Scratching the Surface- SoCal Summer 2019

[beegnjasmum]

This is such a great trip report I'm loving it. Your travel day sounds horrendous, but you've all just moved on and enjoyed everything.
Its great to hear your thoughts on the amount of time you've spent in places ie 1 night in Hollywood seemed more than enough! Santa Monica and Disneyland both sounded amazing as did the breakfast buffet in Las Vegas! Can't wait to read on. Thanks for sharing.

[speedmum]

Originally Posted by beegnjasmum

This is such a great trip report I'm loving it. Your travel day sounds horrendous, but you've all just moved on and enjoyed everything.
Its great to hear your thoughts on the amount of time you've spent in places ie 1 night in Hollywood seemed more than enough! Santa Monica and Disneyland both sounded amazing as did the breakfast buffet in Las Vegas! Can't wait to read on. Thanks for sharing.

See more...

Thanks! I’m pleased you’re enjoying it!

It’s so hard to know how long to spend in places - I really didn’t want to do lots of 1 night and move on coz you feel like all you do is unpack & pack. But I also wanted to cover a lot of ground!
Hoping we’ve got the right balance! 🙄

We were just commenting how our travel day feels like a lifetime ago already as we’ve done so much... 😁

[speedmum]

Weds 7 Aug - Day 11: PCH1

Today was the long drive to get to Monterey. I had considered a stopover part way and only 1 night in Monterey but didn’t want too many single stops so we decided to do it in one hit. Possibly a mistake in hindsight...

Hubbie woke with a bad head so we left him to try & sleep it off whilst we attacked the breakfast buffet. Small compared to Vegas but omelettes, pancakes & waffles made to order so we were happy!

Back in the room hubbie still wasn’t feeling great but with a 6hr+ drive ahead of us he wanted to start moving, albeit slowly...

We left at 9am and traffic to start with was a nightmare as we get back towards LA, however as it kept going it got better. After about an hour we stopped for fresh air and to give hubbie a rest. We then kept going til we hit Solvang at about 11.45. We had a good look round this slightly bizarre danish village. It was full of tourists everywhere! There were lots of bakeries selling yummy looking cakes and pastries but we struggled to find somewhere to buy a sandwich or savoury food! However we did find something and after munching it in the car we set off up Highway 1.

The scenery and views were amazing, however it was incredibly busy so it felt like we were constantly in a queue of traffic. Almost every other vehicle coming towards us was a convertible or an RV!

Our next main stop was the Elephant Seals at San Simeon. We spent ages watching them sunbathing and in the water. It was just after 3.30 when we left here and the satnav said we still have a good couple of hours to go.

The scenery as we continued up to Big Sur & Bixby Bridge was stunning but we agreed that the downside of a driving holiday like this is that you see lots of amazing views so perhaps you become a bit blasé? In the end we just wanted to get to Monterey so we didn’t stop as much as we might have if we had split the journey and it had been the beginning of the day or if we were going the other way as all the stops were on the coastal side.

Finally at about 6.30 we arrived at the Clement Intercontinental. This was an indulgence as we were staying for 2 nights in 2 rooms. But it was worth it! We had the biggest beds of the holiday and our room had full size patio doors onto a balcony over the sea. It was fabulous!

We had made a reservation at 7.30 at Paluca Trattoria for dinner as this was used as the location of the coffee shop in Big Little Lies. This was about a 20min walk away so after a quick change we headed out.

I think it was a good job we had booked as the restaurant was busy, although we did get a choice of sitting inside or out. We chose out so we could watch the sealions and otters swimming around! The weather was definitely chillier now we were further up the coast and we needed the heater next to us as we were underdressed compared to a lot of other diners!

After our 3 courses (we were hungry tonight!) we headed back to the hotel all agreeing that we were very impressed with Monterey and looking forward to exploring it tomorrow...

[speedmum]

Thurs 8 Aug - Day 12: Monterey

We woke this morning to the sounds of the sea (& birds & sealions) as we slept with the balcony door open which was lovely! We even looked to see if we could cancel our night in Napa to stay here an extra night but we couldn’t!

Today we needed a rest day after a few crazy days and we also needed to get some laundry done. I’d seen a laundrette recommenced in Pacific Grove (the Grove Laundry) which was only 6 mins drive away! So we dropped off 13.75lbs of clothes for a same day wash & fold service. $32 for pickup after 3pm isn’t cheap but its worth it to reduce the amount of clothes you need! As always I think we still packed too much!

Anyway, after dropping that off we returned the car to self parking and it was time for breakfast. We headed past the aquarium to an old factory building where there were stores including our destination - First Awakening. Very good food and huge portions that were reasonably priced. We had unlimited coffee, pancakes with raspberry & coconut, eggs Benedict with turkey & avocado, poached eggs with bacon & muffin and a fancy omelette (cant remember what hubbie had in it!)

Feeling stuffed we wandered back towards the town centre via CVS for various supplies.

We then sat on the balcony for a while enjoying the scenery before heading out to explore Monterey. We walked down Cannery Row to the Wharf and back. We saw loads of sea otters and sealions playing in the water. The sun was shining but it was wuite blowy so it didnt feel too hot & I didn’t realise until the evening that I’d burnt!

By the time we’d wandered back up towards our hotel it was time to collect our washing, which was beautifully sorted and folded!
We then had a drink outside by which point it was chilly & we needed jackets. Then we changed for dinner.

We’d decided to eat in the hotel (going against normal practice!) the menu was a bit limited but we ordered a calamari & chowder to share as starters & these arrived quickly & were tasty. Then we waited for our mains and waited... after about 50mins we enquired how much longer we would have to wait. At which point we were told it was on its way! What a coincidence to be fair it did then appear and tasted good but we were not so hungry anymore... we declined pudding and then the girls decided they could manage something from Ghiardellis! Sadly when we got there it was closed so we had a wander and then headed back to bed.

A chilled day and we all agreed Monterey was somewhere we could happily return to!

[Wappum]

I’m loving your trip report - thank you for taking the time to write it up.
I know you said you aren’t a Star Wars fan so avoided Galaxys edge - but do you have any idea how busy it is? My husband is a fan, and is planning on hitting it with one of ours kids on opening (we are also staying on site so have early entry). Are they likely to get trampled by a hoard of other likeminded nerds?

[speedmum]

Originally Posted by Wappum

I’m loving your trip report - thank you for taking the time to write it up.
I know you said you aren’t a Star Wars fan so avoided Galaxys edge - but do you have any idea how busy it is? My husband is a fan, and is planning on hitting it with one of ours kids on opening (we are also staying on site so have early entry). Are they likely to get trampled by a hoard of other likeminded nerds?

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When we first arrived at Disney on the Sunday afternoon we managed to wander around Batu with no queuing and it certainly didn’t feel any busier than the rest of the park... I think the queue time for Millennium Falcon was about 45mins at that time so definitely nothing like Pandora length queues. So maybe don’t join the early morning rush? Suggest you book ahead for Ogas Cantina or the lightsaber making thing if you want to do them though... must admit even the girls commented how expensive everything in the GE shops were!
Hope that helps?

[speedmum]

Fri 9 Aug - Day 13: Monterey-Napa

Today we were heading up to Napa. Originally I had thought we could visit Stirling Vineyard but given that was an hour further on past Napa we decided to scrap that plan and go to the Aquarium instead!

We packed all our bags ready to leave, grabbed a quick breakfast from Starbucks and joined the queue for the Aquarium. I’d definitely recommend pre-booking tickets as they opened the doors early and the people with tickets went straight through to the waiting area.
The Aquarium was huge but really well presented with loads of interactive stuff for kids. We tried to watch the sea otter feeding but it was crazy busy around the tank so we didn’t see much! But afterwards it was great to see them playing around! We spent about 3 hours in the Aquarium but could have spent longer.

We then grabbed our bags from the hotel and checked out and got back on the road... The journey time had gone up by an hour! We headed off up the main highways until just north of San Jose when the satnav diverted us off onto a little country road through the hills and past a huge reservoir! It was very pretty and if the grass had been green instead of brown it would have felt like England... sadly everyone else seemed to know about this shortcut too so we trundled along in a convoy. Fortunately no one was coming the other way so everyone ended up driving down the middle of the road as it was quite narrow at times! Eventually we joined back onto the busy highway and reached the Embassy Suites in Napa at around 4pm.

The hotel was very pretty with a pond with fountain & waterwheel to sit beside in the sun. The pool was full of a big hen party group with loud music which made it less attractive! Our room had a sofabed for the girls in a separate room so we had some extra space. The hotel offered free happy hour drinks & snacks from 5-7 so we agreed it would be rude not to accept! Freshly squeezed lemonade for the girls, sangria for me & beer for hubbie and a plate of nachos, dips, cheese, nuts, m&ms & popcorn and we were very content! The girls went off to have showers whilst we sat in the sun and tried to work out where to go for dinner... Napa town itself was about a 25 minute walk away so we ordered an Uber to take us there... The town itself wasn’t what I expected - it was much more modern & full of restaurants but no real sign of anything touristy / wine related... There was a band playing which had a big crowd watching (I got the impression they were locals as they all had tables, chairs & drinks etc) we had dinner in Napa Valley Bistro which was busy & quite loud with a big hen party table beside us! The food was good however and we then wandered round the corner to Ben & Jerrys for pudding. Clearly this is what everyone does as there was a constant stream of people coming and going! Yummy ice cream consumed we decided against walking back & ordered another uber to take us back to bed.😴

Tomorrow we leave for our final destination- San Francisco!

[speedmum]

Sat 10 Aug - Day 14: San Francisco

Today we were moving on to our final destination of the trip- San Francisco. This caused me mixed emotions as I was looking forward to returning to a city I had loved when I had visited it 20&10 years ago but I was depressed because it meant our wonderful holiday was coming to an end... ;(

But first, breakfast! The Embassy Suites include breakfast as part of its room rate with a choice of pancakes, cooked breakfast or omelette made to order. However it was rather chaotic and the queue was huge! But we all waited and filled ourselves up before our final journey in the car.

Fortunately the drive was just over an hour (although with traffic this was closer to 1.5hours) we were staying in the Loews Regency on the edge of the financial district but had to drop the car back at the airport. We agreed it made sense to drive through the centre of San Fran and drop off the bags so we could return an empty car and get the BART back into the centre without our bags. This also meant that our route would take us over Golden Gate Bridge! the drive down was pretty past the vineyards but as we got towards San Fran the mist & clouds appeared. Initially I had thought of stopping at Sausalito on the way but the bridge was cloaked in clouds so we wouldn’t have seen anything
Bag drop worked a treat and it was painless getting to the airport though we did struggle to find a garage to fill up before returning the car. We dropped the car at Avis and used the BART app to buy our tickets back into the city. The app gave us a group discount so it was ‘only’ $29 for the 4 of us... The only problem was we couldn’t scan the phone to get through the barriers so had to find a guard to let us in and then out again at the other end!

We checked in and retrieved our bags. We had booked 2 rooms for the final 3 nights and for the first time all holiday they were next to each other! The Loews rooms are above offices so start on the 40th floor and have great views...

After a quick chill we all decided we were hungry and eldest needed to go to Abercrombie to swap some jeans she’d bought in Vegas that had a dodgy seam. So we wandered towards Market Street and Westfield shopping centre (just like being at home!) As it was now after 3 we shared a pasta bowl & some milkshake from the food court and then sorted the shopping. We had a wander round and watched the cable cars!

We headed back to the hotel and had a drink in their Skybar on 40th floor. It was a bit chilly and the view was hidden by clouds but it had a good atmosphere. We then got changed for dinner.

We fancied a change of diet so headed into Chinatown and ate at Brandy Ho’s Hunan Food. It was quieter than some of the restaurants and lacked a bit of atmosphere but the food was very good. We shared wantons, egg rolls & dumplings and then had smoked duck, sweet & sour pork, gon-pou chicken and chicken chow mein between us. We only had chopsticks to use and didn’t want to ask for silverware so it took us a while to eat but we finished it all!

By then we were all fairly tired so headed back to the hotel. My trusty travel kettle was dug out as there was not even a coffee maker and we had a cup of tea (with some creamer we’d ‘acquired’) and headed to bed.

Tomorrow is our first ever baseball game!

[Wappum]

Originally Posted by speedmum

When we first arrived at Disney on the Sunday afternoon we managed to wander around Batu with no queuing and it certainly didn’t feel any busier than the rest of the park... I think the queue time for Millennium Falcon was about 45mins at that time so definitely nothing like Pandora length queues. So maybe don’t join the early morning rush? Suggest you book ahead for Ogas Cantina or the lightsaber making thing if you want to do them though... must admit even the girls commented how expensive everything in the GE shops were!
Hope that helps?

See more...

That's really helpful - I'll pass it onto him. Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip

[speedmum]

Sun 11 Aug - Day 15: San Francisco

So today we were off to watch our first ever baseball game! When we initially booked the tickets the game was scheduled to start at 1 so we didn’t organise anything specific for the morning. However during the holiday we were notified that the start had been delayed until 4.07pm due to it now being televised by ESPN!

This meant we had plenty of time to go wandering... once everyone was up and dressed we headed out. The girls had definitely adjusted to US time & were sleeping in later now (they also complained at being woken at 2am by 2 girls who thought it was there room! )

We wandered down to the Port of San Francisco Ferry building where there are lots of little stalls. As it was Sunday morning not everywhere was open but we got coffees and bakery bits and ate breakfast outside in the sunshine watching the water.

We then wandered along to Pier 39 and looked in all the touristy shops. Youngest remarked how each place we’d visited sells the same stuff but with a different place name on it. (Doesn’t stop them wanting to go into them all! &#128580
We then spent ages watching the Sealions and their shenanigans (they are rather smelly! )

We then continued along the waterfront to Fishermans Wharf and Boudin. Stopped here for lunch - a bowl of chowder in sourdough bowl plus another 2 chowders & a grilled cheese sandwich from the cafe downstairs. Picked up a couple of cans of lemonade only to open them and discover it was lemon & coconut.. 🤢 who drinks that? It was revolting!

Suitably fed we continued walking along in the sunshine until we got to the cable car turning point. Hubbie bought 1 day tickets for us all using the app for the cable car and muni transport and we joined the queue which was almost all the way round the barrier and waited. I think we watched 3 trams leave before we got on one. We were lucky to get outside. I got a seat & hubbie & girls hung on! We rode almost the whole length of the route, jumping off at Union Square to head back to our hotel and prepare for the game!

We decided we ought to do a bit of research before we got to the baseball which came in handy later!

We caught the muni from Montgomery station near our hotel and it stopped directly outside the ball park. We knew we were going the right way as it was full of Giants fans in black and orange! Getting in the stadium was easy - there was security but it was just like Disney & very quick.

The girls wanted Giants merchandise so one got a hat & the other a t-shirt so they could look the part! Before taking our seats we joined everyone else in eating hotdogs & fries! We then took our beers & sodas in and found our seats. The stadium was full of people of all ages and had a great atmosphere. We’d missed the national anthem and First innings but it didn’t seem to matter as people came & went all the time. I didn’t really know the rules but it was a bit like rounders and fairly easy to follow! There seemed to be lots of breaks and not as much running as I expected but it did get exciting towards the end! There are 9 innings in total and midway through the 7th innings we all had to stand and sing ‘Take Me to the Ballpark ’ together - helpfully they put the words on the screen! This was followed by the 7th innings stretch where everyone moved around to stop them seizing up. It was at this point we were pleased we had done our research!
We snuck out just before the end when it was clear the Giants had won & got the waiting muni back to our hotel. We agreed it had been a fun afternoon/evening that we would definitely repeat and that the 4 hours had gone by very quickly!

Hubbie & I popped to 7Eleven for some milk and made mugs of tea to drink in bed. Sad that tomorrow will be our last full day before heading home.