As many of you know, last September my family and I moved to Morgan Hill from Bakersfield where we were born and raised. My husband Jake got a job with the Winchester Mystery House, so we packed up all of our belongings and with a one month old newborn, we moved up North. It was nerve wracking but one of the best decisions ever. Hands down one of my favorite parts is the town we ended up in: Morgan Hill, California. It’s about 30 minutes south of San Jose and an hour south from San Francisco, a little less than an hour to Santa Cruz, 15 minutes from any outlet you could imagine, and completely surrounded by so many State Parks that are all so uniquely beautiful.

It may be surrounded by all of these amazing things, but this gem of a town has SO much to offer in itself. Our quaint downtown boasts local art and shops. The eatery here is delicious (even though our experiences have been limited seeing we have an infant and no family or babysitters here really). There is SO much for families here: story time at the library on Friday’s, the Community Rec Center where I can have childcare and take a class, the different downtown activities, a weekly farmers market, fun places like Running Shop and Hops, a park in every neighborhood, and so much more. You can walk pretty much anywhere and everywhere seems to be incredibly dog friendly. 

I feel like any excuse there is for this town to get together, they do. Every holiday seems to be a huge deal here, which I love, and Fourth of July was no exception. Usually our Fourth of July’s just include burning $50 worth of fireworks from a stand and having some sort of bbq, or not even really doing much. We heard about the Freedom Fest and were so excited to go. Let me tell you, this parade was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I swear it took an hour to see all the floats, and when you thought it was done, it wasn’t… floats just kept coming down through the street. This float travels along a large portion of the town and features so many local and non-local companies. Although witnessing the camaraderie of the whole town as they all gathered to celebrate our County’s Independence was one of my favorite things. Everyone was brushing shoulders with those next to them, filling in with a locally baked donut and coffee in hand, celebrating together.

So thank you City of Morgan Hill for making our first here a great one and showing us all that you have to offer. The memories we’ve made in less than a year of being here are some of our favorites of a lifetime. 

To the Morgan Hill community: If you found any photos that you would like from the float of you or someone you know, please email me at haileywilliams@archerinspired.com and I would be happy to share some with you.

I own the copyright to all of these images, so please no altering in any way or using without permission and giving photo credit. These are all just some of my favorites from throughout the day, so I do have some more I didn’t share. If you didn’t see a float or vehicle that you wished to see, let me know and I will see if I have it! Thanks everyone!

As a thank you to the Morgan Hill Community, anyone MH residents who mention this post and book a session will receive 10% off of their total.