Breakfast at Morro Bay was a relaxed affair, looking out over the bay to that huge rock again. However, we didn’t linger as we had an important objective in mind today ( or at least, I did!) We were going to Disneyland!
A little stop at Pismo Beach meant Neil could reminisce about Bugs Bunny cartoons… and we could do a little last minute shopping at the Pismo Beach Premium Outlets. We have both picked up some bargains in clothes again on this trip, although the shopping does put a bit of a strain on the luggage. We’ve dicussed the idea of coming next time with minimal clothes and just topping up our needs as we go along. We have our favourites – Macy’s is great for Neil’s Greg Norman brand polo shirts and shorts ( they are fabulous for traveling) We’ve found some excellent travel clothes for him at Sears on the last two trips and he has only bought his jeans at the USA Levi’s outlets for the last 10 years!
We’ve also both done really well at Costco for shirts and jackets. I was able to find my favourite fine merino tops here this trip when they had not been stocked in Sydney at all this winter. Costco is also good for bulk buying our favorite cinnamon candy, Hot Tomales 😉
The outlet centres are great for American brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Polo Ralph Lauren and Van Heusen as well as shoes like Converse etc. I weep when I see the prices of these clothes back home, and I’d never pay for them at Sydney prices but here you can get good quality items at fantastic prices – especially of you stick to the clearance racks. But that’s enough about shopping…..
From Pismo beach we set our sights south through very hot,very dry country until we hit the ocean again not far from Santa Barbara. There were lots of traffic jams along the coast as every exit ramp to the city was full of people heading for the beach. It was such a contrast with the dry scrubby and often rocky desert hills on one side and the gorgeous ocean on the other with miles of sandy beaches.
We could see the misty outline of the Channel islands out in the bay and we stopped in at ventura to visit the Channel Islands National Park visitor centre. Neil says this counts as a visit to the park as it’s really very difficult to reach them otherwise.
Then it was onwards through increasingly hectic traffic as we entered the greater Los Angeles area and headed for Anaheim, and Disneyland. This was an early Sunday afternoon and my Google Maps image of the Los Angeles freeways was littered with warnings for incidents, accidents and lots and lots of red lines indicating very slow traffic. We did our best to avoid the worst of it bit some of the way south was slow going. However we eventually pulled in to the entrance gates of Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel, our final stop for the trip.
The hotel is gorgeous, built to mimic the grand Arts and Crafts lodges of the early 20th century. I had booked us a studio villa at a reasonable price by “renting” points from the owner of a Disney vacation Club member. This is a time share system that gives you access to Disney hotels at a MUCH lower rate than the norm. We would never have paid the price to stay here otherwise.
The location was fabulous. There is a private entrance from the hotel into the Disney California Adventure theme park and it’s only a few steps to the entrance of Disneyland itself. On our first evening we just took it easy and enjoyed a Cajun inspired dinner at Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen in the Downtown Disney shopping area just outside the hotel.
On Monday we hit the first of the parks early, Disneys California Adventure park was having an extra hour for guests of Disney hotels before the park opened to the general public. I’m not going to go into detail about every ride we rode but in my middle age I seem to have developed a fondness for roller coasters! We rode California Screamin’ three times and I just loved it!!! This is the one that does a full loop and on my final ride I even managed to keep my eyes open for the upside down bit. We also spent time in Disneyland park that afternoon and again on Tuesday morning, revisiting old favourites and trying out a few new attractions. Some of the new rides built since our last visit are wonderful.
We had a late checkout on our final day, which was great as we could enjoy plenty of time in the parks and then come back for a shower and tidy up before making our way to the front desk to checkout.
I’m typing this in the lounge at Los Angeles Airport as I wait for our flight. It’s been another amazing American Adventure with 3 new states and several new National Parks . Weve seen so much variety on this trip, in temperature and wildlife and landscapes and weather. The USA continues to surprise us with its diversity…… we will be back 🙂
