travel diaries: California

California was amazing. I don't know how else I can describe it. I have fallen in love and now I can't wait to go back. Being there with my best friend made it even more memorable, and we are already planning when we can make another trip out there. I had over a thousand pictures to go through from my trip, so you can imagine it was very hard to choose which ones I would post. But here are some of my favorites, so you can have a glimpse at my adventures in California.



My love of Cali began as our plane flew into LA. This is quite a different sight for me to see, since I currently live in a small town in Alabama.


Our first stop was the beach, of course. This is Huntington. My first step on a west coast beach was breathtaking. In front of you is the huge expanse of the ocean, behind you are palm trees, and far off in the distance are the mountains. It is perfect.


Huntington happens to be one of the top surfing beaches in the area, so it was a lot of fun watching the surfers. I wish I could have tried something new and surfed the pacific waves, I'm used to surfing the small waves in my hometown, Virginia Beach.


After this I knew I was in love with the west coast.


We pretended we were real Californians and went from the beach to In-n-Out. One word: delicious. Yes, it is everything everyone describes it as, and better.


Nothing can compare to the beaches of California, but walking around LA was a lot of fun too. It was almost surreal seeing the Hollywood sign. I've seen it so many times in movies and on tv, so finally seeing it in person was very cool.


I love that there are palm trees everywhere, so pretty.


Sometimes doing the tourist-y things is fun. Like having your picture taken next to James Franco's star on the Walk of Fame.


Everywhere you turn there is something interesting to see, like this graffiti wall I snapped a photo of.



Santa Monica was another beach we had to go to. The cliffs on the seaside are beautiful.


But not as beautiful as the ocean.


There was a row of cute little shops near Santa Monica Pier.


My friend Allison and I running off of the lifeguard stand. Shh, don't tell.


We stayed at Santa Monica through sunset. It was a stunning sight. The mountains and palm trees were silhouettes against the pink and purple sky.


The fog rolled in as the sun set, creating a purple haze over the sea. We sat on the shore, watching the waves darken as the light faded from the sky.


Before long it was dark, and the lights of the city twinkled behind us.


Our flight home was early in the morning. We wanted one more thing to remember our trip to California, so we had frozen yogurt for breakfast in the airport.


After a long layover in-between flights, we ended our journey by flying at sunset. Hooray for window seats on the airplane!


I came home with a few souvenirs, including some postcards among other things.

If you stuck with me through that long post, yay! I hope I conveyed at least a little bit of the beauty of California. If you want to see more photos, I posted them in a set on my flickr. (But still only a small bundle compared to the massive amount I took.)

My last stop of my summer travels was Virginia Beach. I will post all about it soon!

Font used in top photo: Little Sparrow

All photos Copyright Jordan Clark, 2013.
Please do not use any of them without my permission. Thank you!