''Where are you from?'' Our road trip in California and DLR stay in April 2018 -updated June 17

[isabellea]

Bonjour!

I had many titles in mind when I decided to write this trip report. Alternatives were:

'That is what I call a road trip!' or 'Sorry, but that is NOT poutine!'.

Finally I went with 'Where are you from?' because we've been asked this question so many times! I guess our strong French/Quebec accent piqued people curiosity.

The answer is that we are from Montreal, QC, Canada and it was our first time in California and at DLR. Also, since English is my second language, please excuse the multiple mistakes I will make.

Now... the basics:

WHO:

My name is Isabelle and I'm 39 yo. For this trip, I am traveling with my DH Hugo. We have been together for almost 18 years now and I am the Disney fanatic of the two. Luckily, DH loves Star Wars and Marvel and he's starting to like going to a Disney park every year. We have two daughters but this time we left them at home with my parents since they had school and it was our first time traveling just the two of us since 2009.

WHEN:

We flew to LAX from YUL on April 21st 2018 and went back home on an early flight April 28th 2018. We were lucky that Pixar Fest was happening but were a little disappointed that both California Screaming and World of Colour were closed.

WHAT:

When we realized DH had enough Aeroplan points for two tickets to LAX, we jumped on the occasion to travel to California for a week. DH was in charge of deciding what we would do the first half of the trip and I was in charge of the second half. He chose to do a road trip and I chose DLR (of course!). I did all the planing with occasional inputs from DH.

WHERE:

I was lucky to score us a cheap car rental for a Mustang convertible. YEAH! Our stops were:

4/21: LA -- California Science Center to see the Endeavour shuttle and the King Tut expo

4/22: Sequoia National Park

4/23: Red Rock Canyon State Park (in the Mojave desert)

4/24: Beaches along the PCH between Santa Monica and Newport Beach

4/25: DLR

4/26: DLR

4/27: DLR. Walk in Walt's Footsteps tour for me and a surfing lesson for DH.

4/28: Going home.

 

[isabellea]

DAY 1: California Science Center

We arrived at LAX at 11:15am. Because we went through US Customs in Montreal, our flight was considered domestic and we were out of the airport fairly quickly. Our first stop was Budget to get our rental, a nice 2018 Ford Mustang convertible. Unfortunately, the line was out of the building and we waited a good 45 minutes for them to get our car for a total of almost 2h there. Luckily, our tickets to see the shuttle Endeavour was for 2pm. We got there with only 5 minutes late and were let in to see it. DH is a big NASA fan and we were impressed by this exhibit. And the best part? It was free! After taking our time looking at the shuttle, we grabbed a quick bite at the café before heading to the King Tut exhibit. I's a good thing I had bought our tickets in February because they were sold out when we arrived. Our tickets were for 3:15pm and we probably spent a good 90 minutes looking at all the 4000 yo artifacts. I often commented that it was hard to believe the objects were so old but still masterpieces.

After our visit at California Science Center I had planned on going out for dinner in LA but we were not hungry because of the late snack we ate at 3pm. So we decided to leave for our first hotel, the Hampton Inn Hwy58 in Bakersfield! Once settle in our room, we went out for dinner at Sizzler. Let just say that at that point, I was hangry and not very patient. Luckily the food was very good and came to our table quickly.

 

[isabellea]

DAY 2: Sequoia National Park

We woke up to a gorgeous day and since we were still on EST time, we were able to leave Bakersfield early. I think DH really loved the drive to SEKI with the top down, especially the portion inside the park! Our first stop was at the foothill visitor center where we decided on climbing Moro Rock. Since the shuttle to Moro Rock from the park museum was still not operational, we had to walk there. Not a bad walk (1.6 miles on a paved road) and like I said, the weather was gorgeous. Then, when you get to Moro Rock, that's where the real exercise starts since there's 450 steps to climb! I have bad knees so we had to stop a few times but I will have to say that the climb was totally worth it! The view was breathtaking and it was really something being on top.

After Moro Rock, we still had some energy so we decided to take the Soldiers trail instead of the road we had taken previously. That trail was 2.4 miles and brought us to tunnel log. We are happy we took the trail even though we were getting very hungry by then because we saw some of the biggest trees in the park and there was almost no one on the trail.

Once back at the museum, we decided to go eat before visiting General Sherman. While Soldiers Trail was just a path in the forest, the trail to visit General Sherman is paved and much more busy. First, it goes downhill. That means on our way back to the car, it's uphill and by then my legs were killing me! But we made it and we can say we saw the world's biggest tree!

While General Sherman IS impressive, I cannot say it was the highlight of our day. I much preferred walking the Soldiers Trail next to those giants, sometimes 3 or 4 were lining the path. And the pine smell on the trail was just amazing!

Finally, we left the park around 5pm (wanted to go down the winding road before sundown) and headed to Olive Garden. WHAT!?!? While I wanted to try local chains and restaurants, DH was craving Olive Garden. Since we don't have any in Canada, I said why not. While the food was okay, my choices were very limited since I am dairy-free.

 

[isabellea]

Day 3: Red Rock Canyon State Park in the Mojave desert

After a good and free breakfast at our hotel, we left Bakersfield for Red Rock Canyon State Park that is located 26 miles north of Mojave, CA. I don’t remember how I found out about this state park but as soon as I showed pictures of it from the web to DH, it was on the list of places to visits. To get there from our hotel it was very easy since we were staying along Highway 58. We just drove east to the desert! Again, we saw a wide array of landscapes during our drive. First, the highway was lined with orange, almond or olive fields, and then we saw some ranches on the foothills and finally, fields of wind turbines on top of the hills before hitting the desert. Once again, the weather was gorgeous and it was fun driving with the roof down.

Once arrived, we discovered we had to pay a small fee (6$) for day-use of the park and the visitor center was closed during the week. Luckily, there were maps of the trails in a box so we could orient ourselves. We quickly decided to explore and maybe saw 2 other couples in the area? It was really quiet and we felt alone most of the time.

Once our bottles of water were empty and we had hiked for a few hours in the heat, we decided to go for a late lunch in Lancaster before checking in at our hotel, Oxford Inn. After reading many reports that the best burgers in California are at In-n-out, we decided to try them. Our verdict: while much better than burgers from fast food chains like McDonald, Burger King or Wendy’s, we prefer the burgers at Five Guys. Lucky for us since we can get them at home!

Finally, after a pit stop at Target (I miss them so much since they left Canada) for some sweet tea, we enjoyed a quiet dinner at our hotel (complimentary pulled pork sandwiches and free wine for DH) and watched some tv. I think our busy days and jet lag was catching on us! It was actually very nice to have a quiet evening with nothing planned.

 

[isabellea]

Day 4: Pacific ocean and its beaches!

Today’s destination: Anaheim! But first, we will go and see the Pacific and drive south on the PCH. We left Lancaster around 10am after eating a made-to-order breakfast (complimentary) for Santa Monica and we finally experienced LA traffic! While we are used to traffic living on Montreal island, it’s still impressive to see the extend of the traffic in LA. We decided not to stop in Santa Monica and just used it as our starting point. We did stop at Hermosa Beach for a Starbucks stop and a walk on the pier before heading to Newport Beach for lunch at Ruby’s diner. There, I had an AMAZING burger and I was so sad I couldn’t have a milkshake. They looked delicious! Service was great and it was really fun eating in this old fashion diner on Balboa pier.

Finally, we arrived at our last hotel, Best Western Park Place Inn that is located just across Disneyland resort entrance. Location was amazing and we were pleasantly surprised by how big our king room was. Once settled, we changed and headed to Downtown Disney for a drink and some shopping. We did some window shopping and finally headed to Trader Sam at the Disneyland hotel for apps and drinks. I am not a drinker but I made an effort since we were kid-free. I chose the …. While service there was slow (we got our spring rolls well before our drinks) it was entertaining. Not something I would need to do every trip but a fun way to spend an hour or two when we don’t have the kids with us. After our stroll at both Disneyland hotel and the Grand Californian hotel (my favourite of the two), we headed to Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen express counter for some Gumbo for DH and beignets for me. I knew they are not DF but since it was late, I was willing to have the consequences for a taste! Luckily for me, I discovered during this trip that fried food with dairy don’t seem to bother me too much. YAY!

Note: I have to thank @WebmasterMaryJo for her Day Six segment on the DIS Unplugged Disneyland podcast for the suggestion of going to Ruby's diner. Her Day Six segments were very helpful planning this trip and this day in particular (or rather going with the flow with a vague idea or where we were going based on what I remembered from her Day Six segments).

 

[isabellea]

Day 5 -- added to the second page of this thread. Part 1 is at DLR (post #32) and Part 2 (post #33) is at California Adventure.

 

[isabellea]

Day 6

 

[isabellea]

Day 7

 

[isabellea]

It's getting late so I will continue this trip report later this week.

 

[ottawamom]

Fabulous pictures. I look forward to reading the rest of your report.

 

[Frozen2014]

Great report so far. Beautiful pictures!
We did the same and mixed Disney with other things.

 

[mort1331]

Thanks for this . Great ideaa for our upcoming Aug trip

 

[Pumpkin1172]

I can't wait to hear more about your trip...the pictures are great!

 

[blabbermouth]

Enjoying it so far! You guys cover a lot of ground in a week.

 

[kerreyn]

Great report - looking forward to the rest! Thanks for the info on the science centre, my DH loves all things NASA, so I booked tickets for our upcoming trip in July!

PS - We have Olive Garden in Western Canada. The one solitary Olive Garden in Calgary is popular and always busy, for the life of me I can't figure out why they haven't built another one.

 

[isabellea]

Fabulous pictures. I look forward to reading the rest of your report.

Thank you! Before leaving home I was debating whether to bring my big DSLR or not and decided not to.

Great report so far. Beautiful pictures!
We did the same and mixed Disney with other things.

The only way I could convince DH to go to DLR was to do other things. Just like the only way he will convince me to spend 10 days to the beach in FL is to add some WDW to our vacation. We considered San Diego first but then I told him about Sequoia NP and he was sold.

Thanks for this . Great idea for our upcoming Aug trip

You're welcome! I'm happy if that can help someone with their upcoming trip!

 

[isabellea]

I can't wait to hear more about your trip...the pictures are great!

Thank you! I will try to update it tonight. Last night I decided to backup my photos and videos from the month of April instead and it took forever!

Enjoying it so far! You guys cover a lot of ground in a week.

Yes we did! Since it was our first time in California, we really enjoyed all the driving. The topography and different landscapes really surprised us and wasn't boring at all. Having a Mustang convertible and no kids in tow also helped!

Great report - looking forward to the rest! Thanks for the info on the science centre, my DH loves all things NASA, so I booked tickets for our upcoming trip in July!

PS - We have Olive Garden in Western Canada. The one solitary Olive Garden in Calgary is popular and always busy, for the life of me I can't figure out why they haven't built another one.

I'm sure you DH will love it! Just make sure you have 12$USD cash for parking. You don't want to park in the streets surrounding the Expo complex. They are kind of scary and make you discover another side of LA.

I didn't know there was some Olive Garden restaurants in Canada! I guess I never saw one in QC, ON or BC.

 

[isabellea]

I just added day 3!

 

[ExpatDisneyLover]

What a great trip report!! Thanks for sharing and I look forward to the rest!

 

[buteraa]

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