California Trip Day 8 - San Diego Zoo

Koala

Gabby found her soul mate - same age, same name.

Fun with statues

Sam's polar bear impression

Yes, he really was that close.

What's wrong with this picture?

Sam loved the giraffes.

Yes, that is a dog on the left. Cheetah on the right.

Gabby and a panda.

Feeding the goats.

I have always wanted to go to the San Diego Zoo. When I was a kid they had all these exotic animals you couldn't see anywhere else and it was the zoo standard. Time and travel and all that means I have over the years seen a lot of the exotic animals (mostly in Memphis - the zoo I grew up on and still a favorite!) but I still wanted to go to the San Diego Zoo. It did not disappoint. It is arranged naturally along the hills, with tons of vegetation (read:shade) and tons of animals. And, yes, there were animals I had never seen. It was BIG. We didn't exactly make the best touring plan but we managed to see most all of it even if it wore us out. They do have some buses, moving sidewalks, and a skyway. We started with the koalas, then elephants, and then it's a blur of beautiful animals, finishing up with the pandas and the petting zoo. And, yes, I was quite concerned about the dog in the pen with the cheetah until I saw the sign that said they belonged together. I had never seen such. If you want to read about it go HERE.

Legoland

Ready to go!

Sam riding the airplanes.

Gabby as a princess.

Sam and his ice cream.

Daddy and Sammy on the fairy tale boats.

The music fountain.

Thomas we love you!

Riding the train.

Driving his car.

Driving her car.

Competing in our fire truck.

Getting to ride in the front of the train.

Sky Cruiser

Finally it was Legoland day. The kids had been focusing on Legoland since the beginning. We left LA and went straight to Legoland. We found something we could ride together and then split up so Gabby could ride some of the bigger rides. She was chosen to be in one of the shows but since we were riding the roller coaster, I had given Robert the camera (they don't allow anything on their rides) so I didn't get pics of the show itself, just what she looked like in the costume. We joined back up and spent most of the rest of the day together on the train, competing as firefighters, and playing in the fountains. We did have to split for the driving rides since they were done by age. We finished out the day looking at all the Lego models as the park closed down and headed to our San Diego hotel.

California Trip Day 7 - An American Girl Goes Hollywood

Hollywood through the smog

Girl of the Year 2010

Felicity and her set-up

This is what Sam does as soon as he is seated.

Gabby and Felicity enjoying appetizers in the Cafe.

American Girl Cafe

Sam had to borrow a boy doll so he had something to play with

Yummy dessert.

American Girl Place LA

View from the Griffith Observatory

James Dean

The Griffith Observatory

Matching PJs.

We spent our day in LA mostly at the American Girl Store. Yes, I know, not very "local" but it made Gabby happy and was good enough for the rest of us. We all enjoyed lunch in the Cafe. Then Gabby and Felicity had a photo shoot and got to pick out something. Sam and Daddy did wander to the fountain and to ride the free bus a bit after lunch while we shopped and did our thing in the store. It was fun - at least for Gabby, Felicity and I.

After that we rode up to the Griffith Observatory where you could (kind of) see over the city and (kind of) see the Hollywood sign. You could definitely see the air. I am not a fan of that. We spent a little time at the Observatory but it was hot and we were all tiring out so we left to battle the traffic back to our hotel. We spent a long time in the pool that night, since it was the first hotel that had a pool.

California Trip Day 6 - San Luis Obispo and Pismo Beach

My kids love a fountain

Misson San Luis Obispo

Gabby was the only one brave enough to stay in the water for more than a few seconds.

This day ended up being a bit unplanned. We were attempting to go to the Channel Islands but at the last minute they cancelled the boats due to the condition of the stairs on the island so we had to shift the next couple of days a bit. Even after we left we intended to go to the Discovery Science Center in LA that afternoon but opted instead to go to Pismo Beach and relax a little. We slept a little later after discovering Sam sleeping happily on the floor under the pull-out sofa. We toured the mission in San Luis Obispo for a little California history and then headed for the beach. It was cold, to say the least, but sunny and nice. The sand was warm but the water sure wasn't. Only Gabby's intense love of the ocean kept her in the water for quite a while. Sam was done after a few minutes and liked playing in the sand with me better. After a nice, relaxing few hours we headed out to get right in the middle of LA traffic so it took us quite a while to get to our hotel for the night. Oh well - life isn't perfect!

California Trip Day 5 - SF to San Luis Obispo via Hwy 1

Walking on the bridge

Pacific Ocean from Highway 1

Dancing in the gazebo

This is what happens after five days...

Lazy elephant seals

Two otters and an elephant seal

We headed down to the bridge to walk on it a little. The engineer can't resist. Still foggy around the bridge that day but we could see enough of it. We then headed out of town toward Highway 1 and the views of the Pacific Ocean. The morning was beautiful but the clouds did start to roll in late in the afternoon. While standing at the overlook looking at the elephant seals and otters, eagle eye Robert spotted a whale spout way out in the ocean. We were able to see them blowing for quite a while but never saw any part of the whales. By the timing of the blows, there had to be at least three of them. We headed on to San Luis Obispo where we stayed in a nice little locally owned hotel called the Peach Tree Inn.