Beautiful Sights of California

This year I am fortunate enough to get to spend the winter holidays out in the beautiful golden state, California! Even if you had told me 6 months ago I would be here right now, I wouldn't have believed you. I have always dreamed of coming to see if it really is all that it is cracked up to be on television and movies. A good portion of my idea of California came from the MTV reality show "The Hills." Like many of you other girls out there, I had always hoped to have a life as awesome as the characters on the show. I idolize Lauren Conrad, one of the main characters on the show, she had all of the boys, cute clothes, and an awesome job at Teen Vogue! Now she even has her own clothing line, which is just ridiculously awesome for a 26 year old. But anyhow, it truly has been great visiting out here and I would absolutely love to live here after I graduate from college.

Now here are some of the awesome things I have done while in Southern California! :)

For the majority of the trip I am staying south of San Diego, in Chula Vista. It is a pretty nice town, although it is only 2 exits away from the Mexico border, so you have to be careful. Before I got here I was expecting to see a lot of stereotypical blonde surfer boys, but surprisingly, Caucasians are definitely the minority in So. Cal.. With that being said, the citizens here are probably some of the nicest people I have ever met!

Near by is the U.S.Olympic Training Center, located in Chula Vista. They offer free tours on Saturdays, that last about 1 hour long. Volunteers show you around the premise, where many athletes live and train year round. It was an interesting tour, but if I was staying any further north of San Diego I wouldn't go out of my way to see it. Shown below is one of the BMX race tracks they have set up.

One must see attraction in So. Cal. is the San Diego Zoo! I am the youngest in my family and we all had a great time, so zoos aren't just for kids. They had more animals than I could have imagined and really cool ones at that. I recommend taking the tour of the park before you get started off on your own. Below is a Red Panda that we saw, of course they have regular panda bears too, but this one was just absolutely adorable, and unique! 

Next, we hit up Sea World San Diego! If you have never been to a Sea World Park you have to go! And if you are willing to fork out a little extra dough for a great buffet lunch and up close view of Shamu, then you should definitely look into Dining with Shamu. Here is a pic I snapped of Shamu during the One Ocean show. (I got a new camera for Christmas, so I was pretty stoked when I got this awesome shot.) It truly is incredible that a 4 ton lb animal can jump out of the water so high!

For beautiful sight seeing locations you MUST go to La Jolla and Sunset Cliffs Park. La Jolla was stunning! We visited spur of the moment one day and were blown away when we got there. One of the first things we noticed were these loud noises which turned out to be coming from seals that were all over the beach. We thought we could only see seals at SeaWorld, but we got a great view of wild ones all over La Jolla. 

And if you are looking to get an especially great view of the sunset, then you should go to Sunset Cliffs Park. Also, in San Diego, these cliffs over looking the ocean are a magnificent place capture some great pics. We didn't see any wildlife here , but it is still an awesome place. If you are feeling brave you can walk down the rocky/cliff/mountainous terrain to get a better view. Me and my brother did, but my mom almost had a heart attack. During the summer you can jump off of the cliffs there and go kayaking/scuba diving into the caves below. Here are some pics I caught from there! :)

OHHH-AHHHH. (Due to the clouds, we didn't get to see the sun set completely, but it was still amazing)

Yep, that's me and my brother out there, trying not to slip!

A good view of the ocean, cliffs, and residential area surrounding it-and me!

And one more, just cause I couldn't help myself. ;)

That's all I've got for now, but I will update in a few days after I explore Los Angeles! 

Love, 

      LST

P.S. I hope you all are enjoying your winter holidays as well! It's important that we don't forget to make these moments with our loved ones count.