My son loves the water, in all forms, pools, the ocean, lakes, aquariums, its all great for him.
In 2018, we took a trip to the beach for his birthday. He is a July baby, so it’s difficult to do a friend party since he’s out of school. We gave him several options that year, home party, day out with one or two friends to several places, or a trip to the beach.
He chose the beach. He’s no dummy.
So I started to plan. I really wanted to get him as close to the beach as possible with the hotel. I do a TON of research planning our trips, I look through hotel and hotel, I look at all the activities we could also do in each area. I can get a bit obsessive when planning a trip.
I started looking in San Diego, because I knew of some really cool beach hotels. Unfortunately, we were on a budget, and those hotels didn’t fit in that budget.. whooo.. I had no clue it was SO EXPENSIVE to stay ON THE BEACH. I guess I had an idea, but over $600 (or more!) PER NIGHT for a room? Eeeesh.
I searched and searched and ended up finding a hotel in Ventura, CA that was ON THE BEACH! And it was only $250 per night! Still pricey, but we were only staying one night and I could swing that price.
We drove from Las Vegas, NV, to Ventura, CA. We had to rent a car, as ours is a bit older and we didn’t want any possible issues on our trip.
I have been lucky with rental cars, I used to go through one of the major chains to book, like Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity, etc. I found that I had the worst luck with the random companies. In Las Vegas, we have one major hub with ALL of the different companies. Going for the cheapest was not the best option.
Alamo Rent A Car has been a life saver for all of our rentals in the last 4-5 years. They don’t charge the deposit on the card, they only charge what is being charged, which was SUPER helpful when I had a low credit card that needed to be used for both the rental car and hotel. I couldn’t have a bunch of deposits tying up the funds. They were either cheaper or would price match me. They’ve been amazing.
Ventura is a little further than we normally go to the beach, clocking in over five hours from us. Which makes it a minimum six and a half hour trip with bathroom and food stops.
Totally worth it.
The beach was BEAUTIFUL.
It wasn’t crazy busy, and it was the middle of July.
The hotel was ON THE BEACH. Like, you guys, you walk out of the lobby doors, down some steps and onto the beach. I know, I know, I’m sure some of you are like, big whoop de doo.. but I’ve NEVER been able to do this and it was very exciting.
Our hotel was the Crown Plaza Ventura Beach. The room was CLEAN, a nice size, had two queen beds, and a balcony. That’s right folks, A BALCONY! The next morning, while everyone was sleeping, I went and sat and just watched and listen to the ocean. IT. WAS. EVERYTHING.
We spent the day on the beach with our chairs and umbrella, the kids were in the ocean the entire time. It’s not as hot, since it’s a bit more North, so the weather was gorgeous with a slight breeze making it easy to sit on the beach for the majority of the day. We had lunch, relaxed in the room, walked down the beach walk to the little pier they have, got great pictures, had dinner, kids went in the pool, sat with the balcony door open.
It was beautiful, amazing, fun, relaxing. Such a great trip!
