The Life of Riley and Those Around Him: September 2010

What a weekend, we left Orlando at O'dark:30 on Thursday (the second) and arrived in LA at about 0900. Stepped off the plane and could already feel how much cooler it was here and we all rejoiced in that. Didn't have any luggage to pick up, so it was right to the rental car counter and I won't bore you with the details of what a pleasure it was dealing with Carol at the Hertz counter. Let's just say that Dan and Kim and the other guy working behind the counter walked away because it just got unbelievable/embarrassing the way she was talking to me. We were on our way and Carol was soon forgotten.

Made a stop at a Wal-Mart to pick up some things we needed; water, diet coke, and snacks, the essentials to life. We also got some lunch and then we headed to the hotel, hoping that a room would be ready and they would let us check-in because it was hours until the official check-in time. We lucked out and got a room, unpacked and walked over to Disney.

There are two parks here: Disneyland (which is like the Magic Kingdom) and California Adventure. There is also Downtown Disney, shopping and eating.

After walking around Downtown Disney, remembered that Mum and Dad have a brick at Disneyland. So called Tammy to get the number and off we went on the great hunt. It was very easy to find here, everything was in order not like Disney World where they have been moved around and not in order anymore. We had to do a small field day on the brick, got it as clean as we could before snapping the picture.

Back to the hotel to rest for a bit, but that didn't last long. Kim and I went to the office to see if there was somewhere nearby to walk. The guy at the desk didn't have anywhere nearby to walk so we asked if there were any parks and he recommended Square Mile Park and it was only 7 - 8 miles away. So we headed out for a road trip to check it out before actually walking there in the morning.

Turned out to be a really nice park with lots of walking trails. On the way back to the hotel stopped at Vons to pick up some stuff for dinner, salads with chicken for Kim and me, and a sub for Dan.

After getting up bright and early and I mean early, we stayed on east coast time so it was about 0330, Kim and I went for our walk at about 0630 and walked for an hour. Started out we both had jackets on but before we were done the jackets were off but the weather was perfect.

We got to the park just after 0900 and walked right in, we had purchased our tickets last night so we didn't have to wait in a line to do that. It is so funny how everything is so different but the same, it felt that way all day.

At the railroad station looking down Main Street.

Snow White's Castle, just not the same as looking down and seeing Cinderella's Castle, but still fun to see.

The Castle and the Matterhorn, we didn't ride the Matterhorn because we aren't really roller coaster people..

But we did go on the Jungle Cruise and had a great guide, had us laughing the whole time.

The Haunted Mansion, closed for rehab so we were a bit disappointed.

Tom Sawyer's Island/Pirate's Lair

Had to prove we were really there.

Entering into the Disneyland Hotel area, it was at the far end of Downtown Disney, at least from our perspective.

Going to the Expo to pick up our race packages and tickets.

My new best friend.

As always on Disney property, the flowers are beautiful.

Saturday morning we got up at our normal time and headed out to Oxnard. Going up over the mountains and running into fog in the valley.

The church in Oxnard where Mum and Dad were married a few years ago.

On the way back we were looking for a Sonic and got off at the exit for Calabasas, didn't find a Sonic but did find a quaint little town with a farmer's market going on.

They had samples of all the fruit and I tried it all, ended up buying some plums. Would have loved to have gotten more but I just didn't have time to eat it before we left.