Spontaneous Weekend Getaway

Last week things got a little wild. My sister-in-law and her husband (Amber and Tim - AKA: Timber) left for California on Wednesday. That night, Amber texted us and said, “You should come to California for the weekend.” 

Aside from COVID concerns,* there wasn’t really any reason we couldn’t go. Scotty was sound asleep when Amber texted us, so first thing Thursday morning, I texted him while he was donating plasma, and it went like this:

And thus, by 7:00 a.m. we had decided to take a spontaneous trip to California. Timber were staying in a condo in Newport Beach with plenty of space for us. All we had to do was get there! 

We decided to book a room in Las Vegas for Thursday night. We checked the kids out of school a little early, and we were on the road around 1:00 p.m. 

The girls were a little startled when we got them from school - they weren’t privy to our spontaneous plans. We told them we checked them out of school to surprise them with a trip to Krispy Kreme. Daisy thought that was an unacceptable reason to miss school, and she started crying. We ended up telling the girls we were going to California. Daisy felt a little better, but she tried to maintain her sad performance a while longer. By the time we got to the junior high to get Nicky, she had fully recovered. 

Nicky was between classes when we picked him up, so they called for him over the PA system. When he got out to the van, and we told him we were going to Krispy Kreme, he confessed that he'd looked at my phone that morning and seen my text to Scotty about going to California (the little stinker! I went out of my way to keep him away from my phone all morning!)

We did stop at Krispy Kreme on the way!

We arrived in Las Vegas around 7:00 that night. We drove down the strip one way and back the other so the kids could see the lights. It’s definitely a quieter place right now. There were far fewer people than I’ve ever seen there. Everyone was masked, including the Julius Caesar statue in front of Caesar’s Palace and Lady Liberty in front of New York New York (she was also donning a Raiders jersey). 

We stayed at STRAT (the Stratosphere trying to have a cool new name). The room was cheap, and we’ve stayed there before, so we were familiar with the parking and the layout. We were just there long enough to sleep, and we rolled out by 7:00 Friday morning to drive the rest of the way to California.

On the way to the condo, we met Timber at Downtown Disney. As we walked from the parking lot to DD, it just felt good to be there. Sad, yes. But at the same time, it was so exciting! 

At DD, they do a temperature check when you go through security. There is COVID signage everywhere, and the cast members are all decked out in their Disney-issued masks. The usual Disney park music is playing, and people are wearing their Disney merch. There are socially distanced lines outside of the stores, so you get that legit Disney experience of standing and waiting. 

We shopped and snacked, and then we walked over by the parks so we could stand outside the gates and feel all the feels.

The near-empty plaza

Our family in front of Disneyland

Our family in front of California Adventure

The Disneyland sign from Harbor Blvd

We were fortunate to be there in small crowds. We didn't have to wait in line to get in. Everything felt pretty COVID-safe there. It wasn't perfect, but they're doing an exceptional job, nevertheless. 

Just a note: during the time that we were there, Downtown Disney was able to operate at 50% capacity. I don't think they were very close to reaching that while we were there. Since then, they have had to downgrade to 25% capacity due to COVID spikes. If you’re not familiar with Downtown Disney, it’s just a strip of restaurants and stores outside of the Disney parks.

After we left Downtown Disney, we headed to Knott’s Berry Farm to have a chicken dinner at Mrs. Knott’s.  Knott’s Berry Farm is still closed for COVID, and it was incredibly quiet there. 

Mrs. Knott's

We enjoyed our yummy meal and wandered through a couple of stores. Then we headed to the condo. 

The kids wanted to go to the pool ASAP even though it was dark and chilly (“California chilly,” that is). Zoe stumbled upon a dead frog on the way to the pool, which was quite dramatic. I opted for my usual role of “pool observer.” We pretty much had the pool to ourselves save for one family that stopped by for about five minutes. 

Scotty & the kids in the pool

Back at the condo, we ate snacks and tried to play the Jungle Cruise game (it didn’t go well for Amber - she lasted approximately thirty seconds into Scotty’s tutorial before she started trying to fake her own death, but let it be known... the game was HER idea).

At that point, we all felt like it was at least 11:00 p.m, but it was really only about 8:00. We were exhausted, so we went to bed while Timber stayed up drinking "chocolate milk" in their room.

On Saturday, we hung out at the condo for the morning. We ate cereal, and the kids played with their newly purchased Legos. Around 11:00 we headed to the beach at Corona Del Mar, but first we made a traditional stop at Jack in the Box. 

Corona Del Mar

Tacos on the beach are a must

The kids ran and played in the water for hours. We paid for three hours of parking and ended up adding another hour because we weren't quite ready to leave. Nicky and Daisy body surfed in the waves. Zoe did a million cartwheels and coated herself in sand. 

"Mom, I'm camouflaged. Come find me!"

We explored the rocks and looked at the nasty sea life.

We had some excellent people-watching opportunities - a group of scuba divers, really old men jogging, cheerleaders dropping each other while trying to do stunts, a birthday party set-up, a man moon walking in the sand (we think), and a possible wedding (we hung out for that extra hour hoping to catch the wedding, but no one ever showed up to get married!)

After we left the beach, we took the kids swimming at the pool again. Then we returned to the condo and had dinner and watched a bunch of old vacation videos from Amber's computer. Again, it felt like 11:00 p.m. and was barely past 8:00. We retired to bed early, and Timber once again stayed up late drinking "chocolate milk" in their room. 

On Sunday morning, we loaded everything up and headed out by 7:00. Amber texted us the whole way home, telling us to turn around and come back. We should have! But then again, the best vacations are the ones where you leave feeling like it’s “too soon.”

It was a quick trip, but it was really fun and exciting! We're so glad we went and so thankful to Tim and Amber for inviting us. 

*Our family and Timber wore masks any time we were together, even in the condo. We also did regular wipe downs of all the condos surfaces and washed our hands and clothes. We were extremely cautious with traveling and mixing households.