vacation recap

I've been on vacation this past week, and it's been pretty enjoyable overall. Some of the highlights (note that Stephanie's blog already covered this, and with photographic accompaniment):

Last Sunday (February 22nd) was when we made the drive out to California (the main portion of my week off was to be spent in Anaheim). We left Las Vegas around 4pm, but due to the amount of traffic also making that drive at that time, and the insane rain storm that accompanied us along the way, we didn't make it to our hotel room until almost 1am. Super stressful drive. The battery light in the van came on twice, and a semi drifted into our lane, and even with the windsheild wipers on high, the rain was so thick that visibility was near zero.
We ate dinner at a Denny's in Baker, where the waiter ignored us for probably 20 minutes longer than he should have, and then after we left I confused a fake owl on the roof of the building for a real live one.  (It was funny if you were there. Or if you were me, I suppose)

Monday was a better day, as the majority of that day we were in Disney's California Adventure. Highlights from there:
Getting a fast pass for the Cars Racer ride (I forget the real name, and am too lazy to look it up either on google or on Steph's blog entry).
Riding the Cars Racer ride (I see why the line typically gets up to 2 hrs. It's a fun ride. But the fast pass TOTALLY worth it)
The Tower of Terror. It was my second time riding it, so I at least knew what to expect, so it wasn't AS frightening as the first time I rode it with Harper two years ago. But this time I went alone, so all in all, I guess the terror level balanced out to about the same. Still a great ride.
Also watched one of the parades.
And we bought an Oswald the Lucky Rabbit antenna topper for the van. (We finally got around to putting that on the antenna today.)

Tuesday the 24th was the 17th anniversary for Stephanie and I. We used the magic morning feature of our tickets, meaning we got to go into the park an hour before most of the rest of the world. Of course, since Disneyland is EXTREMELY crowded,  and many other people also have Magic morning passes, we really only got about 15 minutes of Magic Morning. But it was a good day. I rode the teacups (and even got in the purple cup, which according to internet lore, is the fastest of the teacups), rode Space Mountain (only Steph and I - the kids didn't want to), had a new Star Tours experience (C-3PO was our pilot!)and had super expensive food all day long.

Wednesday was our final day in Disneyland, and we used it to hit ToonTown and re-ride faves from the previous day (Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain (Silas finally decided to go with us), Pirates) We also bought a stroller for that day, because carrying Silas around for two days in a row was wrecking havoc on my muscles.

Thursday we checked out of our hotel and drove thru LA, where we didn't meet Rhett & Link (from Good Mythical Morning), but after Steph mentioned the idea, it was all I could think about while driving. We arrived in San Luis Obispo late afternoonish and spent the evening walking around downtown and hitting the usual spots (Boo Boo Records, the bookstore next to it, the bench outside of BBR) At Boo Boo we picked up the new Guster CD (not bad), the new Decemberists CD (I liked this a lot), a rarities CD from Ben Folds  Five called "Naked Baby Photos" (mostly pretty good, but has a number of highly skippable tracks), and the Frozen soundtrack. There was also a farmers market going on, and we checked that out, buying a package of awesome strawberries and some organic raw milk. That night, though,after dinner (awesome burger from Margie's Diner), my throat was starting to get sore. Uh-oh.

Thursday night into Friday morning I didn't sleep AT ALL. Or, it seemed that way. I know I must have slept some, because I had some dreams about plants that were used by politicians in San Luis Obispo to manipulate time and reality. The dreams became increasingly complex in plot, and would probably make a pretty good story. So, at least that good came out of it. But I was feverish and my throat got worse as the night progressed.

Friday mornng I was defintiely feeling sick, but the only thing on the agenda was to visit the beach, and i was well enough to not call that off. It was a little chilly (especially when the wind blew) but it was till a prtty good day at the ocean. sand castles were built and ruined, and I did force myself to completly submerge myself into the Pacific. (We forgot towels, so once i was finished playing in the ocean, I spent hte next 30 minutes waiting for the sun to dry me off)
We began the drive home around 3 (I think?) and with dinner and carsickness stops, we managed to get home a little bit before midnight. (Highway 58 is much less crowded than the freeways, but it's like that wanted to make that road as windy as possible. Mission accomplished, roadwork crews!)

Yesterday I didn't have to go anywhere (Stephanie had some cookie booths to attend, though) so I spent the day trying to recoup from this sickness.
Today I've been doing mostly the same (still have a cough and my throat is still a teeny bit sore), and now in just a few minutes we are all heading otu to do more Girl Scout Cookie booth selling. (Um, that's selling of Girl Scout Cookies, not selling the booths.)
Amazingly, I haven't checked my work email at all. I'm afraid to look, honestly. But, I figure it'll be there when I get back to it tomroorw. All in all, a good vacation.