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We went on an epic road trip to Southern California last week. Here is a breakdown of what we did and how much driving we did:

Sunday 7/27

• Drove 438 miles from Brentwood to Guajome County Park in Oceanside.
• Set up camp
  

Monday 7/28

• Drove 15 miles from Oceanside to Carlsbad
• Spent the day at Legoland








Samantha wanted a picture with "her people":





• Drove 15 miles from Carlsbad to Oceanside
  

Tuesday 7/29

• Drove 45 miles from Oceanside to San Diego
• Visited San Diego Zoo


We didn't buy this hat, we just put it on Rez for a picture. We witnessed several other people doing the same thing afterward. I wonder if anybody actually bought one?



The zoo was big and impressive and everything but it was the hilliest place I've been to outside of San Francisco. Also, it was a hot and humid day. That's why we spent a lot of time sitting in the shady petting zoo with the exotic goats.






• Drove 8 miles from San Diego to Ocean Beach
• Spent time at the beach








• Drove 11 miles from Ocean Beach to La Jolla
• Walked around in La Jolla
• Drove 42 miles from La Jolla to Oceanside
  

Wednesday 7/30

• Drove 64 miles from Oceanside to Anaheim
• Visited Disneyland









This picture was taken by Disney staff. We waited an hour to get our picture taken with Mickey and then I found out it would cost $13 to get a single print from their website. So this is the low resolution version I copied from the site.


This picture was taken with our camera by the Disney staff but of course the kids weren't looking when they took the picture. Coincidence? I think not!



This was a large stone ball that rested on a foundation in the Tomorrowland plaza. It spun freely using a thin layer of water to reduce friction. Rez loved it (as you will see in the video at the end of this post). I saw a smaller version in La Jolla which Rez also loved.



There were still some rides we wanted to go on but at 11 PM Jace fell asleep while on the Pirates Of The Caribbean ride.


After having Jace on my shoulders for an hour during the finale shows I carried him from the middle of the park to the parking garage where we looked for our car for a while. After that I drove us all back to the camp which took an hour. I was pretty exhausted!



• Drove 64 miles from Anaheim to Oceanside
  

Thursday 7/31

• Drove 15 miles from Oceanside to Carlsbad
• Visited Legoland (it was only $1 for the second day)
  




This is the "Knights Joust" ride. It's basically one of those industrial robot arms they use to build cars except they bolted chairs where the welder should go. I honestly felt like my head was going to explode due to massive blood pressure from being flung around upside down. I don't recommend it but Samantha does.







• Drove 28 miles from Carlsbad to Pacific Beach
• Spent time at the beach


I dug two deep holes for Rez and Jace to crawl into. We all had a lot of fun with that.






• Drove 39 miles from Pacific Beach to Oceanside
  

Friday 8/1

• Drove 438 miles from Oceanside to Brentwood

So, altogether that's 1,222 miles. Gas probably averaged about $4.40 / gallon. We would have driven our Matrix which gets about 29 mpg but we had so much camping stuff we had to borrow my parents' Acura MDX which ended up only averaging about 19 mpg. So, the grand total for gas was around $282. That seems like a lot but it still pales in comparison to getting airplane tickets, airport parking, rental car, and hotels. I estimate we saved over $1,000 by driving and camping.

That being said, there were definitely some sacrifices. The drive was very long and the campsite was plagued by mosquitoes. We still had fun though.

And finally, a video: