Southern CA Parks Day 7 - March 25, 2016

Friday March 26, 2016 (Last Day)

This was a journey day – up early, quick shower, then I went for an uneventful 35 minute walk around the parking lot of the Residence Inn before we grabbed breakfast and got on the road around 7:30am.  The drive ahead was a long one – we left Oxnard and drove all the way to outside of Vegas and got Subway at a gas station, surrounded by a bunch of thugs.  The kids watched Rookie of the Year (for the 100^th time) then Home Alone then the Sand Lot.  We got to Hoover Dam at 2:00 after sitting in about 30 minutes of traffic caused by security checks.  The dam was cool but not as amazing as I remembered.  The Pat Tillman Bridge (which is now I-93 instead of actually crossing over Hoover Dam) is actually more beautiful than Hoover Dam. 

But I’m glad we stopped.  It was really neat to see the two bronze statues next door to the dam that were mentioned in a Percy Jackson book that Ryan and I read. 

But man the water level seemed really, really low. 

We grabbed magnets and ice cream then drove back to the airport, arriving around 4pm to drop off our car. 

The entire trip had been pretty magical until…after we dropped off the car, we rode on a shuttle bus to the airport, which is apparently where I left our portable DVD player with about 16 movies in it!  We got to the terminal just in time to grab dinner and get on the plane. The plane ride home was uneventful and the kids did great even without the DVD player.  But the airlines lost Nick’s/Grant’s bag.  We got home around 11:30 and it’s now 12:30 and I’m ready to go to bed.  But what a great trip!  The kids have now been to 19 national parks and there’s no end in sight.  Man, I LIVE for this!!!!!

Southern CA Parks Day 6 - March 24, 2016

Thursday March 24, 2016 Channel Islands

What another amazing day.  We got up this morning and had a nice breakfast in the lobby.  Then we drove back to the harbor where we were last night.  We dropped Nick off at the empty Visitor Center (didn’t open until 8:30) then the kids and I parked the car (just a few 100 yards down the road) and checked in for our trip to Santa Cruz.  Nick walked down a little after 8:30 with hatpins and stamps (for the passport books) in hand – the park ranger showed up at 8:20 so whew, we made it.  This visitor center didn’t have magnets, strangely, but Island Packers did so we bought those too.  Then it was time to board the boat.

I’d read about motion sickness and that you might want to consider taking medication but I assumed it was overblown.  NOPE!  I threw up all over the bathroom and again in a barf bag with people sitting all around me and poor grant was just a zombie.  He never threw up but man, it was the longest 1.5 hours of my life.  Ryan and Nick were both nauseous too but both faired ok.  A stranger gave me a Dramamine but I threw it up.  And he gave Ryan and Grant each 1/2.  It was awful.  Our boat went through a herd? of dolphins and I didn’t even take a picture because I was in the bathroom. 

When we finally got there, it was such a relief.  When we first got off the boat we saw a cute little fox who is native to the Channel Islands.

We went on a 5 mi guided hike to Pelican Bay.  The land we hiked is owned by the Nature Conservancy, not the national park so we had to sign waivers.  It was hard but amazing.  The whole island of Santa Cruz reminded me of the NW side of Maui.  We finally got to our turn-around spot and ate lunch (that we hiked in) on Tinker Beach, so named because back in the 20’s, the first Peter Pan silent movie was filmed there.  It was gorgeous. 

We hiked back on our own (not all with a group) and played I’m thinking of something which is always fun…for a while.  It was hot and we were all sweaty and getting tired.  And Grant and I were dreading the return voyage.  As we walked back to the pier, the same nice man gave me his last Dramamine so Grant and I split it.  Then we got on the boat a little before 4pm.  We sat at the back, on the first level because we’d been told the boat doesn’t move as much but then one of the guides said the return trip is never as bad as the outbound trip because we’re going with the waves – what a relief.  AND WE SAW WHALES!!  It was incredible.  The one we mostly watched was a juvenile and the captain said it seemed he might even be asleep because he never jumped out of the water.  But man was it awesome – everyone’s first whale. 

Then, it really was a nice, easy trip back.  Ry and I played Gin for a bit then we docked back in Ventura around 5:30pm.  We grabbed the car, drove around the corner and had dinner at Brophy Brothers – pretty good.  Then home for 30 minutes in the hot tub/pool.  Around 8 we got back to our room and packed up.  Everyone was a little grumpy because this trip has really been go, go, go and it’s coming to an end.  But overall, the day was amazing, sans the sea sickness which was just plain AWFUL!!  First time I’ve ever used a barf bag.

Southern CA Parks Day 5 - March 23, 2016

Wednesday March 23, 2016 (Day 5)

This was our first and only leisurely day of the trip.  We took our time getting up (6:15?J), got dressed and ate breakfast at the McDonalds right in front of our hotel.  We then walked back over to Downtown Disney so that the kids could do some shopping.  They each got $50 for the trip and we really discouraged them from spending any time shopping yesterday or buying anything the first day we pulled in.  Grant bought a Stitch (from Lilo and Stitch) pillow pet that he is absolutely in love with, and he also got a yo-yo at a Duncan booth.  The guy showed him how to do a few tricks and we caught it on video tape.

Ryan bought a really cute Mickey Mouse t-shirt and Nick and I got a magnet for our magnetic wall. 

We went back to the room, grabbed our bags and headed to the car.  We almost made it out of the parking lot until Ryan remembered that she forgot her Kindle charger.  (This was what I thought was the 3^rd full-blown drama-filled false alarm but this time it was legit).

We drove up to LA in a convoluted way and saw the Hollywood sign, Hollywood Blvd, the starts on the side walk, the Chinese Theater, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive and then made it down to Santa Monica after rotting in traffic for what felt like hours. 

We stopped in Santa Monica around 1:45 for lunch and ate at Wahoo’s (it was so-so).  Then we took Hwy 1 all the way to Oxnard.  It was beautiful and the first time either of us had ever been through Malibu.  We passed Pepperdine University (incredible!!!) and pulled into the Residence Inn in Oxnard around 4:45.  It’s like an old apartment complex.  We have a kitchen, living room, etc. – it’s strange. 

This was when I realized that the Visitor Center closed at 5:00 and we couldn’t make it there in time. So we drove over to the Harbor anyway and took pictures in front of the sign and walked over to where our boat leaves in the morning (Island Packers, Inc.) 

We kept walking around the Harbor for 35 minutes so that I could keep the exercise streak alive (much grumbling from the kids) then got back into the car, went to the grocery to grab a few things (stopped at a WinnCo which I thought was a Winn Dixie but definitely not!! – didn’t take credit cards!) then went through the Chick-fil-a drive through and headed back to the room.

It’s now 8:30 and the kids are watching/practicing yo-yo tricks, Nick’s working and I’m blogging.  We’ll probably got to bed soon because tomorrow’s going to be a long day.  I don’t think we return until 5:30 which is a bummer because I think it means we’ll miss A&M play OU in the Sweet 16!  (On Sunday night we missed A&M come back to beat a team in the round of 32 – apparently it’s being called the best basketball comeback of all times.  With about 45 seconds left to play, A&M was down by 12 points and ended up winning by 3 – sorry to have missed that!)

Until tomorrow…

Southern CA Parks Day 4 - March 22, 2016

Tuesday, March 22, 2016 – DISNEYLAND

Well, let’s see – up at 6am, breakfast, ready, and out the door at 7:30.  We walked back to the entrance and waited forever in the bag check line, then the admission line, but sure enough, we were walking into Disneyland at about 8:05.  It was SOOOOOO crowded but fun. 

The first ride we went to was Space Mountain.  Neither of the kids had ever been on a roller coaster before so I was curious to see how it’d go but they both LOVED it.  (I definitely need to buy season tickets to Six Flags this summer!). 

Then we rode the Nemo submarine ride, then the Matterhorn, then It’s a Small World, sans Nick, who was getting Star Tours fast passes, then Mr. Toad’s wild ride (which wasn’t nearly as wild as I had remembered it as a kid), then Pinocchio (which was super lame), then Haunted Mansion, Star Tours (on a fast pass which was amazing), Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan (waited 50 minutes and the ride lasted about 2 minutes – wouldn’t do that one again), then Splash Mountain – this one was a lot of fun – didn’t realize there was more to it than just the big drop – also rode this on a Fast Pass!!, Thunder Mountain (also on a Fast Pass) – the kids LOVED this one!!!, then Indiana Jones, then dinner in the “French Quarter”, then Buzz Lightyear, where we had our own joystick and laser guns.  After all of this, it was around 7:45 so we walked back over to the It’s a Small World area and Grant, who was fading by the minute, and I saved some seats right outside of the It’s a Small World gift shop while Nick and Ryan rode the ride together, since Nick missed it the first time.  There was a beautiful full moon. 

The parade started at 8:30 and started just next to It’s a Small World so we got to see the very beginning.  It was loud but awesome.  At the very end, the classic Disney characters came out and I just about teared up until a lady came and told us we had to get off the railing.  After the parade there was supposed to be a fireworks and light show but because of strong winds, the fireworks were cancelled. 

That meant it was finally time to go – we rocked it out from 8:00am-9:15pm and rode every single ride I wanted to ride plus one!  Grant was almost in tears at this point from leg pain so I carried him part of the way and he walked part of the way too. 

We practically feel into bed around 10 and I feel cheesy for saying this but it really was a magical day. 

Southern CA Parks Day 3 - March 21, 2016

Monday March 21, 2016 – Day 3

We got up this morning, early, and had a great breakfast at the Fairfield Inn.  Then we drove back into the park, through the Oasis entrance (grabbing some pictures at the national park sign first). 

We then drove over to Ryan Mountain and climbed to the summit, approximately 5,450 feet.  The hike up was pretty challenging, only because of the steep climb but the view at the top made it worth it!  It took us about 1 hour 10 minutes to get to the top and only 37 minutes to get down.  I know this exactly because we all placed bets on how long it would take to get down and Ryan won by guessing 37 minutes. 

Around 11ish, we got back into the car and left out of the Joshua Tree entrance.  The kids had started Rookie of the Year in the car so I just ran into the Visitor Center and got the hat pins, magnets, etc. and we were on our way to Anaheim. 

The 122 miles to Anaheim was fairly eventless.  We stopped in Corona, CA, after driving through a Wind Farm, and had lunch at Goodfellas.  It was very good, which was a good thing because Ryan was very upset with me that she didn’t get her pick, which was Subway, and she didn’t understand how we got to choose dinner the night before AND choose lunch – she felt the whole thing was extremely unfair.

We pulled into our Anaheim Fairfield Inn (directly across the street from Disneyland (looking out at Space Mountain) and checked in around 2:30.  This is a neat hotel/motel and we’re on the 8^th floor so we have a pretty nice view.  As we were getting our things out of the car, Ryan found Grant’s knife that he thought had been left on the side of Darwin Falls Road so he was very excited.  After getting settled, we walked over to Downtown Disney and the kids looked at all kinds of souvenirs.  We all got Haggen Daas ice cream, and really enjoyed walking into the Lego store.  We also went  into the Rainforest café. 

Then back to the room and down to the pool/hot tub for a bit.  The kids and I went to the 3^rd floor market and picked up chicken noodle soup, mac and cheese, etc. and ate it back in the room and were literally in bed at 8:30 and totally asleep by 8:45.  That is until the Disneyland fireworks display kicked off at 9:10.  It scared the crap out of me – woke me up with a start!!  It lasted until 9:25 then back to bed.

I woke once in the night, having a “nightmare” about how we had all of these plans for Disneyland but all Ryan wanted to do was shop in the “Hebrew clothing store” and not ride any of the rides!?!

Southern CA Parks Day 2 March 20, 2016

Day 2 “Sunrise to Sunset” March 20, 2016

Today we got up very early, ate oatmeal (in cups with basically no spoons) and bagels in the hotel room and then quickly drove down to Zabriskie Point to watch a spectacular sunrise.  We all faced west because as the sun came up in the East, it painted the mountains pink to the west.  It was spectacular. 

We then drove over to the road that took us to Dante’s View.  It was also amazing.  We parked then walked basically along the ridge of mountains.  It was glorious but as we were  heading back to the car, Grant fell and busted his right knee and right hand very badly.  Nick and Ryan walked ahead and Grant and I walked back together after he quit crying.  As we were walking, sort of out of nowhere, we heard a bird singing.  And sure enough, he was sitting on this thorny bush right in front of us.  It was like he was there to tell Grant that everything would be okay.

We got back in the car, drove back west to our hotel room, packed up our bags and went into the “camp store”.  There we got coffee.  Ryan bought a wind catcher and Grant got a pocket knife.  I got an awesome Death Valley t-shirt.  We got gas then drove Hwy 190 north then west towards Panamint.  That drive took about an hour.  We talked about the presidential election during the drive. 

After we passed Panamint Springs Resort, we drove for one mile then turned left onto a very bumpy road and followed it back to a trailhead, about 2.5 miles away.  The parking lot was full so we precariously parked on the side of the road.  When getting out of the car, Grant dropped Omnom (his strange green stuffed animal that he got for his birthday) under the minivan, which we retrieved, and he also dropped his pocket knife, which we did not retrieve.  So he owned it for less than one hour.

The Darwin Falls hike was amazing.  It started out as just a gravel path in a very arid, desert, landscape but then we came to a creek and the entire climate changed to green and shady.  We hiked back to Darwin Falls and it was great fun.  The hike was flat but there were some fun water crossings and right towards the end, you had to hike over some boulders. 

We sat near the falls and ate a picnic lunch of summer sausage, cheese, apples, trail mix, etc. and of course, it was delicious.  While were where eating, a guy, his son and his dog Bella, climbed passed us and Bella nearly fell back and hurt herself. 

After we hiked back to the car, we got on the road for Joshua Tree.  We drove south on Hwy 178, through the town of Trona, which was a depressing mining town.  The kids watched The Bee Movie (an old one).  I lost all cellular service and hadn’t printed out the map to Joshua Tree so when we were in Trona, I asked a lady there if she knew how to get to Joshua Tree (she’d NEVER heard of it) or if they had a California map – nope.  So we had to drive a little ways out of the way until we had cell service again then were able to get directions to Joshua Tree.  We lost 45 minutes or so because of this so the drive took close to 4 hours.  The kids watched Home Alone then started Rookie of the Year.  We pulled into the Joshua Tree Visitor Center (that’s the NW entrance), around 5:45 and the Visitor Center had already closed for the day but we were able to grab a few maps which was what we needed. 

The original plan had been to check into our hotel then head into the park to catch sunset but because we got there late we just went straight into the park.  I wanted to get down to Keys View at around 7pm because I’d read that sunset was spectacular.  We had some time to kill so we stopped first at Barker’s Dam and stumbled onto such a cool, 1-mi loop hike. 

The terrain seriously looks like you’re on another planet between the strange rock formations and the Joshua trees.  The hike was amazing.  Then we just barely got down to Keys View in time and it was indescribable.  I think it’s the prettiest sunset I’ve ever seen – very windy and therefore very cold but utterly spectacular. 

After that we drove back north then rather than retracing our steps, we took the road through the park and up to the NE entrance (Oasis Entrance?)  It was now 8pm and we were hungry and tired.  We went through a Del Taco drive thru (took forever), Grant fell asleep, and we checked into our very nice Fairfield Inn.  The kids thought the hotel was so fancy.

It’s now 9:45 and I’ve showered and am just wrapping this up so that we can go to bed. 

What a day!  The kids have been so great.  A little bit of arguing but nothing too bad.  I think Nick and I have argued more than the kids have J

Until tomorrow….

Southern CA Parks Day 1 - March 19, 2016

Day 1 March 19, 2016

This morning we left our house at 7:15 and our “Lift” driver took us to the airport.  We got through the line easily and had plenty of time to relax before our flight took off.  We took an uneventful flight to Vegas (I read a great book called “The Collapse of Parenting”!).  We landed around 10am Vegas time and took a shuttle to the rental car place.  We rented an awesome Dodge minivan through Enterprise – the van has a DVD player, leather interior…the whole nine yards. 

We drove up the Vegas strip and the kids were pretty amazing but also a little bit scared.  We stopped at an Einstein’s Bagels for lunch then to Trader Joe’s for some food for tomorrow.  They didn’t have everything we needed so I stopped again at a Target and got most of what we needed. 

Everything took longer than expected so we were running a little behind schedule.  The kids watched The Sandlot in the car on the way to Death Valley. 

We finally arrived around 3:45 and checked into the Furnace Creek Ranch. 

We quickly dropped our things off then drove another mile north to the Visitor’s Center where we got our magnets, hat pins, maps, etc.  I’m bummed that I left our passbooks at home so we had to just stamp a sheet of paper but that’s okay.

Then we turned back around and took the road down to the Badwater Basin (the lowest spot in North America).  We walked out onto the salt deposits and it was really, really cool – 284 feet below sea level. 

Afterwards we headed back north on the same road and stopped at the Natural Bridge.  After 1.5 miles on a really bumpy road, it was a short but steep walk back to the bridge.  The bridge was cool but also a little creepy because it was full of cracks!

We then took the Artist Drive and saw the Artist’s Palette.   Also very neat – the drive was 9 miles and at certain places along the way, it was like we were on Mars.

Last stop (7pm and sun setting) was the Golden Canyon Trail (2 miles round trip).  This trail is apparently where parts of the original Star Wars movie was filmed.  It was getting dark so we cut the hike short and Grant, Ryan and I ran the whole way down. 

At 7:30 (9:30 Dallas time) we went back to the Furnace Creek Ranch and ate at the Saloon, which was not very good but the other two restaurants on the “resort” both had really long waits.  We basically sat in a bar, which I think also made the kids kind of nervous, then, after overeating, we got back to the room (8:30ish).  I took a quick shower and we all got into bed.

Quite the first day.  Generally speaking, the kids were fantastic.  Tomorrow should be fun too!