Austin and I decided to treat ourselves to a California trip as our college graduation gift to ourselves. I had never been to the west coast; or on a flight so long! Unfortunately we flew Spirit and had to stop in Chicago both ways ( The worst!!). From then on we would never fly to California again if it wasn't non stop! I had no idea how much we were about to pack into 4 days of travel. This became the foundation for all of our future trips together; see and do as much as possible in as little time as possible! We stayed with Jackie's college roommate Nancy and her family in Laguna Beach. She is the city planner and at this point Austin was thinking of applying for a LARCH job out there. She was able to set up some meet and greets with local people in the industry to talk to. We traveled up to Santa Barbara and got an amazing tour from Dana Halverson and her family. They took us on the Cold Spring Trail hike to overlook Santa Barbara from above. It was breathtaking. We enjoyed dinner in Montecito and trekked back to Laguna late. Our friend Thad was living in LA at the time and hooked us up with LA Dodgers tickets, and Nancy's sons Chip and Brock joined us. We checked out the Santa Monica and Huntington Beach piers and Chip gave us a local tour of Laguna and Dana Point. Austin and Chip were able to surf Salt Creek which has become one of my favorite little spots whenever we go out there. We stayed in Del Mar and were able to drive down to San Diego to meet up with my cousin John McWeeney and his new wife Katie. We went to the Black's Beach overlook where the hang gliders take off. One of my favorite view spots. This trip was so memorable and it was the start of our Cali love together!