California Trip - L.A / Universal Studios

Our last couple of days were spent back in Los Angeles. We drove in from Palm Springs and headed straight to Erewhon (thanks Tik Tok) for a smoothie and some lunch.

We detoured via Rodeo Drive for a look then headed up the hills to Griffith Observatory.

A must to view the Hollywood sign and look over L.A. It was pretty smoggy when we were there but we had fun cruising the streets in the hills and found a great lookout at Jerome C Daniel overlook on Mulholland Drive.

We checked into the Hilton Universal City and hung out by the pool for the afternoon.

 Ready for our day at Universal Studios the next day.

We had booked our tickets online earlier - We chose the Universal Express which gave you the option to skip the lines on certain rides but were offered an upgrade at the gate to VIP tickets.

These were great as there were no lines and we really got to enjoy all rides with no wait times, multiple times. Noah and Jasper really utilised them when they went on a Harry Potter ride 11 times in a row!

We had a great Italian dinner at Buca di Beppo that night at Universal City Walk  (a bunch of restaurants and shops near the park)

We had a late check out on the day we were flying out. Our flight wasn't until 11.40pm so we had a whole day to fill. We decided to head over to Santa Monica to check out the pier and Venice Beach.

They are very iconic but a bit gritty and dirty!

We decided to have an early dinner before our flight so headed to the Cheesecake Factory at The Grove.

Some great shops to browse too.

All in all we had a wonderful time and it was so good to have that time as a family together.

It was a busy time and I'm thankful we have a week to chill before school goes back.

Our California Trip - Part 4 - Palm Springs

After our wonderfully busy 3 days at Disneyland and California Adventure Park we knew we wanted to slow things down a little and have a couple of days of relaxation. So we headed out to the desert to stay in Palm Springs for a couple of nights. 

When I was researching hotels in Palm Springs I found that most hotels in town weren't really family friendly for a family of 5 due to room size and layout so we decided to stay out of town (20 mins) in a villa at the Marriott Resort Desert Springs. This was a great choice for us as we could all spread out a little, catch up on some washing and make a few meals at home. Plus there was everything we needed in the resort, pool , kids play area, restaurants, supermarket etc

Day 11 - Palm Springs

We checked out of our Disney hotel and drove  the 2 hours to Palm Springs.

There was the most beautiful scenery on the drive,  you could really see the landscape change. Mountains on one side and the desert on the other. Along the way we stopped a couple of times to jump out and take photos at Cabazon Dinosaurs and with the wind turbines.

We passed the Desert Hill Outlet stores but as we weren't in a shopping mood we kept driving.

We arrived in Palm Springs and took a drive through town to get our bearings. I knew that "that pink door" was only a couple of streets back from the centre of town so we just had to make a stop for some photos there. It is just as beautiful in real life and quite surreal to see one of my favourite Pinterest pics in front of me!

As our villa was out of town we decided to hang out in Palm Springs a bit before driving to our hotel. All the hotels in Palm Springs allow you to chill out by their pool and eat at their restaurants. 

We checked out The Ace Hotel + The Saguaro for a bite to eat and a swim.

We then headed to our villa to check in.

Day 12 - Palm Springs

We had a sleep in and then decided to relax by the pool for a couple of hours. Our boys are like fish and always happy when they are swimming. Our feet were happy for a rest too after all the walking they did in Disneyland! By lunch time we had decided to try a couple of the frozen drinks the bar had. Simon had some kind of Corona/Margarita combo and I had a mango daiquiri. Bliss!

Later on that afternoon we drove back in to Palm Springs for a browse around the shops and of course had to stop for lunch at In n Out.

Palm Springs was a lovely change of pace for us. Everyone seems to come to town to hang by the pool and relax. Maybe some squeeze in a game of golf in that desert heat. I couldn't get enough of those palm trees against the mountains. Stunning!

Day 13 - Joshua Tree
(on our way to Las Vegas)

We checked out of our hotel and drove towards the Joshua Tree National Park about 1 hr away.
The park is huge and has lots of entrances. You can choose to camp there or just drive through one of the loop roads to see a bit of the amazing landscapes, beautiful rocks and stunning Joshua Trees.

We drove the loop road between Joshua Tree Town and Twenty Nine Palms Town in the Mojave Desert section of the Joshua Tree National Park. We entered at The West Entrance Station of the park. We then drove for 1 hour through the national park stopping for photos and taking in the beautiful scenery. There are some amazingly huge boulders that you can rock climb on if you have the equipment. We decided to just take photos in front of them ;)

We then drove the 4 hours to Las Vegas.
I'll share more details of the Vegas leg of the trip tomorrow.

Some places on my Palm Springs sight seeing list......

Wind Turbines

Palm Springs sign

Cabazon Dinosaurs

Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

Moorten Botanical Garden

Ace Hotel

That pink door -
(1100 E Sierra Way)

Parker Hotel

Saguaro Hotel

Joshua Tree

Outlet Stores

Palm Spring Restaurants

Norma's - Parker Hotel

Cheeky's - fab brunch

Birba - Italian

Ice Cream Shoppe - 1551 N Palm Canyon Dr

Kings Highway diner - Ace Hotel

Fresh Agave - Mexian Bar + Grill


You can catch up on the other sections of our California trip here.....

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3