In this post, you can hear about my family’s epic summer getaway to California, specifically San Francisco, Santa Cruz, and Los Angeles.
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I’m back today from an epic summer getaway with my family to California.
I used to live in Southern California for twelve years. During that time I traveled extensively all over the Golden State. Even after living in Memphis for the past two years, I still viscerally miss the raw beauty and blessed climate that you encounter on the West Coast.
In total, we spent a week and a half on vacation, split between three locations: San Francisco, Santa Cruz, and Los Angeles.
San Francisco
In San Francisco, we stayed in my wife’s childhood home and and showed my kids around the improbably hilly city.
As Mark Twain may have said, “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” It was beautifully clear for most of our stay, but a tad on the blustery and chilly side.
This was our first visit to the city in about a year and I was encouraged to see that it seems to be continuing its recovery from its pandemic lows. To be honest, we consciously avoided the downtown area and mainly stuck to our favorite areas like Golden Gate Park, Russian Hill, Chinatown, and the Ferry Building.
From the real estate perspective, I saw a good amount of commercial vacancy, but also noticed new restaurants and coffee shops. I spent a few hours working in a new coffee shop near my wife’s childhood home and was impressed as ever with the energy of San Francisco. While I polished and published a blog post, two young professionals remote-worked from a nearby table and another 25-year-old participated in an obvious job interview. I felt a lively buzz of capitalism as I sipped my Matcha oat-milk latte.
As I munched on some overpriced but delicious avocado toast, I was struck with the feeling that a city as beautiful and vibrant as San Francisco may be down, but it won’t be down for long.
Santa Cruz
After we left San Francisco, we spent five days near Santa Cruz in an iconic beach house with an unmatched view of the Pacific Ocean.
We met up with three other families and had an amazing time reconnecting and enjoying the raw beauty of the California surf line. We had all become close during the pandemic, so it was gratifying to feel such a strong sense of connection despite my family’s move to Memphis.
Read more: How Moving to Memphis Cost Us $500k
The unifying thread between all of the parents in our group is a strong streak of entrepreneurism. While our kids played on the sand, we spent a lot of time discussing business, mortality, and life. One common theme became very clear: starting and growing businesses is hard work. It takes more than just bravery and gumption.
I took a lot of advice that I hope to apply to the growth of my own businesses.
While at the beach house, I also rededicated energy to my TikTok channel and started creating videos again. (Please follow!)
After cleaning and packing up the beach house, my family drove south to Los Angeles.
Los Angeles
We stayed in an Airbnb in Culver City, which was a great base of operations for our dual goals: enjoying the beach in Santa Monica and checking on our rental property.
When we moved to Memphis, my family tried to sell our Los Angeles home, but it went on the market at the same time as the increase in interest rates. This made selling the home very challenging, so we eventually converted it into a higher end rental property. Technically, the home is now owned by a land trust and I’m just the property manager.
At the rental home, I met with tenants, addressed repair concerns, and completed a video walkthrough for a cost segregation study.
Since I aim to hold onto this property for the long term, it makes sense to maximize my tax savings with a cost segregation.
Read more: How a Cost Segregation with Engineered Tax Services Got Me a $105k Tax Refund
When I wasn’t inspecting the rental property, my family spent most of our time visiting our favorite SoCal playground: Santa Monica beach. The weather was perfection, and our kids just had a blast playing in the sand.
I recorded this video below and pose the question to you: is the higher cost of living in Los Angeles worth the money? Let me know what you think in the comments below!
Sleep-Away Camp
I finished off our epic California adventure by dropping off my older son at a sleep away camp in Michigan. It’s his first time going to sleep away camp, and we were all full of nervous energy as I waved goodbye.
I’m hopeful that he’s going to have an incredible time and make life-long memories and friends.
Conclusion
I think my family is always going to have a soft spot in our hearts for California. I moved to Los Angeles with my wife to for urology residency in 2010. And despite the trauma of residency, I have incredible memories from the city. It’s where my wife and I bought our first home and started our family.
I know for sure that we’ll be back for another California getaway soon.
For now, I’m really happy to be back in Memphis. Although I love going on vacation with my family, it’s hard to continue the work I’m doing on my businesses like Cereus Real Estate and The Darwinian Doctor.
As I flew back into the Memphis airport last night, I found myself smiling, looking forward to the week ahead. I take this as a good sign of the way I’m choosing to spend my time.
Daniel Shin, MD
The Darwinian Doctor
Have you had any good summer vacations? Let me know in the comments below!
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