Couples Cali Trip 2018

We had talked about taking a trip with my USU roomie Sarah and her husband Brett for a while now. We talked cruises, Hawaii, beaches- we ultimately decided that California is 1) cheap 2) close to a beach 3) Harry Potter. Mark and I have ALWAYS wanted to go to Harry Potter World at Universal and decided a birthday/anniversary trip was the perfect excuse (that and the weather in Utah was snowy and crappy).

We found cheap flights, some Air BNB's and left our kiddies with Mary Ann and Brittnee for a few days. We had an absolutely amazing time. The last time we went to Universal Studios, Dave and Aish still lived in Cali and Dave was still in dental school. We had no kids and it rained the entire time but we have fond memories for sure. This time, NO KIDS and the weather was amazing. Amusement parks are a 100% different experience without kids.

Our first day we went to Santa Monica Pier and Venice Beach. The weather was absolutely celestial. We walked the boardwalk, ate $1 churros that were pretty nasty, people watched and soaked up the sunshine.

Beach Butterflies

Universal Studios is NOTHING like I remember. There were SO many new rides and of course, Harry Potter. We saw them filming an E News special with Mario Lopez right when we got to the park- hello 1,000 pounds of make up. The park was D E A D. We took surveys right when we got into the park and got some fast passes that we didn't even have to use-we walked onto EVERY ride (even the Harry Potter Castle Ride) and rode as many times as we wanted. Frozen butterbeer changed my life, bought WAY too many chocolate frogs and rode every single ride without anyone whining we had to wait in line.

Had my friend's mom make me two Harry Potter shirts for the trip- here is "Riddikulous".

Had lunch at the Three Broomsticks

Mark and Ihmhotep- our favorite character from the Mummy Ride (also an excellent coaster)- really the only ride we remember from when we came with Dave and Aish.

Highlight of my trip for sure. There was no wait- just a darling little Hello Kitty just standing there waiting for me. 

Of course there was a chance for rain the day following our first day of Universal. We didn't really want to spend the day tromping around getting soaked (we had done that before) so we decided that we (Mark and I) wanted to do the Warner Brother Studios tour. It was kind of spendy, but being on a bus meant that we could still have things even though the weather was bad. Brett decided to come with us and Sarah napped in the car at a local park. It was SO cool! There are two other studios we hope to tour some day (Paramount and Sony). We got to see real movie props, clothing, scripts, hold a real life Oscar, learn about sound editing, saw the Friends set, and saw them setting up to film "American Ninja Warrior". The coolest stuff was all the Harry Potter Memorabilia (for me) and the DC comic book stuff (for Mark). Our tour guide was like any failed actor turned tour guide and was super entertaining- except he did get a little mad when the bus left without Mark and I and had to come back and get us. Oops.

Mermaid's Egg & the TriWizard Cup & the Golden Snitch

Adorable Dobby

Getting sorted. The lady that was "sorting" us was pretty stingy with the Gryffindors. I am pretty sure NO ONE was sorted into that house the whole time we were there. I was a HufflePuff and when I whined she said, "their house is closest to the kitchen and they are the best kind of friends"- I guess I can live with that. Mark was a Ravenclaw.

We decided thanks to the rain that we would head to our beach house for the last few days of trip and then hit Universal for the morning on Sunday before we flew home. The Air BNB beach house was NOTHING like the pictures, the lady kept telling us she had a "family emergency" so we weren't able to rent the bikes or beach chairs but the three step walk to the beach made up for it. We had superb street tacos, went and saw 'Black Panther", slept in, walked the beach and walked passed multi-million dollar beach houses.

We really had an excellent time. Brett and Sarah were fun travel partners and were up to sit and do nothing or explore the town. It was SUCH a wonderful break and a low key vacation. We are grateful for the Johnsons. Sarah and I have been friends for a LONG time and it's fun to still connect after all our crazy times at Utah State almost 20 years ago.