We did it! Another road trip in 2021, this time to South California and back, all in eight days, four of which was straight driving to and from our destinations..
So, what did the trip involve?
Dates:
– Dec 23rd to Dec 30th 2021
Itinerary:
– Drive to Carlsbad, CA over two days, with a stopover somewhere near Mt. Shasta
– Stay three nights at Hyatt Place San Diego/Vista-Carlsbad
– Spend a day at Seaworld, San Diego
– Spend a day exploring San Diego, celebrate our 24th anniversary!
– Explore Joshua Tree National Park
– Stay at Miracle Springs Resort & Spa, enjoy hot mineral spring pools at the resort
– Explore Los Angeles for a few hours
– Stay at Hyatt Place Bakersfield
– Drive home, again stopping for a night somewhere in Oregon
Costs:
– Accommodations: $584
– Fuel: $454
– Restaurants/Food: $785
– Entertainment/Other: $728
– Total out of pocket: $2,552
– CC travel award savings: $925 (27% of the total costs)
San Diego Sea world:
I am surprised by how much all of us enjoyed the trip to the Sea World! While the park does have rollercoasters, that’s not what made it fun for us. The main attraction was the interactions with the animals and life shows. We petted manta rays, reef sharks, sea stars, manta rays (me again and again). We watched the shows with orca whales, dolphins, sea lions, observed the feeding of sea otters and sea turtles, were awed by beluga whales, and finally rode one of the rollercoasters (but repeated the ride four times). We spent just enough time in the park to see everything there was to see and yet not being too exhausted from the day activities. It was a good day!
San Diego
The next day we explored San Diego downtown by riding the hop-on hop-off bus. I would strongly recommend taking advantage of those guides excursions because you get to learn about the city you are exploring, have the reliable transportation you can get on and off whenever you want, and get to relax a little while someone is driving you. What’s not to like?
Since the kids wanted to sleep in (for the first time during this vacation), we did not get to spend as much time in San Diego and we would like to as the last bus was around 3 p.m. We were able to complete the entire loop and got to explore the Coronado Island, where there is a famous hotel, in which “Some Like It Hot” with Marylin Monroe was filmed. We walked around the island, spent some time on the beach and had lunch before hopping on the bus and continuing with the guided tour. If I had more time, I would have liked to visit some of the museums we drove by and explore Little Italy. The restaurants there looked very inviting 🙂
Joshua Tree National Park
After spending a day exploring San Diego, we continued to Joshua Tree National Park, which was one of the main reasons for the road trip (the roads trips are for exploring national and state parks, right?). It was sunny there but cold, but much better than when we planned to go there for the first time in Dec 2019 (at the time the area had a rare snow storm, and we decided to go to Hawaii instead, as we have enough of snow and rain in our beautiful Washington).
We’ve done a few short hikes and a longer one, and my kids had enough of that weather, so we wrapped it up and went to the hotel, which had several hot pools fed by mineral springs, so it was a very nice end of a long day. But before we left, we saw an Arch Rock, wondered through the Cholla Cacti garden (had to be VERY careful around those as you would need a surgery to remove the cactus from you if it penetrates your skin), walked to a Skull rock, got lost in the desert (just a little, enough to start me panicking). It was a beautiful national park, but one cold day in the park was enough, plus we did not really have more time during this visit. I would like to come back in the spring and spend more time exploring, when it’s not so cold 🙂
Los Angeles – South Coast Botanic Gardens Glow Show
The last day in South California we spent relaxing in the hot mineral pools, driving to Los Angeles, going to a movie (the latest Spiderman movie) and visiting Glow show in South Coast Botanic Gardens. After all, it was a Christmas time, and seeing the lights was in order!
The Glow show was a nice experience, somewhat similar to what we have seen in Bellevue Botanic Gardens but not done in the same way. In Bellevue we have many creations (plants, animals, insects, flowers, structures) done out of thousands and thousands of Christmas lights and then arranged throughout the outdoor space. In this park the structures and plans are already there, they are just highlighted with different colors throughout the park, creating and interesting atmosphere.
Well, that was our trip. I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Let me know your thoughts!