About: SoCal Vacation 2019

Buckle in, this is going to be a long ride - and I don't just mean from Idaho to California... although that is as well. We split up the drive, stopped in Hawthorne, Nevada on Friday night, and got up early to drive the rest of the way to Riverside, California. The drive - which is pretty familiar by now - was the prettiest we have ever seen it. So green, so beautiful.

Fun with friends began ASAP...

It was actually quite chilly and yuck weather-wise on Sunday so we drove up to Palm Springs for the day. You guys, it was a Gorgeous day there.... 

We made a point to go back to Koffi (a coffee shop that Steph and I had been to last year), and turns out, just behind the shop was this gorgeous little communal garden area!

 See the hummingbird?

We just had a lovely time with our friends, as always, relaxing - eating - being together. 

Tuesday we were headed to Anaheim, but last minute decided to take a detour to Laguna Beach, and we were SO glad we did! We got ourselves a perfectly sunny, blue skies, beachy warm wind kind of day. 

Another last-minute-ish decision was to spend a day at Disneyland. I know this must be shocking. But really we weren't planning to go until the Curtis' family invited us to join them; it's been 13 years since we were there with them last, and who knows when we will be again - so we figured this was a good time to go!

Oh yeh, and it was the day that Star Wars land opened to the rich and famous - it was the world premiere event for specially invited guests (ie. not us), but it was still really cool to be around when this whole shin-dig was happening. 

 Oh hey, we know them!

 There it is - so close, and yet so far. 

 First time on Indy for this girl (yeh, she didn't love it). 

 

 Our fav!

 So about lunch time, we figured out that celebrities were being spotted in the park for Star Wars opening, we were keeping our eyes peeled for "plaids" - the tour guides that get assigned to bigwigs. This is Brie Larson, she played Captain Marvel and is completely awesome - she walked right by us in front of Space Mountain. It was epic. We also saw Kareem Abdul Jabar and a couple of other people. 

 A churro for the road, er, the walk back to the hotel. 

 Next time Disneyland, next time. 

We really had a wonderful, magical time - so much fun with family and memories made with cousins - plus it wasn't very busy so we hit 20+ rides!

On to Bakersfield...

 and Denali's graduation!

 gotta be twinsie

 There she is!

 It was SO hot, even in the shady side of the stadium. but -my word- it was an incredible view. 

 4 hours later - she's graduated! 

 I met this one when she was 2 months old and taking a bath - then she was my flower girl, and my first niece, and the sweet big cousin to my kids. I love this girl - she is going to do great things in the next phase of her life. 

Carolina just begin a basic Californian, driving a Tesla...

 We fell in love with this little kitty, and regret not bringing her home with us. 

 The last meal,  In-N-Out...

 Straight home, no lay-overs. It went strangely fast. 

 The sunrise was not terrible. 

 We accidentally took a different route home - it was actually a happy accident - we ended up going over Donner Pass (safely) and got to touch some snow. 

It was an AMAZING trip to Cali!