The Adventures of Devin & Rebecca: Disneyland!!!

Well after much waiting, here is our post about our trip to Disneyland. It was my first time going and really my first time in CA (the only other time I've been there was an hour in the SFO airport). It was a fabulous way to celebrate the end of finals and spend time with family. So I'll walk you through our trip.

Prior to leaving

We took our finals (blah!) and overall did fairly well. We also decided that we should buy some snack food for our trip and stocked up on twizlers, pretzels, cereal bars, water, etc.

Day 1

After waking up early, though not quite as early as we had planned, we picked up Karly. Before heading out on the road, we decided to check the air pressure in our tires. Good thing we did, as only one of them was in an acceptable range and I didn't feel like dying or changing a tire while on vacation.

Finally, we get on the road. Not much happened the first 4 or so hours of the trip. Devin drove down to St. George where we ate at Inn-N-Out for lunch. Honestly, and I'm sure the Californians reading this will die, we are not that impressed by Inn-N-Out. Karly then drove from St. George, to Vegas (a dirty looking city in my opinion) and then the first 100 miles into CA. We stopped at a creepy, closed gas station in the middle of no where, and I took over from there.

After nearly driving us into a parked semi (remember I'm still learning stick), we made it safely onto the freeway. I drove for a couple of hours until we reached the agricultural stop. It's like the border. They ask you if you have any produce and then if you do they check it out and either keep it or give it back to you. This was interesting for a number of reasons. Number 1: I was driving and I was still not very confident on stick and there was a lot of stop and start. Luckily I only stalled once at the very beginning. Number 2: We were stuffing carrots in our mouths trying to finish them before the stop, so when we did stop I had half a mouth full of carrot. Number 3: The patrol lady waved the car ahead of us through so I wasn't sure if I had to stop or not so I almost drove through and she had to stop me. Number 4: When we left, I think I almost killed the clutch. And after all that, we only had one apple and she gave it back to us.

I continued to drive until just before we reached LA, then Devin took over. Normally I would be fine in traffic (in fact I've driven in traffic the most of the 3 of us) except for the whole stick shift thing. Anyway, we continued on the road until we reached Anaheim. When we got to our hotel in Anaheim, we met up with Devin's mom (she flew in from WA) and got settled. It was a very nice Marriott with two queen beds, one king, two bathrooms, and a kitchenette. The best part is that it's only about a block from Disneyland! (A big block mind you.) For dinner that evening, we went to Tony Roma's. As winner of the family March Madness tournament, Devin got to pick. After dinner, we went and walked around Downtown Disney. It's a shopping area between Disneyland and CA Adventure that stays open after the parks close. I could already feel the magic! :) Once we had seen as much as we wanted for the evening, we went back to our hotel and called it a night.

Day 2

The next day was our first day to Disneyland. After eating breakfast at the hotel we headed over early. We spent the whole day in the park (from 10am to 6pm) riding rides and eating and such. Pirates of the Caribbean was closed the week we were there! Rubbish! But it was great anyway. Devin's mom got a little queasy after the first couple of rides and sat most of the rest of them out. I had my first Disneyland Churro and it was wonderful.That night we got pizzas from the California Pizza Kitchen and ate at our hotel so that Karly could watch American Idol. I had a California Club pizza, Karly had a Hawaiian pizza, Devin had some weird chicken mango thing, and Keeley had a vegetarian pizza. Karly and I headed over to the hot tub to soak our feet. That night Devin got sick that night and threw up several times. Meh!

Day 3

Wednesday, Karly and I left Devin and his mom at the hotel so Devin could get more rest. We went to California Adventure and rode all of the big rides. They have a roller coaster and a river ride and the tower of terror and a thing that shoots you up in the air and drops you and a virtual hang-glide over CA. At about 2 in the afternoon, Devin and his mom joined up with us and we went to the Muppet 3D show and then went on the tower of terror. I got a mickey mouse shaped ice cream bar! That was my one request for the trip, so I was very excited. That night we ate at the Cheesecake Factory. I got this spicy pasta stuff that made my nose run and my eyes water. Ridiculous! It was still anyway. And we got two pieces of cheesecake to split: key lime, and chocolate raspberry truffle. That night we watched Eagle Eye with Shia Lebouf. Weird movie.

Day 4

The next day, we went back to Disneyland and rode some rides that we missed and rode some rides again. Devin's mom met up with us about lunchtime. We then went back over to California Adventure so that Devin could ride the rides he missed and so Karly and I could ride them again. Then we went back to Disneyland for the rides we missed and to watch the parade. After the park closed, we went souvenir shopping and Devin's mom bought us all shirts and Devin and I bought a Belle figurine. We bought a couple of subway subs to split, and ate that with our leftovers.

Day 5

Friday, Karly and Keeley left for the airport and Devin and I headed up to Universal studios. After trying many times to take a picture of the Hollywood sign, we finally got there. There were no lines! It was great. We went on the studio tour and all the main rides. We also saw the Waterworld show, which was very enjoyable. There's not nearly as much to do there as Disneyland, but it was still fun. They have a Jurassic Park ride and a Mummy ride and a Simpson's ride. There is also a ride based off of the firefighter movie Backdraft and a special effects workshop. After dinner in the park (we bought all day all you can eat passes) and a picture with Scooby Doo and Shaggy, we drove back to Anaheim to our new hotel. We went swimming that night to cool off.

Day 6

The next day, we drove all the way to San Diego. San Diego is much prettier than LA. First we went to the Zoo and it was awesome. They have pretty much any land animal you can think of. We saw pandas and koalas and lions and elephants and tigers and rhinos and bears and monkeys and turtles and flamingos and we saw a polar bear dive. After buying ourselves our new traveling companion, a stuffed monkey we call Molly, we headed over to Sea World. We were just in time for the Shamu show and we got soaked! We also rode their river ride and saw penguins and beluga whales and seals and sea lions and flamingos and fish and turtles and manatees and sea lions. We saw two dolphin shows and a sea lion show. It was great. We also saw the Budweiser Clydesdale horses. They are HUGE. I was as tall as one of their bums. We also bought a stuffed manatee we call Chico. After all that, we drove back to our hotel. Sadly, I slept most of the drive down and back.

Day 7

On Sunday, we drove all the way up to Northern CA. We took the "I-5 corridor" and it was the most boring drive you can possible imagine. The only exciting thing on the whole drive was an IKEA distribution center, which was huge by the way. After a few wrong turns and having to call my grandparents for directions, we made it to their house. Northern CA is very pretty and reminded us of Oregon or Washington. We stayed with them just that night, but we got to talk to them and my Uncle and Aunt who live right next door, and Devin got to know some of my family better.

Day 8

After lunch with my Uncle and Grandparents the next day, we drove to Reno to see my parents. The drive was really pretty until you cross into NV. It was great to see my parents and they took us to see the house they have an offer on and then to see the Reno temple. They took us to dinner at Del Taco, where Devin ate the biggest burrito I have ever seen. At my parents', we watched the Penguins of Madagascar for the first time, and loved it.

Day 9

The next day we drove all the way back to Utah. The ugliest drive you have ever seen. We thought we were almost home when we were deceived by a fake Wasatch front. Sad day for us, we were in Tooele. But we finally made it back to Utah. Unfortunately, then our transmission was going out. Rubbish. We believe it was cursed by a highway patrol officer. He pointed at us while we were driving somewhere in NV and after he pointed at us our car started making a horrendus noise. That night, we ate dinner at Applebees and not only was it Cinco de Mayo, but it was also karaoke night. Oh the horror. All in all, it was a great trip! And now pictures! (More will come later of Devin and my adventures to LA & San Diego, but Devin and his computer are inconveniently absent as I write this.)