San Diego Zoo

If you've seen my Facebook or Twitter updates, I'm sure you'd know by now that our road trip to Sequoia National Park was a complete failure. I can't really explain exactly what happened (at least not in technical terms), but on Monday morning, something in Luke's car broke while he was changing the oil, causing tons of oil to squirt out all over him and his parking space. Yikes. He did end up fixing the problem, but we didn't want to risk having to get towed all the way from Fresno, nor did we want to have to drive my gas-guzzling SUV. Luckily, we were able to cancel our hotel reservations. I'm not going to lie; we were pretty disappointed that we had to cancel our trip. However, we didn't let this little hiccup ruin our week. We simply took another look at our "Places to Go" list and decided to take a second trip down to San Diego the next day. This time, we spent the afternoon at the zoo.

We couldn't have picked a more perfect day to visit the zoo. San Diego always has perfect weather. It was a warm but not too warm 75 degrees and sunny. I did remember to wear comfortable clothes and shoes for the day, but I completely forgot to apply sunscreen. The result? I am now sporting a mild sunburn. Oops.

How adorable is this panda? There was a really long line just to get into the panda exhibit, but it was worth it. I could have spent hours watching this guy nom nom nom on his bamboo.

This huge grizzly bear reminded me of my own humongous teddy bear, Bubba. Are you sensing a pattern? Three out of six of my animal pictures are of bears, my favorite animals. :)

Did you know that the San Diego Zoo also has a petting zoo with farm animals? Since Luke and I didn't get a chance to go to the Orange County Fair this past summer, I jumped at the chance to visit the sheep and goats. This cute little guy was following me around the pen.

After hours of uphill walking around the zoo, Luke and I were STARVING. Yes, I know that all that walking was a good workout. And yes, I know that eating a huge BBQ pulled pork sandwich completely undid all of that hard work. And no, I did not feel guilty afterwards. (I probably should have, but this sandwich was literally too delicious for me to care about calories!) This was just our second visit, but Phil's BBQ has become one my favorite parts of San Diego.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention this: we drove past the San Diego Natural History Museum on our way to the zoo. We've added the museum to our list of places to go in the future. :)

San Diego

Hello everyone! Have you missed me? The last few weeks before graduation have been crazy and I didn't have any time to read any blogs, let alone update my own. Oops. Well, I'm back now and I have pictures from mine and Luke's San Diego daycation from last Friday. Also, my photos from graduation will be posted soon. Sorry for the delay!

Luke and I decided to visit San Diego four days ago. We started the day by browsing the shops at the Seaport Village, which is a nice little shopping and dining complex in Downtown San Diego. Afterwards, we walked down the street to the USS Midway Museum, all while people-watching and enjoying the sights and sounds of the boardwalk.

We just had to take pictures by the giant "Unconditional Surrender" statue. We weren't the only ones here. There were several couples ahead of us who recreated the famous sailor-kissing-a-nurse photograph right in front of this statue. However, unlike those other couples, neither Luke nor I had any desire to have a random stranger take a picture of us kissing. Haha.

Sadly, we didn't have time to go exploring this massive aircraft carrier turned museum. First of all, it was going to close an hour after these photos were taken and there was no way we could explore what was essentially a floating city in only an hour. Secondly, we had to go grab some dinner before heading over to Petco Park for the Angels vs. Padres game. (By the way, the Angels won. YAY!)

Nevertheless, we both had a lot of fun admiring the huge ships and the little fishing boats in the dock. Overall, it was a beautiful day for exploring this fun city, even though it was surprisingly cloudy. 

I can't wait to find out what other amazing adventures we'll go on this summer and beyond. And of course, I'll be sure to let you know all about them!

A Magical Day at Disneyland

I may or may not have mentioned this already, but my wonderful boyfriend spoiled me this year by getting us Disneyland annual passes for my birthday/early anniversary present. We tried to get into the park for the "One More Disney Day" event on Leap Day, but FAILED. However, we got to enjoy a day at Disneyland one week later when there weren't so many people. Special event or not, Disneyland is always magical.

Luke and I stopping to take a picture by Sleeping Beauty's Castle. The way we see it, you can never be too old to wear mouse ears. :)

This picture makes me laugh. I think Luke was trying to do his best fashion blogger pose. Haha. 

It's pretty much always Mardi Gras in Disneyland's New Orleans Square, but I especially loved how everything was decorated for the Bayou Bash. Look at all these vibrant colors!

This little staircase area is right by Pirates of the Caribbean. Again, I loved all the decorations!

And of course, lovely flowerbeds always make me smile.

February Adventures, Part 2: Mt. Baldy

If you can recall this post, I've been wanting to go hiking in the snow since Christmas/Winter Break. Well, my wish had gone unfulfilled for two months...that is, until last Thursday, when Mt. Baldy finally got enough snowfall (but not so much that we needed chains on my tires).

Here I am posing in front of a fallen tree close to the start of the trail. Do I look a little bulky to you? It was 32 degrees that day (which is FREEZING to a Southern California girl like me) and I was wearing my boyfriend's spare snow jacket and two pairs of pants. Once again, fashion and figure flattery came second to comfort and warmth.

Here's Lucas, looking like a stud. :) I always joke with him and tell him that he could be a model for L.L.Bean or REI.

The Ice House. This would be such a lovely place to rest and enjoy the warmth of a campfire (even though I'm pretty sure that's illegal).

This was the giant rock that we climbed on top of and ate lunch on when we came here last spring. As you can see, it was covered in snow and ice, so there really wasn't any safe way to get on it. Still, visiting meaningful places is always fun.

This is probably my favorite picture of the day. Just look at all those amazing colors and trees. It reminds me of William Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey":

--Once again

Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,

That on a wild secluded scene impress

Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect

The landscape with the quiet of the sky. (Lines 4-8)

Pardon my literary nerdy-ness. :)

Anyway, after the hike, we were too tired and too lazy to make a full sized snowman. Instead, we made a cute miniature one to put on top of my car. His name was Herbert. It was so cold that Herbert actually stayed intact long enough to enjoy a scenic drive with us.

I really like this picture too. Don't you just love how my dusty windshield makes it look like it's snowing outside? Notice the ice on the road. Just to be safe, we turned around to avoid driving here. And about Herbert: sadly he melted long before we made it back home. Orange County was at least 30 degrees warmer than up here in the mountains.

I wish I could say that we made this awesome snowman - er, snowbear - but we didn't. We found it by the side of the road close to one of the mountain lodges. We just had to pull over and take a picture.

A gorgeous sunset to end the day. Lucas took this picture because by this time, it was so cold that I didn't want to get out of the car anymore. Strangely though, I was craving a snow cone or a slush drink. We stopped by a 7-Eleven on the way home to get me a cherry Slurpee.

February Adventures, Part 1: LA

Yikes, I've been such a terrible blogger lately! Despite my lack of posts, I can assure you that I have been having a fabulous February - a February filled with lots of adventures. These are amazing adventures that I will now gladly share with all of you.

Last Sunday (on the day before my birthday), Lucas and I went on a day trip to Los Angeles. We started off by having delicious French dip sandwiches at Phillipe's. If you're ever in the LA area, I can assure you that the half hour-long lines are absolutely worth it. In fact, the only reason why I don't have any pictures of our sandwiches (and potato salads) is because we started devouring them almost immediately. Haha.

After lunch, we made our way over to the Natural History Museum. I visited this museum with my friends last summer and I enjoyed this second visit just as much. I'm sure Lucas had lots of fun too. :)

After exploring the museum for a couple of hours, we braved the LA traffic and drove to Santa Monica. After stopping for snacks and sodas at a local drug store, we found free parking a block away from a shopping center full of twinkling lights and live music. After walking around and taking pictures for a while, we walked over to the pier.

Yes, I know that my boyfriend's jacket is not very flattering on me. We were by the ocean though and it was freezing. My thin cardigan just wasn't cutting it.