We're Home From the Road!! 17 Days of Travel with Tons of Pics~COMPLETE!!

[DizNee Luver]

Day Five--July 14:

We will drive from Gilroy to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, about a one hour drive.

Thank You Google Images!







Admission: $35/adult $32/13-17 $22/3-12 Open at 9:30am

We will need to leave the aquarium by 1pm as we will have a 6 hour+ drive down Hwy 101 and then over to Anaheim. We've never driven down this part of the coast and are looking forward to checking it out.

We will be staying at the Motel 6 Maingate for the next 5 nights!!

Pictures courtesy of Google Images.

 

[PHXscuba]

Hey Laurie!

Oddly enough, we might end up doing a portion of your road trip, in reverse! My brother's family is moving to the San Francisco area (after living overseas for awhile) and I dearly want to see my new niece sometime this spring or summer. We might end up doing the LA to San Francisco piece like you and seeing some of the same things like the Disney museum and the Monterey Aquarium. We'll just have to wait and see how the dates fall for the summer.

PHXscuba

 

[DizNee Luver]

Hey Laurie!

Oddly enough, we might end up doing a portion of your road trip, in reverse! My brother's family is moving to the San Francisco area (after living overseas for awhile) and I dearly want to see my new niece sometime this spring or summer. We might end up doing the LA to San Francisco piece like you and seeing some of the same things like the Disney museum and the Monterey Aquarium. We'll just have to wait and see how the dates fall for the summer.

PHXscuba

Fun!!!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Day Six-Seven-Eight, July 15, 16, 17th:

Disneyland & Disney's California Adventure!!!!

We haven't decided on meals yet....but Cafe Orleans, Goofy's Kitchen & Surf's Up with Mickey are a couple of our favorites.

I know that World of Color & Fireworks will be on our "To Do" list.

Here are a few of our Disneyland pictures over the last 9 years.

 

[DnA2010]

So many great pictures, so many great memories!

 

[DizNee Luver]

So many great pictures, so many great memories!

Thanks!! It was fun going back to 2005 and seeing how small Anthony was.....lol

 

[DizNee Luver]

I forgot to post on our Disneyland days that we will be purchasing the City Pass that will give us a 3 day park hopper, one day Universal Studios and one day at San Diego's Sea World. We also can add on the San Diego Zoo.

City Pass with Zoo Add-On: $364/adult $310/3-9

By getting the City Pass we're saving $812.....so if you ever decide to do more than a Disneyland trip.....you could save some serious money by combining all those tickets!!



Ok, Day 9--July 18th:

We will head out to a beach.....are you ready for this......I've never set foot on a California beach!! Shocking I know.....with all our trips down there, we've just never done it!



I am taking suggestions on which one to check out. We want to stay kinda close to the Buena Vista area. It can be up to an hours drive if there's something we really should go do.


We will plan on doing a mid-afternoon lunch at Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant. Love the food here.....not a huge fan of the park.......







We will end our day by going to an Angel's baseball game!!! In 2005, we went to a Dodger's game & I loved it.







This will be our last night at the Motel 6 Maingate.

 

[DizNee Luver]

Day 10-July 19th will start with us checking out from the Motel 6 Maingate and then driving to Universal Studios Hollywood. This will be our first time at USH and I'm a little concerned that there won't be a lot for the twins to do.





Admission is included in our City Pass

We will end our day checking out the City Walk and having dinner.....Hard Rock Cafe maybe??



We will end up checking in late (or possibly really early before we go to Universal) at the Beverly Gardens Hotel. I tell you finding hotels in the Hollywood area is not easy. Most are super expensive and parking is underground and very low ceiling or tight spots or both. We found this place on Trip Advisor and it came highly recommended. They have a surface parking lot and places for oversized vehicles. (we may end up with a luggage carrier on top of our SUV) and the prices were affordable for this area.







Thanks Google Images!!

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

Hi!!

I'm in and will be home from my graduation trip by the time your trip comes. Here's some info on USH:
http://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/

 

[Sew into Disney]

You have never stepped foot on a California beach? hee hee

I grew up in Ca. and visited Newport Beach often. My step mom rented a house down on the boardwalk a few times.
When we make our trips down we still visit Newport and we also go to Huntington Beach. Parking is tight at Newport and you will want change to feed the meters. Huntington has parking but I believe it is pay by the hour or by the day. A Google search on both should get you going.

 

[DizNee Luver]

Hi!!

I'm in and will be home from my graduation trip by the time your trip comes. Here's some info on USH:
http://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/

Welcome Kaitlin!!!

You have never stepped foot on a California beach? hee hee

I grew up in Ca. and visited Newport Beach often. My step mom rented a house down on the boardwalk a few times.
When we make our trips down we still visit Newport and we also go to Huntington Beach. Parking is tight at Newport and you will want change to feed the meters. Huntington has parking but I believe it is pay by the hour or by the day. A Google search on both should get you going.

I know.....it really is strange that I've never gone to the beach in Cali!

Thank you for the info on Newport & Huntington.....I'll do some research before we go!!!

 

[Sherry E]

One of our DIS'ers, pixarmom (who I first encountered on the DIS because we are both Catalina Island fans), put together an informative (and short -- only a few pages) thread about Newport Beach. Great pictures too. Here is the link: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2895078


A lot of people like Newport Beach. I know that KCmike and his wife really love it. DIS'er Taylor (a.k.a. tayalltheway) did not like it too much when he visited there the first time. I think he went back again and enjoyed it more.

I was actually thinking that you should work your "beach day" into your San Diego time, and visit the gorgeous beach there. I can't recall whose TR it was offhand, but someone took a family trip to San Diego and visited Coronado -- they got some great photos. (I think KCmike may have gone there too, but his TR is not the one I am thinking of.) It's a lovely beach.

 

[DizNee Luver]

One of our DIS'ers, pixarmom (who I first encountered on the DIS because we are both Catalina Island fans), put together an informative (and short -- only a few pages) thread about Newport Beach. Great pictures too. Here is the link: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2895078


A lot of people like Newport Beach. I know that KCmike and his wife really love it. DIS'er Taylor (a.k.a. tayalltheway) did not like it too much when he visited there the first time. I think he went back again and enjoyed it more.

I was actually thinking that you should work your "beach day" into your San Diego time, and visit the gorgeous beach there. I can't recall whose TR it was offhand, but someone took a family trip to San Diego and visited Coronado -- they got some great photos. (I think KCmike may have gone there too, but his TR is not the one I am thinking of.) It's a lovely beach.

Thanks for the link....I'll go check that out!!! I wanted to add a beach day in San Diego but we have a wedding to get back up to Oregon for and it just didn't work out if we wanted to get up to Walt's Barn. That is only one Sunday a month....so that is what we are doing the day we could have added to San Diego.

 

[DizNee Luver]

Day 11--July 20th

We will wake up at the Beverly Gardens Hotel and head towards the Original Farmer's Market.





We plan on eating breakfast at Dupar's, which is a diner style restaurant that opened in 1938 at the Farmer's Market.







We'll look around the market and might even wander over to The Grove to seek out Sprinkle's Cupcakes!!







Our next stop will be Walt's Barn at Griffith Park.

Walt's Barn is a museum that is filled with Walt Disney's trains of all scales, personal items & tools of Walts and the actual miniature barn he used as a workshop at his home.







Admission is Free!! Open the 3rd Sunday of each month from 11-3.

After the barn, we'll head towards Torrance to meet up with my older brother & his wife for dinner. We will settle for the night in Westminster at the Super 8.








......again, all pictures are from Google Images. (except the one of my brother & sister-in-law......and the Sprinkles Logo pic is from SherryE)

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

This is good so far!! Here's my WDW PTR:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=50576383

This is good so far!! Here's my WDW PTR:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=50576383

I'll be home when you guys leave

 

[Sherry E]

Laurie -

That pie counter you showed in one of the Du-Pars photos above is the separate location in the Market that is outside of the restaurant, though it's nearby.

Picture that Sprinkles line packed with people who were spilling out into the walkway, and that's what it looked like just before Christmas!

Speaking of Farmers Market... Did you ever see any of the episodes of I Love Lucy, when the gang goes to Hollywood? There was an episode in which Lucy and Ethel take a tour to see the stars' homes, and Lucy decides to climb a wall at Richard Widmark's house to get a grapefruit from his tree. At one point she mentions that she wants him to sign the grapefruit to go with her orange that was signed by Robert Taylor...at the Farmers Market!

Farmers Market used to be a real hangout for celebrities in the old days. Because CBS has a location across a parking lot from the Market, a lot of stars from CBS shows used to head to the Market for lunch in the old days, until most of the CBS shows moved to Studio City for taping. There are still quite a few celebrities who go to the Market, though not necessarily from CBS shows, and even more go to The Grove. I am always seeing that celebrities were spotted at The Grove on TMZ, but I never seem to be lucky enough to see anyone really noteworthy there. (I'm still hoping that, one of these days, Bradley Cooper will have a strong urge to head to The Grove and go shopping on a day when I just happen to be there!)

I recall watching a red carpet arrival show last year and Naomi Watts and her husband were telling the interviewer that they had been at the Farmers Market earlier in the day, having breakfast. So you never know -- keep your eyes open in the brief time you're there. You may see someone!

 

[luulu1999]

How exciting!!! We will be doing a road trip(sort of) from Missouri in July we will be in Disneyland 13-21 doing five days in the park one beach day and one LA/Hollywood day!! I am glad you mentioned that about Walt's Barn I was planning on the 19th to be our day for LA/Hollywood but we might change it to that Sunday so we can see that!! Our road trip won't be near as fun as yours because we have a grouch DBF that doesn't like to stop and look at stuff along the way

 

[kelmac284]

Sherry we are headed down in March for a Student Govt Trip for the girls. The conference is in Ontario but mom and I basically are dropping them off and we have 2 days free. We are planning to go the Science Museum where the space shuttle is, sorry I forgot the name but I can look it up if you aren't familiar, and I was wondering if AFTER we wanted to head to the farmers market/grove is it A) open on weekdays? We would be going on a Friday and B) is it close enough to make it not super out of the way?

I know we have talked millions of times of meeting up but maybe this could finally be it if you are available. We would be going to the museum first but if we get done early I thought we would head to the grove in the afternoon. It would be March 28th.

Sorry Laurie to interrupt your thread. Loving all the explanations and the trip sounds SO fun. Looking forward to the next installment and of course the actually TR!!

 

[DizNee Luver]

This is good so far!! Here's my WDW PTR:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=50576383

This is good so far!! Here's my WDW PTR:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=50576383

I'll be home when you guys leave

I'll try to get back over to your PTR......I've just had a lot on my mind losing my best friend of 35 years.

Laurie -

That pie counter you showed in one of the Du-Pars photos above is the separate location in the Market that is outside of the restaurant, though it's nearby.

Picture that Sprinkles line packed with people who were spilling out into the walkway, and that's what it looked like just before Christmas!

Speaking of Farmers Market... Did you ever see any of the episodes of I Love Lucy, when the gang goes to Hollywood? There was an episode in which Lucy and Ethel take a tour to see the stars' homes, and Lucy decides to climb a wall at Richard Widmark's house to get a grapefruit from his tree. At one point she mentions that she wants him to sign the grapefruit to go with her orange that was signed by Robert Taylor...at the Farmers Market!

Farmers Market used to be a real hangout for celebrities in the old days. Because CBS has a location across a parking lot from the Market, a lot of stars from CBS shows used to head to the Market for lunch in the old days, until most of the CBS shows moved to Studio City for taping. There are still quite a few celebrities who go to the Market, though not necessarily from CBS shows, and even more go to The Grove. I am always seeing that celebrities were spotted at The Grove on TMZ, but I never seem to be lucky enough to see anyone really noteworthy there. (I'm still hoping that, one of these days, Bradley Cooper will have a strong urge to head to The Grove and go shopping on a day when I just happen to be there!)

I recall watching a red carpet arrival show last year and Naomi Watts and her husband were telling the interviewer that they had been at the Farmers Market earlier in the day, having breakfast. So you never know -- keep your eyes open in the brief time you're there. You may see someone!

My problem with celebrities......I don't tend to notice them until someone else says something....and then it's too late to get a decent pic (or even see them). We lucked out on the Gwen Stefani one because I overheard someone and she was on a ride.

Hopefully we can get into Sprinkles without a lengthy line......otherwise we might just skip it.

How exciting!!! We will be doing a road trip(sort of) from Missouri in July we will be in Disneyland 13-21 doing five days in the park one beach day and one LA/Hollywood day!! I am glad you mentioned that about Walt's Barn I was planning on the 19th to be our day for LA/Hollywood but we might change it to that Sunday so we can see that!! Our road trip won't be near as fun as yours because we have a grouch DBF that doesn't like to stop and look at stuff along the way

Keep me updated if you end up planning on Walt's Barn.....maybe we can have a DIS meet up......away from Disneyland!!!

Sherry we are headed down in March for a Student Govt Trip for the girls. The conference is in Ontario but mom and I basically are dropping them off and we have 2 days free. We are planning to go the Science Museum where the space shuttle is, sorry I forgot the name but I can look it up if you aren't familiar, and I was wondering if AFTER we wanted to head to the farmers market/grove is it A) open on weekdays? We would be going on a Friday and B) is it close enough to make it not super out of the way?

I know we have talked millions of times of meeting up but maybe this could finally be it if you are available. We would be going to the museum first but if we get done early I thought we would head to the grove in the afternoon. It would be March 28th.

Sorry Laurie to interrupt your thread. Loving all the explanations and the trip sounds SO fun. Looking forward to the next installment and of course the actually TR!!

No problem Kelly!!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Day 12--July 21:

We will get up early and drive about an hour & a half to San Diego. We will see about an early check-in but chances are we'll have a full car as we stop at the San Diego Zoo for the day. We're hoping our friends Michelle & her daughter Zoe will be able to join us for the day here.







Admission will be included on our City Pass as an add-on!!
We will be staying two nights at Kings Inn. It seems to be a non-chain motel but really good ratings on Trip Advisor. Hope we like it (the prices were decent for San Diego).







Google Images in use on this page!!