Solana Beach and Winners Circle Resort with Teens

Our Solana Beach adventure and stay at Winners Circle Resort was part of a weekend getaway I planned for the occasion of my son’s 16th birthday. We spent the whole first day at SeaWorld San Diego and you can read about the fun we had in this previous post SeaWorld San Diego.

After our action packed day at SeaWorld, we drove just 15 minutes to a room we had reserved at the Winner’s Circle Resort. This hotel is a little gem of a place in Solana Beach that proved to be the ‘sweet’ we were looking for in a Sweet 16 experience. By the way, is it called something different for a boy? All the party decorations I could find for a 16th birthday were pink and black for girls.

My son wanted to give his friends a wow factor and we were able to do just that with a 2 story room complete with spiral staircase! Other hotels we had looked at in some of the more popular beach towns were completely out of our price range so I was really grateful for this Solana Beach resort score, which allowed me to give my son something I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to. I think when you are flexible in your plans you can do really well for yourself. We knew we wanted to be near a beach so we got out a map and just started checking every beach town along the coast.

Having a room with a kitchen meant I was able to save on the cost of food as well. After we checked in I took all the kids to the grocery store and we got frozen pizzas for dinner, and an ice cream cake for dessert. I let them pick their favourite junky cereal for breakfast and we bought croissants, ham and cheese to make melts for lunch the next day.

Having the two levels and balconies that overlooked the pool area meant I could be downstairs while the kids were upstairs, and they could be in the pool while I kept an eye from the balcony. This let them feel like they were on their own.

Before heading home on our second day, we spent a few hours at Solana Beach. It was a lovely quaint little spot with beautiful bluffs. The bluffs are serious business though!

The setting was gorgeous and being that it wasn’t so busy it made for a really relaxing atmosphere.

We had packed a couple boogie boards so the kids rode the waves and played soccer with the beach balls one of the kids brought up as part of their birthday present. Of course, my friend and I had to get in on the beach ball action and steal them for a few fun photos!

You don’t want to get caught on this beach with your dog though. Every time an unknowing strolling couple with their pooch would walk by, a loud voice would bellow over loud speakers shaming them and requesting their immediate exit from the area!

One thing to note about pretty much all California beaches is that the water is much colder than you would expect it to be. Weather at the beaches is typically cooler than inland because of ocean breezes but even in the highest heat of summer the cold ocean will take you by surprise. The phrase of the state might just be, “It’s great once you’re in!”

We had such an amazing weekend that all the kids slept for the whole ride home. At the end of the day, once everyone was delivered back to their parents and we crashed at home, my son looked at me with deeply intent eyes and gave me a big, “Thanks for everything mom!”

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