My seven year old son, Boone, set the ground rules for this year's mommy-son adventure.
We must fly in and out of Burbank.
We should be able to go to a beach.
We should stay at a nice hotel.
We must see friends (particularly two daughters of a good friend of mine).
Perfect. We could fly my favorite airline, Southwest, in and out of BUR. We'd stay in at least 4-star consumer-rated hotels in our price range near(ish) Santa Monica Beach and our friends further north.
For fun I added a few memorable additions.
Santa Monica Pier: his first roller coaster ride and arcade rush.
A visit to the Petersen Automotive Museum during the James Bond vehicle exhibit.
A helicopter ride piloted by a family friend (the grown-man version of one of my husband's first high school students).
Full hotel breakfasts and excellent L.A. cuisine for lunch and dinner.
My son has never seen a Bond film but he absolutely loves Bond theme songs. He got to watch action clips from decades of Bond films. Each clip included the stunt in which the vehicle in front of him was used.
From classic cars and luxury speedsters to submarines and gliders were on display. You could even mount one of Daniel Craig's many motorcycles in No Time To Die.
I was mesmerized by the modern Bond car that made the Guinness Book that year for the number of rolls it completed in its crash in Casino Royale. (Yes, a stunt driver was at the wheel and was reportedly unhurt.) You could see the steely kevlar mesh where the plastic exterior had been scraped away.
Mission complete, we quietly enjoyed our flight home to SFO.
Until the next adventure!