Anaheim

Dave says: I had a conference in Anaheim and so we decided that it would be fun for Alisha and Skye to come along. I'll leave all the boring work stuff out of the blog except to say that I presented a paper related to sleep deprivation and ethical decision making and had some great meetings with colleagues. 

This was Skye's longest road trip to date at around 6 hours. She was good for the first four but then she was done and nothing we could do would make her happy. We thought she might cry it out but that didn't seem to work either. We were passing through Riverside and pulled off the freeway and took a nice long walk around the botanical gardens and the UC Riverside campus. It was a beautiful evening and eventually Skye was happy again and ready to finish the drive.

We stayed in the Red Lion near Disney Land but since Skye is a bit young for the park itself we walked around Downtown Disney where there was a lot for her to look at. I'll just pull this picture out in a few years when she asks to go to Disney Land and tell her that she's already been there.

We went walking on Balboa Island and took the 5 minute ferry ride out there for $1 (it's hard to believe you can do anything for $1 anymore). There were a lot of nice beach views and quaint houses to see. 

One night we went to the Anaheim Packing District for dinner where there are a ton of yummy hipster restaurants. There was also this cool free trolley that went around the area for 15 minutes. Skye was happy the whole time.

We did a hike on the beach and into the hills just north of Newport Beach. The beach was nice. The trails in the hills were wide dirt roads that were steep and lame. Skye has turned into a great hiker although I did let her out of her carrier and carried her in my arms for a mile or so.

Laguna Beach was a nice place to walk around and have some lunch. There's a nice paved path and cliff walk to the north of town that was way more scenic than our earlier hike.

Best daddy-daughter pic of the trip!

On the way back, I realized we needed a break for Skye part way through. We stopped in Palm Springs and rode the gondola up the mountain where in 15 minutes we went from desert and the mid 70s to forest and the high 40s. It was refreshing and a good place for a short hike. Skye made it all the way back to Phoenix with no tears although Alisha worked pretty hard for the last 15 minutes to keep her happy. In the end, it was a fun little getaway and Skye is turning into a good adventurer.