Cali : SB 2022

Spring Break Trip 2022

(this was jointly written by me and Philip. you will be able to distinguish which parts he elaborated on;))

We decided months ago to make the most of Aunt Melody's hospitality, cooking and location and take a trip to California.  Philip then planned out a Southern California vacation that included lots of fun places all along the southern and central coast of California.  

We started our trip of by getting up at 0400 to head to Louisville for our 0730 flight out.  After several hours in the air and two flights we landed in San Diego.  We then took the shuttle to pick up our rental car for the week and then headed to The Hotel Del Coronado.  We thought that it would be nice to check out the San Diego area and Philip has always wanted to stay at the Hotel Del Coronado because it is frequently mentioned in many of the books he has read about and by the Navy SEALs.  Their training compound is actually visible from the beach at The Del as it is only 1 mile down the beach.  You can see their obstacle course from the beach.  This is the training facility where they are put through some of the rigorous training that the military has to offer and the location of their famous 'hell week'.  We also visited La Jolla where we saw seals and sea lions laying on the shoreline and rocks basking in the sunlight. I and the kids loved the beach the most. The kids even went into the water fully clothed after dinner the first night.

 We stayed two nights in San Diego then headed off through Los Angeles to the Santa Barbara area where Aunt Melody lives. 

We arrived to Aunt Melody's and were treated that night to a delightful dinner and dessert.  We stayed that night at Aunt Melody's then piled in the car the next day and drove to the Monterey/Pebble Beach area.  

We checked into our VRBO house in Pebble Beach where we would stay the next two nights.  While in the area we visited the Monterey Aquarium and ate dinner at the Sardine Factory which was yet another bucket list site for Philip.  The Sardine Factory was mentioned in another one of his books.  In the book the Director of the CIA, Leon Panetta was jokingly told by the restaurant owner that if he caught Bin Laden then he would open a 141 year old $10,000 bottle of wine.  Unbeknownst to the restaurant owner Panetta had already located Bin Laden and they were in the process of developing plans for the raid that would kill or capture Bin Laden.  Panetta took the bet and after the May 2011 raid that killed Bin Laden he returned to the restaurant where the owner opened the bottle on the house and it was shared between Panetta and his guests.  

I (Amanda) got a side salad and took the “kids” for dessert afterward so i could eat some real food:) 

After two nights in Pebble Beach we headed back down the coast back to Santa Barbara for another two nights at Aunt Melody's house. We spent the day driving down Highway1 and stopping at State Parks, sights to see, and had a picnic! We had another fantastic dinner and explored Santa Barbara by foot while the kids went to the zoo with Aunt Melody. We loved walking State Street, to the wharf, tasting CA wines and not yelling at children:) 

Our last night we looked at pictures of every single animal they saw at the zoo, swapped stories from our hours apart, and wished vacation wasn't coming to an end. We loved getting to explore CA and to be able to do it with Aunt Melody. We definitely want to go back!