We had a nice relaxing morning after Death Valley...a swim, a shower and some laundry. The luxuries of civilization were enjoyed by all. Then a couple hours driving through the freeways of southern California made us think that death valley and its one road isn't so bad! You feel like a "hick" when you are shocked at the road systems but 14 lanes! 7 lanes each way for a few hours driving 100km/hr! 2 of the lanes you have to pay to use - so you can go even faster! And there's more of the same going in every direction. Wow there are a lot of people here.
Decided on the 2 day pass to Disney since its been almost 20 years since I've been and 40 since John has been! It takes a day to figure out where you are going! It didn't start off well...a late start put us in a half hour line up to park and then just as we were boarding the tram from parking lot to the park, the one in front of us crashed into the hedges and billboards! So everyone had to walk - we felt like cattle. This shaky start made me worry that John would hate it and not want to stay long.
Well, things drastically improved from there. We spent the day wandering...meeting characters - although Jack was not impressed at first! Pluto was our first character - even a game of peek-a-boo didn't change his mind! He has never seen any of these characters because, even though I have most of the Disney movies, the crazy kid won't watch TV! (much to my chagrin some days). It was hot, lots of people and tons of fun! We started with the Carousel to get in the mood and then left the crazy line ups of the kiddie rides and took Jack on the Astro rockets...like Dumbo but way faster! I even found myself screaming but Jack took it in stride and we continued on to the favorites...Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle cruise, etc. I was excited when half way through the parade, Jack finally took interest and pointed up at what I thought was a character...nope. It was a plane flying overhead. How in the world he heard it over the music, I will never know. I entertained myself by testing John as to who all the characters are in the parade. Mr. Master of Pop Culture thought the float of the Little Mermaid was Nemo! At one point in the day, he commented: "I guess it helps to know who all the characters are" - do you think?
Leave it to Disney to think of everything...there is a dog kennel at the front gates. Gus wasn't a big fan but we just go out and walk him every so often and it works. But I don't recommend bringing a dog to Disneyland!
The biggest hits of Disney for Jack were the birds, the planes overhead and the pushing his stroller into the crowds of people. But we enjoyed watching him take in all in and the little trouper lasted until 9:30pm and didn't fall asleep until we got home.
The next day the we took a break and went up to Santa Monica, Malibu, and cruised Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive (not as exciting as I had hoped). The beaches though were amazing - huge - set up with tons of volleyball nets and lifeguard stations - very much like Baywatch! Yet the Clampetts arrived at the beach somehow without a dog leash. So, we ended up walking Gus on an electrical cord! All the cars are Jags, etc. and we have the 10+ yr old Jeep (no offense meant PJ) and the electrical cord dog leash. We couldn't do much but laugh at ourselves. We finished off the day with a crab dinner on the famous Santa Monica pier (they even have amusement parks on the piers here!).
Today was another long day at Disneyland but we knew the ropes so John and I did some roller coasters (you can't go to Disney without going on Space Mountain)...using the great new invention of the fastpass system and single rider lines...we barely had to wait in line but we did have to ride by ourselves while the other one played with Jack. We had lunch with our friend Dan and his family at Goofy's kitchen and enjoyed the day. Jack is now a fan of these crazy characters we see everywhere. Both John and Jack like Disney. Job completed! We are all exhausted!
2 comments:
Elora has that exact swimsuit :)
And it could be worse...he could WANT to watch tv. Mine is addicted to (of all things) Scooby Doo. She's seen it all of twice. Now we can't pass a tv without hearing anguished wailing "BeDoo! BeeDoo!"
I don't have time to read the latest addition to your novel but thought i'd slip in a comment. 12 of us are set to leave for Radium at around noon into a forecast of snow. so we'll see what happens. i'm wearing my ski clothes. Even so, the blender and the margaritas are packed. sure have missed you getting organized, you did alot of work. Will take some pics and i'm not promising a novel in return but will let you know how it goes. Sure sounds like you're having an awesome time. take care jacquie
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