California Trip Report

Our road-trip was a lot of fun, and a very memorable and enjoyable vacation. Each driving day (3 on either side of our Disneyland time) we started early and were in our motel around 6pm - just enough time for a dip in the pool before the girl's bedtime. If you ever plan to take a trip along the I-5 to or from California, I highly recommend taking a little detour to the redwoods along 101 north of San-Francisco. We didn't take any lengthy stops along the way, just a quick roadside hike, a drive the the kitschy Drive-Thru Tree, a couple beach stops, and stop to see Babe and Paul. The drive is a little longer, but plenty more scenic than I-5, plus it dumps you into San Francisco, which yields it's own adventures.

Our kids are little, but are great travelers, often they take the "getting there" part of travel in greater stride than ourselves. We had organized the car in such a way that they each had a water bottle at hand, small toys in a basket for them, a new coloring book, and twist up crayons and colored pencils, some blank pads of paper, and a book. Most of the time the girls played or listened to Adventures in Odyssey (a radio show designed for kids, our 6 and 4 year old stayed engaged with it for over an hour at a time). We also brought along plenty of snacks, gave them each a garbage bag, and had a DVD player we could strap between the front seats when they got really antsy. There are plenty of places to stop off for bathroom breaks or to refill the water bottles. A couple times we stopped for snack just to get out of the car. 

The longest stretch was I-5 between San Fran and LA. This stretch of highway doesn't have a varied landscape, and places to stop are not quite as frequent. It is fun to see the wind farms and the miles and miles of  citrus agriculture. Traffic in and out of the greater LA area was slow and hot, but that's to be expected 

This trip was to be a surprise to our girls. We really struggled keeping the secret...but they never clued in. We were supposed to drive into our Anaheim motel  under the cover of darkness, but we arrived at Newport beach a couple hours ahead of schedule, and the beach was very windy that day, making it quite cool, and after Annora fell in the water we didn't stay long. We put on an Adventures in Odyssey to draw their attention away from their surroundings, and it worked, even though we drove past several bright blue Toy Story Disneyland buses and a couple princesses! We told the girls we were taking a walk in the morning instead of a drive, and we headed out. Neither of them noticed the Disneyland banners on the light poles. They started noticing the Disneyland busses and kids wearing costumes, but they just commented about it, didn't draw any conclusion, till we were at the ticket gate. I would say it didn't really kick in till the afternoon when Maddie said, "Am I really at Disneyland or am I dreaming!?" So, if you ever have the chance to surprise your kids - do it! It's so fun to watch their face and have EVEN MORE excitement over a place that creates so much excitement.

Our day of driving after our Disneyland time didn't have any adventure planned in. It was a long drive up to Fairfield, where we planned on going to the Jelly Belly Factory when it opened the next morning. Though the drive was long, everyone faired just fine, even with the added extra hours of traffic. The next morning the Jelly Belly Factory Tour was fun and interesting. All that sugar! And the free samples! That day we also went on a quest to locate some Pliny the Elder beer. It was harder than we thought it should be, but we were rewarded with 6 bottles. Thank you Nugget Market! 

So, all in all, strategic planning of a few fun stops along the way and a well organized car makes for an easy and exciting 2400 mile road trip. I would be happy to drive again to Disneyland again sometime. 

Our biggest adventure happened to the smallest member of our family - Phoebe. She's Annora's best friend, her doll, who she took into a dollar store and was left behind in the crayon section. About an hour later Annora realized Phoebe was missing and we were NOT turning back. With no cell service for miles, Ryan sped through the mountains till there was service, parked on the shoulder of the highway to make a few calls, arranging with a very generous man to have Phoebe mailed to our Anaheim motel. Phoebe arrived on our last day in Disneyland, and we are so grateful for kind people in our world! The days following Phoebe's departure, Annora would say things like, "Phoebe would have liked this", or "I wish Phoebe could be here to play". We love that kid.