Monday, June 20, 2016

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 3rd 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…

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