This year for our Southern California trip, we decided to skip Disneyland and the attractions close to there, and concentrate on the San Diego area. We decided to check out a few new things, along with a couple of our favorites. We went to Legoland, SeaWorld, Balboa Park, and Old Town San Diego, plus played at the beach.
We stayed at the Welk Resort, which is truly amazing. Itās located in Escondido. You could spend your entire vacation right at the resort because they have so many activities and amenities. More about it later (I promise!).
Weāve flown into San Diego before, but we decided to drive this time and the drive from here to Escondido took about 9 hours, with 2 stops along the way. If you head down that way, and stay in San Diego, itās a little more straight forward drive. Going to Escondido requires several freeway changes. Itās located northeast of San Diego. We left here after lunch, so when we got to the area with all the freeway changes it was dark, making it a little stressful, but on the way home it was still light and it wasnāt bad at all (but there was more traffic).
Our first adventure was to Legoland. We had never been there before, but had heard good things about it. It was so much fun for the kids! Because the rides and activities are geared more towards families with young children, it is a much more laid back environment than Disneyland. You wonāt find teenagers and single twenty-somethings zooming around (there may have been some there, but we didnāt see any). There are 3 parts to Legoland: the regular Legoland park, Sea Life Aquarium, and the Water Park. We had park hopper passes, so we were able to go from one area to another each day, which was a blessing because the second day we were there it was pretty overcast, and the kids got cold at the water park, so we went back over to the rides and shows. For more information about Legoland, check out the full article.
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SeaWorld was our next stop on our adventure. I have to say, I had no idea ahead of time that there were rides there. I had never been, and I didnāt think to ask around, or research. We went thinking we were going to be checking out the sea life only. We didnāt even plan the entire day to be there. Since Mission Beach is so close, we planned to do both in one day, which we did, but we missed out on a lot of what was available at SeaWorld because of my lack of research. Donāt make our mistake, plan for more time here! Read more about SeaWorld.
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We were lucky, we had 4 adults, with 2 kids on this trip, so we went all together for some things, but other times two of us were able to break away and do something different while the other two kept the kiddos busy. One of those āadult onlyā days was to Old Town San Diego. While Iām sure the kids would have had fun, I donāt think they would have lasted the entire day. Going by ourselves allowed us to have a more leisurely day wandering through shops (and buying a bunch), enjoying a nice long lunch with drinks at Cafe Coyote, and later people watching as we enjoyed an ice cream.
We had been to Old Town before, but neither of us remembered it being quite so big. I donāt know if itās gotten bigger, or we just missed a lot before because we had the kids with us. I found some great stuff in the shops. Besides the normal tourist t-shirts we always buy on our trips, I found some cool wind chimes, which surprisingly were less expensive to comparable ones Iāve found on local outings back home. There are so many shops and historical things to look at. We have decided we want to go back again with just the two of us and stay at the Old Town Inn down there sometime.
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One of the other times we were down here, we took the trolley and got on and off at several stops to see a ālittle bit of a lot of placesā. The last place we went by was Balboa Park. We didnāt even get off because we were running out of time. It looked pretty amazing as we stopped quickly (and picked up the last passengers), so this time I decided we would at least check it out a little and see what itās about. Wow! I had no idea it was so huge. We only spent half a day wandering around and getting an idea of what is there, and it was not enough time. There are things to entertain a wide variety of age groups and interests. We plan to go back and explore in more depth next time. We only went into the Auto Museum, but there are 17 museums there! Yes, you read that right. Plus there are things for the kids to do including train rides, and a zoo. Find out more of what Balboa Park has to offer.
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A trip to San Diego just wouldnāt be complete without going to the beach. The weather is so beautiful down there (usually) that you can go to the beach almost any time of the year. We spent time at both Oceanside Beach's Tyson Street Beach and San Diego'sĀ Mission Beach. Both days werenāt as warm as we usually have experienced down there, but it was still comfortable, and it made for less crowded beaches (although being weekdays helped too Iām sure). I love Oceanside Beach. The playground on the beach is such a big plus! Iāve read a lot of review saying the crime rate is bad there , but we have never seen anything to indicate that when we have visited there (we went last time, too). Mission Beach was a bit more crowded, with a little younger crowd (less families). From the kids standpoint, they just love the beach, digging in the sand and running through the waves. Next time, I think we will try another beach or two to compare, though.
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So what about the Lawrence Welk Resort I said we stayed at? It has so much to offer, I had to write an article just about it. We absolutely love it there. Weāve been there 3 times now, and would love to go back.
Note: another great attraction down there is the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. We didnāt go this time, but you can read about it here, from our last trip.
Note: I did receive media tickets for SeaWorld to check out the park. All opinions are my own
