Ok. We're back. Actually, we have been back since Saturday. I just haven't had a chance to make a diary entry since then. I really hated coming back to Texas. In case you don't know, three of us were in southern California all of last week. 5 nights in Orange, and 2 in San Diego (La Jolla (pronounced "hoiya"), actually). I actually kept a paper diary while we were there, so I am going to re-enact that here. Not all at once, mind you. Sheesh. One day at a time. Starting with Saturday, July 19.

We started early on Saturday, especially after going to the Dave Matthews Band concert on Friday night. Which, by the way, was absolutely phenomenal! Rachel and Linz dropped us off at DFW Airport at about 0645. We got checked in with no problems. After a brief wait, during which I had a yummy cup of white chocolate mocha from Seattle's Finest, we boarded our Super 80 plane. We all got to sit together, on the same side of the plane. The flight was very nice. There was a lot of scenery to see, as it was almost totally clear most of the way. When we got out to the edge of west Texas, around El Paso, into New Mexico, we began to see the mountains. Wow! It was truly beautiful! I'm not sure if we flew over the Grand Canyon or not. There was an area that did look rather "canony." Is that a word? It is now! We did fly over the Mojave Desert, though. Wow, again! Mountains and sand as far as the eye could see. And I think there might have been one road through it all. In part of it, there was big stretch where there were no roads at all. Total, desolate wilderness. Yeah...the earth is over-populated. Oops. That's a different diary.

Landing went fine at Long Beach. Cool! We got to offload outside! I've never done that before! Hee! Down the stairs, onto the tarmac. Christi said she felt like the President of something. Waited a bit for baggage. Outside, too. Actually, it felt a lot like Texas in Long Beach that day. It was way humid! Everybody kept saying, "It's not usually this humid here." Great. Just for us. We landed at 9:00 (Took off at 8:20, landed at 9:00...gotta love time zones), so we went straight to Disneyland. Via Taco Bell. Oh, yeah...in our SILVER MUSTANG CONVERTIBLE!!! Woohoo!!! Oh, yeah!!! Top down! *singing* "I can see you...you're brown skin shinin' in the sun...you got the top pulled down and those sunglasses on, baby..." The Don Henley version...NOT the Ataris version. Good cover, but, hey. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, ya know?? Anyway, we bought 2-day park hopper passes at D-land. This was probably a mistake. It was sooooo crowded! And as soon as Stephanie saw the lines, she started whining to go someplace that's else. Grr. We waited about 30 minutes in the Matterhorn line and it BROKE DOWN! Grr, again. So we went and rode the monorail. Then we drove the little cars. Every theme park has the little cars. This was actually kind of fun and was a pretty long ride. After that we went to the "Innoventions" place, which was way cool. We could have spent a lot longer in there. Then we left, to try back on a week-day.

We found our hotel quickly and checked in. It was actually only about 2-3 minutes from D-land. Nice room. Hawthorne Suites, as usual. We try to find one of those almost everywhere we go. $69 a night plus free breakfast. Hard to beat that. Then we decided to check out this shopping center that we had seen called "The Block at Orange." This was a way cool outdoor mall. We ate a restaurant called the Market Broiler. Crab Alfredo. Yummm!!! Big ol' hunks of crab meat in this stuff. Yeow! Bread to die for!! Then we went shopping a little bit. Stephie and I got new shoes at the Skechers shop. We got some chocolate at the chocolate factory. There is no problem in this world that cannot be solved by chocolate. Trouble in Iraq?? Give 'em chocolate. Then take 'em to Disneyland. Hm...where was I before I started solving the world's problems? Oh, yeah. We drove around and finally found an Albertson's store and bought "supplies" for the room (read "junk food"). That was about it for Saturday. Oh, yeah. We also noticed that we could see the Crystal Cathedral from our room. Hee.

Missed anything?
The Beatles--Abbey Road/Alice Cooper--Killer - July 04, 2012
The Beatles Eponymous Album - June 26, 2012
Autism's False Prophets - February 12, 2011
Santana--Guitar God? - November 11, 2010
Tribute To the Red Sox - September 29, 2010