Family :: Best Places to Visit in Southern California

 

 
My family moved to California when I was in kindergarten.  Before that we lived in Austin, Texas but both my parents were from the Midwest and they told me it had always been their dream to live in sunny California. So when my dad was offered a job in Fresno, California, they jumped at the chance to realize their dream!  We moved to Orange County while I was in second grade and I ended up living here through my college breaks. After attending college in Northern California, I travelled and lived abroad for about three years in Asia, but I came back home to Orange County in my late 20’s.  My husband and I purchased our first (and present) home about 12 years ago in a wonderful neighborhood with an amazing public school system.  It was scary purchasing our first home and I can remember the stress we felt during that time.  We weren’t sure if we were buying at the top of the market and didn’t want to see ourselves upside down.  But one thing that our realtor kept telling us was to buy where we wanted to live and stay awhile.  That way, no matter what happened, we were in a place we loved.  The CA Association of REALTORS® “Ripple” campaign connects the dots between REALTORS® and the California economy, illustrating how a Champion of Home™ can help consumers close on their dreams and, together, benefit the entire state.  I found it interesting that one home purchase stimulates the economy by $60K!  I just love living in Orange County and wanted to share some of my favorites spots to visit.  If you are local, or planning a visit,  here are some of my favorite places to visit.  Who knows, you just might fall in love with the sites and sounds of California and want to make a move!

 

 

Day Trips:

The Huntington Beach Dog Park:

Dog Beach is located in Huntington Beach, CA on Pacific Coast Highway between Seapoint Ave, and 21st Street.
Hours of Operation: From 5am to 10pm 365 days. The parking lots close at 10pm.

This is a great place to take your kids and furry kids and hang out for the day.  We took our 110+ pound puppy there last month and you could just see the smile on his face.  He couldn’t get enough of the sand and ocean.  Granted he wasn’t too bright and thought the sand was for eating… but he had a blast playing with the other dogs on the beach.

 

 

As you can see, my daughter had just as much fun jumping off the Lifeguard Towers as well!  To read more about the Huntington Dog Beach go here.

Crystal Cove:

If you are planning a visit to Southern California you really must check out the tide pools at Crystal Cove along the Pacific Coast Highway in Laguna Beach. The Crystal Cove State Park has 3.2 miles of beach and 2,400 acres of backcountry wilderness (Source: Crystal Cove website).  You can enjoy the rolling surf, vast sandy beaches, sloping hills and walk along the canyons. We head out there on the weekends occasionally and take nice walks along the pathway with our dog.  The beaches are gorgeous and there are a ton of tide pools to explore!  Check out the gorgeous mystical caves!

 

 

 

Our family has a whole story going about who lived in these caves and what creatures are presently living in there now.  It is such a wonderful way to educate your children the ocean and see first hand little creatures living in the tide pools.  We saw sea snails, crabs, and a ton of abalone living in a little ecosystem. To read more about Crystal Cove go here.

 

 

The Camp and The Lab:

2937 Bristol Street, Costa Mesa, CA 92626

I visited The Lab about 10 years ago for the first time and fell in love with the cool shops and restaurants they offer.  The Camp is very kid-friendly as well and my favorite restaurant (Old Vine Cafe) is located there.  They have the BEST breakfast and pretty much everything is homemade.  From the homemade scrapple to fried green tomatoes, this crew really knows how to treat their patrons with delicious food.  Plus they have a wonderful area with a swing that my daughter is always playing in and local artists created some interesting metal artwork as you can see in the upper right corner of our picture.  There are a ton of wonderful shops to visit and we love getting some green gifts at the adorable shop Organic Designs by Aggelige.

 

 

We love daydreaming that we are riding away into the sunset on this colorful bicycle centered right in front of another favorite hotspot – The SEED: People’s Market.  If you are local or visiting make sure to check out these cool spots.

 

Family Fun:

Make sure to visit Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm!

 

Disneyland is one of our favorite places to visit and we budget for the year so we can get the Southern California Pass.  It is one of our main places we go for entertainment for the year so it works out to be pretty cost-effective.  It really is such a magical place and Halloween and Christmas time are extra fun to visit.

 

 

During the holidays, the whole park is decorated and we loved this carriage outside the Haunted Mansion around Halloween.  They have a ton of fun activities throughout the year.  We plan to attend their 24 hour party on May 23rd from 6 am to 6 am at Disneyland and Disney World.  It’s their annual Rock Your Disney Side Party and you can get more information about this fun event here. To read more about Disneyland tickets available go here.  I like how they offer no-interest payment plans for the Southern California Passes!

 

 

Knott’s Berry Farm is one of our favorites places to visit as well.  I celebrated my high school graduation there and have a ton of fond memories.  My favorite treat was and still is their funnel cakes! My daughter is all about roller coasters these days and just loves Knott’s Berry Farm huge selection of rides.  Snoopy Camp is really fun as well and great for babies on up to about 11 years old.  Here we are celebrating Halloween with some of our favorite Peanut Characters!  To read more about Knott’s Berry Farm go here.  They also offer a low monthly payment for season passes as well.  And now that summer is here you might want to check out their water park Soak City!

 

 

 

See Some Stars in Downtown Hollywood:

We had a chance to visit downtown Hollywood back in January and had a blast!  There are a ton of sights to see including The El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, The Hollywood Wax Museum, and Hard Rock Café.  Make sure to order their hamburgers, fries and milkshakes.  You just might feel like you are in a scene from Pulp Fiction!  It is a great place to visit with the kids as you don’t know who you will run into.

 

Here is Spiderman about to go climb some buildings before he stopped by to say hello to my daughter!

 

Benefits of Home Ownership:

The REALTORS® as Champions of Home™, the “Ripple” campaign goes beyond the story of the individual REALTOR® and focuses on the powerful positive economic impact that REALTORS®, buyers, and sellers are making throughout California. The facts (Source: National Association of REALTORS®).  Some other interesting facts I found about the benefits of home ownership include:

 

• One job is generated for every two home sales
• One home purchase stimulates the economy by $60K
• A homeowner’s net worth is 34 times that of a renter

 

So next time you are looking for a daily trip with the family, make sure to stop on by some of our favorite spots!  It is great to get-away for the day or week.

 

Note: I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

 

 

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