California Dreamin’: Christmas in San Diego
We spent our last sunsets of 2025 with family and dear friends in sunny SoCal. Pardon our photo dump.
Dec. 11, 2025 - Jan 5, 2026
Port Hueneme, CA; Channel Islands National Park; Oceanside, CA; Coronado, CA
“Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; let the sea resound, and all that fills it.” Psalm 96:11
One thing that helped our yearlong itinerary come together was having several anchor points. As the planning began, I knew I wanted to spend Christmas in Coronado, California, our memorable first Navy duty station.
The best part of being the trip planner is getting to make my own travel dreams come true. And so I made reservations to spend four weeks over the holidays in sunny Southern California. I planned the rest of our fall itinerary around that idea—with no regrets.
Channel Islands National Park
After Joshua Tree, our SoCal adventures took us to Ventura, CA. We stayed on Port Hueneme, a Navy base with an RV park close to the Channel Islands National Park visitor center. Our first night here, we shared sunset on the beach with a hundred or so of our closest seal friends.
The next day we had planned to head out exploring, but Nick noticed some issues with the trailer, including a screw in one of the tires. The kids and I enjoyed downtime at the RV park while he ran the necessary errands to get everything fixed.
Sunday, we had the great pleasure of attending a church recommended by our Guam church friends, Dave and Kim Lindee. Five years ago, we visited them in Ventura, but now they are living in Italy. They have since introduced us to their church’s pastor and his wife, Karen. We enjoyed attending their church. Then they joined us for lunch on the pier.
One of the down sides of RV life is that showing up to new place after new place can make you constantly feel like a stranger. Knowing even one local person can make a new place feel more like a community, somewhere you feel welcomed to be. Karen and Bruce made that magic happen for us. Karen even sent us home with a loaf of homemade sourdough bread—baked from our friend, Dave’s sourdough starter!
Our original plan for coming to the area had been to spend a day visiting one of the Channel Islands. But after five months of traveling, no one was feeling up for the hour-long boat ride (each way).
Channel Islands from a distance, at sunset
Nick and I have been to the islands, which are beautiful but remote. They are best experienced as an overnight camping/backpacking trip, which we aren’t set up for. So instead of the boat ride, we went to the Channel Islands Visitor Center on a quest for Junior Ranger badges. We ended up spending considerably more time here than at most visitor centers. They have a wonderful saltwater aquarium with fish, giant lobsters, and even a shark.
We unknowingly hit the timing just right because soon after we arrived, the park ranger fed the animals, which only happens every few days. The ranger answered the kids’ questions about local sea life. We enjoyed watching the fish and big lobster fight for pieces of squid.
On our third and final day, we finished school first thing, then found a spot on the beach in Point Mugu State Park. Here we enjoyed endless sunshine, breathtaking Pacific views, and Channel Islands off in the distance. We watched one last sunset before heading south to our holiday destination, San Diego County.
Slowing down in Oceanside
Knowing Nick and the kids wanted to swim and surf, we planned to spend two weeks in North County San Diego. Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base has an RV park on the beach next to rental cottages—a perfect place for Nick’s parents to join us for a visit. So we headed that way to a beautiful beachfront site at the Del Mar RV Park.
I had no idea when I booked the site that our wheels and hook-ups would be ON THE SAND.
During the next week, Sadie and Nate enjoyed a break from RV life (and from us). They flew to Texas to spend time with their grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousin—their first time flying without parents.
Nick used the down time to do RV maintenance, and I used the time to write. We also met up with friends and enjoyed time at the beach.
When Nick’s parents flew back with Sadie and Nate, his cousin Debi and her family, who live nearby, also came to join us. We spent the weekend lounging at the beach and catching up by the fire pit. It was a beautiful spot to chill and spend time together. Nick also shaved his Santa beard off, along with 20 years…
Christmas in Coronado
A few days before Christmas, we relocated to Coronado to an RV park with expansive views of San Diego Bay.
From here we enjoyed walks around Coronado, the holiday lights show at the Hotel Del, and visits with friends who live in the area. We enjoyed a Christmas Eve service and Christmas morning with Nick’s parents.
We toured the USS Midway with my dear friend April and her husband, Albert. The kids spotted My Dearest Bea in the Jet Shop.
The Chances, our Navy friends from Guam who live in Wisconsin, happened to be in town visiting family. So fun seeing Sadie and their daughter, Elin, become fast friends.
We snuck in visits with friends whenever time allowed between everyone’s holiday plans.
We biked around Coronado. And we hiked to the top of Cowles Mountain — the highest point in San Diego County, our now hiking-proficient kids racing up the 1.5 miles and 900 feet to the top in 30 minutes without stopping.
We rang in the new year with an incredible homecooked meal with our Friday night besties, the Betz family, who we last saw at Olympic National Park in September.
As winter storms blew through the area, we didn’t have the best weather that week. And some of the people we’d hoped to see were away traveling or busy with holiday plans. And so, the 11 days in Coronado felt decidedly slower paced than the rest of our trip.
So slow that one afternoon while Nick and Nate were mountain biking, I read an entire copy of My Dearest Bea cover to cover sitting by the Bay, the USS Midway (where my grandfather was stationed) set off in the distance.
In that slowness, some of my favorite moments were spent listening to Nick tell stories about the diving and trainings he did in these waters nearly 20 years ago. Across the bay was a ship he had conducted a combat operation from. The exact same ship from a intense and at times tragic deployment on the other side of the world stared back at him in retirement from across the Bay.
Visits to Coronado will forever be a walk down memory lane for Nick and Me. And like Annapolis, I have almost exclusively happy memories in these places. I spent my free time here meeting up with friends for beach runs and happy hour. Meanwhile, Nick was going through the ringer (understatement) at the start of his Navy career. I was enjoying time with friends, and he was getting pummeled by frigid winter waves and 4 am alarm clocks.
Perhaps that’s why I couldn’t wait to get here.
And why Nick was ready to leave.
We shortened our stay in Coronado so we could slip in a few more days on the beach in Oceanside before heading north. Back on Camp Pendleton, Nick enjoyed some last surfing sessions. Nate reunited with friends he made at the RV park. And we met up with a few more close friends in North County for the King Tides (full moon, extreme low tides).
The slower pace and easy visits with family and friends was the perfect gift to ourselves in our anchor place. Thanks to everyone who found us and carved out time to be together. Knowing us, I’m guessing it won’t be too long until we find ourselves back in SoCal.
Roberts on the Road
For those just finding us, hello! Inspired by the Year of Jubilee in Leviticus 25, our family is on a yearlong RV road trip in 2025-2026 to celebrate my husband’s retirement after 20 years in Naval Special Warfare, as well as our 24 years together during the ups and downs of it all.
With our 12-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son in tow, this trip to explore America’s national parks and beautiful places is intended to help our family reflect and reset as civilian life begins.
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For background info on who we are and where we’re traveling, we’d love for you to read the intro post. The full list of road trip blog posts can be found here. Thanks for stopping by!
