day 8: disneyland

Today was a banner day in Disneyland in Anaheim. Still not sure how I will be able to post pictures, but it was able to take some.
We can thank my cousin Tiffany for the lone picture you see here.

Since Disneyland is the original,the place Walt created himself, and since it is the place I remember giving with my own parents, there is something almost sacred about being there. It's older than Magic Kingdom in Orlando. It's dirtier than Magic Kingdom in Orlando. It's bigger than Magic Kingdom in Orlando. But it's real.

We jumped right onto the Indiana Jones ride. Same with Pirates of the Carribean and the Haunted Mansion. We headed over to California Adventures, so we could make our lunch date with the princesses at Ariel's Grotto. (The boys stayed behind to keep riding). We had salad with carmelized walnuts and crumbled blue cheese, shrimp with Angel hair pasta, trip-tip steak with garlic mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables, a flight of desserts that included creme brûlée, chocolate covered strawberries, some sort of gourmet s'more with cocoa mouse, fire roasted marshmallow and a chocolate cookie boat, watermelon jello with vanilla bean mouse and M&M cookies. But that's not even the good part. Watching Yoda meet five princesses actually brought me to tears.

Punk finally conquered his fear and ride Tower of a Terror - twice! Kooka and Rico reenacted a few of our favorite photos from the roadtrip of '08. Tiffany and I dominated in the Toy Story midway shooting ride ( I know how to pick a good partner). We saw the new fireworks show, said goodbye to our amazing cousins, and finished off the day at 11:30 with a wide awake Yoda asking for "just one more ride."

No time to go into the air bnb fiasco of last night, but suffice it to say, that I think that may be the last time I ever use it. Online our little cabin north of LA looked great. In real life, w would have had to roll our belongings tour city blocks in the dead of night, past graffiti covered buildings, half-a-dozen low-riders and a car with smashed-out windows. We did our research on this place, and I'm sure it's much better in the daylight, but still, I know when I'm beat. I surrender.