Spontaneous California Trip!

I get a text from my friend Amy on a Tuesday afternoon saying “This is your official invitation to California this weekend, are you in?!” I read that and my mind said “Absolutely 100% yes!!” Unfortunately I already had my work schedule out for that week and I was scheduled to work Friday and Saturday. So I picked up my phone and texted every one of my coworkers begging someone to take my shifts. Praise the Lord because I was able to get both shifts covered and I responded to Amy’s text saying yes I am 100% in!! We spent hours the next two days searching for flights, hotels, AirB&Bs, rental cars and all the works that go into planning a trip. Wednesday night, we had our flights booked, and Friday, we started this adventure! After looking at about every possible flight option, we found that flights were significantly cheaper out of Dallas, so trying to make this trip as inexpensive as possible, we booked our flights out of that airport. Due to a few different circumstances, we weren’t able to fly out until Saturday, which was a day later than originally planned. 

But instead of just having a wasted day Friday, we decided to make it an adventure too. We left as early as possible from Lafayette, LA and got on the road for our six-hour drive to Dallas. Along the way, we picked up Ashley from Bossier, and after a sing-along filled road trip, we finally made it to Dallas! We first went to downtown McKinney and explored the shops and restaurants around that area. After walking around for a few hours, we found a pizza joint with gluten free options and pigged out on some delicious pizza. Then we made our way to Amazeballs, an amazing cake ball shop! And as you can probably tell by the name, they were amazing!

After our fun adventures around the town, we drove to some of our friends’ house who live in Dallas where we were going to spend the night. We got to visit for a little while, but had to hit the hay pretty early since our flights were at 6:00AM the next morning and the airport was about an hour away. That 3:00AM alarm came way too soon, but we were all super excited for our trip, so we were actually in pretty high spirits. We got to the airport around 4:45AM and made it to our gate with plenty of time to get some coffee and breakfast. We flew from Dallas to Phoenix and then from Phoenix to San Diego. Due to the time difference, we gained two hours and landed in San Diego around 8:30AM and had a full day ahead of us! 

When planning this trip, each of us was assigned a different task of figuring out the logistics of the trip. Since I had lived in San Diego for a summer, my task was to plan out all of our excursions on the trip. I was so excited to have this job because it was going to give me a chance to show my friends some of my favorite spots in San Diego, but also explore some places that I never got a chance to make it to. 

We had a rental car waiting for us at the airport and then we hit the streets of San Diego! The first thing we did was just drive around and explore the city and get some food (since we had been awake for 7 hours at this point!). We grabbed a quick bite at Sonic (I know, of all the food options in San Diego, we went to Sonic?! But it was the only place open at 9AM!). Then we made our way up to La Jolla, which is home to one of my favorite hikes in the world. The Ho Chi Minh trail is full of absolutely breathtaking views of the ocean and a crazy fun hike through canyons down to the ocean. 

We hiked and explored that area for a few hours, then headed to the Spruce Street suspension bridge. It’s basically just a suspension bridge over a valley, so it was really cool. But it’s honestly one of those things that’s cool to say that you’ve seen, but it’s not the most exciting thing when you’re actually there. Don’t get me wrong, it’s cool and it’s a pretty view up there, but I wouldn’t really choose to see that over something else. 

After exploring that area for a little while, we headed to Pacific Beach and fueled up with some much needed caffeine at Better Buzz and BOY did that caffeine help! We were so exhausted already, but we still had so much more left to do. 

After refueling, we finally made our way to the ocean and got to take a stroll in the Pacific! It was a little rainy and cold, but so worth it! My soul feels completely refreshed every time I am near the salty water of the ocean. 

Sadly, we had to leave Pacific Beach, but only to go a few miles south to Point Loma to watch the sunset at Sunset Cliffs. Unfortunately, due to the yucky weather, it was pretty overcast and we didn’t get to see much of a sunset. But Point Loma is absolutely beautiful and full of crazy things to explore, so we still made the most out of it walking around the cliffs and tide pools. 

After a very full day, we did not have very full stomachs, so we headed to Hodads, home of the world famous burgers! We did not realize how hungry we were and we barely said a word during dinner due to stuffing our faces! Even though after dinner we had very full stomachs, we couldn’t go to San Diego without going to Baked Bear for their to-die-for homemade ice cream sandwiches! This was my absolute favorite dessert spot when I lived there and I think they’ve only gotten better since then. I got a red velvet and funfetti cookie sandwich filled with Bear Batter ice cream, warmed up and it was AH-MAZ-ING!! I was so full from dinner, but that sandwich was so good, I ate every single bite! 

After being awake for a solid 21 hours straight, we were exhausted and decided to call it a night. However, there are apparently two Hilton hotels with “SeaWorld” in the name and we unfortunately went to the wrong one. The car ride to the other side of town was almost silent due to us all being so tired from the day. Once we finally got to the correct hotel, we all sat down to make our plan for the next day, then we all crashed. 

We allowed ourselves to sleep in a little until 7:00 and headed to 8:00AM mass at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church. Mass was beautiful and we got to have a nice conversation with the priest after the service. After mass, we wanted to enjoy the beautiful sunny day, so we explored around Mission Bay and found some beautiful spots right on the water and got to watch the waves crash on the rocks (which is one of my favorite things in the world!). Those were some of my favorite times of the weekend, the times where we just got to be still for a few minutes and just enjoy the beauty that was around us. 

Our next plan of action was to explore one of my favorite places, SeaWorld San Diego! My old boss was able to hook us up with some of his extra tickets, so we were able to add this to our adventure while staying within a reasonable budget. I had worked at SeaWorld back in 2017 and my heart was SO happy to be back! That place is honestly the reason I have a marine biology degree today. SeaWorld is what inspired my love of animals and the ocean and it holds a very very special place in my heart. We got to visit all of the animal areas and got to watch a few shows and I loved every second of it. SeaWorld is an amazing place and they are doing so much good in the world and I hope to one day work for them again!

Unfortunately, we had a full day of adventures planned, so we couldn’t stay the whole day and had to leave around 2:00. From there, we started our northbound drive to LA but made a stop at Whispering Sands beach in La Jolla to hunt for sea glass. After finding a few handfuls of sea glass, we hopped on Highway 1 to start our scenic drive to LA. We chased the sun and ended up getting to watch the sunset on South Ponto Beach, which was absolutely gorgeous and a great bonus to our trip! 

We continued our drive and got to LA around 7:00PM. We didn’t really have a plan for once we got there, so we decided to drive up to Hollywood to see the famous sign. Little did we know we were going to be driving around for an hour and a half in search of this dang sign! We were so confused as to why it was so hard to find. Come to find out, it’s not lit up at night! There’s a few small floodlights on top of it, but you have to be looking really hard to be able to see it, which we were. We drove up and down Hollywood Blvd, all over the highways and interstates, and through just about every neighborhood in Hollywood and we were finally able to find it on top of a random mountain near the Hollywood Hills! We finally accomplished this crazy adventure, and were all super exhausted so we decided to call an early night. We dropped off the rental car and took a shuttle to our hotel. 

The next morning, our flight wasn’t until 11:00, so we decided to go on one more adventure before heading home. We called an Uber and made our way to Dockweiler Beach to get one more taste of salty air. Unfortunately, it was pretty cold and rainy, so we didn’t stay too long, and then we headed back to the airport to catch our flights. We flew back to Phoenix, then to Dallas, and then hopped in the car for our six-hour drive back home. 

This was a crazy, fun, awesome, adventurous, exhausting weekend and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I absolutely love that my friends are super spontaneous and just decided to go on a random trip to California three days before we planned on leaving. We packed about five days worth of stuff into two days and it was amazing! I don’t think I could pick a favorite part of the trip because it was all so amazing. I think, though, that collectively my favorite parts were just getting to be immersed in nature, whether that was on top of a cliff, standing in the Pacific ocean, or exploring the caves and tide pools. I absolutely love the natural beauty of this world and I value every second that I get to spend exploring it. Also, I loved just getting to spend so much time going on crazy adventures with my friends. Adventures are always great, but they are always better when you have someone to share them with. Amy, Olivia, and Ashley made this trip so worthwhile and I value their friendship so much! Try to find friends who will go on crazy adventures with you!

San Diego was one of my absolute favorite places that I’ve lived so far and I love exploring it! If you plan on making a trip out there and need suggestions on cool, fun, or adventurous places so visit, let me know! I would love to help. San Diego has so many hidden gems and there are so many places I haven’t had a chance to visit yet, so if you’ve found any great places that I didn’t mention in this post, let me know so I can check them out next time I make a trip out there! Happy adventuring!

Do you enjoy reading about all my travels and adventures? Would you like to help my adventures continue by supporting me financially? If you do, then please know, that would mean the world to me! To do this, you can go to my Patreon page to choose which level you would like to support me at! Thanks for your love and support and remember to make every day an adventure!

Jobs fill your pockets, but adventures fill your soul.

-Jaime Lyn Beatty