5 Days in Gorgeous Southern California

Recently my family traveled to the Long Beach, CA, area for a spring break getaway. Adventuring with teenage boys is always a challenge. You cannot plan any activity too early in the morning. Any activity that is planned must appeal to their idea of “fun,” or it will immediately be met with eye rolls and “do we have to?” My boys (& their friend) had a great time on our recent trip. Here is a 5 day itinerary to steer you to an enjoyable trip for all if you’re traveling with teens!

Day 1: Start your day with a run or walk along the beach trail that extends over 4 miles and has separate lanes for walkers/joggers and bikers. You might have to stop and just take in the dogs frolicking happily off leash at Rosie’s dog beach as you pass by! Drive the Pacific Coast Highway. We stayed in Long Beach, thus started there and headed south. We made stops at Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, and so on. Huntington Beach has a great pier with a place to go fishing or watch the surfers near by. The day we were there, the beach was hosting a competitive surfing event. We thought this was a delightful bonus! San Diego is really just a couple hours away, so it’s an easy trip to do in a day. The scenery is gorgeous! There was rain on our day doing PCH, so we did end up driving more than we stopped due to said precipitation and down pours. Regardless, the view of the coastline is breathtaking and something everyone who visits southern California should experience!

Day 2: Santa Monica Pier. The second day we planned to go to Santa Monica, home of the famous Pier with an amazing view and amusement park rides. There are little shops for souiveniers, restaurants to eat a meal or just get ice cream, and breathtaking views. One thing about Santa Monica is that traffic is always thick and parking is limited. You can spend hours walking along the beach and through the shops, take a ride on the roller coaster that is located right on the pier, or just set up an umbrella and picnic right on the shore.

Day 3: Joshua Tree National Park. We loved Joshua Tree! Long Beach area is about 2 hours from the park, and we got up and left our airbnb by 7am, arriving around 9 am. We looked through the national park app the night before and made a plan. We chose the highlighted hikes/sights we wanted to see and mapped it out ahead of time. Driving to the furthest destination in the park first, we saw Key’s View-a gorgeous overlook! There one can see all the way to Palm Springs (20 miles away!) on a clear day, as well as 2 mountain ranges. We then headed to cap rock, which is named that for the little rock sitting on the huge rock that looks like a “cap” on the rock below. This was a very short little trail, easy for those traveling with littles or grandmas who cannot walk so far. Next, we went to the trailhead of Arch Rock and traveled down the path to my personal favorite, Heart Rock. We also visited Face Rock, Skull Rock, and walked the Hidden Valley Trail. March is a great time to visit; the temperature was 60 degrees at the beginning of our day. By the time we left near evening, it had reached 70. Perfect hiking temperatures! Your Attractive Heading

Day 4: Surfing at Seal beach. We bought each of the boys a 3 hour surf lesson at M&M Surf School, whom I’d HIGHLY recommend. They had a blast! The lessons start early in the morning and the boys were exhausted by the time they were done. However each successfully surfed independently the last hour – 90 min of the 3 hour lesson! The staff were amazing, getting the boys laughing and giving them confidence they needed to be successful. I’d highly recommend M&M surf school! https://surfingschool.com/ They’ll definitely be back! After surfing, we went back to our fabulous flat and had some lunch while the boys showered up. This was the nicest day, so we spent many hours walking along the beach, watching the dogs frolic at Rosie’s dog beach off leash. The boys spent hours throwing the football and enjoying freedom from their parents. We each went our separate ways for a few hours. We wandered many shops along second street, which runs parallel to Ocean blvd, many with eccentric character and charm.

Day 5: Queen Mary and Aquarium of the Pacific . We did buy tickets on family day to the Queen Mary, which is Tuesday. We went to see the biggest ocean liner of its time that is still functioning. It was very neat to see this floating piece of history in its full restored beauty. We enjoyed the self guided scavenger hunt, and particularly the giant Lego replica that took 600 hours to build! In addition to the lego model, there are meticulously built models of several other cruise ships of that early 1900s timeframe, including the titanic. Very cool. We did not end up going to the Aquarium of the Pacific, as teenage boys did not think that sounded awesome, so we spent our time going through more shops near the cruise terminal, as well as soaking up more sun and time on the beach. However, in preparation for this trip, I fully planned to visit there, as this Aquarium is said to be amazing and often overlooked!

There are many other things you can do while in southern California. Take a ferry to catalina island, schedule a whale watching tour, ride a lit up Swan in the evening, rent bikes to ride along ocean blvd trail for miles. I should mention that I did run along that Long Beach trail 4/5 mornings, and it was glorious. Below is a photo of a rainbow that appeared right before my eyes one morning! A view of the Pacific, cargo ships, sail boats, and maybe a cruise ship passing by, along with many nodding and smiling fellow runners/walkers and fur friends made those morning runs the icing on the cake during my amazing 5 days in Southern California!