Woooo, I shall continue my wee LA story. I left off on Friday.. but in telling the story and the actual story. Heh.

We took a cab from the pharmacy, where I had invested in cold pills, and the others in bandaids, confectionary, and wine, back to our hotel. We zonked out for a wee bit and debated what to do. We "freshened up" and then went for a wander about Santa Monica down to the pier. Quite an event. Saw a couple rather dodgy folks/activities, and wasn't overly impressed. We didn't go on any rides, despite the fact I adore rides. Really though, we would be spending a good chunk of Saturday and all of Sunday on rides, so none of us felt it was necessary. We walked around a bit, half looking around and half looking for a spot to grab a drink. We were all dragging a bit, so retired back to the hotel to sleep / cough excessively while trying to sleep.

The next morning we split all headed to the shopping area one last time to run into those stores we had missed, or had seen things that it turned out we really "needed" (really wanted) something. However, the stores didn't open until 10:00, and we were out and ready at about 9:15. Ah well, there was a lovely farmers market filled with outdoor stalls. I made a wise investment in delicious strawberries and peaches, did some speed shopping in a wee british shop, and a couple of clothing/shoe stores we had skipped earlier. After we made our final purchases we, gasp, actually ventured to the beach. It was absolutely beautiful!! The water wasn't as warm as I thought it would be, but we didn't have time to swim anyway. We half played in the water (as much as one can when wearing clothes) and then pretty much sprinted up to our hotel to meet our drive to Anaheim. The drive to Anaheim didn't take quite as long as I expected (a little over 45 mins) and traffic was quite smooth. We really didn't run into any heavy traffic during our time, I was pretty impressed. We were dropped off at our hotel, and I laughed while watching Kerri and Erin lug their massive lugage up the stairs. To rub a bit of salt in their wounds (not literally, since they actually did have wounds all over their feet from our walking adventures) the front desk lady asked me if we needed help. I said no >=D (Sorry ladies, I don't think I told you this... but it was only one flight and you were half-way up by then. Plus it was hilarious.) We sat around in our room for about 35 minutes and then took the complimentary shuttle to Disneyland. Turns out we really didn't need the complimentary shuttle as the walk to the maingate was only ten minutes!

Disneyland!!!
So obviously us little three former castmembers squealed our way through the parks. This would also be the point where I get very detailed.

First we went to California Adventure. I still felt a bit castmember special since we had our not-for-sale passes and go in for free. First up we went into a merch shop as Kerri needed some sort of Disney head gear for the day. After a bit too long in the shops, we started to do the important things. (Jen is not so much a fan of the merch shops.) We grabbed fastpasses for Soarin' and then took off for whatever ride was closest - Grizzy River Rapids (or something like that). Kind of a standard water raft ride... We got wet, we smiles, we laughed, we stuffed our bags under our shirts to keep our stuff dry, etc. Why the ride doesn't have the "dry bag area" in the middle of the rafts like at Animal Kingdom is beyond me... They are practially carbon copies of each other. We then proceeded to the next closest attraction - Brother Bear play in the forest something wweeee kids play bounce bounce boooooing! It was basically a random play area for children and childish adults. (Cue Kerri and Jen bouncing excessively rope bridge things that made me think of Sand Spit.) We then... did something. I remember stopping so Kerri could buy something... Mickey Mouse ice cream, perhaps? I believe at this point we went back to Soarin' and soared over California. It's still such an impressive ride, and people still clap at the end of it! Then Erin proceeded to stand in an eternal line for the official food of Disney - chicken strips and french fries. The line didn't really move at all, and Kerri and Erin were concerned about missing the High School Musical 2 pep rally / summer vacation sing-a-long show. I watched a bit of it, then wandered off to the toilet and take pictures. Afterwards, Erin got her precious chicken strips. We then poked along to grab fast passes for Tower of Terror, and then to the Aladdin musical, which I quite liked. I also pretty much left a lung on the floor in the theatre as about ten minutes before the end I started hacking like a cat and scampered away to the back of the theatre and basically shook through the rest of the performance trying to swallow coughs.

Ahh, Tower of Terror. I cannot say enough good things about this ride. I love it to bits and pieces!!! The DCA one certainly lacks the atmosphere presented at the Studios by not having the queue wrap through the gardens. The ride is a bit different in that the elevator does not move forward into the "drop shaft" or whatever it is. It also has a different heat-thermal screen thing in which you see yourself and the other passengers, and then you disinegrate (sp?). Then you drop and bounce and scream and love it. Also in the queue for unintentional entertainment, Kerri went to lean against a railing and pretty much fell through because it turned out to be the swinging entrance to an exit ramp. Cue Jen dieing from laughter (after ensuring she was not hurt, of course). After the AMAZING ride, we met up with Erin and rode Monsters Inc. It was fine, but I wasn't blown away by it. C-ticket, for the fellow nerds who know what I'm talking about. The other two sauntered off to watch Muppet Vision, which I do like but have seen about 604 times, and I wandered off to first aid. My first time at a first aid station in any theme park!! Or anywhere, really. I needed cough syrup like maaaad. The nurse could not give me any, but told me where I could buy some (far away in Downtown Disney, unfortunately,) but did give me some cough drops which, to me, were worth more than gold!! We met up again, and proceeding to our next food quest: Disney pizza. Sadly, I was a bit disapointed. DLR does pizza by the slice, WDW does it as mini personal pizzas. WDW definitely wins the pizza challenge. We parted ways again as thrill rides were next up on the itinerary.

WAIT!! At some point before this, I believe on the walk to the pizza spot, I got ran over by an ECV. Seriously. I was pointing off and looking to the right trying to show the others something and a man in an ECV ran over both of my feet. It quite hurt, but I was moreso flabbergasted that SOMEONE IN AN ECV CLEARLY RAN OVER MY FEET!!!!

I feel that is a good spot to end my story for the night. Tomorrow I am cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the padres. I have never cooked a turkey dinner before. Luckily Dominoes will likely be open for back-up ;) I'm just getting visions from the movie Christmas Vacation when they do the first cut of the turkey, and it basically cracks over and shrivles like chrushing paper machee. That'll be my turkey!! Not turkey related, but at an extended family event about a month ago I saw someone who looked almost EXACTLY like the older Aunt in that movie - the one who pledges her alligiance to the flag when saying grace. I pretty much died laughing and had to point it out to Papa and a couple of other family members. We weren't very good at keeping straight faces afterwards.

La fin.