Home Sweet Home

So, we pulled into our driveway ("Home Sweet Home") last night, and I was probably the only one in the car who was happy to be home. We had driven, 6 hours from Buena Park. In reverse order, we passed a burning car (thankfully on the other side of the I-5 where the backup went on for miles), through pelting rain, bright sunshine, smoggy hills. Thanks to our lovely friends and keen directions, we were able to avoid 99% of Friday's heavy LA I-5 traffic by navigating highways 91, 605 and 210 back to I-5. Hats off to Ernin!

Our stays in Sierra Madre and Buena Park were the highlight of my journey. Disneyland and California Adventure were the absolute highlight of Kandy and Katie and Megan, I'm sure! We had a 4-day Hopper Pass - which meant we could go to Disneyland and/or California Adventure to our hearts' content for four solid daze. My feet got sooo sore that every morning was a new experience in walking. The girls, of course, took it all in stride. Probably the single most annoying thing was waiting in a long line. We managed to avoid lines that were an hour or more long, we took advantage of their Fastpass service, but we still couldn't avoid the long line at Splash Mountain. Now, the rest of the family really liked SM, but I could really do without the stilted singing puppets in the dark. I really liked splashing down a waterfall - but that was wa-a-a-a-y too short, compared to being subjected to bad singing puppets.

Okay, the little girl in me has come and gone - I wanted more thrills and less trills.

So we went to California Adventures - California Screaming was pretty cool. Short, but it had good moments. The girls really enjoyed the Hollywood Tower Hotel - which was entertaining and thrilling at the same time. I liked it best the first time through. After that, it was okay. The girls did it 3 or 4 or more times and still wanted to do it again!

When I went to Disneyland 20+ years ago, I really liked Pirates of the Caribbean, but that one is closed until June. I was sad about that - as I'm sure it's better now than it was in the eighties, but I'll bet that it will be even better after its new opening. Sadly, it will be some time before we make it back there...

My favorite thrill was Indianna Jones and the Temple of Doom. Now, that is one cool ride. We sat in the first row of a jeep for the ride, and, let me tell you, that was the best way to do this ride. On a subsequent run, we sat in the third row back, and it wasn't nearly as thrilling. This attraction is tops in my book. It attracts the archeologist in me...