When I'm not working on my PhD program, I pretend that I am a world traveler, like to hike and camp, obsess over hedgehogs, and make a mess in the kitchen. Latest adventure? I (somewhat) recently returned back to southern California after living in South Africa for half a year with my fiancé. While I've got somewhat of a love/hate relationship with southern California, I wanted to share the five things that I truly love about living in the bottom half of the golden state.
Getting Out Into Nature: Hiking / Camping
Believe it or not, but there are some beautiful places to go hiking and camping in southern California. The Angeles National Forest has a bunch of beautiful hiking trails and camping spots tucked in the mountains. I love hiking through the Santa Anita Canyon and Mt. Baldy.
While there are plenty of places to go camping in the forest, I prefer to go camping in the desert. Both the Mojave and Anza Borrego deserts have beautiful places to go camping. If you're interested in desert camping, I suggest that you check out 10 reasons why I love the desert.
Going Wine Tasting
Although the northern part of the state is known as the California wine region, the southern half is also home to some great wineries. Both the Santa Barbara (and the Santa Ynez Valley) and Temecula have incredible (and often inexpensive) wineries to try. You can see my favorite Temecula wineries here.
Taking The Family To The Theme Parks
Regardless of your age, southern California has a theme park for everyone. While Disneyland and California Adventure are usually my go-to parks, Lego Land is another great and unique park to visit. The park has rides and displays that are fun for both kids and adults. Truthfully the giant Lego displays are really impressive!
Visiting Museums
Believe it or not, Southern California is home to an amazing sort of museums. Two of my favorites are the La Brea Tar Pits and The Getty in Los Angeles. The Tar Pits (which are still bubbling) have an impressive collection of Ice Age fossils and an active excavation site. The Getty is not only an incredible museum (filled with photographs, sculptures, and impressionist art) but also the perfect place for an afternoon picnic.
Spending Some Time On The Beaches
It is no surprise that southern California is known for having gorgeous beaches. From the Los Angeles country, down to San Diego county and Orange county in between, the whole span of coast that lines southern California is gorgeous and is one of the best places to go surfing (which is why the US Open of Surfing takes place in Huntington each year). If you take a trip down to the beaches, I suggest checking out Huntington, Laguna, Venice, Santa Monica, and La Jolla.
I hope that I have successfully convinced you that southern California is actually a wonderful place to visit! A big 'thank you' to Mar for letting me share my adventures with you today. I hope that you stop by my blog and say hello!
What you should be reading:
30 by 30
We're Moving! Goodbye California...
5 Tips for Better Travel Photography
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Nicole, you've definitely convinced me that southern California is a great place to visit. It does have a bad rap at times but regardless I would love it visit the state myself! From the hiking to the wineries to the beaches, I feel like California has something for everybody.
ReplyDeleteShe had me at winery!
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