Another California summer trip back home. Technically we didn’t go last year. We went down last September to Napa for Courtney and Mary’s wedding. It was a shorter trip packed between all things school and fall sports. This time, we went down for two weeks. And we flew. Usually we drive down for our summer trip, then we have a car that actually fits all of us and boosters for the two kids who still need them.
After years of driving, I think we’re all over the 12-16 hour drive, depending on when we leave and how many stops we make. And we’ve been burned on the drive a few times. (No pun intended.) Like that one time there were massive fires, closing the 5 in Northern California, and we had to take the 101 up. Which takes forever. And it took so freaking long that we decided to get a hotel in Grants Pass around midnight, scrambling to find one because everybody else was doing the same. Blaise was sick on that drive also. Another time we decided to stop in Oregon on the way down to break up the drive. I found a great hotel close to the University of Oregon, only for us to check in and them tell us the pool was closed. Staying in a hotel with kids, without a pool is painful. I think most parents count on hotel pools to entertain kids. And going back 14 years, Brian and decided on a whim to make the drive with a three-week-old Blaise to surprise our families. First time parents, haha. Our air conditioner died just north of Redding, while it was still in the 90s outside. I had to sit in the back and make sure newborn Blaise didn’t overheat. Flying makes more sense.
Southwest is my favorite. We scored roundtrip flights for $79 each way. Which for a family of seven, that’s not too shabby. Especially during peak summer travel. And no checked baggage fees. Although, as much as I love Southwest, I feel that will be changing soon. Now that they’re going with assigned seating, I imagine the free checked bags are on borrowed time. Yay, capitalism. Not only did we score cheap flights, I was able to secure airport parking—for two weeks—for just over $100. In summer.
Everything was booked, it was time to pack and make our way to Sacramento. We had a packed two weeks that included Sacramento, the Central Coast, and Southern California. Added to our trip was a soccer tournament, hence Southern California. We were already going to be in California when Baby’s soccer team decided to attend a tournament in Oceanside. Because we thrive on chaos and a packed calendar.
The youngest packer! I make packing lists for the kids for every trip. And while Maive doesn’t read yet, she has to have a list also. Flight pictures I found uploaded, either a kid or Brian took them. I know it wasn’t me; I’m an aisle person.
The airport experience is never fun but it was smooth. That’s all I can hope for when we all travel. We easily parked and hopped on the airport shuttle, checked our bags, and made it through security with plenty of time before boarding. For a summer day in July, no complaints. I mean, I can always complain about the lame shoes off rule and having to take out electronics from bags. All the false sense of security precautions. The only positive going through security will all the hassles, is we get the old school metal detector since we travel with kids.Last week when we flew to Chicago, the TSA guy was a miserable guy. He kept yelling that everything needed to be out of our pockets. Everything was out. But he kept yelling at us, specifically about Blaise. For a TSA guy who has been doing this for however long, he mistook Blaise’s pocket lining for something in his pocket. His power trip and ego almost didn’t want to believe me when I said it was the lining. Not all white men but it’s always a white man. I digress.
Boarded and seated in the very back row—where we like to sit—we took off to Sacramento. It’s not a long flight, just under two hours from gate to gate. Easy. Xanax helps. It must have done its thing because trying to remember the flight now, I can’t. I don’t even remember getting our luggage. But I do remember Bob and Tara picking us up. In two cars because we don’t all fit in one when there are additional people. Brian’s dream is to get a 16-passenger van, which will likely be our next vehicle. Bob ant Tara have a Tesla that seats five and a seven-seater Suburban, which we borrowed during our time in California. It felt like our own car. Because it basically is the same, just a few years younger.
The plan for our time in California: Arrive Wednesday and stay until Tuesday morning. Tuesday morning head to San Luis Obispo for two nights. Leave Thursday and stop in Los Angeles on our way to Carlsbad for three nights. Leave Carlsbad Sunday and drive back to Sacramento. Spend two nights in Sacramento before flying home Tuesday. The plan is exactly what we did.
Sacramento
It was Wednesday afternoon once we made it to Bob and Tara’s from the airport. The airport is five minutes from their home (they’ve since moved though). The kids immediately jumped in the pool. And that’s pretty much all they did the days we spent in Sacramento. It was nice to have no schedule, no place to be, nothing to do. On the rare occasions we have those kind of days at home, there is always something to do. I rarely ever just sit when I’m home. On vacation, I can just sit. And it’s so freaking nice. Bonus, I was able to just sit by the pool.
When we weren’t hanging around the pool, we were visiting my sister and her family, my mom, and checking off two restaurants Brian had on his list. He rarely has any input on what all we do wherever we go, so of course I made it happen. For the most part though, we barely left Bob and Tara’s, enjoying the responsibility-free downtime.
There’s not much to note on our Sacramento time. All the grandkids had one big birthday celebration; there were family dinners with Brian’s younger brothers and sisters; nightly ice cream sundaes; more swimming; and even more swimming. I personally enjoyed the nightly spa dips Brian and I took, without kids. We’d count all the satellites we’d see orbiting above.
A few outings. Brian really wanted to go to Fox & Goose in downtown Sacramento. It hit differently after having been to London, haha. We also went to Chevy’s on the River, the other restaurant Brian wanted to hit. Back, way back, when Brian and I started dating, we used to go to Chevy’s often. And when we moved up to Washigton, we sought out a Chevy’s. I think there was one and we went? But it’s since closed?! My memory could be making this up. Okay, phew. Google tells me there was one that is now permanently closed. My memory actually worked for once.
We did drive around a bit, through downtown and over by McKinley Park to check out Nan’s old house. It’s all the same but different. Which makes total sense, I know. The only major outing we did was head down to see my nephew play soccer, he’s the goalie. Then we went to visit our mom before going to lunch and then to bowling. Nothing too exciting.
Speaking of exciting, I suppose the only excitement was that cute little mice kept falling (or jumping?!) into the pool. There were a quite a few rescue missions. Bob said that he’d often find mice, alive, in the pool. They’d hop on the pool sweeper hose and hang out or find refuge in the pool drain in the wall at the water level. Poor little critters!
Not many pictures from our time in Sacramento. Being near the pool, we left our devices inside.
San Luis Obispo & Pismo Beach
It’s been years since we’ve been back to SLO. I went back in 2010 when I was pregnant with Blaise. Brian hadn’t been back since we moved from SLO to Washington in 2006. We’ve always talked about taking the kids there and it finally happened. We left Sacramento Tuesday morning, stopping to have breakfast with my mom on our way south. The drive from Sacramento to SLO is about four hours. And the drive down the 5 felt the same. Maybe one or two new stops off the boring drive. The only notable change was on the 46, they made it a four-lane highway—a needed change. And the fake CHP car is gone.
It always amazes me how big and how much empty spaces there is in California. Heck, in America. Even up here in Washington, it’s nothingness heading east. I’ll never forget, back when O.J. Simpson murdered his ex and her boyfriend, and he took off in his white Bronco, one of my friend’s cousins—who lived somewhere in the midwest—asked if we saw his Bronco on the 5. Haha. I mean, the 5 runs from Mexico to Canada, so I guess the question makes sense. But I don’t think people, even kids, realize how freaking big it is in California. I read this all the time on Reddit, people from other countries who plan on visiting America. They’ll plan to hit different states, not realizing it can take days to drive from one to another.
Empty California land. This is a common view.
It was afternoon when we made it to SLO. We quickly checked into the hotel, unloaded the car, and set off for downtown. The memories! We parked in front of Palm View Apartments, where Brian and I lived from 2000-2003. We loved living there. Downtown, a block over from the Mission, and walkable to everywhere. It was a really great time in our lives. We were married while living there also, all those years ago. The building has been painted since but looked the same otherwise.
Fun story, from when we lived there. In the picture below, where the kids are standing, our apartment was the downstairs wall behind them. The building is L-shaped, and there is one entrance to the downstairs deck that has access to all the apartment doors, right at the right-angle of the L. If that makes sense. It was maybe 10pm at night, and we had taken out Mayah for her nighttime potty break. She was a small wiener dog and after she did her thing in the dirt behind the kiddos below, she took off running back to our apartment door. The dog lived to sleep. I took off running after her, and Brian after me. We were back in our apartment laughing at Mayah’s determination to get into bed when all of a sudden there was loud banging on our door. It was two police officers. They saw Brian running behind me, and thought he was chasing me, or maybe we were having some domestic situation. I mean, good for them for checking. But Brian, he is the most gentle person I know. In the nearly 30 years we’ve been together, the guy has never yelled. Let alone chase or abuse me. The thought of that is so out there, it’s funny. The police were kind and triple-checked to make sure I was safe. I mean, there was Scott Peterson, Kristin Smart was still missing, and Rex Allan Krebs was fresh so I get their concern even more. Which makes SLO sound unsafe but I never felt concerned with standard we live amongst men precautions, not even as a young college gal.
After nosing about Palm View, we set off on foot to Firestone for dinner and then to walk around downtown to see what all has changed. Firestone is as we remembered. The kids weren’t as impressed as Brian had hoped, at least I don’t think so. Brian still talks about Firestone all these years later and thoroughly enjoyed being back. It was quiet downtown, a summer Tuesday evening. Cal Poly was on summer break still, and it was super quiet without the hustle and bustle of college kids taking over the town. We walked past all of our old spots, and surprsingly, not much has changed. Most of the stores are still there, just in different locations. Which I think was the case when I was down in 2010. I want to say someone told me they were retrofitting all the downtown shops, and places moved and never moved back?! Maybe that’s why. Whatever the case, it felt great being back. I loved our time in SLO and I would totally move back tomorrow if I could get everyone on board. I actually want to move—to SLO or another [liberal and educated] college town—but I’m in the minority about moving anywhere.
After downtown, it was time to visit Cal Poly. It was evening so we just drove on campus a bit and stopped for one picture by the entrance. We decided to head back to the hotel to swim, and fully visit the campus the next day. Making our way back to the hotel we drove around some more, checking out town. All the places we’d go and our previous apartments, the memories. It’s changed but it still feels the same. There are more houses and some small strip malls, and a Target, but they’ve done a nice job not making it feel totally built out.
SLO kiddos!
Wednesday was a busy day. We started with the free hotel breakfast. In all the years we lived in SLO, I had never been inside this hotel; I only knew it was there. I was hoping to book the Madonna Inn for our visit, but we’re just too damn big without needed to book two rooms. The Embassy Suites has this nice feel inside, a large atrium in the middle, going all the way up to the top which is maybe five or six floors? Our room was on the ground floor. We always get the large apartment-like rooms, with a separate bedroom and living space to accommodate our family. And we may have to say there are only six people but we all fit just fine. Five kids in two queen beds, and Brian and I take the—almost always—super uncomfortable pull-out couch bed. Breakfast. It started at 6am, being a weekday and all, and the station where they scrape the plates was right outside our room. I was hoping to sleep in a bit, but that was impossible with the sound of forks scraping plates. Super annoying but not worth complaining about, they were just doing their job. And I was already awake.
The kids ate and we set out for the day. We started at Cal Poly. It has changed some. The main road is now blocked and it’s not possible to drive all through campus. And of course there are some new buildings and more dorms galore. But it still felt like the Cal Poly we attended. We started at the Graphic Communication Building, where I spent most of my time. It all looks the same, with some fun upgrades on the stairs. Next we hit up the Computer Science department, Brian’s old buildings. He concluded that probably half of his professors are dead now. It’s been that long and they were old when we went there. He didn’t recognize any of the staff names.
The kids went with it but didn’t seem too into being there, haha. We nosed about several buildings and outdoor spaces, before hitting the student store. We told each kiddo they could get a Cal Poly something. A few hundred dollars later, we found the (new to us) Cal Poly sign by the UU. Of course we had to snap a few pictures of the kids by the sign. Another family was there, two parents and their college-aged kid, who likely was an incoming freshman. Just a guess. Otherwise, campus was fairly dead. The only place hopping was the fitness center and sports fields. Either summer students or sports players who returned early before the fall quarter started.
Campus kiddos.
Cal Poly, check. It was time for Pismo Beach. We took the kids to where we were married. We saw a gazebo on a cliff, parked, and started walking toward the cliff. Only to realize it was the wrong hotel. Haha, it has been a while. We loaded back in the car and drove south a bit until we found the right hotel where we were married. It probably would have helped to check the hotel name. We just figured the hotel name had changed. Nope! The Shore Cliff is still there, and we quickly realized their gazebo and cliff were the right ones.
Back in September 2002, Brian and I married on the grassy cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We had a small wedding on a Thursday afternoon. Looking back, it was a nice wedding and all, but I wish I had picked black bridesmaid dresses. And, to be honest, I’d probably skip the wedding part if I were to do it all over again. Even keeping it small, neither Brian or I like being the center of attention and it was slightly uncomfortable being a bride and groom. But we enjoyed the gathering of family and friends part.
We married young—I was 23 and he was 24—which I think is young for our generation (and the current one). But I needed health insurance and he had a job where I could hop on his policy. This was back before you could stay on your parents’ policy until your mid-20s. And we were already living together, had two dogs and a cat together, and we were already sharing finances and essentially living as a married couple. We had already been together seven years at this point, getting married just felt like a formality. But it’s still weird, something did change—just a feeling. A good feeling. Cheesy. Some wedding photos in this post. We married before digital phots were a thing. They were around but not common because the quality wasn’t great back then. We have the film strips from our wedding photos, haha.
The kids seemed to be a bit more into where we were married than Cal Poly. I suppose they understand that a bit more than the college experience. We snapped a few pictures of the cliff the views before we loaded back in the car to head to Pismo Beach (the actual beach).
Wedding location time! That view. And cute birds.
Pismo Beach has changed. The whole parking lot is gone, replaced with a plaza-type open space. And there are more buildings. It felt totally different to me. We promised Saige clam chowder at Splash Cafe; she’s our resident clam chowder fan. She didn’t like it after all that, haha. We decided to grab lunch at a restaurant across from Splash Cafe. They were able to seat us right away, which is rare for a family of seven during lunchtime at a summer vacation spot.
After lunch, we strolled down the pier and made our way to the sandy beach. Nothing eventful to note, it was busy but not summer-busy, probably because most schools in California were back in session already. Which also explains why we snagged a table for lunch right away.
The kids played on the beach a bit, and we all dipped our toes in the ocean, before we packed up and went back to SLO. It had been a full day and we still had to eat dinner, and pack up to pull out the next morning. The kids decided against swimming again, the pool was nasty the night before. In all the hotels we’ve stayed in, this was the first time the refused to go swimming again. It was that bad.
Pismo Beach!
Thursday I was awoken again to the sweet sound of forks scrapping plates. Lovely. We were up and out by 8:30am, with a big day of driving ahead of us. The plan: Leave SLO and head south on the 101, stop in LA for lunch, before continuing on to Carlsbad to stay for three nights. And we needed to be in Carlsbad by 5pm for a team meeting and dinner that night. Baby had a soccer tournament in Oceanside on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
The views through Santa Barbara were blocked by fog. I was looking forward to those views! Way back when, before I applied to Cal Poly, I wanted to go to UCSB. Long story short, I applied to Cal Poly and was accepted before I ever applied to UCSB. And since Brian was already at Cal Poly and it’s a fabulous school, I never applied anywhere else. But I’d drive down to Santa Barbara while living in SLO, and I was bummed to miss out on those views thanks to the fog.
Maybe because we left early, but it didn’t feel like long before we made it to LA. Obvious thanks to the traffic. Blaise is a follower of Keith Lee, and really wanted to try Easy Street for their smashburgers. It was on the way from SLO to Carlsbad, so I told him before our trip that we’d stop there. He was excited. Parking was easy and right down the street from Universal Studios. Baby was excited to see a Minion visible from our street parking. It wasn’t super busy and we were able to walk right in and order. It was quick. We ordered, ate, and left all within 20 minutes? Maybe 30 minutes by the time everyone cycled through the one-room bathroom. Blaise gave rave reviews from the two burgers he ordered. It was good in my book, but nothing special to me. I’d even argue In-N-Out is better, and I’m not some In-N-Out is the best burger ever person. But I’d go to Easy Street again, I just wouldn’t seek it out.
Easy Street Blaise!
Back in the car for the final stretch. About two hours, with traffic, to Carlsbad. Traffic wasn’t terrible. The one thing about driving in California, is that people drive fast. It’s such a nice change from here in Washington. At least in the Seattle area. The right lane is the fast lane up here. Not by consensus; most drivers merge onto the freeway and immediately move to the left lane. Only to drive the speed limit, or slightly faster or slower, depending on the driver. People up here may not drive fast outside of the metro areas either, but they at least stay right (for the most part, it’s always a Tesla that doesn’t move over). In California, the right lane is probably 75mph at the slowest? And the highways are wide—with multiple lanes—and each lane is slightly faster than the one to the right. There was a Reddit post a few months ago, a guy visiting San Diego from the Netherlands (I think it was) asked what the 70mph signs meant. Because nobody goes 70mph. The consensus on the post was that in California, 75mph is normal, 80mph is acceptable, and 85mph is ticket territory. I’d agree with this assessment.
Driving fast, even in traffic, we made it to Carlsbad about 2pm. It was before our hotel check in time, and we decided to see if we could check in anyway. Success. This hotel is one of the best ones we stay at when we travel. The room is huge. Two king size beds with an ample sitting area, a bathroom in the middle, and a living area with a couch and television on the other side of the bathroom. We all fit and then some. It’s a great space for our family. And the hotel isn’t a major chain; it still has that personal touch of a mid-sized company. The kids especially enjoy the chocolate chip cookies and milk each night. And the pool and spa, both are super nice and well-kept.
All checked in and the car unloaded, it was time to head back out. We needed to hit the store for some food and water to keep in the hotel room before the team meeting and dinner. Turns out the team meeting was postponed because not everyone would make it to town in time. The rest of the team was staying in a hotel in Oceanside. We’re used to hotel blocks not working for our family. Sure, we could book two rooms, but it’s expensive. And if I’m honest, I like to keep to ourselves.
Speaking of keeping to ourselves, the team dinner. I begrudgingly went to the team dinner, where we mostly kept to ourselves, haha. We met up with her soccer team and families in Oceanside, on the rooftop deck of some restaurant. It’s a large space and there was ample room for everyone. They didn’t exactly have it down though, the food part. It was a limited menu, only a few items to order, nothing customizable. Pork tacos and chicken strips are all I remember. We were one of the first families to place our order at the walk up bar, and we were the last—by well over an hour—to get our food. I think they were so unorganized that anytime food was walked out, other parents went over and said it was their order. Whatever the case, we stayed together and didn’t mingle, and enjoyed the views. Baby did, she played with her teammates. Blaise and Laine did take off for a bit on the hunt for churros. Another kid had a cup full of churros and Blaise and Laine wanted some. They asked him where he got them, and he said at some street fair a few blocks over. We sent Blaise and Laine to hunt for them. They were successful!
After our food finally came, they were kind and gave us 20% off without even saying anything. It still was spendy and meh food, but whatever. The kids ate and we checked off being social. I did briefly talk with her coach, who had rescheduled the team meeting for the next morning. We couldn’t make it, we had Legoland to hit up. Haha, I didn’t tell him why, not that it matters. Although he did say he wanted the girls to focus on soccer and less of being there as a vacation.
But here’s a fun fact, I didn’t care about anything he said because I wasn’t a fan of him. I did the basic niceties since he was the coach and all. I had no specific reason why I wasn’t a fan of him other than he just gave me a feeling. Brian kept getting on me for saying how much I didn’t like the guy. He was like, give the guy a break! Haha. This guy talks with a British accent despite being from Enumclaw. And his persona outside of soccer is being Mr. Christian. He’s also a shorter man. No shade to shorter men; it’s not something anyone can control and all heights are fine. But I would argue the short man complex applied a bit here. Why am I talking negatively about Baby’s soccer coach?! Because he is no longer her soccer coach. That feeling I had, that I couldn’t pinpoint, the guy was arrested during soccer practice. Not Baby’s practice thankfully. He got caught sexting a former player—now a teenager—sending her dick pics, and who knows what all else. My instincts were right, I just didn’t know why. And him being Mr. Christian, that tracks now. I would 100% send my kids into a room full of drag queens before I would EVER send them into a room full of pastors (or priests—definitely not priests). I digress. I will say I was thoroughly impressed with how the soccer organization dealt with the situation. They were quick to inform parents and take action, and ultimately fired him.
Baby’s team! I cropped her coach in half. And churros!
Friday was going to be busy. We tend to thrive on busy. It’s kind of our natural state with all of these kids. Baby had soccer games all three days, right smack dab in the middle of the afternoon. Not ideal to do touristy things but we managed. The plan for Friday was to hit Legoland, leave after lunch to the soccer game, and then go back to Legoland. We did exactly this.
Back in spring when Baby, Blaise, and I went to Carlsbad, we went to Legoland. It was a rare rainy day and they shut down most of the rides in case there were thunderstorms. Turns out Legoland has a rainy day policy, that you can come back within one year and use your same ticket for another day. I was able to get our three tickets reissued for this Friday, and we bought four additional tickets for the rest of the family. It was busy. No surprise. Summer and all. But it wasn’t terrible. We know the park well, and went straight to the roller coasters before lines formed. We were able to hit all three, a few times each. Maive LOVED the roller coaster. I wasn’t sure she’d be up for going but she did, and wanted to go more. Granted, it’s not an upside down coaster or anything. But for a four-year-old (at the time), she was feeling pretty hot stuff.
Turns out we didn’t know Legoland as well as we thought we did. Not so much the park, we have that down. But apparently there are these pop badges you can collect from Legoland staff, including a golden one. And rumor has it from one staff member, they only have 10 golden pop badges to give out each day. The kids were dead set on collecting badges. It was kind of a nice change from our standard Legoland routine. Between rides, any staff the kids spotted, they’d run up to and ask for a pop badge. Of course they all wanted one of the rare golden ones. Because our kids are our kids, and we tend to have good luck with stuff, they scored a golden pop badge. There’s disagreement as to whom scored but in the end, Baby had it on her shirt. Of course we had to buy the pop badge lanyard (necklace?!) from the Legoland store. I never really feel taken at Legoland, and I still didn’t. The lanyard necklace things are under $10. Probably because Legoland isn’t an American business; capitalism isn’t quite their thing.
Before going to Legoland, we hit the grocery store and bought lunches. Legoland isn’t super expensive for lunch but to make life easy on us, and avoid kid arguing about where to eat, we brought lunches. We spent the morning riding rides before grabbing a table to eat lunch. It was nearing 2pm and we needed to leave Legoland soon for the soccer game
Legoland! It was bright and sunny, and the kids had to squint for a failed picture.
The soccer fields are about 20 minutes from Legoland. Easy peasy. We left Legoland with stamps on our hands to reenter, and cheered on Baby’s team for their first tournament game. A few team members have older brothers who were going to this tournament. I think those parents suggested the girls go also. Whatever the reason, we were already going to be in California and we were down.
There are so many soccer fields at this complex. Grass for days. We parked and there was a golf cart circling the parking lot, offering rides to the different fields. Somehow the golf cart that drove past us was large enough for our family. More good luck this day. It was hot and we took her up on a ride. She was happy when I tipped her, she commented people hadn’t been tipping and happily accepted cash. Baby needed to be there 45 minutes before the game. The rest of us sat on the sidelines and waited for the game to start. Saige and Maive quickly found kids their age to hang out with. Blaise and Laine walked around, checking out all the vendors. Brian and I watched Baby practice.
Since we had be in California over a week already, Baby had missed the last few practices with the team before everyone left for the tournament. Her coach told her he wouldn’t normally play her since she missed practiced but he did this time. Which, okay?! I mean, I get missing practices and all, but we told him long before the season started that she’d be gone on vacation and would meet the team in Oceanside. It felt like he should have either told us that when we told him or not say anything to Baby at all. I never liked this guy. Even before the pedo revelation.
Since I’m harping on him, there are three new girls on the team this year. Baby being one of them. Without fail, every game, he would start the game with the three new girls on the bench. I don’t know soccer, let alone anything coaching, but I always felt that was a dick move. I mean, they’re all on the same team, and the new kids shouldn’t be penalized for being new to the team. Her new coach, who seems wonderful and doesn’t give me a feeling—and as far as I know, hasn’t been caught sexting teenagers—starts each game with a different rotation of girls. Like I feel it should be.
Soccer tournament Baby! And a resting Blaise.
Baby’s soccer team didn’t win, but they had fun playing! We left the tournament once her game ended and they did a post-game chat, and went back to Legoland. The lines for rides were long by now, and we spent most of our time looking for more pop badges. A few of the rides didn’t have long lines, like the small cruise around the fake lake. It was still worth going back but it would have been fine if we didn’t. We must have spent about three more hours at the park before leaving for good. It was nearing closing time anyway.
More Legoland.
It had been a full day and we still needed to eat dinner. In-N-Out it was. It always amazes me how long the drive thru lines are at In-N-Outs. Again, it’s good and all, but not long ass lines every time I go good. But it must be?! Or maybe the long lines are tourists mixed in there?! I mean, it’s California and all, people come from all over. We went inside to order and eat. It was busy inside also but we managed to find two tables next to each other that fit all of us. Nothing special, burgers and fries. All good. We ate and drove back to the hotel. It was swimming and then bed time. We were all tired.
In-N-Out kids and a burger shot by one of the kids. Likely for comparison to Easy Street.
Saturday! We took Saturday easy. We had originally planned on going to the Safari Park but decided to nix that after a busy week so far. And with Baby having another afternoon game, the Safari Park is 45 minutes away from where the soccer tournament was held. Instead, I looked up smaller local outings. One was a sculpture garden but it turns out it’s just someone’s yard, so we drove past without stopping. The other option was the Buena Vista Audubon. I’m always down to take the kids to these kind of places. And they always seem to enjoy themselves. Except Laine this time. She was really bothered by the taxidermy.
The kids nosed about inside, taking in all the information and playing at different stations that are set up. Even Blaise got in on the water table play, spraying the water bottle to see how the water flows. Saige was super excited because the woman there asked to take their picture to put on their social media. We spent about a half-hour inside before walking the nature trail along the property. It was a beautiful day and not too warm. We took our sweet time on the nature trail, stopping to spot frogs and other critters. The trail is short and it didn’t take us terribly long—even with stopping—to make our way back to the parking lot.
Driving back toward the hotel, we passed Carlsbad and went to check out Encinitas. Brian spent many childhood summers down in Encinitas and he enjoys being back, even though it’s changed quite a bit. We didn’t stop anywhere, only drove around before we went back to our hotel. We all needed down time. We had been staying in hotels since Tuesday, together all the time, and we needed a break from all things. It was time to plop the kids in front on screens.
It was nice to just sit. Although we were still on the clock. Baby had another game Saturday afternoon. We were all going to go but in the end, we decided I’d take Baby and Brian would take the rest of the kiddos to the hotel pool.
It took us 20 minutes to get to the soccer tournament. This time, we didn’t find a golf cart shuttle from the parking lot. Years ago, there was a dad with a young son. I don’t remember the context as to why the dad said this, but I the kid must have been complaining about walking to which the dad said, “Your legs aren’t painted on.” Haha, I think of this saying often. I prefer to walk when possible. Even if it’s hot. Like this Saturday. Lucky for me, haha, I got to walk back to the car since Baby realized she forgot her water bottle once we made it to the field. Thankfully there was 45 minutes before the game started and I had time; I wouldn’t miss her playing.
Of course I enjoy watching Baby play. That goes without saying. But the other bonus of soccer games—and having to arrive 45 minutes before—is I get nearly two hours of audio book time. I’m not a social soccer mom. I smile and say hello to that parents I make eye contact with, but I much prefer to sit alone and not chitchat. I also have limited time in this phase of life, and I want to spend that time doing what I want. Like listening to audio books. I’m getting old and curmudgeonly. Fun fact, I just learned that curmudgeon is meant for old men and termagant is meant for old women. I guess I’m getting termagantly?! Although some definitions of curmudgeon are gender-neutral. So I don’t know what I am, other than getting old.
The girls didn’t win their Saturday game either. But they played hard! I think it was the best game play I’ve seen from the team. Again, I’m not a soccer expert so I really don’t know. Another bonus of listening to audio books, I didn’t have to hear her pedo coach yell at the girls during the game. Ugh. He was so annoying. He would essentially coach from the sidelines and I swear it overwhelmed the girls. Like, my dude, this is not the time to correct all the things. I really did not like this guy. I can say this now instead of bitching solely to Brian. I never let Baby know how I felt, since it was her coach and all. Anyway. He’s long gone. The new coach doesn’t yell from the sidelines. He’ll coach a bit here and there when needed, but not the entire time like pedo coach did.
Back to the hotel for a quiet Saturday night. We were all kind of done. I think we all wanted to be back home in Washington. But we still had a few more days in California. But it’s never quiet. We had to eat dinner. And Baby really wanted to take snack bags for after the game Sunday. She’s really bummed this team doesn’t do snack bags after every game. Her recreational team did and she looks forward to the bags. I ran it past the team parent and got the go ahead to bring snack bags. This meant our Saturday night was spent finding dinner and gathering snack bag stuff. To Target we went. I love Target. Even the busy ones in California.
Maybe it’s nothing special, but we love Round Table Pizza. Probably because the pizza options up here are awful. In our small town, we have two pizza joints. I’m convinced neither place has ever had a good pizza before because whatever they make isn’t good. Brian still talks about the one time we ordered a pepperoni pizza from one of the local joints, only to have a slice of the pizza have no pepperoni on there. Toppings are scarce in Carnation. And I’m not even going to bitch about their crusts. One is salty and the other is floppy. Okay, I did bitch a bit. Enough.
There used to be a few Round Tables close by when we first moved up here, like the one in Issaquah. But they all have since closed. There is still one over by IKEA that I know about and I’m sure a few maybe in Tacoma or elsewhere—but nowhere close enough to grab for a quick dinner. Flying Pie Pizza is the best pizza up here. We had it yesterday. But it’s a 25 minute drive and not convenient for us to have often. Maybe if it were on the way home from Brian’s office. Like back when Frankie’s was around in Redmond. (The good Frankie’s that closed for good when their building was bought to be torn down and a Hilton built.) Flying Pie gets toppings. Like you can barely even see the cheese there are so many toppings. Frankie’s did, too. Pizza done right.
Long ramble short, we found a Round Table Pizza for dinner. Brian called and ordered, we stopped at Target for snack bag items, and then picked up the pizza. We promised the kids if we took the pizza back to the hotel, we’d buy soda at Target. They were sold. I wasn’t up for a busy Saturday night at a restaurant. Brian went in to grab the pizza while the girls got their Chappell Roan on. Blaise is quietly sitting in the back left. Life with four sisters.
Hot To Go gals!
Sunday we were up and checked out of the hotel, and on the road to Baby’s last soccer game of the tournament. We had a big day ahead. Baby’s game ended at 1:30pm and we were on the road back up to Sacramento right after her team met for a post-game chat.
Leaving Carlsbad for soccer, Maive with fancy hair by Laine.
The drive is about seven hours without traffic or stopping. It took us about nine hours with minimal traffic through LA and the Grapevine, and then stopping for a late lunch/early dinner. In-N-Out again that added another hour. In the triple-digit heat. With no seating inside. I think we were all done with vacation at this point. After a clusterfuck of a stop, we were back on the road. Everything was smooth sailing. Until it got dark and we were about an hour south of Stockton. The tire pressure light went on. We’ve been through this before. On our road trip to the Washington Stonehenge, we had a flat tire. Talk about a clusterfuck.
My heart sank. It was dark, we were in the middle of nowhere on the 5, and it was a Sunday night. Brian pulled over onto the shoulder and waited until it was safe to get out and check the tire. Thankfully the tire was fine. Phew. Turns out it was a faulty sensor, we think. We took it easy for the next few miles, ensuring the tire was fine. We continued on and made it back to Sacramento just after 10pm. We all immediately brushed our teeth and went to sleep.
Sacramento, Again
Monday was a day off. We spent the day at Bob and Tara’s doing nothing much besides eating and swimming. I did catch up on laundry so we didn’t have a backlog when we made it back home. But other than laundry, it was a lazy day. A much needed lazy day. We were flying home Tuesday afternoon and we were all ready to be back home.
Nothing much to note about the flight home. I don’t remember much?! Xanax for the win. Back in Washington after getting our luggage and the shuttle to our car, we eventually made it home and it felt amazing. After unloading the car and unpacking our bags, Brian went to pick up Melvin from his BFF’s house, and we ended the day back to life as usual.
The California trip was a really great trip. We all enjoyed our time down, spending time with our families, and visiting San Luis Obispo and Carlsbad. Until next year. Or maybe 2026. We may do an East Coast summer trip in 2025. To be determined.
jumpingraccoons.com 