It's remarkable that I haven't blogged about it before now however.
I've been more than neglecting my own blog as of late it seems.
Anyway, so on the 14th of May, Jay and I flew into LAX for my Disneyland/California adventure.
I'll admit that my previous experience in Southern California at the theme parks was not enjoyable, or a memory I wanted to ever have to re-live, but my thought process centered around this: "If and when my children ask me if/when I took a trip to Disneyland, Universal Studios, the California Beach, or anything a long those lines, I wanted to have a POSITIVE experience there to tell them about." So - considering Disney was offering a free 1 day park pass for your birthday - to celebrate your birthday with Disney (it was their 50th birthday in 2009) we decided to take the bait and have a fun trip down in L.A., staying at my brother and sister in-law's apartment, to do the typical Southern California sight-seeing.
So... here goes in reverse order!
Our last stop on our trip was to Universal Studios - we took the tour, and rode most of the rides in the park (I'm pretty sure one was closed down so we couldn't get that one in).
Unfortunately for us, our day was cut short at the park as they were hosting Prom for one (or possibly a couple) schools that evening. I wish they had mentioned this before we purchased the tickets to get into the park to begin with, but... alas, they didn't.
The day prior to our Universal adventures was my birthday (May 15th for anybody that doesn't know, or wants to keep track).
This, of course, was our Disneyland day.
We opted for Disneyland rather than California Adventure - so next time we're down in that area of the world we'll have to hit the other park (maybe the "giving a day of service for a free ticket to any Disney park for a day" trade-off in 2010 will provide for that incentive).
Again, the pictures are in reverse - but it shows the major highlights of the day (including the $8 plate of overcooked spaghetti & meatballs I had for lunch - ouch!)
I actually got my official Mickey Mouse ears this trip - expensive, but worth the memory they provide.
And a bunch of balloons!!
No... I'm just kidding... *sighs* the guy selling these balloons was in the bottom right-hand corner of the picture holding fast to his merchandise.
I also found my knight in *shining* armor! Sorry Jay - but trust me, that gear is heavy and uncomfortable to wear!
This one's of the tree house bridge (formerly Swiss Family Robinson tree house - now it is Tarzan themed).
On board the Mark Twain! This was a leisurely boat ride - welcome toward the end of a long day of hoofing it around the whole park.
Making my birthday wish at the wishing well!
I found this sign to be pretty funny. :)
Why did the *headless* chicken cross the road?
I told Jay to heed this sign's warning...
but he didn't listen... *sighs*
The infamous small world clock tower (I took so many pictures on this ride - and no, I will not burden you all with them here).
Mmmmmm, that $$ lunch mentioned above.
A happy Jay with his $$ pizza!
Look who I found!! Goofy!
The day prior to our Disneyland excursion was our 1st full day in CA.
That evening my brother Diego (aka Ben) and his wife Mariela convinced us to go to a local climbing gym with them.
I had a good time, but my muscles were pretty sore a couple of days later.
We also went out for frozen yogurt (or was it custard?) afterward - a worthwhile venture!
Earlier that same day - on our own because Diego and Mariela both had to work - at Venice Beach. We got some sun, and had a fun time wandering a long all the shops, and almost all the way to Santa Monica beach, but we decided to turn back before we made the whole trip.
So that pretty much sums up our entire trip. Short, but sweet. We had a good trip, with lots and lots of pictures. Hopefully I'll figure out the problem with uploading all of those to Facebook (I have tried to upload them at least 5 times over the last 8 months to no avail).
So now that you're updated on our lives to the point of mid May 2009, maybe I'll put another post up from last year in the coming weeks (or maybe not - no promises).
