For the most recent Christmas break, my family took a trip to southern California. We flew into San Diego, which was quite the approach to watch out the window. We came in landing towards the west, which would be on runway 27 there, which brought us in over mountains, and on short final really close to the elevated highway which is right next to the airport. We spent a few days in the San Diego area and did a lot of sightseeing activities and hikes. We went kayaking one day, but unfortunately the water was rougher that day and we couldn’t go near the nearby caves.
After spending about 4 days in the San Diego area, we left on the 5th morning very early to go north to the Los Angeles area to attend the Rose Bowl parade. We hadn’t yet bought tickets for the actual Rose Bowl Game yet as when we booked the vacation, the teams for the game were not yet decided. However, after watching the parade which is definitely as good as people make it sound, we started to walk more towards the stadium which ended up being quite a walk. When we got closer to the stadium, we found a spot to buy last minute tickets for the game and we ended up being able to buy some last minute tickets. The game was very exciting, and the best part about it in my opinion was the scenery in which the stadium is situated in. Looking around kind of messes with your head as it seems like you are looking at really high quality images of mountainous landscape that turn out to be the actual landscape itself. The size of the nearby mountains and the large houses built on those mountains, combined with palm trees and the always blue skies of southern California make it a spot that any college football fan should experience at least once in their life.
After the game and the shocking traffic and public transit jams we sat through, we made it back to where we were staying, which was now a beachside hotel in Oxnard California, which is technically northwest of Los Angeles. We stayed there for about 2 days, which was unlike any beach I had ever seen in terms of how nice it was. On our last day, we took a scenic drive through Malibu and Santa Monica down the Pacific Coast highway on our way to LAX. Once we got to LAX, we went to the famous In n Out Burger that is at the east end of the north runway pair at LAX. This has to be one of my favorite places to go, as you can enjoy a meal while watching airplanes of all sizes come in to land (I included a picture of this in my first post).
The southern California area is so nice, and if costs of living weren’t so expensive I’d definitely consider living out there one day after I got a job with an airline. However, I am eager to see where aviation takes me.