Our Schaefer Stories: California Exploring Part One

This year my husband and I decided to take our first married vacation (outside of the honeymoon that is). There are so many beautiful places we wanted to visit, but couldn't pin down just one place. After our cousin announced he was getting married in San Diego, CA, we decided we would just go ahead and turn the destination wedding into a vacation! Perfect, right? The last time I had been to California was when I was little and of course, that was on the list of "want to vacation" spots. So off we went!

We decided to spend Tuesday through Sunday driving from Los Angeles down to San Diego. We had a few things we absolutely knew we wanted to do, but the rest was total adventure. Tapping into our spontaneous sides.

We flew into Los Angeles on Tuesday and knew we wanted to go to the Dodgers vs. Angels game that night. This meant we had a few ours to explore and sight see around LA. Our first stop was at the campus of UCLA. Being on a college campus I decided to make a stop at the Chi Omega house on the UCLA campus.

It was very tropical looking… very "Cali" style.

We also wanted to see the bruin statue they have in the middle of campus. It was quite the adventure to get there with there being so much accessible visitor parking and all….. (yeah right). This was suppose to be a quick stop so rather than searching for all the visitor parking, we parked in a spot that required a permit and the RAN all the way to the statue. All the way down hill… Might I add I was wearing Birks. Not fun. We finally made it and sweet Casey got a picture with the Bruin.

Since we ran all the way down hill to get there, you know what that means…. yep, all the way back up hill. I'm not talking about just a small incline either - I mean steep, long, hill. I decided that the best plan of action was to have Casey run back to secure the car so we did not get a ticket and I would follow be there shortly after. Seems like a good plan right?

After UCLA, we drove around LA to do a little more sight seeing of things we wanted to see, but didn't think were worth getting out of the car and walking around. For example….

Later that night we got to go to Dodger Stadium for a home baseball game! It was a perfect night - nice and CHILLY. I know, I can't believe I said it either, but it was. California was CHILLY. Coming from Houston, it was a beautiful moment.

We got to see a great game as the Dodgers faced the Angels in at home. It was our lucky night because we got to see our favorite pitcher Clayton Kershaw take the mound.

The game ended with a last minute win by the Dodgers in the bottom of the ninth! What a GAME!

We got to finish out the night by seeing one of my Chi O sisters, Ellen, who is out in LA and just happens to be married to our favorite pitcher!

One of the things I love most about this couple is how rooted and grounded they are in the love of Christ. It is so obviously that Jesus is the center of their lives and they use the blessings God has given them to further the Kingdom. To learn more about the impact they are making visit Kershaw's Challenge.

The next day we decided to hike to see the Hollywood sign. Talk about some beautiful sights!! I've decided I love hiking… kind of late considering I live in Houston - haha.