But then I started thinking. He has a good point. The tropical island-inspired Catamaran has everything a kid and his family loves. It offers a big, beautiful swimming pool, a sandy beach, spacious rooms and suites, bike rentals, a video arcade, an onsite restaurant, and lots of opportunities to make new friends. 

Our getaway to the Catamaran Resort began recently when we checked into a gorgeous Bayfront Suite overlooking San Diego’s stunning Mission Bay. Spanning 438 sq-ft, the room was highlighted by a large patio that is literally steps from the sandy beach. 

The suite also boasts a big private bedroom, with two queen beds and a large TV; a separate living area with another big TV, a pull-out sofa, a wet bar with a refrigerator, and a dining area. A large, spacious bathroom with a walk-in shower, completes the room’s layout. 

Beyond the suite, the rest of the property is just as impressive. Featuring 310 rooms, the sprawling Polynesian-themed resort is surrounded by palm trees, waterfalls, koi ponds, exotic birds and lush vegetation.

The hotel is located in San Diego’s Pacific Beach community and sits on the shores of Mission Bay, a large, artificial saltwater bay created for recreational activities such as wakeboarding, jet skiing, sailing, camping, cycling, jogging, roller skating, skateboarding, and sunbathing. 

One of my family’s favorite spots at the resort was Mission Bay’s sandy beach, located steps from our patio. Here the kids made sand castles and played in the water, while we relaxed in lawn chairs, soaking rays and admiring the coastline.

The beach was also where we rented a 21-ft Hurricane powerboat and cruised around the bay for a fun-filled hour. We got the boat from Action Sports Rentals (www.actionsportrentals.com/catamaran-resort-hotel-spa/), which has a booth on the dock in front of the Catamaran Resort. 

It was an epic voyage. After learning how to control the vessel and the proper speed for the bay, we cruised into the morning sun. Along the way, we waved to boaters and paddle boarders, sailed beneath an old bridge and past expensive condos and luxury hotels. The boat was easy to maneuver, had lots of seating and shade, and was a perfect family outing for the afternoon. 

After mooring the boat, we went to the resort’s large pool area, where my kids played in the water and made new friends. Secluded behind tall palm trees, the pool is a tropical oasis, with lots of seating, a Jacuzzi, and a bar. Each day, the pool area offers a free kids program for hotel guests. 

Next to the pool is also a video arcade, full of free games for kids and their parents. My son and I had a great time here, shooting basketballs, racing cars and playing foosball. 

From the pool, we walked along a lush, tropical path to Oceana Coastal Kitchen, the resort’s onsite signature restaurant. Boasting beachfront dining, with spectacular views of Mission Bay, Oceana serves creative, coastal California dishes with an eclectic flare. The restaurant, led by Executive Chef Paul Arias, won TripAdvisor’s 2023 Travelers’ Choice “Best of the Best” Restaurants for Everyday Eats, ranking 10^th best in the U.S. 

Our dinner at Oceana began with a delicious bowl of New England style clam chowder, with bacon, red bliss potato, thyme, cream, and steamed little neck clams on top and mixed in. I am a major chowder fan and this bowl had the perfect amount of creaminess, along with clam and potato ratio, making it one of the best I’ve had. 

The restaurant also specializes in sushi and when we sampled the Oceana House Roll, we fell in love. The rolls are exquisitely filled with eel, tempura shrimp, crab, nori, avocado and unagi sauce. This dish is a work of culinary art. 

We completed our dinner at Oceana with a succulent grilled prime hanger steak with smoked potato puree, watercress, cippolini and macadamia chimichurri; and  a tasty Hawaiian style pad thai with stir fried vegetables, tofu, pineapple, chili, macadamia nuts, cilantro and soy. 

After dinner we strolled along the beach and watched the sun fall into Mission Bay. 

The next morning we had potatoes and eggs, and a plate of Chilaquiles for breakfast at Oceana, and then rented a surrey bike from Action Sports Rentals. We then pedaled around the bay. Along the way we saw sailboarders fling over waves, and then stopped at a park for the kids to play. 

Back at the resort we watched a demonstration featuring the hotel’s exotic parrots,  

including vibrant macaws, beautiful cockatoos, and a lilac-crowned amazon. Some of the birds talk and can say things like “hi,” “hello” and “goodbye.” The parrots are available to view outside daily, between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. pacific time, depending on the weather.

We concluded the day at the resort’s Sunset Luau. Held on the shores of Mission Bay, the luaus are a festive celebration of Polynesian food, music, and dances perfect for family and friends. The party begins with a lei with real flowers and a delicious Mai Tai. This was followed by an all-you-can-eat buffet with Hawaiian-inspired rice and salads and various succulent meats, including pork, chicken and fish. 

Local luau group Pride of Polynesia provided authentic island music and dance, featuring hula and fiery torch dancers. Kids also got a chance to hula dance and participate in activities at the Kids Corner, where they made flowered leis, festive crafts, colored and played with stick-on tattoos.

Catamaran Resort and Spa is located at 3999 Mission Boulevard, San Diego Ca 92109. For more information and reservations call 858. 488-1081 or visit: www.catamaranresort.com

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Such was my introduction to a vast array of unusual children’s activities that mesmerized the 70-year-old kid in me as much as they did Dalya, 14 and Mollie, 11 as we frolicked through Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, VA. (There are 18 such waterparks nationwide).

We could have spent all three days at the resort and still not exhausted the available options. Having to leave to also visit Colonial Williamsburg and Busch Gardens for me was just a distraction. Mollie and Dalya might take issue with that.

There is so much going on at the waterpark that I didn’t know where to look. The pool basketball game, the lazy river, the wave pool, the kiddie pool, Fort Mackenzie, a 12-level interactive treehouse with a section of ascending inter-connected rope tunnels leading to two winding slides, a surf stimulator and, of course, a total of eight waterslides that dominate the park and stretch both inside and outside the building. And everywhere the smiles were as wide as the lazy river was long. And no matter what the activity, you’re never too far from a potential dousing from overhead buckets both large and small eliciting cries of surprise from bathers of every age.

Options ranged from the toddler pool proudly boasting its depth at 0′ and containing miniature water buckets and slides to an array of adult slides from family raft rides of gentle descent to the terror-inducing Howlin’ Tornado with sheer drops and challenging turns. Okay, we didn’t go near that one but yes, we returned to the Alberta Falls waterslide multiple times.

And then there was the wave pool. Okay, not exactly ocean-worthy diving potential, but if you’re under three feet or willing, as I was, to kneel down, you can simulate riding the waves even if you can’t exactly dive into them.

Once our skins unpruned, we were ready for more land-based adventures — and there were as many of those as there were waterpark options. But first we had to eat — and so we entered the dinner buffet, right off the lobby where continuous other activities unfold. When I went for my salad, there was dancing in the lobby; back for my entrée, 50 little kids were engrossed in story time; during dessert, a musical presentation enthralled with singing trees, animals and other fanciful creatures. Entertaining kids around the clock is what Great Wolf Lodge is all about. So it was a surprise to see so many adults sporting the wolf ears the kids get at check in. I resisted the temptation…

The piece de resistance (after the waterpark) is the MagiQuest, a hard-to-describe adventure that takes kids throughout all four floors of the hotel seeking magical powers, potions and portents — all enabled by their magic wand — to satisfy the demands of a Merlin-like presence ensconced in a computer inside a tree. You don’t dare not follow his instructions!

There are multiple quests with multiple clues to each quest which require you to visit the Enchanted Forest, Tangled Woods, Piney Path and Whispery Woods, all located throughout the hotel. “The Ancient Book of Wisdom,” which you get when you sign up for MagiQuest, directs you to the clues. It’s a good thing I was with Dalya and Mollie: I never could have figured out what to do.

Surprising encounters occur throughout. Let’s say you wand a Quest site that’s not on your list, you might hear: “Silly Magi, you have to be on THIS quest before I waste my time with you.” At the Book of Freezing Spells, a voice admonishes: “Don’t be so literal. You’re reading way too much into this.”

And the huge larger-than- life-size knight in a stairwell pleads: “You have found 200 pieces of gold hidden in my armor. Now get me out of here!”

Word of warning: You have to stay out of the way of younger kids racing around as if their wands were swords and the quests just an excuse to duel each other through the hallways.
And if you tire of this unusual game of dungeons and dragons, you can opt to play miniature golf at the Howl in One course, hang out at the Arcade, or get a Henna tattoo and come back to the quest at a later time.

There was so much going on, so many bizarre places to wend a wand, with a variety of big screens showing animated adventures spaced throughout, that I just gave up trying to understand what was happening and happily trailed behind my grand-daughters in their quest for…well…other items in their quest. Overheard from one frustrated mom with three little ones in tow: “Man, this is crazy, I give up.” I knew just how she felt. I was so glad when Dalya finally pronounced that she only needed Tree Slime to finish her latest quest. Sounded like a good way to end to me.

And yes, there were actually more quests to do — the Shadow Quest and the Compass Quest – that I didn’t even want to ask about. And the list of the things we didn’t do was almost as long as those we did. We did not go to the Scoops Kid Spa, where the nail polish for mini-manicures all come with ice cream flavor names, the pedicures are done while seated in giant banana split thrones, the facials, bath balms and scrubs are either vanilla, chocolate or strawberry and the glitter make-up application comes with a tiara.

We didn’t try Oliver’s time challenge game where you race both against the clock and your opponents to push out balloon-size blinking light buttons. We didn’t bowl at Ten Paw Alley with five pound balls and bumpers along the pint-size lanes. We didn’t attend any of the several 4D-movies offered at the Howly Wood Theater. We could have spent a week there and never gotten bored, but hey, Williamsburg and Busch Gardens beckoned, and I reluctantly followed. For more information, visit Great Wolf Lodge).

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My getaway began when me and the family walked beneath the giant, iconic metal zoo sign at Griffith Park and entered the wild wonderland.

One of the first animals that caught our eye was the meerkats, located near the entrance. These playful, foot-tall squirrel-like creatures are members of the mongoose family and are found in arid and semi-arid regions of southern Africa. Their habitat at the zoo is made up of a complex systems of burrows with multiple levels and many entrances and exits. A mob of meerkats may construct several burrow systems scattered over many miles. These burrows are usually lined with grass and include a common latrine.

The meerkats are very outgoing and seem to enjoy posing for pictures as they stand on their hind legs on rocks or termite mounds—using their tails for stability—and scan the horizon for predators such as hawks, eagles, or jackals.

After the meerkats we hurried to see the Masai giraffes, which can stand 18 feet tall, making them the lookout towers of the savannah. Their six-foot-long necks enable them to eat leaves, flowers, and twigs that most animals cannot reach. Like humans, giraffes have seven neck vertebrae, although each neck bone may be over 10 inches long. The animal’s prehensile tongues measure about 18 inches long and are covered with bumps that protect it from thorns.

While studying these magnificent creatures I learned that female giraffes give birth to babies while standing up and the newborns can weight 150 pounds and stand up 30 minutes after entering the world.

Our next exhibit was Chimpanzees of Mahale Mountains exhibit. Lauded by primatologist Jane Goodall as one of the finest zoo habitats, this one-acre environment is home to a large troop of chimpanzees. When we got there, the animals were lounging on rocks, grooming themselves and climbing around.

The enclosure is designed to resemble the native environment of Tanzania’s Mahale Mountains in Africa and features mountainous rock formations, waterfalls and streams, palm trees and soft green grass. The facility also features a chimpanzee penthouse with heated bedrooms for the apes and an outdoor playground that has a jungle gym.

From the chimpanzees, we stopped at Campo Gorilla Reserve. Home to western lowland gorillas, the enclosure is highlighted by a forested pathway that visitors walk along to see the animals living among waterfalls and lush plants. Gorillas are the largest, most powerful of the great apes, a primate group that also includes chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans. They share about 98 percent of their DNA with humans.

The zoo’s gorilla enclosure has two separate troops of gorillas, a family and a bachelor group. The troops are led by a big silverback, who was eating a head of romaine lettuce when we got there. Glassed viewing areas and planted moats are all that separates Zoo guests from the largest primate in the world.

After hanging out with the primates, we walked to see the Grevy’s Zebras, the largest and most threatened of the three zebra species. The animals are wild relatives of donkeys and horses. They inhabit semi-arid and open scrub grasslands in Africa. The colorful creatures were running around in circles and eating grass when we stopped by.

From the zebras we headed to see Elephants of Asia, a sprawling, 6.56-acre exhibit boasting more than three acres of outdoor space, deep bathing pools, a waterfall, sandy hills, clever enrichment opportunities, and a high-tech barn capable of caring for elephants of all sizes and ages. The exhibit is so large, there are four different viewing areas to get a good look at the giant pachyderms.

The elephant enclosure features sandy hills, planted forest paths, and built-in enrichment opportunities to encourage exercise and exploration. Water features include a 20-foot waterfall, a mud wallow, two large pools deep enough to allow elephants to fully submerge, and a 16,600-square foot barn.

Other cool things to see at the zoo include alligators and crocodiles, hippos, a giant condor, tower giraffes, and Flamingo Mingle.

The 133-acre Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens is home to more than 1,400 mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles representing more than 270 different species, of which more than 58 are endangered. In addition, the Zoo’s botanical collection comprises several planted gardens and more than 800 different plant species with approximately 7,000 individual plants.

The LA Zoo is located in Griffith Park, at the intersection of the 5 and 134 freeways. The address is 5333 Zoo Drive, Los Angeles, CA. 90027. Reservations are required to visit. For more information and tickets, visit:  www.lazoo.org

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