James Dodge

Wow – has it really been Nine Days?!?! It seems like just yesterday we were pulling out of the driveway to start this vacation!! We started out the day by going over for an Easter Egg Hunt they put on for all the guests of the Disney hotels. I guess they really shouldn’t call it a “hunt” since all the eggs are just all over the lawn. It was still a lot of fun for the kids – as we registered, Briana and Tyler each received a carton to put their eggs in. They were told they could pick up 12 eggs each. The eggs were all over the place – they really had a lot of kids there. Each egg either had candy or stickers in it. After that we went to Goofy’s kitchen for breakfast. The character breakfasts are always a lot of fun – Briana loves the fact that they are an all-you-can-eat buffet – she just keeps going back for more food. After that we walked around the parks for a little while longer – it really wasn’t all that crowded today. We then headed for home!! We got home around 7:00 tonight and man, are we exhausted!! 2,335 miles in one week!! But it was definitely a blast. We saw all kinds of things and had a great time together. We look forward to doing it again!! I am finally posting these blog entries more than a week after getting back. I will be posting some pictures that we took while on the trip, but it’s going to take me a little bit more time (it’s taking a while to sort through 1,200 pictures!!).

Today was really cool. Since we have been to Disneyland so many times before, and because we figured it would be packed with people on Spring Break, we did something different with the kids and took them on the Discover the Magic tour. Our tour guides were really cool, making sure to include all the kids in what was going on. They took us all over the park, finding clues in different spots and taking us on rides, leading up to meeting with Mickey Mouse. It was neat to do that with the kids. The rest of the day we just kind of took it easy. This place is packed today!! We spent some time at the hotel by the pool, then went to the parks some more. We signed up for an Easter egg hunt they are having here at the hotel tomorrow morning – we are going to do that in the morning, eat at Goofy’s kitchen, then head for home. Back to real life!!

We woke up this morning and said good-bye to Santa Barbara fairly early. We then headed down to Disneyland for the last part of our trip. Even though we have been to Disneyland a million times, this time was a little different because we are staying at the Grand Californian hotel. This hotel is awesome. We got an awesome view of California Adventure and all the people working here really go out of their way to make sure you are enjoying your stay. We went into the parks for a while, and made it to bed early so we could make the early morning entrance tomorrow.

Well, we woke up today in Cambria and walked along the beach for a while. It was awesome being able to sleep last night with the window open and hearing the waves all night long. We then headed over to San Simeon where Hearst castle. That place is unbelievable. I had never even heard of the place until last week when someone mentioned to me that we should stop and see it. William Randolph Hearst built this huge castle back in the the 30’s. He had it modeled after different castles that he had seen over in Europe as a child. He built in up on a mountain with an awesome view of the ocean. The place really is cool – you should definitely see it if you’re ever in the area. After our tour there, we hit the road again to head to Santa Barbara. We have never been to Santa Barbara before, and didn’t really have anything in particular to see there – it just happens to be a good halfway point between San Simeon and Los Angeles. Santa Barbara has a pier that you can drive onto, so we drove on there and had dinner before calling it a night.

We had a lot of fun today. We slept in a bit, and then roamed around Monterey for a while. They have a very cool aquarium there that we looked around for quite a while. Then we walked around Cannery Row looking in all the shops. It was really cool. We started driving – we went to 17-mile drive and rode around that. It is pretty amazing. 17-mile drive is where the Pebble Beach golf course course is. You get to drive around the place and see all the houses of everyone that lives there. Since you are right on the coast, you also get plenty of chance to stop and see the wildlife there. We saw sea otters and sea lions all over the place. We took quite a few pictures of a big rock there when we saw a couple of sea lions, but then realized that there were actually more like 50-75 sea lions all over it. They were hard to see because they weren’t real close, and because they blend into the color of the rock. Then we continued our drive down the coast. We’ve been taking mostly Highway 1 the whole way – when we got to the Big Sur area, we passed one spot that had mud everywhere – and probably 10-20 cars all stuck in it. One car had been swept right up to the edge of the highway and was buried up to its hood. We looked online later, and realized that there had been a big mudslide just a day or two before we came through. They had actually just re-opened the highway earlier today before we came through. As we got closer to where we are staying tonight, we saw a bunch of seals on the coast to our right. We stopped and took a lot of pictures – it was just before sunset and I guess they were all getting ready to go to sleep on the beach. We were able to get within 200 feet of them and watch them for a while. There were several hundred all over the place. Now we’ve stopped in Cambria, which is about 10 minutes from San Simeon – where Hearst Castle is – we will be going there in the morning and then heading down to Santa Barbara.

We woke up this morning in Bodega Bay and had breakfast in the same place we had dinner last night. The sea lion from the night before was swimming around a lot more this morning. We slept in a little bit and hit the road around 10:00. We went to the Muir woods first which is just north of San Francisco. It was really cool – a lot more redwood trees. After that we crossed over the Golden Gate bridge – pretty awesome. We parked on the south side of it and took a lot of pictures. Then we drove around San Francisco a little bit – those roads are crazy!! We went up Lombard street which goes just about straight up and then down the other side – the side they call “the crookedest street” in the country. I think there are 8 switchbacks in one block. After that we headed to Monterey and stayed close to the beach there. We ate at the El Torito there and then had to get to bed early – we’re all tired from the last few days. Tomorrow we’re going to look around town a little bit more and then make it down to San Simeon so we can go see Hearst Castle.

Ok, so I’m starting to realize that all this driving is starting to get a little old. Man, I’m tired!! We woke up this morning and heard sea lions down on the beach, so before we went looking for redwood trees, we had to see if we could find the animals!! We went to a small State Park called Patrick’s Point and walked all over. We got lots of cool pictures of the waves, and we actually did see one sea lion, but it was only visible for a few seconds before it disappeared. The view from this Park was amazing!! Then we went to the Redwood Forest to see all the trees. They’re huge!! We had reservations for tonight in Bodega Bay, so we had to hit the road pretty quick – it’s about a 5 hour drive from Trinidad. Along the way, we drove on a road called the Avenue of the Giants where there are a lot more redwood trees. I wish I would have known about these before I drove all the way to Trinidad! We also stopped in Leggett to see one of the drive-through trees. We were going to drive through, but I don’t think the Expedition would have made it through. We would still be stuck there I’m sure if I had tried. We made good time to our next stop – we were at the hotel by 6:30. Bodega Bay is where Alfred Hitchcock filmed his movie The Birds. It’s a pretty cool area and we had dinner right on the bay. As we were eating, we were looking out over the bay, and saw a sea lion swimming around. It kept sticking it’s head out and swimming all over. Briana thought it was great to be able to watch it while we were eating. We are about an hour north of San Francisco – tomorrow we plan on going through the Muir woods and crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. I’m looking forward to not having to drive as much tomorrow!!

We made it to Yosemite yesterday around 3:00 in the afternoon and had the chance to see quite a few things. We took a lot of pictures (see the photo albums) and drove all over. It was a little chilly, but not too bad. After looking around some more this morning, we hit the road again. We wanted to see some redwood trees on this trip, so we drove up to Trinidad (about 8 hours from Yosemite) and stayed right on the coast. It was pretty dark when we got here, but the cottage we are staying in is very cool. What a long drive!!