One of my childhood best friends is a travel nurse -aka a real-life hero - and has had assignments in some incredible places. I finally was able to visit her in Southern California in March 2025 and we had such a fun time!

Coming from cold, dreary Memphis to beautiful, sunny and warm Southern California was such a treat. I love Memphis, but visiting California, where everyone seems so healthy, food tastes fresher, the beach is so close, and the heat isn’t oppressive, was a mood-shifter in the best way.

Day 1

I had a layover in Chicago, then took a 2:5:2 configuration plane to LAX, which shocked me? I wasn’t expecting the same plane I take to Europe to take my halfway across the country - but alas, we had space!

I arrived at LAX *cue Miley Cyrus* at 3:30pm, where my angel of a friend, picked me up. We grabbed dinner at Jolie in Huntington Beach, where I got the pappardelle with burrata - I recommend!

Then we went to sleep because I always have jet lag going West.

Day 2

DISNEYLAND DAY! We got a park hopper for our Disneyland day so we could visit both Disneyland and California Adventure.

We visited Disneyland first and planned to go straight to Star Wars land, but was distracted by all of the main characters immediately at the entrance to the park! Mickey! Minnie! Donald! Goofy! Pluto! All right there! So naturally we had to get a photo with Mickey. There were maybe a dozen people in line, which I’ve noticed is a theme at Disneyland vs Disney World - the lines are usually much shorter.

Once we saw Mickey, we went to Star Wars and did a single-rider walk-on to Smuggler’s Run. At this point, we were a little hungry so we split a ronto roaster - basically a hot dog, egg, and cheese in a pita wrap… It was better than I expected!

After Star Wars, we wandered to the New Orleans, which naturally I loved. We got the cheese biscuits (recommend), mint julep (could skip), and mickey beignets (should skip). We ordered ahead on the app so we waited maybe slightly less than 10 minutes for all of our food.

How exciting for us that California Adventure was hosting their Food & Wine Festival! Neal (my boyfriend) was so sweet and sent us money so we could do the food and drink pass - which was $68 for 8 meals (and we split all the plates). I definitely recommend this option, especially with 2-3 people, as the meals were around $10-15/plate alone.

The dishes and drinks we got were:

sirloin and gruyere mac and cheese + beer flight
lemon pepper wings
mango chili lime margarita
mini LA street dog, pineapple paloma, + bbq bao bun
peach mimosa + chicken taquito (my favorite)
spam rice bowl

We also got a dole whip shot at the Lamplight Lounge at sunset - highly recommend.

We rode a LOT of rides between both parks:

the Incredicoaster
Radiator Springs Racers
Indiana Jones Adventure
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Mad Tea Party
The Haunted Mansion
Pirates of the Caribbean
Smuggler’s Run

After this full day, and 22,000 steps, we called it and went home to sleep and rest our weary feet.

Day 3

Day 3 we woke up bright and early and headed over to Newport Beach to hop on a ferry to Catalina Island!

They have one ferry that leaves everyday at the same time: depart 9am, arrive at Avalon 10:30am. Then depart Avalon at 4:30pm, arrive back at Newport Beach at 6pm - for $95.

Prior to the ferry, we stopped at Juliette’s and grabbed coffee and some breakfast food. My friend got the breakfast sandwich and I got a super fresh yogurt parfait.

The water at times was choppy, so if you get a little seasick, take your medicine prior to getting on the boat.

On the ride to Catalina, we went through a HOARD of dolphins - they said there were over 1000 dolphins. It was a beautiful experience :)

Once we arrived at Avalon, we rented a golf cart with the expectation we could wander around the island with it; however, we were given a very specific route we had to take and could not deviate. You also could not go over 3 hours on the golf cart, which the route takes about 3 hours to go around. I probably wouldn’t recommend this option.

The route was beautiful, taking us along some incredible viewpoints and the botanic gardens, but I would recommend just wandering the town instead.

We ate lunch at Bluewater Grill, where I got a lobster roll, and we went to Topside for a rooftop cocktail prior to boarding our ferry back!

Once we got back to Newport Beach, we grabbed dinner at Malibu Farms where I got the salmon salad and my friend and I split the build-your-own fish tacos!

Day 4

My last full day was a restful day. I woke up a bit early and walked down to the Orange city circle, where there are shops, antique malls, coffee shops and restaurants.

At this point, I was missing my morning smoothies so I went to Bluestone Lane and got a blueberry vanilla latte and a berry protein shake. I also checked out some shops (I got a great sweater from Stitch & Feather), then made my way back to meet up with my friend.

Making our way to the beach, we stopped by Lido House and got some cocktails on their rooftop, which I highly recommend! We had heard great things about Shake Shack in Crystal Cove State Park, so we had a bit of a hike, grabbed our burgers and shakes, then hiked back down to the beach to enjoy :) The water was clear and cool, the sky was clear and sunny, and it was a beautiful moment.

We finished our trip with my second cousins and grabbed dinner with them at Gabbi’s Kitchen. I got this incredibly fresh citrus and chicken salad. It was one of the best meals I ate.

Travel Day

My flight left around 2pm, so we had some time to kill. We went to Lido Marina Village to visit The Real Real (they had an Hermes Kelly I wanted to see and hold), and got a slice of pizza from zpizza to eat at the marina. A beautiful way to end the trip!

Additional Posts:

Catalina Island

One Day at Disneyland and California Adventure

4 Days in Orange County, California