Taking the scenic route home

 

Yesterday I had a job interview for subbing/teaching for the school district I used to work for in San Diego. It went great, (re)hired on the spot! For some added scenic fun, we turned our little day trip to SoCal into a mini vacation by travelling back home yesterday on the 1. Ok, it's called Highway One or Pacific Coast Highway, but I am letting my true California native flag fly when I put the word "the" before a freeway. I didn't know that was a thing until I moved to Texas and I told someone, "We live off the 1604, so take the 35 to the 10 to the 151 to the 1604..." and their response was something like, "you're not from here, are you?" In these parts there is only one freeway and it's called 101. So I grew up saying just take the freeway south; I love the simple life of only one freeway. And I love a long drive along the coast. 

 

I also love all the malls that are right off the 1. 

 

 

We cruised through Orange County, but sadly didn't see any real housewives, drove by Laguna Beach and Newport Beach, went past Los Angeles (downtown LA above), stopped at Santa Monica, and met back up with the freeway in Malibu. In related Malibu news, did you see the recent Kardashian's where Bruce Jenner bought a beach house in Malibu just because his 30,000 square foot Calabasas home with Kris was feeling a little cramped? Oh the humanity! But also, I can't really blame him.

There is a place in Newport called Fashion Island Mall. It is my new favorite. Unfortunately, all I could afford there was a fish taco from Wahoo's. Sad face.

Santa Monica was beautiful. Except for the creepy guy with a big, yellow python around his neck begging for money to pose for a picture. Ugh. Gross. I would pay him to stay away from me. I thought pythons were only allowed to run rampant in Florida. Oh, Florida... making California look civilized :)

The coral Coach clutch and black flip flops were my shopping souvenirs at the outlets in Camarillo and Carlsbad.

I didn't realize my name was so hard to spell. Am I saying it wrong? Does it sound like Brine-duh? Face palm. 

 

Just for the record, we did actually spend some time in San Diego. We ate at our favorite burger place, Hodad's, in Ocean Beach. And we walked along Sunset Cliffs just down the street from our alma mater, Point Loma Nazarene University, where Andrew will be teaching next month. Lousy view from the office, no?

We checked out Santee, our east county home for the next year, and visited with friends. We also drove by Andrew's other teaching job at San Diego Christian College (lower left). I interviewed at La Mesa School District (lower right). Gotta love palm trees in a lobby.

 

The best part was looking out the window and seeing these views.

Home sweet home!