We had a hard time deciding where to go on a trip. But I really wanted to go to the Harry Potter park (at the time I thought it was it's own theme park and not part of Universal Studios). But we found it was connected to Universal Studios, so there would be more to do there. And we found out that we had enough sky miles to get to California for free, so we somewhat spontaneously decided to go.
We dropped the kids off at our friend's house and went to the airport on a Wednesday morning. The airplanes now have cool iPad things in each seat so you can watch movies for free. So the flight seemed really quick. We landed in LA around noon and went to go pick up the rental car. It turned out that Isaac messed up the dates of the rental car, so after a very frustrating (and expensive) correction we were on our way. (But it wasn't the best start to a trip.)
We then drove to the Santa Monica beach for lunch. The beach wasn't very far from the airport, so we underestimated how long it would take to get there. Traffic in LA is unbearable! Those drivers are crazy.
We finally made it to the beach and walked around until we found something to eat for lunch. Then we walked down to the beach. There were people everywhere. We kept wondering what they were doing. I kept scanning the crowd looking for my lost children only to remember they weren't with us. It was really weird.
We sat on the beach and talked for a few minutes, but then we felt like we had to get moving. We had to keep reminding ourselves that we didn't have anything else to do and we could just relax and enjoy ourselves. But we usually go on such fast-paced trips that we don't know how to relax. And at home when we go on dates we always have to rush back to the kids, so it was really strange to have no obligations.
After the beach we drove to "The Getty" art museum and botanical gardens. Once again traffic was horrible. It took us over an hour to get there. We were following directions on our cell phones (which I have no idea how people traveled before cell phones and GPS), but it took us to the wrong place. So after forever in the car with mis-directions we finally made it. We had to take a tram up to the museum. We walked around for a little while, but we aren't big into art and the botanical gardens were small. So we decided to go find some dinner.
We drove to a Mongolian BBQ place near our motel that was pretty good. Then we went to our motel. I think I'm becoming a snob because the cheap motel was kind-of gross. It was fine for Isaac and I, but we've been renting nice condos with the kids the last few years, and Isaac has been staying in fancy hotels for his conferences, so it seemed a bit grungy.
The next day we woke up to go to Universal Studios. We got up at 6am (because we're completely incapable of sleeping in anymore) and Isaac said, "Well we better get ready to go". I said, "Why? We have a couple hours until the park opens." It was really weird to be able to say, "Let's go eat" and just walk out the door. Isaac and I had forgotten what it is like to go anywhere without kids. We didn't need to pack the diaper bag, get snacks, fill water bottles, cover everyone with sunscreen, put shoes on, make sure the kids had jackets, go to the bathroom, etc. We just simple walked out the door.
We had a short drive to Universal Studios and got there right as the park opened. We immediately walked to Harry Potter. The Hogsmead village was incredible. There was a Hogwarts castle at the back, and it was HUGE. The whole ambiance of the place was amazing. There was a Hogwarts Express engine where you could take a picture with a guy dressed as a conductor. There were shops all along the street like Olivander's Wand shop, Zonkers Joke Shop, The Three Broomsticks, Wizarding robe shops, etc. They all looked really cool and had little displays. And if you bought a wand there were stations all over that you could do a little incantation and the displays would move.
We immediately went to the Hogwarts castle and walked right on to that ride. The line wraps around all the way through the castle and it was decorated incredibly. You go through the garden house, Dumbledoor's office, some of the classrooms, to see the Sorting Hat, and other cool stuff. At point there were hologram things that talk to you. But the coolest part was the tapestries. They moved and talked just like in the movies. But they didn't look like tv screens, they really looked like paintings.
Then we went on that ride and it was a cool mix of virtual reality with a moving ride. After that we went on the Hippogrif roller coaster. I thought it was lame, but Isaac said "I don't like roller coasters" as soon as we got off. And because we didn't have any lines we did the 2 Harry Potter rides in less than an hour and moved on to the rest of the park.
We went down to the lower level and tried to go on the Jurassic Park ride, but it was closed so we did the Mummy and Transformers rides. Then Jurassic Park was open so we went on that. It is basically a giant log flume ride. At first you go on a nice scenic ride through a bunch of mechanical dinosaurs. Then the music gets scarier and you go around a bend and run across a crashed ship, broken cages, etc. Then you go up a really big hill and right at the top a giant T-rex comes out about to eat you as the boat tips down the log drop. It was really fun and my favorite ride. We did this one a few times. I enjoy the non-digital rides the best.
Then we went to the water show and decided to have lunch at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmead. This was such a cool restaurant. The decor was amazing. The building had huge rafters and cool decorations. It really made you feel like you were in the movie. The menu was also really authentic, you could get lamb stew, 1/2 a chicken, sheppard's pie, fish & chips, or other English-type food. You could also get butterbeer and pumpkin juice. The drinks were exceptionally good.
After eating we decided to go to the special effects show while we digested. We go there about 30 mins early and were just waiting in line when some worker guy came up and started talking to us. He asked where we were from and we just started chatting. I talked to tons of people in line throughout the day, but Isaac is so anti-social that he hates interacting with other people. He wouldn't even turn to look at this guy as we were talking. :) But then the guy asked if we wanted to be in the show. I said yes. Later Isaac told me, "I would have said no". So he took us backstage and told Isaac he was going to be an astronaut. He got dressed in a suit and boots. I asked what I was going to do and he said "we'll let you know when we call you up on stage".
Then they walked us to a reserved seating area. Shortly after sitting down I was hit with a massive wave of diarrhea. I asked a worker if there was a bathroom in the back and they said unfortunately there wasn't and I would have to run to the one around the park a ways. So I said sorry to Isaac and took off running. There was a huge line and I was worried I wouldn't make it, but finally go in. I ran back to the show and had to tell the workers to let me in because I was going to be in the performance. We knew we were going to be the going up at the very end of the show, so I made it back in time. But after a few more minutes I felt another wave coming on. So I said sorry to Isaac again and took off running in a the middle of the show. Poor Isaac was just stuck there in an astronaut suit and couldn't do anything about it. He had no idea if they were going to call him up without me. But I knew there was no way I could hold it that long. Again I barely made it to the bathroom after waiting in line. I ran back and fortunately got there before Isaac had to go up.
Then they called us on stage. They gave Isaac an astronaut helmet to put on and lowered some cables from the ceiling. They were going to show us how they made people fly. Then they gave me an iPad that could control Isaac's height and trajectory. They told me to raise him half way up, and he immediately fell upside-down and was flailing there. The guy told Isaac to throw his shoulders back and he went right side up. But he was wildly clinging to the cables. The guy kept telling him to let go of the cables, and he flopped back over on his head. Then he started zooming around the room and going up and down. They told Isaac that I was in charge of he motions, but my controls weren't doing anything. The whole time I was thinking that Isaac was going to be ticked at me because he's afraid of heights. Then they put Isaac back on the ground and had him remove his helmet and it wasn't Isaac. While distracting me with the iPad they switched Isaac for a worker. So Isaac really went on stage, put the helmet on, they covered him with a black curtain at the same time they revealed the other guy, and then we walked backstage to watch. So the special effects guy just acted like he'd never done it before. It was really funny.
But for us helping they gave us a "front of the ride" pass to go to the front of any line (except Harry Potter). So we used it to go on the studio tour. Which was a really good choice because the line was HUGE. And the tour was fun to see some sets and how they do other special effects.
Then we went and got a frozen butterbeer to eat while we waited in line to go on the Harry Potter ride again. The line was long this time, but we enjoyed going slowly through the castle and looking at all the cool decorations and hologram/tapestry conversations.
We also went through the Olivander's Wand demonstration (we skipped that earlier because the line was huge as people bought their wands early in the day). They ask one little kid to come up and they try to find her wand. A few things blow up as she tries the wrong wands, and when she gets the right one lights and music come on. It would be a really cool experience for a kid, but I asked a worker if she gets to keep that wand and she said only if the parents buy it. Lame.
Anyway, Universal Studios was a ton of fun. And while we were there I realized that what I am looking for in vacations with kids is to go to a place like that and to be able to stay there the whole day. I didn't have to make many decisions (besides which ride to go on or what to eat). I just had to show up and enjoy. I think one of my biggest problems with vacationing with kids has been constantly thinking "now what are we going to do?" We go for a hike, but that only lasts an hour or two and then I have to come up with something else to entertain them with. It's exhausting. Universal was nice because I didn't have to be creative at all. In that way it was really relaxing (although the kids would have been miserable there because the rides were too advanced/scary, and they would have hated waiting in line).
Then we had some dinner and drove to Oceanside CA. Again the traffic was terrible. We got to our dumpy motel and went to bed. The next morning we walked down to the beach to watch the surfers and look for sea shells. Then we walked to a stand that rented bikes. We were hoping to get a tandem bike, but they said they were all stolen. So instead we rented these dumpy one speed bikes. We rode them 8 miles on a paved path to an old Catholic mission. We looked around for a bit, but it wasn't very interesting, so we rode back. On the way back to the beach we met a woman riding her bike who looked (and sounded) just like Karla. We talked to her for a while and then took the bikes back. We almost biked 15 miles on those dumpy little bikes. But I was tired because biking back was really hard peddling into the wind (we hoped it would be easy because it was down hill).
Then we went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant that wasn't very good. We did a little shopping for the kids and had dinner at a pizza place. The next morning we drove to San Diego to return the rental car and then took a shuttle to the airport.
The trip was a lot of fun. It was really weird to be away from the kids. In some ways it was nice to have the freedom and to be able to move so much faster. But we really missed them a lot. We kept talking about things that each of them would really enjoy, and we look forward to taking them places like that as they get older. And we really appreciated the Brinkerhoff's for watching them. Aspen wet the bed one night (and she's only done that once in her life before) and peed her pants the next day. And one day Aspen hurt Luke at a park and Brian asked her to apologize and when she refused he tried to put her in timeout. Unfortunately timeout isn't a good idea with her because she goes BALLISTIC. He had to put her in the car and drive her back to Julie. (Although I felt terrible they had to experience her wrath, it also made me feel better to know that someone else could appreciate how difficult she is. I often feel like people think I'm being dramatic when I talk about her being difficult.) And Sophie kneed herself in the face and gave herself a bloody nose when she got scared watching Rapunzel one day. So they definitely were saints for taking them on.
I don't know that we will leave the kids for trips very often, but I do think it is good to do every once in a while.
No comments:
Post a Comment