California!

I am very lucky to have family in some pretty awesome places.  My mom lives in Southern California and so does that entire side of my family. The BF and I were able to visit last August but decided that Memorial Weekend would be the perfect time to make it back out there.  We packed so much into the 5 days we were though but it was so worth it!

We were lucky enough to be gifted a one night stay in the beautiful Hyatt Regency in Long Beach by a coworker.  They had won the stay and knew they would never use it so they gave it to us for free!  We flew in on Wednesday and had time for some beachside margaritas before we passed out in our glorious bed.  We decided to splurge on room service breakfast since neither of us had every ordered before and it was so much fun to eat breakfast in bed.  The hotel overlooked the ocean and the Queen Mary which made for a great morning view.  Since we had nothing to do for the day we decided to grab some poolside mimosas and then hit the beach AKA my favorite place in the whole wide world.  It really was the perfect start to the vacation!

 

 

My mom came and grabbed us from the hotel and we ate the best sushi I have ever had at Maru Maki in Long Beach.  I will truly dream of that sushi until I can get back.

The next day we decided to do something touristy and figured there was no better location then the Hollywood Hills.  I have spent so much time in Southern California and yet have never once hiked the hill or even seen the sign up close.  We looked online and found that there were a ton of different paths to take you up and around the back of the sign.  It was a perfect day for a hike and it felt good to get up and do something athletic and so cool.  We got a ton of pics and it was awesome to see the sign from the back.

 

The one big family day we had planned was Sea World which is somewhere I haven't been to since I was very little.  Every time I go to Cali I plan a trip to Disney but since we were just there in Feb I decided to give the BF a break and do something different.  Sea world was so much better then I remembered it and it was awesome to see all of the different shows and exhibits.  Sadly we didn't get any family pics even though I told everyone I wanted to but the BF and I did get a pretty awesome pic with Shamu peaking his head up in the background.

 

 

 

Our final event of the weekend that was planned out was a trip to visit Stone Brewery.  The BF loves their beer and we had heard that their facility looks more like tropical gardens then a brewery.  It did not dissapoint!  The whole place was absolutely gorgeous and we were able to grab an amazing meal and a few drinks in their outdoor dining area which rivaled most commercial gardens I have seen.

 

Overall it was an amazing trip and it was so great to see my Mom and family since I don't get to see them often!