LA

Day 19:

Waking up in the hills above L.A., we were not sure where we would be sleeping that night.  I had in mind that we could go to South Carlsbad State Park, but when I called a few days prior, they told me that they were all booked for the holiday weekend.  (I had forgotten about Columbus Day.)

Three of the Snethen Seven play tetherball in Soledad Canyon, north of LA.

Jenny needed some supplies, so we pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot in Santa Clarita.  As I was driving through the parking lot, I suggested maybe we could just stay the extra three nights in the RV park near Disneyland, allowing us to stay in one place for some extra time.  Jenny liked that idea, so I called and was able to get the reservation changed from three nights to six in Anaheim.

She was getting frustrated trying to rent a car for at least a few days while we were in LA.  The cheapest she could find was out of our budget, so when we walked into Wal-Mart, she stopped at the McDonald's so she could use the internet on our computer, and she was frustrated to learn it was not a Wi-fi hotspot.

She met me in the store after I found a wrench I needed to tighten the water nozzle on the motor-home so it wouldn't leak and so we would get better water pressure, both good reason to tighten the water.  She told me that she couldn't find anything for under $500 and was ready to give up.  She'd had trouble finding anything outside of LAX and had tried to explain to at least one person that she did not have a flight and we would be driving in an RV.  I don't think he understood.

"Let me try," I said while we were walking around the children's section at Wal-Mart.  And I put my phone to work.  Using Google, the first thing that appeared was this place in Anaheim.  I called them.  A gruff sounding man whose first language was obviously not English told me he had a minivan he could rent for much less than we thought possible.  I gave him my name to reserve the car, and he told me he closed at 1pm.  

I looked at the time on my phone.  It was already after eleven.  We had less than two hours to drive our motor-home from Santa Clarita, down into the city all the way to Anaheim.  I quickly programmed the GPS to our location.  It said 78 minutes.  We had barely 90.  Once again, we played the Amazing Race, family edition, taking in my first taste of LA traffic in our 32-foot motor-home, fortunately during Saturday lunch.

Getting stuck in a couple of minor traffic jams, we arrived at the place on Katella Avenue just ten minutes before the place closed for the day.  The building they were using was a church on Sundays and Wednesday nights.  I could see the pews behind the counter.  We filled out some paperwork and he showed us the van.  It was older and we figured that was why it was so affordable.  He filled up some water in the radiator and checked the oil before sending us off with the minivan for one week.

I drove the RV and Jenny followed in the car to the RV park, which as advertised, is truly a block away from Disneyland.  I checked into the park where they also sold lots of Disneyland merchandise along with some RV accessories.  While I was setting up all the cords and hoses, I needed an adapter in order to use the new end for the sewer hose I had purchased at the RV repair shop a few days back, so I walked back up to the store.  They had what I needed, so I came back to the RV and put it together.

Meanwhile, Jenny prepared lunch.  We were roughly beside ourselves, not knowing what to do being at the RV park so early.  Once everything was hooked up and we were all fed, we decided it would be a good opportunity to go to the beach. 

Rebekah pushes Jonathan in the stroller beside Ben as they search for the best place to park our things at Laguna Beach.

I didn't know which beach to go to, so when we stopped at Starbuck's, I asked the barista what the best beach would be to take a family.  She suggested Laguna Beach, South on I-5 and take 133 to the coast.  Easy directions.  I decided it was as good as anywhere.

Rebekah and Kimberly enjoyed the Pacific Ocean at Laguna Beach.

Driving there was exactly as easy as those directions, but we discovered that our car-charger doesn't work in the rental car and that it has nearly 200,000 miles.  It was actually written in the paperwork, but I didn't think about it at the time.

The Snethen kids are impressed by the wave curling before it crashes into Laguna Beach.

Once we arrived at the beach, we put quarters in the meter and walked across the street to a boardwalk, planting our things in the sand, near a playground, near a bathroom.  The four kids all played in the water and were amazed by the patterns in the waves.  We all had a great time.

Jenny and Jonathan pose for a picture at twilight at Laguna Beach.

 

On our way home, we stopped at Mi Casa, where we had great Mexican food for a relatively affordable price and we watched the fireworks from Disneyland as we drove into the RV park which is our home for the next six nights.