Channel Islands?

[mdmost]

My wife has a rule that I'm on board with which is if we go back to DLR, we need to mix in something new each time. Last time, we started our vacation in San Diego, which we had never been to before. Next summer, we plan to go back to DLR because our older child is getting to the age where those trips might be difficult after high school. I was racking my brain trying to think of something new to tack on when the idea of Santa Barbara and more specifically, the Channel Islands National Park entered my brain. We try to go to different national parks when we can. We've gone to Yosemite and the ones locally in Texas/New Mexico. I've gone to Rocky Mountain NP and Shenandoah Valle NP. We plan to head to Great Smoky Mountains NP possibly for Spring Break.

Does anyone have some good resources or thoughts about how to go about doing a visit to Channel Islands? I was thinking we could stay in Santa Barbara for a few days and then head to DLR after that. The idea would be to fly in, get to our hotel, and then try to tackle the islands in one day. I know you can take a boat over and that there are kayak tours. I think that's what we would enjoy the most since we've all done that before. We don't want to camp there, just to visit a few of the islands and check it off the list. I'm not sure when else we would have time to do this.

I would love to visit Joshua Tree but I don't think our kids (16 & 14) would enjoy that at all.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Love the idea! This is something that appeals to us too but (and you knew there was one) it is a commitment in time and money to get there. Check the Channel Islands NP site for the vendor, but you need to book the boat trip over it's about $100 - and a pretty full day.
https://islandpackers.com/book/ventura/trips/
There is a National Park station on the mainland in Ventura - I think there are a couple of other locations nearby too so you can get the feel for it without actually making the trip.

Which is what brings me to my alternate suggestion and is what we usually do instead - head north to San Luis Obispo and continue on to Morro Bay and Montana de Oro. It's about a 2 hour drive to San Luis Obispo from Santa Barbara, another 30 minutes or so more to Morro Bay and Montana de Oro. The coastline gets considerably more wild as you go north of Point Conception. You can see Sea Otters and Sea Lions on the beaches and San Luis Obispo has lots of cool restaurants on Higuera Street. Yes, it's a bit of a drive but it will be cheaper, you will see more and it's really about the same commitment in time. You could even take the train from Anaheim to San Luis Obispo and rent a car there to get to the coast.

 

[China Expat]

I love the channel islands! Use the vendor out of Ventura Harbor. The cool thing about the excursion is the chance to see wildlife along the way and back, and beautiful hiking on the islands.

 

[RockyMtnMouse]

We love to partner National Parks with Disneyland. Next year we're doing Death Valley and Pinnacles. Last time we did Dianeyland we did Channel Islands and Joshua Tree. My kids did not enjoy Joshua Tree (although they are littler than yours). Channel Islands was awesome! We set out from Ventura and stopped for an hour on the way because a humpback whale was swimming around the boat. We also saw hundreds of dolphins. I felt bad for those who booked kayak trips because we got to Santa Cruz so late. Our family opted for a hike to Potato Harbor and then Cavern Point. That pretty much takes the whole day. It's such a unique park I'm so glad we did it.

 

[bcla]

Does it have to be Channel Islands National Park or any of the Channel Islands? Because Santa Catalina is technically one of the Channel Islands and very easy to visit. I think the National Park Service has a visitor center in Santa Barbara. Strike that - it's not an NPS visitor center, but they do have information. The mainland NPS visitor center is in Ventura.

https://www.nps.gov/chis/planyourvisit/visitorcenters.htm

 

[mdmost]

We'll definitely visit the visitor's center at Ventura. I'm really want to check out Spencer McKenzie's which my brother swears by. The idea was to visit the islands. Kayaking may or may not be required. My younger one isn't a huge fan of kayaking and she had a not so pleasant experience on our last vacation. We may just take the boat over and hike the bigger island.

 

[Bruno33]

We just went in May. You do have to book the boat passage WELL in advance; I was very surprised by how booked up many of the days were.

We did a kayaking tour and enjoyed it, but you could definitely just hike around and enjoy the scenery. It’s a pretty cool place to visit; we’re thinking of camping there sometime now that we’ve been.

Keep in mind that there’s no food available on the island - we got a hearty breakfast to-go nearby and ate it while in line to get on the boat, and then we took lots of snacks and protein bars and stuff with us. You can fill up your water at the campsite there. There’s also some food available to purchase on the boat.

 

[RockyMtnMouse]

We'll definitely visit the visitor's center at Ventura. I'm really want to check out Spencer McKenzie's which my brother swears by. The idea was to visit the islands. Kayaking may or may not be required. My younger one isn't a huge fan of kayaking and she had a not so pleasant experience on our last vacation. We may just take the boat over and hike the bigger island.

Funny you should mention that. We went to Spencer Makenzie's the night before we went to Channel Islands. We kind of stumbled upon it and it was awesome!

 

[mdmost]

Yes! I love fish tacos and have heard they are the absolute best there. My brother has never been to the Rose Bowl so we're going to the USC/UCLA game there in November. He gets something new out of that trip. I get a drive to Ventura to have Spencer MaKenzie's.

 

[ngl]

I am the same way = we must incorporate some other nature/educational trip with any trip to Disneyland! (We live in FL 1 hr from WDW).

We attended D23 and went to DL at the beginning of August and coupled it with a Channel Islands trip. We loved it! We flew in and stayed in Ventura. Got up early and took the ferry over to Santa Cruz. Did the kayaking tour and hiked (saw whales too!). It was a beautiful day. We packed a lunch as there is no food on the island. We got back about 5pm, ate dinner at a restaurant on the Harbor, then took a Lyft to the train station where we hopped on the train directly to Anaheim (15 drive to DL from train station). Excellent train service. (Wish more places had reliable Amtrak service in the US! I know NE does but the FL one is not the best). As mentioned, the ferry tickets book out early so make sure you get those first.

We are a National Park family as well and this marked #15 for us. In 2021, we paired DL with Joshua Tree and stayed in Twentynine Palms. Did a guided tour of the park and one of the coolest things - an astronomy session in the evening in the park where they also cooked us dinner under the stars! My kids were 12 & 10 at the time and LOVED the astronomy part in particular (they also have keen memories of a group of college aged girls dressed up trying to take photos for their social account in the middle of the jumping Cholla cactus area where it tells you not to walk and all of them painfully screaming when they cactus got them EVERYWHERE. Our guide had pliers in his truck and helped pull them out).

Over Thanksgiving this past year we combined DL with Death Valley (flew into SNA and out of LAS). Another great park with more beautiful colors than I anticipated!

Fyi, my kids are young-mid teens now but loved all of those trips. I am running out of NPs nearby so will need to get creative with the next DL trip! Happy to answer any questions.

 

[MHall44]

Thank so much to ALL of you for the insights and responses... I have to be honest, I was not expecting this kind of response or this much information. I'm a member for one day and I can tell this is a really special group! Please keep the ideas coming. All so appreciated!

 

[ambula603]

We flew in and stayed in Ventura.

Hi ngl! Do you care to share where you stayed in Ventura? Looking to possibly do this before our next DL trip this summer. Thanks for all these tips!

 

[RockyMtnMouse]

Hi ngl! Do you care to share where you stayed in Ventura? Looking to possibly do this before our next DL trip this summer. Thanks for all these tips!

I know you didn't ask me but thought I'd chime in. We stayed at Holiday Inn Ventura Harbor. Had a beautiful harbor view. Continental breakfast next morning was decent. For lunch at Channel Islands we went to a Ralph's grocery store the night before and got food.

 

[ngl]

Hi ngl! Do you care to share where you stayed in Ventura? Looking to possibly do this before our next DL trip this summer. Thanks for all these tips!

We were only going to be there one night and did not rent a car so wanted to be in the Harbor area so we could easily get to the ferry to get to the NP and once we got off the ferry, go back to the hotel to get our luggage to get the Uber to the Amtrak station to head down to DL. Not many options but we chose Holiday Inn Express. Nothing fancy but did the trick for the one night. Had a free basic breakfast. Again, nothing fancy but met our needs.

 

[ambula603]

I know you didn't ask me but thought I'd chime in. We stayed at Holiday Inn Ventura Harbor. Had a beautiful harbor view. Continental breakfast next morning was decent. For lunch at Channel Islands we went to a Ralph's grocery store the night before and got food.

Thank you so much for your help! I was looking the Holiday Inn so that is perfect!

We were only going to be there one night and did not rent a car so wanted to be in the Harbor area so we could easily get to the ferry to get to the NP and once we got off the ferry, go back to the hotel to get our luggage to get the Uber to the Amtrak station to head down to DL. Not many options but we chose Holiday Inn Express. Nothing fancy but did the trick for the one night. Had a free basic breakfast. Again, nothing fancy but met our needs.

Since two of you mentioned the Holiday Inn, that is where we will stay! We also won't have a car, so this is good info! Did you walk to the pier from the hotel or uber? Sounds like we will have a very similar plan to yours. Thank you!

 

[RockyMtnMouse]

Thank you so much for your help! I was looking the Holiday Inn so that is perfect!


Since two of you mentioned the Holiday Inn, that is where we will stay! We also won't have a car, so this is good info! Did you walk to the pier from the hotel or uber? Sounds like we will have a very similar plan to yours. Thank you!

We had a rental car so we drove and parked at Island Packers. It's a bit of a walk and Google maps says 25 min, which seems right. I might Uber it. If you want to go to the park store I would go the day before since you may not make it back after you dock from a day trip. The park store/headquarters are a bit further away than Island Packers.

 

[ngl]

Yes re NP store! We got into Ventura around 3pm the day prior, did the walk to the NP Visitor Center to scope it all out. Did take about 25 min to walk. We Ubered back and then next morning decided to walk because we had time and same with way back. We also went to the grocery store that day to get lunches for the next day (room at Holiday Inn had a small fridge) because I could not order ahead from the store Island Packers recommended - I think they have geo locate on their web order and would not let me place the order from FL (home) and was too late by the time we arrived in CA to place the order (needed 24 hours ahead). Enjoy your trip!

 

[mdmost]

Sadly, we have to shelf this idea for now. DD17 has a summer paid internship that runs most of the summer so we will only get to do an early August trip to DLR. It's okay though. They really didn't want to do this portion and my wife and I can go on our own later and not have any complaining. Thanks for all the info.

 

[DL1WDW2]

I always like to recommend the Ronald Regan Presidential Museum in California near Simi Valley.
I started visiting the Presidential libraries because my grandchildren lived in Texas and I lived in Missouri … And we visited California often.
That knocks off many of the Presidential Libraries.
If you visit , be sure to purchase the Presidential Passport because they date stamp them .
The Ronald Regan Museum is the most visited and is my favorite to visit.
They have special exhibits and permanent exhibits.
This location has the Presidential Air Force One Airplane to board walk thru exhibit.
Pretty amazing and the location is really pretty.