Mission San Luis Obispo

A few weekends ago, my family took a short weekend trip to the central coast once again, this time to visit the sights of Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo.  We stayed at the Hampton Inn Arroyo Grande, just south of Pismo Beach.  The hotel was nice enough for the price and offered a free breakfast every morning.  The views weren't anything spectacular, but for a single night, it was one of the better options in the area on short notice (booked only 1 month ahead and it was during a surfing competition weekend in Pismo).

Mission San Luis Obispo is in the heart of old town and surrounded by beautiful buildings from across the centuries.  Riverwalk nearby offers some great options for dining, though with young children, we didn't really have the time or resources to explore this foodie haven.

The mission itself is small, but well-maintained.  There is no admission fee, though people are encouraged to donate a small sum to keep the mission running.  The museum offers a look at some of the texts of the time, branding irons and other equipment from ranching days, and artifacts of American Indian life.  Outside, there is a beautiful little garden that entices you with the sweet smell of grapes hanging over the arbor.  There, you will also find the bells so common to all California missions.  Overall, this was a great little piece of history to explore, the third mission on my son's quest to see them all.

Morro Bay is located west of San Luis Obispo along the coastline.  My family have been long-time visitors.  In fact, my mother has pictures of my grandfather standing in front of the very shell store that we explored on our trip.  Morro Rock was our real destination though. We took a moment to walk out around the rock, exploring some of the wildlife in the area.  Morro Bay is one of those true gems of the coast.  It's not so popular that all of America visits, but the locals, college kids from nearby Cal Poly and other post-secondary schools, and generational visitors know it well as a quaint little fishing village all grown up.  Yet, despite growing with the times, it also feels very much like you're stepping back into a simpler time when the world was just a little less intense.

 

Walt Disney World Planning Series: The Beginning Stages

My next scheduled trip to Disneyland isn't until November of next year and while I have several other interesting California-based trips scheduled in the coming year, I felt like I need to focus on my Disney addiction a little bit.  So, with that in mind, I'm starting a new series on planning and prep for Walt Disney World (WDW).  As a Disneyland native, I've only been to WDW once and that was in 2000, when I was still a teenager.  I have a few vague memories of fine dining and unique attractions, but so much has changed since the last time I went.

My ultimate goal is to save enough money to take a trip in 2021.  So, I'm giving myself a little over 2 years to plan and budget.  Many popular planning sites say to start at least a year in advance, but given the cost of getting a family of 6 from the west coast to Florida, I want to start early.  My brilliant (or maybe not so much depending on how this goes) plan is to take you guys along for the planning ride.

So this week, I started by looking at different places we could stay while in the area.  I quickly determined that we would need to stay on property as the cost of parking and renting a car offsets any savings we would have from renting a vacation home, condo, or offsite hotel.  The onsite hotels have the perk of extra hours in the parks, transportation via bus, boat, or monorail to all 4 parks, and options to pre-pay for meals if booked through Disney.  It's also appealing to be able to slowly pay for the trip over the course of the time between initial booking and final trip.  If I book 9 months-1 year in advance, that gives me the opportunity to pay off any discrepancy in money between what I've saved and what I need.

As for hotels, so far, I've compared several ideas.  For a family of 6, options are relatively limited to either a suite or 2 rooms with few exceptions.  Prices for a single room during peak times of year (i.e. the only times a teacher with school-aged children can visit) range from about $170 for a basic value room all the way up to around $2500 for a top of the line villa suite.  I'm a teacher and the other adults in my family aren't exactly rolling in money, so the high end villas are out for us.  Likewise, most of the rooms at the deluxe hotels are a minimum of $400 per night (minimum of $800 per night for a suite), so again, we'll have to pass unless we win the lottery or something.  The adults in my family do not appreciate double beds, preferring queens, so value resorts are out as well.  I also looked at the cabins at Fort Wilderness, but reviews indicate even getting around the campgrounds takes forever and that this is not the best sleeping arrangement if you want to get to the parks by rope drop every day. 

In the end, it looks like two rooms at a moderate resort will be the best bet for us.  There are some options for junior suites and similar at moderate resorts, but with a need for some space once in a while, two rooms just seems to make sense.  And at about $200-$250 per room, it seems reasonable without everyone having to share a small space.  So, the question now is, which one?  Not counting the Cabins at Fort Wilderness, there are 4 options.  When I was younger, I stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort, which was lovely from what I remember, but at the same time, it might be nice to try something new.  In future posts in this series, I will undoubtedly agonize over which hotel would be best.

For now though, I'll leave you with my budget goals.  A week-long trip to WDW at a moderate resort with 2 rooms, park hopper tickets for 6 days, a pre-purchased Disney dining plan, and air fair for 6 during peak times (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Spring Break--I refuse to do summer since I can't stand the dry heat of California, let alone the insane humidity of Florida), would come to about $12,000 today, so in a couple of years, that cost will probably look more like $15,000.  I currently have about $3,000 saved specifically in funds for this trip.  So, where do I get the other $12,000 from?  Hard work and budgeting hopefully.  In upcoming installments to this series, I will look at suggestions to save money including discounts, Disney reward points, and ways of putting away more money by carefully watching spending habits. 

Provided by CoolFundraisingIdeas.net

It's Harvest Festival Season!

This past weekend, my family and I took a trip to Underwood Family Farms in Moorpark, California, to experience their popular harvest festival.  Ticket prices are a bit steep on weekends at $15 for the first 2 weekends per person and $20 per person for the last 3 weeks of October.  Weekdays offer less entertainment, but at a fraction of the cost, coming in at only $6 per person.  The festival has been going on for 21 years and Underwood is a great little farm that's been in the area for a long time.  My family and I have gone every year since my oldest was 1 year old.  With a corn maze, slides built into old farm machinery, pony rides, livestock, "pick your own", live music and food booths on weekends, and a small pumpkin patch, in addition to a small country store, there's a little for everyone.  Each weekend has a different theme.  This year, we went earlier in the season and were there for Friends of the Farm weekend, honoring first responders who work with and near the farm.  It was a great opportunity for the kids to talk to some of the local firefighters, police officers, and paramedics, just to name a few.  Later in the month, there are other themes such as antique tractors and the wild west.  For more information, check out their website.  I highly recommend this Fall festival to anyone who lives nearby and is looking for some good old country style fun close to the city.