Nate had been talking about taking Hyla to Disneyland for a while now, and with kindergarten looming in the near future, he wanted to go now so we wouldn’t have to take time off of school or deal with crazy crowds. It was going to be an adventure with an infant in tow, but he was determined we could make it work. We decided to pick a week in either October or February because we figured those would be quieter times, and we ultimately opted for February because Griffin would be a little bit older. Nate did the research and determined babies could ride MOST rides, so that, coupled with the fact that Disney is really good at catering to families, made us decide to bite the bullet and go.
Fri. Feb. 16
We’d originally planned on leaving Saturday morning, but since I wanted to visit some friends on Saturday night, it made more sense to head out Friday night and make it part way there. We left around 3 or 4, destined for Flagstaff. We had a reservation at the Days Inn Route 66 West, which is a different side of town than we usually stay. It still provided plenty of train commotion, but I don’t mind because I love Flagstaff so much. We headed out to dinner, hoping to try the Lumberyard Brewing Company, but its location wasn’t readily apparent on our drive-by, so rather than go searching with the kids, we returned to our old standby, Beaver Street Brewery. We came at the right time – it wasn’t crowded for once, and we were seated almost right away. I had some delicious mussels and a beer flight. My favorite was the shandy, of course. Hyla had an interesting rainbow splash drink, which was like a tiki drink without the alcohol. We returned to our room, exhausted, but not before checking out the neat aquariums in the motel lobby. I think they even had piranhas!
Sat. Feb. 17
We endured a rather cold night’s sleep due mostly to my distaste for motel comforters, since who knows when and if they were ever washed. Ick. We headed west stopping at the McDonalds in Needles for a quick lunch. I always swore I would never take the kids to McDonalds, especially since I can go years and years without eating there. But sometimes, trips in particular, there is just no other easy solution. Hyla scored a Peter Rabbit game of some sort, so that was exciting. From Needles, we continued westward. It was pretty smooth sailing for the most part. Hyla kept requesting we sing cartoon theme songs, so we did a lot of that – her favorite was “I May Look Like a Rabbit,” from Dot and the Bunny, one of my favorites when I was a kid. So sweet. Other favorites included themes from Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Smurfs, and Flintstones.
One moment of excitement was when we saw an ART (Albuquerque Rapid Transit) bus go by, driving toward Albuquerque. Our failed mass transit nightmare actually has working buses – that’s pretty exciting, anyway. I wonder if it made it all the way to town! We stopped in Barstow to get gas and switch drivers. Then it was off to Irvine.
We headed to Pioneer Park in Tustin, a lovely, shaded community park where we met up with one of my good friends from college, Priti. I hadn’t seen her in years! It was wonderful to meet her great kids, and Hyla had such a fun time playing with them. Nate kept an eye on the youngsters while Priti and I managed to catch up on things over the years. Eventually, her husband and in-laws showed up, and they invited us out to dinner at Thai Bamboo Bistro, an excellent Thai restaurant, also in Tustin. We ate ourselves silly and enjoyed some wonderful company and conversation, all while trying to wrangle children. I have always been awkward, but having kids takes it to a whole new level. Ha.
By the time we were finished, it had gotten really late. We briefly went over to Claire’s with Priti’s family, and I was somehow persuaded to buy a unicorn headband for Hyla. We all were exceptionally tired, so we said goodbye to our friends and headed to the Candlewood Suites in Lake Forest for the night. We had a lovely, large suite. Hyla even had one of her coveted hide-a-beds. We settled in for a peaceful and comfortable night’s sleep.
Sun. Feb. 18
After a quick stop at the store to grab a few essentials, we drove down to San Diego’s Balboa Park. We parked along the road in a spot that reminded me a bit of a cross between Lincoln Park in Chicago and St. Louis’s Forest Park. We were quite a ways from the museums, but that afforded us a chance to admire the lovely landscaping, marvel at the proximity of the landing airplanes, and get some exercise after all this time in the car. Some incredible buildings graced the grounds, most notably the California Building, hosting the Museum of Man, a must-see next time we’re in the area. We grabbed a quick lunch of quesadilla, fruit cup, and strawberry smoothie and ate outside on a bench, watching passers-by.
Since we have a membership to Explora Children’s Museum in Albuquerque, we have access to a number of other Association of Science-Technology Centers through the ASTC Passport Program. It turns out that two of the museums in Balboa Park are also members, so we headed off to check them out. Our first stop was “The Nat,” San Diego’s natural history museum. We enjoyed seeing displays of prehistoric creatures, skulls, live animals, museum specimens, and more. It was fascinating!
After that, we walked across the square to the Fleet Science Center, a kids’ museum that had a number of neat exhibits, but was pretty small compared to some. Hyla enjoyed the Legos and actually played with another little girl for a while. It was a nice place for her to burn off some energy.
Once we were done with museums, we crossed a bridge to visit a small botanic garden and then crossed back over to check out the carousel. We got there a bit after 5, which was lucky because the ride closed at 5:30. They’d already shut down the ring machine, which I didn’t even realize they had right away. Still, it was fun riding an historic carousel, rings or not. One note, most carousels allow an assisting parent to ride for free, but this one requires a ticket for both. Upon finding that out, I went ahead and grabbed a horse so Hyla and I could both ride. The carousel spun quicker than most, too – quite thrilling, in fact! Definitely worth checking out if you’re into historic carousels.
After we’d had our fill of Balboa Park, we set out to find dinner. I was excited to find a decently-rated tiki bar mid-way between Balboa Park and our hotel, and being a tiki-fanatic, I really hoped to check it out. Grass Skirt Tiki Bar was hopping that evening, so much so that we couldn’t park in its associated lot and had to use a pay lot a block away. At this point, Hyla had fallen asleep, and our attempts to extract her from the vehicle just created an unholy demon. Griffin desperately needed a change, too, so it was a world of fun. Nate changed Griffin while I carried a tired and angry Hyla to the restaurant to see if I could find my way in. I tried all doors that looked associated with the place, but they were all locked. You could hear the commotion from inside, so it was obviously open, but it had no apparent access point. Finally, I went to the poke restaurant next door, hoping they might be associated. The chefs told me that the hostess would be back soon, but when she came back a party behind us acted like they’d been there first and got seated. Grrrr. Then, I was told the wait would be really long. Frustrated, and worried about Hyla, who wasn’t any happier than I was, we met up with Nate to discuss where to go.
We'd noticed Pueblo, a restaurant located just kitty-corner from our parking lot. It looked vibrant and airy, and it was a lot less hectic than the tiki place. We asked Hyla if she was up for trying it, and she agreed, as hunger now outweighed tiredness. We were seated immediately and looked over the menu. Nate and I decided to split some small plates, and Hyla had a kid’s meal. I also enjoyed a margarita to make up for the tiki drink on which I was most certainly missing out.
Well, our food arrived, and I must say that I’ve never felt so fortunate to miss out on a tiki bar. This place was absolutely amazing!! Nate and I shared the black ceviche, chorizo mussels, and a clambake, and all but the clambake blew me away. They were delectable and out of this world. The clambake was ok, too, but it tasted a bit off, like two incompatible ingredients were sparring for dominance. But the black ceviche and mussels were phenomenal. I couldn’t stop raving about them. The margarita was delicious, too – not too sweet, as many places tend to make them. And Hyla’s chicken tacos were perfect! I ended up eating what she didn’t, and I was quite glad to do so. This was, hands-down, one of the best restaurants I’ve tried, and I’d highly recommend it. The only issue we had (which was incredibly minor) was when Hyla’s food came, the waiter mistakenly brought her a quesadilla. As soon as I mentioned it, he apologized profusely and said it was his mistake, and brought her the tacos right away. Then, upon checkout, he gave us a coupon for a free guacamole on our next visit. I really wished we’d be in the area longer to use it, but I’m sure we’ll be back someday.
Once we’d had our fill, we drove up to Carlsbad to get our room at a Budget Inn. We were all exhausted and rather cranky, and Hyla was bouncing off the walls…or floor, rather. Unfortunately, we were on the second floor and had no carpeting. Despite my instructions to cool it, when I ran down to the car to grab something, apparently a complaint call came to our room. I was mortified. (Especially since Nate didn’t tell me about the call until after I’d set up the Pack N Play, making, I’m sure, quite the racket.) Ugh. We spent the rest of the night trying to calm Hyla down and stay as quiet as possible. It wasn’t the most fun of nights, but at least we all had a good night’s sleep eventually.
Mon. Feb. 19
We woke up and grabbed a quick breakfast downstairs before heading south again to visit the San Diego Zoo. I’d only ever been to the San Diego Wild Animal Park, but I’d heard the zoo itself was quite a sight, so we had to check it out. We spent the whole day there, missing only the first hour of operation. It was an impressive and large zoo with all sorts of fascinating creatures, many of which you rarely see anywhere else. Of course we saw a panda. There was only one on display, and it was rather obscured by the tree in which it was sleeping, but we did see it. I also really enjoyed seeing an outdoor aquatic reptile exhibit featuring some incredibly huge turtles and, gasp!, gharials! My favorite piscivorous crocodilians! I almost never see those, so that was exciting! We took the double-decker bus tour around and had the best view – Hyla and I were in the front row on top! All said, we saw about 4/5 of the zoo, so I think, with kids, we did pretty well. I was sad that the insectarium closed before I got to it, but Nate had seen it and said it was considerably small compared to where I used to work. The exhibits we did see were pretty impressive, though!
After the zoo, since we weren’t as tired as yesterday, we decided to attempt Grass Skirt Tiki Bar again. We got there pretty early and snagged parking. We even arrived in time for happy hour!! We went back to the poke restaurant, and they led us through a large silver door that looked like it belonged to a walk-in freezer room, but instead it turned out to be a cavernous corridor leading to a brilliantly decorated tiki restaurant!
I was worried about the kids, but Hyla was really taken with the décor, and Griffin is just easy as can be. I ordered the chi chi, which was delicious, and Nate had a mai tai, both of which were on sale for happy hour. He told me later he’d heard that if you order the right combo of drinks, the lights dim and a tiki god is summoned. At one point, we got to experience that, completely with growing flames in the fireplaces and smoke and light displays from the tiki head in the altar behind the bar. What fun!
The three of us shared the fries, pork sliders, a rice bowl, and a spicy tuna hand roll (easily the best of the bunch, but it was all pretty good). I’d considered trying another drink, but honestly one was enough. It was tough enough to get through the first one when dealing with the kids. I’d had plenty.
Once we finished, we headed way up to Orange, CA to check in to our room at the Best Western. We’d reserved it for 2 nights, but we decided to stick around for a third. It was a nice place, and another suite, no less! Another hide-a-bed for Hyla! Such fun. Plus, the complimentary breakfast was outstanding! It was good to have a home base for the next few days, too.
Tues. Feb. 20
Wow, what an exhausting day! Our first attempt at Disney was a learning experience, to say the least. We wound up parking in the Toy Story lot, under Woody, which happens to be several blocks’ walk to the park itself. We were going to attempt taking the tram over, but with the stroller and all our stuff, it was probably more trouble than it was worth. Instead, we walked the mile or so over to the entrance. And what an entrance. We couldn’t get over the lines just to get past security! I must have stood there for over an hour. Nathan took the kids through the short line to get tickets while I waited with all our stuff. It was even more stressful because it wasn’t clear what line went where, and people were merging willy-nilly. I was worried I’d get to the front and be told I go to the back of the line again. I would have thought that Disney, of all places, would have researched the psychology of queuing and come up with a better solution than this disaster. On top of it, some cast members came through, and, despite being required to be pleasant and cheerful, they were obviously irritable and snippy. One pushed through the crowd snarling, “Whistle whistle! To work I go!” Bad energy, for real! I guess these crowds rub off on them, too.
We’d planned on visiting in February because there weren’t any obvious school holidays. It turned out President’s Day was Monday, so we opted to wait until Tuesday, but I guess that was everyone else’s plan because the crowds didn’t let up all day. Someone had told me a relative had gone two weeks prior and it was empty, so I guess we’ll try to remember that for next time.
As for the park, once inside we headed over to Tomorrowland, which, I imagine, is many people’s first stop. It was wall-to-wall madness! We started out at the Astro Orbiter, which would turn out to be Griffin’s first-ever amusement ride! I rode with Hyla, and Nate rode with Griffin, and we had a fun time of it. Then we got a Fast Pass for Star Tours before heading over to ride the newly refurbished submarines! I have vague memories of riding it when I was a kid and really thinking it was neat, but more recently I remember seeing the pond sitting empty and dry, in a sad state of deterioration. What an awesome surprise to find it up and running again! It was themed to Finding Nemo, which was ok, but we were more impressed by actually being under water. It was good fun.
Next up we had our first experience with the rider switch service, otherwise known as “baby swap.” We headed to the Autopia line and told the cast member at the entrance our plans. He directed Hyla and me to go in and scanned Nate’s ticket so he could skip ahead in the line upon our return. I had a fun (though slightly panicky) time riding with Hyla, since I let her steer. We kept slamming back and forth all along the track. She was pretty good at times, though. When we exited, I grabbed Griffin and found a shady, windless spot to wait on the two of them. Good times were had by all.
We also did Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, a fun shoot-em-up ride. Hyla scored quite a few points! I was impressed. Griffin got to ride, too. I wonder what he must have thought of it all.
Next up, we headed over to Small World, which Hyla loved. Griffin seemed fascinated by the characters, too. It was a long line, but it moved faster than most, so this was a good place to kill some time. Then we headed back to Tomorrowland to grab a quick lunch and rest a moment. Traveling with kids is crazy – what do you mean they have to eat? I think about my solo days at amusement parks. No eating, just marathon riding. It’s what you do. Haha!
The other thing we had to do, which made me slightly uncomfortable, was park the stroller and abandon it throughout the day. Luckily, there are plenty of spots to do that, but I wasn’t thrilled about leaving our stuff out there. I guess there wasn’t much to steal, since I had my snazzy swashbuckler’s vest with lots of pockets so I could take anything important with us, but still. I eventually got used to it as the day progressed, but I always held my breath upon our return, worried that our stuff might not be there.
I feel like we only got through a small fraction of the park, and I was getting so frustrated that I wasn’t sure I wanted to come back the next day after all. We kind of felt stuck in Tomorrowland. Ultimately, by day’s end (it was open ‘til midnight, but with the kids we only managed until about 10), we saw Toontown at night (Hyla rode Gadget’s Go Coaster with Nate, and we all rode Roger Rabbit), rode Pirates of the Caribbean (with Griffin, despite two drops!), knocked out a few dark rides like Peter Pan (my favorite as a kid), and I even got Hyla on Matterhorn! She was just barely tall enough to ride. They’d redesigned the cars since last time, so now, even though you still sit tandem, you’re not in the same part of the car as the other rider, so Hyla was all by herself in the front, and I couldn’t tell if she was ok or not. It was a fast ride with a lot of darkness and some really loud, scary yetis. Hyla was exceptionally brave and told me she didn’t like it, but it didn’t ruin her day. I’m not sure when she’ll be up for that again, though. She loved Star Tours and rode twice, once with each of us. She instructed Nate where to find and deposit the glasses and knew her way around everything. We attempted Space Mtn. without a Fastpass, and the line hardly moved. We spent 45 minutes there before we had to get to a ride we for which we actually had a Fastpass. What a waste of time! We were going to take turns riding Indiana Jones at the end of the day, but the kids were melting down, so since I’d already ridden it, Nate went by himself. Again, we encountered some cranky cast members. There was one at Pirates who was barking at people that there were two lines. I get that she’s frustrated repeating herself, but when she pushed me out of her way, that was a bit much. And then the crowds…people were just like molecules randomly bouncing off each other. Between the stress of all that and the kids melting down, we headed out as soon as Nate had finished Indy. To everyone’s relief, we snagged a tram back to our car. It was good to rest and not have to trudge on some more at that point.
Hyla was pretty pleased with a Little Mermaid bubble wand she got – it seemed to be the souvenir of the year, as so many kids had variations of them. My opinion: it needs volume control. So loud!! Despite her desire to play with that all night, when we got back to the room, we all passed out almost immediately. It had been a very full day.
Wed. Feb. 21
Despite my reservations, day two at Disney turned out to be much better than the first. To begin, we discovered a much better entrance to the park. We parked in the Mickey and Friends lot, on the top level, and essentially went through security (with much friendlier staff) before boarding shuttles to the front gate. Shuttling with the stroller was no big deal, and getting through the gate was easy, since we already had our tickets.
Once in, we grabbed a Fast Pass for Space Mountain and then ran over to do the things we missed. We started with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I rode with Hyla, and she said it was so much fun she DIDN’T want to ride again with dad. He went on his own. Oh well. Next up we hit Haunted Mansion, telling her we were going into a regular house. I don’t think she was too pleased with us, but she was very brave. I vaguely recall being terrified of it as a kid merely because it was called “haunted.” It was a bit intense, as Disney goes, but she made it through. Griffin did, too!! We also climbed the former Swiss Family Robinson treehouse which is now themed to Tarzan. And we did the Jungle Cruise!
Splash Mountain was closed for construction, and I was actually kind of happy because that was one less thing we’d have to shoehorn in. Dumbo was under construction, too, which was sad, as that was one of my biggest memories as a kid. We finished up riding the dark rides like Mr. Toad, Winnie the Pooh, and Snow White. I was the only one who did Pinocchio, since the others opted for Small World instead. We rode the carousel and the teacups, too! I did Space Mountain with Hyla, and she seemed more at ease with that than Matterhorn, thankfully. What fun! Then we lunched in New Orleans, and I had the wonderful clam chowder bread bowl. Next time I’ll have to try the gumbo…or even dine in the neat restaurant inside Pirates of the Caribbean! We got the last boat out to Tom Sawyer’s Island and only saw about half of it before being ushered onto the boat again. Oh, and on the raft over, Griffin grabbed some unsuspecting woman’s hair, and HARD. But as soon as she saw his bright, charming smile (and as soon as we pried him off), she just melted. Lucky for him! By day’s end, I got a fast pass for Indy, and Nate and Hyla got one for Star Tours. Of course, BOTH those rides broke down, and we wound up being about a half hour late to meet our friends outside the park. I did get to ride Indy (which was good, but not as intense as I recalled – the arrows were not as realistic, and that was one of the most notable parts of the ride by my recollection), and the others opted for Buzz Lightyear again, instead of the glitchy Star Tours.
We were finally able to get out of the park with two very cranky kids in tow. I wasn’t sure meeting our friends was a good idea now, and Nate wanted to just take them home, but we somehow made it work. We met Sharon, another one of my good friends from college, at Tortilla Jo, and we got to meet her boyfriend Scott, too, who was very nice. I enjoyed talking with him about tv show theme songs and such, and it was great catching up with Sharon whom I haven’t seen in quite some time, either. We made it through the meal without too much kid trouble, though Hyla did curl up on the chair and fall asleep using my lap as her pillow, so maybe that was for the best. We had a much better day topped off with good conversation. I’m so glad they were able to come out and meet us!
We made it back to our room, so happy not to have to travel again just yet. Tomorrow we would set off to points east!
Thurs. Feb. 22
We slept in, and boy did we need it! We completely slept past the breakfast offerings, which was unfortunate, but really, we needed sleep more than food. We took our time getting packed and ready to go. It would be good to get out of the hustle and bustle of Orange County and into the vast stretches of the southwest. We drove toward Palm Springs, admiring the dinosaurs and mountaintop we’d visited on our last trip through. I forget if we ate anywhere, but we had so many granola bars with us, I was sure Hyla was going to turn into one, she ate so many. We made our way over to Joshua Tree National Park and stopped at the visitor center so I could pick up another Parks Passport for Griffin – this was his first national park!! I worried when they didn’t have basic passports on display, but the ranger found a new shipment of the in the back room. Hooray! Then we headed down to do a hike in a very windy canyon. It was almost miserable at first, and we considered turning back, but the wind eventually let up and we had a really pleasant hike! We also stopped at an overlook we’d seen previously, looking out over the valley at Palm Springs and the San Andreas Fault zone. Finally, we stopped to see Ryans Ranch. It was incredibly windy, and Hyla didn’t want to go, so we were going to take turns hiking out, but it was so miserable, I didn’t really want to go anyway. It wasn’t for naught, though, as I saw a coyote trotting through the shrubs and eventually crossing the road while Nate was out hiking! Very neat indeed.
Joshua Tree is a really neat park, and I was excited to see some Joshua trees that actually looked like trees. In my experience, the Joshua trees elsewhere all look rather sickly and small, but here they seem to be thriving. How wonderful! This is one very unique national park.
We didn’t stick around too long after the Ryan’s Ranch stop, since we still had quite a drive ahead of us. We wanted to make it to Lake Havasu in time for dinner, and we were hoping that Barley Brothers’ Brewery would be open when we got there, but it turned out not to be the case. We arrived right around 9 and checked into our motel. Then we headed to In N Out Burger so Nate could try it again. We never really understood people’s obsession, but to each their own. We were perplexed by the questions they asked us like, “are you going to eat in your car?” Umm, maybe?? What would you do differently if we weren’t? Well, Nate said yes, and he got his food in a take-away cardboard tray. I would guess a bag might have been provided had we said no? I’m pretty sure that’s not the only weird question they asked, either. Ah, California fast food culture! Baffling! Hyla and I wound up getting Del Taco which is much less appealing than Taco Bell, but the shrimp taco was pretty good, anyway.
Then we made it back to our room where I stressed about Hyla being too loud again, since we were on the second floor. I never heard anything that would indicate a problem though, thankfully. We were just glad to be done for the night.
We’d heard that a snowstorm was going through Flagstaff and that travel was not advised. We’d planned on going that way, so we spent the evening trying to decide our upcoming route. We chose to go south through Deming, NM and spend the night there before hauling home. So Nate secured a room at the La Quinta, and we were all set!
Fri. Feb. 23
We took our time in the morning, not really thinking we were in too much of a rush. Our main order of business was to have lunch at the brew pub, but in the meantime, we wanted to wander along and see the sights of Lake Havasu. We parked at the visitor center and walked among all the kitschy London memorabilia like dragons, a lion fountain, and a red phonebooth. We admired London Bridge and then took the Shoreline Trail for a while, stopping so Hyla could play in the various playgrounds. We took turns with the kids as each of us hiked to the Fire Island Lighthouse. I also grabbed a geocache that was an easy find under a lamp post skirt. On my way back to meet the family, it started raining. It had looked foreboding all morning, and it finally hit us with wind and water. A nice gentleman offered us a ride, but we opted to keep going. It eventually let up, and we stopped in a gift shop to get a postcard. Then we crossed over London Bridge, singing the song all the way. On the other side, we had a nice lunch at Barley Brothers Brewery. I had another flight and really enjoyed it with my seafood salad. It was a nice stop.
Once we were done, we crossed back over the bridge and got our car. Then we high-tailed it out of town because it turns out we had a 10-hour drive ahead of us! So off we drove, through Phoenix and Tucson, mostly uneventfully, thankfully, all the way down to Deming. We didn’t get to La Quinta until after midnight!! We were so glad to be done for the day. My only complaint was that, while the room looked clean on the surface, my ritual cleaning turned up some suspect findings. When I wiped down the bathroom countertop, I was met with a Clorox Wipe full of hair. Ick. And then one of the beds had a stain on the sheet…like blood or food…only like an inch by two inches, but what bothered me was that I was able to wipe it off, which indicated they never bothered to wash the sheets. Double ick. It was too late to try to switch rooms, and all the rooms probably had the same issue, so we made do. This was our last night on the road…tomorrow we’d be home at last!!
Sat. Feb. 24
We slept in a bit again and slowly hit the road. We drove up through Hatch, NM, famous for its chile. I’d always heard good things about Sparky’s Restaurant in town, so we finally decided to check it out. Despite a rather jarring and unpleasant smell coming out of the side of the building as we walked up, the food wasn’t bad at all. We both had the green chile cheeseburger, which is their famous offering. It was ok, but it didn’t have any toppings besides cheese and chile. I opted for a side of corn with green chile, which was pretty good, even though it burned my tongue (with heat, not spice) to oblivion. The biggest draw, I think, however, is the décor. It’s full of old-fashioned signs and memorabilia, and outside there are a number of statues such as Ronald McDonald. Inside there’s even a Big Boy! It was a good stop, and we got there just in time, as the line was practically out the door once we were done eating.
From there, we headed north on I-25. We stopped once for gas and to switch drivers, but other than that, we just drove and drove and drove. We made it back around 4, safe, sound, exhausted, and happy. It had been quite an enjoyable trip!
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