A few weeks ago, the Mister and I drove down to Carlsbad so I could go see the Flower Fields! And wow were they gorgeous! Ranunculas everywhere! And then afterward, we drove up to Mission San Juan Capistrano to see the Jewel Mission of California!
The Flower Fields are open for a few more weeks, so if you have some free time, I recommend a visit! 
I first learned about the Flower Fields on Instagram. I love how that app can show me amazing things to go do, go see, and food to make or restaurants to try. If we’re not friends on Instagram, come find me here! I post a lot more on Instagram than I do on the blog. But back to the beautiful Flower Fields! I kept seeing these gorgeous photos on Instagram and I just had to check out the Flower Fields in person and take a million photos of flowers! And the Mister took photos of me taking photos! Ha!
I love how they plant the flowers in rows of colors, but really, my favorite row was the multi color flowers.
And I also loved the dead or dying flowers, something about the way they were drying up and the muted colors.
And if you do decide to visit, please don’t be one of the assholes that crosses the “do not cross” line to go “twirl among the flowers.” So many rule breakers! Here’s a photo of two:
And a huge lemon stand selling lemonade? Yes please!
There’s also a sweet pea/snapdragon garden:
And the Armstrong Nursery that sells the ranunculus as you leave is great! You can buy a bunch of ranunculus for $5, I bought 2, and the worker was kind enough to wrap them in a bag with water (for the long drive) and recommended grabbing a plastic bag with handles from the checkout lane and then hanging the flowers from the garment hook in the car for the trip back home. Genius!
After the Flower Fields, we drove about 20 minutes up to Mission San Juan Capistrano since it was MY 4th grade mission (In California, all 4th graders study the missions and typically you choose one to research, write a report, give a presentation, and make a model. Back in my day, the model was made out of clay, now the current little 4th graders can go and buy a model at Michaels. Cheaters!) and the Mister has never visited a mission in California.
I remembered from my report that the swallows used to nest in the eaves at the Mission, and that they would return every year to do so, but I had heard that in recent years the swallows have not been returning, but we did get to see a few nests. Also, part of the mission bell tower collapsed in an earthquake in 1812 and it was never rebuilt, so it was neat to see the ruins.
The Mission was great to visit, if you’ve never seen a California Mission, this is the one to go to, it’s simply beautiful with a lot of great history. Although, they really need to change their tagline which makes it sound just okay:
After walking around the Mission, we were starving, so we walked down the street to the Mexican Food restaurant, El Adobe de Capistrano. The food and atmosphere were both great and I totally recommend it.
Have you been to Carlsbad or San Juan Capistrano? Let me know what I missed in the comments so I can make sure I visit next time I’m down that way.
Kim E
Wednesday 22nd of April 2015
i must go! wow, just wow! i would be in photographer bliss the entire time :)
LegalMissSunshine
Tuesday 28th of April 2015
I'll go with you next year! Just let me know when!