{"id":338982,"date":"2025-12-11T09:28:52","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T09:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/california-road-trip-oasis-wanderingpod-com\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T09:28:52","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T09:28:52","slug":"california-road-trip-oasis-wanderingpod-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=338982","title":{"rendered":"California road trip oasis – wanderingpod.com"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

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The pool at HRI. Heaven.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The girls and I are road-tripping around California again, our second such road trip of the calendar year. The destination this time looks a lot like the destination back in January: Southern California. Then we crammed the trip into five days. This time we\u2019re stretching it out into eight.<\/p>\n

That means we get some extra time to take things more slowly than usual. Which means a few extra nights on the back end in Santa Monica to see a good friend and meet his new lady.<\/p>\n

It also explains why we spent our first night crashing in a hotel less than a half-day drive from our home.<\/p>\n

The hotel, however, was well worth the stop: The Harris Ranch Inn<\/a>, just outside of Coalinga, smack in the middle of the Central Valley.<\/p>\n

If I wasn\u2019t a travel writer, this is the part of the post where I\u2019d call the HRI one of the \u201cbest-kept secrets in the Central Valley,\u201d or a \u201chidden gem.\u201d But because phrases like that make my skin crawl, I\u2019ll put it differently: THIS HOTEL IS THE BOMB, especially if you\u2019re traveling with kids.<\/p>\n

The Harris family has developed an incredible piece of property with top-notch restaurants, a swanky hotel, and a pool that rivals some of the best pools in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

We experienced all three amenities during our stay. Most impressive was the pool. After arriving around 3 p.m., we spent our first few hours lounging in and by the fabulous water. The air was a balmy 105 degrees, so the pool really was our only option. It was so hot it hurt our feet to walk on the pavement without flip-flops. That made the water feel even better.<\/p>\n

We also had dinner at the more casual of the two restaurants in the main building \u2013 the Ranch Kitchen. My girls, pasta aficionados, repeatedly said how the penne-with-butter-sauce was the best pasta they\u2019d ever tasted. I thought they were exaggerating. Then I checked their bowls: empty! Even the fruit cup was unique\u2014it contained pieces of a version of Kiss Melon that was developed for the Harris ranch and is only available there on the ranch. The kids could eat it fast enough.<\/p>\n

Of course the girls also enjoyed our spacious room. We had a second-story corner unit with two queens, a small sitting area, and a balcony. I\u2019m not used to staying in such luxurious digs when I road-trip; for me, it\u2019s typically Motel 6 or Travelodge. One of the best things about the Harris Ranch Inn: It\u2019s not much more expensive than that.<\/p>\n

Most people\u2014millions of people annually, I\u2019m sure\u2014drive right by this place and probably don\u2019t even realize there are swanky restaurants and a fancypants hotel there. To be honest, I\u2019m guessing many people know Harris Ranch<\/a> because of \u201cthe smell.\u201d The place is a working cattle ranch, which means a) There\u2019s always a lot of manure, and b) They\u2019re slaughtering cows, which can be stinky in its own right.<\/p>\n

My wife and I, however, have a bit of a stronger connection to the place; a connection that goes back to when we first became parents.<\/p>\n

Back in 2009, when L, our oldest, was just a baby, Powerwoman and I took a road trip to L.A. to attend a friend\u2019s wedding. On the way down, my wife had to feed the baby, but the heat rendered our strategy of nursing in the idling car impossible. We were searching for a place where she could go inside and be cool while she nursed. We found that place in the Harris Ranch Inn.<\/p>\n

Nobody bothered us while we sat in a corner of the lobby and quietly did our business. Afterward, I peeked around, marveling at the pool and the hotel grounds and thinking to myself: Someday I\u2019ll stay here.<\/p>\n

That someday was this week. I can\u2019t wait to go back.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The pool at HRI. Heaven. The girls and I are road-tripping around California again, our second such road trip of the calendar year. The destination this time looks a lot like the destination back in January: Southern California. Then we crammed the trip into five days. This time we\u2019re stretching it out into eight. That […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":338983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97036,163416,11838,163417,163415,97638],"tags":[531,163418,32946,163419,2203,2683,35155,8087,163420],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-338982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-california","category-central-valley","category-family-travel","category-harris-ranch","category-reviews-and-features","category-road-trip","tag-california","tag-central-valley","tag-family-travel","tag-harris-ranch","tag-oasis","tag-road","tag-road-trip","tag-trip","tag-wanderingpod-com"],"yoast_head":"\nCalifornia road trip oasis - wanderingpod.com - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=338982\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"California road trip oasis - wanderingpod.com - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The pool at HRI. Heaven. The girls and I are road-tripping around California again, our second such road trip of the calendar year. The destination this time looks a lot like the destination back in January: Southern California. Then we crammed the trip into five days. This time we\u2019re stretching it out into eight. 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