Not much I haven't already blogged about in the long slog on I-70 across Kansas. Sure, I could have taken a fuzzy photo of Wheat Jesus, City Wok, the painted TRUMP trailer parked in a farmer's field, etc. We did intend to stop by Fort Riley to visit the museums there but nixed it to allow an earlier departure time. We did stop briefly in Burlington, CO to get gas, and while we were there we headed over to the carousel.
Had a snack outside while we waited for our turn to ride it...we skipped paying for the museum admission. Couple getting married was there for a photo shoot, we made sure to photo bomb them.
Last time we were here was a while...we didn't plan the stop, just sort of figured why not.
Had a quick 5 minute ride...
And then we'd get back on the road.
First stop once we reached Denver was In-N-Out for a sort of late lunch / predinner.
Then to Meow Wolf Convergence Station...
This was our third (or fourth? can't recall) visit so I will be briefer but it is pretty cool. This is the automatic music room.
Debra prefers this side of the exhibit over the louder "city" section.
Hard sometimes to know what you are looking at.
Nightmare deer
Hadn't noticed this guy before, up on the wall.
Kids with the sloth-thing.
Normally this spins with a strobe light to merry effect but it was static this time.
Pete climbing through the MYSTERY VORTEX
I can't remember what these guys were called, Pizza Pals? Something. But they whispered to each other. Possibly about plans to have us all killed, who knows.
Lyra's Keep, in the Ossuary (I looked it up).
I love that someone mounted an LED panel inside of a CRT monitor.
Pete working on the organ in the Cathedral.
View of the Cathedral from the top floor.
View of C-street from above.
We headed out...we bought the annual pass for other reasons, so we didn't feel the need to spend too much time. But we were early for our next planned activity...so we went to a park...the one where the kids had chased geese and gotten splinters previously. Pete's up in the dome here.
It was quite hot though.
Reddish squirrel hopping around. Why did I include this picture I wonder?
Then we decided if we are going to just kill time let's go someplace with air conditioning. So we sent Gretchen to get Peter and we went off to Target to kill a bit of time shopping for things we might need on the trip.
Then enough time had passed for our reservations to.......CASA BONITA
They had switched to proper table service now, no cafeteria line any more.
We were seated in the cave right past the manbearpig sign. Bit noisy in there, but a new experience...
I was about to say, food was great as always. Food was indeed great, and it was great in a way I would say it always is post-reopening, but in the before times...
The Boy didn't want to get jump-scared so declined to join us on the trip through BLACK BARTS CAVE. He remained on the Bench of Shame while we ventured in.
Looking up the ventilation shaft near the end you can see Black Bart himself!
No...no wait a minute...that is a Team America World Police puppet! And it looks a lot like it might be the Sean Penn puppet, which would be hilarious given his public spat with Parker and Stone over the movie. I found this much much too funny.
This reminds me of the bit in The Good the Bad and the Ugly where Blondie has to shoot the rope to save the guy from getting hung. Save Mario, I guess...
Pete took the arcade pretty seriously.
Debra finding the flatulence that erupted when she knocked on the outhouse door enduringly funny.
Pete celebrating a win in the arcade.
Then back at the hotel, up in the foothills...the hotel was chosen because of nostalgia (of a sort) for our first roadtrip with Peter back in, I think 2013, where he fell off the bed and for various reasons we had to call emergency services (he was fine, long story).
Next day was a bit of a long one, so we got out early. It's a pretty hotel.
Sunny day as we headed up into Vail Pass.
A quick stop at a rest area we've frequented, Grizzly Creek.
Nice walkway by the river.
We were getting back in the car when Peter realized he left his phone in the bathroom. Thankfully it was still there.
Loading up and back on the road.
Time passes...we next find ourselves out of the Rockies and into the desert of Utah, at Arches National Park. Revisiting an arch we almost walked up to last time (many moons ago) but Debra's foot messed up so we skipped it.
This may be Turret arch.
We got up there and realized it wasn't Double Arch like I thought it was oh those many moons ago...it ends up being North Window Arch.
The shade was welcome, it was hot.
I then realized the Double Arch was on the opposite side. A good bit of walking to get there. That's fine, I was just happy to complete the unfinished walk to the one we tried last time.
Ground squirrel of some kind Gretchen was fascinated by.
Double Arch a bit more zoomed in, the other arch is behind it.
We had a quick lunch of peanut butter and jelly (grape! with the dog not around, "NOW THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT MUST BE TASTED") sandwiches and headed back out.
Balanced Rock (we hiked around it a bit last time).
One of my favorites this time was this....apparently called "Three Gossips". Very human looking.
Last time here with the Versa in, probably, 2013 or 2014? I had to use cardboard to MacGuyver on a broken heat shield on the bottom of our car, in this very parking lot.
Next up, Canyonlands National Park.
Debra is not as big a fan, but I was chuffed that Peter was into it.
Recursive canyons, basically. Quite a viewpoint.
We didn't stay here long...it was a busy day.
But just like last time, there was something for Gretchen as well...not sure if its a raven or a crow.
We'll just call him a corvid of some kind.
One more glamour shot of our friend, and back into the car.
I think this is known as the Monitor and the Merrimack, after the two ironclads of the Civil War that duelled.
We headed down 24 highway and the scenery started to get impressive.
Then into our third national park of the day, Capitol Reef. An orchard of fruit trees here in the aptly named Fruita.
Mummy Cliffs, our usual stop.
Walking up the hill we had a good idea our favorite tree had long since gone....the one the kids always posed sitting on, but it was looking pretty bad last time.
Quite the view to the east.
A bit of weathered trunk in the ground may be all that remains.
Some gawking at the scenery, then back into the car.
Dinner at our "usual" place (I mean this is only the third time I think). A salad and some fried jalapeno "bottlecaps".
Then pizza. Was rather a lot!
Back to our hotel which had been remodelled since we'd been last, the Red Sands Hotel.
The kids immediately homed in on the cows and horses outside.
And off they went.
Debra and I tried to enjoy this balcony area but once the mosquitoes found me, nothing doing.
A random discovery...a cider orchard here in Torrey, focusing on proper cider. I picked up a couple of bottles from their storefront in town and chatted with the employee...this one was the one closest to English styles he said, and used Kingston Black apples (which I used to want to plant a tree of that variety!). Justified it as for Father's Day.
Meanwhile the kids, having returned, headed back out again to the cows.
Gretchen obviously elated to have a calf walking over. Insects were pretty fierce though. We ended up watching The Princess Bride that evening as it was on...
Next morning, highway 12 (one of my favorite drives). We stopped at the Larb Hollow Overlook for Peter to try and duplicate his four year old self in a picture.
Always a pretty spot.
There were a lot of cows on the road in this section.
I pulled off here either for a picture or a sick kid, don't remember which.
More cows in the road.
One of my favorite spots, the Hogback.
You go up and the road drops off on both sides of you.
I took it slow.
Mule deer crossing.
Then into Bryce Canyon National Park. Can't remember which viewpoint we eventually found parking at...but we had been to this one before. Inspiration Point I think.
Been a little while since we've been here!
[Unnecessary caption here]
Gretchen decided to wander off so I followed her up this steep grade. More like Aspiration Point amiright
View from the upper viewpoint.
Gretchen and Peter stayed at the lower section.
Then passing through what I think is Red Canyon.
And into Zion National Park. This one always makes me think of Jabba. HO HO HO
View through windows into the tunnel.
It's bigger than it looks.
There's a reason it is so popular.
Then we parked at the insanely busy main canyon visitor's center. We bought Peter a hat (for the sun). The Watchman in the background.
We got to our room at our "usual", Driftwood Lodge. Had a nice patio. We made a simple dinner of chili cheese Frito burritos using stuff we brought along, plus a couple things picked up from the market. I had a canned chicken soup with added serrano chilies to make it what I consider edible...
The shadows creeping up on Johnson mountain.
Next morning, up early to do a bit of hiking before the sun came out in earnest. Parked at the visitor center and hitched a ride on the bus into the canyon.
Doing our usual, Emerald Pools. No Angels Landing for me then.
Wasn't too hot this early.
Not sure what this particular peak is called.
Lower pool, with the "waterfall" relatively inactive.
Older pathway washed away at some point.
Middle pool...
Slogging our way up to the upper pool.
The sun creeping down across the canyon wall, like the Eye of Sauron.
Up to the upper pool.
Vertical panorama...
Then fleeing downward from the Eye of Sauron...
Another cool overlook...
The sun had reached us, and this guy at least was happy.
Beautiful view up the valley.
Stable (maybe someday Gretchen).
Bits of shade still here and there.
Crossing the Virgin River looking downstream.
And upstream...
Did a quick walkabout at the lodge (the only place to stay in the park itself).
Turkeys out while we waited for the bus out of the canyon.
We had thought about also doing the riverside walk up by the Narrows but decided to call it an early day for hiking.
Post-hike brunch at Oscar's (there was a promotion with our hotel that made it a good deal).
Fantastic and massive portions. Loved the green chile.
Once back we hit the pool, and did some laundry.
Later we sent the kids on an expedition on their own to go get ice cream (trying to help foster some independence after getting Jonathan Haidt-shamed) in town. But of course I had to monitor them via Google maps.
Back from a successful expedition, Pete looking a bit red-faced from the heat.
Dinner was leftovers from brunch, with some added serranos for heat. Nice view at sunset...less a sunset than a shade-rise, but pretty.
Slower morning the next day...enjoyed coffee out on the porch.
Debra's face here is more when she realized I was about to take her picture because of her strange posture / way of wearing a sweatshirt. I'm guessing she was cold.
I sent a kid out to get ice but framed it as a Quest to Fill the Sacred Chalice with the Frozen Water of Yor (which kind of worked), while I made cucumber sandwiches, an odd choice maybe, but basically the only thing left in the mini-fridge was some cucumbers and a little tub or two of whipped butter, so it was perfect.
I prided myself in my role as the Loadmaster on packing the back of the vehicle efficiently.
Then onto the road, towards Las Vegas. Getting gas, I noted the legendary Gas Station Sushi...it exists!
I genuinely wonder about places like this, Trump hotels...with the hyperpolarization does it become a sort of dedicated MAGA hotel? Or do people who are just entirely unplugged from politics happy to stay there?
Lunch here of course.
We later realized that we mostly ate In-N-Out outside of California.
Next stop, our second Meow Wolf visit...
This time to Omega Mart, for the first time.
Lovely and surreal. Definitely Omega Mart feels like the most expensive and most well developed / popular.
Sneaking through the soda fridge.
In one of the back offices of the Mart.
Warehouse area.
I believe these are layered rotating plates down with marker or something like that?
Mesmerizing!
Not even sure what I'm seeing.
We got stuck here for a while.
Lots of control panels.
A don't-die-in-an-industrial-accident video game.
Impressive room of mirrors.
OK, I'll join your cult, why not.
Odd little hut with a fireplace leading to a stairway.
Of course you open the ice cabinet door.
Creepy sort-of skeleton in a case.
Kids learning the lore under the watchful gaze of whoever-that-is
Back out to the bright and sunny supermarket!
Some things are for sale, some are not.
Gaze into the recesses of the infinity melon.
Who Told You This Was Butter?!
Salt After Dark and 100% nut-free salted peanuts.
Meat case...
More of the meat department...
Canned goods of all sorts.
And lastly, emergency clams!
Back on the road. The Ivanpah solar farm...I was shocked to read it was slated to close! It wasn't built that long ago. But you could see the light reflected up by the mirrors into the tower like a sort of bright haze.
We SAILED through the Fruit Patrol checkpoint.
Well this is a blast from the past!
It's happening!!!!!
California gas prices are what they are.
We got up to Tulare after a long day of driving and stayed in a fairly typical chain hotel. I went out and picked up some chicken though from El Pollo Loco which we ate in the lobby breakfast area (Debra hates eating messy foods in the room). I got some Skittles to share with the kids and on my way up the elevator I held the door for an older couple. They spoke in German to each other, and when they left the elevator said "good evening" to me and without thinking I answered "Guten Abend". Whoops!
Next day, got a nice hotel breakfast enhanced by leftover salsas from El Pollo Loco. While getting packed up I again noted the bovine stench we normally associate with Bakersfield...and I thought, OK, flyover country is a bit rich coming from California when much of their interior smells like THIS. That said, I'm not sure I prefer the ubiquitous Raytown weed smell.
Then, up into the mountains for both Sequoia National Park and King's Canyon National Park. Had to park far away and walk from a satellite lot, but a nice view at Beetle Rock along the way.
We were in the south of the park by Moro Rock.
Waiting in line for a bus down to Moro Rock. We thought about walking but we were first in line so we just waited.
Debra was willing to go up with me...the kids stayed down.
Not for the squeamish-with-heights.
Nice view of the Sierras.
Whoah that is quite a drop.
Debra was fine with it, probably especially because she didn't need to worry about kids.
We opted to walk back, which was a good choice I think.
It was quiet and peaceful, no one else on foot, and huge trees everywhere.
Burned out trunk.
Are they the famous, largest Sequoias? Nah, but they are cool!
Was only a couple miles or so.
Quite a little cave in this tree...
That opened up on the other side.
Booker "Tree" Washington. I'll show myself out.
Getting closer to the museum area.
Unripe berries are thick around here...once they ripen there are going to be some very happy and fat bears.
Back at the old museum, which was pretty busy. The parks had free admission that day (Juneteenth) so it maybe was busier than normal.
The Sentinel...we sat outside here while Gretchen shopped.
Then we went and found parking, and walked to the General Sherman. Makes me want to raze Georgia, just looking at it.
Maybe a (very large) burl?
A quick stop up at the Wuksachi, where we weren't staying.
Bit of ice cream there as a treat...
Then up into King's Canyon to Grant Village area. First stop, the short trail to Panorama Point.
Last time I was here it was just completely foggy with no panorama visible.
Cool moss on the trees.
We've stayed in this cabin, but not this time.
Our much humbler cabin...grouped with the tent cabins but it was actually a hard roof.
Dinner at the local restaurant.
Adult beverages out on the back porch area.
The kids and I decided to explore a bit, heading up the hill.
We came upon what was an almost certainly dead, but still technically downed, power line and turned back.
This is what I wanted the kids to enjoy.
Weird little hidden village, some buildings destroyed...but maybe light on in one of them. Possible employee lodging?
Yeah-huh California don't tell me its a drought and the notice is dated 2020. California is not in a "drought" it is just an arid-as-hell place without enough water, droughts are temporary. This was in the communal restrooms...no en suite and no power for that matter, so battery backup for phones was required.
Next morning woke early and snuck out to head up to the main lodge. Surprised a group of I think 6 deer, mostly bucks in velvet.
Coffee, wifi, and power! Was lovely.
Then onto the window roads back down out of the mountains, and after 3-4 hours we landed in Paso Robles. First dropping off the uninterested ladies at a Starbucks, Pete and I went to the Estrella Warbirds museum.
Vietnam era choppers...
Some Cold War fighters, an F-16, F-5, and F-4.
The most famous fighter of the 80s, the F-14.
They had cars and some military vehicles as well. This is the back of an M-113.
Right hand drive alert! This is -I think- an Austin Champ, sort of the British Jeep.
Can tell if that is rust on this Saracen or just desert camo!
Big old USMC amphib.
Sikorsky H-19.
C-47 in D-Day livery it looks like.
Some real oddballs here!
Swedish Saab Draken.
Looks like a B-25.
Then into the car museum. Some real nice roadsters.
Steve McQueen's motorcycle.
I think this one's a bit old.
A Morris Minor!
Bunch of various racing cars which were less interesting to me and Pete.
Indy car...
Delightful little BMW..."How To Die on the Autobahn"
Gorgeous GT40. Love the blue/white stripe, I've seen Dodge Vipers done up like this.
Some Jaguars...
And a gullwing Mercedes.
In another building, lots of old Jeeps.
Grenades and mortar rounds.
Tank shells including several varieties of APFSDS and HEAT rounds.
RPGs and some other commie shells.
I believe this may have been an F-4 radar.
Sparrow and AMRAAM...Fox 1 and Fox 3 respectively.
An M-60 turret in good condition.
Looks pretty clean and well maintained. But to quote Joe Hewes, "will it start?" but I suppose without the lower chassis, it won't.
Looks like a Japanese tank (or maybe a replica, who knows).
Inside again...a Finnish Lahti 20mm rifle. Even comes with skis.
Enfields, Arisakas, and Mosins. A Jungle Carbine even!
US and German rifles and pistols (Nambu below).
Took a bit to explain how the sighting rifle is used on this recoilless gun.
Ah the droopy barrel plush tank!
Off to pick up the ladies. Somebody with snazzy taste and a snazzier bank account parked next to us.
Then after a quick lunch at Taco Bell, on to the coast. First stop, the elephant seal rookery.
They aren't the most handsome fellows and their smell is certainly, assertive, but the kids like seeing them.
I think you call the females cows? Not certain of that.
It was very windy though and Debra retired to the car.
A male/bull who stopped halfway across the beach for a break.
Occasional fights break out.
Then we checked in to our usual hotel, what was once named the San Simeon Pines (I'll not do it the disservice of calling it its silly rebrand name) (his momma name him Clay, I'm gonna call him Clay!). A quick hike across to the ocean.
Very familiar area to us.
The wind had not let up.
Given the surf and the wind, we didn't really venture onto the rocks.
But we did walk a bit down by the beach. Not sure, but at some point I waded into the water for some mild swimming right by the shore.
I honestly don't remember (a few weeks later...work has had me busy so the blogging had to wait) the exact order of events but we headed back up. Maybe it was just me and Peter at this point.
Then into the heated pool at the hotel.
Lovely place. Our dinner was salad, fruit, and ramen, with chopped chicken and red snapper (bought from the local market). Vernors ginger ale to drink, which I thought was more of a Midwest thing.
Then (with Gretchen this time) back across the street to the ocean.
Wind was still significant but maybe a bit milder.
Surf coming in...
Back to the beach section a bit south of the hotel.
Thumbs up for not getting splashed by incoming waves.
Was a pretty spot for sure. Normally we have gone to the northern side, but given the slightly sketchiness of the rocks, the southern route was a bit safer.
Then under the road bridge to this little bit, to head back to the hotel.
Gretchen was fascinated by some swifts who were intent on hanging out above our door.
We still endeavored to enjoy out patio, swifts or not.
But they made their presence known.
Next morning we went across the street early hoping for calmer seas.
Generally speaking it looked a bit less wild than yesterday.
While we had not spotted them yesterday, the reason for us dubbing this section "Bunny Haven" proved enduring.
The tide was out and the surf was milder so we went out on the rocks.
They are a bit bigger than last time.
Accidental abstract cool photo. I'm sure I was trying to focus on an anemone, probably at her insistence.
Bit of haze off in the distance.
Better shot of the anenomes.
More residents of Bunny Haven.
Then into the car and down south to Solvang, to get our name in for breakfast at Paula's Pancake House.
Long wait ahead of us, although the kids conquered their social anxiety to ask to pet this corgi.
Finally we got in and the Danish pancakes were, as usual, magnificent. Medisterpolse as I usually order was sampled by Gretchen who loved it. The freshly squeezed orange juice...I don't spend the money to buy it for myself but I want the kids to have it.
We didn't have a long way to go that day so into the town for shopping.
Their As Seen On TV store, including the latest edition of the Bug-A-Salt.
Lots of nostalgic feels here at the toy shop.
The Boy was mandated to don the Viking helmet and sword.
Sock Harbor was straight up weird.
Animatronic Danish bakers.
Pete spending his coins at a chocolatier.
One of the more traditional souvenir shops.
"Handle at your own risk", if I got too handsy with that one in the middle I might be risking something for sure from meine liebe Frau...
Apparently there was a lot of local drama about this building which had obviously suffered a fire.
We stopped at the knife store where I asked if they had puukko, and after I had to explain to the lady what they where she was like, we don't do touristy shit (roughly). Which I thought...uh-huh, you just have a store in downtown Solvang to serve the needs of people needing knives for local farm work, yeah. That couldn't be met more cheaply from Amazon, Walmart, etc. And the idea of a puukko as a tourist knife, it's a working knife...mine could tell stories. But anyway! Heading out.
This was me being spontaneous after having seen it for so many years. OSTRICH LAND
Emus and ostriches, and the chance to pay to feed them.
Looks like Donald Duck with a neck extension.
Listen, I have no idea what the next video is because the preview won't show it but I bet it is one of my kids feeding a large, flightless bird.
Same, another video of someone sharing my DNA feeding a bird with food we paid for even though the bird is not under our direct care.
......ditto.
Yep, looks like more of the same. Lots of emus. It was fun!
Took the kids a bit before they got comfortable with it but they warmed up.
FEED THIS BAD BOY
Back into the car and down the coast. Brief resupply at Trader Joes in Santa Barbara, and next stop, the Seabee Museum in Port Hueneme.
Big MRAP that survived an attack in the main hall.
An old Jeep...remember an AW Hewes video about identifying true WWII Jeeps but I couldn't remember the details to try and figure it out (most you see are postwar).
Bit of the towers.
Uday or Qusay's gold plated Dragunov lol
My son knows this one, Ma Deuce
A poignantly perforated Nazi helmet.
Medal of Honor.
The AW Hewes videos make me appreciate these a bit more. Not designed for combat, but definitely designed for work.
Unmistakably German Pak 38.
Luger and Nazi dagger.
Pete is more interested than before in the varieties of small arms.
USS Arizona armor plate.
The MRAP out front, showing the blast pattern of the RPG that hit it.
Then to our Ventura hotel.
They were super slow to get our room ready, well past the time advertised.
We walked about and realized the main scenery was the PCH. And all the noise that came with it. Seems like this hotel sprung up before everything was so developed and now has kind of languished from being so close to (but on the wrong side of) the highway.
We finally got in and decided against our original plan of going to a Tiki themed restaurant 10 minutes south of us, so we got delivery (it had been a long day) of El Pollo Loco again. That night we watched cable news as details of the strike on Iran came in.
Next morning we were sad to find the complimentary breakfast closed before we had to leave...Pierpont Inn gets a few stars but not the full constellation from us...and headed down to get a boat ride.
Debra drugged the kids up pretty well with Benadryl...we had mislaid our Bonine.
However, I roused them when the dolphin pod showed up.
Debra got some good views of this...she was on the rear deck to the left of this shot, because she was feeling sick.
We saw better than I can show in the pictures, at least.
They definitely were enjoying swimming alongside.
A few more...
One more, with the birds.
I particularly enjoyed, as we got to the island...I haven't said what we were doing, have I? Going to Santa Cruz Island in the Channel Islands National Park. But I enjoyed this dispenser of barfbags where they had a link to the "Galley Menu". Bad advertising guys.
We filed out. I should say, we had changed out plans drastically...hoping to shorten our day, we changed our return visit to 11:30 return, instead of much later in the afternoon.
There was a period in here where it is difficult to express the pain we endured. I don't remember the name of the National Parks volunteer who insisted on holding us for 15, 20, 30 minutes while she rambled through her stream of consciousness instructions. I wanted to scream like a libertarian douchebag, am I being detained! This was even after Debra had asked her if we could expect to make it to our destination and back in the time we had before pickup, and she said yes. But we eventually rebelled and just left.
Into the eucalyptus of the interior island.
While heading up towards the outer ridges, some corvids had had their way with an encampment.
Pete, unlike the last time, was leading.
Up on the ridge we had some breeze.
We were moving fast and trying to get to our goal.
More handsome corvids.
I alternated between fast hiking and jogging because our goal was a bit in doubt...
But then, I got there, the two kids shortly behind.
I told them, as long had been foretold...
Behold, Potato Harbor.
So named, because it is shaped like a harbor.
Then Debra hove in on the horizon and I correctly interpreted her angry hand movements as not to be "let me come see that beautiful Potato Harbor" and more of "get a move on and get your asses back here, I don't want to miss the ship", so we got a move on accordingly. View to the left leaving Potato Harbor.
There was some jogging done, definitely fast walking.
Then taking the hike down into the valley.
This was a section Peter melted down on, coming up, when he was a wee little tike. He was solid with me now though.
Hauling ass through the valley, hoping to get onto the boat at 11:30.
Elated to get to the dock in time, as campers were lined up for their return.
A couple chaps who kept allowing birds to invade their foodstuffs. We rooted for the crows.
Hahaha. They were tired. And admittedly, a bit drugged.
The drive back into LA, we made a short diversion to do the touristy thing similar to people who stop at the Abbey Road zebra crossing...this is the house where a certain LA musician does his Live Sesh videos.
I would have stopped and done a stupid selfie but the traffic was busy. But thumbs up my man! Keep it coming!
JFC International obviously predated the internet era.
I mean, it makes me wonder what they ARE doing to dolphins at SeaWorld.
Next stop, Wee Britain (to invoke Arrested Development). Doubledecker out back in a bad state.
Heading in to my favorite pub so far, which turned out to be a different pub (the one I remember, maybe in Santa Ana, closed down...this one is in Fullerton).
We didn't stay in the lively bar area.
But got a table in the outer recesses, like a couple of daft Americans expecting table service. Hey I'm new to this!
I got a Cornish pasty, Debra got bangers and mash with a Yorkshire pud. Ribena for the kids, a belated (once I reminded our Bristol born waiter) Fullers ESB for me.
Bit of dessert for the kids.
Heading back out.
Straight down Harbor Blvd from there, with the monorail running beside.
We arrived at our hotel and promptly turned our attention to...waiting for people to get their laundry so we could start ours.
The Anaheim Hotel is thus far our favorite in the area.
A bit of swimming while we waited to get our laundry in the dryer.
Then in the evening, Debra and I went over across the street.
No Disneyland today, but we could get a sneaky glimpse of it.
Into Downtown Disney and someone is feeling happy!
La Strong! Capital L, small A, capital S small T small r small o small n small g! La Strong! If you can guess the reference and you aren't related to me, I'll buy you...well, not this shirt, maybe a soda?
A view of the fireworks on our way back.
From our second story building with an overlook of the pool.
Our balcony that night...
Duolingo being unneccessarily rude the next morning.
Lined up for Disneyland!
Waterfowl have consistently been the biggest attraction of waiting for rope drop. A Canadian family with young offspring.
Ok, its a pretty nice photo admittedly.
Joining the mad throng through the castle.
We decided to do Dumbo first!
Then, walked onto Casey Juniors.
Then up into Starwarsland.
Very pretty and not overrun with traffic yet.
We did Smugglers Run, not terrible scores, but not great.
I'm not sure how exactly the kids had finagled Cocacola thermal detonators but they had.
Then to Ronto Roasters for our usual breakfast of weird sausage in a pita with egg and cheese and optional weird sauce.
Then onto Big Thunder.
Pete was considering this helmet all day.
Rise of the Resistance, next.
We've done it a lot (at great expense lol, but it is fun)
Gawking at the static storm troopers...
Then we went to do Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway and I think it broke down as we were on our way.
Heading back through the main section of the park...
The Tiki Room tragically under renovation.
Indiana Jones, next.
Then Pirates of the Caribbean.
We got a cheesy biscuit and a Monte Cristo, so my notes tell me, but I forget where from. Then did Haunted Mansion, and went to do Tiana's ride, former Splash Mountain, but it was down, so we did Winnie the Pooh, which was surreal:
Then over to Tom Sawyer's Island.
It was a nice point of relaxation. The kids mostly focused on the waterfowl, we found some spots to relax in the shade.
Columbia passing by...
Then we hopped on the train.
We returned to do Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, and I tried to keep my comments to a minimum about how Minnie was increasingly flaunting the topless look in the newer production style. WHAT AM I NOT SUPPOSED TO NOTICE DEBRA I AM A RED BLOODED MAN
Me and Pete conjectured whether the red spatters in the vicinity of the train crash are blood or some kind of fruit pie that got smashed.
Genuinely interested in the actual control panels for these rides, so I took a pic.
Next, churros, an absolute requirement.
Back to the hotel for naps and swimming.
Later that afternoon/evening, back to the park.
Into Frontierland...
A successful reattempt at the Tiana / Splash Mountain ride. Pete opted to skip as he was a'feared of the final log flume plunge.
Then me and Pete went to do Star Tours. After that we met up with the ladies at Tropical Hideaway for lumpia, char siu bao, and Dole whip.
We did Pirates again, then headed to Starwarsland once more to get the helmet Peter had decided to purchase.
Then Debra was set loose to do her thing and me and the kids headed back through to the hotel. Seeing a parade or two on the way.
They routed us through the back alley to avoid Main Street which is kind of fun in and of itself.
I got some pizza at our favorite pizza place there, Pizza Press, and we went to bed...after fireworks of course. Debra got home a bit later, naturally.
Next morning, bit of a later start, we headed down to Long Beach to see an old friend.
Yeah, it's the USS Iowa.
We were kind of speed running it in a way. Not dwelling too long, more just happily seeing it again.
Officers' wardroom.
One of the remaining 5" turrets.
Good lads!
Captain's chair on the bridge.
An armoured section of the bridge.
Dads everywhere understand.
Inside an armoured section of the bridge.
Up top, looking over the turrets.
R2D2, 20mm radar guided Vulcan CIWS.
Harpoon antiship missiles.
Lower deck of one of the 5" turrets.
Breaker panels are the same everywhere...people don't label them properly. "?"
Some very old candy for sale.
Flag from the Nagato.
You walk in here and the guys shout at you, good motion sensor tech. Pete jumped. :)
Enlisted mess deck.
Then back up to find the ladies.
Old small Sikorsky on deck.
From there to my new beloved beach, after my experience last year that I wanted to share with the rest of the family...Torrance Beach.
Nice view of Palos Verdes, places one could rarely hope to afford to live.
We went swimming.
The kids moderately obsessed about these crab-like things in the sand.
I swam a bunch, exhausting myself in the waves while trying not to go so far out to stress out Debra (it's a delicate balance...staying in close is actually more violent and can kick you over more easily as the waves are cresting). After a while we all came in and dried off.
Heading back to the car.
Then we went to the Del Amo shopping center to burn some time, get some food, and do some shopping. At Mitsuwa marketplace we got a bit of food, sushi for me, skewers for the ladies, and a Korean corn dog for Peter:
It's a true Japanese market:
Then exploring the mall, we found this backgammon board for $1,499 I shit you not. We fled that store as fast as possible upon realizing.
We spent a bit of time in this store where I dealt with the hard truth that somehow, beyond all appreciable odds, my children may be nerdier than me.
This was a separate Japanese culture store that was just....weird.
I mean I guess, whatever floats yer boat.
Din Tai Fung having their workers making dim sum on display for everyone. Maybe someday!
But a different type of Asian food was planned...yakitori. We went to our usual spot in Gardena, Torimatsu, where we had reservations
We had a variety of skewers, none of which I captured with the camera alas, but the usual stuff...shisomake, tsukune, kawa, negima, shiitake.
We ordered the kids ice cream.
A bit amused at the receipt, which had not only Japanese text for each item, but a Japanese number for how many we had ordered. I trusted their math!
Then on to the east where we landed in Rancho Cucamonga, where Debra had arranged to meet her cousin and they chatted in the hotel lobby.
Next morning, before we got our hotel breakfast I was transfixed by what would happen if I pressed the mirror power button. Turns out it only engaged a backlight.
Then we drove off into the east California desert. Smoke was rising over this hill.
Turns out it was one of several trucks we had found on fire on the roadtrip. Hopefully the driver got out OK.
Once in Kingman, of course, In-N-Out.
Like I said I think we mostly, if not exclusively, ate this outside of CA, this time.
Then into a surprise stop....outside Williams AZ, an advertised stop we had never had time for before. BEARIZONA.
The kids were excited by the surprise. Mountain goats here.
A reindeer licking this BMW's front grill.
You let the reindeer do their thing, when they are stuck in the southwest AZ in summer. Hotter than they are used to.
Nice antlers though, still in velvet.
Obviously I took more pics of the reindeer because they were one of the first ones into the drive through.
A donkey as we proceeded along.
A wolf sleeping in the shade.
Several wolves, including a black one near the back.
This is a video I can't see the preview for, but I'll bet, its a wolf or two or three.
Then into the "Junior Bear" section!
A bear dragging his mossy butt out of the pond. At least he probably felt cooler.
Indeterminate bear video, probably good??
White bison...
Bighorn sheep.
Another bear...
Then into the walking section. "Warpath Design" may be a little bit politically incorrect.
Porcupine was not interested in interacting with us.
Couple of badgers getting some rest in the shade.
A very shaggy looking red fox who didn't look that great.
A slightly more portly javelina.
Then, actual grizzlies.
This chap really wanted that stick out of the water despite losing it a few times.
They were big fellows.
Bobcat hiding wisely from the sun.
Raccoon relaxing similarly.
The other raccoon just sitting there, upright.
Inside the cave area, a Gila monster.
Don't go in there, that's Black Bart's Hideout!!
Video of the demo (can't see the preview but maybe the porcupine?)
And the racoon who ended the show.
Train set in the gift shop.
Outside the gift shop, jaguars...a spotted one in the mist below, black one above.
Better shot of the spotted jaguar.
Bull elk in velvet.
Then up to the Grand Canyon, where we found parking (blessedly!) and checked in to the Thunderbird Lodge. I looked fondly at the benches by the fireplace where I had, at least 15 years ago, had to learn how to truncate SQL Server transaction logs for the first time while on vacation, before I was a dedicated DBA.
The place was not particularly overrun as it had been before. Kind of relaxed and very beautiful.
I think we got the kids hot dogs / sandwiches from the shop and then decided to go to dinner by ourselves (the kids preferrred this anyway...more time alone in the hotel with their internet devices).
Debra got some kind of burrito, and I got a soup and "half" salad but it was quite a lot of food. All of it delicious.
I thought this was a deer before, given its slight stature, but it might just be a very small elk cow (tail not obvious). On our way back to the room.
Once in the room we looked out and saw a European dude trying to interact with a wild elk cow with no particular realization of the danger involved, and we were particularly amused when said cow gave him a little false charge and (fortunately) dudebro kind of ran off. Give them space!
Walking with the kids along the rim, later.
Sun was setting.
You can see our hotel on the right, here.
Next morning, for whatever reason, I opted to take a picture of this because I thought it implied ASS LOTION which is funny to an imbecile such as I am, from time to time.
Quick look at the canyon...
...and then out to the car to pack up and leave.
Debra and I decided to change plans and avoid doing the entire Painted Desert / Petrified Forest National Park drive through and just do the top bit more on the Painted Desert side.
We got some nice overlooks.
...without so much excess driving, given how far we were hoping to get.
The painted desert is more impressive when you see it on the way out, not after you've seen the Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, etc. but it is still nice.
Brief stop off at the visitor center for bathroom breaks, and to see the petrified wood.
Beats driving an hour to see it in situ I guess! They have it right here!
Then lots of green chile on everything at Blakes Lotaburger, for lunch, in Gallup. Realized how much of a minority we were there.
Then up into Santa Fe, for a stop off at the original Meow Wolf.
The guy letting us in was so, so high. Once we got past him, we saw this in the wall.
I kind of loved the place immediately because of this. I mean, what even is this. So wonderfully strange.
There's tons of lore here, but it is based around this house.
Very normal looking on the surface but it gets weirder as you go deeper.
Another fireplace that definitely leads to odd places.
I think Peter went down the laundry chute.
He definitely went into the fridge.
The undulations here in the upstairs bathroom...
Gretchen was content to study the lore in the upstairs study at the computer.
Pete and I went into the backyard where things got weirder.
There's a bit of a stage down there.
Peter loitering in a way I completely understand...listening to someone badly playing a piano, he wanted to show his stuff a bit but was waiting for them to leave.
As long as the video works right, this is Peter playing the incredibly out of tune piano at Meow Wolf.
Lots of creepy footage in this section.
I mean, he looks friendly.
Continuing to explore...
Sort of a neon forest.
This place was cool until the music got extremely loud and Peter fled out the door.
Pretty wild design, I like it.
More of the same.
Section where the roof was pretty low.
We reunited with Debra and Gretchen and headed out...to Tomasita's downtown, for Santa Fe style Mexican food.
I got steak with an enchilada and relleno, with red chile (good) and green chile (life changingly wonderful).
The sopaipillas were...and I hate to say this...significantly better than even the new Casa Bonita. Light, airy, crisp. Even though we had almost no room to eat them at that point.
Next morning...well I should explain, the original plan was to visit a few places along the way and end up in Liberal KS for the night (Santa Rosa to swim in the Blue Hole, Tucumcari to go to the Mesalands Dinosaur Museum) but we decided we could trim the agenda a bit and make a single day of our return journey. First and only planned stop, the air museum in Liberal...
We had to be quick.
Mostly me and Pete speed-ran it, Debra and Gretchen later went back to the front office with air conditioning.
B-25 tail...
F-4U Corsair...
Lockheed P-80, it looks like.
The absolutely massive Avenger.
F-86 Sabre.
The thing we always do, cause I did it as a kid...sit in the Cobra.
Gretchen did her duty and hopped out, but Pete was actually interested...we talked through what some of the controls were for.
Then he hopped back into the pilot's seat from the gunner's seat and we looked at what controls were there as well.
Two Cobras and a Loach.
The B-25 cockpit...
...which apparently contained a skeleton pilot!
Renovation section...
Planes outside on the tarmac.
F-104 Starfighter / Widowmaker.
September 11th remnants.
Back on the road, but not before gassing up at...Toot 'n Totum????!!
Then across Kansas with a stop at Matfield Green.
We got into our neighborhood late, but not too late.
The dog was distinctly chuffed to see us back home.
