Before we start: Millennials of a certain age simply cannot think about California and not also think of the O.C. theme song, right? Because I’ve got a one-track playlist going on in my head right now, babyyyy.
ANYWAY. Our family headed to the west coast for the first time, to visit friends in LA, check out a theme park, and of course hit the beach! Read more to see how we entertained ourselves on the long flight, and the activities we did once we made it to Cali!
Day 1 – Travel Day (Plane Activity Ideas!)
Oof, our departure day for this trip was a tough one – minutes before boarding time, it was announced that our flight was delayed, and delayed, and… delayed. By the time we actually boarded, we’d been at the airport for over four hours. I’ve gotta hand it to my little travelers, though, they did great, considering.
Once on the plane, I experimented with some new activities and revisited some old favorites:
- Window clings – these were great! They entertained the kids for a long time, not messy at all, and super cute. Kinda hard to use more than a couple times, though, since they get a little dirty.
- Small whiteboards and markers – moderate amount of interest from my kids, new way to draw and write instead of crayons.
- “Create-a-Scene” sticker book – I liked this! The pages depicted different. backgrounds, and you could use the stickers to add characters and details.
- Travel “Guess Who?” – I’ve burned myself before by bringing things that have lots of pieces, and I’ve learned from it 😀 This was great – fun, but really nothing droppable, just the two boards.
- Clay – I’m told some people hate the smell of play-doh, haha, so I got actual clay. Not my most favorite activity, but the kids like it and it’s not too messy, so this was a repeat activity for us.
Once we landed at LAX and got our rental car, we were ready to hit the road… right during rush hour… in Los Angeles. A long, annoying drive to wrap up a long, annoying day, but In-N-Out helped!
For the first night of our trip, we decided to stay at a hotel near Universal Studios, since that would be our first stop the next day. We opted for an Embassy Suites – this chain is one of our faves since the rooms are spacious and there’s free breakfast, which makes for an easy morning.
Day 2 – Universal Studios Hollywood
I started writing my review of Universal Studios, but the summary just kept going… and going… so I split it off into its own post here!
The short version is that Super Nintendo World blew our minds and, overall, we had a great time, despite some challenges because of our kids’ ages/heights!
Days 3 & 4 – Zuma Beach & Pool
After we left Universal Studios, we headed to our Airbnb! We booked a place in Reseda, which felt like a good central location for anything we might want to do. I’m glad we rented a place with a nice pool, because it turned out that allll we wanted to do the next two days was alternate between beach and pool lounging.
Ahead of our trip, I was a little nervous because I was reading that many of the beaches near LA were unsafe due to bacteria. After a crazy-person amount of googling, it looked like Zuma Beach was our best bet.
I was really happy with our choice! The drive was beautiful and relaxing (especially because the children napped) and once we arrived, the parking was plentiful and $8. There was one port-a-potty but it was dis-gust-ing and we didn’t see any bathrooms at least near we were, so the children learned how to pee in the ocean that day, haha. The water wasn’t the calm, warm water of the gulf that we’d experienced at Indian Rocks Beach, but it did have one big advantage: we saw dolphins jumping in the surf all afternoon! They looked so close by and it was awesome!
After the beach, we stopped by Malibu Brewing Company for some snacks and brews, then back to the Airbnb for pool and relaxation. The next day, when deciding which beach to go to, we all agreed we just wanted to go back to Zuma, so we basically repeated the same day, except for getting pizza from Spruzzo after the beach.
Overall, we really enjoyed our trip to Los Angeles, the kids’ first time on the west coast! I’d love to return when the kids are a bit bigger and could appreciate some of the hiking and great food in the area.
