California Girls

Sorry for the delay in posts. For the past three days we have been in a hotel that does not offer free Wi-Fi and charges you to use the business center. Crazy or what? Now we are in Califronia (not sure where) and are in a Starbucks using the Wi-Fi from the store next door. Anyway, we arrived in LA on Saturday, but we didn't do anything. On the way there we stopped at Sprinkles, a cupcake shop we were going to visit in LA, but they had one in Scottsdale, so we decided to get cupcakes there instead. My mom had a Dark chocolate cupcake and I had a key-lime cupcake. We both thought they were a bit much for our taste. On Saturday, we spent the day touring LA. We got up bright and early (Except it was around noon MN time) and drove to the Getty, a museum that has paintings, sculptures, a glorious view of the city and a garden lush with flowers and trees. We spent a couple hours there then drove to Watts, a neighborhood in the outskirts of the city. A man named Simon Rodia immigrated for Italy as a teenager, and in the forties and fifties built towers in his backyard called the Watts towers. They were made from cement and stuff. Stuff being things like shells, broken plates, 7-Up bottles shards of glass, ect. Later, they built a fence around it and made it available for touring. After our tour there, we drove around LA going back and forth, not sure where we wanted to go (much to our fatigue.) We eventually ended up in Hollywood. We walked for a while on the walk of fame, seeing a few (literally a few) stars that we recognized. You would not believe how long the walk of fame is. We passed by where they film Jimmy Kimmel Live and we walked around the Kodak Theater building. (We didn't actually get to see the theater.) We had no idea that when all the stars walk the red carpet to the theater, they have to pass by all these stores. Apparently, the building doubles as a shopping mall. No kidding. When you first get into the building, there are pillars lining the stairwell with years and the winning motion picture of that year lining down the pillar. If you face one way you see all the awards from the 20th century and the other way you see the 21st. The future years are already on the pillars all the way up to 2066. They really have it all planned out. (Who says the academy is even going to be around for that long?) If you walk for a while through the building, you get to a place with the best view of the Hollywood sign. You could even look through a telescope to get a better view. We had dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen and had some of their famous flavored lemonade. (Or at least famous to a few people out there... hint hint) Afterwords we tried to get to the beach, but we couldn't find a parking spot. Discouraged, and extremely tired, we went back to the hotel. We tried to find a Starbucks to post, but obviously, we didn't find one. The next morning we were in higher spirits for we knew what lay ahead for the day.... Disneyland. We didn't go on that many rides, but all of them were so fun, it didn't matter. Some were...
Pirates of the Caribbean, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (so cute), the Enchanted Tiki Room, Tarzan's Tree House, Mickey's House, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Autopia, Innoventions and Space Mountain. I recommend all of them. The first thing we did was buy me a Mickey hat. (That said "Mara" on it of course.) I had no idea there were so many choices! I didn't know that you could personalize your own hat! But we had to go with the classic one, because... well, you just have to! We didn't get to meet that many characters except for Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore. All of our souvenirs were all Pooh. I got a shirt, a pair of earrings, a pin and a key-chain. We ended the day with a fire-works spectacular which was simply "magic". I had no idea how enchanted the place really was. Each attraction has the power to make you believe. It can make you believe it's midnight, when it's really noon. It can make you believe you're in the middle of a thunderstorm. It can make you believe you're in outer-space. Speaking of which, I have to admit one of the best area was Tomorrowland. (For those of you who don't know, Disneyland is divided into eight sections: Main Street U.S.A, New Orleans Square, Frontierland, Critter Country, Adventureland, Mickey's Toontown, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland.) Tomorrowland was basically like you tumbled into the future. We waited in the longest line ever to get to Space Mountain. Then, when we got inside, there was a malfunction, and we had to wait longer. But when we actually got on the ride, it was all worth it. Zooming through space passing stars at the speed of light. That's what it felt like. We also got to go into a building called Interventions, where you were pretty much in a house from the future. And that's what it was! Soccer you could play with a digital carpet, a kitchen that does what you want when you ask it to, a room that tells a story for you. They could even predict what you would look like in the future! (But it was inaccurate, unless in the future everyone can see their muscles, veins and blood cells through their skins. Creepy!) The most authentic area was Toontown. It was like you were in a cartoon! Everything was big, goofy, and flamboyant. Not much to do, but everything to see. The cutest area was Critter Country. Long lines to meet characters from Winnie the Pooh, and everything was supposed to look like you were in the woods with "critters" and things. (A lot of it looked like the Hundred Acre Wood, in fact.) And last but not least, the area with the best rides was no doubt, Adventureland. Each one was like we were on a different safari mission. (Specifically, Indiana Jones. Pretty frightening as well.) But at the end of the day, we had to go home. We left around 10:30, but it felt like MN time which was 12:30, so we were exhausted. We did pass by the IHOP, but like I said, it was after midnight, so we couldn't stop by. We never went to Disney's California Adventure, not that I had the urge to. Today we drive to Vegas, and tonight we see Ka, the Cirque de Soleil performance.