The idea for this trip began nearly two years ago.
Ting had two buddies from preschool: Izzy and Zoe. Their two families have been among our oldest and closest friends. We see each other periodically, and have watched the children grow up together for a majority of their lives. Once the girls learned to read the more sophisticated books, they all got into Harry Potter. Each of them read the books, and opted for the movies as the evening activity during a sleepover. Thus, the parents started exchanging ideas about a joint trip to Universal Studios. It’d be so much fun for these childhood friends to visit the wizarding world together. We decided on summer 2025.
Unfortunately, Izzy had to drop out due to some unforeseen family life event. We finalized the plan with Zoe’s family, and bought tickets for the last week in June. For them, it was a convenient stop on their way to see family in San Diego for the 4th of July. For us, it was nice to avoid the peak holiday travel time.
We drove down to LA early Wednesday morning, hung out with Zoe’s family for 2.5 days, and then drove home on Saturday.
The Drive
We had some bad experiences with I-5, so we usually dread the drive to SoCal. Thankfully, this was a smooth trip. Because we had intentionally planned for a leisure pace, we were able to make stops along the way and enjoy the process.
On the way down, we made a caffeine stop in downtown Gilroy. The logic was to head out as early as possible and, before getting on I-5, hit up the last possible local coffee shop as soon as it opened in the morning. From there, we got a small second breakfast at the famous Pea Soup Andersen’s, and then made a stretching stop at the Bravo Farms gift shop.
During the return trip, we got a small plate to share at the Harris Ranch BBQ. We had been intrigued by this gigantic cattle ranch in the Central Valley for some time, and were glad to finally try their food. The brisket was surprisingly delicious! Too bad our appetite was limited due to the excessive sun exposure along the way.
AirBnB
Our three nights in LA were spent in an AirBnB with Zoe. It was the first AirBnB experience for our family, and we were rather impressed by the 4-bedroom house at the end of the GPS navigation. Having the space to relax and chill together was quite nice. The kids took serious advantage of the pool in the backyard, and got a kick out of the ping pong table.
LA Foods
Our first stop upon reaching LA was Myeong Dong Kyoja, now formally renamed to MDK Noodles. As usual, the food was fine but we were mainly there for our favorite kimchi in the world. A to-go container of the kimchi was a must, though the price had inflated quite a bit since our last visit.
Our first dinner with Zoe’s family was at a nearby Thai restaurant. The food wasn’t in the same league as the serious stuff in Thai Town, but the space was cozy and the staff was friendly. We had a good time.
Our second dinner, after a full day at the park, was takeout poke in the AirBnB dining room.
The third dinner and the best meal was Cajun boiling shrimp, which Zoe’s family suggested. We didn’t have much experience with this cuisine previously, and had a lot of fun trying it.
Grumpy Fox Coffee
We had done research ahead of time and found a neat coffee shop near the AirBnB to supply our obligatory morning beverage. I took everyone’s order and walked 5 minutes to the location as indicated on Google Maps. The adventure hit a wall, both figuratively and in the physical sense. It was a long and tall concrete wall on the perimeter of some sort of compound, with no store front of any kind. I looked up and saw the name of a synagogue… nothing remotely resembling a coffee shop.
I paced back and forth several yards, while staring at the phone to see how my blue dot moved to the left and right of the red pin. Was this a bad data entry on the maps? Hmm. I knew there was another coffee option across the street but didn’t think anyone cared for Starbucks.
“Looking for coffee?”
I looked in the direction of that hope-inspiring voice. A security guard had poked his head out of the booth at the vehicle entrance to the synagogue compound. The friendly man waved me over, while explaining that confused people show up like this periodically. Grumpy Fox, the coffee shop that I was looking for, was inside the synagogue and recently became the first business on site approved to cater to outsiders. I eagerly handed over my license to become a registered visitor. Getting me cleared in that security system took so long that it was reminiscent of being pulled over on the road by the police. Fortunately, this friendly guard kept raving about the coffee here so I felt reassured.
I found the coffee shop inside the building’s courtyard, across from an unrelated summer camp that somehow also had a fox on its logo. The owner sent a strong vibe of a hipster coffee geek. We chatted while he crafted my order and I watched parents drop kids off at the camp. It took a while but the coffee was quite good! Rich, silky, and worth the wait.
I went back the next morning to have my ID checked and all that jazz. While waiting to order behind a very well-dressed Jewish family, the girl in a dress gave me this bizarre look and asked what I was doing in their synagogue.
Universal Studios 2025
Universal Studios 2025 (2/2) – Maybe More Fun Than Disney? – Peter's Blog
July 19, 2025 at 7:00 pm[…] There and Back in Four Days […]