The Tommerdahls: August 2024

We took the kids to California this year for our family vacation! We flew into LA/Anaheim on a Wednesday and spent 4 days exploring the LA area. We then drove four hours to Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon to see the Giant Sequoias for 2 nights, flying home the following Wednesday. Included below are some pictures and memories.

Day 1: Travel Day and Exploring Anaheim

Our early flight combined with the two hour time change left us plenty of time to explore Anaheim when we arrived. Our Airbnb was beautiful and spacious and we felt right at home. We all enjoyed walking around the city and exploring. Highlights included the thrift store, the library (huge! and had an awesome teen section and our kids love the library), and the beautiful Anaheim Packing district. We finished off the day with a delicious dinner at Panini Kabob Grill and a family game of UNO DARE when we arrived back at our place.

Day 2: Knott's Berry Farm Soak City

Day 2 was a fun day at the waterpark! We opened the park and spent the full day there, all the way til close, staying past 6 to get the final ride in! We picked up some frozen pizzas on the way back to our place, showered, and enjoyed a night in.

Day 3: Exploring Laguna Beach Coves and Medieval Times Dinner Theater

Today we spent the day exploring several coves in Laguna Beach. The paths between the coves had amazing views and it was so much fun to watch the surfers. The kids loved climbing on the rocks and watching the waves crash in. The tide was high tide at 1pm this day, so we didn't get to see as much sea life as we hoped, but we did see some. We stopped at a little taco shop for lunch and enjoyed some time in the water in the afternoon. We cleaned up to head to our reservation at Medieval Times, where we were placed on the team cheering for the Blue Knight as we ate our "baby dinosaurs" (chicken), slurped our tomato soup (no silverware), and ate like Kings and Queens.

Day 4: Hollywood

We spent the morning touring Paramount studios. The kids were fascinated and our tour guide was awesome. In the afternoon, we downloaded a car audio tour of famous homes in Beverly Hills. The audio tour told us where to drive and then told us about who lived in each house. The car tour ended at the Hollywood sign. We finished off our Hollywood Day by driving past the front of the home used in the Brady Bunch, which we all love! Olive Garden for dinner was the perfect way to close out this day.

We rode around the property in a golf cart

Our tour guide would show us spots on site, like this gate, and then also show us clips of times this was used in a movie.

Paul on the bench Forrest Gump sat on

Summer in front of the yard/school building where Brady Bunch episode "Greg smoking" was filmed

A parking lot / tank they fill for underwater scenes

Walking around little "New York" at the studio and learning that some buildings are just the "front" and others have spaces to film inside.

We got to go in a sound stage to see what that is like.

We learned a lot about Lucille Ball (dressing room on the left of this pic) and her role at Paramount. This grassy area was also used in a Brady Bunch episode.

Hollywood sign in the background

Brady Bunch House!

Brady Bunch house (Greg's car in the driveway).

Day 5: Disneyland!

We had an amazing day at Disneyland! We got up early to be at the parking lot by 7:15 and ready for rope drop with 10 min to spare. We rode as many rides as we could possibly fit into our day, stopping only for a quick PBJ lunch and a quick pickup of some burgers for dinner. We didn't leave the park until 11pm! Disneyland is such an experience. The way they form the scenery in each land and the way the rides make you feel like part of a movie - it truly is a magical experience. I am so grateful we got to experience this day together as a family!

Day 6 Travel Day

After a very full day at Disney, we let everyone sleep in. We checked out and started our drive to Three Rivers. We enjoyed a brunch at Cracker Barrel on our way, and arrived at our new place around 4. We settled in, and then went swimming and rock scrambling at the river nearby. The kids had lots of fun climbing and sliding on the rocks, swimming, and playing. We ate dinner right along the river as well - it was so beautiful!

Day 7: Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon

Today was spent the whole day in God's amazing creation seeing the ginormous trees! We stopped at/hiked many of the well-known spots along Generals Highway including Moro Rock, Crescent Meadow, the Big Trees Trail, General Sherman, Big Stump Grove, and Grant Grove. We had lunch at the Lodgepole Village and ate dinner at a Mexican place in Three Rivers. We had fun sitting in the hottub that evening watching for shooting stars.