Further Adventures in California

Day 3, we’re back to California Adventure for… more adventure?

Our adventure started with…. standing in line. Unfortunately the one ride that we wanted to get to early (because the line gets very long) was having problems, and after we used our entire early-admission period waiting for it, they finally said they weren’t going to open for a while and kicked everyone out of line. Oh well, it was worth a try! So we poked around Cars land!

After that we went to Pixar Pier and road the Incredi-coaster! This one is the one Bevin didn’t want to go on, because it goes upside-down briefly. But she went! We had fun, there was screaming.

Didn’t get too many more pictures in the morning. We moved fast and zipped around the park doing rides while it wasn’t super busy yet. The cloudy weather seems to dampen everyone’s spirits around here. Worked great for us though! As usual we went pretty fast the first part of the day, and then came back for a break after lunch, and then went into the park for the evening. Both parks here have sections that are really beautiful after dark, so we always want to make sure that we have plenty of energy to spend the time in the evening.

After we were done in the park for the evening we stopped by Trader Sam’s tiki bar on the way back for a little while before turning in for the night.

Matt and Emily sharing a drink that comes in a bowl: the Uh’oa. Possibly named for the “uh oh…” sound that is universally made when it is delivered.

Matt and Emily’s drink was fun. It arrived, was lit on fire, and then they sprinkled cinnamon on the flame (causing sparks) to appease… pele perhaps? Anyway, gods were appeased, and drinks were had. Everyone wins.

The two sugary non-alcoholic concoctions Bevin ordered for us caused almost as much “uh oh!!” as Matt and Emily’s drink! Also bonus like Ukelele player!

I also had a Dole Whip. Delicious pineapple soft-serve, with pineapple juice over it.

And then sleeping. Early to bed, early to rise, for tomorrow we go back to Disneyland proper again!

Day 1 in the Happiest Place on Earth

We had a mixed sunny/drizzly day today, so we got a few more pictures!

We bounced around the park a lot, it was a 20,000+ steps day. We managed to do a lot of stuff and not stand in too many lines though, so it was worth it!

We had lunch at Blue Bayou, the restaurant inside Pirates of the Caribbean, which was fantastic. Julian gets up very early in the morning months in advance to get us the best reservations so we can do things!

We didn’t get to see the fireworks because there were winds so they cancelled the fireworks portion of the show, but otherwise it was a great day. Didn’t get rained on too much, didn’t have any significant difficulties getting the rides we wanted. Very successful.

The build-a-lightsaber experience was fun. Matt and Emily both built their own, so we got to go in with them. Anyone who’s a major Star Wars fan will definitely enjoy the experience of building their own saber.

When we did the Millennium Falcon ride we did the “Chewy Mode” where instead of getting instructions you can understand you just get yelled at in Wookie for the whole ride.
So of course we ran into absolutely everything, and barely succeeded. But it was super fun.

Jungle Cruise after dark is always fun too. As we sailed past the gorillas “Anyone wearing yellow try not to sit still, and don’t make banana noises!” cracked me up.

After a long day we went back to our room and everyone crashed. Up extra early tomorrow for the resort-guest extra time!

An adventure in… California!

After just over 3 hours on the nearly empty plane, most of which Bevin spent sleeping on my shoulder, we arrived at SNA in Orange County. None of that LAX business for us!
Our flight got in about an hour before the Portland gang arrived though, so we grabbed a drink and played some Tak.

Bevin, looking like she's going to actually have a strategy for her Tak game. (But it's all a lie, she's just going to be chaotic!)

After everyone arrives we take our ride to the hotel with a California driver who clearly thought most every traffic law was more of a suggestion. But we survived, got to the Disneyland hotel, and then off to the park we go!

The Disneyland Hotel towers. The water slides are monorails, which makes Josh very happy.
The resort is beautiful, but there's not too many people outside because it's rather cloudy and threatening to pour down rain.

Our room is a 2 Bedroom suite that’s Fantasia themed! There’s cool art everywhere, including a mosaic in the master bath.

The suite living room, with a murphy bed behind the couch, and a cool Fantasia art piece on the wall.
Bevin liked the light fixture in the bedroom.
The art in the master bedroom.
The mosaic in the master bathroom. "The creepily sexy fish" as Matt called it.

There are two parks at “Disneyland”, one is Disneyland proper, and the other is California Adventure. That’s where we went next!

Wait a second, we just got off a plane, why are we doing a ride that’s putting us back on a plane?!

Buckled back into "airplane seats" to go Soarin'!
The big screen of Soarin!

Soarin’ is a motion ride that puts you up into this big half-sphere screen and takes you flying over the landscapes, while shooting scents that match the landscapes at at you!

Cool thing is that right now they’re doing the classic “Soarin’ over California” version, rather than the Soarin’ over the USA that’s normal, so all the scenes are from CA. And there are even more scents! (Pine forest, orange grove, ocean mist)

We didn’t take too many pictures through the afternoon because it was raining so hard and phones were tucked into pockets. But we grabbed a few!

Grizzly Peak is the first thing you get to once you get past Main Street.
The old Yeti from The Matterhorn is now in the Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout queue.
Radiator Springs from Pixar's Cars movie.

Radiator Springs is one of the absolute best forced perspective things I’ve ever seen. It looks huge, it looks real. Photos don’t really capture it well. It’s really impressive. And it’s a fun little race-car ride too!

And because we’re all adults, and can do what we want, we went on the Little Mermaid ride, and sang along. Sha-la-la-la-la-la my-oh-my!

Little Mermaid's Under the Sea scene.
Kiss the girl!

And that’s about it from our first 3/4-ish day at the park! We got… slightly damp. We had a great lunch, and a great dinner, none of which we took pictures of, and then went to the “fireworks” show, which is actually lasers and lights and water at California Adventure. Also not pictured, because it was cold, and damp, and we had our hands in our pockets.

Tomorrow will be Disneyland proper!

What’s this?

Bevin, excited to be using her new rolly-bag for the first time!

We seem to be at an airport!

Less than half full plane? Not bad! Doesn’t mean extra leg room though…

Yep, definitely an airport, you can tell by the fact that we’re on a 737!

Guess it’s time for another adventure!

A Christmas discovery..

We’re at home, with a Christmas Playlist on.

Bevin, out of the blue:

Oh! I figured out why country music is a thing! It’s something for Altos to do, since nobody writes shit for them.

I… Can’t really argue against the concept

Also, 80’s/90’s (or earlier) Christmas music is the best, and it’s not because we’re old, it’s just objective truth.

Perhaps I need to choose new colors…

A variety of similarly-colored water bottles. Also a cat.

I accidentally put down my new water bottle next to my two old water bottles, and realized that I seem to have a rather specific set of color preferences… Perhaps I should branch out?

Also, I’ve been trying since Guam to get my phone to capture the beautiful color of the Hydroflask I found there, called “Laguna”. (It’s the one on the left)
It doesn’t come across here, but it’s very much the color of the beautiful blue water. More green tone than the camera wants to acknowledge.

Okay, back to doing chores with my little helper.

The war in the pacific is following me…

After getting home from Guam last night we got up to go to work.

The rest of this week Bev is helping out at a different plant, located an hour away, and today I went with her and am going to get some work done from coffee shops. So I drop her off and find the nearest Starbucks.

Upon walking in:

Welcome to the Midway Starbucks… Expect battleships?

I mean, I guess atmleast it’s not the Bataan Starbucks? What are the odds though?

Fun trivia fact: did you know the battle of Midway was where over half of the Japanese carrier fleet that attacked Pearl Harbor was sunk?

Anyway, there’s your WWII factoid for the day. I’ll keep an eye out for zeros while I’m working.

32 hours later…

We made it home! Almost exactly 32 hours after we left the hotel “this morning”.

What a Tuesday. Anticipating going to bed in a couple hours, this day will have been 34 hours long. Plus 4 before we woke up, and 2 more after we went to sleep for total of 40 hours between 12:01am and 11:59pm on Tuesday Dec 12 from our perspective.

A single day that’s 40 hours long and 9000 miles wide. Now there’s an experience you don’t get to have too often.

Hopefully at least!

Leaving on the last jet plane. Into the wild blue yonder dear friends, once more.
I love flying at night, especially with how many neighborhoods around here are just COVERED in Christmas lights. The picture doesn’t even come close to doing it justice.

During our flight from Guam to Honolulu I sat next to a guy from Saipan who was leaving the islands for the first time. Hawaii was impressive to him, I can’t imagine what he’s thinking now, having gone through LA and landed in Seattle where he’s going to try and get set up. The island he lived on is slightly less than half the length of Guam, at only 14 miles. From the single high spot you can actually see the whole island he says.

And our Lyft ride home from the airport was 24 miles, almost the entire length of Guam.

Sometimes the scale of things just really gets you.

I hope that guy enjoys Seattle. I assured him he did NOT in fact have to worry about frostbite upon arrival.

Kitties are very suspicious.
Eventually they figured out that they remembered us. At which time they immediately remembered that it was dinnertime.
All is back to normal.

Kitties got up to some shenanigans while we were gone and got themselves into some places they’ve never gone before. Whoops! Learning for next time.

We’ll try and post a few more things in the next few days as we go through all the pictures from the other phones as well. But for now: we’re home, and ready for a nice sleep with actual lying down and such. What luxury. Almost like we’ve been upgraded to first class!

And even more miles to go before I sleep…

It’s 10:15am on Tuesday it Portland Oregon. We got out of bed 24 hours ago at 4:15am on Guam. (where it is currently 4:15am on Wednesday…)

Everyone is very tired. At least half of us are almost home and tucked in for the.. Day?

Almost home to have a proper non-sitting nap.

Only one more 3 to layover and then 4 hour flight for Bevin and I. The Tuesday that never ends continues ever onward.

At least there were some mountains in the distance.

Oh mountains, my mountains, thank you for showing yourselves today.