Let’s Hide in Ojai

The arches leading to the park. 

Ojai was our next stop, I kept pronouncing it Ogai and my fiancé would laugh. I began to mispronounce it on purpose, as we drove up the winding road. I didn’t think it would be anything special, after all, our destination was Disneyland. Of course I Googled it but in no way did I expect how serene this mountain town would be. As I got out of the car the architecture took me by surprise. A motif of the town were it’s tall white arches reminiscent of Spanish style homes.

Fig was a unique outdoor store.

We walked through the arches by the park and then through the park to a beautiful fountain in the center. It felt good to be be on two legs again and we decided to keep walking downtown. We noticed many art galleries and shops. One such store was Fig, it was an outdoor decor store that had swings and lawn chairs. My favorite product there was a whimsical hanging acorn floral arrangement.

Inside Fig I found these cute acorn ornaments.

By the time we were done walking down one side of the street I realized the main downtown had no traffic lights. This gave it an old town feel, and reminded me of the small town in Gilmore Girls. In that show it always looked like there were no crosswalks and they would cross anywhere.

Trying to capture the pink moment was more difficult than I thought.

During the evening we began to scout a spot to watch Ojai’s Pink Moment. It is a pink sunset that happens during the winter months. We should have done this earlier because we couldn’t get a clear view of it and my photos don’t give it justice.

The arches leading to the shops across the street.

Crossing to the other side of the street to see the shops, we explored more art galleries and shops. We tried Casa Barranca Organic Winery and the wine was sweet. After sipping our wine we searched for a place to have our dinner. We found a cute little Italian place with good appetizers and the best pesto pasta. I regret not remembering their name! If you’re ever in Southern California and looking for a slower pace where you can unwind, you can always hid in Ojai.

Little shops, art galleries and restaurants lined the streets.

This Rumi quote a cool find.

Solvang In The Winter

In the Solvang Gazebo

A piece of Europe in California. That is Solvang in a sentence. This hidden small southern California town can be found in the Santa Ynez Valley. I can’t express my delight, just by walking down the streets in this small town, I felt the holiday spirit. We were told tales about it by my fiancé’s aunt and decided to stop on our way back from Disneyland. I’m so happy we made this pit stop.

One of the many windmills.

This small village has a Danish heritage that is kept alive by the scandinavian inspired architecture, bakeries and museums. The architecture features repurposed windmills and brown painted trim lines on the buildings. The Danish style buildings along with the Christmas decorations made me feel like I was in a Christmas Town. The crisp wind didn’t bother me one bit, as we peeped through bakery windows. I felt so happy just to be in such a cute town. 

This town has so many cute bakeries!

From the old world to the modern, this place has bit of everything. We found a hip little winery, Calilove. It offered refreshing wine and Nintendo?! Yes, you heard right, in fact that is why we walked in. Ivan heard the music from across the street and we noticed the sign on the window advertising Nintendo. It’s safe to say we were there at least an hour as he hogged the console. But I had a delicious rose to sip on.

Calilove was a cute, trendy winery.

We ended our trip with the bookstore but sadly the Hans Christian Andersen museum was closed by the time we walked in. However, we still explored the bookstore and found some interesting books. How did we end our taste of Europe? As you’d expect, dining at the Chinese restaurant around the corner. It was a perfect night. 

A cute phonebooth.

Thank you,

Perla

New Blog & Disneyland!

Our first Disneyland trip together!

Hello! It’s been a while since I’ve written. I finally feel ready to begin again but this blog will be changing a bit. I want to shift focus more on traveling and lifestyle for now. I will do product reviews now and then. Today’s destination is Disneyland!

Birthdays in December are easily forgotten! I have experienced this first hand with myself and my fiancé. Both of us are December babies and it is always difficult to get together with family for traditional birthday celebrations. Instead we have begun a tradition, since last year, of traveling for our birthdays. This year we decided to go to Disneyland!

Sleeping Beauty's Castle was the most beautiful at night.

I think winter is one of the best times to go to Disneyland. Christmas decorations can be found on every corner, putting everyone in festive spirits. Even in the heat! It’s funny, I had envisioned hot chocolate and churros for our snacks of choice. However, we ended up buying many ice tea refills.

What we enjoyed the most on this trip were the rides and fireworks. I was very worried about the lines because when I bought the tickets the website stated the date I had chosen was a Peak day. On a recommendation of a friend I bought the MaxPass and it was well worth it! It allowed me to get FastPasses for rides right from my phone. This saved us a lot of time walking between the different FastPass stations.

I loved the lights of the arcade.

It also sent right to my phone, any pictures of us that were taken by the photographers there. I made us pose for many pictures! I just wish more locations in the park had photographers. 

My tips for a Disney trip include buying the MaxPass and packing 4-5 water bottles. Having water with us meant we didn’t have to get in line for drinks until we had our meals. If it’s your birthday, you can walk in almost any store and request a birthday button! I had no idea, so I got mine at night because I noticed other birthday Disney guests.

My favorite rides had to be Indiana Jones and the Haunted Mansion. Indiana Jones is a classic ride that I always look forward too. I don't like roller coaster and this one is as close as I get to one! The Haunted Mansion is great because they change the decor for Christmas! I liked seeing Jack and Sally’s version of Christmas.

One of our favorite rides.

Happy New Year!

-Perla