The 2014 Hedrick California Exstravagaza

I have not blogged in over a week. I know some of you were going through withdrawals because of it (insert sarcasm font here. We were on our 2014 Hedrick family adventure to all things Southern California. We were gone over a week so I thought I would break this down into three portions of the trip: San Diego/Legoland, Disneyland/Angels baseball and Newport Beach.

Today’s installment is the Coronado Island/San Diego/Legoland portion of our trip. We left Utah Friday after work and drove to Mesquite that first day. The trip to Mesquite was uneventful, except Connor managed to lose his Nintendo DS between here and there (update. This was written still on our trip. When we started unpacking tonight the DS has been found.) We made a mistake and slept in on Saturday, so we got on the road later than we would’ve liked but we still made it to San Diego in time for the USS Midway. What an awesome way to start the trip. We pulled into San Diego and went directly to the ship. What an experience. The ship has planes on the deck, a tour of the second level, a cutout on the second level that you can walk over to see how far down it really goes (vertigo), and if you ever make it there, wait in line and do the guided tour of the tower on the flight deck. It was a 30minute tour of the entire tower. The boys were able to sit in the all the different chairs and climb all over the ship. Connor was scared of the ladders at the beginning of the tour but was jumping off the bottom rung by the end. Touring the ship really makes one appreciate all that our sailors did then and do now (especially if you are over 5’ 10” damn short doorways). As a family we’ve had grandparents and I had a cousin that served in the Navy and working all day on those ships in such tight spaces is not something that I could do.

After the tour we wondered over the pier to The Fish Market Seafood Market. WOW. I had the Panko crusted tilapia and it was just damn awesome. The best part of the restaurant was the view over the water:

Sorry picture does not do it justice.

Now comes the drama part of the day. After a great start we went to check in at the Best Western on Coronado Island. We had to move the trip back a week after some scheduling conflicts; well because of this something’s were missed. For instance, when booking with Best Western always and I mean freaking always check the confirmation. We were booked into a smoking room. No big deal expect, we have two boys with asthma and that really doesn’t work very well. The front desk clerk was awesome to work with, even after he told us there was nothing he could do. All worked out in the end though. After some gentle persuasion (Mandy going all Mama bear on his ass), he found us a room (UPGRADED SUITE) and all worked out well. After settling in the room we walked down to the north end of the island and just explored and relaxed.

The next morning we had the big event. The moment that Alex and Connor had been looking forward since the trip was announced: FIRST MLB BASEBALL GAME! We’ll cover this in another post. Due to this family loving baseball (Mandy might disagree but she’s outnumbered 3-1. Democracy RULES! Please don’t tell her I said that. Wait, she reads this blog? Damn it) and it being two MLB games in a week, it deserves its own post.

After the game we took a friends suggestion (Thanks again Nick&Brit) and ate dinner at a little Italian place on the south side of Coronado; Il Fornaio. I could live solely in San Diego based on the food. It’s a good thing we walked approximately 15miles each of the next five days to burn off all the food we ate. If you ever get to the island, please, and I mean please, do yourself a favor and check this place out. The best restaurant mac & Cheese the boys have ever had (Mandy’s is the best. There that makes up for my previous crack. I’m saved!). Mandy loved her cappelini primavera and chocolate mousse dessert we all shared. I had butternut squash ravioli and it was out of this world fantastic. The view off the back porch wasn’t too shabby either:

The next morning we said good-bye to Coronado and headed to Carlsbad for the moment of Connor’s trip he most excited about: LEGOLAND duh, duh, dunnnhhhhh

What a waste of flipping money. Have you been to Lagoon? Have you been to any Lego store ever? Great, you’ve been to LEGOLAND. The concept was awesome. A whole theme park made and modeled off of Legos. Great idea right? What a crock of crap. It was dirty. All the rides were of the same magnitude of the kiddie area at Lagoon. Hell there was even a Wild Mouse rip-off that wasn’t as well done. The best part of the day was when we left (rim shot), sorry, the second best thing of the day was all the models in Miniland. They had a scale model of New York City, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and many Star Wars battles (yes the Star Wars was to scale. Even the Naboo temple and battle of Hoth).  Really, the coolest part of the park is the set from the Lego Movie. They have the actual set that was used in filming the basement scenes from the movie. Complete with all the Lego’s that were used in the filming. It was pretty cool. We did get Emmet to do the “U”:

Yes that is a "U" from Emmet. Remember his hands are the shape of C's. Deal with it. GO UTES!
 

Food was even more expensive that Disneyland and not as good. The place was dirty. Rides sucked. Alex was beyond bored and Connor was more excited about the giant Lego store than the park itself. The worst part about the experience: It’s $92 for adults to get into the place and $82 for kids. Thank God Mandy found a buy one get one free coupon or I’d really be ticked off. With all the damn money they have made off of toys, merchandise and now a movie, you would think that the execution of the theme park would be awesome. It wasn’t. This isn’t just another anti Lego rant. All of those other posts and rants have all been tongue in cheek. I really do like Lego’s. They are great for imagination and challenges the minds of kids to think outside the instructions (no matter how much I just paid for that Lone Ranger Silver mine adventure set) and think for themselves. This was a week ago Monday and I am still pissed about it. I would not go back if you paid for my whole family for a whole day with food and everything. If the best thing of the day for me was the deep fried apple fries (wow good) it sucked. If both my boys wouldn’t go back, and they don’t want to, it really sucked because you know how much both of them love their Legos. This picture sums up the whole day there:

Tomorrow I’ll have the Disney portion of the trip and it will be more positive. Promise.