3 years anniversary trip

Layton won an architecture essay contest earlier this year and with the prize money, we planned a week-long trip for just the two of us!  It was pretty much an anniversary trip/gift to ourselves. We debated between Europe, a tropical destination and Layton threw out California.  After many hours of discussions, looking at plane tickets, and things we wanted to do, we decided to go with California.  We had a disaster earlier this year with an Allegiant flight that got cancelled so they had reimbursed us meaning that both of our tickets round trip were $125 (all together).  The fact that the flights were so cheap was a huge part of us choosing it.  We decided to spend a few days in LA and then go down to Laguna Beach.  We also decided to do a day at Disney (which for the record, was not as magical as I remembered :()

The weeks leading up to the trip I was super excited and then I'd get nervous at how much I'd miss Wesley.  A few days before we left, I started crying to Layton because I was going to miss Wesley so much.  Guess how much I missed him on our trip?  Hardly at all (haha), not to say I didn't miss him, but I wasn't crying, wishing we could go home and see him.

It was both of our firsts times to LA and boy we were shocked. In good and bad ways.  That city is pretty dang dirty.  We'd be walking along and then suddenly the smell of urine would completely overwhelm me.  There were blocks and blocks of homeless people and so many decrepit buildings.  La La Land had painted such a rosy picture of it all, we were a little surprised.  Little Tokyo however did not disappoint, it was so fun to see all the little Japanese shops and we had what ended up being Layton's favorite ice cream of the whole trip there - Honeymee.  They make it with milk, not heavy cream, so it was very light.  We opted for the flavor with a honeycomb and honey in it and it was truly delightful.

We stayed at this super old, family owned motel and it was so fun to be in the city and have it be our little chunk of home for a few days.  We walked a lot and saw a lot.  Layton loved the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and all the interesting weird old buildings.  We ate some more delicious ice cream whilst looking for the Hollywood sign (which does not light up at night btw) - McConnells.  It was so incredibly yummy - I got the lemon and marionberry and the sweet cream flavors.  In looking for the Hollywood sign, we ended up driving around in the Hollywood Hills and it was amazing.  Those people have some of the most incredible views up there.  Houses were on sheer cliffs and honestly I'd be slightly nervous to have a house up there.

One of the things I loved about our LA time was how much sleep I got! We would go out in the morning, walk around, and then get some lunch and I'd fall asleep for a few hours while Layton read or watched a soccer game.  We didn't feel pressure to do or see EVERYTHING and it felt sooo good to get as much sleep as I wanted.

On Sunday we went to church in this super cool old chapel with amazing woodwork and a beautiful huge stained glass window.  Everyone was super excited thinking we were a new couple that had moved in, they were bummed when we said we were just visiting.  After church, we went to Roscoe's house of Chicken and Waffles.  I felt soooo white there.  The chicken was so good, and then waffles while not incredible, had a really yummy cinnamon flavor.  I couldn't eat a ton (we had the stomach flu the week before and my stomach was still adjusting to normal food and normal amounts of it), it was still super good.

After a few days in LA, we drove down to Laguna Beach and stayed in an incredible air bnb.  It was a freestanding condo type and it was seriously amazing.  It had it's own private locked gate and entrance.  You walked into the fully stocked kitchen with everything you could need, there were some little stairs that led down into a small family room with a TV and a bathroom. Then from the kitchen there were also stairs that went up that led to the master suite.  This room was HUGE.  It had a king size bed and there was room enough for another King in there at least.  There was tons of closet space, beautiful windows that let in a ton of light, a TV (and a modem that we were able to hook our laptop up to and watch netflix on the TV), then a bathroom that was also attached.  Everything was totally updated and clean, it was paradise.  It was a 2 minute walk from the beach and the rental had beach chairs, umbrellas, body boards, pretty much anything you could need.  It was a nice 15 minute walk to downtown Laguna which was nice to walk down to dinner and back.  We ate so much good food there, laid on the gorgeous beach, played in the beautiful water that was seriously the perfect temperature and just enjoyed the beautiful place we stayed.  I enjoyed sleeping a lot in the king bed and we would watch Poldark on the TV at night.  It was seriously perfect.

We spent a day in Disneyland and like I said, I was a bit dismayed at how "unmagical" it all was.  It was so so hot, so crowded and the rides were amazing (Space Mountain is still the best ride ever for the record and my first time ever on Indiana Jones did not disappoint), but the wait for them just ended up not being worth it to me.  I'm happy Layton and I got to go together, it's something I've wanted to do with him for a while, but next time, we're either taking Wesley or going with friends.  Maybe that would make it more magical.

All in all, it was one of my favorite trips I've ever done.  It was the best to just be Layton and me for an entire week.  We just relaxed and connected and didn't let pressure to always be doing something get to us.  We ate amazing food (and finished the entire second season of Poldark).  We went and saw Wonderwoman which was amazing too.  Usually at the end of a trip, I'm ready to come home, but not this one, I did not want to go back.  But hopefully we'll be able to take another amazing trip like this again sometime in the next few years.