Our Malibu Memorial Day

Surprise! We are in California again! It's not a shock this state is so crowded because it's so BEAUTIFUL!

My boyfriend surprised me with a spur of the moment trip out west. It was a total blast driving from Phoenix- you get a glimpse of desert, go up through the mountains, get a peek into Mexico (or at least at the line), and slowly things get greener and more lush as you get to the coast, going past vast fields of fruits and veggies in a rainbow of colors and cute farm stands (of course I made him stop).

We did make one major pit stop on the way- we stopped at Joshua Tree National Park, but it was a last minute detour, mostly out of curiosity, so I cannot remark too much on the park. It was mostly a "hey, can we use this as an excuse for a quick hike to get out of the car for awhile?" kind of stop.

We stopped and did a quick mile hike in Joshua Tree. It was hot- at least in the upper 90s! But the hike there was different from the other hikes we'd done in Sedona. Different Cacti, different rock formations, different desert to see. The park was a little crowded because of the holiday weekend, but, that's what they're there for, right?

This is not a Joshua Tree. But it is me surviving a very hot hike, which is also impressive.

When we finally made it to the beach (we actually stayed in Marina Del Rey), our room wasn't ready so we got upgraded to a little house suite!

The next afternoon we snuck off to a couple beaches- El Matador & The Leo Carillo State Beach. El Matador was incredibly crowded but had some beautiful rocks and cliffs. Apparently it's one of the most popular beaches in the area. Add that to the fact that it was a holiday weekend and we couldn't be too upset that it was so difficult to find a place to put down out towels.

After awhile we grabbed some snacks and went over to the Leo Carillo beach. It was a lot quieter, full of families and had tide pools by the rocky shore where we snooped around for crabs and starfish. It made for a pleasant afternoon.

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Costa Rica | Seas the Day

When you wake up you a view like this, you get pretty desperate to get out on the water. After debating between a few excursion options, we settled on snorkeling. This could've proven to be problematic, because my boyfriend cannot swim! But everything worked out great. We ended up snorkeling with another family in town for a wedding with a lot of young children.

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Costa Rica | Manuel Antonio National Park

After our pants-crapping experience whitewater rafting the day before, we decided to take it easy and head to the beach in the Manuel Antonio National Park adjacent to our hotel. It was maybe the best day spent of our whole trip...

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