Our family’s summer vacation this year was unlike any trip we’ve ever taken.
We spent a week in California – something we’ve done many times before since we have family there. But the way we spent our week was very different than usual.
Typically, we stay with my parents in LA and use their place as a launching pad for day trips around the state. This time, we wanted to do something different – including a drive up the central coast to see our beloved Thai daughter in Santa Cruz, where she’s spending the summer.
So instead of our usual LA stay, we roadtripped from place to place like vagabonds, changing hotels every night or every other night. We stayed in five hotels over seven nights and visited places up and down the coast including LA, Big Sur, Monterey and Santa Cruz.
And we all loved it!
I didn’t know how all that moving around would feel – chaotic? confusing? exciting? But it turned out that all three of us loved this fast-paced vacation. There was no time to get bored or tired in one place because we were always about to hop to our next spot.
It made the week fly by and no one got terribly homesick as a result (usually either Z or I, or both of us, will start missing our pets pretty badly on a week-long vacation). I guess the closest we’ve done to a trip like this before was our epic Wild West road trip in 2021, which we also loved.
We also had a fun theme that infused its way throughout our week-long, multiple-stop Cali vacation: CATS! We saw, petted and hugged lots of cats in multiple locations – and even got to see wild sea kitties (aka sea otters) doing their thing in the ocean just offshore in Santa Cruz.
I don’t know if I’d want every vacation to be like this one, because I also love those relaxing trips where we stay in one place for a week and get to know it very well. But I’m glad we tried the vagabond-style vacation and now we know that it’s something we all enjoy.
Stay tuned for posts about the highlights from our trip, including our night in beautiful Big Sur, our two days in sunny Santa Cruz with Napa, our magical Monterey day and the Long Beach cat cafe we all fell in love with!
Did your family travel this summer? I’d love to hear your vacation tales in the comments below or over on Facebook or Instagram!
