Health & Fitness

Family Road Trip: Day 1 of 16

Neon signs, split pea soup and giant donuts!

When we drive to Southern California, we take 101. I know, I know. It takes longer but when you have a 6-year-old in the car with you, it just makes things easier.

We were pretty good this time around and left San Jose at about 8 a.m. This allowed for a relaxed drive. We packed plenty of snacks in two coolers, bottled water and a backpack of wonders for my son, which includes toys he picked out, books, comic books, activity books and a GameBoy Advance given to him by a former coworker of mine. I packed about 20 games and a portable DVD player another former coworker, now close friend let us borrow for the trip.

This all made for a smooth, first leg of the drive, down to Buellton, Calif. where we stopped at Pea Soup Andersen's for some of their delectable split pea soup. This is a tradition for us and something my son and husband both look forward to: my son gets his photo taken and my husband takes photos of all the great neon signage in the area (more on this later).

But the best stop of the day, hands down, was at Randy's Donuts in Inglewood, Calif. Here's why:

  1. I love donuts and kitschy roadside attractions;
  2. My husband loves donuts and taking photos of kitschy roadside attractions;
  3. My son loves donuts and anything to do with Ironman (Ironman ate a donut while sitting in Randy's donut in the Ironman 2 movie).
While we stood in line at the double drive-in donut shop (yes, there were two drive-ins to purchase the doughy delights), a pair of guys in line in front of us turned and asked,

"We were driving by and saw the line, so we stopped. Are the donuts here any good?"

Yes. Yes they were.


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