On the morning of 8/11 we took the long, long drive from Anaheim to Sedona,  Arizona. 8+ hours of cacti, desert and much more greenery than I had ever expected. (this is going to be a long post, so get comfy)

Dust devil- had no idea what this was and had to google it from the road. Auntie Em, Auntie Em! Saw a bunch of them between CA and AZ. I didn’t get a picture of the Agua Fria sign that was by the “river” on the right side, but only the national monument sign. But kind of ironic, no? There was certainly NO agua, and there was definitely NO fria- it was 113 degrees. Made it to Sedona. Gorgeous!!Its a truly beautiful place but so not for us. With John’s back we can’t do any hiking (not that we’re much for the hiking anyway) and can’t do the Jeep tours. And it’s all artsy and stuff. Definitely not Beyrer territory. But it does make for good pictures.

We were booked into the Best Western and John upgraded us to a townhouse which was great. There was a babbling brook running thru the backyard below the mountains. (that was probably actually agua fria, but we didn’t go down. I have no idea what’s poison ivy or poison oak and if snakes live around there. So not a nature girl!) The best part for me was the washer/dryer in the townhouse and I caught up on all our laundry. We were going on 2 weeks with only one laundry stop before this!
View from the hotel. 
Patrick.Jack.Me!Sunset. Perfect timing!John.Thanks for the pictures, Patrick!No one will ever say my kids aren’t classy. And you can just barely see the outline of the mountains in the dark. Best skies, too.We grabbed some dinner at the Cowboy Club in Sedona. And ice cream for dessert. It wasn’t carvel, but still good!Hey there Tex. Or for you fellow Walking Dead fans…”Stay in the house, Carl!!!”The next morning we left Sedona and drove the 2.5+hrs to the Grand Canyon (south rim) to go check that out. It was so much greener and prettier than I thought it would be. Reminded me of the mountain in Close Encounters a little.As we were arriving I asked if there was a drive thru Grand Canyon. Apparently, there is not. But we did get out of the car to go check it out for literally 20 minutes. It was really pretty, but I’m kinda convinced that the whole thing is painted and is an optical illusion. It just doesn’t look real!Top of the world, ma! The elevation on the trip was 7,000+ plus as opposed to like 15 feet in rvc. Definitely took some getting used to. 
Sky like Andy’s room wallpaper. And then after our abbreviated Clark Griswald-esque visit to the Grand Canyon for 20 minutes, it was back on the road for the almost 4hr drive to go to Phoenix. They had a game to catch!The thing I noticed most on the trip was the light being so different than home. It was a lighter light. Or something. Cleaner maybe? I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was but it was beautiful. And the skies are way bluer. 

As we arrived in Phoenix from the lovely 77 degrees at the Grand Canyon, it was 113. And then at 8pm, it was 101. Wtf?  My first thing I said to my friend Debbie (who I haven’t spoken on the phone with in at least 12 years and now lives in Phoenix) before even saying hello, was “how the hell do you even live here??” It was like hell with that heat. You could feel the heat baking out of the pavement at night after the sun was down. The water in the pool was like pee. You can’t touch the car doors without leaving a layer of skin on the handle. I was not digging that at all.

The boys enjoyed the Diamondback’s game which is air conditioned. I put the air on in the room at 60. Oh, and John said I should have gone cause they had sushi.  Yeah, NOooooooo. 

We spent our last day with my high school friend Debbie and her husband Fritz who welcomed us into their home for the day (refugees that we were) with a/c. Lots of laughs and catching up and even an early dinner out. We got to the airport (the Phoenix INTERNATIONAL airport, mind you) at 9:15pm. There was no one there. There was no one anywhere. Its like a ghost town. They told us that all the restaurants are closed “at this late hour”. Wtf- late hour? Its 9pm!! (Can you even imagine that happening at JFK?)  We walked thru security with absolutely no line. So bizarre. Took the redeye home (not a fan) and small world sat next to someone from RVC who now lives in Arizona. What are the odds there? She is the cousin of a few of my clients and we have a few mutual friends- of course we are now Facebook friends (*waving*- Hi Cathy!!) None of us really slept on the flight so we were all really wrecked for the next two days.

It was an awesome trip (except for the baseball for me) and I’m so glad we made it. It was a little iffy with Patrick still puking the night before our early morning flight out. I really loved it out west, but can’t be happier living in NY (ok, ask me again in January when I’m miserably freezing).

We had a few days off from baseball but there was Disneyland to be done so we were all definitely not without fun! (and now I could partake in the fun because I looooooove Disney!)

Disneyland is way different than Disneyworld. To me, it didn’t have that same “magical” vibe you feel at DW, the cast members weren’t nearly as cheerful and excited and there were definitely fewer cast members than at DW. There is no feeling of Disney Immersion at DL since there are only two parks (a few 100 feet from each other) and you walk thru Downtown Disney to get there, so there is no real monorail or bus service or boats. We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel which was lovely and as close to being “on campus” as you can get. But it just wasn’t the same. Some rides were better, some worse, some totally different. But all in all, I’m still a DW girl. But DL is something you have to do.

The first day we went was 8/8 and we started with Disney’s California Adventure. And Timmy & Patrick actually braved the big roller coaster in the background and rode it. They loved it! Definitely more of a Six Flags type of setting in this park, but with a Disney flair to it.

Swings were super fun.
Patrick got a zillion compliments and a zillion people looking at his sneakers the whole trip. This jumping jellyfish ride was lame, but it made for pretty pictures.View from the tippity-top of the ferris wheel.

Grizzly River Rapids was awesome. And very wet. 

Cars Land was amazing. You walked right into the movie. We didn’t ride this day, but on our last day we did ride the Radiator Springs Racers (a Cars version of Test Track from Epcot) and it was sooooo fun!! Loved it!Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree ride.Cozy Cone Motel was actually like a food court- with “pop cone”, ice cream cones, and “chili cone queso”. Clever.Cute bumpers car ride which would be better if you could steer with a wheel instead of by moving your body side to side. Then on 8/9 it was the big boys birthday and Disneyland all day- well, until the Dodgers game that night. Hit both parks that day. The castle is way too little. Like teeny tiny. But its still Disney.

Cannot even believe they are 14! But couldn’t think of a better way to spend the day than at Disney with my first babies. We did as much as we could that day before having to leave for the game. Haunted Mansion. (much more scary looking in DW, same on inside). But I did like the whole New Orleans Square area. Big Thunder Mountain (our favorite Disney ride) was closed, but we did  Splash Mountain. Pretty much the same except the flume was single file at DL as opposed to 2 per row in DW. Patrick ended up in the front seat and was soaked. Totally soaked. The Matterhorn Bobsleds. Was not a fan. Not fun and no drops, not twisty and too jerky. Felt like I had whiplash after this one.Fake smiles from the real birthday boy.

Then it was off to the Dodgers game. I was prepared with my Kindle fully charged. We had to leave much earlier than the game time because of the famed LA traffic. It’s all true.
Dodgers Stadium, with bug guts thru the windshield.
Hakka was very excited for the Dodger dog. Notice how there were no pictures of him at Disney? Yeah, he hates it there and didn’t come.I tried to embrace it. I did. I did like the Dodger dog (and that was John’s beer and the boys shirts and crap in the bag) but that was about it. I just can’t like it. And no one can make me. But they were happy.We got their names up on the board for their birthday. On the blue part below the big screen it says “Happy 14th birthday Jack & Patrick”. 
I was in a total panic because at the bottom of the 9th the Dodgers came back and tied it up. No extra innings, please! I could barely handle the 9 that there were. I made the executive decision that I am done with baseball games. Not going to anymore. Ever. (Well, unless the boys start playing or owning a MLB team, I’m  otherwise officially done.)

Saturday 8/10 was our last day in California so we decided to forgo all the typical LA sightseeing stuff (like the Hollywood sign, or Walk of Fame, or Venice Beach, etc) and just hang at Disney for one last full day. We hit both parks and rode some of our favorites again and the rides we didn’t cover yet. The Jungle Cruise (same as DW, but the rivers were in a different order and the guide not as funny), Indian Jones Adventure (I thought it was fun, boys didn’t love it), Pirates of the Carribean (much better at Disneyland- the ride was longer, two drops instead of one and the drops were bigger, and the ride was cooler going thru restaurants and stuff).

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (much shorter wait- well, no wait at all- from DW, but no fun queue stuff to do. Ride seemed a bit shorter.), The waits in Fantasyland for Dumbo, Snow White, Casey Jr Circus train, Mr Toad, Peter Pan were all hugely long so we just skipped them. We did do the Pinocchio ride which they don’t have at DW and it was cute. We didn’t make it to small world either, or to Mickey’s Toon Town. The DL train that circles the park was good- same as DW but the seats sat facing one direction like stadium seating. Guess theres nothing to see on the other side. Tomorrowland in DW is overall much better and I really missed Carousel of Progress! The Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage ride was cute and fun (and reminded me of the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride from ages ago in DW, except w a Nemo twist.)

Mine. Mine. Mine.
Outside of ToyStory Mania. And the Buzz ride in DL, called Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters instead of BL Space Ranger Spin, was actually much better in DL. Better blasters that came out of the holsters and vibrated and chimed when you hit a target. Star Tours was pretty much exactly the same, and so was Soarin. But the waits were super short on both compared to DW which was nice!

And then  we finished up the day with fireworks. MUCH better in DW. The castle was too short and the fireworks were too high (I guess so they could be seen from different areas) and they weren’t exactly over the castle but more to the left. Doesn’t work for my type-A issues. Music for fireworks was ok, but it was no Wishes. Flying Tinkerbell and flying Dumbo were a nice touch though. 

The next morning it was getting on our way to Arizona. So just one more trip report to go.

We left San Francisco early in the morning on the 6th to head down to Anaheim where we’d be staying at the Disneyland Hotel as our “home base” for the rest of the California portion of the trip. The original plan was to take the Pacific Coast Highway at least part of the way down, but being that they had an Angels game that evening to make there just wasn’t enough time no matter what we tried to figure out. As it was taking I5, it was about 6+ hours so there was no way we could’ve made it to Anaheim in time on the PCH. I was definitely sad about that part since I knew I would be able to get some great pictures and see stuff I would never see at home, plus I really wanted to visit Santa Cruz boardwalk which was the “santa clara” boardwalk in the movie Lost Boys. Oh well.

The drive down I5 was long and boring, but still kinda pretty in its own way.

Oranges. Jack was thrilled.We got an awesome room in the “fantasy” tower of the Disneyland Hotel. The headboard lit up and the lamp played “a dream is a wish your heart makes” when you turned it on. Ahhhhh….The boys took off for the Angels game and I hung out and did laundry. Got my New York on when people didn’t come to pick up their shit from the dryers. So I took it out. A lady told me it had been in there for a long time (it was dry and done) and that I shouldn’t feel guilty about taking it out to put mine in. I told her I was from NY. There is no guilt. The boys, John and Hakka sat in the “trout farm”. I am clueless but the hats were beyond. After the laundry was done, I met up with my good friend Derich from University of Miami days. Haven’t seen him in a really, really long time (probably about 20 years!) but we had a great time catching up for a few hours. The next morning (8/7) we left bright and early for San Diego so that the boys could catch their Padres game and I could go to the Hotel Del Coronado for a big fat massage and some pool/beach time. It kinda freaked me out a little how the clouds over the ocean looked like a giant tsunami. Come pray at the Church of Flash Gordon & Ming the Merciless. Heading over the bridge to the hotel. So pretty. (sorry about the glare off the car window).I had a 90 minute massage, including some hot stones. Then hung out by the spa-specific pool, grabbed some lunch a few feet away and walked around the hotel. Meanwhile, the boys were enjoying the game. I think I need a rack like this for their hat collection. They have to be over 300 hats by now.Don’t really know what to say about these.After leaving this very vacation part of the trip, we move onto tons of fun at Disneyland, a birthday and yet another baseball game. Coming up next…

Spent the rest of the day on Sunday 8/4 over at Alcatraz Island. I was really looking forward to this part of the trip- you know me and my twisted sense of whats awesome. All I could think was Walking Dead (prison) meets Shutter Island. Unfortunately, whatever we had for lunch at Pier 33 made me sooooo sick to my stomach so what I really got was a great tour of the Alcatraz bathrooms. Awesome. So I didn’t take the tour, just stayed outside (and close to the bathrooms) and shot from there.

The boat on the way over. I told Jack that the boat was reeeeeeeally little and they had to take one person over at a time. Like in Splash. “where are you going mr. fat jack??”  “to get the little boat” “the LITTLE boat?!?”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-bw_1n5tJA (you HAVE to watch it. You’ll laugh, guaranteed.)Again, one side sunny the other side cloudy. Its like a schizophrenic city.I knew container ships were huge, but this was crazy huge in real life.Those are people on the second level from the bottom. All I could hear in my head was the Shutter Island music. (you should keep the music playing in the background while you view the rest of this post.)My favorite part of the whole Island. Visions of photoshoots right there.Need this super big in my house. This picture and the next one were taken within minutes of each other (how long it took me to walk from one side to the other). Crazy city.The next day (Monday 8/5) we did the next touristy thing (after another delicious breakfast at Sears) and took the cable car down to the wharf area.We lucked out and got the outside standing area. However, I couldn’t change my camera settings or hold the camera correctly cause I was busy trying not to fall off and to hold onto Timmy who was standing too. Not an easy task I can tell ya.Where they turn the cable cars around. Reminds me of Thomas the Tank engine days.You can barely make out the bridge in the background just to the left of Patrick’s head.Lombard St. Can’t see the curvy part from where we were very well.Our trip wouldn’t be complete without it.
Ice cream for lunch.And then we (I) had the bright idea to walk back uphill to Lombard St and take the cable car back from there to the hotel. The cable car part was a great idea. The walking uphill not so much.Francisco. That’s fun to say! (name the movie)Yeah, we walked up that shit. Stopped quite a few times leaning on trees and mailboxes and having a few small heart attacks.He was particularly good on the bells.When I asked Jack to take one picture where he didn’t look annoyed, a few other tourists found that quite amusing. Jack, however, did not.Ok, who in RVC remembers Swensens??! He was NOT happy with me after the hill. That’s kinda the “get the fuck away from me” smile. Then all was good when they went shopping at the team store before the game (this store was in SF city). Mommy Dearest, I’m so sorry I didn’t get you this shirt. It would go great w the Florida toll-takers one you have. Happy because there is baseball stuff around. Then they headed to the Giants game (and I found another sushi restaurant nearby the hotel. Thanks, Yelp!)I’ll leave you with this total amazingness to end the SF part of the trip. Next up, SoCal  including Disney, San Diego & driving.