31 Trips In Cali: The End of the Road, & Where Next?

So. It's November 1, and the Nester's 31-day link-up party is officially over.  And so is my series! I wrote 21 posts about 21 of our family roadtrips, and decided that I don't wish to kick off a new month, and the burgeoning holiday season, with the burden of another 10 posts still resting on my shoulders. Besides, there are other things I want to talk about. 

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I don't feel like I failed (much). Considering that a year ago, I wrote maybe 2 or 3 posts a month, and this year manage 2 or 3 posts a week, I think I did okay for myself.  And I have a new appreciation for those bloggers who can bring it, and do it well, on a daily basis. 

Will I do a 31-day series again? Hmm. Only if my next topic doesn't require me to comb through our family's digital photo archives on a daily basis to find, choose, and edit down all those pictures again. That turned out to be a huge time suck.

I know that I shared my very best & favorite road trips in those 21 posts.The remaining trips that I didn't get to were mostly theme parks: Sea World, Disneyland, the San Diego Wild Animal Park (recently renamed the "Safari Park.")  I was going to re-visit some of  the same info that I've previously covered about going to Palm Springs with kids. (A companion to my Palm Springs Couples Escape trip.) 

I was also planning a post about where I live now, since Temecula is something of a tourist destination in its own right.

Writing all those October posts and browsing our photos reminded me of how much we like to get out of the house and explore both new and familiar places. I think it's one of the things our family does best. So, where are we going next? What places in California (and beyond) beckon on the horizon?

With the holidays breathing down our necks (and really, now that Halloween is behind us, isn't it like we're all riding the Christmas Semi, going downhill fast with no brakes?), I really hope that this year we can attend the December Nights event at Balboa Park in San Diego.  It takes place over just 2 nights & I hoped to go last year, but we got too busy.

Sometime early in the new year, I'm hoping we can visit the new Cars Land at California Adventure. At the end of January, the Husband is celebrating a Big Birthday, and we're hoping to celebrate with a trip to Las Vegas.  We haven't done Vegas without kids since...well, since his other Big Birthday, a decade earlier.  Yikes. We've stayed a couple of times at the Mandalay Bay hotel, but so many new hotels have opened in Vegas in recent years, I hope to try something new & sexy.

The pictures of my kids playing in the snow on our Yosemite Winter trip have me inspired to seek out some more of the white stuff in the new year.  Judging from years past, there should still be plenty to find when the kids go on Spring Break in early April. 

Call me crazy, but I'm already looking into destination and lodging options for Summer Vacation 2013. This year, I think it's time we explored the area around Lake Tahoe.  I've been to Tahoe as part of a larger group in my single days, and stayed in nearby Squaw Valley years ago at a writing conference.  But I don't know the area well, and it seems like there's a whole lot of fun ways for our family to explore that corner of the state. I've spent quite a few nights scouring VRBO and Home Away, looking for that just-perfect cabin rental. 

One of my must-do activities while in Tahoe is rafting on the Truckee River.  It's supposedly a lazy drift and you're encouraged to take your time and picnic and stop at swimmin' holes. Doesn't this look perfect?

Source: cdn3.unofficialnetworks.com via Kelly on Pinterest

That's from my Vacation Ideas board on Pinterest.  I plan on Pinning lots more of that kind of thing over there, including some of the cabins I have my eye on. (If you'd like to take a peek, you're welcome to check it out here.)

So now, it's back to my regularly scheduled blog. I'm looking forward to getting back to reading and nesting and all the other things I love to talk about. And who knows, there might even be a day trip or two in my near future.

Thanks for coming along on this ramble of a month-long roadtrip.