California Adventure

I have very much enjoyed sending mobile updates to Blogger via text message, but by request am filling in some details.

We're a little late...

We left my house Tuesday around 11 am. We were supposed to leave around 6am, but were up late doing laundry and entertaining Chip. My wonderful mother decided I would be a better driver if I had a decent amount of sleep...

After leaving the house we went to the 32nd street base to fill up our gas tank at a discount of approximately 15 cents per gallon :)

We then began our journey north. Our first stop was the wayside rest in Oceanside where Jax was a very good dog and went both #1 and #2 outside the truck!

Around 1pm, we left the rest stop and continued north. I pulled off the 5 onto the PCH in Dana Point because I wanted Mom to see more than just a freeway. My original plan was to stay on the PCH through Newport Beach, but since it took us an hour to get to Laguna Beach, I changed my mind. I had also planned to stop at my favorite artist's gallery in Laguna Beach, but decided against it when we could not find parking :(

I drove Mom through the Laguna Canyon and then proceeded north on the 405. I was eagerly awaiting the Goodyear blimp, but of course our next destination required us exiting the 405 prior to the blimp's parking spot.

We took the 710 south. I made sure to tell my mom the story of the job I quit because I refused to drive the 710 (aka the semi-truck freeway leading to and from the biggest cargo pier I have ever seen). We had a good laugh at some of my idiosyncracies :)

I, of course, chose the wrong direction on Ocean Avenue, but we made the best of it by giving Jax a chance to walk and seeing the Queen Mary.


When we were finally headed in the correct direction, Mom immediately began snapping pictures of the cargo trailers, the cranes, the waterways, the piers, and the very cool Vincent Thomas bridge.

I drove her through cute little San Pedro and then BAM! Rancho Palos Verdes. Never before had my mother enjoyed houses of that size or that beauty. Never before had my mom experienced views of a golf course overlooking the ocean. It was awesomesauce.


We then drove north on Rancho Palos Verdes Drive and eventually ended up on the PCH in Redondo Beach. Have you ever seen this town?! It is ADORABLE! Hermosa and Manhatten Beaches are not so much.

We pulled over at a Target on Sepulveda and checked the map...Because it was already 4:30 pm, we decided to skip all of Los Angeles and head straight towards Malibu.

Then we got to our last opportunity to go to the LA/Hollywood area and at the last second, I changed my mind. When is my mom ever going to have this chance again? When are my mom and ME ever going to have the chance to do it together? Who cares if we don't make it to all of our destinations, let her at least see Beverly Hills!

So I took the 105 to the 405. (Mom was a little disappointed that we didn't actually go on the part of the road that drove through LAX because she has seen that in movies...I had no idea what she was talking about, and at the sound of LAX was instantly happy I had I turned. LOL)


Of course, poor planning leads to traffic at 4:30 in Los Angeles.


But we eventually made it to Santa Monica Boulevard. Then I couldn't remember what exactly was so cool about Santa Monica Boulevard (except the Sheryl Crow song), so I took her to Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills. We got to see the house Lucille Ball once lived in at 1001 Roxbury Drive.


Truthfully, neither the photo nor my written words can describe the grandeur of that house - or any house on Roxbury Drive for that matter. My mom took SO many photos! We laughed because we realized that mom and me could have actually spent a whole day walking up down those streets admiring the houses (and maybe asking a few of the residents to just let us see how they decorated the interior).

Then I took her down Sunset Boulevard and showed her the Roxy, Whiskey-a-Go-Go and the Viper Room. (Channing, please look up River Phoenix.)

Next we drove down Rodeo Drive. Her response? "Not at all what I had expected."

We then somehow ended up back on Sunset (there was also a little problem with a steep hill and my truck in reverse, but we made it out okay). We stopped at the Will Rogers Memorial Park to let Jax walk around. It is a gorgeous five-acre park across the street from the Beverly Hills Hotel. I recommend walking through it if you are ever up there.


We decided that we had better head out to Santa Monica, because our final destination was Chris's mom's in Oxnard. I mistakenly thought Sunset ran straight through, but that was definitely not the case...We were on Beverly Glen Drive and then like a beacon beckoning me, I saw the infamous Mulholland Drive!! I couldn't help myself. This is what road trips are meant to be, right? Always doing stuff you meant to do...So I took it. I figured we'd either drive off a cliff like James Dean or see the Hollywood sign. Neither of which happened.

We took Mulholland drive all the way to Laurel Canyon, but then had to turn around and go back, because it was getting dark and I didn't want to drive that crazy road after sunset...We looked at a map later and realized we were extremely close to seeing the Hollywood sign :(

Eventually we found the 405 and took that to the 10 into Santa Monica. Mom shot a couple snaps of the pier, but we didn't park. $8?! Are you kidding me?!

We took the 1 and found Cher's house. Yip-skip-skippy!!! (Thanks, James!)

$2.96 per gallon!

We filled up our gas at the Point Mugu Naval Base for only $2.96/gallon. In Malibu it had been $3.25!

We finally ended up at the Jack-in-the-Box in Oxnard around 10:30. Mommy no likey.

Now we rest...

We arrived at my mother-in-law Carolyn's around 11 and then sat up until about 1:30am chatting.

And then we crashed...thus ends Day 1.

(I'll add pics on Sunday.)