Skip and Mandy - The Tourists of California

Skip and I were taking the red eye home Wednesday night, so while everyone else was leaving in the morning, we had the whole day to do some more exploring. 

I didn't feel that great when I woke up in the morning, so I went back to bed while Skip got some breakfast at the hotel.  I finally got up and we were packed up and checked out by 11:00.  Our flight wasn't for another 12 hours...now what?

First things first, we had to check out the Pacific Coast Highway.  Skip and I have been talking about driving it in a convertible, for years.  I was so excited to finally do it!

Let me tell you, it is worth all the hype.  I have never seen a more beautiful drive.

There is something so captivating about the mountains and ocean being so close together.

We obviously had to get out and snap some pictures along the side of the road.

We made it to Malibu around lunchtime, so we stopped and ate there.

Then it was back to the car.  It was time to hit Hollywood!  I had dreamed about wandering around Hollywood for years and was so excited to finally get there.

We saw the Hollywood sign, drove around Rodeo Drive, and searched for celebrities along the Hollywood Walk of Fame and their hand prints in the cement.

I wish I could say that it all lived up to my expectations and more, but sadly it didn't.  I definitely think this is the first and last time I'll be in Hollywood.  Now living so close to NYC I'm used to traffic and tons of people {some more unsightly than others} but this was a whole new ball game.  And while it was fun to wander around searching for all the famous names, it's definitely not something i feel the need to do again.

Once we felt like we had seen enough, we high-tailed it out of there and headed back up the PCH.  It was so nice to just feel the sun on our faces and wind in our hair as we admired the gorgeous view.

We needed to kill time, and I had yet to dip my toes in the Pacific Ocean on this trip, so we stopped for a while to sit on the beach.

The beach is my happy place...I swear the breeze cleanses the soul.  It was the perfect way to end our trip!

After that Skip and I spend the next few hours in traffic before getting to the airport.  It had been a long day, and we were sad to leave our vacation.  But it was time to head back to Jersey and see our sweet girls!!!!