I am a Northern California girl through and through but here are a couple of things I adore about Southern Cal.
1. There are those (ahem) moments where I might not be dressed as age-appropriately as my advancing years suggest I should. My crime might be that I enjoy a short skirt or a poufy dress tied back with a bow a little too much for someone pushing 40 but I'm only taking Betsey Johnson's lead. (And I have to ask… if you don't look 35 does that mini skirt rule still apply? (Shut up, I don't look a day over 33.)) However, in LA there is ALWAYS someone older dressed even more age-inappropriately than I! I saw a 50-year-old guy in 7-11 dressed like Mike D from the Beastie Boys circa 1985. Yes!
2. If traffic is relatively clear on the freeways (rare but it happens) everyone drives 85 miles an hour. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate this! Our local freeways aren't nearly so crowded but we have numbnuts cruising along at 45.
3. Movies. I really do appreciate the art of films. Even though the business end seems to have made a lot of LA rather industrial looking.
Oh, and Disneyland. Disneyland is a very cool place. This is only the third trip I've ever taken there and I have to say I am always impressed at the level of amazing detail and how they never seem to spill over into the cheese factor. I am very sensitive to cheese.
Chance did amazingly well on this trip. Especially considering how much of a sensory disaster our first trip out there was. It's amazing what a little time, maturity, and more OT can do for a kid. The Disneyland rides are such sensory immersion experiences that they really freaked him out the first trip. But this year he was eager to try a lot of the rides (not all but some) and we also slapped on some great noise reduction headphones whenever he needed a break. (And you know they're effective when you see more than one pair of those headphones walking around the park.)
Geez, Mom, another picture?
This is a pretty rare sight… snow in Southern Cal, going over the Grapevine.
As with any trip we all came back tired and rumpled, but overall it was pretty damn good.
That’s delightful–a good experience for Chance, indeed!
And he seems braver than I was, at his age!
I’ve only been to Disney World twice (Florida’s a deceptively long state). My family went when I was a child. I enjoyed everything but the Haunted Mansion. Scared the hell out of me–my parents in particular, were laughing at the “ghosts”, and trying to convince me they weren’t real. But they seemed real enough to me, I cried, all the way through!
Then in 1984, after I’d graduated from high school, we went again–this time there was Epcot Center too. We had a wonderful time, but I was so disappointed about one thing: At age 18, I especially looked forward to going through the Haunted Mansion again, to experience the fun I’d missed the first time. And wouldn’t you know it–the Haunted Mansion was closed for repairs!
I sure hope it’s still there, and open, next time I can visit Disney World-Epcot again!
We are off to Disneyland today. Can I borrow his headphones? A million cheerleaders is not something I am looking forward to.
Miss you.
Scott – the Haunted Mansion was the one ride I wanted to go on but didn’t! We hope to get out to DisneyWorld one day, just to see the differences! Although, I suspect it’s a lot of the same stuff.
Godmother – Be sure to tape everything… you could produce Bring It On 9! (Or whatever number they’re up to now.) Have fun!
To this day I’m always baffled that the Grapevine exists. Who the hell planned that stretch of road?
Glad you had fun. I miss Disneyland.
We had a wonderful time, too, and enjoyed spending some of our day with you (it was only my second time to Disneyland – the first was when I was 7, so barely remembered).
I had reservations about taking the kids on the Haunted Mansion ride, but both D and A thought it would be fine. As their experience with the park is so much greater than mine, I deferred. My 4-year-old daughter was OK with it (D covered her eyes for much of it and my daughter covered her ears, so maybe it’s unfair to say she was OK with it, as she barely experienced it), but my 7-year-old son enjoyed it and hasn’t shown any sign of nightmares or other fallout. It was a bit overwhelming to me, honestly, but then, so was the Jungle Cruise – so many things to see and hear all at once.