California
A mom and me Real Simple Weekend trip to La Jolla and now I’ll love that magazine forever
February 12, 2024“Why am I crying again?” I hear someone behind me whisper as all of us are in a room listening to yet another inspiring and tear-jerking panel of speakers at the Real Simple Weekend conference in La Jolla. I don’t know if I should really call it a conference or maybe it was more of […]
It is “worth-it” to book a Disneyland VIP tour if you head to California this year
March 4, 2023Disney is 100 years old this year. My family is not obsessed with Disney by any means but I do feel Disneyland is a historically significant place to visit (how many places and movies have shaped society the way Disney does?) and it can be a lot of fun. Disneyland is also a place where […]
An easy weekend getaway from Seattle to the Central California Coast
February 17, 2023My family was recently hosted by Visit California to see three Central California Coast destinations: San Luis Obispo (which locals call SLO), Oxnard and Santa Barbara. We only had four nights to visit all of these destinations but if you have more or less time you can adapt this trip or even visit one or […]
All about the Taco Trail in Oxnard California
February 11, 2023This should really be called “All about three places on the Taco Trail” in Oxnard California because we only got as far as three places before our bellies were too full to eat anything else. My family arrived in Oxnard on our trip with Visit Oxnard on an extremely rainy and unusually weatherful weekend and […]
Best dessert combo to order from Madonna Inn in SLO
February 8, 2023Have you ever heard of the Madonna Inn? Maybe you’ve seen the Madonna Inn from viral videos on the internet and they’ve popped up in my instagram feed too but I had no idea I would ever visit. This is a hotel famous for its over the top decor and individually decorated rooms-there are 110 […]
The Gum Wall in Seattle, Bubblegum Alley in SLO and how these relate on Feb 3
February 3, 2023Did you know Feb 3rd is National Bubble Gum day? I had no idea until it started popping up in my social media feeds today. As a Seattleite, bubble gum is something I always think about when I go to Pike Place Market because we have a Gum Wall there. And then I recently went […]
Connecting rooms at the Wayfarer hotel in San Luis Obispo for California family travel with teens
February 1, 2023Just 10 minutes from Pismo Beach and in one of the friendliest small towns in the nation is the Wayfarer in San Luis Obispo, and it is a perfect family-friendly hotel especially if they keep the Super Mario arcade game in the hotel restaurant. (This hotel just changed over from being the Kinney if you […]
Best Western Plus Santa Barbara: an Airbnb alternative for families with a pool
January 24, 2023Big checkmark for the Best Western Plus Santa Barbara because it has the pool that all families seem to need when we travel with kids. By teenager stage, the pool is no longer the biggest selling feature for a hotel on a holiday but it’s still something I look for and helps a place rank […]
Things you might want to know about the Westin Anaheim Hotel across from Disneyland if you book with Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts
October 17, 2022It seems like bookings with Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts are popular at the Westin Anaheim Resort because that is the tone we felt when we checked in. And we were apparently way too early when we checked in but we just wanted to drop our bags and head to Disneyland. And sometimes we get […]
These are the things I learned from booking at trip to Disneyland last minute from Seattle with my teenage kids
October 10, 2022One of my dearest friends I went to university with in Vancouver BC had a trip to Disneyland planned with her family this October and we had to cancel a big trip together in 2020 (it was supposed to be to Newfoundland) so we decided last-minute that it would be fun to tag along. She […]
How to get nearly two days for the price of one at Shutters on the Beach
July 13, 2022There are some hotels that I see in those “dreamiest hotels in the world” posts and stash away for just in case one day we might be able to stay there too. Shutters on the Beach was one of those hotels. It’s right on the beach in Santa Monica, California. It feels like one of […]
California Travel : All the places we’ve visited over the years and absolutely loved
July 11, 2022When the hubby first moved to California years ago before we were even married, I never imagined that I would one day live in the United States. But now over 20 years later, we’ve been here now nearly half my life and California is still one of the places we visit often and it’s a […]
Things to do in Downtown Los Angeles if you ever go there for a conference too
May 18, 2022It’s been a little over a week or maybe two now since I got home from California and I miss the warm weather already. It’s been unseasonably cold in Seattle so it’s really comforting to know that Los Angeles is only a two hour flight away. I was at the Mom2.0 2022 conference and it […]
Three Nights at the Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach Resort and Club in Dana Point California
May 12, 2022This hotel, the Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach Resort is one of the reasons I love having an Amex Platinum card. We always check Amex hotel bookings online when we are planning our trips. If you book places labeled “Fine Hotels” with this card, they usually come with perks like late check-out, breakfast, and some kind […]
Why the 31st floor is the best floor for the elevator if you stay at the Intercontinental Los Angeles hotel
May 10, 2022In the year 2022 after everything shut down in 2020, conferences are finally back on again and Mom2.0 ( a conference I went to in 2018 and had a ticket for the 2020 conference that was postponed) this year took place at the Intercontinental Los Angeles Hotel right in the heart of downtown. This hotel […]
How about visiting Joshua Tree from Seattle for an easy family trip with teens
April 27, 2022So maybe you also tried to visit Palm Springs from Seattle lately and have realized that the flights are incredibly expensive and the hotels are totally full. Joshua Tree is about a 45 minute drive from Palm Springs and while I used to think of it as a camping destination, there are many options for […]
If you have a weekend in Los Angeles with kids
February 13, 2020Seattleites often dream about Los Angeles weekends in the the wintertime. We have a lot of grey days here and if they get too rainy or too dreary we miss palm trees and sunshine. Sometimes we forget we don’t have to go for a whole week to make a trip to LA “worth it.” You […]
When you are parents in Seattle and need a luxurious weekend away: 70-ish hours in New Mexico at the Ojo Caliente Spa Resort, one of the oldest spa resorts in North America and a few other ideas to dream about today
September 22, 2019Where can you go from Seattle that will make a weekend feel like a blissful forever and not have to travel a zillion miles to get there? The hubby and I had this remarkable conundrum this summer when my parents came to watch our guys and we had three days and two nights for a […]
An In-N-Out burger right near LAX that’s perfect for people who love to see airplanes touchdown
May 8, 2019Have you ever been to In-n-Out Burger? My vegetarian boyfriend (now husband) was the first to introduce me to In-N-Out Burger back in Los Angeles, California when one of us wasn’t even in our twenties yet. It’s one of my favorite restaurants he told me, as I looked at the menu in total disbelief and […]
A closer look at some famous Palm Springs hotels and some itinerary ideas for your Palm Springs trip
April 29, 2019Last month I was in Palm Springs for Alt Summit-a conference for creatives-and this year it was spread out between four famous Palm Springs hotels: the Saguaro Palm Springs, the Ace Hotel, The Riviera and the Parker Hotel. The conference was in Palm Springs for six days and five nights and I was definitely torn […]