Up the PCH to San Francisco

So, once again, Jaime has asked me to contribute to the onerous task of blogging about our road trip.  So, here it goes.

This was our first California trip going north of Anaheim...ever.  For that alone, I was pretty excited and this represented the crux of what I wanted to accomplish with the road trip, I wanted our family to see and do things they had never done before.  I think you'll see by the end of the post that we accomplished said objective. :)

From Anaheim, we headed through LA towards Los Osos where my Aunt Shelene lives.  We had the chance to see her and her family during our California trip in March and had promised to come her way during the summer, in fact that was the genesis of my idea to drive the coast from San Diego to San Francisco.  Anyway, we drove north after a good day at Disneyland and ended up stuck in downtown LA around 7PM...pretty typical from what I hear.  After a nice nighttime drive that took us through Santa Barbara we got to our hotel in Los Osos late that night.  The next morning we got up, got ready and headed to Aunt Shelene's house.  Aunt Shelene lives in an amazing place right by the water in Los Osos.  She showed us her beautiful home and the surrounding nature.  We then made plans to go to lunch in Cambria, do some tide pooling, see some elephant seals, maybe Hearst Castle and then wind our way up north toward Monterey.  The following pictures depict how the plans turned out:

 So amazingly beautiful!  I absolutely loved tide pooling in Cambria!

Jaime and Harris winding their way through the rocky terrain.

Harris touching a starfish and some anemones.

Liv holding a little crab.

Members of the team out and about.  It was so great to see Shelene and her family!

 I waded out a little bit and took a picture looking back.

My beautiful daughter checking out the sights.

I took Harris out with me, great bonding moment while helping him not to wash out to sea.

I could have spent days here.

After Cambria, we headed out to see the elephant seals in San Simeon.  Observe;

For some reason, Liv is really into seals right now.  Maybe it's a phase...anyway, so she was super excited to see seals in their natural habitat for the first time.  They didn't disappoint.

Yeah, we got to see them fight.  That was pretty cool.

So, we decided to drive a couple miles back south of San Simeon and check out Hearst Castle.  Turns out you have to take a tour bus up to the top of the hill from the museum (where we were) but they were all sold out for the day so this is as close as we got.  Pretty cool though.

Once we wrapped up, it was around 5PM, we said good-bye to our friendly compatriots and made the decision to drive to our next destination, Monterey, via the Pacific Coast Highway.  What made the decision an interesting one was that the PCH had only opened the night before because of mud slides that had shut it down for about a month.  So, good timing on our part but a little unnerving...

Before I show a couple pictures I have to say that driving up the PCH from Cambria to Monterey was the most spectacularly beautiful, most terrifying drive I have ever made.  The road was so narrow, there were so many switchbacks and the ups and downs were so much but at the same the scenery was so breathtaking that it made it a truly singular experience.  I also loved this.

Admittedly, it was pretty cool that day, as you can tell from the kids expressions when I made them exit the car for a cool photo opp as we wound our way north on the PCH. Yay, road trip!

OK, we arrived safe and sound in Monterey, grabbed a bite and hit the sack. The next morning we debated whether or not to hang out in Monterey or just to get a start toward San Francisco. We ultimately decided to head toward San Fran. San Francisco was a very cool experience (cool, like awesome cool as well as cool in temperature. I am so funny!)

On the way up to San Francisco from Monterey we stopped for fresh strawberries!

Poor Liv is terrified of bridges.  Driving across the bay from Oakland was a special treat for her.

I've had some really cool hotel experiences in San Francisco while there for conferences and work and decided to have the fam stay at the Westin St. Francis while we were there.  I really wanted them to experience that early 1900's glamour.

The room they gave us had a beautiful view but was in the "new" tower built in the 70's.  We liked the view but wanted a classic room...

We went and grabbed some lunch across the street at Union Square and snapped a pic with the hotel in the background.

When we returned to the hotel after lunch I asked them to move us to a classic room (built in 1904) and it had a great view of Union Square.

I love the classic architecture and weird decor (like this oversized chair)

 

Our first destination (after the hotel and lunch) was down to the wharf.

Turns out they had an aquarium so we checked it out.  It was pretty cool.

Harris had inherited his mother's love for sea life in general and sharks in particular (he has no less that 9 shark-themed t-shirts)

Dizzying, but cool.

This was our first time seeing a 7-gill shark so that was pretty cool.

After we left the aquarium we continued our touristy...tour I guess, of the area.

Alcatraz on the right and the Golden Gate Bridge on the left.

Again with the seals, Liv just loves them!

It was actually quite cold walking around that day so we made our way to Ghirardelli Square for some hot chocolate!

The famous trolley cars.

So, the wait was forever long and it was super cold, so we ended up just taking a taxi back to the hotel.  The driver would drive crazy fast up and down these ridiculously steep roads!  Harris thought it was a ride.

Before we took off towards Utah the next morning I made everyone drive with me to Dynamo Donuts for their maple bacon pancake batter donuts.  So tasty it hurts!

So, that was the central and northern parts of our California trip.  I was so glad to see and do such cool things with the family and hope to do it again next year! :)

Soundsational Summer

*Disclaimer- Our camera broke during this part of the trip so the pictures from here on out are taken with a camera phone and aren't the best.*

Chet's grandparents live in Placentia so whenever we go to Disneyland we try and make enough time to be able to see them. This visit we were able to spend a night with them. It takes about 2 hours to get to their house from Sea World so when we finally got there it was about 9 pm. They had 3 beds set up in the family room when we got there. Cheryl, Chet's grandma, had set up the 3rd bed so that she could sleep with the kids! They were so excited. We got everyone ready and tucked into bed at about 10:30. Cheryl had picked out a book that she used to read to her kids to read to Liv and Harris. Harris lasted about 2 seconds before he was out like a light.

Sleepover Central! Jazzy LOVES Liv and never left her side while we were there, even when she was sleeping.

After a good nights sleep we got up, got ready and had breakfast. Cheryl is an excellent cook and made french toast out of Hawaiian Bread! It was sooo good! We decided to hang out a bit longer after breakfast so the kids took this time to teach Papa Jay and Grandma Cheryl to play Wii bowling. Which is ironic because Jay and Cheryl were both professional bowlers and Cheryl was just inducted into the Pro Bowling Hall of Fame!

 Cheryl is an amazing woman and I am so grateful for her wonderful example to Liv.

We had a fantastic time staying with them and hope to do it again soon. The kids were so sad to leave that they cried! But, it was time to get to Disneyland! I was so excited to get there and see all of the new stuff that they were doing as part of the Soundsational Summer!

Because I have the most amazing husband in the whole world he booked us a suite in the new Frontier Tower overlooking the new pool area at the Disneyland Hotel! When we got there Goofy was hanging out at the bellhop desk. He came over and took Harris' sunglasses and put them on. Harris wasn't quite sure what to do at first but then when he gave them back he thought it was pretty funny.

Goofy being goofy with Harris.

After dropping off our luggage with the bellhop (it was too early to get into our room) we went inside and got checked in. While we were checking in Harris sat down to watch old school Disney cartoons when Chip showed up and decided to have a seat and hang out with him. It was one of those moments that make Disneyland magical!

Only at Disneyland...

While we were checking in, we got a pleasant surprise...special Fastpasses!  For people staying at a Disney Hotel they were giving out Fastpasses for the new Star Tours and Ariel rides! I was so excited for these because the average wait time for Star Tours was 3 hours and about half that for Ariel! We decided that our first ride would be Ariel!

Woohoo! Magic Fastpasses!

The line for Ariel was ridiculous, as I expected, but we walked to the front and showed them our Magic Fastpasses and got right on the ride!!! It was awesome!

The ride entrance

Harris wanted to ride with Liv so Chet and I actually got to ride on Ariel together!

Some of the things inside the ride.

The ride was darling! Even Harris liked it which was shocking because unless it Pi's or Big Thun he isn't interested. ;) After Ariel we left CA and went to Disneyland. We did all of our usuals except Big Thun which was closed for refurb. Which actually left a big hole in our schedule. Big Thunder is our "filler" ride. No matter what we can always get on it in about 15 minutes. Since we didn't have that as our "filler" between our other fastpasses we did a lot more standing in line than normal. That was ok though it gave us a chance to take some cute pictures waiting for our next ride.

"Waiting" in line for Pooh Bear, except I don't think we have ever actually "waited" for Pooh Bear.

I love to ride the Disneyland Railroad and take a grand circle tour of the park. It's a nice break and it's fun to scope out the less busy part of the park to head to when your tour is over. ;)

The train station in New Orleans Square is the best one. I love the atmosphere there.

Even though we know Disneyland like the back of our hand Harris always has to have a map to see where he wants to go next.

As we were walking to Fantasyland through Big Thunder Ranch we saw a giant alligator in the Rivers of America!

We did all our favorite rides in Fantasyland and ended the day with one of Harris recent favorites, Casey Junior.

The second day we got there early because the park was closing early for "Grad-night at the Park". So we wanted to get as much done as possible. We decided to start the day with Matterhorn and work our way around the park from there.

My cool boys.

I am a sucker for all of the rides in Fantasyland, much to the chagrin of my family. So after Matterhorn we went on one of my favorites, Storybook Land.  There is something magical about it being all in miniature.

My sweet boy with Alice's miniature village behind him

Me and my baby girl with the patchwork quilt and Cinderellas miniature castle in the background.

When we were done in Fantasyland we went to Toon Town. We never go to Toon Town, we hate it, but for some reason Harris wanted to go check it out. After walking around for about 5 minutes the kids were bored and wanted to go do something else. We thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to take a break from the park and head back to the hotel for a swim.

Weaklings! ;)

No matter how hard she tried she just couldn't get it to explode.

We took the monorail back to the hotel and got our suits on. I think the kids were more excited for the pool than anything else. It is a very cool pool, however, I will miss the Neverland Pool very much.

The pool is modeled after the original monorail station and the Disneyland sign that hung over it in 1955. The outside of the slides look the the monorail cars. It's fun to get a glimpse of the past.

Can you find my three? They are on their way up the stairs to the big slide in the back (the red monorail).

This is the "swimming pool". It is kind of small because the other half of it isn't done yet. And having a pool at our house the kids were much more interested in the slides.

Liv enjoying the waterfall

She thought that laying down under the waterfall might be more fun than just standing under it. She's so silly. :)

I couldn't zoom but this is Harris, on the left, and Chet, on the right, coming down the little slide.

We had a blast and stayed until the pool closed at 6 and then went back to our room and got ready to go back to the park. The park was closing early for Grad-Night again so we only had a couple hours. We went to California Adventure to get dinner at one of the new restaurants but they weren't open yet like I thought they were. Oh well, that meant that we got corndogs! ;) While we were eating our corndogs Chet went and got Fastpasses for ToT so when we were finished eating that's where we went. 

AT least Liv and Chet look like they are having fun. ;)

I asked Harris about his face in this picture and he said, "I really don't like Tower of Terror. I just go on it because Daddy and Liv want me to." Weather or not that is true I don't know but wouldn't surprise me if he didn't like it because it is the WORST ride in the whole world!

There wasn't a lot for us to do since the park was closing early so we did what we could and then went back to our fabulous room for a good nights sleep for one more day at Disneyland.

When you stay at one of the Disney Hotels they give you a packet of information about what is going on at the park that is just for the hotel guests. Chet was looking over the stuff and saw that they were letting the guests of the Disney Hotels into CA an hour early to ride the Ariel ride! Awesome, right? Well it would have been more awesome if we would have know that earlier so that we could have used all our magic Fastpasses on Star Tours. Oh well. We did go and got to ride Ariel twice in a row. When we finished on the ride we went over to Disneyland to spend our last day there. Since it was still quite early we did Indiana Jones and then Tarzan's Treehouse. I love the view from the top of the  treehouse. It is beautiful from up there.

Enjoying the view from the top

The problem with getting to the top is the bridge. Liv is deathly afraid of bridges. She has to go across by herself and practically runs. It's funny.

See Liv at the end of the bridge? She wouldn't even stand on it for a quick picture

The one thing I wanted to do on our last day there was see the parade. It was all new and I was really anxious to see if  they redeemed themselves from the atrocity they called a parade last year. They did. It was great!

The parade is called Mickey's Soundsational Parade. As the name implies it is all about the sound. All the floats are made to look like drums and the music matches the movie that the float is themed after. And since I have a slight obsession with Disney music, I LOVED IT!!!

This is the drum line that starts the parade. They are some of the drummers from the movie "Drum Line".

Mickey is the first float. He actually plays the drums and talks! Harris loved that.

The Ariel float

Loved the princess float!

Lion King

All of the floats were fantastic! I hope we get to see it next summer too! After the parade we had to wrap up our last day so that we could get on the road to our next stop on our PCH Road Trip, the central coast to see Chet's aunt and uncle...