When You Wish Upon a Star, you break down in Quartzsite, AZ

Spring Break in California

Our trip to California for spring break is one for the books. 

Planning our vacation was easy. We booked hotels for free thanks to my in-laws, my amazing mom booked a flight to come babysit Owen, and we bought tickets to Disneyland. Our plan was to spend a day in Disneyland, a day at California Adventure and then our last day in San Diego with our good friends, the Jacinto's. I have only ever been to Disney World (I grew up in Pennsylvania), so I was pretty excited to go to Disneyland. 

Easy enough, right?

Owen and my mom playing and eating at Texas Roadhouse before we left. He was in good hands! Also, my mom is the only person (besides Brad and me) that Owen doesn't have to warm up to. He loves his grandma! 

DAY ONE

Breaking down in Quartzsite, Arizona

Just under two hours into our drive, right in the middle of Brad and I singing to Avril Lavigne, our radio went out. A few minutes later, our car lost all power and we had to pull off to the side of the road, right outside of a little town called Quartzsite, AZ. Population: 3,643

After trying (and failing) to start our car a couple of times, we realized we weren't going anywhere anytime soon. So, we did what any 26&28 year old couple who doesn't have road side assistance would do...we called our parents. 

After telling Brad's dad what had happened and where we were, he told us that he actually knew a couple from Moses Lake who lived in Quartzsite in the winters and that he would try to get in touch with them to help us. Sure enough, Chuck & Alice Millspaugh, a couple Brad remembered from his ward growing up, came to our rescue. (Talk about a small world)

We got our car towed to a repair shop in town and met the Millspaugh's there. Since it was a Sunday, our car wouldn't be fixed until morning. That meant we had the rest of the day and night to spend in Quartzsite. Chuck & Alice gave us a tour of town, fed us dinner, and saved us from sleeping in a motel by offering their pull out couch for us to sleep on in their 5th wheel RV. By the way, Chuck & Alice are the nicest couple ever!! We're so lucky they were the ones to rescue us. 

Our tour of Quartzsite

Brad and I hanging out in Quartzsite, AZ 

DAY TWO

On the road again!! 
The next morning, the auto shop replaced our battery and battery terminals and we were on the road again by 11am!! We were SO excited.

Breaking down, again

After driving for another two hours, we stopped for lunch at In N Out in Palm Springs. When we were done, we got in the car to leave and our car wouldn't start.

We were not very pleased and had to have our car towed again to a repair shop. This time, they told us our starter went out, and that it seemed like an unrelated problem to the battery. We also had kept our old battery and when this mechanic checked it, he said our original was fine. This didn't make us very happy and we knew we'd have to stop in Quartzsite on our way home to return the one they gave us.

On the plus side, we found out the tickets we bought for Disneyland were good for the next few days, so even though we planned on going to the parks on Monday and Tuesday, we decided we would just go on Tuesday and Wednesday and not spend the day in San Diego.

After a couple of hours at the repair shop, our car was fixed and we were on the road again! We crossed our fingers that we wouldn't have any more problems.

We finally made it to Anaheim that night around 5pm, 24 hours later than we were originally supposed to arrive! We celebrated by going to Downtown Disney and eating dinner at Tortilla Jo's.

DAY THREE

Disneyland 

The next day, we spent the whole day at Disneyland riding as many rides as possible and trying a bunch of yummy food. 

Let's zoom in on this beauty...

Enjoying my Dole Whip

Picture in front of the castle and Brad waiting in line at It's a Small World 

While we were waiting in line at It's a Small World, Brad told me a story how when he was 9 years old, he walked out of an exit near It's a Small World looking for his family and accidentally ended up in a construction zone. He got in trouble for being there and was escorted out. He also said they threatened to take him to Disneyland jail. Poor kid is scarred for life.

Riding It's a Small World

Picture in front of the best resturaunt in town. The sandwiches here are amazing!! 

At the end of the night, we met up with some other Midwestern couples who were also at Disneyland for the light parade and fireworks show. Both were equally amazing!! 

DAY FOUR

California Adventure 

Our time at California Adventure was so fun!! I loved the atmosphere and all of the rides. The fountain show at night was also really impressive!

Brad in front of the extremely impressive Cars ride and me in front of Mickey's Fun Wheel

DAY FIVE

Driving home
I'm proud to say that on our drive home, we didn't have any car trouble!! One thing I do need to point out though is there's a stretch in between California and Arizona that straight up looks like Egypt. I took this picture near the Osborne Overlook. Seriously, they could film movies here and claim it's Egypt and no one would ever know!