The Smiffs Go West - Day 13 - IHOPping, Shopping and Stropping!

[Ruthy1604]

Day 13 - IHOPping, Shopping and Stropping!

The index is here

I have to apologise for the lack of photos today.

The plan today had originally been to check out early, go to the Fender Factory and do the 10am tour, drive to Ontario Mills for a bit of retail therapy and then drive towards Yosemite as far as Bakersfield.

However, it all went a bit wrong a few days before. I sent an email around a month ago asking if I could book the tour as there wasn’t really a lot of leeway in our schedule. I didn’t want to get there and it be too busy etc. However, I heard absolutely nothing at all – no reply whatsoever. Then one morning while we were in California I got an email thanking me for my enquiry, but saying that they were closed for a private function. DH was absolutely gutted and we seriously considered changing our Disney days around so that we would do the Fender Tour on the Friday and Park hop on the Monday. This left us with our two main Disney days being on the weekend so we decided to stick with plan A.

This meant we weren’t in such a rush this morning. We had a bit of a lie in, packed most of our things, and headed down the road to IHOP for our second pancake hit of the holiday. We were creatures of habit and ordered exactly the same as before and it was lovely. Well it would have been had the kids not fallen out big time. I cannot even remember what it was about but breakfast was mostly eaten in silence. On a positive, I seem to be better at ordering tea this year. If you specifically ask them to open the tea bag, put it in the pot and THEN fill it with hot water, you actually get a decent cuppa. Result!

DD had seen the Grape Soda pin that I wanted in DTD yesterday, but hadn’t got round to telling me, so we ran over the road to buy it while DH & DS headed back to the hotel to start loading the car. We seem to have accumulated an awful lot of stuff and I was starting to worry about whether it would all fit in the cases. We checked out about 11.30 and were on our way. There was a tinge of sadness on leaving Anaheim, as I knew we were in the last stage of our trip, and I don’t think we will ever return to Disney CA. The children’s repeated mantra so far was “This is great, but we really miss Florida…” I think we were all looking forward to the next few days though, DD kept asking when we’d be at Yosemite – or in her version Yo- cemetery. She really makes us giggle.

DH made the decision that we were going to the Fender Factory anyway. He just wanted to say that he’d been there so we followed to Sat Nav to an industrial estate in Corona and parked outside. We stayed in the car while DH went for a look. It was really hot and he was gone ages and ages!



It turned out that while he was peering longingly in the window, someone came out to see if he could help. The delegates were at lunch and DH explained that he’d always wanted to visit the jam room and try out a left handed guitar. The man took him to the jam room and there were no LH ones, so he went to the factory to get one. DH was in heaven. The man then tried to sell it to DH as it had only ever been played by him. It was $1400 which was a good price for what it was, but out of our price range unfortunately. DH returned sadly to the car and we set off for the shopping mall.







Now, I always love the idea of shopping, but the reality is that it does not work for us as a family. I like shopping with DH without the kids. I hate shopping with DD because all I do is stand around waiting. DS hates shopping full stop. There is nothing about shopping that he likes AT ALL. So you can imagine his mood….


We started in Nike, where DS sat down in a corner, fed up already. DH & DD spent ages finding the right pair, then we couldn’t find DS. We searched and searched – DH was fuming and I was close to tears convincing myself that he’d been stolen (he’s almost 15! ). After what seemed like forever, he just sauntered up to us. :angry::angry:

After that, we split up. I spent hours and hours standing outside the changing rooms in Hollister, Abercrombie and Fitch, and then Abercrombie kids. DD must have tried on every item in the shop. Then we spent what seemed like an hour in Bath & Body Works. We had a quick look in some other shops but TBH we didn’t have a lot of time til we had to meet DH and I was past wanting to shop.

At 4pm we met in the food court, the kids had Panda Express and DH and I shared a jalapeno pretzel. My first ever Pretzel lol! It was quite spicy but I liked it. I wish I had paid extra for the plastic cheese dip! DH had not long returned from a work visit to Singapore where he tried bubble tea. He bought some for DD to try & she wasn’t a fan so I ended up drinking it in the car.



We set towards Bakersfield at around 4.30pm and luckily the traffic wasn’t too horrific considering it was rush hour. DD was complaining of tummy ache so it was a fairly quiet journey. The scenery up the I5 north is awesome. It’s like a moonscape! I tried to take some pictures from the car to capture it, but they’re not very good. DH and I really enjoyed the journey and vowed to return to explore more of this area one day.







Before long we arrived at the Comfort Inn, Bakersfield. I picked this hotel as it got great reviews, is just off the i5 and has a steakhouse next door. This truly is a great little hotel. The check in clerk was friendly – I asked for a rollaway & he did one better and gave us a room with two doubles and a sofa bed. He then went off and got us the extra bedding, again with no charge. The room as light and airy – perfect for us. We had great fun with the luggage trolley pretending that we worked in The suite life of Zach and Cody and having races down the corridor. There were no other guests – honest!

DD then started to feel really poorly and put herself to bed. I gave her some calpol which didn’t really help much – she just seemed to be getting worse. I was quite concerned for around 20 minutes, but then she seemed to settle a bit. In hindsight I think she was overtired, a bit dehydrated and just needed to sleep.


The boy on the other hand was hungry! We made the decision, now that DD was more comfy that we’d run across the car park and get a take out from the Black Angus. This was 8.45pm. We asked the friendly guy on reception if it was any good, and he said yes, but we’d better hurry as it closed in 10 minutes. We ran across the car park, arrived breathless at the door only to find that they closed at 10pm on a Monday!

We ordered a steak sandwich to share for us and a potato soup for DS. The girls at the podium were really friendly and chatted happily to us. It was lucky really as I commented that the soup was the only vegetarian thing on the menu and they went running off to the kitchen to stop the chef putting bacon bits on the potato soup.

They suggested we have a drink in the bar while we waited and so we did - just DH and I – it was bliss! The baseball was on, it was full of local people, and others having dinner - we just felt right at home.

Once the food arrived we headed back to the hotel, sat on the bed eating and watching friends. DD was awake – just feeling a little better so all was good.

Today was a day of emotional highs and lows. The kids fighting, losing DS in the Nike Shop, DD being poorly, the Fender factory being closed, and epic fail on shopping for me was all forgotten, by a few minutes of time alone with my DH in a bar just being us, the genuine friendly people of Bakersfield, and eating take out while watching friends on TV. Oh and the Epic scenery.

Tomorrow – Yo- cemetry

[tracy99]

Loved reading your trip report & I agree,the scenery is stunning,not quite like anything iv'e seen before.
You have certainly packed a lot into this holiday & it has made for a great read,
Looking forward to more
Tracy x

[abiknox]

Nice relaxing day, shame your DD was ill though Always worse on holiday.

[Nubbedy]

Ah, the dreaded family shopping day! It never really goes to plan does it? You packed a lot in today, the hotel sounds like a gem.

[caj]

We don't do shopping days for that very reason! Last trip to WDW we found a solution ... kids and DH do DQ whilst I shop my way back to market place! Bliss!

How would you have brought that Fender back? Allowances spring to mind!