We went to Orange County briefly over the weekend to escape the summer heatwave. This 90 F degree heatwave has been going on for over a month. OC was so fresh! Even Anaheim, where our hotel was located, was a very comfortable 85F with strong winds. Crystal Cove was 75F. You wouldn’t know that we were in the midst of a heatwave there.

Traveling with my MIL is logistically a bit tricky, as we need two rooms and she doesn’t enjoy as much her time in the room (but doesn’t like going out much either). And coordinating time is tricky as well. The best is when the whole family stays together in an airbnb.

Originally we wanted to go to OC for a Trevor Noah standup show that was happening on July 30. After looking at the pricing of some of the tickets that became available, we ended up not going to the show. (Most were taken by scalpers but there were some tickets popping up temporarily a few days) We still decided to go on our trip. Our first preference would have been Hyatt Regency Newport Beach, but it went up from Cat4 to Cat5 and it was not ideal for our budget. (We had multiple Cat4 certs this year). I was weighing between Hyatt Regency Newport Beach West and Hyatt Regency Irvine, when I learned that Hyatt Regency Orange County (in Anaheim) has two-bedroom suites. Their suites are a bit old and relatively affordable. It was one hour drive away from our home in SGV.

Hyatt Regency Orange County

I booked two nights in the hotel using 15k points per night, plus a Suite Upgrade Award, to get us a 1 King Bedroom Suite. And then when their guest experience manager contacted us, I requested a free upgrade to the Two-Bedroom Suite. They weighed at our globalist status, and gave us the upgrade while noting that it was a “one time exception” as they are not expected to provide upgrades to their premium suites. They gave us a third floor Family VIP Suite, which is not ideal as the second bedroom is a bunk bed. We showed up at the hotel to ask if they had any other 2-bedroom suites or Suite+adjacent 1 King Room, but they had nothing else. On the upside, this was the one of the very few North Tower suites that had been renovated. (The other suites are super old. Like you can smell the carpet across the screen.)

After arriving, I realized that I had forgotten my ID. I was packing my usual stash of travel-related credit cards (Hyatt card, Hilton card for the statement credits etc) and apparently I blanked out for a moment and put the credit cards in my backpack but left my ID in the same spot on my drawer where I was looking at the credit cards. I also forgot to bring our pool phone pouch. They let me check in with a photo of my ID.

The suite was overall pretty dark with only one window on the main bedroom. The couch in the living room area was pretty small and not very comfortable (almost like a Hyatt Place couch), but we made do and watched some TV from it. Each bedroom had its own TV and the living room also had one. The living room’s TV didn’t have a working Chromecast, but the bedrooms did. I plugged my laptop to the TV’s HDMI port. I couldn’t see well into the narrow 2″ slit between the wall and TV, so I took a photo of it to take note of the location and direction of the HDMI ports. The TV Remote allowed access to Source selection via the FUNC button. We watched a BBC natura documentary briefly with Christine’s mom. We usually don’t sit together in the living room at home, so this was nice. We also watched the movie “Masters of the Universe”. A nice white people DEI movie showcasing a buff blonde guy. We talked a bit about the 90’s He-Man and She-Ra cartoons.

We floated in the pool on Thursday afternoon and went to the beach for an hour on Friday. Mom got to try out our floaties for the first time. I liked how the air was fresh. At 5pm, it was already getting a bit chilly to sit in the pool.

The hotel’s breakfast was the average regency breakfast. They only allow either buffet or a la carte, not both. I liked how it was not the usual over-AC freezing restaurant, but rather a relatively warm space under the main lobby’s natural light glass dome area.

Nok’s Kitchen & Smoke Queen BBQ

We went to have dinner at Nok’s Kitchen. We had visited this place three years ago, and we recalled the place being very small and having excellent Laotian food. They expanded! They have a space that fits four times as many guests as before. I think their menus are similar to before. We had roti, crab shumai, chicken & beef skewers, and grilled shrimp. Grilled shrimp and and crab shumai were a bit mid. Skewers were excellent, very aromatic. I liked roti the best. They have a unique roti that is very flaky and oily. Flaky like an air fried croissant. Dipped in curry it was the bomb! Although it was too oily for Christine & mom.

On Friday, we went to have dinner at Smoke Queen BBQ, which is what seems to me like Texas BBQ but with an asian flair. It was amazing. Their pickled cucumbers go well with the meat. Smoked cha siu, pork ribs with a soy sauce-derived sauce, coconut rice. We forgot to get the sticky rice & pandan mango dessert. We’ll get it next time. They have a giant outdoor courtyard space that seems to be shared with other businesses in the block. Lots of unique seating arrangements – a little tent with a table for four people, slides, etc

The bathroom in the courtyard had signage in five languages. I think they might have used machine translation for Korean though because for Men it reads “Multiple Men” while Women is “Female Gender” (which is the correct, official expression of choice for women’s bathroom). It should have been “Male Gender” for the men’s bathroom but it got a direct translation of “men”, as used in a sentence.

We went to spend some time to Crystal Cove beach, and went to check out the Beachcomber restaurant. The online table reservation system had indicated that there was no reservation available until 2pm. They told us that actually we could get a table in 45 minutes (if we don’t mind sitting in the back) or 1.2 hours (if we wanted an ocean view table). We took a walk along the beach. The waves were stronger and the sea line was overall higher than before. We passed by the same rock next to which we tried to take our engagement-ish / wedding invite asset photos four years ago. Their lunch.. was okay. We got Covia Tacos and Seafood Pasta.

Costs

• 30k Chase points + SUA for a room that would have cost $400 if regular King Bedroom or $1,000 for a King Bedroom Suite, or $1,200 for a VIP Family Suite.
• $330 Food
• $20 Crystal Cove Parking & Shuttle