Road Trip to Monterey Bay/Santa Cruz--Part 1

Ah, road trips.  It's what we dream of as teenagers, perhaps actually enjoy in college or in our 20s.  But, what about road trips with kids?  Road trips with a 6-year-old and 2-year-old twins, one of whom gets car sick.  Yeah.  That's us.  I know we usually talk about southern California and Disneyland in particular, but there's a whole world of things to do in California if you know how to get there.

In this 3-part series, I will touch on one of my favorite road trips to take with or without kids.  Part 1 will be about the road trip itself.  Part 2 will be about the hotel we chose (Best Western Seacliff Inn, Aptos) and Monterey.  Part 3 will be about Santa Cruz.

My family recently packed up our bags and took a 4-day trip to Monterey and Santa Cruz, located on the Central California coast.  Four days isn't much for a trip, mind you, especially when you consider a 6 hour drive up and 6 hours back.  The good news?  It's a beautiful drive (if you take the 101 or highway 1).  The bad news--it's 6 hours in the car with 3 kids.

First off, tips for a successful drive:

• Bring snacks.  Lots of them.  And drinks, too.  But not too many unless your kids are in diapers.
• Bring toys.  Something the kids can play with in the car.  My toddlers enjoy cars.  My 6-year-old prefers his 3ds.
• Coloring.  My kids can keep themselves busy for at least an hour scribbling in little notebooks.  It's a great thing.
• Portable entertainment. We use our cell phones or a tablet.  A portable DVD player works, too.  At some point, it was all that kept our kids sane.  And hey, if you have t-mobile, Netflix doesn't count toward your data.  Sweet!
• Did I mention snacks?

 So, here's the extra special thing about our experience this road trip.  Our 2-year-old boy, who has previously shown no signs of motion sickness, puked his guts out.  Surprise!  So, here's the kit you need for that potential disaster.  I wish we had known at the time:

• hand sanitizer
• paper towels
• spare clothes
• children's dramamine (children's benadryl will do in a pinch as it reduces nausea)
• a hat (or a small plastic receptacle, but my husband just kept catching the puke in his hat) 

Anyway, disasters averted, everything's good, right?  Next, which route?  From Los Angeles, it really depends on what area you live in.  If you live toward the east side, take the 5.  It's ugly, but it'll get you there about 30-60 minutes faster than the other route.  If you're lucky enough to live toward the western portion of the greater Los Angeles area,  do yourself a favor and take the 101.  It's prettier and the drive is about the same as it would be taking the 5 in terms of time.  As a note, highway 1 is beautiful, but it could add 2 hours to your drive on windy, narrow roads.  Best to wait until you hit Salinas before trying to get to highway 1.  It's just easier that way.

Now, assuming you take highway 101, where do you stop?  We like to leave around 6AM.  From our house, that puts us in Santa Barbara around 7:30 or 8AM depending on traffic.  Typically, we don't stop here, but if you need a bathroom or a stretch, it's not a bad option, and really the only larger town/city for a while.  We tend to stop at the rest stop just south of Buellton.  It's good for a bathroom break and one of the prettier rest stops in southern/central CA.  We get our gas in Pismo Beach.  It's not the cheapest gas, and you might only be on 1/2 a tank and think you don't need to stop, but Pismo is easier to navigate than San Luis Obispo.  There's a Chevron right off the freeway with a Jack in the Box attached if you need a snack.  Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf is also off the same exit. Back on the road, we drive to King City.  I'd like to say don't stop in King City, but we are always ready for lunch by the time we get there (around 11:30AM).  Options are limited, but it is what it is.  On the road again.  I recommend not stopping in Salinas.  Just drive straight to Monterey or Santa Cruz or wherever you're staying.  In our case, that meant Aptos, a small town between the two cities, closer to Santa Cruz though.

In the next update, I will describe our hotel, the Best Western Seacliff Inn, and take you on our little trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Dennis the Menace Park.