California was not the first state we visited in our 50 state quest but it has been the most recent. As I decided to begin the blog, I made the decision to work on adding the states we have already visited, moving backwards chronologically.

We traveled to California this past spring, during our kids’ school break. I planned our trip for about 6 months and will honestly admit that sometimes I enjoy the planning ALMOST as much as the actual trip. Apologies in advance for the length of this post, but we were there 9 days and we crammed a LOT of adventures into this one trip!

Ever since I was a child I wanted to go to Disneyland so I knew that would be a small part of our trip but I also knew I wanted to experience some places that are unique to California. My 11 year son had put in wishes for seeing some different ball parks as we traveled across the country. And I always like to see national parks (and for the kids to get “stamps” for their National Park passport). The question on that end was which park to go to…

We settled on a trip to Southern California, encompassing Seal Beach, Anaheim, Los Angeles and Joshua Tree National Park. I had some fun adventures planned and we headed out…

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First up was Seal Beach and the Pacific Ocean. I already had to admit my best laid plans wouldn’t all work out like I hoped. I had chosen Seal Beach as a quiet beach with a cool surf school and the plan for the kids to do a couple of surf lessons. However, my daughters’s broken ankle had other plans. Surfing was out. Instead, we settled on walking the beach and being grateful that we weren’t getting in 57 degree water – wetsuit or not! Here in the Southeast, we are used to a much warmer Atlantic Ocean. It was a gorgeous day and we watched some of the brave surfers try out their skills. Then we went to the El Dorado Nature Center where we got to enjoy some of California’s native plants and animals in their visitor’s centers and miles of trails.

To end our first full day in California, we headed to Los Angeles for a Dodgers game. We are big baseball fans, so it was fun to go see this historic ballpark. We scored with it being a bobblehead night (as my son is a collector) and enjoyed the fun atmosphere of Dodger Stadium.

Next up, Long Beach. A little sightseeing and whale watching. Note to all – when it is suggested to layer clothing because “it does get cooler out on the water,” heed this advice and wear warm clothing. The kids and I all had windbreakers (and hubby Bryan regretted not having his) but we were still NOT prepared. It was freezing once we got away from land!

Off to Anaheim and a few days at Disneyland. We have visited Disney World several times as we are within driving distance, but it has always been a dream of mine to make it to Walt’s original park, so were excited to visit. The kids loved the rides and the atmosphere and we enjoyed several days of Disney magic.

One more quick stop in Anaheim – watching the Angels and Mike Trout! The schedules of the two teams could not have coincided with my plans any better!

After Anaheim, we headed east to Joshua Tree National Park. There were so many national parks in California to choose from. Yosemite is on my to-do list but was a long drive from our location. I wanted to see the Sequoia National Forest but we finally decided on Joshua Tree National Park. After all, our oldest is named Joshua! I was excited to see the desert, the rocks, the stars and of course, the Joshua Tree.

I didn’t get pictures of another trip highlight – our sunset horseback ride through the park. We enjoyed it, although both Kylie and I had some spirited horses. Luckily she has had lessons. The guides about gave me a heart attack at the beginning as they talked about how the horses wouldn’t be scared of rabbits, deer or even coyotes but if we saw bobcats or bears that we should know that horses are flight animals and could/would take off running even though they were well trained. Okay. What?? Bobcats and bears?? Then the story that on one of their rides, a bobcat ran through the legs of one of their horses. Thankfully, the only wildlife we saw on our trip were some desert rabbits. Cute and non-threatening. The horses did want to stop and graze on the unusual green offerings. Apparently, the park received more rain in February than they had in the previous 4 years. (Normal rainfall is 2-3 inches a year and they received over 10 inches in February.) It made for lots of green in the desert and the horses were enjoying their buffet. My son’s allergies did not enjoy the greenery and we had to make a stop at the pharmacy for some stronger allergy medicine.

I was also super excited to see the stars at Joshua Tree, which is apparently one of the best places in the country to star gaze. We lucked out traveling on the day of a new moon which made it an ideal time to view the sky. Unfortunately, Friday night was cloudy with low visibility. Thankfully, Saturday night was more cooperative. It was an amazing view but again I didn’t get pictures. Apparently, I need a better camera OR a better camera operator. I found this picture in a google search and thought it clearly captured what we saw. We enjoyed a quick side trip to Pioneertown, which is an old set built by Roy Rogers that has been used to film over 40 westerns. While we were visiting, they had vendors who had set up shop in some of the buildings and even had a gun fight show.

Finally, onto the last leg of our trip – back to LA for a different type of star gazing. We checked out the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I had no idea there were over 2600 stars. We visited the Chinese TLC theater, and got a good glance at the Hollywood sign. Trivia for the day – the letters in the Hollywood sign are 45 feet tall and it is 352 feet long.

One last stop before we head home was a special treat for Kylie. She gets dragged along to baseball stadiums and seldom complains. One thing she loves is decorating cupcakes and watching Duff Goldman on Kids Baking Championship. So, we went to Duff’s Cake Mix in Hollywood and decorated some cupcakes. Unfortunately, the cupcakes did not fare well. We placed them in our bag, which we had to check since the plane was so full. Then the bags were apparently left out in the rain when our plane was delayed for over 3 hours. (yikes). When we retrieved our checked luggage, everything was wet, inside and out. Still, despite the rough ending, we completely LOVED our trip to California.

Updated Tally of States Visited (as a family): 6. Still, 44 to go.

What adventures are ahead? 5 states on a road trip this summer. Planning is in full swing and I am in my happy place enjoying the kids and the USA.