a very disney road trip!

I know that this vacation happened over a month ago, but sometimes life happens, and you realize that blogging about your Disneyland adventures is secondary to getting coffee with a student, attending a church softball game, or doing the laundry that you've been neglecting for a month (and is threatening to strangle you in your sleep...). So anyway, here we are!

Day 1: A little back story to this trip...our Subaru was making a suspicious noise, so we took it to the shop two days before we planned to leave, and in true mechanic fashion, the guy at the shop proceeded to attempt to ruin our life in less than thirty seconds. But really. He basically told us that there was something wrong with our car engine, caused by poor maintenance from the previous owner, and that it would take no less than all our savings, plus our first born child to fix it. This is our life, folks. But luckily, God is good, and we ended up finding someone who could fix it for only half of our savings, so we are now the proud owner of a Subaru with a brand new engine. And my hatred of cars runs stronger than ever. The only catch was that there was going to be no way that it was going to be fixed by when we were planning on leaving, so our wonderful friends, the Cutlers, graciously offered to let us borrow their car. And if they weren't already headed straight for sainthood, they also stocked the car with road trip snacks. Seriously, how did we luck into this life we have here in California?! So, with the Ford Expedition armed with copious amounts of junk food and a 25 gallon tank full of gas we drove the eight hours to Los Angeles, and spent the night with Adam's sweet grandparents. After his grandma asked us no less than six times if we were sure we didn't need anything, we crashed, knowing that Disneyland was only six hours away!

Day 2: Unbeknownst to us, we happened to plan our one day at Disneyland on the one day of the year where it is open for 24 straight hours. When we discovered this, a few days before we were planning on leaving, obviously we freaked out, and started planning the best way to stay awake for an entire day, in order to get the most out of our incredibly overpriced Disney experience. Now, you have to understand, I had never been to anything Disney before. And as unreal as this seemed to our middle schoolers, who have been to Disneyland more times than anyone should, this was going to be my first time at a Disney park and I could not have been more excited. We left Adam's grandparents at 6:30 am, partly to beat traffic, and partly because the park opened at 6 am and we were not about to waste time sleeping when riding Space Mountain without any lines was a possibility.
By the time we got there, parked, rode a shuttle and bought our tickets (at $96 each, you had better be serious about your commitment to the Disney experience), we got into the park about 8:30 am and immediately went into "we don't have any kids to drag around like all of these other poor souls, so let's ride as many things as possible" mode. For the next twelve hours, we made the most of the FastPass system (one of the greatest creations the theme park world has ever gifted us with) and rode everything from the Matterhorn to the new Star Wars ride without waiting more than 15 minutes in line. I am 100% serious when I tell you, that while taking kids to Disneyland seems like a great idea in theory, judging from the fact that I never saw one dad looking like he wasn't about to bolt for the nearest exit, the best way to do Disneyland is with your husband and no one else.
I can't even put into words, how fun this day was. We rode everything we wanted, and then rode our favorites twice. We ate delicious, but overpriced park food, saw the greatest live shows I've ever seen, watched the coolest parade ever, and experienced fireworks, that would put any other explosions to shame. It was truly a magical day, and my only sadness was that I never found a princess to get my picture taken with. While we tried really hard to stay super late, by the time 11 pm rolled around, the park was only getting more and more crowded, and I had had enough Disney to last me at least a year, so we rode the Storybook boats (cutest ride ever) and called it night.

matterhorn!

Mickey and the Magical Map

coolest parade I've ever seen!

adam loves space mountain!

my cool buttons that they gave me and my very touristy new hoodie

he's so strong!

not a joke, when we told Mickey that this was my first time at Disney, he pretended to faint and started freaking out. it was the cutest/funniest thing ever.

Day 3: Obviously, after that incredibly exciting day, we slept in, and then decided we needed some beach time. Unfortunately, no one warned us about "June Gloom" in LA, which causes the sun to refuse to come out until about 3 pm, which means I spent this whole beach day in my newly purchased Disneyland hoodie. The Venice Beach boardwalk was really cool, but between trying to avoid the people attempting to sell us weed, and watching a parade for World Peace, we decided that sitting on the beach and watching the surfers was a great way to spend the afternoon. We swam in the Pacific Ocean, and people aren't kidding when they tell you it is cold. Those surfers aren't wearing their wetsuits because they're trendy ocean apparel. We ate dinner that night at an awesome Mediterranean restaurant and then got Starbucks and explored Manhattan Beach. LA may be incredibly overpopulated and sort of dirty, but it sure has some awesome beaches.

adam's hair though......

Day 4: Adam and I decided we wanted the mega church experience, so we found the closest satellite campus of Saddleback Church, which happened to be Hollywood. While I didn't see any famous people, the church was great, and the best part was that I got to see Vaneetha, one of my friends from college! She is just the best person, and it made my heart so happy to be able to hang out with her! After coffee, we headed to Malibu, to meet the Mallons (Adam's family friends, who just happened to be in Southern California as well) and had an awesome seafood lunch on the beach. We explored, swam in the ocean, and then headed back to Adam's grandparents house. We ate a wonderful dinner with Adam's family, and I got to meet his aunts, uncle, and cousins that I had never met before. We drove back to our hotel around 10 pm, and the only reason I bring this up is so I can do a little mini-rant about LA traffic. I am not kidding when I say that there was bumper to bumper traffic at 10 pm on a Sunday night. WHERE ARE YOU ALL GOING?!?! WHY WHY WHY DOES ANYONE LIVE HERE?!?! These two questions were on repeat in my brain throughout this entire trip, and I'm not sure I ever really got an answer to either one. So, if we learned one thing on this trip, it is that Adam and I are not cut out for big city living. Hence, us living in a mountain town of 15,000 people.

Day 5: We decided that we were feeling extra adventurous, so we took a longer way back to Truckee. I-395 goes through some desert, mountains, and forest, all while avoiding the Memorial Day traffic. Adam and I are a super huge fan of road trips, and it was a perfect ending to our awesome trip. We stopped in Reno, ate some Chipotle (this will make perfect sense to anyone who knows us...), and nine hours later, were back at our house in Truckee. In conclusion, vacations are the best, and it's always an adventure when you go somewhere you've never been before!