The Westcoast Roadtrip

We did the ultimate Westcoast family roadtrip – Victoria to Disneyland and back – 10 cities – in twelve days!

Tuesday August 22:
Caught the 6:10am Coho Ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles – boring ferry with creepy looking guy aboard… then drove through Washington state to Portland Oregon. We stopped at the Three Rivers Mall on the way – boring and empty place, but Caleb discovered the joys of Target – and got his first Elmo’s World DVD (the obessession starts!) We spend the afternoon at the Lloyd Center in Portland, and spend the night at the Comfort Inn.

Wednesday August 23:
We get up early – have our continential breakfast and then head on our way to California. After a lot of driving, we get to Redding in the late afternoon. Wehave dinner at Appleby’s, play around at another Target (yet another Elmo DVD), and then go for an evening swim at the hotel’s outdoor pool. We spend the night at the Holiday Inn.

Thursday August 24:
Up early again, and another continential breakfast… then we hit the road once more. We detour and take the scenic route through Sonoma and the Wine Country, and then cross over the Golden Gate bridge throught he rolling fog into San Francisco!

We check into our hotel – Hilton Garden Inn in South San Francisco – and then take the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to the downtown Union Square shopping district. We do lots of window shopping and have dinner at Lois’ Dinner. Caleb enjoys his Spaghetti kids meal. The poor little guy was tuckered out from all his adventures he fell asleep on the BART on the way back to our hotel.

Friday August 25:
We finally had a day were we could sleep in – yay! caleb had a quick breakfast in our hotel room, and then we headed towards downtown San Francisco. Our first stop: In & Out Burger. Caleb had a horrible time waiting, but really enjoyed his burger once it came! We explored Fisherman’s Wharf and all the fun of Pier 39. Caleb loved the carousel and was intrigued by the sea lions.

He was also very fond of the San Fransisco Sourdough bun he got. That night we met up with Great Aunt Joan, and cousins Chris and Dwayne, and also Jessica and her boyfriend. Aunt Joan treated us all to a big chinese dinner. Caleb decided this was the night he was going to misbehave… it was a long dinner and 1 night out 12 for misbehaviour was okay. (He was great the rest of the trip!)

Saturday August 26:
We had breakfast at our hotel this morning – Caleb has a new found love of breakfast sausage and waffles. Then we headed back to downtown San Francisco. This time we park in the discount parking lot we’d found the day before, and then explored the Ghiradelli factory and the Cannery. We then hopped on the cable car trolly (after a long wait… but a free ride) and rode into Union Square. Caleb was so excited on the cable car, he was holding on and jumping around…. until he fell asleep. We window shopped and then walked to Chinatown. Caleb woke up and we had lunch. We found the Apple store for Adam and were disappointed to find out that FAO Swartz was closed for renovations. We had dinner that night at Aunt Joan’s.

Sunday August 27:
Up early… because we had made the big decision the night before that we were heading for Disneyland. We packed up and drove to Monterey. We spent the early afternoon at the Monterey Aquarium. Caleb loved the touch pools and the water play areas. Then we continued on towards Anaheim. It was a long drive, and around 9pm we saw the sign for the Disney Resort Exits. When we mentioned the next exiot was Disneyland Drive – Caleb let out a huge YAY from the backseat!

Monday August 28:
M-I-C-K-E-Y…M-O-U-S-E!
We spent all day and night in the magic kindom and it was a blast. We wer right up front for the welcoming greeting from Mickey and the Gang, and Caleb got a high 5 from Donald Duck. Then we went on the carousel, and visited with Pooh and friends. Caleb ran up to Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore and gave each lots of hugs and kisses. Later in the afternoon we visited Mickey in his house. Caleb got to have Mickey all to himself for almost 10 minutes. They were cuddling and Caleb was kissing Mickey’s nose. It made the long drive all worth it! We had a wonderful time!

  

Tuesday August 29:
We started to head North and made it all the way to Sacramento that night. It was a long day of driving!

Wednesday August 30:
We made it up to Eugene Oregon after another long driving day. We stopped at a Barnes and Noble and Caleb got some time to play with the train table and other kids. Then we went for an evening swim at the hotel pool. we stayed at a Courtyard Marriott and it was the most comfortable bed ever!

Thursday August 31:
We left Eugene and headed west to Florence Oregon. We visited the famous sea lion caves. Caleb was only intersted in climbing the stairs, but the sea lions were cool to see. We drove along the scenic highway 101 Oregon coast, and then stopped in Woodburn for some great outlet shopping.  We scored some major deals! We made it to Seattle WA that night.

Friday: Septemebr 1:
We spend a fun day in Seattle.  We visited the Woodland Park Zoo and showed Caleb all sorts of animals.  He loved the elephants.  And half way through he fell asleep and missed out on a few things – oh well – we took pictures for him!  Then we went shopping at the Auburn Supermall – it was fun.  Tons of great outlets!  Caleb had a fantastic time playing in the kids area. He was laughing and chasing other kids, and moving so fast he lost his diaper! We then went out for a nice family dinner at Elliots down at the Piers.  It was a long funfilled day.

Saturday September 2:
Our trip comes to a close with a long wait at the Canadian border.  Caleb watched a lot of Elmo and Finding Nemo as we waited at the Peace Arch.  We finally made it to the ferries and caught the 7pm boat home.  Caleb had a blast playing in the kids area.  He made lots of new friends and kept everyone on the ferry entertained with his antics.  We made it home just before 10.

It was a long but wonderful roadtrip, full of good times, memories and of course lots and lots of pictures!  You can view some of them here: California Trip Photo Gallery.  We will try to add more later!