Vacationing from Coast to Coast

Warning: Long post ahead. Bring snacks.

Vacations are the epitome of evil. They have to be. I'm usually a very motivated person, but my trip to the west coast has left me with thoughts like, "Really? Do I really have to get up early and be at work by 9? Can't I just lay in bed all morning and then go to the beach or go hiking or shopping in the afternoon? Can't I just spend the rest of my life traveling and taking pictures of my travels?"

Really.

Haha. Anyway, I've been on hiatus from life the past 3 weeks while visiting my family in California and going to a childhood friend's wedding in Utah. I even dragged the boyfriend along on the trip, which made things even better. I've been to San Diego quite a few times already (used to live there when I was a kid) so it was really more about relaxation than site-seeing. We did spend one evening at Gaslamp and then a day at Coronado. Shopping, eating, and the beach. Definitely my kind of week.

Entering Gaslamp. They call it the historic heart of San Diego, but it's really mostly good for food.

Mootime Creamery, Coronado, CA. It was really difficult to resist eating ice cream an hour before dinner, but I did it! P.S. For some reason I have an odd fascination with cows... not real ones, but fake ones and also cows on milk cartons. Random, I know.

While we were in California, the bf and I decided to take a trip down to Tijuana, Mexico. I had never been there, so it was quite the experience for me. The internet does not lie when it tells you that there are vendors every two feet trying to sell you crap. I wanted to bring my D80 with me to take pictures of Tijuana street life, but I decided against it because 1) My mom and the bf talked me into thinking I would get mugged/pillaged/sold to Mexican drug lords if they saw me with an expensive camera down there and 2) There actually were tons of reports going out about American tourists getting mugged and kidnapped in Tijuana and I didn't want to risk having my camera stolen because I'm a poor student and that camera's my life. So, I took my mom's point-and-shoot and spent the day warding off vendors and eating authentic Mexican tacos.

To be honest, I probably could have brought my camera down there without any problem. The touristy part of Tijuana's so oversaturated with friendly street vendors and zebras, the drug lords probably stay far away.

Touristy Tijuana at its finest- taxi cabs and pharmacies galore!

If you're looking for business, a great strategy is to target the hungry people waiting in traffic to get into the U.S. during rush hour.

After our week in California, the bf and I took an overnight trip on the bus to Sandy, Utah to see my best friend from elementary school.

Sunset in Nevada

5 o'clock in the morning in Provo, Utah

Since I was a bridesmaid for the wedding, I got to sucker the bf into doing all sorts of exciting tasks like sorting place cards, stuffing favor boxes, and making boutonnieres! We had a blast, and it was definitely good to see Simone (the bride) again. The last time we saw each other, we were 13. It was that long ago. Being back in Utah was also nice, especially since it was one of the only places I lived in as a child that felt like a real home (I'm a Navy brat, and my kind doesn't stay in one place for too long).

During our spare time, Simone and Andrew let me take faux engagement portraits of them (they already had real ones taken by Pepper Nix, they're awesome wedding photographer), which was a lot of fun.

Eating the truffle cake at their reception

Also... this is Jadon. He's Simone's son, and pretty much the cutest toddler ever:

That was pretty much my trip to Utah. The wedding, lots of kids, and nostalgia. We got back to Virginia just in time for the fourth of July, where a bunch of us went down to Kittyhawk, NC for some beach time.