The BIG Little Lies California Road Trip - July/August 2019

[smithlane]

Hello and welcome to my latest trip report from our amazing 3 week road trip around California. We started with 3 nights in San Francisco, then moved down to Monterey for 3 nights, drove down the PCH and had 1 night in Solvang, then 2 nights in Hollywood, 3 nights in Buena Park, 5 nights in Oceanside, 1 night in Bakersfield and saving the best until last 3 nights in Yosemite! We didn't stop the entire time but I can safely say it was the best holiday we've had by far.
You can find all the details including introductions of who we are here in my Pre Trippy

Travel day - London Heathrow to Dublin to San Francisco, Columbus Motor Inn, Pier 39 & Bubba Gumps

Day 1 - Biking Golden Gate Bridge, Sausalito & Alcatraz Night Tour

Day 2 - Cable car, Union Square, Old Mill Park, Mrs Doubtfire House & Hard Rock Cafe

Day 3 - Lombard St, Santa Cruz, Monterey & Johnny Rockets

Day 4 - Whale Watching Trip, Cannery Row, Pacific Grove & Hulas Island Grill

Day 5 - Back to San Fran to retrieve passports!, Carmel, Garrapata State Beach, 17 Mile Drive, Pebble Beach Golf Club & Laila's Grill

Day 6 - Driving down the PCH, Pfeiffer Beach, San Simeon Elephant Seals, Morro Bay & Solvang

Day 7 - Solvang, Santa Barbara Beach, Paddle Boarding, Hollywood, Walk of Fame & Buffalo Wild Wings

Day 8 - Santa Monica Pier, Venice Beach, Griffiths Observatory, Pan Pacific Park & The Grove

Day 9 - Warner Bros Studio Tour, Malibu Beach, Radisson Suites Buena Park & Rock and Brews

Day 10 - Pool day, Shopping, Walmart, Michael's & Citadel Outlets

Day 11 - Knott's Berry Farm & Ihop

Day 12 - Corona Del Mar Beach, Denny's & North Coast Village Oceanside

Day 13 - Oceanside, North Coast Village & Ruby's Diner

Day 14 - San Diego, Old Town Trolley Tour, Las Americas Premium Outlets & Kansas City BBQ

Day 15 - Surfing Lessons & Oceanside Beach

Day 16 - Shopping, Target, Jo-Ann's, Oceanside Beach & BBQ

Day 17 - Long drive to Bakersfield!

Day 18 - Panera Bread, drive to Yosemite, Tunnel View & Curry Village

Day 19 - Sunrise at Glacier Point, Housekeeping Camp, Mirror Lake & Base Camp Eatery

Day 20 - Mist Trail Hike, Rafting down the Merced River, Yosemite Falls & Starry Night Skies

Day 21 - Leaving Yosemite, Walmart, San Francisco Premium Outlets, San Francisco to London Heathrow

Highs and Lows

[smithlane]

Completed!

[WileyCoyote]

What an awesome trip.
I relived some of our favourites and discovered some fantastic new places so I can blame you for a return trip some day 😂
What a great holiday. Your plans were brilliant. Thank you for sharing and the round up of costs. It makes you realise how cheap a stay in Florida is by comparison. As soon as you start travelling the costs soon mount up.
How great that you got to share this with your friends too.
Really enjoyed reading. Look forward to the next one ...

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by WileyCoyote

What an awesome trip.
I relived some of our favourites and discovered some fantastic new places so I can blame you for a return trip some day 😂
What a great holiday. Your plans were brilliant. Thank you for sharing and the round up of costs. It makes you realise how cheap a stay in Florida is by comparison. As soon as you start travelling the costs soon mount up.
How great that you got to share this with your friends too.
Really enjoyed reading. Look forward to the next one ...

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Apart from a few blips we truly had an amazing time. Such a once in a lifetime kind of holiday, my kids are unbelievably lucky!
I so hope you make it back to California, I think you would love San Diego. The outlets are awesome 😉
Yes compared to Florida, California is so much more expensive. If you think of the quality of some of our accommodation was so basic but much higher per night than a nice villa in Fl, plus everything like food was much more. Still it was all worth it.
As ever thank you so much for reading along Amanda 😃
Your turn next, I can’t wait to read all about your latest holiday!

[Pumba75]

Have really enjoyed reading this. Thanks for writing and sharing.

Lovely to reminisce about some of the places we visited and need to make notes of new places you explored for our next trip. Even though we were only meant to be visiting the west coast once!

Thanks again.

M x

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by Pumba75

Have really enjoyed reading this. Thanks for writing and sharing.

Lovely to reminisce about some of the places we visited and need to make notes of new places you explored for our next trip. Even though we were only meant to be visiting the west coast once!

Thanks again.

M x

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Thank you so much for reading. By reading your report, you really helped with some of our planning so thank you too!
California certainly has that draw doesn’t it. My SIL and I keep messaging each other even now to say how much we miss the holiday, we will certainly be back one day 😃

[disney owl]

I really enjoyed reading your reports, thanks for sharing

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by disney owl

I really enjoyed reading your reports, thanks for sharing

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I’m so sorry I’ve just seen this reply!
Thanks so much for reading, I’m glad you’ve enjoyed them

[Jacko5]

Hi. I just wanted to say how much l enjoyed reading your report. We have been thinking about doing a similar trip with boys aged 13 and 17 so found your report so helpful. Unfortunately l don’t think my two could stand being in such close quarters with each other for such a long time so it looks like it will be good old Florida again for us next time! Maybe when there’s just the 2 of us.

Thanks again, it looked amazing and you are so brave, driving and going off on your own. I look forward to your next trip report - when ever that mY be!

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by Jacko5

Hi. I just wanted to say how much l enjoyed reading your report. We have been thinking about doing a similar trip with boys aged 13 and 17 so found your report so helpful. Unfortunately l don’t think my two could stand being in such close quarters with each other for such a long time so it looks like it will be good old Florida again for us next time! Maybe when there’s just the 2 of us.

Thanks again, it looked amazing and you are so brave, driving and going off on your own. I look forward to your next trip report - when ever that mY be!

See more...

Hey Jacko, thanks so much for reading along
Hope and Sam were similar to yours a few years ago so staying in a huge villa in Florida was ideal for us. As they got older they became more tolerant of sharing a room or a car for any length of time so hopefully yours may change? I highly recommend a holiday there at any point though, even if it's just the two of you!
Oh thank you, I honestly didn't feel that brave going off to San Diego to begin with but I'm so glad I did it as it's one of my favourite memories of the holiday.
We will definitely be back in the States next year (well hopefully anyway!) doing another road trip, this time around South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee. I can't wait as our California Adventure seems so long ago now!