C A L I F O R N I A
04/13/17 - 04/21/17
DAY 1
Day 1 - Today was our travel day as we took our direct morning flight from Boston to San Diego, CA. Just about 5 1/2 hours in the air - that was a long one! At San Diego Airport, we picked up a rental car and made our way to the Loews Coronado Bay Resort on its own private island in Coronado, CA. After settling in and getting our traditional welcome lunch and drink! we took a nice walk to the beach. Silver Strand beach is a 5 minute walk from the hotel, so it was nice to get out, get some fresh air and stretch our legs. It was still a little bit chilly for Ocean swimming, so we just did a little running around on the sand and checked out the sights! After a little exploring of the resort, we headed to bed!
DAY 2
Day 2 - Due to the time change, we woke up pretty early, so we decided to take a quick drive into the "Little Italy" section of downtown San Diego. We had read about a popular donut shop, Devil's Dozen, so started there! They had a great little roof top seating section to enjoy your donuts! After a few more breakfast snacks, we headed to the world famous San Diego Zoo. This Zoo does not disappoint. From Bears to Giraffes to Flamingos, I think it has every animal you can think of. It also has this cool sky tram, that gives you an aerial view of some of the animals. After the zoo, we headed to Balboa Park, where we had a late lunch, explored the park and rode one of these fun little umbrella seat cars!
DAY 3
Day 3 - Mom woke up a little under the weather on Day 3, so Michael and Dad, decided to head out to Sea World. One tip, we had purchased the City Pass Southern California, which gave us access to many of the attractions (Zoo, Sea World, Lego Land & Disneyland) and allowed you to skip the ticketing line. We spent the morning, looking at some of the sea life, doing a few rides and checking out an animal show. By the time we were done, Mom was feeling much better, so we picked her up and went for a drink & snack (amazing guacamole) at the famous Hotel Del Coronado. After hanging at "The Del", we ended the day with some mini golf at Tiki Town and dinner at In-N-Out Burger. Burgers, fries and even hats for everyone! That place is crazy!
DAY 4
Day 4 - It's Easter in San Diego! We kicked off the day with a nice Easter breakfast at the hotel and a visit from the Easter Bunny (and of course many photos)! Today we stayed at the hotel for most of the day, as they had some organized Easter activities including a "make your own cookie!" contest and an Easter egg hunt. After lunch, we headed down to the beach and rented a surrey bike for a little bike tour of the beach. So much fun and a little exercise! For the evening, we took a little ride to Ellen Browning Scripps Park in La Jolla. La Jolla is a beautiful southern California beach town. The park had a little bay where seals like to sun themselves. After the park, beach and seals, we headed to Dukes for dinner and mojitos! It was a great day!
DAY 5
Day 5 - Today we headed to Carlsbad, CA to check out Legoland California! First, we stopped at a local food truck for breakfast right outside the park. We headed into Legoland at opening and explored many of the popular attractions first before it got to crowded. Legoland was perfect for Michael's age at the time. There are plenty of small roller coasters and fun rides made of Lego boats and trains. Michael loved the driving school where he drove his own Lego car. We also loved the mini Lego world. You could walk through different sections of the world with many famous landmarks like the Empire State Building, The Eiffel Tower and The Pyramids (made of Legos). On our way back we stopped at a scenic overlook in Carlsbad overlooking fields of beautiful flowers. So many colors!
DAY 6
Day 6 - We planned an easy "Pool Day" for today, since we were busy at Lego Land the day before. The Hyatt Huntington Beach has a number of pools you could enjoy throughout their expansive property. The main one had a slide which we all tried a few times and a nice pool bar! After a morning of swimming and sliding, we ordered some pizza and cocktails pool side. It was so nice to relax by the pool and take a break from touring around the area. We spent the entire day at the resort; swimming, walking around and even a little shopping! In the evening, we hit one of their signature restaurants, Water Table, for dinner. We headed to sleep a little early, because tomorrow was going to be another crazy day! Pack another park bag, because we are heading to Disneyland!
DAY 7
Day 7 - Welcome to Disneyland! It was a very early start as we navigated the busy California road ways to Disneyland. We made it to the front gates before 8:00 AM (opening) and kicked off the day with hundreds of other Mickey fans. The morning is a great time to explore any Disney park as it is not as busy and much cooler then the afternoon. From Pirates of the Caribbean to Mr. Toads Wild Ride, we rode and spun our way around the entire park. Dad skipped the tea cups; speaking of spinning! We ended the day with a Naples style pizza at the downtown Disney District and of course some cupcakes from Sprinkles as a dessert. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel.
DAY 8
Day 8 - Hope everyone slept well - because 12 hours later, we were back! Today we checked out Disney's California Adventure Park at Disneyland. The California Adventure Park has some of the more modern rides and more of a boardwalk amusement park on the beach. Ferris Wheels, Roller Coasters and Swings are some of the highlights. With plenty of boardwalk games and snacks to keep you energized! From 8:00 AM to about 2:00 PM, we explored every avenue of the park. After almost two days of rides and Disney fun we decided to head back to our hotel a little earlier today, for some relaxing and pool time. By 3:00 PM, we were at the pool and ended the day with a beach walk and dinner at the hotel. Our California adventure is coming to an end!
DAY 9
Day 9 - Our final day has arrived. Our flight was a late night "red eye" from San Diego to Boston, so we had the entire day to relax and get ourselves together. We took a nice beach stroll down Huntington Beach and ate breakfast at Ruby's Diner at the end of Huntington Beach Pier. After breakfast we hit the Beach for some sand castle building and our final good bye to the bright California sun. We took part in a few last minute hotel activities like Koi Fish feeding and cleaned up / packed up and headed to the airport. After returning our rental car, we got a bite to eat at San Diego airport and boarded around 9:00 PM. Pillows and sleep masks were in full effect and we arrived home around 6:00 AM!
WHAT WE THOUGHT OF IT
MICHAEL
KAREN
MICHAEL S
