Hello and welcome to California Majesty. My name is Kristin, and I’ll be your guide on this Adventure through the Golden State of California. It will be my pleasure to introduce you to my favorite California spots, and take you with me as I explore new ones. Along the way, you’ll get to know me and my family. (In the above picture you can see me and two of my children when we visited Downtown Disneyland in the summer of 2020)
CALIFORNIA AND ME
I am a native Californian. I was born in the shadow of the Hollywood Sign in the Kaiser hospital on Sunset Boulevard, and have lived most of my life in greater Los Angeles. I have lived in Cerritos, Los Alamitos, Cypress, Riverside, Yorba Linda, Placentia, and Long Beach. Each city has its own flavor, and I thoroughly enjoyed living in and exploring each one.
I also spent five years living and teaching in the southern Central Valley city of Bakersfield. Living closer to the center of the state gave me a deeper appreciation for the beauty that I found there.
I got to spend five years driving to beautiful locations such as the Sequoia National Park and the Central Coast. I saw amazing forests, marine wildlife, and farmers growing the food we eat. It was one of the most wonderful times of my life. To this day I miss driving through the almond orchards as they bloomed in early spring.
My family is spread across the state. This meant that I grew up traveling throughout the state. We would typically spend Thanksgiving with my aunt and uncle in San Diego County, and Christmas in Orange County. I can still hear my parents arguing about the heavy traffic on the 5 Freeway as we drove by the now defunct Lion Country Safari on Thanksgiving morning.
Summers were spent playing with cousins in the Sierra Nevada foothills as my sister and I visited our grandparents home in the Gold Rush town of Georgetown.
My favorite summer was the one where my grandparents drove us north to Fortuna to visit my Aunt Ellen. I remember being amazed at the rainy and foggy weather in the middle of the summer. The highlight of that trip was when we got to drive through a redwood tree on the way there. It was pretty amazing.
Our annual trips to Northern California were spent learning about California’s history. We panned for gold in the American River in the shadow of Sutter’s Mill where gold was discovered in 1848. We learned about the Donner Party during a trip to Lake Tahoe, and Indigenous Californians at many of the places we visited. These trips fostered a love of California, her people, and her history that is still with me today.
Now that I’m grown, I have found that my love of California has only grown. I still love to travel throughout the state, and have visited many places in the deserts, the mountains, and the coastal regions. My children have grown up exploring and falling in love with California too.
California’s Majesty
The California Majesty blog is a way for me to take my love of California’s places and history and pass it on to others. It is my hope that my writing and my videos will help people better appreciate The Golden State and all it has to offer.
Most of my adventures will be in Southern California, but that’s not because I don’t like Northern California. It’s simply because it is harder to explore the parts of California that are a long drive from home, especially during the school year. I will get up there when I can.
I sincerely hope that you will join me on my journey through California as we explore many of the fun and unique places found in the Golden State. I plan on having a great time. I hope you do too.
If you ever need a hand or have any questions, feel free to message me and I will be more than happy to help you out.
All the best,
Kristin Parker
CaliforniaMajesty.com
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