California Dreaming

I recently took a trip with my family to California. While I was there, I wrote a journal, to help me remember the fun times we had. Here it is for your enjoyment. :)

Feb 14- Here we are in California. We planned this trip probably about 5 years ago, though the end result is somewhat different.
Originally, it was to be a big family event, grandparents included, but this was not meant to be. It is still a grand adventure, and will be chock full of fun.
We woke up yesterday at 4AM Saskatchewan time, and hopped on our first plane. The only glitch THERE was finding the airport Tim Hortons did not take Tim cards.
Calgary was a little more of an adventure, as that was where we went through customs. Long lines, new wings (hallways) to navigate, discovering we had left hubby's knee brace on the first plane, and the joys of the full body scan, to arrive at the gate just in time to board...and then sitting on the tarmac for 30 minutes because we had to be sprayed for ice.
The first plane ride was about 90 minutes, in which we were served one drink and one packet of pretzels. The second flight was 3 hours, and we were served one drink. Any food had to be purchased and paid for with a credit card. When we arrived at LAX, we had essentially not eaten since 5AM, and it was 12:30. We were STARVED!!! So we retrieved our luggage, found our way to the car rental shuttle, vowing that the very first fast food place we found, we would eat there. So we were giddy with happiness to spot a Burger King just outside of Budget. I tried their jalapeno and cheese burger. Not bad, but not great...a bit overdone. I was thrilled to see different snacks than at home...spicy Cheetos, chili corn chips...lots of spicy foods. I like spicy food, you see.
After soothing our hungry tummies, we headed off to find my friend's house. If it had not been for the GPS, someone would have died by my hands, out of sheer stress and frustration. California traffic is NUTS!! People drive so FAST, and in addition, I had never driven in miles before. Just to avoid being plowed down by EVERYONE, just to keep up with the traffic, I was having to drive 80mph in a 65 mph zone. Even police cars were passing me!
We had a lovely time at my friend's. It was wonderful to catch up with each other. And meet each other's kids. We had a lovely meal and the kids all got along splendidly. We lost a hat, but it was later found and will be returned soon.
Another, relatively short drive, this time in the dark, to our hotel. We arrived in one piece and tired out of our minds, and after a bedtime cup of coffee or hot chocolate or lemonade, we all sett;ed in...and woke up around 4:30AM....which would be 6:30AM at home.
We ate breakfast at Denny's, because it was to early for the motel breakfast, which ended up looking pretty pitiful anyway. So we were quite happy we had gone to Denny's instead.
We then headed out to FoodMart and bought food for lunches over the rest of the week. We found some things that are not available up North, like pineapple pop, 3L pop bottles, and mexican layered dip flavoured Pringles.
We spent the day at the San Diego Zoo. It was tons of fun, including a double decker bus and gondolas. We even, to the kids' delight, saw polar bears peeing and pooping. And some animals celebrating Valentine's Day.
Bought the t-shirt. :)
After the zoo, we returned to the hotel and brought in Mexican food. Burritos, nachos, tacos, quesadilla, refried beans, and rice. Yum. In the morning, at Denny's, I will have a biscuit with sausage gravy. Mmmmmmmmmmm.
Now we crash at about 9PM, to get ready for a new day of excitement.

Feb 16- Another day has passed and it is around 7AM. We are now in Anaheim, at our second motel.
Yesterday was Sea World. It was sunny, but fairly cool and windy, so the crowds were not heavy at all.
We saw a neat show with seats that moved, as if we were in a helicopter, flying through the Arctic. We laughed our heads off at the fact that they considered Moose Jaw and Winnipeg to be part of the Arctic.
My son went on his first roller coaster. It was also one of the rare times I did NOT do a roller coaster...it was part of a log flume, and I was just not up to to it...I hate log flumes. So hubby went on with him, and bought the photo to prove it. We saw lots of sea creatures, a 4D Sesame Street movie, and, of course, Shamu. We even bought the ponchos, though we didn't get very splashed at all...we should have been a few more rows up for that.
Bought the t-shirt. :)
Went to an IN-N-Out burger restaurant for supper. It was okay, but nothing spectacular...locals say these are supposed to be the best burgers around, which makes me wonder how bad the other places' burgers are...
Drove by my friend's house to get my daughter's hat back. Returned theirs, which was wet because my daughter had purposely gone into the spray pads and splash zones at Sea World. I even got footage of her getting drenched by one particularly hard landing of a log flume car she was standing near.
Arrived at the Ramada around 9PM, after passing two that weren't ours and one wrong direction that left me having to gun it, cut across two lanes, and take a corner on two wheels to get to the right spot. Driving on this trip has been a real adrenaline rush.
Did a load of laundry in the tub, then crashed for the night after losing both hubby's passport and all of my son's cash. Happily, everything turned up.
Today is California Adventure. In the rain. Should be good, because it will keep the crowds down and I have a poncho.

Feb 17- We had a great day at California Adventures yesterday. The crowds were small, and the rides were amazing. My daughter and I rode California Screamin' four times! And we plan to ride it again a few times tomorrow. Toy Story Mania was tons of fun, and so was Soarin' Over California. There were the usual rides- ferris wheel, swing ride, carousel. We got wet on Grizzly River Run, but with the rain, it really didn't matter. Our picnic supper for World of Colour was really quite good, and the show was amazing. My picnic had cold cuts, 3 kinds of cheese, including blue cheese, water crackers, sundried tomatoes, artichoke heart, pickled cherry tomato, a pepperoncini (like a mild, light green jalapeno), Coke, and tiramisu. We saw Muppets 3D and Turtle Talk with Crush. We also saw how they make figures from Toy Story come to life by spinning and lights. And a Monsters Inc ride where Roz talked specifically to my daughter. That was cool.
We returned to the hotel happy, slightly damp, and very tired.
Today we went to Disneyland. It is bigger, much louder, was much more crowded, and the rides were less thrilling. It was still a good day. We saw captain EO, rode Space Mountain twice, did the Matterhorn, Big Thunder Railroad, the Haunted House, Safari ride, Pirates of The Caribbean...and a lot of rides that just basically showed the storyline of various Disney movies.
Yesterday I bought a pin. Today I got one free. Tomorrow I will buy the t-shirts for both California Adventures and Disneyland.
Had a great supper at Captain Kidd's...a buffet place just across the street from the parks. The hotel breakfasts here are very good (hard boiled eggs, donuts, danishes, muffins, toast, cereal, oatmeal, coffee, tea, juice...). Lunches have been pretty good at the parks...sicilian sausage yesterday, bratwurst today.
Now off to bed to rest up for tomorrow...our crazed rush of a day to redo everything we want to do before we head home.

Feb 19- It's hard to believe we are at the end of our week. I am sitting in the airport at LAX. We board the plane in an hour. Yesterday was indeed a whirlwind day. We arrived at Disneyland at 8AM and rode Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Railroad, then grabbed some Fast Passes for later. We rode Astro Orbiters and Astro Blasters. We then went over to California Adventures to grab Fast Passes for Flyin' Over California and California Screamin'. We watched the Pixar parade and went to Talking with Crush. Saw the Aladdin show, which was really good, and ate at Captain Kidd's again.
It started to rain pretty hard, so the crowds thinned out a lot. We rode Soarin' Over California, California Screamin' three times, and hubby and son rode Grizzly River Run.
Did some shopping and returned to Disneyland. Saw Billy Hill and the Hillbillies, then went to the place we were to have our all-you-can-eat chicken and ribs. They were closed. After a bit more shopping, we rode the train and returned to the hotel to order pizza. It was too cold and wet to stay for the fireworks, and I suspect they were canceled due to the weather anyway.
We are so tired and run down from our whirlwind week that we are getting sick with colds. It has been a great week, a lot of fun...but it's time to go home. I'm ready. I'm just looking forward to coming back one year and riding California Screamin' over and over, and maybe checking out Magic Mountain, which has lots of coasters. So happy my daughter likes roller coasters. Now I have someone to ride with. :)