Valeria Out Loud

Hello WordPressers!

How are you, guys? I am doing pretty good. Just found some time to write to you, so you know, here I am. 😊

AND. Here we are! Less than two weeks away from Halloween. Guys, I am excited for this Halloween. Well, I am excited for every Halloween, but this one more than most, since last year Covid19 put a damper on things.

So. Today I am sharing our day going from Solvang to Anaheim; about a three hour drive South. Anaheim is the last city we stop into, and where we will spend the last six days of our trip.

Our itinerary in Anaheim was simple… chill out at a beach or daytrip somewhere for the first two days, then hit up Disneyland from Monday through Thursday. Everything on the Disney part of our trip was booked by our thirteen year old. Since she was so absolutely, out of her mind, excited to be going back to Disneyland. I thought it was a nice treat for her to grab the wheel to plan out this leg of the trip. She did a great job.

Here we go!…

---

Our last morning in Solvang was a quick one. We decided to take a walk through the town for one last time, and for some breakfast. It was a Saturday, and the whole town was a buzz! Tons of traffic and people everywhere. Way more people visiting than we experienced before, which meant every restaurant was packed and there were over hours of waits. The pancake place we wanted to try out had an over two hour wait. TWO HOURS!! With the insanity, we decided it was time to take off for our next stop a tad earlier than we planned.

Our original plan was to take a drive down the coast and hit LA for donuts, but without breakfast in Solvang as an option, we decided to stop in Santa Barbara to eat ..but still hit up LA for donuts! I mean, it’s my family. Of course there’s donuts involved.

The drive down to Anaheim was so typical California coast line. There were massive cliffs that hugged the ocean where tons of surfers hugged the waves. The beaches were packed along the entire drive. People along every surface. By the time we hit Malibu, the cars were overcrowding parking lots to get in for miles. Crazy. But the ocean views were beautiful. Crisp blue horizons all around.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

We arrived in Anaheim at around 4:45PM. We checked in and we were off to swim within minutes of entering the room.

We were staying at the Howard Johnson’s Anaheim Hotel. It was conveniently located to Disneyland and a slew of restaurants. It was about a 6 minute walk to Disneyland’s entrances, and an 11 minute walk to Downtown Disney. Plenty of parking and right off the highway, so it was even convenient on the first days we spent not at Disney.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

We had dinner reservations in Downtown Disney for 7:30P at Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen, so we had a good amount of time to swim. My daughter chose this restaurant for their beignets, just a heads up that every part of our Disney trip that she planned has some rhyme or reason to do with food… ahem, like most Disney fans!

The restaurant was a lot of fun, very sweetly themed. The overall atmosphere actually felt like a lil slice of New Orleans for a bit. Especially when the sun went down. We sat outdoors on the first level patio, and it was just perfect. We were able to enjoy drinks while watching the people walk by AND the sun-setting.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

We left the restaurant to find fireworks starting over at the Magic Kingdom. You could see all of the glow and sparkle above perfectly. So pretty! I just love the romanticism of fireworks. After the fireworks ended, we weaved our way in and out of all the stores. Making our way to the World of Disney store. At this time, they still weren’t allowing full capacity in the stores, so we were psyched to find no line! We were able to walk right in. After scoping out all the good buys, and trying on every silly hat we could find, we decided it was time to make our way home.

We ended our night with a very short walk back to our hotel and chilling on the balcony watching the lights across the street of the Matterhorn. It was pretty out there.

---

Ahh, I wish I was just starting this part of our trip right now. I miss California so much!

Well, there we have it. Our travel day to Anaheim that ended with some good food and Disney fun. Can’t wait to catch you up on our next few days.

Thank you, as always, for catching up with me. I appreciate the support more than you know. Take very good care of yourselves, guys!

Till next time. xo