“To love ourselves and support each other in the process of becoming real is perhaps the greatest single act of daring greatly.”
Brené Brown
The process of becoming real. Yes. Hello. That.
Happy day – it’s a vacation picture post! with a tiny swizzle of serious talk thrown in for good measure.
In addition to having some fun trip pictures for you today and bragging up on my amazing group of lifelong girlfriends, I also feel like there’s some stuff weighing heavy for a lot of us that we just haven’t talked about, either in real life or on the internet, because it’s hard to talk about. So here goes us being brave.
Let’s stare this sucker straight in the face.
Let me tell you about us. 👆🏼 These are 3 of my most precious friends.
We’ve been friends for a long time (since college – and how did college become a long time ago?) and in the last few years, we’ve leaned in to this tradition of doing yearly girls’ getaway trips together.
See also: Aspen and Scottsdale.
We are four people who love snacking, eating, ice cream-ing, and seal watching on the beach. We are four people who think wearing pajamas and ordering delivery pizza to our hotel room is equally as awesome as going out for a night on the town. We are four people who have, or will soon have, little babies at home (squeee!). We are obsessive animal lovers who will stop people on the street so we can pet their dogs. We share the same faith. Our hearts and minds hold each others’ stories from the last ten years, the ones that bring laughter, eye rolls, and tears. We are practically a part of each other in that weirdly awesome sisterhood-of-the-traveling-pants way.
And then, there’s this tricky piece of the puzzle: we are four people who voted differently last week in the 2016 election.
It would be maybe even a little funny if it wasn’t so serious and hard and fresh, especially being that we took this trip approximately 24 hours after the election ended. How can this even happen? That friends don’t see eye-to-eye on what feels like such a big major deal? But it does.
And I have a purpose for bringing it up.
First purpose: Well, okay, if we set the election aside for a hot second, my first true purpose is that I want you to know that we had a great time in La Jolla, and I want you to know that if you should choose to go there with your significant other or your squad (WHICH YOU TOTALLY SHOULD – start looking at flights, dear one – just fly into San Diego and take the 15 minute Uber ride over to La Jolla), you will have a blast and a half. It was theeee most perfect place for a quick little getaway. I’m including a list at the end of this post with all the great places we went and what we’d recommend for an itinerary. Study and follow. This place is Relaxation Station.
Second purpose: I want you to know that beyond vacation pictures, when we get down to the real life stuff of the world right now, you and I? and our friends and family? We’re all doing this together. You’re not the only one feeling frustration or hurt in your relationships as a result of this 2016 election. We are feeling it, too, and there’s just no easy way through it (but if you happen to know of one, let me know in the comments TYVM).
We had just one Election Conversation during the whole trip, and that one conversation? Not awesome. Hard, vulnerable, generally un-fun, especially considering that most of our other conversations involve belly laughs and weird inside jokes and unstoppable, borderline annoying giggles. This one wasn’t like that. We didn’t suddenly agree on everything and we had actively work to listen to each other without reacting first.
But we DID try to ask questions and really listen to the answers, to seek to really understand the other side, and to learn from each other.
And we DID end the conversation with misty eyes and tight hugs, saying firmly: I don’t agree with you, and I still love you.
And that conversation – I really think it was important for us to have. Because to be fully loved, you have to be fully known. You have to let yourself be seen and you have to try to see others. Like, REALLY, actually, through-and-through see and know and love them.
Remember that quote? The process of becoming real? We’re working on it, our little squad. Working on it by way of the occasional hard conversation, but also (and maybe more importantly?) shared pistachio gelato, storytelling over long pasta dinners, and sun-soaked dog-watching lounge sessions in the grass.
Grateful, grateful, grateful for these lifelong friends.
Now. Onto the good stuff: the ice creaming, brunching, seal-watching best of La Jolla.
Here are our La Jolla picks:
- La Valencia Hotel
- TheMed Restaurant (lovely views)
- Sugar and Scribe (brunch – and I want to live here)
- Dr. Juice (get the watermelon or strawberry lemonade)
- George’s at the Cove (best views for lunch – fish tacos are yummy)
- The Cottage (brunch)
- Bobboi Gelato (get the pistachio)
- Scripps Park (seal watching)
- Beaming Cafe (gorgeous, healthy, organic, ridiculously expensive, and SO very California)
- La Jolla Shores Hotel (GREAT location right on the beach)
- The Shores Restaurant (amazing happy hour, including some sassy virgin drinks for the moms-to-be)
- Piatti Restaurant (loved their outdoor seating)
- Brick and Bell Cafe
- Shorehouse Kitchen (brunch)
We came in on a Thursday morning and stayed through Sunday – it was a perfect amount of time to walk the parks, shop the boutiques, and sit outside soaking up the sun. We flew into San Diego (direct flights from both Minneapolis and Denver, thank you very much) and then took a 15 minute Uber ride into La Jolla where we spent the rest of our four days soaking up the quiet vibes of this quaint and luxurious little seaside city. If you like Big Sur (which gave me, TBH, one of the best days of my life) and you like San Diego, this is a good mix of both all in a one-stop shop.
Big hugs to you all as you work, plan trips, carry on with regular life, and continue to show unconditional love to your people in these unusually divided days.
♡
More Travel Pictures and Posts:
Girls’ Weekend Getaway: Scottsdale, Arizona
West Coast Road Trip (San Fran To Seattle)
New Orleans In The Summer
Emerald Isle Family Trip
Girls’ Trip To Aspen
Sage’s Big Vacation
Ski Trip To Park City
Ten Days At The Cabin
California Road Trip (San Fran To Los Angeles)
Charleston