A few weeks ago, my wife and I had the opportunity to visit Southern California for the first time. I know, I know. It’s hard to believe that we’d never been there before, but it is true. Frankly, it is a long way from our home base in Indiana, and we’ve never really had any reason to go to California. So, we decided to tack some extra time onto the end of our trip to Las Vegas and head to sunny Laguna Beach for a few days.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure I was going to like SoCal. Personally, I could never figure out what all the hype was about. I’ve been a lot of beautiful places in my life, and Southern California just didn’t seem to be burning a hole in my pocket.

After landing in L.A. and spending the afternoon there, I was really starting to wonder what the big deal was. We spent some time meandering through Hollywood and Beverly Hills, but the neighborhoods and houses weren’t any nicer than a lot of the places near where we live.

Then, there is the traffic. If there’s one thing (other than movies…and smog) that L.A. is famous for, it is this. Trying to get out of L.A. was pretty much a nightmare. Where we come from, driving 40 miles should take 40 minutes to an hour, tops. Our little trek to Laguna Beach took us about 2 hours. Oi!

However, once we made it into Orange County, the traffic began to subside and the natural beauty of the area took our breath away. After exiting I-5 onto CA-133, we could barely contain our excitement. As we began our downward descent into Laguna Beach, we were blown away by the scenic hills and cliffs surrounding the town. Winding our way down to the beach, we immediately felt at home with Laguna’s artsy vibe. We hit the “T” at CA-1 and spotted our hotel, The Inn at Laguna Beach. [Read more…]