Ash & Lucy's West Coast Adventure 2016!

[DisneyRoobs]

Good Evening my Dibber Friends!

It's been almost a week since we landed back from a lovely 5 night trip to Boston & New England and thoughts have immediately turned to the next vacay! To be fair, the planning for this one started a few months ago, but with Boston done and dusted, it suddenly feels a whole heap closer!

My lovely Husband, Ash is turning 40 at the end of February and along with another good friend of ours who hits the 4-0 just 4 days before him, we were discussing what we could do to commemorate the occasion. Chats soon turned to a holiday and with Sergei being a teacher, we needed to look at dates and narrow it down to a time that he'd legally be able to go away.

My best friend Kevin (Sergei's partner) mentioned a road trip they'd wanted to do for a while to California, and Kevin & I have wanted to hit Vegas as a duo for quite sometime (but haven't been entrusted as we have been known to get a little wild on many a night out over here!) so before long, we'd drawn up an idea for a trip which seemed to suit everyone and with Easter 2016 pencilled in, we started putting plans together.

Ash & Me!

Kevin & Me!

So this is my first trippie as part of a 'group holiday' and I'm very excited! Joining Ash, Kevin, Sergei and myself on this trip are Sergei's friend Betsan and her boyfriend Steve. Betsan is another one who enjoys a party, so between us all we're set for a great, fun adventure.

We are going to be meeting up with the other 4 for parts of the trip. Ash was very honest and said he'd find a group holiday for 2.5 weeks a bit much (absolutely fine) so we're going to be dipping in and out, much to everyone's hilarity. Luckily Kev is like a brother to me and was in my life before Ash so we all know that he's a man who prefers a quiet night in with a cocoa compared to dancing till dawn, and we all love him for it. Mostly.

So for the sake of the pre-trip report and subsequent trippie, I'll be focussing on what the Bartholomew's are doing and the others will no doubt be popping up in various anecdotes throughout.

So Ash and I are planning to fly out on Saturday 1st April to San Diego with British Airways.

We have 2 nights planned in San Diego, with a booking held at the Humphrey's Half Moon based on reviews I'd read on the Dibb. It looks like a lovely resort and hopefully this will be a great start to this celebratory trip. Neither of us have been here before and it's been on the bucket list for a while, so a good place to start.

I haven't made any plans as yet for our time here, I'd like to explore a bit (of course) and I have found this rather nice looking BBQ joint for dinner - if anyone's been, let me know!

nadolife/lilpiggys/

We'll be hiring a car on arrival and when we check out on Monday 4th we'll be driving into Arizona, another new place for both of us, and we're thinking we'll have 4 nights in Scottsdale. We're looking at resorts / accommodation options but have no set plans as yet.. again any recommendations appreciated!

Up until this point we'd have only crossed over with the gang for 1 night in San Diego, however from Scottsdale we are meeting up again for the next leg of the trip, 2 nights at a working ranch. We are all VERY excited to release our inner cowboys / girls and after looking at several ranches, settled on the Stagecoach Trails Ranch. Not only does it have excellent reviews on TripAd but we loved that food / rides were included rather than added extras. I also emailed them and got a reply that started 'Howdy Lucy' so I was pretty much sold off the bat.

We've paid a deposit for 3 rooms here and check in on Friday 8th April. The ranch is at least an hour's drive from the nearest general store, so is absolutely in the back of beyond. We get a ride on the Friday evening (none of us have ever ridden before!) before dinner and drinks around the firepit, 2 rides on the Saturday (& 3 meals) and breakfast on the Sunday with a 4th ride before we leave in convoy. There is an option to go quad biking which we may add, but the ranch has a pool, hot tub and evening activities so I think we'll find plenty to fill our weekend!

My 30th Birthday party was a wild-west themed hoedown and Kevin dressed up as a tequila girl, so we're quite excited about re-enacting this, minus the shot-girl part!

My 30th Barn!

Ash & I about to re-new our vows, western style! (5 years ago!)

Our tequila girl!

For those previous followers of my trippies, I've been on a (long) lifestyle changing quest, and have managed to shift 3 stone since our last Orlando trip.. the horse-riding element of our next trip is proving to be a huge motivator so hopefully the good work continues!

We leave the ranch on Sunday 10th April and head to our next destination, Las Vegas!

March 2010 (our last visit)

After much deliberation, we have 95% decided on the SLS Resort, which was the Sahara. We appreciate it's not central Strip, but we've all been before as separates (Ash and I also got married in Vegas for those who don't know!) but the deal is too good to turn down through BA Holidays and the hotel is on the monorail link. We also figured cabs would be pretty cheap as a group too.

Our plan is to get straight into it on the Sunday and I have no doubt it'll end up being a pretty big night out (we have discussed letting Ash & Sergei bunk in together in Vegas so Kev and I can just get up to our usual nonsense, ha ha!) but I reckon the 'boys' will get in the party mood too.

March 2010

Ash enjoying Paddy's Day in Vegas 2010!

They are all there for 3 nights, while Ash and I have 4 so the rest of it is pretty open at the moment, we'd like to try and catch a show, have some pool time, lots of drinkies, bit of a gamble, all the usual Vegas hoo ha! I've been reading some other West Coast trippies and getting ideas, so thank you to anyone who's been writing up their adventures! It's so helpful!

On Weds 13th, the other 4 leave and I think they're heading back home at that point (TBC) it may be from Vegas, or possibly LA, I'm unsure what they've decided.

From here, we'll enjoy a last (quiet) night in Vegas before hitting the road on Thurs 14th to LA. We've done this drive before and know it's pretty easy, albeit a bit boring! We're then having 2 nights at the BLVD Hotel & Spa (I have a room reserved with booking.com) which is supposed to be well situated for Universal Studios.

We haven't done USH before, only Orlando, and after reading HappyHaunt1000's recent trippie, we've decided to go for it.. we were unsure, but it seems a shame not to go! We'll also be hitting up City Walk too. We should have the Thursday afternoon / evening and all day Friday here (and Friday night) so time for a couple of dinners and hopefully a full day at USH on the Friday.

The last part of the trip is in the works and is Ash's bday treat, I'm hoping we'll be having 3 nights at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel. I'm in chats with a lovely Dibber (Thanks Laura!) over renting some of her DVC points and we're just waiting for the dates to open up (later this month). All being well, we'll be able to secure a room and that will hopefully round off the adventure in true Disney style.

I REALLY want to try and have dinner at Napa Rose, the reviews are fantastic.. that might be a little belated Bday treat.. we'll see!

We went to Disneyland back on our 'wedding' holiday in 2003, but it was all such a whirlwind and before Ash had really got the Disney bug so I really want to take time to enjoy it all this time. I KNOW it will be very busy, it seems it always is, but we'll focus on the attractions not at WDW and the rest of the time will be soaking up at the atmo, enjoying Disney snacks and generally having a fun time.

We're planning to check out on Tuesday 19th April and fly home from LAX on the A380 with BA.

All in all it's 17 nights over there, which is just awesome and I cannot wait! Still lots to plan, read up on, book and pay for (!) but I thought I'd share the story so far and will plan to update you in the new year with any news before reporting back after our travels!

Thanks for reading! Lucy (DisneyRoobs) x

[smedley]

Ahh this all sounds fabulous love the ranch visit, bet that's gonna be great fun.

We are heading out to the West Coast for our first time next Sept, and it's more than a little bit overwhelming :/ so look forward to reading about your trip and stealing some ideas

[DisneyRoobs]

Originally Posted by smedley

Ahh this all sounds fabulous love the ranch visit, bet that's gonna be great fun.

We are heading out to the West Coast for our first time next Sept, and it's more than a little bit overwhelming :/ so look forward to reading about your trip and stealing some ideas

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Yay! Thanks for following along for the ride, look forward to sharing our adventure.. Do let me know if there's anything I can specifically hunt out / find out for you whilst there. It is rather daunting isn't it! xx