Visiting Friends in Orange County

Starting Our Family Trip to Southern California 2024

By Andy Johnson III

August 23^rd, 2024

Before moving to Saint Paul, Minnesota, we lived in San Diego and Los Angeles for over 12 years. With some extra time off this summer, we decided to visit Southern California and spend a few weeks visiting the friends and places that we miss out there. In the airport, the kids loved the escalators and moving walkways, with Havana pretending to surf.

Our flight to Los Angeles was delayed by the global IT outage but thankfully we arrived only a few hours late and with time to pick up our rental car and drive to Orange County to rest up for first Southern California adventures as a whole family.

In-N-Out Burger

Upon arrival, we went straight to the local classic, In-N-Out Burger. Everyone seems to love In-N-Out Burger in Southern California and we grew to love it as well. The kids aren't into burgers yet, for some reason, but they did like the fries and the lemonade.

Newport Beach

Peter and Krista Little are a couple that we met at a conference on creativity in Orange County. We hit it off as couples right away and ended up going out to eat after the conference, starting a friendship that has continued ever since. They live in Huntington Beach and graciously offered to meet up with us for a beach day in Newport Beach. It was a wonderful way to start our trip sharing deep discussions, the ocean, time in the and the joy of watching the kids play in the waves! Havana was especially excited to be visiting "the biggest ocean in the world!"

After working up an appetite at the beach, we walked down the street to Tidepool's Deli and Brew where we enjoyed some delicious pizza. We then finished the afternoon at Reborn Coffee in Huntington Beach, sipping iced coffee and enjoying the rest of our time with Peter and Krista. We stopped by their place and enjoyed their incredible landscaping, meeting their dog and the progress they've made on their home. It's wonderful having friends with whom you feel like you can pick up right where you left off! We hope that we see this wonderful couple again sooner rather than later!

Kean Coffee

Kean Coffee in Tustin is at an ideal stopping point along the route between San Diego and Los Angeles so it became a regular stop for Bethany and I. We especially love their Turkish Cafe Latté and since our hotel was only a few blocks away, we were able to enjoy this special place several times during our short stay in Orange County.

Visiting Alex and Amy Moore

Two of our closest friends during our season in Los Angeles were Alex and Amy Moore. We met them through a book study at our church and then started a small group together that continued on for some time. As two young couples without children, we enjoyed a lot of time together. They moved to Orange County not long before we left LA. I often think of them and wish we could just spend lazy Sunday afternoons together like the old days. What a blessing to be able to see them while visiting Orange County!

We met up with Alex and Amy and their two adorable kids at the Irving Spectrum. After enjoying lunch together, we went outside and let the kids play in some water fountains and on a playground as we talked. Frozen yogurt helped to cool everyone down as the children warmed up to each other and became great friends. What we would give to live closer to this dear family!

Ramen Mura

One of the foods we miss most while living a long way from the coast is sushi. It's not that we can't get sushi in Minnesota it's just that it's hard to beat fresh sushi from the coastal areas where the fish are freshly caught. I have also been wanting to have Ramen again for awhile now so we looked up a place not far from where we stayed in Orange County and found Ramen Mura. We loved their Yellowtail Star roll so much that Bethany wanted to go back to have it a second time. My ramen was also incredible so this place was most definitely a win for us!