Oh hi! Just me, your local wannabe traveler, who is terrible at sharing travel posts in a timely manner. I still have photos from London (…yeah) to illustrate this point. Anyway, since it has been a little over a month since my trip to California, I figured it’s still acceptable to be sharing some photos. I could really use some beach therapy right now so writing this is kind of letting me relive a really fun day from our trip. In case you didn’t see it, I shared some photos from our days at Disneyland, California Adventure, and Universal Studios in this post.
One day on our trip the forecast projected a high of 90 degrees so naturally I was like OH HECK NO and asked if we could skip an amusement park that day. Jared, being the accommodating boyfriend that he is, agreed that for my sake we should skip the parks this day. Not to toot my own horn or anything but this ended up being a fantastic idea. Even on the coast, it was soooo hot and almost unbearable without any shade. Still, the breeze by the beach felt great and we are so glad that we were still able to see the beach.
Oh yeah, my rental car situation ended up falling through and we ended up having to Uber to the beach. It is not cheap to take an Uber from Anaheim out to the coast, by the way. There are some other beaches further away that we would have loved to visit but there’s always next time! We even met a really fun driver on the way back from the beach who gave me his business card because he wanted me to set him up with someone from Seattle haha!
For a weekday there was a surprising amount of people at Huntington Beach but most were either lounging like us or out surfing. Overall it was still pretty empty and relaxing as we just recently went to Hawaii where the beaches are very packed. I recommend bringing an umbrella if it’s convenient and you’re driving because like I mentioned, the heat can be unbearable. Unlike some Hawaii beaches, there are no palm trees close enough to give you shade.
I got to read a bit while laying out on the sand and then we just walked down the pier, went to some of the nearby shops, and then headed back to Anaheim.
OUTFIT DETAILS: EXACT SHORTS (only $20) and my FAVORITE because they’re not too short. / Off the shoulder top (similar) / HAT / SUNGLASSES
Anaheim Packing District has been on my list of places to visit for a while so I was thrilled that we had time to squeeze this in on our trip! Even better, we got to visit the Packing House on a weekday so it was actually pretty empty. Even then, don’t think there weren’t tons of photoshoots going on inside ;) I don’t blame people because every bit of this spot is photo worthy! It’s light-filled and there are air plants hanging from the ceiling. Also sooo much tasty food that’s definitely Instagram-worthy as well. If you have a few hours to stop by this place, I highly recommend it. Go with others too! Jared and I are strategic and we share all our food and drinks so that we’re able to try more unique things :)
We stayed long enough to stop at several places but truthfully I wanted to try something at every restaurant. Everything looks so good!! We started off at Sweetbird and got a fried chicken sandwich to share. Obviously we had to take a photo in front of the wall art first. The chicken is super crispy and very tender but I wasn’t necessarily blown away. Next we went to Adya and split a butter chicken dish. I’ve had butter chicken a few times and this was one of the better ones I’ve had because it tasted like a homemade dish. Plus, we actually watched the chef cook it after we ordered :) I also got a milk tea with boba at Mini Monster which was sooo yummy. Probably the best thing I got here. They have tons of cute drinks that are served in a light bulb if you’re into that sort of thing. A few bars here have happy hour so Jared got a beer for pretty cheap too.
We wandered just a bit outside of the Packing House but since it was so hot, we just called a Lyft and went back to our hotel then saw a movie! The Packing House is in a pretty nice neighborhood that seemed really quiet and clean but there didn’t seem to be much to do. There’s also a small parking lot and seems to be a decent amount of street parking so if you have a rental car this would be easy to drive to. Those of you visiting Disneyland are probably staying pretty nearby so it’s also just a short Lyft/Uber away.
Overall I’m super happy that we went to both of these spots! It was fun to have a relaxed day in the middle of an otherwise busy trip. Isn’t it funny that we have to take “rest” days on vacations? We have a habit of packing in as much as possible on vacation!
For now, I’m going to be dreaming of warmer days and hoping that Seattle starts warming up so we can get the heck out of winter!!
We took this photo right before our first ride of the day which was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I’ve never gotten to the park so early that we had to wait behind the rope to run, I mean speed walk, to the rides. We walked right on and had so much fun on this one. I’m always in awe of all of the detail that goes into the scenery here. It looks so real!! 
Being in Hawaii, I had to have a lava flow. This ended up being a harder feat than you’d think…but finally I hit the jackpot and we found a bar that served lava flows! Unfortunately the lava flow itself was pretty disappointing (it barely had any taste) but the location was amazing. We waited out a rain storm here and loved it. There aren’t real walls so we got an ocean view and people watched as braver people surfed and swam in the water. They have live entertainment every night which is cool.
I’m not the biggest ramen fan but Jared LOVES ramen. We both agreed this wasn’t the best ramen we’ve ever had but it was still really yummy. After a pina colada or two, you’ll probably want to get some food in your stomach :) This bowl was 25% off during happy hour and it’s the Tokyo shio chicken ramen.
Oh my gosh. Funny story…when I went to Oahu for Christmas a few years ago with my family we stayed at a hotel near this restaurant. We walked by it every night wondering why everyone was lining up for udon. None of us were particularly interested in hot noodles when it was already hot outside. So we just skipped it. Then when Jared and I went to Oahu, we walked by Marukame on an afternoon when there was literally NO line. At lunch time too?? We took that as a sign that we had to try it and the rest is history. We ate there again just two days later…and it took everything in us to not go back one more time before we flew back to Seattle.
This is one of my top favorite places to get poke on the island. It’s a tiny hole in the wall but you HAVE to visit this place if you’re going to Oahu. The parking is super tight as you can see (yes that ugly yellow car is our rental car, hahaha) but there should be street parking nearby as well. Ono is in the area that Leonard’s bakery is so you could visit both at the same time. I love to get the spicy tuna which comes with 1/3 lb. of fish, rice, and your choice of a drink. It’s a super cheap and filling meal. We brought ours up to some mountain and ate while enjoying the view!
Coffee on vacation is always a must!! Jared and I love to check out new coffee shops when we travel. We went to Island Vintage Coffee while in Haleiwa but I’m sure they have locations all around the island. The iced island latte which is macadamia nut flavored with coconut was SO good. I wish this was something we could get in Seattle!!
This is one of the most famous shave ice spots on the island as well! It’s in Haleiwa as well and you definitely can’t miss it because you’re guaranteed to see a line out the door. I was overwhelmed by how many flavors you can choose! I ended up getting three flavors and there’s a hidden scoop of ice cream underneath. Next time I need to get the condensed milk drizzled over the top!
I thought that Nico’s was going to be this fancy restaurant overlooking the water but it’s actually a really casual restaurant! You order at a counter and everything. The restaurant was super busy during lunch but we still managed to grab a table on the patio. The portions were huge so in retrospect I think we could have shared! We got the combo plate with loco moco and BBQ chicken as well as a Hawaiian plate. It came with poi which Jared and I aren’t really fans of..heh. This would be a great place to get take out for the beach because the inside looks like a food court to be honest.
This was another spot that we went to just for a quick drink before dinner. They serve really strong mai tais and at this point I was sick of them, so I went with the pa’ina punch. I can’t really remember what it tasted like but here’s a photo of our drinks! I remember this place also had a nice view but we weren’t able to snag a good table since it was really busy.
They’re really affordable so you can get a whole box of donuts for the price of a few in Seattle. I love that they serve them hot as well. The best way to enjoy some fresh hot donuts is to take your box into the parking lot and just stuff your face while standing. The sugar is going to get everywhere anyway, so you might as well wait before getting into your car!!
We stayed at the Sheraton for part of our trip and they gave us free coffee coupons for Honolulu Coffee. The location inside the Sheraton had the CUTEST wallpaper that I of course took photos in front of. (I even got the barista to be a hand model for me.) I don’t know what they put in their matcha latte but it is the best matcha latte I’ve ever had. Bold statement I know.
We went to Doraku twice while staying at the Sheraton because it was so close and so good! It’s located inside the Royal Hawaiian Center which has a variety of stores. I won’t flood you with even more photos but here is the lunch bento and a few other rolls. Their happy hour menu is great and the view from the booth was nice!
This famed shrimp truck is actually worth the trip to North Shore and nope, it’s not overrated. My family loved this place so I knew I had to take Jared there on this trip as well. The food never disappoints! I like the scampi but the garlic does get pretty intense, haha. The lines for this truck are crazy but don’t worry – there’s more than one! We went to the one closer to Haleiwa and it wasn’t too bad. Make sure you have cash for this spot!
We grabbed some yummy beef sukyaki at Umami Teppan in this food hall and it was really good!! I wish I could have eaten something at each of the restaurants here honestly. Imagine what I’m going to be like when I go to Japan….omg.
I included this in my ‘what to do’ post but Dole whip deserves another mention. Overpriced, perhaps, but delicious and you can’t find it everywhere. Worth the trip to North Shore for SURE. You can get a variety of toppings but I like the plain old Dole whip on its own.
I don’t normally like Spam but musubis are SOOO good. There’s nothing fancy about them – it’s just rice and spam wrapped in seaweed. But there are also variations with things like cheese, kimchi, or teriyaki spam. We ended up getting musubis a few times for snacks and even brought some with us to the airport! Although you can find musubis at 7-11’s or ABC stores on every street corner, Musubi Cafe Iyasume has the freshest selection.