Kris and Sterling gave me a trip to Disneyland for Christmas, so on New Year's Eve (technically, since we got going after midnight, New Year's Day), we began the long drive to California. Driving mostly during the night made the trip a bit easier on Atty, although I'm not sure how many more times I'm going to make that trip by car. I told Kris I think I'm flying next time whether she does or not.
Also, unfortunately, we were all sick to varying degrees with some sort of stomach flu - with Sterling and Atty probably having the worst cases. Fortunately, by the time we arrived in California that morning, the worst seemed to have passed.
We stayed at a great condo in Oceanside, which was just a short walk to the beach. It had a full kitchen, two bedrooms and two bathrooms, so it was plenty roomy.
Atty was pretty happy to have room to run around and play. We spent some time at the beach, and Atty really loved the water and the sand. And the birds.
The next morning Kris and Sterling went to Magic Mountain and Atty and I hung out at the condo and at the beach. We had lunch at a place that sold the most amazing fish and chips, and played with the ball on the beach.
The next day we went to Disneyland. Now, the major reason that we scheduled this trip when we did was that it was (we thought) after the Christmas break, and theoretically should have been during one of the slowest times. Wrong! It was more crowded than I have ever seen it before. I guess that with the good weather, the Rose Bowl featuring teams from fairly close by, the weak American dollar, and holidays falling on the weekend this season, it all converged into a perfect storm of PEOPLE. You could hardly walk anywhere, and I think we only went on a half dozen rides or so in two days, plus a couple of shows. It was hard to judge Atty's response to his first trip to Disneyland, because he was always a bit cranky about waiting in line so long by the time we went on anything. But I still enjoyed D-land, and Atty seemed to really love the Haunted Mansion. Unfortunately, Kris pulled a muscle or something (lifting and/or holding Atty), so she was in a lot of pain. The next morning she dropped us off at the park and then went to an instacare place. It helped, though she was still in pain through the rest of the trip.
I failed to get very many pictures at the park, but here's a few ...
The last one (black with white streaks) is my phone camera's attempt to capture the snowfall they do during the season.
After our two days at Disneyland, we were going to spend some time in San Diego, and then come back up to the L.A. area to spend a couple more nights. But since we didn't really have any specific plans for L.A., and Kris was still in a bit of pain, we decided to head down to San Diego for the day, and then drive home that night (thanks anyway for the offer of accommodation, Annette!). We ended up stopping for lunch and beach time in Ocean Beach, which had a very hippy-kind of vibe, and where they didn't seem to like little kids all that much and where the homeless seem to camp out. But it was a good lunch (after a bit of a concerted effort to find a place that seemed appropriate; i.e., that would let Atty in the door), and we had some more fun beach time.
Thanks, Parker's, for the great trip and memories!
