Heading Down the Southern Coast
Here is another "in-the-past" blog to catch you all up.
Thank you for all your emails! It really is truly appreciated.
We drove from Morro Bay to Santa Barbara, and spent a few hours at the Mission (not very well run), and spent a few more at their Natural History Museum (really wonderful) and got a chance to get my younger son a new prescription for his glasses, as his vision has improved slightly. I loved the optometrist we had. As I tried to convince her that he may not wear glasses someday, she smiled and gently explained how the chances of that were like winning the lottery. I guess we are still trying to accept them. As every parent of a child wearing glasses knows, it adds an extra responsibility to both child and parent. He tries to lose them every couple of weeks, and we have to find them as he pretends they must be lost forever so he won’t have to wear them. I think it is hard for him that no one in his immediate family wears them. In fact, no one on either side of our family wears them, with the exception of my sister's husband, who always makes sure to tell my youngest how cool his glasses are (thank you!) He also gets a lot of positive attention from strangers telling him he is adorable in his glasses. If only they made Harry Potter style frames for kids, that person would make a fortune. Well, at least they would make one sweet boy extremely happy.
We left beautiful Santa Barbara promptly when we found hotels to be in the $300 and up category. Husband and I just don’t believe anything is that beautiful, so we drove South to Carpenteria. Now, when I used to live in my old Kombi camper, one of my favorite spots was the Carpenteria State Park. Not only are you right on the beach, but you are also just a few blocks from downtown. It was just as I remembered. We found a great spot late at night (we were amazed at how quickly we were able to set up our campsite in the dark) and woke up in paradise. I love the smell of salt air in the morning. The kids woke up tickled that they were on the beach and immediately began playing in the sand. We wanted to stay but found out we could only pay one night in advance and they told us that each night we would most likely have to move campsites. After playing that game one more night, we decided that as nice as the park was, we needed to move on. This was when we realized that making reservations would be a good idea, if we wanted to stay somewhere for the week. Another lesson in commitment.
We headed down the Ventura Highway past Los Angeles (as fast as traffic would allow) towards Carlsbad, which is about 35 miles North of San Diego. My cousin and his family live there and had offered to have us stay in their beautiful home for a night or two. The kids were excited to go to Legoland again, which is located about 5 minutes from their home. My parents decided to meet us in San Diego, so our visit there extended for a couple of weeks. We tried not to wear out our welcome with our gracious hosts, so we moved just down the street to Carlsbad State Park. This time we made reservations, though they only take them with 2 days advance notice. So we camped in the spot we reserved and hoped that we wouldn’t have to move. At most parks there are some sites that cost more than others, and if you are planning to stay at this park pay the extra $10 per night. It is the difference between facing the street or facing the beach. Night and day, pay the money. We loved this site and loved Carlsbad. It has a great town that is just a short bus ride away (so we didn’t have to pack up our campsite) and a beautiful beach, surfing lessons available walking distance away, and of course we had visitors who came to roast marshmallows with us at night, which was really fun. Legoland was as much fun the second time as the first. If you have young lego fanatics, I highly recommend it. Thank you so much to our cousins in Carlsbad for a wonderful time!
My parents met us in Old Town San Diego. Very cool place to visit, as you feel like you are in historic Mexico. People are dressed in period clothes and music is played. We wished we had more time to spend there, but we had to check into our hotel. My father was in the military, so we were able to stay on Coronado Island on the military base. The feeling for both my husband and I was torn. Here on this active base you saw and heard the navy and navy seals training. You sit relaxing on the beautiful long beaches with the grass roof huts like you see in romantic getaways, while the young people around you are training for war. It filled us both with great sadness.
We had a good time visiting with my parents (thank you!) and we were able to go out on a precious date. A date was something we knew we wouldn't have the chance to do again until we made it to Houston. My parents took us all to explore the San Diego Zoo. I have never been to a zoo where the only way to see it all is to take a bus. Yes, it is that big! The kids just loved the zoo and so did the grown-ups. Watching the polar bears, panda bears and elephants with wonder is a great way to feel young again. Of course, at the end of the day, the kids were still filled with energy, while we were all glad to sit down and rest our weary bones on the the drive back to the hotel. We planned to hit Sea World, but we were all tired and my father became ill, so we decided to stick around the beach and enjoy the rest of our time there, while he rested.
My parents left after a few more days, while we were able to stay a couple extra days saying good-bye to the beautiful west coast before we headed off into the unknown of the great wide desert.
Thank you for all your emails! It really is truly appreciated.
We drove from Morro Bay to Santa Barbara, and spent a few hours at the Mission (not very well run), and spent a few more at their Natural History Museum (really wonderful) and got a chance to get my younger son a new prescription for his glasses, as his vision has improved slightly. I loved the optometrist we had. As I tried to convince her that he may not wear glasses someday, she smiled and gently explained how the chances of that were like winning the lottery. I guess we are still trying to accept them. As every parent of a child wearing glasses knows, it adds an extra responsibility to both child and parent. He tries to lose them every couple of weeks, and we have to find them as he pretends they must be lost forever so he won’t have to wear them. I think it is hard for him that no one in his immediate family wears them. In fact, no one on either side of our family wears them, with the exception of my sister's husband, who always makes sure to tell my youngest how cool his glasses are (thank you!) He also gets a lot of positive attention from strangers telling him he is adorable in his glasses. If only they made Harry Potter style frames for kids, that person would make a fortune. Well, at least they would make one sweet boy extremely happy.
We left beautiful Santa Barbara promptly when we found hotels to be in the $300 and up category. Husband and I just don’t believe anything is that beautiful, so we drove South to Carpenteria. Now, when I used to live in my old Kombi camper, one of my favorite spots was the Carpenteria State Park. Not only are you right on the beach, but you are also just a few blocks from downtown. It was just as I remembered. We found a great spot late at night (we were amazed at how quickly we were able to set up our campsite in the dark) and woke up in paradise. I love the smell of salt air in the morning. The kids woke up tickled that they were on the beach and immediately began playing in the sand. We wanted to stay but found out we could only pay one night in advance and they told us that each night we would most likely have to move campsites. After playing that game one more night, we decided that as nice as the park was, we needed to move on. This was when we realized that making reservations would be a good idea, if we wanted to stay somewhere for the week. Another lesson in commitment.
We headed down the Ventura Highway past Los Angeles (as fast as traffic would allow) towards Carlsbad, which is about 35 miles North of San Diego. My cousin and his family live there and had offered to have us stay in their beautiful home for a night or two. The kids were excited to go to Legoland again, which is located about 5 minutes from their home. My parents decided to meet us in San Diego, so our visit there extended for a couple of weeks. We tried not to wear out our welcome with our gracious hosts, so we moved just down the street to Carlsbad State Park. This time we made reservations, though they only take them with 2 days advance notice. So we camped in the spot we reserved and hoped that we wouldn’t have to move. At most parks there are some sites that cost more than others, and if you are planning to stay at this park pay the extra $10 per night. It is the difference between facing the street or facing the beach. Night and day, pay the money. We loved this site and loved Carlsbad. It has a great town that is just a short bus ride away (so we didn’t have to pack up our campsite) and a beautiful beach, surfing lessons available walking distance away, and of course we had visitors who came to roast marshmallows with us at night, which was really fun. Legoland was as much fun the second time as the first. If you have young lego fanatics, I highly recommend it. Thank you so much to our cousins in Carlsbad for a wonderful time!
My parents met us in Old Town San Diego. Very cool place to visit, as you feel like you are in historic Mexico. People are dressed in period clothes and music is played. We wished we had more time to spend there, but we had to check into our hotel. My father was in the military, so we were able to stay on Coronado Island on the military base. The feeling for both my husband and I was torn. Here on this active base you saw and heard the navy and navy seals training. You sit relaxing on the beautiful long beaches with the grass roof huts like you see in romantic getaways, while the young people around you are training for war. It filled us both with great sadness.
We had a good time visiting with my parents (thank you!) and we were able to go out on a precious date. A date was something we knew we wouldn't have the chance to do again until we made it to Houston. My parents took us all to explore the San Diego Zoo. I have never been to a zoo where the only way to see it all is to take a bus. Yes, it is that big! The kids just loved the zoo and so did the grown-ups. Watching the polar bears, panda bears and elephants with wonder is a great way to feel young again. Of course, at the end of the day, the kids were still filled with energy, while we were all glad to sit down and rest our weary bones on the the drive back to the hotel. We planned to hit Sea World, but we were all tired and my father became ill, so we decided to stick around the beach and enjoy the rest of our time there, while he rested.
My parents left after a few more days, while we were able to stay a couple extra days saying good-bye to the beautiful west coast before we headed off into the unknown of the great wide desert.
posted by poetrywater @ 3:30 AM
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