Little Hiccups: 52 Weeks: Week 52

Sunday, 3 January 2016

52 Weeks: Week 52

Week 52: SoCal Road Trip

I'm a few days behind here, what with it being 2016 already, but as they say, better late than never.

For the last post in my 52 Week Project I'm sharing a few highlights from our Southern California road trip over the girls' Winter break. I have lots of in depth posts about the places we visited coming very soon.

We started off the last week of 2015 in Los Angeles before heading to San Diego where we spent much of our time.

Before leaving Los Angeles we hit up the Sprinkles Cupcake ATM in Beverly Hills. The girls love Sprinkles cupcakes and they're even more delicious when they come out of an ATM. Ok, so they taste exactly the same, but they're definitely more fun!

We also checked out a mural painted by Lola's favorite author/illustrator Dallas Clayton.

Our first full day in San Diego was Christmas Day. The girls spent the morning opening and playing with their presents. Ava and Lola received roller blades so they spent much of their time in the backyard practicing. We also spent a little time in the afternoon at the beach. It was too cold to go in the water but the girls enjoyed looking for treasure with Lola's metal detector and building sand castles.

The following day we headed out for brunch (where I made Kim drink a beer float!) before spending the afternoon taking in the views from Point Loma and Cabrillo National Monument.

We then spent a full day at San Diego Zoo. That place is huge and it was incredibly busy. We left after dark but still didn't manage to see everything. It's an amazing zoo and you really do need a whole day there.

We followed up our busy day at the zoo with what I thought would be a quieter day at the USS Midway aircraft carrier. It looks like the crowds followed us as it was just as busy there too! I guess it's just that time of year.

We then left San Diego and headed a little further north to Legoland. The crowds were huge there too but by now we expected it so we didn't mind too much. Just like the zoo, we stayed until after dark and still didn't manage to see everything. We'll definitely be back!

For a complete change of pace, our next day was spent at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. What a hotel! The decor is totally kitsch and over the top, but somehow it works - in a totally kitsch and over the top way! We swam in the pool, played on the pink tennis court, ate in the hot pink restaurant and even went ice skating in the event center.

And then because we hadn't had our fill of over the top decor, we headed to Hearst Castle for New Year's Eve and Kim's 40th birthday. What an amazing place to spend the last day of the year.