After spending several days with Auntie Dana and Uncle Brad at their beautiful home in Fallbrook, California, we recently returned home to Henderson. The occasion was Spring Break, and this was our first time leaving Clark County since moving here last June! Before I get into the trip’s details, I want to thank Dana and Brad so much for their hospitality. They took terrific care of us, and we had the best time seeing them, their house, and reconnecting with Southern California.
Driving to San Diego
The trip began for us on Friday evening. After picking the kids up from school, we packed our final few things in the van and hit the road. Traffic wasn’t an issue for us because not many people are leaving Las Vegas on a Friday evening, but the traffic heading to Las Vegas from California was awful. I highly recommend not driving to Las Vegas from Southern California on a Friday afternoon or evening.
We made great time, and even though we stopped twice, it still took less than 5 hours to get to their house in Fallbrook. If you’re unfamiliar with Fallbrook, it’s in North County, just a bit east of Carlsbad and Oceanside. It has a small-town feel, even though it’s only 45 minutes from the beach. I actually bought a car once in Fallbrook, back when I was first living in Las Vegas. I’ve always loved how it’s known as “The Avocado Capital of the World.”
It used to take us about 5.5 hours to drive from our house in San Diego to my Mom’s house in Las Vegas, but we were much further south. Driving to North County is a lot easier, and even the kids agreed that the drive was no big deal. They’re road trip pros at this point.
Beach Day in Carlsbad
We knew from the weather forecast that Saturday, which was our first full day in town, would have the warmest weather of our trip. Based on this, we decided to make Saturday our beach day. Of course, we would still visit other beaches during the trip, but this was the only day where we would change into swimsuits and play in the water.
Although the water was cold, it was still so much fun splashing around and playing in the sand. It feels weird to say this, but the kids had never been to a sandy beach before. Technically, Ava did when she was a baby, but that’s it. They always loved going to beaches in Washington, but there’s nothing but rocky shores unless you’re going out to the coast (which they were not).
Seeing the kids having a blast at the beach gave Jessica and me a lot of joy. We moved from Seattle to San Diego almost exactly 12 years ago, and we were essentially starting from scratch. There weren’t many extra luxuries in our lives at that time, but one thing we always had was the beach. Going to the beach in San Diego was a huge part of our lives during our first couple of years of marriage, so this experience with the kids felt like we had come full circle.
Getting to experience all of this with Dana and Brad made it that much more special too. I got some great footage of Enzo and Brad playing catch on the beach, and Dana was super helpful with the kids, filming, and keeping everything in order. On our way home to Nevada, we talked about our favorite days of the trip. Although the girls chose the zoo day, Enzo and I both said the day at the beach in Carlsbad was our favorite.
In my opinion, nothing else could replicate the pure sense of joy everyone had during that first beach day. I think you can clearly see it in our video, but I also love this group photo. The funny thing about this photo was that I was doing all the manual settings on the camera to get the exact exposure I wanted, then I had to arrange everyone. Once the whole thing was set up, we posed for the photos on 10-second timers. I took a couple of pictures and thought we were done, only to realize that I had accidentally been recording video the whole time and had taken zero pictures. So then we got to do the entire thing over again.
Visiting Pacific Beach and Mission Beach
Dana and Brad decided to lay low at home on Sunday, so the 5 of us headed down to Pacific Beach to see our old stomping grounds. First, we rolled through La Jolla and showed the kids the famous cove on the way there. Then, we cruised through Bird Rock on our way toward Pacific Beach, and it was at this point, Elise declared how much she loved beach houses. Although, I think her opinion changed a bit after seeing the type of beach house we used to live in. Let’s just say it was nothing like what she had just seen in those posh little neighborhoods.
Luckily our favorite old pizza spot, Woodstock’s Pizza, was not only still there but open for lunch. So we took the kids there, and most of us really enjoyed our pizza. Unfortunately for Enzo, he accidentally received some type of sweet dough for his pizza, although he didn’t say anything until it was nearly gone, so we didn’t feel like we could ask for another.
After finishing our lunches, we stumbled upon a cool-looking hat store as we walked toward the beach. Jessica and I have a bit of history purchasing hats on vacation, and the trend continued with this trip. Ava got a pair of sunglasses, but the rest of us walked out with new hats on our heads.
Feeling extra stylish, we walked down the Pacific Beach boardwalk as it turned into Mission Beach, then eventually turned around and made our way back to the van. During the walk, Ava kept commenting on how many people seemed to be showing off for my camera. It’s funny how people react in the presence of a video camera; some try to do something silly or funny, some try to show off, and some try to hide their faces. Ava is very aware of how people react when they see me filming, and the stuff she says in the video cracks me up.
Taking the kids to Coronado Island
We weren’t ready to call it a day after our boardwalk stroll, so we drove out to Coronado Island and showed the kids the hotel we stayed in on our honeymoon. If you’re not arriving by boat, visiting Coronado Island involves driving over a tall bridge. Think the West Seattle bridge times three. Once you get there, it feels like you’re on a movie set. The neighborhood streets are the most picturesque thing you’ve ever seen.
We watched the sunset while the kids played on the beach, then made our way back north to have dinner with Dana and Brad.
A change of plans on Monday
Monday was originally going to be our Zoo day, but unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way. Instead, I woke up in the middle of the night was a splitting migraine headache. Migraines have become more common for me over the past few years, and I was prepared for this. I took migraine medicine right away, but it didn’t work, and I couldn’t go back to sleep.
By the time everyone else was getting up for the day, I was a wreck. I couldn’t make it to the zoo, so Dana and Brad took the kids out for the day while Jessica stayed home with me. I was really bummed out about messing up our plans, but we were able to shift some things around and do the zoo on Tuesday instead.
Visiting the San Diego Zoo
Tuesday was our last full day of the trip, and we made the most of it. We spent the whole day at the San Diego Zoo, and as previously mentioned, it was Ava, Elise, and Jessica’s favorite day of the trip. As expected, we saw a wide variety of animals throughout the day. The monkeys were wildly entertaining, although I liked watching the flamingos as well. In addition, we saw a peacock on the roof, but oddly enough, I’ve seen this before when visiting the zoo in Seattle.
The most memorable part of the day came near the end inside one of the aviary exhibits. I was zooming in on a peacock when I heard Jessica yell out that she had just been pooped on! The same thing had recently happened to my Mom while holding parrots with Ava at Pirate Fest. Unfortunately, I wasn’t there and couldn’t capture that incident on video, but not this time.
I was rolling video the whole time during Jessica’s incident and found it pretty hilarious. It soon became clear that the birds were aiming at us because poop was coming down everywhere. We had to regroup under a small covered area and then make a run for the door. Jessica got hit again as we ran, and I couldn’t stop laughing. For once, it felt like I was filming at the perfect time.
Back to Henderson
Driving back to Henderson, or “Hendo” as we call it, was just as easy as our drive on Friday night. Again, we picked the right time and benefitted from the fact that not many people are driving to Las Vegas on a Wednesday afternoon. Like our drive on Friday night, we stopped twice yet still made it in less than five hours.
Our cats were as excited to see us as we were of them. I need to give my Mom a big shout-out for coming to our house twice while we were gone to check on them. As always, it’s good to come home, but this was our first time coming home to our house in Henderson. As I said earlier, we hadn’t left the county since moving here last June, but one of the things we liked about moving here was that it was a central location for road trips.
There are so many more places we want to drive to, but it felt fitting for our first road trip since moving here would be to San Diego. Obviously, our family has a history there, and introducing our kids to the area was special for us. I hope it won’t be long before our next road trip, but this is one we’ll never forget. Check out the video above to see more of the trip, plus here are a few more photos.
