From hugging hippies to meeting one of Alcatraz’s last surviving inmates, Olivia Falcon and her family enjoy an action-packed adventure up California’s State Route 1
So we?re off on a road trip with friends. Five kids, four adults, two cars, 10 days, and about 555 miles of road that will take us from the princesses of Disneyland to the mist-shrouded skyscrapers of San Francisco and beyond. On departure, people chide, ?Small kids and long car trips don?t mix!? But I?m channeling the eternal optimism of Clark Griswold from classic road-trip caper National Lampoon?s Vacation: ?You?re gonna have fun, and I?m gonna have fun… We?re all gonna have so much fun we?re gonna need plastic surgery to remove our goddamn smiles!? I say. The kids look at me blankly. They clearly think I?m mad. I probably am. The first rule of a successful road trip is to travel in a pack. The more adults/hand holders/pack mules the merrier, and travelling in convoy with our friends, the Barnetts, proves invaluable, as the grown-ups come to the rescue with extra Calpol and beach towels, while their three children, Tanner, 11, Madison, nine, and Hannah, two, prove to be the perfect playmates for our girls Grace, five, and Georgia-Mae, four.
The journey begins with collective hysteria at Disneyland and a couple of nights at Disney?s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, which is conveniently situated between the two parks. A Goliathon of a hotel, its décor is tired and we feel rather ant-lik...