Back Again
1/1/11 19:02![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madrobinsDid you miss me? Nah, you were all busy doing cool things.
We went to LA for a quick, whirlwind trip. The initial impetus was to visit my dear aunt Julie and her husband, but we enlarged the trip a little. Left at 3:30 on Tuesday morning and drove down to Anaheim to go to Disneyland. Of course, it was a sunny, bright day and the crowds were so merciless that it made the front page of the LA Times...so we didn't in fact do much at first. Went back to the hotel and took a nap, then went back to Disneyland and ate dinner at Downtown Disney and took the train around Disneyland (in the dark it's really cool). We were right under the fireworks when they set them off, which was, um, startling. Didn't see much, but heard and felt the percussion pretty fully.
Wednesday, with a check off list in hand, and our rain slickers in the car, we checked out of the hotel and headed back to the parks. It was pouring. The crowds of the day before had diminished considerably, and we got there at opening, with the result that, by bopping back and forth between Disneyland and California Adventures, we got to do/see all the things we wanted to do without much delay at all. Even mid-day, walking by Pirates of the Caribbean, there was almost no line; we got to see California Soaring and the Muppets and the Monsters Inc. thing at California Adventures, and Indiana Jones and the Haunted Mansion and the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland. And bought pins and fudge, because we are incorrigible.
Then back to LA. The hotel we were staying at, courtesy of my aunt, is right off Sunset and Sepulveda, very handsomely situated for adventuring. We found dinner and came home and got a good night's sleep (which, after early rising on Tuesday and Wednesday was very needful).
On Thursday morning we went off for what was kind of the crown jewel of the vacation: the Warner Bros. studio tour. It's a working studio: we saw the "main street" lot, which was Starr's Hollow in The Gilmore Girls, but also has houses that were used in The Music Man and many other things. I thought Avocado, who is a devout Gilmore fan, was having a religious experience sitting there in the tram with tears in her eyes: "It's the town square! And that's...that's Luke's Diner!" (insert tones of awe here). I think we amused the guide, since we are all movie freaks and recognized all sorts of things no one else cared about. I saw the desk that Martin Sheen sat at in The West Wing. I actually identified a painting of Catherine Deneuve from The Hunger ("God, I think you're right," the guide said. "That never occurred to me.") We were able to walk through the CBI set from The Mentalist--which was cool because we watched the show later that night and...there it was! And we bought pelf at the gift shop, because we had to...I have a Dragonfly Inn coffee mug now! Also, we ate breakfast at the oldest remaining Bob's Big Boy restaurant, a California Historical Landmark (no lie. I really love this state sometimes).
Afterward, we went down to Hollywood Boulevard to be touristy, because we were, like, tourists. We wound up seeing "Tangled" at the Chinese theatre, on impulse after looking at all the stars and handprints (I love Humphrey Bogart's inscription--"May you never die until I kill you!"). Then we wound up in a huge shopping mall-cum-village called The Grove, where Avocado and the Spouse forced me to buy clothes (I'm not kidding...he wouldn't even let me see how much we'd spent!). Then dinner, and home again.
Friday we finally got to see my aunt and uncle. He's recovering from surgery--no small thing at nearly 82--and kept apologizing for being unsociable (silly man). We had driven way the hell and gone out to Crenshaw and Coliseum to find "The Cobbler Lady," a shop that sells cobblers and pies for diabetics (my uncle is now, to his disgust, diabetic), and that turned out to be good because the peach cobbler we brought him appeared to have tempted his appetite. Spent the afternoon talking to them and hanging out--they hadn't seen Avocado in a year or so and were stunned by her beauty and smarts. She is pretty stunning.* After that we went back down Sunset to the Arclight theatre and saw Country Strong, which we all liked--Gwyneth Paltrow does a good job, and I really liked the guy who played the young male singer (who, it turns out, was also the lead in Tron--I did not recognize him). Then home to eat candy purchased by the Two Incorrigibles--Danny and Avocado--and wait for the Ball to drop.
And then this morning, up and packed and back up I-5, and here we are. The dog was so happy to see us she practically levitated over the counter at the Dog Hotel when I went to pick her up. She is now, fed and happy, snoring at my elbow.
It's great to go away. It's also great to come home. And while we were gone Sarcasm Girl and the Beau got to go see the Dresden Dolls' new years' eve show, and were filled with delight and crowing. So everyone had a good New Year.
I hope you all did too! What did you do to celebrate?
* Avocado's first semester report card was waiting for us when we got home; despite a poor showing on her gym final (she forgot the required height of the pickleball net...) she has a 4.0. The dancing did not stop for some time, lemme tell you.
We went to LA for a quick, whirlwind trip. The initial impetus was to visit my dear aunt Julie and her husband, but we enlarged the trip a little. Left at 3:30 on Tuesday morning and drove down to Anaheim to go to Disneyland. Of course, it was a sunny, bright day and the crowds were so merciless that it made the front page of the LA Times...so we didn't in fact do much at first. Went back to the hotel and took a nap, then went back to Disneyland and ate dinner at Downtown Disney and took the train around Disneyland (in the dark it's really cool). We were right under the fireworks when they set them off, which was, um, startling. Didn't see much, but heard and felt the percussion pretty fully.
Wednesday, with a check off list in hand, and our rain slickers in the car, we checked out of the hotel and headed back to the parks. It was pouring. The crowds of the day before had diminished considerably, and we got there at opening, with the result that, by bopping back and forth between Disneyland and California Adventures, we got to do/see all the things we wanted to do without much delay at all. Even mid-day, walking by Pirates of the Caribbean, there was almost no line; we got to see California Soaring and the Muppets and the Monsters Inc. thing at California Adventures, and Indiana Jones and the Haunted Mansion and the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland. And bought pins and fudge, because we are incorrigible.
Then back to LA. The hotel we were staying at, courtesy of my aunt, is right off Sunset and Sepulveda, very handsomely situated for adventuring. We found dinner and came home and got a good night's sleep (which, after early rising on Tuesday and Wednesday was very needful).
On Thursday morning we went off for what was kind of the crown jewel of the vacation: the Warner Bros. studio tour. It's a working studio: we saw the "main street" lot, which was Starr's Hollow in The Gilmore Girls, but also has houses that were used in The Music Man and many other things. I thought Avocado, who is a devout Gilmore fan, was having a religious experience sitting there in the tram with tears in her eyes: "It's the town square! And that's...that's Luke's Diner!" (insert tones of awe here). I think we amused the guide, since we are all movie freaks and recognized all sorts of things no one else cared about. I saw the desk that Martin Sheen sat at in The West Wing. I actually identified a painting of Catherine Deneuve from The Hunger ("God, I think you're right," the guide said. "That never occurred to me.") We were able to walk through the CBI set from The Mentalist--which was cool because we watched the show later that night and...there it was! And we bought pelf at the gift shop, because we had to...I have a Dragonfly Inn coffee mug now! Also, we ate breakfast at the oldest remaining Bob's Big Boy restaurant, a California Historical Landmark (no lie. I really love this state sometimes).
Afterward, we went down to Hollywood Boulevard to be touristy, because we were, like, tourists. We wound up seeing "Tangled" at the Chinese theatre, on impulse after looking at all the stars and handprints (I love Humphrey Bogart's inscription--"May you never die until I kill you!"). Then we wound up in a huge shopping mall-cum-village called The Grove, where Avocado and the Spouse forced me to buy clothes (I'm not kidding...he wouldn't even let me see how much we'd spent!). Then dinner, and home again.
Friday we finally got to see my aunt and uncle. He's recovering from surgery--no small thing at nearly 82--and kept apologizing for being unsociable (silly man). We had driven way the hell and gone out to Crenshaw and Coliseum to find "The Cobbler Lady," a shop that sells cobblers and pies for diabetics (my uncle is now, to his disgust, diabetic), and that turned out to be good because the peach cobbler we brought him appeared to have tempted his appetite. Spent the afternoon talking to them and hanging out--they hadn't seen Avocado in a year or so and were stunned by her beauty and smarts. She is pretty stunning.* After that we went back down Sunset to the Arclight theatre and saw Country Strong, which we all liked--Gwyneth Paltrow does a good job, and I really liked the guy who played the young male singer (who, it turns out, was also the lead in Tron--I did not recognize him). Then home to eat candy purchased by the Two Incorrigibles--Danny and Avocado--and wait for the Ball to drop.
And then this morning, up and packed and back up I-5, and here we are. The dog was so happy to see us she practically levitated over the counter at the Dog Hotel when I went to pick her up. She is now, fed and happy, snoring at my elbow.
It's great to go away. It's also great to come home. And while we were gone Sarcasm Girl and the Beau got to go see the Dresden Dolls' new years' eve show, and were filled with delight and crowing. So everyone had a good New Year.
I hope you all did too! What did you do to celebrate?
* Avocado's first semester report card was waiting for us when we got home; despite a poor showing on her gym final (she forgot the required height of the pickleball net...) she has a 4.0. The dancing did not stop for some time, lemme tell you.