Heaven on earth? This is Crystal Cove State Park in California. We discovered this gem of a beach when my sister suggested we visit Laguna Beach for the tide pools, and we penned that in the itinerary. But then I started to fret about my kids finding seashells because it was their number one goal for our trip {they didn't know about Disneyland}. So I Googled, "can you find seashells at laguna beach", and one of the first results was a review for Laguna's next door neighbor, Crystal Cove State Park Beach. People were raving about Crystal Cove and the shells.

Then, I read the part about the historic district, and we were sold.


We parked, hiked down the hill, under a tunnel, and found ourselves in a 1930s beach village.



There were many people there, but it wasn't crowded the way the Santa Monica Pier had been.



It was. Beautiful.  (o✪‿✪o)












The sand was solid, much easier to walk on than Santa Monica's. The gulls dropped {what I think were} blue mussel shells and the girls collected many. But the water was the best, a sweet respite from the heat while we watched the sun set over the Pacific.



We saw a few tide pools with a few sea creatures.













This was almost our last photograph of Paxton. Thanks, Papa!

{Kidding.}



I don't really have much to say, I think the photos speak for themselves. Justin and I experienced a really corny moment where we had stars in our eyes and sand everywhere and we said, "This was long overdue." Everyone does that at some point on vacation, right? {Say yes.}



You can rent a place to stay right on the beach. We might have to add that to our bucket list. The state park was set up to prevent a large resort taking over this piece of beauty. Instead a very vintage looking village is the only building that's been done here.



It was hard to leave, not knowing when or if we'd splash in the Pacific again, but we faced a hike back up to the parking lot in the dark. {Not so bad, turns out for a buck or two you can hop on a shuttle from the village to the parking lots.}



I think everyone who is familiar with California can name their favorite beach. Now I have mine.



We toyed with the idea of joining this wedding celebration...



...but we were hungry for more than wedding cake. So we crossed another California to-do off our list.



In-N-Out. Yaaaaaassss!



I call this Passed Out, Pacific Style.



I've been missing this place ever since.

Cheers,
Heather

See more of our California 2015 trip:
Part 1 - Santa Monica Pier
Part 2 - The Getty Center
Part 3 - Erickson Family
To Be Continued...