From Joshua Tree National Park to the Chaos of Family Christmas Vacation.

From Joshua Tree National Park to the Chaos of Family Christmas Vacation.

We stayed at two different campgrounds in the park and both were great. It was very similar to Arches National Park but the rock at Joshua NP is a cream color and there is more cactus and different vegetation. Driving through The Mojave Desert leading up to the park, we passed so many delapitated shacks, in the middle of nowhere, but you’d see a functioning vehicle parked outside the dwelling. The dwellings can be made from anything; an ancient trailer or scraps of metal or wood used to make a house. They are definietly not living the American Dream life. In some areas, it looks like an episode of Breaking Bad. I forgot to take pictures, but I wish I had. It’s not like the homeless in Portland, but it is just as depressing. Inside Joshua Tree NP, not much to report there, we just did schooling, hiking, crafts and got ourselves ready to meet the family. 

Not sure if everyone knows, but my Mom paid for the hotel and passes for everyone at Disneyland. This was becasue I made a deal with my dad about 9/10 years ago, after I found out that my grandma had given my dad money to take us on a holiday, when Shawn and I were similar ages to my boys, but my Dad pocketed the money. His other two siblings took their kids to Disneyworld (they lived in Ontario). I found this out when Wyatt was born and told my Dad that now there would be inflation, and instead of taking just Shawn and I, our families would be coming too. He actually caved and said he would take us. I think he truly felt bad that he didn’t take us way back when. Fast forward to now, and my Dad has passed but my Mom decided to take us, and my MIL tagged along too!  

We all met at the hotel, and made a game plan for the 3 days at the Disneyland parks. It’s some serious stuff, including watching YouTube videos and all.  We got up early, and were there for opening at 7:30 as we got early entrance with our hotel booking. Funny thing was we did not register which park we were going to, so we were stopped at the gate and needed to get registered and sorted out, then we high-tailed it to the Starwars ride which was one of the rides our Giene+ could not get us into early.  We got there and low and behold it was offline and not working, then we went to book the Matterhorn, walked all the way back to it, and it was offline too. I thought my brother was going to loose it! We managed to do a a few rides and got on to SpaceMountain. Oh man, we learned real quick who was a true ride person and who was not. The iron gut/head award goes Gibson, while the person who could handle the least was Omie followed closely by Lincoln. 

Even though Disneyland was mostly paid for, it truely was one expensive place. And while I’m not complaining, it was still hard to keep our family of 4 under within our budget of $215 USD/$300 CAD per day to eat and stay. Our motorhome was $50 USD ($70 CAD) a night just to park at the hotel, while the food was about $100-120USD for a decent meal or $55-70 USD for pretzels for the family. No joke! So, Adam and I made a 30 min walk to the closest grocery store to buy our breakfast and some snack food. We treated daily to smaller novelties and some meals out, but had to be smart as we are not just on a week vacation, but a year one. We passed on all the paraphenalia, but man oh man do people like their matchy matchy clothing, Mini Mouse ears, backpacks, etc. Seriously, there was so much of it that it inspired me! When we get home, I am throwing a Matchy Match Party! Each family or couple that comes will have to match! I love this idea. Adam and I are on the hunt for some matching track suits. Great ready!

Everyday we went early, stayed till around 1pm- walked back to the hotel and used the waterslides and pools until dinner. This was the beauty of staying at a Disneyland hotel right beside the park. We then cleaned up and went back into the park for dinner and a few more rides. It was nice to have three days at the parks; day one was Disneyland Park, then California Park, and third was the rides we missed. Day 4 was a shuttle to North Hollywood to the Garland Hotel. Everyone loved this 70’s art deco hotel better. It was way more chill, and had courtyard games like a fooseball table, and board games. The restaurant was decently priced and had good food. The trolley that shuttled us to and from Universal Studios was pretty dang cute too. Universal was great as well, but I think Shawn’s family was done after 1 day (but did come back for one ride on day two that we missed the first day). The Langlois family did both days of our pass and made the most of it, doing almost every ride we liked again, and again. 

For me Harry Potter was magical, from Moaning Murtle in the bathrooms, to waiting in the castle line-ups and seeing Dumbledore’s office, eating in Hogsmead and having a Butterbeer. So magical! 

A family vacation would not be complete without some sort of catastrophe and chaos. Well, that happened when my brother and his family arrived at LAX, only to realize he left his family’s passports in the safe at the hotel, which was an hour and a half drive from the airport. They were too worried about losing their passports so Shawn left his family there and caught an Uber ride to the hotel and back, for an extra $300. Sadly, they did not make their flight and had to book a later one to go home. My mom and MIL did make their flight though.

We were sad to say goodbye, but it was time to hit the road again. We needed to hit an autoparts store for 2 new 6v batteries as our little 12v was not keeping up. We needed to run our motorhome morning and night to keep the battery alive while on the family vacation. Plus, our motorhome is making these sqeaking noises that are embarassing me, so I made Adam pick up some stuff needed to help with that too. Once we are stationary somewhere in Mexico we will attempt some more maintanence. We braved LA traffic, hit our stops and went to a Harvest Host near the Mexican border. Tomorrow we brave the border crossing into the Baja.