Step by Step Parenting

For Christmas this year, my parents were kind enough to fly me out to California with them to visit my grandparents, who live near Huntington Beach. My mom’s twin sister and her husband also drove in from their home up north. My grandparents have lived in their house for a long, long time, and I’ve visited them all throughout my childhood. Although renovations and changes have been made, it always feels so nostalgic to go back. It’s the house my mom and her siblings grew up in, I’ve spent time there as a little kid, I’ve flown across the country by myself to visit them there, and I was even able to take my daughter for a visit back in 2022. I just love visiting there and it feels like a home away from home for me. My family has always been scattered all over the country, so we don’t see each other as often as we would like, but it does make the times we do see each other that much special.

I was only going to be in California for basically three days, since I didn’t land until late Saturday night and flew out early Wednesday morning, but was determined to make the most of it. And that, we did! Without further ado, here are some of the highlights:

The Best Food

I know a lot of people say that In-N-Out is overhyped, and I respectfully have to disagree. Maybe I would feel differently if I’ve ever lived close enough to one to drive, but that’s not the case, and so the first order of business when I landed after 9 o’clock at night was to hit the In-N-Out drive thru. Normally, I get my fries animal style, but given the fact that I was going to be eating in the back of my parents’ rental car, I opted for the animal style burger instead (don’t know why I thought this was the better option?…) and it was so good! It was my first time trying it and it didn’t disappoint.

Cafe Rio is another one of our favorite spots to eat anytime we are anywhere out west. I can’t even begin to describe it without doing it a disservice, because it is not comparable to Chipotle or Moe’s or anything else. But it’s amazing. For most of my childhood, I ordered the sweet pork barbacoa tacos with a side of black beans, but in my twenties, I started branching out. Now, I love their bowls, which still has sweet pork barbacoa in it, but also rice, black beans, pico de gallo, fajita veggies, cheese, and cilantro– at least, that’s what I add. They make the tortillas fresh, too, and they are truly perfection.

Because my dad is from Chicago (and I guess technically me too, but we moved away when I was six), we are all huge fans of Portillo’s! We don’t have them in North Carolina, but we eat there every time we visit Illinois, and we’ve been to some in Florida. This time, we found one near my grandparents’ house in California. It was a forty-ish minute drive away, but definitely worth it. I branched out once again, and instead of the plain hot dog I normally get (which my mom informed me is called a “naked dog”), I ordered a chili cheese hot dog. Portillo’s is also famous for their chocolate cake, so I got a slice to go, and I may or may not have snagged a few of my mom’s onion rings. I have no regrets.

Lastly, I tried Wahoo’s Fish Taco for the first time, and it was pretty good, too! I honestly can’t remember if I’ve had a fish taco before in my life (which is embarrassing because I lived in Hawaii for over a year), so I don’t have much to compare this to, but it was really yummy.

From left to right: In-N-Out, Cafe Rio, Portillo’s, Wahoo’s Fish Taco

Hiking to the Hollywood Sign

On my second day there, we decided to do something that despite my multiple trips to California, I’ve never done: hike to the Hollywood sign! The weather was perfect that day for a hike, so we (translation: my mom) braved the LA traffic and headed to the trailhead.

The hike was just over 6 miles long with around 1,000 ft of elevation gain, and 600 ft of that was within the first mile. It was steep in the beginning, but luckily we got started early enough in the morning that it wasn’t too bad! On the hike was me, my parents, and my Uncle Michael. We chatted as best we could on the way up (when we weren’t trying to catch our breath) and took in the views. All things considered, it was a pretty clear day for California and we had a good view of the surrounding mountains.

After about a mile, maybe a mile and half, the trail leveled off a bit and opened up the some expansive views of the canyon. There was even a little sign that said, “You made it!” which wasn’t entirely true since we still had a mile or so left… but I knew what they meant.

It was also at this point on the trail where there started to be a ton of horse poop. Seriously, just piles of it everywhere. It smelled so bad we lost our appetites to eat our snacks, and I joked that the Hollywood trail is just like Hollywood itself- full of horse-!

Other than the smell, the rest of the trail was just meandering around gently rolling hills. The sun had also come out, making it that much more pleasant. We saw several people running up and down the trail, and even got passed by some people multiple times!

We weren’t sure how close to the actual Hollywood sign we would be able to get, but it ended up being not too shabby! We hung around for a bit to take some photos before hiking back to our car, grateful to be heading towards Portillo’s. The hike was pretty cool, and we were all glad that we were able to check it off of our bucket lists.

Christmas Lights in Newport Beach

One of the things I love most about California during the holiday season is that there’s just something magical about seeing Christmas lights and palm trees, all at the same time. This one house in my grandparents’ neighborhood was decked out with floats, and even had games in their front yard with a sign inviting kids to come play. Another neighbor had a Bluey Christmas float, which I knew my daughter would love, so I made sure to send her a picture of that.

Our first stop to see Christmas lights was at a botanical garden and library in Newport Beach. They gave us a map of all of the different exhibits when we got there, and it included everything from a 3D light room, giant Christmas trees, a fire pit to make s’mores, a DJ, and more. Some people were definitely there to party!

One of the features was a giant willow tree, on which everyone was writing their New Year’s resolutions on a sheet of pink or red paper and tying it the tree. I had some of my grades for my first semester of law school back, but not all, so I put that my goal for 2025 was to “survive 1L” and make it to my second year! I felt silly writing this, because I’m sure people wrote much more serious wishes and goals down, but then I saw that someone near me put, “Bench 405 pounds” and I felt a little better.

Our last Christmas-themed adventure was a boat tour of the lights around Newport Harbor. Although it didn’t set sail until 7:30pm, we were in line well before that, just to make sure we got good seat. We ended up being the second group to board the boat! The boat itself was all decked out in lights, and was playing Christmas music. It was fun to see all of the different lights around the harbor, and some houses went all out and decorated their docks and boats, as well! I think our favorite was a house that simply put up lights saying, “Ditto” with an arrow pointing to the house next to them that was much more extravagantly decorated. All in all, it was a cool experience!

Huntington Beach & Pier

I visited the actual beach twice while I was there, one day to walk the pier and shop downtown with my parents, and the other time as part of my long run.

The first time I went, my parents and I were shocked at how HUGE the waves were! Of course, the waves are always pretty big at that beach compared to what we’re used to on the East Coast, but the swell was even higher than normal. Surprisingly, there weren’t many surfers out, though. I thought it was pretty chilly, hence the puffer, but there were still several people on the beach.

There are pictures of me as a tiny toddler on the Huntington Pier, so it’s always fun to visit again, even though a lot has changed in the nearly twenty-five years that I’ve been visiting. My mom grew up here, so I’m sure she would say a lot more has changed! Although I’m bummed that Ruby’s Diner is no longer at the end of the pier, it was replaced with another food place that admittedly looks pretty good, so maybe I’ll give it a shot next time.

After walking the pier, my parents and I walked through a classic, must-visit store in downtown, called Huntington Surf & Sport. Honestly, they probably get a lot of there business from tourists who come unprepared for the weather and need to buy hoodies (which we’ve definitely been guilty of before), but they have lots of other stuff, too, ranging from swimsuits to shoes to regular clothes.

The second time I saw the beach and pier on this trip was during my long run. I had missed my long run the previous Saturday since I spent the day traveling to California, so I pushed it to Tuesday- which meant I was running on Christmas Eve! My parents had left the day before, and it was my last full day in California, so the timing worked out perfectly. My original plan was to run to the beach and back from my grandparents house, which would have been about 9 miles totaled, but my family pointed out a majority of that run would be pretty boring. So, my aunt offered to drive me to the beach and pick me up when I was done instead, so that I could run by the beach the whole time!

There is a paved trail for miles along the beach, so I just ran four miles in one direction before turning around. The first few miles of my run were pretty quiet, and it was so hazy that I couldn’t even really see the ocean, but the closer I got to the pier, the more that the sun started poking through the clouds and the more people I saw. There were lots of others runners, and some had even dressed up for Christmas Eve in Santa hats or reindeer antlers or elf costumes. Wish I had thought of that!

When I reached the pier, I was delighted to see that there were tons of surfers in the water this time! I guess it’s a Christmas Eve tradition for a lot of people. I joined all of the other spectators on the pier and watched them surf for a bit, and even got a few cool photos and videos of them catching waves.

Since it’s December, this was obviously not one of the warmest trips I’ve taken to Southern California, but although I wasn’t able to lay out on the beach or swim, I’m still glad I got to see the ocean at least twice. It’s crazy to think that for just a short time in my life (2018-2019), I saw the Pacific Ocean every single day and even fell asleep to the sound of it while living in Hawaii, but now I go years without seeing it. All of the reason to be that much more grateful for the few times I’m able to visit!

Downtown Disney

Once I got back from my long run and showered up, our last activity before I left was a visit to Downtown Disney. I was expecting crazy crowds, being Christmas Eve, but it wasn’t bad at all! We got to see all of the Christmas and Disney decorations, and shops at several different stores. I had maybe the biggest corndog of my life for lunch, and I couldn’t help but to buy a few last minute gifts for my daughter and my fiancé’s kids. I’ve been to Disney Springs in Florida before, and I don’t know what it is, but I actually like Downtown Disney a lot more!

Family Time

Of course, the most important and special part of this trip was getting to see my family. Like I mentioned in the beginning, my extended family has always lived all over the country. I have some cousins I didn’t even meet until I was twelve years old!

Each of my parents are one of four siblings, and I’m grateful that in addition to having awesome grandparents, that I also haves lots of aunts and uncles and cousins. The older I get, the more I realize that family is really all that matters in this life. In a lot of ways, between all of the cousins being older and social media simply existing, I feel like I’ve actually been able to keep in touch with my extended family more. Still, nothing replaces being able to just hug somebody, so I’m so glad I was able to make it to California, even for just a few days.