American Girl was the one toy I wanted most as a kid but never received one. For some reason my parents bought one for my little sister and niece saying I was too old for the toy. I read every book though and loved all of the stories. When Olivia started getting into baby dolls I knew we would need to make the trip. With shutdowns ending across California, American girl decided to host a small event for the relaunch of the Bitty Baby collection. So I decided it would plan a mommy and me Palo Alto trip and attend!
Palo Alto Mommy and Me Trip
I googled all the hotels in the area and settled on the Nobu Hotel Palo Alto. It was close to the American Girl store and a bunch of restaurants. Olivia and I took the day off and drove up after a trip to the My Museum in Monterey. She was so excited to be out of the store. We arrived a bit early and I saw a Shake Shack so I thought that would be perfect for lunch. Olivia ate the frozen custard and we split a small burger and fries. She loved it.
After checking in, (they gave us chilled tea and towels which Olivia LOVED) we settled into our room for the night. I knew we wouldn’t need to leave for anything so I popped on a Neflix movie and gave her a new coloring book I picked up at Target. The room was on a super low floor– the lowest– but Olivia loved being able to spy on dinner patrons from our balcony. I loved hearing Japanese spoken from a native speaker as my brain tried to keep up with their conversation. We had a great time.
Around 8pm, Olivia decided she was hungry so I ordered a donburi bowl. This was such a comfort food for me growing up and it brought back a ton of memories for me of my grandma making the dish. Since this order was for Olivia I opted to skip the upgrade to Wagyu beef. But, it looked fantastic! I grabbed an order of edamame and mochi, too. She loved it all. We showered off and went to bed shortly after.
The next morning I woke Olivia up early and told her I had a big surprise. We quickly got dress and checked out before heading over to the American Girl San Francisco store. When we arrived her little mind was spinning. One of the store assistants checked us in and handed Olivia a gift bag full of Bitty Baby accessories. She was so excited.
There were less than 20 people in attendance and the store was huge so social distancing was easy. We spent an hour wandering around the store. I let Olivia pick out a few things but everything she wanted was on backorder. So we left with a few mystery food bags and pet koala. The event was really well done with raffles, an adoption certificate station and a really nice gift bag. The American Girl store was AMAZING! We loved exploring it and the event was a blast. After, we grabbed a quick Starbucks and headed home.
I loved making these memories with Olivia and I can’t wait for the next adventure. Overall, the Nobu hotel Palo Alto was nice. The rooms were a bit on the small side but the GIANT TV and Toto toilet really made up for it. The room service while delicious arrived cold and uncovered so they need to work that out. The decor is really stunning and soothing. I would go back again but probably upgrade to a nicer room– away from the loud restaurant. It was an easy room with a toddler since it didn’t have any clutter or breakables!
Have you ever done a Palo Alto trip? Let me know in a comment below!
