Wunnerful, wunnerful (Welk Resort, Escondido)

When the four-year-old woke up whining “I don’t want to go home tomorrow”, we suffered to tell her we were leaving that morning. Welk Resort and spa is not just for old folks. Three generations had a “wunnerful” time in an immaculate two bedroom condo, with full kitchen and generous covered balcony and endless activities elsewhere on the property.

The first thing our grandkids wanted to do was go to the pool. Well! There is a pool on every hill: kid pool with water slide, adult pool, lap pool, shallow pool…not to mention the jacuzzis. The water was a little chilly in the big pool (not my favorite temperature for October)but dozens of people didn’t seem to mind.

“Where did all these families come from?” my daughter asked. “Why aren’t the kids in school?” Maybe for the same reason we were there: to get away for the weekend. It was our annual Brick-Or-Treat event at Legoland.

As it turned out, our cottage reservation at Paradise Point in San Diego/Mission Bay had been given, we suspect, to someone in a large wedding party. The hotel consolation prize (dark rooms, unviewable beach area) was not suitable accommodation, so we headed to the restaurant for dinner and pulled out all four cell phones to find another place to stay. My daughter kept muttering that we were homeless.

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We tried Welk Resort in Escondido (couldn’t get through) and thought about Disneyland Hotel or simply going home.

My one and only complaint about Welk Resort is that we had trouble reaching them on the phone. We drove to Escondido on the chance they would take pity on us, which at 8:00 PM is pretty risky, but they put us on Broadway Hill in Applause 228 and we couldn’t have been happier. We enjoyed our stay so much we called the next week to reserve the same condo for a get-away with other grandkids. Alert: we couldn’t get through on the phone again. Eventually my husband found a number where he could leave a message and the reservation desk called the next day.

Activities, aside from golf which we did not play and dinner theater which we did not attend, included kid-friendly things like $2 fishing, movie night, ping pong, fusbol, checkers, jewelry making, afternoon ice cream sundaes, and industrial-strength BBQs at every complex. We enjoyed hamburgers, hot dogs and corn in the husk, compliments of my son-in-law. Our seven-year-old grandson had such a good time he wrote about it in school the next week.

If you decide to stay at the Welk Resort, go on line and you’ll find out everything you want to know. Sometimes the website refers to itself as Welk Resort San Diego, but it’s technically in Escondido.

Our family looks forward to a return visit!