California Adventure – Part 5: Surfing & San Diego

This June, AJ and I had the opportunity to take our first trip together since before Kai was born so we decided to go big and do 2 weeks in California! We planned a jam-packed trip that would let us see nearly everything Cali has to offer - the road trip of a lifetime. If you missed it, you can check out Part 4: San Francisco & the Coast here.

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Our trip is now coming to an end, with just 3 days left. At this point, we were really missing Kai and felt like we'd been gone quite a long time. But he was having fun and in good hands and we were very excited for the next 3 days.

June 11 was our designated beach day. We were able to sleep in a bit and then headed to Oceanside for our 2-hour surf lessons. AJ was beyond pumped to try surfing. He's been watching surf movies for years and loves almost any water sport – Stand-up Paddleboarding, Wakeboarding, Skimboarding. So this was really his day and I was along for the ride, a little nervously. I'm not great at any of those sports and I wasn't looking forward to falling lots, swallowing lots of water and getting pummelled by waves.

Our instructor was Hoku, born in Hawaii and bred by California–a surfer dude for sure. The first thing he taught us was the Stingray Shuffle so we didn't get stung. Not good for my confidence. He assured us he had only been stung once in 13 years. Next, we practised popping up on the boards on shore. And then we were heading into the water. It was a little overcast, but not cold. We had wetsuits and the water was about 68ºF, which was pretty refreshing.

Hoku pretty much had us going right away. We were only in thigh to waist deep water so we hopped on the board and paddled a bit through the waves until Hoku saw one he liked. He helped us turn around and gave us a good shove at the right time. AJ was a natural. He was up pretty much right away. We weren't in big waves of course, so there wasn't a lot of carving he could do, but he rode most waves all the way in. So proud. I had a bit of a tougher time getting up. But I did get up and ride for a bit 2 or 3 times which I was very happy about. Also, I swallowed very little water and, because we were in so shallow, when I fell, I could just stand up and out of the waves and not worry about getting hit over and over. All my anxiety was gone after the first few minutes and that was awesome. I ended up really enjoying myself and I would even try it again. I would probably prepare better by doing more push-ups ahead of time. We were wiped, but happy, by the end of the 2 hours.

We stayed on the beach for a little while and then headed back to Mission Viejo for dinner with Paula and Shoubert. We went out with their family for Taco Tuesday, which is apparently a very big deal there. All over California, restaurants offer tacos for $1.50 on Tuesdays. Not just one chain, but restaurants everywhere, whether they're Mexican or not. We did choose an authentic Mexican restaurant and dinner was fantastic. Can't beat $1.50 tacos.

The next day we said goodbye to Paula and Shoubert for the last time this trip and headed to San Diego. First stop was the San Diego Padres afternoon game vs. the Braves. Petco Park really impressed us. It had a really cool vibe, with an old warehouse built right into the stadium. There was a pathway on the outside of the actual park with a bunch of yummy food vendors at The Park in the Park, which had a big grassy hill that looked over the outfield. You can by cheap tickets and sit on the hill, which seems great for families. There is also a mini replica diamond with a staff member that runs a game for kids all game long. Really cool. We ended up sitting in the front section, just passed 1st base with a bunch of season ticket holders. It reminded me of Fever Pitch. These people knew each other and were very excited. Padres won and we enjoyed a sunshine-filled afternoon of baseball.

After the game, we did a self-guided walking tour of the Gaslamp District, which is an older part of town with great architecture. We learned that basically every building used to be a brothel. It was an interesting and enjoyable walk.

We went for dinner and sunset on Coronado Island, which is a big vacation/beach destination. We ate at an old Firehouse turned pub that was playing the hockey playoffs that people were actually paying attention to. Perfect place for a couple Canadians. We walked along the beach, checking out the famous Coronado Hotel at sunset and waiting for it to get dark because the hotel is supposed to have some incredible lights. Although it was nice, the lighting wasn't terribly impressive. Turns out all the photos I've ever seen are from Christmas. Oh well.

The view of San Diego from the Island

We stayed that night with another couple we met through the couchsurfing website. They had recently moved to San Diego as the guy is in the Navy. We did get to meet this couple and went for a late night walk as they told us a bit about the Navy and the city. The next morning we went for breakfast with Nick because Kristen had to work very earl. He talked a lot of American history and politics and gun control and all the hot button issues. It was very interesting to hear an American's perspective and he was quite knowledgable.

He left for work and we drove out to the USS Midway and aircraft carrier that is now a museum. The audio tour took about 3 hours, which was a little long for me, but it was very interesting. You really got to see how the crew lived and work and got up closed with lots of cool planes. AJ was in heaven. He saw a couple planes from Top Gun and was very excited about that.

In front of the USS Midway

Trying his hand at some essential knots

Pilot and copilot

Ready for take-off. Unbelievable they can launch an
aircraft from a ship.

We had lunch in La Jolla, walked around and went to the beach quickly. We'd like to be able to spend a little more time there one day, it was really nice. Then we went to Balboa Park, which I didn't research much but heard was nice. We started in just a regular playground that was nice, but pretty normal. Eventually we walked further and found that the park goes on forever. There are all kinds of museums - many for free - tons of gorgeous Spanish architecture, fountains, even a replica Globe Theatre that shows Shakespeare plays. We were so impressed and disappointed that we only had about 2 hours before our flight. Balboa is also home to the San Diego Zoo, which we didn't make it too either.

Church in La Jolla

Beautiful Balboa Park

We found AJ some more fish tacos (maybe his 5th on the trip) before dropping off our rental car and heading to the airport for our red eye flight home. We were able to sleep on the flight and got through the border without issue. Kai was waiting for us at AJ's parents place and it was so good to see him! I was struck by how much he had changed in just 2 weeks. Not physically, but is speaking even longer sentences than when we left and he just seemed older.

California was a Bucket List trip for sure. We saw so much in a short time. It was amazing to get away alone with AJ, take some time off work and just explore. We both agreed that we'd like to go back one day and spend a full week just in San Diego, probably with Kai and see more of Balboa Park, visit the Zoo, Old San Diego and lots of other things we just couldn't fit in. Thank you to everyone who made this trip possible!

Our journey highlighted in pink

California Adventure – Part 4: San Francisco & the Coast

This June, AJ and I had the opportunity to take our first trip together since before Kai was born so we decided to go big and do 2 weeks in California! We planned a jam-packed trip that would let us see nearly everything Cali has to offer - the road trip of a lifetime. If you missed it, you can check out Part 3: Yosemite National Park here.

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We woke up at our Yosemite hostel early and quite sore after that big hike, but it was time to move on. It was San Francisco day! On our way west, we had planned to meet up for breakfast with an old friend of mine who now lives in Merced. Wouldn't you know, the GPS took us to the wrong restaurant location and we ended up being almost an hour late to breakfast by the time we found the right one. But it was great to sit and chat with Tim and his family and we left still on track to make the ferry to Alcatraz on time.

San Francisco traffic had another idea. The Bay Bridge crossing was brutal and we ended up missing our ferry by about 10 minutes. I was pretty upset because I know they always sell out and the tickets aren't cheap. When we asked the girl at the counter what she could do for us, she didn't even flinch and put us on standby for the next ferry. I guess missing your boat isn't an unusual occurrence because there were 10 other people in line and all of us were able to get on the next Ferry. Phew!

Alcatraz Island

It was AJ's first time on The Rock, but my second. We got the audio tour and walked around and I enjoyed it just as much as the first time. (It was 9 years ago after all) They also had a guided tour you could do for free, but only at certain times, but we opted not to wait the extra 45 minutes. I kind of wish we had - those people got to go up to the second level and work the contraption that opens and closes the cell doors. Maybe next time.

No taking prisoners off the island, ok?

"Broadway"

The view back to San Fran

Our ferry ride back to shore was VERY choppy, unusually so according to one of the crew members. A bunch of pre-teen girls were up at the bow taking photos and giggling and the boat hit a huge wave and totally soaked them. This may have amused us more than it should have.

We had dinner at Neptune's seafood restaurant at Pier 39 which we had a gift certificate for. Great views of the water and sea lions. The food was just ok. We did a bit of souvenir shopping at the pier and then found our way to Creme Bruce, a little food stand that just serves crème brulée. Yum!

Lazy sea lions

San Fran (well, technically Berkeley) was one of two couchsurfing stops we made. If you've never heard of it, it's a traveler's site where people offer up their homes for travellers to stay in for free.  Sometime they have a bed in a separate room, sometimes a couch or air mattress. We chose these people specifically because they had a bed in a separate room and they even offered to make us waffles for breakfast.

They weren't home when we arrived around 8pm. I texted her and she said they were in San Fran and wouldn't be home until 11. We were pretty tired so we said we'd see them in the morning. We got up early and got ready so we could spend some time with our hosts before we had to go. By 8am there was no sign of movement from their room, 9am, nothing. Finally at 9:20, we decided we couldn't just wait around, we had lots planned and had no idea when they might get up. So we left them a thank you note and a host gift (maple syrup and Twinkies from Canada of course) and left. That's not really the point of couchsurfing, we did want to meet them, but it just didn't work out for us.

It was time to head down the coast. We drove through San Jose and up a bit to Palo Alto and then Santa Cruz. If you read my other blog posts, you may remember a girl I mentioned who we met at the Phoenix airport who suggested we go to a climbing tree (Tree 9) at UC Santa Cruz. So we drove to the campus and followed some online instruction to find the tree. They weren't very clear and I ended up using my Geocaching app to lead us there. (I figured there would probably be a geocache at a landmark like that on a university campus) We found the tree! But...

Tree 9 – UC Santa Cruz

Apparently in 2010 the University's arborists cut the branches off up to 25 feet so people wouldn't climb it and the tree would live longer. Disappointing. But you can see that it would be really easy to climb had the branches been there.

We also did the Santa Cruz boardwalk while we were there. It was overcast and cold so we didn't say long. We continued south to our only hotel of the trip in Monterey. We used our Petro Points to splurge on this one. It was more of a boutique hotel, but the room was nice - King size bed, jacuzzi tub, fireplace, even a bidet! (I did not try out that feature) We had a complimentary glass of wine and walked down to their pier for some dinner on the water. I had a very yummy coconut crusted tilapia and AJ tried a local fish, sandabs.

Santa Cruz boardwalk – one of the largest in America

Our hotel room – tub right in the bedroom and a chandellier

The next day was our second big drive of the trip, all the way down the coast, back to Mission Viejo and our friends' house. We kicked the day off with the 17-mile drive in Carmel, home of the famous Lone Cypress. The drive was ok, but it was pretty overcast so it wasn't at its best. The Lone Cypress was a little less impressive than I expected, I mean, there are literally hundreds of other Cypress trees all along the drive, this one just happens to be anti-social. But some of the views were beautiful and we got to see the famous Pebble Beach golf course.

Waves on the rocks

The Lone Cypress

Ghost tree (not quite as white as advertised)

The coast would not disappoint though. We continued the drive and the sun came out we really got to see what all the hype about the Pacific Coast Highway is all about. There are turnoffs about every half mile for ocean oglers and we probably stopped at the third of them. Every turn was a new breathtaking sight. Despite the length of the drive, I highly recommend it.

We stopped for dinner in Santa Barbara and got "home" late that evening. A long day, but totally worth it.

Next, we wrap up the trip with surfing and San Diego.

California Adventure – Part 3: Yosemite

This June, AJ and I had the opportunity to take our first trip together since before Kai was born so we decided to go big and do 2 weeks in California! We planned a jam-packed trip that would let us see nearly everything Cali has to offer - the road trip of a lifetime. If you missed it, you can check out Part 2: Orange County & Los Angeles here.

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We departed Orange County for our first of two extra long driving days, about 10 hours. We did take an extended break for lunch at Red Robin and a visit to Target. After LA, we went through some mountains and then suddenly everything went flat and it became a rather boring drive until finally we hit the mountains again.

We stopped for dinner at the closest town to our hostel, not knowing if there would be anything closer. Our hostel surprised us, however. There was a great little dining hall with a little cafe/restaurant, lots of seating, a shelf full of games and, maybe best of all, free Wi-Fi. Our dorm itself was co-ed with 12 beds, air conditioning, 2 toilets and 2 showers. Not bad at all.

Early the next morning, we got up and headed deeper into the park. This was a spectacular drive.

Originally, we (AJ) had wanted to hike Half Dome - a 10-12 hour hike, ending in scaling a huge rock face. But it requires a permit and hundreds of people apply for a small number of permits each day. So we went into the village and decided to hike the 4-Mile trail, which is supposed to end in spectacular vistas of Half Dome and other mountains. We started the climb, up, up, up through a forest that could have been in Ontario. It was a tough climb and not all that interesting. We weren't sure we could do 6 hours of that just to see the sight at the end, so we went back down and chose the "Mist Trail" - a 4-5 hour hike that had lots to see all along the trail.

Like all of them, it was an uphill climb and it was tough. But we stopped when we needed to and saw some beautiful, smaller waterfalls along the way. The first break was at the bottom of Vernal Falls, a pretty bridge and lots of people. Many families take this trail and stop at this point. But we climbed on.

At the bottom of the falls

After a little while, it was time to really climb–over 600 stairs carved into the stone. Uneven and tough to climb, but there were fewer people here and the view... part way up we saw this:

then this...

Vernal Falls, Yosemite

That view and the mist refreshed us enough to get all the way up the wet stairs to the top of the falls where we stopped for lunch and a climbing break.

I did it!

View from the top

The way down was much easier...for me anyway. AJ had no trouble going up, but found it painful to his knees to go down. Whereas I had trouble catching my breath on my way up, but the way down was no problem. Opposites. We could have continued up to the next set of falls, another 1.5 miles away, which doesn't sound bad, but a mile uphill, I learned, is very different than a mile walk on flat land. We were not up for it.

Since we did a bit shorter hike, we were back down earlier than expected so we did another quick and much flatter hike to see Yosemite Falls.

Yosemite Falls

I think the cool thing about this park is that they've got something for everyone. There's a campground or a hotel, there's insane rock climbing and lengthy hikes and short flatter ones that are still amazing. I would definitely recommend it. I am also kind of glad we didn't get the Half Dome permits, I don't think I could have made it.

Next, follow us West to San Francisco and then down the coast.

California Adventure – Part 2: Orange County & LA

This June, AJ and I had the opportunity to take our first trip together since before Kai was born so we decided to go big and do 2 weeks in California! We planned a jam-packed trip that would let us see nearly everything Cali has to offer - the road trip of a lifetime. If you missed it, you can check out Part 1: Seattle here.

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We set Monday aside to spend with our Orange County hosts, Paula and Shoubert who promptly took us to the ocean. We visited Dana Point then got our feet in the water at Laguna Beach. There's not much better than standing in the sun and having the ocean wash up onto your feet. We walked around the cute little town for awhile and had some lunch before Shoubert and Paula went home to pick up their daughter from school.

Laguna Beach

Already falling for Orange County

AJ and I continued north to Balboa Island at their suggestion and came upon this sleepy little village that seemed like the set of a movie, it was so quiet. Turns out we turned in one street too soon and went into Balboa retirement residence essentially. We didn't find out until we got back to our host home. We all had a good laugh.

On our way to LA, we stopped at Huntington Beach and walked along the pier, then onto Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. We stopped at the chic TESLA retail store that seemed more like an American Apparel than a car dealership and a couple other shops along the way.

The plan was to go to the red carpet premiere of the movie This Is The End in Hollywood, hoping to have a few star sightings. This did not pan out as traffic was awful and there was no parking under $30 to be found, so we scrapped that plan and headed to the Santa Monica Pier for sunset. The actual carnival area was cool, but much more enjoyable from the shore with our feet in the water, watching kids play in the waves as the sun went down.

We stopped at In & Out on the way back down to Mission Viejo for some off-menu meals. For a non-burger eater, it wasn't that exciting, but man is it cheap.

2 by 4 extra crispy, animal style

Days 2 and 3 were set aside for some serious LA sightseeing. On Tuesday we headed to the city and realized what everyone means when they talk about LA traffic. We didn't have time to do nearly as much as we wanted. BUT, we did make a very important stop, just north of Hollywood – the site of The Office! The actual exterior building that we all know and love is where they tape the outdoor and warehouse scenes and next door is the soundstage for the show. Of course, the series is over, so everything is cleared out and you can't get inside, but, as we were standing at the gate, a guy came out. Turns out it's the guy who runs this particular site and he's the one who gets everything ready for taping and he was able to tell us all kinds of stories about the cast and the show. For example, Steve Carell requires the set to be about 55 degrees Fahrenheit so he doesn't overheat. You can't plan this stuff!

In my Dunder Mifflin shirt at The Office!

Next door where the show is actually taped

For lunch, we looked at LA's handy food truck map and ended up at the Grilled Cheese truck. Dozens of types of grilled cheese stuffed with ribs, bacon and tons of cheese flavours...and my pick, the Mac & cheese grilled cheese. OMG.

For the afternoon, we had a few tickets to different show tapings, but settled on a sitcom we'd never heard of, Sullivan & Son. The show itself was pretty average, but it was cool to see how they filmed in front of a live audience. A few times they stopped and re-did a scene, changing the dialogue slightly. We found out later that if the audience doesn't laugh at a joke, they cut, quickly re-write it and shoot it again until they get the desired reaction. Stuff like that is the reason I wanted to see LA, it's so interesting. Mike from Mike & Molly and Ryan Miller from the Buffalo Sabres also guest starred, so that was kind of cool. I'm 100% sure that AJ was the only one in the audience who recognized Ryan Miller. So Canadian.

We went back to Paula & Shoubert's for a late dinner and to watch the season finale of Revolution before bed.

The next day was packed, but we made sure we left ourselves time for the LA traffic so we were up pretty early. The first stop ended up being one of my favourite parts of the whole trip – the Warner Brothers studio tour.

Our group of 12 rode a tram with a tour guide through the studio lot. Most shows are on hiatus for the summer, which was actually good for us because we were able to go into more places than usually. Pretty Little Liars was going to tape the afternoon we were there, so we saw a ton of sets for that show, which was cool despite me having never seen the show. We also saw the sets of The Mentalist and Mike and Molly (no photos in any of these sets), plus they're extensive props house that has everything from US wall seals, statues, peel up flooring and lighting fixtures. Even other studios use their prop house.

Leonard & Sheldon's apartment facade – remember
when Sheldon was chased down the street by the dog?

This was the centre of town in Gilmore Girls,
just picture the gazebo. Now it's the town in
Pretty Little Liars.

Luke's diner from Gilmore Girls

Currently the high school in PLL, but it was also the
Rosewood police precinct in Rebel Without A Cause

Miss Patty's dance studio – Gilmore Girls

Howards space shuttle from the Big Bang Theory.
Several Batmobiles and the car Harry Potter crashed were also here.

We saw Peter Billingsly along the way who played Ralphie in A Christmas Story and also produced Iron Man. Near the end of the tour, we stopped at a little museum that houses costumes from many of their movies and has a top floor dedicated to Harry Potter. AJ and I got to sit on a stool and put on the Harry Potter sorting hat! A voice from above announced that I'm a Hufflepuff and AJ is a Weasley and should be in Gryffindor. Awesome.

And then our tour guide took us to another set that is permanent because there's no way to re-use it without it being recognizable...

Central Perk

I thought my jaw might actually have dropped. I didn't expect to see this, almost 10 years after it went off the air. I was so excited. And then our tour guide asked if we wanted to sit on the couch. Um, yes please.

That's me. On the Friends couch.

Perhaps I shouldn't have been so excited about sitting on the couch from a fictional show, but this was a huge highlight from the entire trip.

We probably saw a couple other things, but I was in a daze. The tour ended and several food trucks were waiting for us so we enjoyed Smokin' Willie's BBQ food truck before heading to Griffith Observatory. It's a beautiful place with a view of the Hollywood sign and the entire city. So peaceful compared to the rest of the city.

Back down to the hustle and bustle of Hollywood to visit the big tourist spots – Hollywood & Highland Center, Walk of Fame, Grauman's Chinese Theater, Dolby Theater (the Oscar's are in a mall??) and the Capitol Records building.

Muppet of a man

Grauman's Chinese Theater

Just me and Matt Damon

I have to say, downtown Hollywood wasn't my favourite place. Don't get me wrong, it was cool to see such famous sights, but there were so many people vying for attention, in costumes, with pamphlets, it was a bit too much. I'm glad I saw that stuff, but once was probably enough.

That night we went to the LA Dodgers game. Ironically, they were playing the San Diego Padres, who we had plans to see the next week. Dodgers Stadium is so famous and the team has such a rich history, we were really looking forward to the stadium. Honestly though, it was pretty average. The age of the stadium could have been really nostalgic, but it lacked personality. They just had the generic snack booths everywhere and not much in the way of history. Too bad. But it's still baseball and we had a great time watching the game.

Dodgers Stadium at dusk

And that concludes the Orange County and Los Angeles portion of our trip.

Next: Yosemite National Park