animals – Day of Jae

Born to Blossom

This Spring, I witnessed something truly spectacular, my first Super Bloom in California. This year we received so much rain in California that it caused the wild flowers to bloom like crazy throughout the whole state. Everywhere you went was covered in green grass and the hills, road sides, mountains and even the deserts were transformed and painted with vibrant colors. I’ve never seen anything more beautiful.

Last fall, you may recall the wild fires that devastated part of Malibu. At the time, I had not returned to Malibu since the fires until I had some visitors come to town and we decided to check things out. We hiked the Escondido Falls trail and I couldn’t believe how the land that was burnt to a crisp only a few months earlier has already grown back to be more beautiful than ever. All the rain also presented us with a wonderful water fall and the most pleasant morning hike!

In Late March and Early April, the Painted Ladies butterflies were also migrating through Los Angeles and everywhere you went, including the park across the street was fully surrounded by thousands of these butterflies.

Being stuck in traffic has also never been better. On beautiful breezy afternoons, driving through the Valley suburbs with your windows down, your car quickly fills with the scent of fresh Jasmine or other flowering trees that line the street. No tree can quite compare to the Japanese Cherry Blossom that blooms right down the street from me at the local Japanese Garden sanctuary.

The most incredible view of all though, had to have been to see the California Poppies in full bloom in Antelope Valley. These State flowers create such vivid fields of orange that they’re almost blinding to look at. The fields are overwhelming and truly worth the hordes of people that drove to see them.

When we visited the poppy reserve, we made a whole day out of it and also visited the town of Lancaster. We walked their BLVD and ate at a delicious Mexican cantina, Don Sal, and also visited the Prime Dessert Woodland Preserve (which is free and open to the public!) where we saw the Joshua Trees blooming (a lot less exciting visually, but still a unique experience) and jack rabbits easily mistaken for cayotes even!

As California prepares to enter “June Gloom” in just a few weeks, I’m going to hold on to these incredible memories as much as I can and try my best to look forward to a little more rain and the beauty if brings with it.

Lounging in Laguna

Laguna is by far one of my favorite places I’ve ever been in California! My first-time visiting was a few years ago with my Aunt and Uncle and I knew once moving back out that it was a top priority on my places to go back to! Emory and I went back in October, and although it was a few months ago now, it’s too good not to share!

Laguna is about 75 miles south right on the coast line and about an hour and a half drive from where I live (making it the perfect day trip!) It’s known for its beautiful beaches and its artistic culture!

When we went, we left on a Friday, mid-morning (trying to miss all the commuter traffic.) Once we got into town, we found a little parking lot right off the main street. In Laguna there’s pretty accessible parking everywhere, you’ll just have to pay hourly at most places! We got there just in time for an early lunch at Skyloft! They had a great lunch menu we could pick and choose from, but what we really wanted was the view. The restaurant has what seems to be a fancier main floor, a bar atmosphere on the second floor, and then the third floor is a completely open-air patio with an incredible view of the main beach!

Afterwards we walked down to the main beach complete with the little light house and explored the neighboring street shops! You might wonder “why going shopping when you have the beach?” Well, I’m learning that early in the morning, there’s usually a lot of fog that comes off the Pacific Ocean and on somedays it can take well into the afternoon for the fog to burn off. What better thing to do while you wait for the sun? Go check out all the local artisans’ shops! Laguna is home to many artists and the perfect place to shop if you enjoy finding unique, one of a kind things!! There are a bunch of studios that line the streets selling original fine art pieces, home décor, and specialty shops. There’s a bunch of boutiques with clothes for all different ages and styles along with everybody’s favorites traditional candy shops and surf stores! I went for the first time, it was the middle of summer and they had a bunch of different art fairs and festivals going on for even more handmade and crafted items!

Once the fog let up, we drove a little further down the coastline until we got to Aliso beach! Laguna has soooooo many incredible and picturesque beaches to choose from, but honestly, we finally decided on Aliso because there was very visible and easily accessible parking! To no surprise though, the beach was amazing besides that! It was still a breezy day and not ideal for a bikini or sunbathing in early October, but it was perfect to sit and watch the waves roll in! School must have been let out because there was a group of high school boys were wave boarding which was so cool to watch. Before long a bunch of parents and high schoolers and cheerleaders showed up for a pep-rally (before what I’m assuming was a big Friday night game!)

Off on the side of the beach is a rocky out cropping that Emory and I decided to go explore! There were a whole bunch of tide pools along the rocks (another thing Laguna is known for) but being so late in the day, all we saw was a few anemones and mollusks of some sort. We decided to stay on the rocks and wait for sunset. In the meantime, we made friends with a seagull that would not leave us alone for any reason (even though we didn’t have any food) And before we knew it the sun was setting, and the tide was rising. Man was it worth the wait!

Although not much could follow that view, we decided it was time to move on! By this time a whole bunch of people had congregated to have bon fires (only some beaches in California will let you have them.) But before we left, we made sure to take a trolley ride along the coast! Yet another selling point on Laguna (like you needed another reason, I know) is that they have great public transportation! During peak summer hours they have trolleys that run all day long and will take you on different routes through the whole city! Since we were there in October on the other hand, we were in the start of the off-season and had to wait till later at night to enjoy.

Finally, it was getting pretty dark and we figured we better head on back! We drove up the coast as long as we could before heading back to LA. Over all is was a very laid back and relaxing day!

Where’s your favorite places to day trip? What kind of activities do you look forward to doing?

All The Time In Anaheim

If you drive about 30 miles South of Los Angeles and you’ll reach a magical land in the middle of Orange County called Anaheim. Anaheim is home to many classic California attractions including Disneyland, various sports venues, breweries, and shopping districts-making it the perfect place to visit. This past month, I’ve spent a few days exploring some of the places Anaheim has to offer.

Disney World in Orlando, Florida has always held a special place in my heart. We visited the different parks a few times while growing up and every time I went there I was always amazed by the magic. It never mattered how old I was-8 and still believed the characters were real or a freshman in high school-it was always the greatest adventure. Ever since moving to California, Disneyland was one of the places at the top of my list despite being 23 years old and some what of an adult, I’m still a kid at heart.

Lucky for me, I’ve made some pretty great friends out here that love Disney even more than I do! My friends used to work at Disneyland and are still pretty well connected. They know the park like the back of their hand and know the best way to experience the day! I’m pretty lucky to have such amazing tour guides!

When we got to Anaheim we started the day by walking through Downtown Disney, a mini town-like area located outside of the park with lots of little shops and restaurants. You can visit this area without paying admission to the park! When you arrive at the park entrances, you have two choices right across from one another, the classic Disneyland and California Adventure. As mentioned, my friends are such big Disney fans they have season passes so there were able to get me a little bit of a discount. With that being said we did both parks in one day. While it was do-able, it would have been hard to make it on all the rides and see everything if you didn’t know what you were looking for. I would suggest you do a 2-Day pass and do one park each day so that you have plenty of time to experience both!

We started off our morning at Disneyland, strolling down main street and seeing Sleeping Beauty’s castle followed by Adventureland and favorite rides like the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. Although both rides are also at Disney World, they’re still a little different and there are new things to see! My favorite ride of the day was one I’ve never been on before, Indian Jones! The rollercoaster-like thriller will take you on an exciting journey to the Earth’s depths!

The park includes other classics like Splash Mountain and Space Mountain! Disneyland is a great park for families, especially younger children. There are rides and entertainment options for all ages. If you know me at all, you also probably know I usually experience extreme motion sickness, but none of the rides seemed to bother me much!

For the afternoon we made our way to California Adventure, which was probably my favorite! It had a lot of attractions I’d never seen before! California Adventure is home to one of my favorite rides, the new “Guardians of the Galaxy” ride (formally known as Tower of Terror.) Personally, I don’t think that it’s better than the original, but it is a fun spin on things! My favorite area of California adventure though was Cars Land where the animated classic Cars and Radiator Springs comes to life!

This summer has been special for the parks because of Pixar Fest (ending in September.) California Adventure set up “Pixar Pier” in honor of the celebration with attractions from this years’ Incredibles movie including the Incredi-coaster and even Nom Nom Cookies!

We finished off our day with some amazing cocktails and appetizers at Lamplight Lounge, an adorable all-things-Disney themed restaurant looking over the water at the park! The food and drinks were amazing, and it was the perfect end to a perfect day! I would highly recommend planning to have dinner there, but make sure you put in a reservation ahead of time!

That was more than enough Disney for one day, but two weekends later I was headed back to Anaheim for some more California fun! This past weekend I crossed another baseball stadium off the list and saw to California teams battle it out. I went with some friends to the Anaheim Angels stadium to watch them take on the Oakland A’s. The group I was with was all A’s fans, but I must say, the Angels fans were pretty nice considering. Before the game we headed to one of the breweries that surround the stadium for a drink then we walked over to the park. Our seats, at only $15 a piece, were great and in the shade most of the time which was awesome considering it was a one o’clock game. We enjoyed an afternoon of hot dogs, pretzels, and singing “take me out to the ball game.” Everyone was happy when the A’s walked away with the W!

Following the game, we went to grab dinner (or dessert) at the Packing House. Located in the Packing District, the Packing house is an old warehouse that has been converted into a “walkable culinary” adventure featuring over 40 unique restaurant and stores with a ton of options to choose from. I had too many treats at the game and spoiled my dinner so ice cream for me! I can’t wait to come back here and explore this area some more.

Whether in Anaheim for a day or a few days, there’s plenty of things to do!

Is there anything I missed? If you have any recommendations or suggestions of what I should do the next time I’m in Anaheim, please let me know!!! Please comment below or email dayofjae@gmail.com.

Malibu Mission

What to do when you’re in Malibu? I’ve had a lot of followers asking about where and how I met Stanley the Giraffe. The answer is a trip to Saddlerock Ranch and signing up for a Malibu Wine Hike. The suggestion for this activity came from my good friend Jordan, and I’m so glad she suggested it. I knew my boyfriend was coming to visit and we were looking for some ideas on unique things to do in the area. Malibu Wine Hikes was the perfect solution and I think we would all continue to recommend this adventure.

First off, the word “hike” is being used pretty loosely (we both did the entire hike in Sperrys). It’s more of a nice walk through a beautiful vineyard that’s rested among the Malibu Canyons. Along your walk you’ll get to explore beautiful scenic views, rows of grape vines, a unique garden, and romantic event and venue spaces (you may even spot the Bachelor mansion). The highlight of this trip though, is of course all of the friends you’ll meet along the way.

There was about 10 of us in our group all of different ages and backgrounds, but most were all from the surrounding Los Angeles area. Now the hikes we did were group hikes, but if you have a big enough group, you can book a private hike as well.

The other friends I was talking about though, are the main attractions- an eclectic family of exotic animals. On your hike you’ll make plenty of new friends when you stop and feed goats, llamas, alpacas, donkeys, zebras, and even Stanley the Giraffe. On the hike you’ll spend quite a bit of time interacting with the animals and you’ll get to learn more about them as well as the history behind the ranch’s owners, the ranch, and the vineyard.

Be sure to have your cameras ready and fully charged because there are tons of photo ops along that way that you won’t want to miss. It’s truly an experience you’ll never forget and is definitely worth it. Once you’re done with the hike you’ll get to go up to the wine tasting area and sample 5 of the most popular Saddlerock wines (a $20 value included!)

Tips & Tricks of the Day:

Whether you’re from LA, just here visiting, or have a special celebration coming up, Malibu Wine Hikes is the perfect way to celebrate and enjoy the area. Our hike was $65/person for about 4 hours of fun. I booked our hike about 3 weeks in advance. Just be aware that the spots can fill up fast since it’s such small groups. The hike itself took about two hours then we spent about two hours in the wine tasting area.

things we didn’t know but wish we did

You can stay after in the wine tasting area as long as you’d like. On the weekends they often have live music playing and it’s a very hip and trendy spot to spend a day or afternoon. They also sometimes have a food truck, BUT you can also bring in as much food and non-alcoholic beverages as you like. Tons of people had gourmet picnics set up and one group even had pizzas delivered. You and a group of friends could easily make a day out of it (plus if you’re worried about driving so far and drinking, it’s not as expensive or uncommon as you’d think to just take an Uber especially from the valley.) Regardless of doing the hike or not though, the only way to get to the wine tasting area is by trolley or shuttle from the main parking lot. The main parking lot address is associated with Saddle Rock Ranch and the same parking lot for the Wine Hikes and safaris.

Other things to keep in mind:

Check the weather before you go. Since it’s deeper in the canyons and at a higher elevation than the beach it tends to be warmer and sunnier. In the event it rains, or the weather is horrible (extremely unlikely) they do have a rescheduling policy that might work for you. You’re definitely going to want to make sure you wear plenty of sunscreen. There’s very little shade along the path and bringing sunglasses is also a smart idea. You’ll also want to bring a water bottle with you. They do have filling stations along the way, but they don’t have any bottles or cups available at the time we went.

As far as what to wear, I wore jean capris, a light weight sweater, and Sperrys (you have to wear close toed shoes for the hike). I was waaaaay too hot in my outfit, but I managed just fine. If you’re most comfortable in workout gear, I would suggest you wear that. If you want to dress up a little more and be more fashionable for photos, you’ll be fine just make sure you can move freely and be prepared for about a two-mile walk. The reason why people would want to look cute for the hike besides photos, is because the wine tasting area is extremely trendy and very LA. To me, going can even feel like being part of a fashion show. There’s always a very diverse group of people there though, and of course other people will be in casual hiking clothes as well so just wear whatever you will be the most comfortable in.

When you look to book your trip, you might also come across the Wine Safaris. They’re at the same location and you’ll see many of the same things, but you’ll miss out on the exercise and won’t get to interact with the animals quite as much. But for larger groups, it still looked like an extremely fun experience.

Extend your Day:

If you drove (or even if you didn’t) you can always extend your day before or after your hike and go to one of Malibu’s beautiful beaches. We went to El Matador before our hike (one of my favorite beaches in the area.) I love El Matador because it’s very scenic due to its stunning rock outcroppings. Again, it also makes for great photo opportunities. Don’t worry though the sand is still perfectly soft and not rocky at all.

When visiting El Matador beach, you can pay to park for pretty reasonable fees in the lot, but if the spots are all full you can park a little farther away along the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) for free. (I haven’t got a ticket yet for doing that and everyone else does it, so I think it’s fine!)

It is a bit of a journey to get down from the parking area. You’ll have to trek down a pretty steep slope and then make your way down a few flights of stairs, so I’d think twice before you bring too much stuff to carry. The view is amazing, and you never know what you might see, perhaps a pod of dolphins swimming in the distance, a few surfers catching waves, or you may just find the lost swing.

Malibu Wine Hikes and beaches were great suggestions and I am more than happy to recommend! Please let me know if you sign up for a Malibu Wine Hike and feel free to ask any more questions. I’m always taking recommendations and suggestions of what to do next for my Things To-Do List at dayofjae@gmail.com!

Tips & Tricks of the Day:

***things we didn’t know but wish we did***

Other things to keep in mind:

Extend your Day:

things we didn’t know but wish we did