PCH Roadtrip – Homeward Bound

Last morning headed home.  What a trip.  Early start for a 9am flight.  We made it back to Austin in one piece and only mildly tired.  Still no kids so we’re on our own with the dog, Guinea Pig and snake!

What a list of Firsts though!!

Things to do
San Diego
Mustang
Pacific Ocean
Carlsbad
Beach Breakfast
Pacific Coast Highway
Solvang
Choux Buns in the US
Los Angeles
Griffiths Observatory
HollyWood Sign
Graumann Chinese Theater
Hollywood Boulevard
Sunset and Vine
Hollywood Hills
Elephant Seals
Hearst Castle
Cliff Driving
Lost Boys
Santa Carla
Santa Cruz
Merry Go Round
Sky Glider
Redwoods
Covered Bridges
Tiburon
San Francisco
SF Bay
Cable Cars
Fishermans Wharf
Golden Gate Bridge
Get Bored

Want better pictures of our trip?  Try Carol’s album on Facebook.

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Pacific Coast Highway – San Diego

Day One – San Diego.

A few wee twists with the road trip this time around.  Firstly we dropped the kids off at the airport and they headed to the UK and their grandparents in Scotland for a month so this is a parents only adventure.

Secondly, we drive from Texas this time.  We’re only having a few days away so we flew out to San Diego to start the drive up the Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco.

We actually stayed at the airport after dropping off the kids (who are accompanied by Ben’s friend Wesley) and got a flight mid afternoon.  Alaska Airlines do a really good deal to a few place but SF and SD are some of them so we got a multi city ticket for an excellent price.  So off we went.

We arrive in San Diego at 4pm on the Friday and our hotel was right beside the airport.  So much so that we had to drive 15 mins out of our way to get our hire car then drive 15 mins back to get to the airport.  We could have shuttled quicker!  Note to self if staying at the same hotel again…leave the hire car till the next morning.

The Hire Car.

We wanted to do the journey in a way that was memorable so we pushed the boat out for an open top Mustang from Sixt and they gave us a ‘beaut Clark!’.  Wee sleek red number and we were very impressed.  It’s going well so far but I’m worried about being pulled over by Ponch or Jon from CHiPs so I’ve not gone all out with it!

Hotel.

We stayed for the night in the Sheraton Resort at the Marina in SD.  Very nice hotel, you do pay a resort fee but you get that back in drinks vouchers and bike/paddle board vouchers.  It’s right on the water and when we checked in we were moved from out lower tower room to a ground floor room which looked out on the bay so a nice little upgrade!  We had a nice walk around the resort then settled in one of the six bars/restaurants for a bite to eat.  The Tacos in Shoreline were excellent and we thought we’d be good but we should have ordered more as we got hungry later.

After dinner we moved inside to the hotel bar and sat there people watching for a little while.  The University of St Katherine had a ton of people in town for some conference so they created a party atmosphere.  We were pretty tired though so ended up in bed by 9pm! (to be fair that was 11pm our time).

I wish we could say we slept well that night but with the kids being on their first transatlantic flight it was a worry so we slept for a couple of hours but kept waking up when they had to change flights (they were Austin – JFK – Dublin – Glasgow).  According to my Fitbit we got about 3 hours of sleep in total till they touched down at the other end and were collected by their Grandad!

Woke up early the next day and as we were awake we got on the road early.

Roadtrip #3 – Day Seven – Orange Beach to Lake Charles

Day Seven.

Another travel day but with a stop.  We set off later from Orange beach because it was such a nice view and we got to wander on the beach.  I went down for a wee dip in the Gulf of Mexico but it was pretty cold.  The hotel obviously had a sense of humour which was nice and it was a nice relaxed way to start the day.

After our complimentary breakfast (Carol is obsessed with ‘complimentary breakfast’) we hit the road for a 3.5 hr drive to New Orleans (or N’awlins as we now call it).  This was our second roadtrip that took in a stop in New Orleans. I have to say it’s a bit too much for me really.

She’s on her holidays and she shared with her brother!

Very busy, very dirty and very touristy.  Bourbon street has a smell all along it which I am pretty sure is illegal unless you go to Canada or Colorado!  The roads are a nightmare and it literally took us 90 mins to find a place to park and fight our way across town to get to it.

Having said all of this I think we have been getting the town at it’s worse as it was Friday night and it was Thanksgiving week.  We’d like to come back at a quieter time to see if it felt as intimidating and frankly uncomfortable.  A lot of homeless people and beggars and people out to make a quick buck.  It’s the bane of all tourist places I suppose.

 

We did do the rounds though – visited the French market, had Beignets and did Bourbon street (albeit briefly).  One last criticism – being from Austin and listening to excellent live music every day meant that the Bourbon street banging and crashing sounded amateurish…anyway. One of our family guilty pleasures is NCIS and Carol and I watch the New Orleans version of it so it was interesting to hit the sites from the TV show.

 

We visited the bar that is owned by the lead character in the show, Dwayne Pride, and it is always interesting when you see TV sets.  The bar looks the same on the outside but obviously it’s a sound stage for the show so is completely different on the inside.  The same with the main office location.  It’s a realtors car park but they use it for the base in the show.  Nice to see but I was glad when we paid the car park fee and got on the road.

Our last night on the road was at Lake Charles on the border between Louisiana and Texas.  The journey was interesting as there was a thick fog all the way and it was dark so there were no travel highlights!

Checking into our hotel was interesting as we did it all on the Hilton app.  We checked in then used my phone to open the room.  So no conversation with anyone at the hotel! We’re going to see if we can check out without a single human interaction…it’s an experiment we’re not anti social ;-).

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RoadTrip #3 – LaFayette – Destin

4 States in one day (Texas is so big that it always takes a day just to get out then you can breeze through the other states.

Sophie is the author today.

Day Two.

Once again we woke up in darkness, with a 5 am wake up we were out of the hotel sharp by 6:10.  As we drove through Louisiana we saw the mist roll over the swamps and fields like invading troops.  After a while of driving we hit the Mississippi state line! Almost a mile over the line we hit a rest stop where Dad and Ben stopped for a quick toilet break and Mum and I took a few pictures with the sign and grabbed a wee coffee in the visitors center.

As we got on the road again we decided to take about 20 minutes out of our journey to take the scenic route by that time we had switched seats with Dad complaining about the space in the very small back. (Editor note: it was too small for my torso and after 17 hours like that I was dying…17 hours may be an exageration).  Set up was – Ben in the middle and Mum and I in the front, me navigating and Mum driving. After a few minutes of driving we decided to stop off at the beautiful white sandy beach and then  some ice cream at Sonic then we got back on track to Florida!

Right as we hit Alabama Dad almost had a heart attack because we missed the rest stop and couldn’t take a selfie with the sign. (second editors note: I like the selfies with the signs…that’s not a crime).  After that fiasco was over we stopped off at Zaxby’s chicken for lunch and from then we pushed onward until we got to the Florida rest stop.

Across the Florida line at the rest stop we got a map, a selfie and some really nice orange juice then another hour and a half till we got to Destin;

In Destin we found our hotel room with a beautiful beach front view. After we got settled we went for a walk along the beach where we found quite a few broken pieces of sand dollar and then walked to the pier, taking pictures as we went.

Mum and Dad walked along the pier while Ben and I played in the sand down below. After our walk we quickly went back to the hotel room and got changed and went out for some Chinese a few miles away. Finally we ended the night back at the hotel room where we all got ready for an early night at 8:00. (Last editor note – we struggled to keep the kids awake…a new phenomenon).

 

Mini Scottish Road Trip Part 1 – Travel to Taychreggan

Back in Scotland and decided to get away for a night just the two of us.  Booked a trip on Expedia for the Taychreggan Hotel in Argyll.  It’s roughly 2.5 hours drive from Cumbernauld and we set off around 1pm to head up there.

It’s a beautiful drive and the scenery in Scotland is just so breathtaking.  You never forget how beautiful it is but sometimes you forget the awesomeness of the spectacle when you drive round a bend and witness a view so fantastic that it takes your breath away for a second.  I can never recommend enough a drive through the highlands for a couple of days.

We headed up past Stirling and the dominant view around that area is the castle which sits on the hill and no matter which direction you come from you can’t miss this fabulous place.  We then headed along the A82 through Doune, Callandar and past the Safari park from the other week.  After about 1.5 hrs of driving we were passing the Falls of Dochart and decided to stop in for some food at a place we were at a few years ago the Falls of Dochart Inn.  the Inn is right beside the beautiful falls and is a friendly and decent priced place which we knew was worth a wee couple of miles out of our way to stop off at.

For lunch I had the Venison burger which was great if a little messy and Carol had the fish and chips.  The Inn itself is right next to the falls in Killin.  It’s a beautiful old building which has an open fire and even has a resident waxwork figure of a woman sitting by the fire.  Capturing the feel of the highland croft.  Two meals and two soft drinks were under 30GBP which is excellent for the quality of the food.

After lunch we walked along the Falls which is a lovely place to visit (we visited Killin a few years ago and hired a canoe and it was excellent).  The town was having a scarecrow festival so there was a slightly bizarre and slightly sinister wedding group as we drove in which was a little confusing.

After lunch we headed up the road to the Hotel.  It was up past the Green Welly in Tyndrum and just before Taynuilt there was a turn to a single track road.  The road was 7 miles long of single track road before we got to the hotel.  Worth the drive though.  Beautiful setting.

The single track road down.

Big American Roadtrip Day Three – Johnson City – Washington. Dirty Dancing Location

A shorter journey was had today but we took in so much in such a short time. We tackled 4 states – Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland and DC itself (I know not technically a state but not in a state either.
It was a day of surprise also as we had a wee detour as a surprise for Carol along the way. I had a few calls for work to do early on so Carol did the majority of the early driving and I just gave directions. I had told her that we were going somewhere out of the way for lunch and strangely she just accepted that thinking I had heard of a nice place with a view that we were going to.
So the backstory is that when we first started going out (the first time when we were 16 and 15) carol was obsessed with Dirty Dancing and it was the first movie we every watched together before our first date to see Ghost all those years ago. Anyway on the trip I noticed that we could visits by going about 45 mins out of our way the place where they filmed the majority of the movie. I could not pass this up and the place is still a working holiday place and it said on their website you could eat there so I thought…superb lunch is taken care of and a wee bit a surprise.
The place (Mountain Lake Lodge in VA) is a bit ofa trek as it is literally on top of a mountain and miles from anywhere but it was so worth it. I wasn’t sure if Carol would recognise the place or the significance but as soon as we entered the grounds she got all emotional and knew where we were straight away. Turns out it meant more to her than I had thought and she said it was a bucket list item which I had just surprised her with…bonus points to Robert there!
The place itself looks largely like it did in the film (except global warming had dried up the lake where the famous lift scene (which we recreated at the end of our night on our wedding (thank goodness smart phones were not around then…) but the cottage where the Housemans   were staying and the main buildings were all still there.
Unfortunately when we got there it was shut!!! In the winter and spring times it only opens Thursday-Sunday which I had not noticed. It made no real odds as we were able to walk about with no-one else there so it was a little bit of a bonus (although the kids (unimpressed by the place itself) were hungry so there was a bit of moaning)). We’ve put a ton of photos up and they do have a little tribute to the late Patrick Swayze there and a little hut with details of the filming and what to watch out for (which was open on the day which was great).
After that excitement we made our way back across Virginia towards Washington. It was another long long drive (5 hours drive after the location) which made for a long day but we were up the side of the Appalachians which was stunningly beautiful and well worth the drive.
We arrived in Washington about 7pm and grabbed dinner at the hotel…tomorrow Washington DC (well work for me during the day and Washington at night but for Carol and the kids…Washington!!)

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San Antonio Zoo, Texas

With the Mother in Law’s time in town coming to an end we decided to use the last day of my holiday to go on a little Road Trip down to San Antonio.  Stopping half way down to jump in for some lunch at iHop (we all ate lunch for less than $50 which is always nice!).

Our destination for the day was San Antonio Zoo.  I had read some reviews which were not flattering of the zoo but it’s relatively high rating on Yelp and some of the really nice stuff people wrote about it meant we wanted to see it for ourselves.  I have to say I understand peoples objections to Zoo’s but I do feel they have a place today especially for conservation purposes.  So i’ll stay away from the politics and stick to the day out and how it was for the kids.

We got there early afternoon (around 1.30pm) and it was a pleasant (if not warm) afternoon.  The first thing that struck me was the price – We were used to visiting Edinburgh Zoo (Calderpark being my first zoo experience but it’s been closed for decades) which charges around 16.50 GBP for entrance for an adult so it can be a pricey day out.  San Antonio Zoo prices are $12.00 for adults (Significantly cheaper).  It is smaller than Edinburgh but it did have a bunch of animals which were new to us.  North American and European zoo’s are going to be different but it was interesting to see the differences up close.

Anyway – We got a map as we went in and planned out what we wanted to see and the best route to do this…then ignored that completely and jumped from animal to animal and reptile house to aquarium as the fancy took us!  We were in till it closed at 6pm so it was a long day but we were kept busy and interested the whole time.

Starting out at the fabulously colored Flamingos was a great start although finding out that they are no longer native to the US was disappointing…I have been lied to by my Miami Vice titles.

Next up were the bears which they had a few of…the American Black bear was not for coming out see us but still pretty cool.  travelling round the Hippos, White Rhino and Tigers was pretty cool.  The Lions though were a highlight as they were just sitting around their cages when we arrived but after we got there they started playing about then the male lion decided that he would have a bit of a roar…it was pretty damn impressive to see!

They had some excellent injection molding machines to create your own souvenirs which were pretty nice and cheap and the kids liked the early 3D printers!  At $2 they were a pretty cheap little keepsake.

As we left for the day we stopped in at the Aquarium almost as an afterthought.  I am so glad we did.  there were some pretty amazing looking fish in there but they also hit all the kids ‘food groups’ when it came to cool things that live in the sea – Jellyfish, Sharks, Piranhas and electric eels!  All very impressive.

This was worth the visit and a good low price day out for the kids.

We finished off the day with a quick trip into San Antonio (10 mins drive) to see the Alamo (so that my mother in law could say she had been there!) and then the 1.5 hr journey back to Round Rock.  A pretty long day all in all as we arrived back about 10pm but a great day out and at a pretty low cost too!

Austin’s Park, Austin, tx

My Mother in law just hit town and we were looking for some place to take her for the first day trip.  I’d never been to Austin’s Park but Carol and the kids had been before.  it’s an interesting set up!

It seemed a little pricey at $24.95 per person but when you take into account that includes all you can eat all day and access to the attractions it becomes much nicer as an option.  The 5 of us headed in around 12 and i was expecting a couple of hours then home.  It did not really work out like that.

We started with lunch which is not exactly superb quality but as a thing to eat it was fine and really just there are fuel for the day.  The unlimited buffet had tacos, pizza, salad and Pasta as well as some desert items such as custard and the interesting chocolate pizza.  Nothing offensive there if it was just standard buffet fayre.

After eating we headed out to the GoKarts which were great fun.  there are a few options with the Gokarts depending on ability and size etc.  They even have 2 person go-karts for the kids who are perhaps a little small for the main ones.  Sophie is 9 and she came on with me in the bigger Go-Karts but they had smaller Karts on another track for the smaller kids.  The rule is not bumping – this is GoKarts not bumper karts…unfortunately as the day went on the number of adults who seemed to miss this became more and more.  During the day it was great but later in the day we encountered a few idiotic yahoos who thought it was perfectly acceptable to crash at 15 mphs into a dad and kid on the track…one particular guy was very lucky he walked away quickly when we finished the gokarts as he got a mouthful from me on the track!  Worst thing was we were not dealing with teenagers but a guy older than me!!  Anyway apart from those guys who appeared late on in the day it was tremendous fun.

After Gokarts we headed to the Bumper boats which were fantastic…each boat has a control (although it’s not the most responsive!) and a gun which shoots out water.  We were pretty much the only ones on the boats at this time and the kids took great delight in soaking their grandmother and dad!

Then Sophie went onto the small rollercoaster whilst Ben and I went and sources putters for the mini golf.  the mini golf was great as each hole had slightly different obstacles and a game spinner which put other items in your way as you went round.  Nice and not just putting which kept everyone involved and excited.

All this excitement meant that we were now getting hungry again and we popped in for more food before heading to the lazer tag.  That was also great fun…we played as a team against a team of cheating 12 year olds and lost…mainly because the boys we were playing against had obviously played before and had put their coats over the sensors!!  😉

After that we were off to the batting cages.  Now you do have to pay more for this ($1 for 12 balls) but that makes sense so that people don’t just stay in there all day.  It was my first attempt at the batting cages and whilst it was on medium speed i was thinking I was Babe Ruth…then I moved to fast ball and realized I was rank rotten!

We had another go on the gokarts later in the day then bought some arcade cards for the kids and they went in and played for another hour or so…8 hours after we arrived we were headed home…exhausted but happy!

It’s not something I would do everyday but as an annual treat it was pretty good fun and the kids loved it.

Sundrum Castle

We went camping this weekend to Sundrum castle in Ayr.  The campsite is a Park Dean site so it had loads of facilities such as swimming pool, bar etc.  I did go for a long walk on the first morning after arriving and actually found the actual castle which was excellent looking.  It’s  a long walk away from the actual campsite and there is no admittance to the public but worth a look even if you can’t get in.

It has been a long while since we were last camping so putting up the tent was a lesson in memory!  We made it eventually though and were all set up in about 45 mins.

We spent saturday in Ayr itself.  It started out quite wet but the sun soon came out.  There is a superb new adventure playground/exercise area at the pavillion on the front.  Cool adult stuff for playing on as well!  We went into Pirate Pete’s with the kids and then outside at the fairground where Sophie really enjoyed the cups!

As with any camping trips taking the tents down is a trauma but we got it down faster than we’ve ever done before even

when you take into account we have a camping kitchen!

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