When I first moved to Southern California, I was pretty excited to live just a short drive away from the San Diego area's wine region, known as Temecula Valley. I would bring visiting family and friends there to go gallivanting around the area's wineries tasting wine, noshing on snacks, listening to live music, and enjoying the beautiful wine country scenery. This year, Temecula celebrated the 50th anniversary of its first commercial vineyard. These days, over 40 wineries exist in the small region. It's just a drive away for residents of San Diego, Los Angeles, and Orange County, so it's a popular spot for city dwellers to have a weekend country getaway. In fact, my husband and I visited Temecula in August for my birthday, and we've spent weekends there for our anniversary and ... [Read More]
featured adventure post
My 25 Favorite Experiences Road Tripping from San Diego to New York
A month ago, I left my home in the San Diego area to road trip 2,800+ miles to New York with my husband and dog. I talk about it more in this post, but we moved back to the east coast where A and I are originally from after almost a decade living in beautiful Cali, and are currently looking for our next home in coastal CT. It's pretty wild to check out the complete route on a map - It's a LONG trip! Being the adventurer that I am, I had no intentions of driving for days nonstop to get to our destination. Rather, I wanted to take our time making our way out and make it fun. When we moved out to the west coast we took a more northern route, so this time we opted to take a more southern route to get to see some places we've never visited before. Admittedly, our timing was not ... [Read More]
10 of My Favorite Things to Do in San Diego
When I moved to San Diego, I immediately fell in love with the area for its beauty and all that there is to see and do. From gorgeous beaches to majestic mountains, the area has it all. With so many pockets of awesome areas throughout San Diego County, you can be here for years and still have so much to see... I know that was the case for me! Even after living there for over 7 years, I feel like I left without exploring every area. Even so, I know that one thing is for sure: I took full advantage of living in San Diego and was constantly having fun. I wanted to be able to leave one day saying that I lived it up in beautiful California, whether that meant exploring the beaches, eating my way through the city, taking road trips through the state up the coast, or trekking through as ... [Read More]
10 Memorable Experiences in Kauai {sun, sand, trails, eats, drinks & more!}
While I was planning a recent getaway to Kauai, I was envisioning a relaxing escape with beautiful beaches, awesome outdoor activities and friendly Hawaiian people. Kauai was exactly what I had hoped it would be, and once we arrived, I quickly fell in love with the island! Nicknamed "the Garden Isle" due to the majority of it being covered with tropical rainforest, Kauai has a population of just 65,000 people (and many more wild roosters roaming everywhere you turn!). I really got the sense that the people from there are proud of their island, and I love how connected they are to the land that they call home. That respect for the earth, love for the ocean, and pride in eating local food and supporting local business is something that I think is missing from much of mainland America ... [Read More]
Hiking in Kauai: Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge’s Okolehao Trail Recap
"Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt." - John Muir Aloha friends! Two weeks ago, my husband and I jetted off to Hawaii for a getaway. Having only been to Oahu before, I had been wanting to explore a more remote island in Hawaii for awhile now. After doing some research, Kauai seemed like a perfect paradise to visit for an adventurous and relaxing trip. Naturally, we planned on spending our days outdoors doing active things. Surfing was on the top of his list, and hiking was on the top of mine. I'm going to share my favorite parts of the trip overall in another post soon, but today I want to recap one of the hikes that we had a chance to do in Kauai. We stayed on the eastern side of the island in Kapaa, and rented a car so that we could ... [Read More]
3 Ways I Save Money on Airfare
Hi friends! I just got back from Kauai, where I had an amazing getaway with my husband. We hiked, zip lined in the tropical forest, relaxed on the beach, went swimming in the ocean, ate good food, enjoyed some drinks, and explored the beautiful island together. I didn't want to leave, though we really packed a lot in in the short time we were there. I will be sharing more about my trip soon, but today I want to talk about another travel topic: my favorite ways to save money on airfare. I travel often and love getting a good deal on flights. In recent years, I feel like I've become pretty good at planning travel (and I really enjoy it!), so I thought I'd share a few of my favorite ways to save money on airfare. Use Hopper to monitor flights. One of my favorite travel ... [Read More]