A July 2025 trip to California checked all the boxes. Spend time with our Highland-based relatives. Check. Spend an epic day at Disneyland. Check. Spend a day at the beach. Check. Drive through San Diego’s beach communities and hipster neighborhoods. Check. Revisiting a few places (and new places in the area) to see how the measured up to Dad’s memory. Check. In addition to wonderful this vacation felt…productive.
We landed in Ontario around midnight. Charlotte opted to spend the night and morning with her cousins. The next day was about West Coast acclimation. To make the most of the unplanned morning, we went to the San Bernardino County Museum, which is a pretty decent museum and a great value at $10 - Charlotte was free. The Museum shared San Bernardino’s history including its citrus-based economics and Route 66 roadtrip/driving culture. Other areas included native animal displays, past and present, the highlight being a life-size mastodon. For lunch we settled our In-n-Out fix.
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We then did a loop up to Lake Arrowhead to visit a previously missed microbrewery (good) and make a second pass at Lake Arrowhead Village to see if it was as good as remembered (ehh ok). Pizza dinner with cousins back in Highland then an early night for the first of four epic days.
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Day One: American Dessert. It had been over a decade since Dad last visited Joshua Tree and his memories were…not good. We did a park North to South drive through and left unimpressed. Would this trip be different? But first breakfast at JT Country Kitchen for an Anthony Bourdain approved breakfast. A cappuccino at Joshua Tree coffee, arguably the best coffee of the trip, then onward to Joshua Tree.
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Joshua Tree was exactly as I remembered - a rocky, desert landscape dotted with the parks namesake trees. Unless the plan to do some serious back country hiking and/or stargazing, there’s not much the park offers to the “casual” drive through visitor. There’s no major, must see “destination” in the park - no iconic photo or memorable landscape. No one is mistaking Joshua Tree for Yosemite or Yellowstone.
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Yet I like it a lot better the second time through. Having a companion helped. Having someone who wants to scramble along the rocks and stand in wonder beneath the unique trees helps create a stronger and better memory of the park. We stopped at a couple of rock formations. Survey the Joshua Tree landscape. If there’s a must stop in the park, maybe it’s Skull Rock although no one’s driving from Los Angeles solely for Skull Rock.
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The key with enjoying Joshua Tree is incorporating the park into a larger American Desert trip. On Dad’s first trip, he exited at the park’s southern gate, continuing to the Salton Sea and Bombay Beach, then Indio. This time we exited at the park’s east entrance at Twentynine Palms. From here we were off to a new spot - Amboy. The drive to Amboy goes through “off the grid” communities - the drives defining features are the community mailboxes along the road - which make life easier for the USPS rather than needing to drive down dirt road after dirt road. California’s known as a liberal environment but the state has a decent amount of the other extreme, of which the people living out in the desert may be the best example. Even this is an interesting split as these desert communities seem to cater to the extremes - either the communal “spirit” types, best exemplified by Slab City, or the “I hate the government, leave me alone with my Freedom” types. I find the desert setting all very ironic as the environment prevents you from truly living the “idyllic” life. You can’t grow crops. You can’t raise livestock. You need the modern convenience of air conditioning. Which means you are reliant on Walmart and Dollar General - a very odd juxtaposition for the extreme fist shakers. Way to show it to the man.
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The End of the World sculpture is a must stop (and really the only stop) on the way to Amboy.
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But why/what is Amboy? Amboy caught my eye on social media several years ago. The town was the last stop on Route 66 before returning to civilization in San Bernardino- the last night in the wilderness. Roy Crowl opened a hotel and gas station for weary travelers. The operations were busy until the day Interstate 40 was completed and the town is now forever bypassed. Are you familiar with Radiator Springs? Amboy is the inspiration. Several years ago, Albert Okura, purchased the entire town of Amboy, for $425,000, restored Roy’s, and thanks to social media, the town now draws a steady flow of travelers seeking an off the beaten path relic of a bygone travel era. It’s about a forty minute drive from Twentynine Palms to Amboy - well worth visiting on a trip to Joshua Tree. I may be a bit biased. In my quest to see everything, Amboy started to build up as a mythical destination on that quest. I thought it did not disappoint. We spent maybe twenty minutes here - taking a few photos, buying a few keepsakes, then began the trek back to Twentynine Palms. You can enter the hotel rooms but the reception area is block by a glass enclosure - not much to do beyond taking photos.
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For lunch we stopped at Pappy and Harriet’s in Pioneertown, another Anthony Bourdain approved destination, and one that Dad previously enjoyed. This time around Dad wasn’t quite sure why he enjoyed Pioneertown/Pappy and Harriet’s. The area didn’t feel authentic. More tourist kitsch. There’s a recreated pioneer town with a heavy emphasis on recreated. Did Dad think this was original last time? A miniature Tombstone in the California desert? Who knows but Pioneertown is off the American Desert list. Should have bounced up to the Lucerne Valley. Had we gone to the Lucerne Valley we would have missed one off America’s great roadside attractions - the Cabazon Dinosaurs. We’ve passed these dinosaurs numerous times, typically we are passed the exit when we see them and always lament that we will stop next time. Now it was next time. The highlight of this attraction are the Brontosaurus and T-Rex both free and easily accessible. We paid the $20 admission to see the rest of the dinosaur collection and like most roadside attractions it was a bit underwhelming. Fifty plus dinosaurs, none as large as the two out front, still decent but the heat. At two in the afternoon we raced through taking a few photos and heading back to the air conditioning in the car. A light dinner with the cousins then early to bed for the upcoming, most epic day.
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Day Two: Disneyland. For better and worse you (or at least me) hype up locations like Disneyland prior to arrival. For better, you know that your kids will think it’s a great experience - the rides, the characters. It’s a seminal event for American youths. Visiting Disney has a nostalgia factor that’s as woven into American culture as hotdogs and baseball. But the cost. The crowds. Does that overshadow the experience? I don’t think so. The worst aspects where easily justifiable (even the peak pricing $200 ticket was a good value) and easily manageable, the crowds only felt bad for the evening shows, at which point I was exhausted anyway. Peter Pan was the only ride we skipped because the wait time never went under thirty minutes. Mickeys Runaway BLANK was the only ride we were prevented from going on due to maintenance issues. Those two rides would have added an hour to the day and we did not have an hour to spare. Exhaustion prevented us from doing Nemo’s Underwater Adventure. Otherwise nonstop fun. Our Disneyland experience started with the obligatory entrance photo opportunity, a walk down Main Street, then more photos in front of Sleeping Beauty’s castle.
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We started with the classic, kid friendly rides in Fasntasyland behind the castle. Mister Toad’s Wild Ride. Dumbo. Alice in Wonderland. King Arthur’s Carousel. Snow Whites Enchanted Ride. All wait times less than fifteen minutes. All wonderful and fun rides - heavy nostalgia influence. The general comment about Disneyland, particularly when taking a kid under 40 inches, is that the rides are classics. Cars on a track. Vivid images. But nothing too fancy. It’s a formula that’s worked for Disneyland for 70 years but no way could a company open a theme park with these rides today and think it’d be successful. The rides would have been amazing in the 1950s and 1960s - it’s mostly nostalgic factor now, for adults, but it’s a heavy nostalgic factor - I enjoyed the rides as much as Charlotte.
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We did a Sleeping Beauty castle walkthrough then waited in line at Royal Hall for a princess meet and great. Charlotte greeted Ariel, Cinderella, and Tianna with a hug.
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We met up with the cousins in Frontierland/Adventureland, which is unarguably the greatest couple of amusement acres in the world, and quickly made our way to Jungle Cruise, which along with Pirates of the Caribbean, was our (Dad’s favorite ride). Charlotte rode in the front of the boat keeping a watchful eye out for all the river creatures along the Nile, Amazon, Zambezi and other rivers. Next up Pirates of the Caribbean. Disney rides rely on heavy nostalgia but arguably the most impressive ride elements are the length and dynamic story telling. From the outside, Pirates of the Caribbean doesn’t seem to have a lot of space to work with but it winds up being at least a five minute ride. The park must have miles of ground “tunnels” and space that the rides wind through. Also every part of the ride has something to look at, something to capture your attention, there’s a story to accompany every ride and it’s repeated and excellently done ride after ride. We then took a ride on the tall ship Columbia. The park constantly integrates features across the Disney catalogue into its rides. Dad ordered lunch from the Disneyland app and our meal was ready when we exited the Columbia. At this point, the day is so wonderful, the $200 admissions price has left your mind and there’s no hesitation order a bit of extra food for lunch. The foods great too and similar to the tickets, a good value. After lunch we used our lightning passes to blitz the line at The Haunted Mansion. This was the scariest of the rides, or at least dad thinking so from Charlotte’s perspective but fun, great storytelling is still the underlying ride description.
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Two of Dad's favorite movies growing up were Davy Crockett and Swiss Family Robinson. Frontierland has the Gullywumper, Mike Fink's keelboat, and a recreation of the Swiss Family Robinson house - Dad loved seeing these.
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We then took a train to Mickey’s Toontown - the train still runs on steam power, which, well creates some issues and delays. The only annoying part of the trip was waiting on the trains. At Toontown, the sign outdide Mickeys house showed a 45-minute wait to meet Mickey, the app said 15 minutes. Fortunately the app was correct. Beyond night show crowd control, the Disney staff doesn’t really push the patrons around - you want to take a bunch of photos at the entrance or with Mickey? You can take as many photos as you want - within reason. There’s no rush. It’s frustrating and a bit annoying while you wait but when it’s your turn it actually feels like you have the experience to yourself. The princesses are focused on you. Mickey is focused on you. It feels personalized like you are the first person Mickey’s taken a photo with.
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We then went to Its a Small World. When I was a kid I thought small world meant was about the mini humans you see on the ride - they were small and lived in a small world. Enjoyed the ride this time seeing all the cultural and country specific elements of the small world and how we are all tied together.
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Another train to Tomorrowland. Charlotte took the wheel (or not) at Autopia while dad handled the gas pedal. We were in a tight race with blue car and overtook them in the track’s final turns. Charlotte dominated the laser shooting at Buzz’s Astroblasters. Even when we returned a second time and Dad focused solely on shooting, no photos or videos, her score at the end of the ride was more than double dads. We took a break around 4.
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One of the nice features of Anaheim’s Disneyland is there are reasonably priced hotels within walking distance of the parks entrance. We paid $350 for the night at a Fairfield which was less than a ten minute walk. The hotel also let us park there in the morning. We returned to the park around 7 and did the Buzz ride a second time then made our way to the Tiki Room. There’s so much great things to say about Disneyland and it goes beyond the traditional rides to also include the shows. The Tiki Room is nothing more than a few animatronics, birds, flowers, tikis, that move and sing, yet it’s so much more. It’s so simple yet perfectly executed.
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At this point Dad was exhausted. People had been camping out for the 8:45 night parade since we re-entered the park at 7. There was no way we’d get a decent spot. Those crowds would then fill the streets for the fire works. Charlotte went with mom and cousins to watch the fireworks. Dad went to see Fantasmic, a show that pulls together all elements of Disney’s film library culminating in the Mark Twain riverboat passing by filled with characters from Ariel to Toy Story. In between there was a Peter Pan and Captain Hook sword fight, princesses passing on rafts, and a range of hero and villain character cameos. It was a perfect day
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Day Three: Laguna Beach. How do you follow up a perfect day? Head to Laguna Beach. On the way we stopped in Old Towne Orange, drove through Santa Ana and did a quick, “accidental” stop in San Clemente. Accidentally? Dad recalled San Clemente being a sleepy SoCal beach town. He must have visited offseason in November or something because when we arrived it was so crowded dad didn’t even bother to stop the car. On to Laguna Beach. Dad recalled Laguna Beach being a bit quiet too. Again, that must have been an offseason visit. On a sunny, 80-degree, summer Sunday, the town was a bit bonkers. Fortunately, the hotel had plenty of parking. We walked down to Laguna’s main commercial area. Then had lunch at The Cliff House. We went back the car, changed into our bathing suits, and spent the rest of the day at the beach or in the hotel pool. We started with Laguna’s Main Beach - the town hub and a slightly chaotic beach scene. People everywhere. Charlotte resorted to her go to beach activities- building castles and throwing sand into the ocean. Although the ocean did fight back once with a devasting undertow and wave combo that knocked Charlotte down but not out.
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We took a break at the hotel pool. Then went returned to beach across from the hotel. Narrower beach with not as many crowds. We spent another two hours at the beach mostly working on drip castles. Back to the hotel pool but changed in time to capture an ok sunset. Followed by an ok dinner (should have made reservations somewhere). Still a great day.
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Day Four: San Diego. San Diego was the trip bookend. Dad had been wanting to do a trip to San Diego’s beach communities and hipster neighborhoods for a while - this circuit was a major miss from the time he lived in California. We started the day with breakfast at Harry’s, a La Jolla breakfast institution. At La Jolla Cove we could smell the sea lions before we could see them. Easily over one hundred sea lions between a stage of getting ready for the day or still exhausted from the night before.
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Then a stop for donuts in Ocean Beach. We rounded out the San Diego beach town swing with a stop for coffee in Ocean Park.
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We now had some decisions to make. What to do? San Diego’s major tourist spots, the Zoo, the animal safari, Sea World, the Gaslamp District, etc. will be covered in a later trip. The focus now was to knock out the non-touristy areas. From Ocean Park we drove through San Diego’s Old Town, across Sunset Blvd, and through Hillcrest and Bankers Hill. We reached Balboa Park and took a quick tour of the Comic Con Museum - which may have been one of the worst museums I’ve ever been to. Photos online made it appear that there were Spider-Man, Batman, etc. costumes to take photos with - you know the major Cosplay costumes associate with Comic Con. Not the case. That was from a onetime exhibit two years ago. In its place was now a Doctor Who, which ok, but still, how is there not a better permanent collection of great Comic Con costumes?
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We ate lunch at Toney’s 19th Hole which overlooks a golf course in Balboa Park. Good patty melt. Great views.
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From here we went to see the USS Midway - which I wouldn’t have considered a major tourist site on par with the San Diego zoo but wow, what an amazing experience and a must stop on any San Diego trip itinerary. You don’t quite understand the magnitude of an aircraft carrier until you are on one. Absolutely impressive. Charlotte checked out all the helicopters and planes. We didn’t read much of the exhibits but I could easily see spending 2-3 hours here if a three-year-old wasn’t pulling at your arm.
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From here we ate ice cream in Little Italy and drank a beer (dad only) at Karl Strauss, a granddaddy of a microbrewery that helped kick start America’s microbrewery revival. Maybe it was the blitz but San Diego sort of all bled together. The beach communities all felt over developed. The non-touristy neighborhoods all sort of look the same. Nice weather but where’s the soul? Glad to knock this out and will return sooner rather than later for the rest of San Diego’s major sites. Long drive back to Redlands. Long day flying home. I’m tired.
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