DOCUMENT IT: Go West 2016

This summer, we had planned to do a road trip out west - drive through the mountains, go to Vancouver, visit family, and pop down to Seattle for a few days and go to one more ballpark. However, on the May long weekend, we had gone to Minneapolis for the Jays vs. Twins series, and the long drive had bothered my husband’s back. Maybe a road-trip vacation wasn’t the best idea.

I was plunking around on airline websites, and realized that one of the discount airlines had a direct flight to Phoenix, and wouldn’t you know it, the Blue Jays were playing there mid-July. But who goes to Phoenix in July? Well, people who could fly in, go to a ball game, and then head to the LA area for some theme park fun, shopping, and vitamin sea. It was still a “Go West” kind of trip.

Here’s a summary of our adventures:

Day 1: We drove to Minot, caught a flight to Mesa, picked up the rental car, and explored the Phoenix area.

After a 4-hour drive, and a flight, we needed coffee, so we went to Lola Coffee Bar. We shared a delicious key lime tart and re-caffeinated (with iced coffee in the desert heat, obviously!)

We checked in at our hotel and went for a swim, and then we headed to Diego Pops in Scottsdale. It’s a funky atmosphere, with awesome music and delicious food.

We walked around the area to explore and discovered many places we’d like to try if we return.

We ended the night by stopping for ice cream at Melt. The ice cream is served in Chinese take-out containers, and is topped with a fortune cookie.

Day 2: We did a little shopping to keep cool and went to a ball game at Chase Field

We went to Container Store (my little slice of heaven), Shake Shack, Fallout Games, and the Tempe Marketplace, where I went shopping while the boys went to Dave & Busters.

Since we are on a quest to visit all of the MLB ballparks, it was great to be able to check another one off the list, Chase Field.

Thankfully the park has a retractable roof that was closed, air conditioning, and several Pokemon to be caught! Plus a Blue Jays win was an added bonus.

This Nidoran was in line for beer.

This was our first visit to the Phoenix area. Verdict: we’ll definitely go back, but never again in the summer. How do people live there?

Day 3: We drove through the desert to Anaheim.

It was a beautiful drive through the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts. I didn’t realize that I’d be able to see such a difference in the landscapes of the two deserts.

It was also cool to see the wind farm where that final gruesome scene from the movie Se7en was filmed.

The drive was long, but the air conditioning worked, and the playlist was good.

When we arrived in Anaheim, we had a late lunch at the Anaheim Packing House.

It was an awesome place to eat because it’s like an upscale food court, so we all at from different locations, but we were able to eat really good food.

Ramen from Orange Tei

Spicy Mother Clucker from Iron Press

(I forgot to photograph my food because I was too hungry. I had a chicken sandwich from Georgia's.)

We’ll definitely go back to the Packing House next time we’re in Anaheim.

We checked into our hotel, and then my husband’s friend picked him up for a game at Angel Stadium.

Our son went for an early evening swim, and then we headed up to the rooftop lounge for some nachos and a view of the Disneyland fireworks across the street.

Day 4: Disneyland - More on that in another post.

Day 5: This was our go-everywhere-in-LA day.

We slept in a little and then ended up in Eagle Rock in time for lunch at La Fuente. We had eaten there last summer and loved it, so we returned for some delicious Mexican food and horchata.

Then all 3 of us had something to look forward to.

For me, it was a visit to Baum-Kuchen shop/studio.

In the winter, I became intrigued by the traveler’s notebook trend that seemed to be popping up more frequently in my Instagram feed. I ordered a few Midori inserts on Amazon, but I did not purchase the leather notebook as I wasn’t sure I would love this method of documentation. However, when I did love it, I decided to invest. We always try to support small businesses, and I remembered seeing Baum-Kuchen in my Instagram feed, so we planned our day around their hours (because Wakako balances her business and family life, shop/studio hours vary). I must say that it is one of the most inviting spaces I’ve visited. I picked out a leather notebook, as well as some inserts and other accessories, and Eunice help me assemble it with the inserts I had brought along.

For my husband, it was a stop at Gimme Gimme Records.

Last summer, my husband went to Amoeba Records and was in heaven. One of the things that they threw in his bag was a list of independent record stores in the LA area. I found Baum Kuchen on a map and then started entering addresses for the record stores to find one that was not too far of a drive. He was impressed by the inventory of both new & used vinyl at Gimme Gimme Records, and it was clear that they are selective about what they accept and choose to carry. Their prices were good, and my husband was heart-broken because there were items, like box sets, that were just too large for us to fly back with us.

For my son, it was a visit to A&J Games.

The last two stops had been to beautiful locations, and this one was anything but. The store was so packed with stuff that two people could not pass each other to get to the back of the store. However, my son did find one of the retro video games he’d been searching for, and ended up chatting with a local gamer who was very impressed with my son’s wishlist. In fact, when we went to pay for the game, we discovered that he left his store credit for my son to use. How amazing is that?

We stopped at Venice Beach so that we could dip our toes in the ocean. It was at this point that we decided that our next trip to California needed to be much like our first trip, and that we would stay in one of the beach cities. The last two times we’ve been to SoCal, we’ve packed our days with too much action and not enough sitting and watching the waves roll in.