour guide, friend and driver extraordinaire also lead a weekend road trip. From San Diego, to UCLA, to UCSB we had an amazing time! We met up with friends, ate like the locals, checked out the nightlife at different colleges, went to a paint party and soaked up some much needed sun. Back in San Diego we even managed to sneak in prom!

 After two weeks with my college bestie, I was so excited to see my long-standing bffls…aka Mum and Dad. Just as I had sufficiently drove Shelby’s family insane counting down the hours until they arrived…the evening had come! And they were trapped in San Fran…having missed their connecting flight (thanks Air New Zealand). The Wailes family leapt to attention and distracted me (whilst Mum and Dad got rejected from standby). The next morning they arrived and a new set of fun began!

We caught up on lots of tid bits of information that slip through the cracks with Skype and whatsapp and enjoyed 5 days exploring San Diego with Shelby’s family.Though we hit a bit of a cold snap we walked around, ate at delicious restaurants, went out on an old friend’s boat for the day and enjoyed cooking for Shelby’s family. Then the Maray’s were off on the Highway 1 trip from San Diego to San Fran.

We left a little late one day (having too much fun eating at the Country Club) and so skipped Santa Monica and LA on our way to Santa Barbara. (Don’t worry I had been earlier with Shelby and have to say it was one of my favourite places in America). We stayed in a gorgeous B&B for two nights in Santa Barbara, tried out local Mexican and seafood, went down to the pier, admired gorgeous chalk art and explored the area. We then drove through wine country, checked out some sights and the next day began the Big Sur drive. With sheer cliffs, blue seas, an abundance of seals and even a beach waterfall it was a gorgeous drive and we had lunch on a cliffside terrace overlooking the water.

Settling into our wood cabin for the night we played memory (I won), hangman (mum won) and spot the squirrel (dad won) and headed out a bit too late for dinner. The next door “restaurant” was a comedy of errors, didn’t get seated despite multiple free seats, forgot a dish, forgot cutlery, put cutlery down on dirty table…
After Dad quite loudly called our bearded waiter “Caveman” we thought it well time to leave…and after navigating in the dark made it to our fire pit for some Aussie s’mores aka just Tim Tams and fireside songs. 

The next morning, after some blueberry pancakes, we were on the road again. Stopping to investigate the somewhat exclusive beach side Carmel we headed to Monterey. Though our hotel room overlooked a petrol (gas) station and Dad’s bad parking, Monterey was incredibly beautiful. The pastel beachside houses, cute piers and nighttime market really made the town. We had a lovely dinner all together on the water, looking at seals frolicking as Mum fell in love with a crab and avocado tower.

The last leg of our journey had come far too quickly…San Francisco. With Mum determinately singing “San Francisco open your golden gates” we crawled through traffic into San Fran at about 8pm. Dinner that night was just down the road at Pacific Catch where fish tacos, Korean sticky ribs, Hawaiian Poke and sweet Thai iced tea all blended together in a sleep inducing mix. Our next few days in San Fran were spent on cable cars, admiring the architecture, spying the Golden Gate bridge, heading over to Berkley, sampling more seafood and Ghirardelli sundaes. All too soon we were rushing out of Walmart (we have way too much fun there) and heading for their airport.

Saying goodbye was a little harder than I expected, even though I was seeing them in eight weeks. These extra two weeks, which we had never intended upon, were so fantastic.I am awaiting impatiently my next trip to California and my trip to France with Mum and Dad in August, but in the meantime I will have to enjoy my next adventure: the Mississippi Delta!