My California Adventure

[TylerDurden]

Day 1

The long 12 hour drive was quite bearable although I normally dont like driving for that long. Anyways, I eventually got to California and met up with some family in the Bloomington area. They helped out with the directions and recommendations on a nice hotel and I was kindly escorted to my new living quarters for the next 5 days.


Day 2

Woke up early and me and my daughter immediately planned our trip to the Queen Mary Ship Tour and a local Aquarium (the name of which I cant remember at this time). On the drive down to the Ship, somewhere around the Long Beach area I laughed when I passed the Meritline Warehouse. I had initially thought to get my digital camera out but I passed the warehouse rather fast. The Queen Mary tour was rather exciting and interesting. I was actually hoping to catch a glimpse of its famouse hauntings but I saw none. Although I did take a wrong turn that wound us in the middle of the ship quite lost for about 25 minutes. Next stop was the Aquarium which was also rather interesting. I got quite a few shots of the sharks that were swimming about the very large tanks positioned throughout the building. Upon leaving the Aquarium I noticed that a "Bubba Gump Shrimp" eatery was not too far from us. I had to take a pic. We all know the "Bubba Gump Shrimp" story from the Forrest Gump movie and I thought it was kinda cool.

Day 3

This was Monday morning and the day we wanted to go to Disneyland in efforts to stay away from the weekend crowds that usually freaquent it. On the drive to the park, I started noticing something a little intriguing. I noticed that all the more prime choices of women drove SUV's. I normally expected a sort of girlie car like the Mitsubishi Eclipse, but that wasnt so (any other native Californians will probably agree). Anyhow back to the story, when we made it to Disneyland I noticed it had changed drastically since the last time I had been there (15 years ago). I guess I should have expected that. None the less I got myself parked and we went out to the park. My daughter and I thouroughly enjoyed all the new rides and new setup for some of the longer lines for certain rides. They now have a "Fast Pass" system where you use your admission stub at a scanner and get a return time where you can come back and pretty much walk right up to the ride (past all the other people) and get on. That also allows you to get on the other less populated rides in the meantime, while all the other suckers waited in excess of an hour in line. Another thing that I noticed, was that there were what seemed to be Tibetan Monks in little groups all over the park. I then, like a jackass, snapped a few shots of them just in case. Afterwards we caught the limited edtion musical of Snow White, it was quite good. Unfortunately it ends April 1st for anyone else interested in seeing it with their kids. Well as it goes in Disneyland you cant see it all in one day, and I ended our little adventure sometime around 11:30pm. It was also getting very cold and it started making sense that all the teenagers there were wearing shorts with jackets.


Day 4

In the morning I recieved the LA Times right outside my door decided to pick it up and read. Turns out the Tibetan Monks I saw yesterday were having some sort of show of their own. I guess Disneyland was their reward after performing a show of their own. I also realized that they were Shaolin Monks (kinda cool and Im glad I got that pic). Well after spending my first two real days in California being a hardcore tourist. I decided a bit of a day off was necessary. I revisted my cousins and invited them to a day at the movies. I watched Dawn of the Dead which I found to be a fairly cool movie. A visit to the mall was also in the plan which turned out to be quite a shock to my wallet. At the end of this day we just went back to our hotel and took a dip in the pool.


Day 5

The final day of our California adventure was here. We picked out Universal Studios and Santa Monica Beach. At Universal Studios, we watched Shrek 4D which consisted of a theater all its own where you were not only wearing 3D glasses but actually felt some of the odd "goings ons" of the movie. Literally the seats shook and other small suprises happend. We went and bought some Shrek ears for my daughter and went directly to the Jurassic Park section. I thought it was a decent ride while my daughter was a bit freaked out. After seeing a few other events we decided to cut the Universal Studios thing short and head out to the beach. The Santa Monica Beach was a very beautiful site and my daughter was "all questions" about some of the people that inhabit the area. We eventually walked along the coast and took some more scenic pictures. Heading back I tried taking a quick snapshot of the ever elusive "HOLLYWOOD" sign. If youve ever been on the 101 you know what I mean. While getting to the Universal Studios and Santa Monica Beach didnt seem a problem well getting back was a nightmare. I spent 3x the time getting back due to a horrendous traffic jam. When we finally made it back to the hotel I couldnt think of anything other than packing for an early morning checkout and sleeping.


Day 6

Well not much more to tell here other than we made it back perfectly fine and I think my daughters a lot more enlightened. Which is exactly what I wanted for her. I thank all of you who wished us luck and a safe trip.




Tyler!

[Quall999]

Whoa, sounds like you had yourself quite a time I have never been to disneyland (minus DW when I was like 5) or universal studios. Looked like you and your doughter toppled em both in the same week . How can I beat that.

[JoyBoy]

Originally posted by TylerDurden
Upon leaving the Aquarium I noticed that a "Bubba Gump Shrimp" eatery was not too far from us. I had to take a pic. We all know the "Bubba Gump Shrimp" story from the Forrest Gump movie and I thought it was kinda cool.

Thats it. I'm Sold. I'm going this summer.

Sounds like you had a whale of time....

Where was the story of you or your daughter punching the guy in the Micky Mouse Costume? (Or some other cartoon costume) Come on, everyone does that

[TylerDurden]

@Quall999

No doubt man, we had a heck of a time. Cool thing is we really didnt plan it all out. We just picked days and said this day we'll go there. I asked my girl which was her most memorable experiance and she said "the beach!". Go figure.



@BountyWarrior

People were lined up outside the Bubba Gump place. I didnt eat there myself but I guess a lot of people liked it or at least wanted to have the experiance.

P.S. If I woulda been there without my daughter Micky woulda been laid flat.

[spedmetal]

Glad you had fun and made it back it one peace. And to think the infamous TylerDurden (kind of like the Hollywood sign) graced CA and I didn’t get a chance to witness it.

The Bubba Gump shrimp company is very popular; there is even one up here in northern CA on pier 39 in San Francisco.

One day I will finally have the money and TIME to take my family down there and enjoy our self’s.