A Day in California Adventure

The Disneyland weekend adventure continues.

After our day and late night at Disneyland, I woke up the next morning feeling as though I had been hit by a bus. I was still so tired and and my voice was hoarse (there had been a lot of screaming, and yelling the day before). However this didn't matter, because day 2 was ahead of us. 

We ate another sad breakfast (which maybe I should give more credit to, at least we didn't have to ask for milk like Nate and Emily had to do at the Day's Inn) and headed back to the parks. 

This time we were headed for California Adventure. We of course went straight to the Cars ride fast pass line-which was already huge by the time we got there. It was worth it though, because 10 minutes to get a fast pass saved us about 100 minutes of a waiting in the actual line.

Emily: *appropriately reacting

Nate: "Ooh is that a caterpillar I see?"

Tiffany: "hmmm whaaa? the light....it's...so bright. yeah i'm up, i'm up"

Me: * hands on the dash in the middle of performing a ritual 

It's sprinkled a bit on and off throughout the morning, but we didn't mind. If anything, it probably deterred the Californians from coming to the park that day. 

It may shock you to learn that the only snack we bought that day was a cheese jalapeno pretzel. It was so good we almost devoured the whole thing before we snagged a photo. 

This lack of snack buying was brought to you in part by Nate and Emily. They packed lunch for us, which included muddy buddies (the food we will all eat in heaven). We sure know how to pick our travel partners. Brownie points, kudos, shout outs, and three cheers for The Bartholomew's.

We once again we able to truly master the fast past system and ride every ride we wanted to multiple times. 

Which meant we rode California Screamin three times. 

Were we tired from our weekend, or was the ride just not doing it for us anymore?

The sky did make an appearance for a brief part of the day.

We learned from our Splash Mountain experience, and made a shoe change when we went on the "Grizzly River Run", which is a white water rafting ride. I also realized how convenient it is to have a rain coat on a wet ride. My life is changed. 

In California adventure there is the Hyperion theater, where you can watch an hour long play version of Frozen. After missing the first show, we went back to try to get into the second showing. The rule is, you have to be in line at least 30 minutes before the show starts. Unfortunately that landed on the same time we were able to get new fast passes. Fast passes are life, so that wasn't something we were just  going to pass up. We figured we could make it work if we divided and conquered. Tiffany would stand in line for the show, Nate would get the fast passes, Emily would stop in Cars land to buy a snack for her and Nate, and I would go to the restroom. 

Then, a hitch in the plan struck. They wouldn't let Tiffany in without her whole group. I showed up soon after, but Nate and Emily were far behind. Emily's food line was moving at an all time slow, and Nate was still in a different section of the park. The minutes ticked by and they still weren't showing up. We called Nate and told him to run, and told Emily to give up on the food and high tail it to the theater. Were we going to make it into the show? Were we going to witness "Let It Go" in real life? Most importantly, were were going to have to come back to this dang theater for a third time? Blood pressures were rising. Heart rates were elevated. Stress levels were at an all time high.

Not really. 

They both showed up running to the theater, and jumped the rope to where we were waiting. Nate had the fast passes, but Emily had to give up on the food. Back in the food line with Emily, everyone was stressing about how they weren't going to make it in time for the Frozen show. I hope their chili cones were worth it. 

Dinner. 

It was good.

Throughout the day, we would make a special effort to stop by the Ghiradelli shop to snag the free samples. We were always excited when it was a new employee passing them out. We got five total.  

Cars land at night is my favorite. They play music from the 50's and it feels like you really are in radiator springs. 

We of course ended the night by watching World of Color. Which is pretty much nostalgia on steroids. 

Sadly our trip was at a close. We said goodbye to Nate and Emily, and made the trek back to out hotel. 

The next day, Tiffany and I popped into a church building for sacrament meeting before driving back to Palo Alto, and who did we see walking in the chapel?? Nate and Emily. They had had the same idea. It was like being in the Provo YSA 98th ward all over again. 

Overall, it was a practically perfect weekend. If anyone ever wants to take a personal guide to Disneyland with them, I would gladly volunteer. 

and if you just can't get enough information about this weekend, here is a small video montage of the trip: 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7y9yc9P4Qj2RXJHeWQxVDVtZlE

A Day in Disneyland

Sometimes when you live in California, you just have to take a Friday off of work and drive to Anaheim. And when I say Anaheim, I mean Disneyland, because that town has just about nothing else going for it. 

A few months ago (remember how we are planners), Tiffany and I decided it would be fun to pop on down to Southern California for a long weekend. Since my job gives me a day off for my birthday (within 30 days of my actual birthday) we decided to go in May.

Thursday night we drove into our Ramada Inn that was a mile away from the parks. We were pretty excited about the advertised "hot breakfast", I love me a good hotel oatmeal. Turns out we were a bit premature to be excited about that. It didn't matter though, because we of course had a big "The Great Disneyland Food Tour 2017" list of foods to try, but we will get to that later.  So after our yogurt mixed with dry oats, we headed out to Disneyland. 

After Tiffany was being quite slow and in absolute no hurry to actually enter the park, I started to know that something was up, and then who did I see walking towards us?? 

Our good friends Nate and Emily! They drove down from Provo to surprise me for an early birthday. Tiffany and them had been coordinating it all for months, without my knowledge. I truly have some wonderful friends. Shout out to Tiffany for always one upping herself when it comes to my birthday. I was so happy to see them and excited that we would be spending the whole weekend together. 

Since we were at the park as soon as it opened, we were able to go on so many rides with little to no wait times in the first two hours. Tiffany finally got to ride the Peter Pan ride, and out of obligation, we went on Small World. 

I posted this photo on Instagram with the caption: "Is it a small world, or did my friends intentionally come here to surprise me for an early birthday?"

Some real world behind the scenes look into this picture: It took us three separate times, and three different photographers to get this photo #highmaintenance 

Get ready for a lot of these ride photos. This is our attempt at "YMCA". Nate got absolutely soaked on this ride.  A note to all future Splash Mountain riders: if you don't want to get wet, sit in the back.

After riding Splash Mountain, we stopped in next door to Poohs Corner for some sugar. A peanut butter sandwich, chocolate chip cookie, and a chocolate covered pineapple were all on the menu for our morning snack. Food review: I could skip the cookie next time. 

Emily said, "let's make the most ugly face we can for this picture", so I turned to Tiffany and whispered "let's smile, and not let them know." I got to say, Emily crushed it. I still can't figure out what those people in front were going for. 

These Minnie ears just matched my outfit too well. 

Then it was time for lunch at Cafe Orleans. They serve a sandwich that Tiffany and I have been wanting to try for a year now. Last summer we came here and discovered that you have to have a reservation, and thus we were thwarted in our plans. So this time we were prepared and had a reservation ready to go. 

As it is a restaurant, it is what some might consider, more of a classy affair. Nate and Emily had no shame though in bringing in their turkey leg that they bought from the nearby food cart. As they said "Either way, the money is all going to Disneyland". I don't think our waiter liked us very much. 

There it is. The Monte Cristo Sandwich in all its glory. All $20's worth. That's right people, $20. I mean it was good, but probably not $20's good.  

We also spent a lot of our lunch scheming how we could steal leftover french fries from nearby tables.The waiters were too fast though, so we never got our chance. The lady behind us had sweet potato fries we really wanted to try, but as you can see, she boxed them up to go. Thwarted again. 

With the combination of our productive morning, and working the fast pass system like pros, we did everything we wanted to do and more. More being Mr. Toads Wild Ride. Did you know that part of that ride includes the Devil and you travel through Hell? It's interesting.

Dole Whip of course. 

Afternoon snack: A garlic cheddar bagel twist 

Since it isn't busy season yet, there were characters walking around everywhere. Belle and the Beast actually got on the ride and rode the carousel with us. 

French dip sandwich for dinner. Was I hungry? No. Before dinner, we were waiting for a Star Wars movie thing, and I was doing jump lunges and squats trying to burn up some calories and make room in my stomach. It's a good thing Tiffany and I share every meal/snack, or I would have been rolling out of that park with an empty wallet.

Tiffany and I wore matching soccer mom shoes both days. But a huge shout out goes to these shoes. We walked 10-12 miles a day, and these kept my feet feeling great the whole time. Adidas cloud foam for the win. 

Nate and Emily got a corndog for dinner. Those things are so dang delicious. 

Disneyland by night.

Our last ride of the night. Nate's face kills me. 

Even after a 15 hour day, walking a mile back to our hotel-that-was really-a-motel wasn't that bad. It was midnight though, so Tiffany and I just sped walked past every hobo and random stranger we saw and tried not to be judgmental. 

Though the weekend wasn't over yet, to be continued.....

When the Lights Go Down in the City

Our old roommate Megan and her brother Carson came to San Francisco! They came for a long weekend, and we went to hang out with them on Saturday. We decided to meet in China Town, and while Tiffany and I waited for them, we wandered around little Italy. 

There were so many restaurants and delis that looked so very tasty. 

Eventually we made our way to China Town.

We met up with Megan and Carson and decided it was time to get lunch.

Because I write about eating so much, I feel obligated to take a picture of every single thing I eat for my blog. We ordered cashew chicken because I have very fond memories of Cheesecake Factory cashew chicken. Unfortunately it turns out, they are not the same thing.

After lunch we went to try a Chinese doughnut. Someone told Carson that when you get one fresh and warm, it will change your life. So we found a bakery, and got in line to order one. When Megan got to the counter she asked for one doughnut. The lady asked what else she wanted, and when Megan said she wanted just the one, the lady said "that's too small" and put the doughnut back down. I turned to Tiffany and told her that she and I needed to go wait outside. We weren't planning on ordering anything, and this lady obviously meant business. Megan asked for two doughnuts, and so the lady let her buy them. Once outside we all took a piece and bit into it. My response was: "....it tastes like oil" And that's how we wasted $3 on flavorless deep fried oil bread. 

It wasn't warm, so that probably didn't help. Instead of throwing it away, Carson offered it to a homeless man who was digging through the trash looking for food. The man looked at the bread, shook his head no, and went back to digging for food. If that doesn't give you an idea of how unsatisfying this bread was, I don't know what will.

We went and looked at Coit tower, and then we left. 

Then we decided it was time for more food. Sometimes, even I start to question our eating habits. 

We went to Bi-Rite creamery, because it is on all of the "Must eat in San Francisco" lists. 

This was the line to get it, and this is only part of it, it wraps around the corner. 

But we were diligent and we waited in line to try the ice cream. 

This tiny portion cost me $3.25. 

It was good, but I mean, I will probably never wait in that line again. 

We went across the street to eat our ice cream in Delores park, and let me tell you, that place was packed. It was like a music festival with no music. Hundreds of young adults, drinking, smoking, eating, and just hanging out. They weren't doing anything, they were all just there. It was kind of weird.

Then we met up with Megan and Carson's cousin and went to a SF Giants game. 

Quality seats, on the very back row. 

The Giants lost pretty badly, but since we haven't completely sold our souls to this team yet, Tiffany and I didn't take the loss too hard.

During the game Tiffany's phone fell down an open space behind her chair. 

Here she is lying down with her arm through the hole trying to grab it.

It's hard to tell, but this is the hole it fell through. By some miracle it landed on the support beam, and not down either side to the ground. Remember how were on the highest row? That drop was a few stories high-her phone would have been done for. After Tiffany, Carson, and a friendly neighbor tried to grab her phone to no avail, I gave it a go. My arm was both long and skinny enough to grab her phone with the help of a cardboard concessions box, slide it up the beam, and grab it. Good thing we bought hot dogs. Our friendly neighbor proclaimed that Tiffany owed me a beer. I'm still waiting. 

Carson and Megan spent the rest of the weekend with us in Palo Alto. On Sunday, we witnessed a sunset proposal on Stanford campus. It felt like we were back in Provo.