Ski,Cycle,Life: Trip to Cali for Some Sun.

We promised our kids to take them to Disneyland this year and October is the traditional time we like to go so we loaded the kids into the car and made the trip south for the week. My wife reluctantly agreed to let me take my bike just in case I found a chance to ride. It wasn't the most convenient thing to bring but in the end I was glad to get what riding I did.

I hate the drive. It's so long and such a waste of a full day but it was my idea to save the money vs. flying so I tried not to complain. We enjoyed a couple days in the Disney and California Adventure parks and hit all the main rides. My kids are at a good age to enjoy the "older" version of the parks so we didn't have to do all the little kid rides.

After we were parked-out we headed a bit further south to Carlsbad, CA and stayed in a hotel right on the beach. The weather was beautiful and the water was fun. I think I would spend the entire vacation on the beach if it were up to me. Unfortunately, it wasn't all up to me. My kids wanted to hit Lego Land, which was part of our original plan, but I hoped that the beach would trump all and they'd agree with me to skip Lego Land and just relax. No good. It didn't work. Though my kids liked Lego Land, I hated it. It's a total rip. $15 to park, $290 to get the 4 of us in and food was crazy expensive. All for very poor quality rides and food. Not to mention the over priced souvenirs that you have to buy as well. I'm hoping to never have to go there ever again.

Though I didn't get to ride my bike in Anaheim I was able to get out a couple of times in Carlsbad. Beautiful riding right along the coast. I didn't do much climbing but that was okay. I felt lucky just to be riding. While speaking to some locals they mentioned the brand of my bike and I realized that I bought(online) my bike from a shop here in Carlsbad, CA. I was in the birth place of my bike. I had totally forgotten this. Actually, the bike was made in Taiwan (I guess the true birthplace) but the shop that I bought it from was here. I looked it up and the shop was only a block away from where we were staying. I went to go see it but I didn't make it before they closed for the night so I never got a chance to go inside but still, I was happy to see the place.