This was our trip to Carlsbad to use our extra Hilton Grand Vacation points. Because of Covid, most of our points were extended for one year. However, our “bonus” points were not and we were definitely going to use them so we did not lose them. If you are thinking about getting a timeshare, or whatever fancy name they are using this week, contact me first so I can talk you out of it. Enough on that topic.
Day 1
This was our travel day. In case you have not noticed, Day 1 is always our travel day. In order to get somewhere, you obviously must travel there and that typically takes place on the first day. Unless you have a time machine, which I do not. So Day 1 is the travel day.
Since Carlsbad is so close, it was an easy drive of only two and a half hours. We stayed at the Grand Pacific Palisades Resort and our one bedroom suite had a balcony that had a really nice view of the coast.
We also had a great view of the famous “Flower Fields” of Carlsbad. In our case, they were the dirt fields of Carlsbad because they had not been planted yet and would not be in full bloom until February or March of next year.
Here are some pictures of our place.
We ate a dinner of cheese, crackers, charcuterie, and wine while enjoying our evening view.
Day 2
We got up and headed down to the San Diego Zoo. We wanted to get there close to when it opened because online it said there could be long waits. Luckily, there were no long lines and we got in rather easily.
We saw small turtles..
A lizard.
Some giant tortoises.
Some Gharial, a type of alligator.
Of course some monkeys.
A fishing cat, something I had never heard of before.
An Okapi, which looks like several different animals had been cut up and sew back together.
A hippo!
One of my favorites, a leopard.
A red panda.
A male zebra.
Since the polar bears were hiding, I got a picture of the polar bear statue.
A giant ant eater. Is there also a miniature ant eater? If there is, we did not see it.
A mountain lion.
An African lion.
A tapir.
The elephant enclosure and display were impressive.
How far away the elephants were was a bit disappointing. Luckily I had a zoom lens.
A camel.
Some koalas.
And last but not least, a Tasmanian devil.
And check this out. For dinner, we ate INSIDE at PF Chang’s and it was not crowded. Strange how in LA County we must eat outside and in San Diego County we were able to eat inside.
We returned to our room and enjoyed a sunset before bed.
Day 3
We spent the afternoon walking around and shopping at the Carlsbad Outlets, which we could see from our room’s balcony. There are no pictures from the shopping trip because it is boring and looks like people walking into and out of businesses carrying a variety of bags.
We had a delicious surf and turf dinner at Kings Fish House, which we could also see from our room’s balcony. We finished the evening by walking off some of our meal at the Oceanside Pier, which we could not see from our balcony. Here are a few pictures of the pier.
Here is the view of the city from the pier.
Supposedly, the pier is haunted. We did not believe it until we realized we accidentally got a picture of a few ghosts on the pier.
Day 4
This was our final full day in Carlsbad. We decided to visit the Leo Carrillo Ranch Historic Park, another location we could not see from our balcony. The Leo Carrillo Ranch is the actual ranch site of Leo Carrillo’s ranch, or Rancho de Los Quiotes (Ranch of the Spanish Daggers). Leo and his family used it as a weekend getaway and vacation spot. It is also registered as a California Historical Landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Who was Leo Carrillo you ask? Leopoldo “Leo” Antonio Carrillo, was an American actor best known for playing Pancho in the popular television series The Cisco Kid back in the early 1950s. So on to our tour of the ranch.
There was a bunk house that had a triple bunk, an office, saddles, and was often reserved for special guests like Clark Gable and Carol Lombard.
The main house was built hacienda style with the living room, dining room, and kitchen in one building and the bedrooms in separate buildings.
There was a pool and BBQ area behind the main hacienda.
Leo’s wife, Edith, or Deedie, had her own little house she used as an art studio.
Leo built a cantina for his workers and himself to get drinks after a hard day’s work.
Here is an overview of part of the ranch.
Lastly, here is a peacock. There are numerous peacocks that roam the ranch.
We worked up a hunger with all of the sightseeing, so we headed to downtown Carlsbad…………
where we had lunch at the Daily News Café, which had some interesting art painted on the bar.
We walked around the downtown area then returned to our room to enjoy a final sunset and some wine.
Day 5
We returned home by taking Pacific Coast Highway all the way to Long Beach, then the freeways back him. We had a safe and enjoyable drive home.
Our next trip should be a short 3 day trip to Solvang with our friends the Webers, followed by a week long trip to Prescott, Arizona with our friend Sylvia. Until then, be safe.