Summer Trip - part 1: California

Hi All,

Beth and I recently got back from a trip that took us to California, Oregon, and Washington. This post will just be about our first 1/3 of the trip, California. Hopefully we'll get the other two states blogged about soon, but no promises as we move to Lawrence next week and we may be pretty occupied with all of that.

Let me preface this blog with an explanation as to why we took this trip. Last December, a college friend of ours, Brad Osborn, announced to us that he was getting married in Seattle over the summer and would like me (James) to be in the wedding. Not only were we excited to be a part of his wedding, but now we had a great excuse to visit the Northwest! It was a trip we had been planning to take within the next three years, so it was nice knowing we were going to visit it sooner than we originally thought.

Skip ahead to this past spring... After spending a fun week with our friends, Mandi and Aaron, in Guatemala, we decided to add in some days to see them in Los Angeles on this trip. We are so happy we were able to see them, as we always have a great time together, and they made our time in California very fun and memorable. Here are the highlights!

Hiking up to the Hollywood sign.
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A stroll down the Walk of Fame.
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All being fans of The Office, we had to check out Dunder Mifflin, which happened to be in a completely random, semi-ghettoy neighborhood.
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Getty Art Museum - the buildings and grounds were amazing--the best we've ever seen. ---

The Disney Conert Hall (designed by Frank Gehry)
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L.A. Observatory
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A day at the beach in Malibu, followed by delicious fresh seafood.
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Numerous delicious meals cooked at home by Mandi and Aaron. Here we are making our favorite, BBQ pizza!
"See how good that looks!"
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Seeing the new Harry Potter movie in a nice theater that even had costumes from the film on display.
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Afternoon at the pool.
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This doesn't cover everything we did. Somehow we managed to pack in a lot of activities without seeming too rushed or busy. We can't thank the Forehands enough for showing us such a good time and being such thoughtful, kind, and fun hosts! And thanks to Twink for being such a sweet dog.