10.22.2012

cali 2012

hey all. a couple of weeks ago, scott surprised me with the best trip ever over fall break. i've been nagging mentioning for 3 years that i would love to visit disneyland with just me and him. no kiddos. scott has never been to the happiest place on earth and i thought he needed to experience it once sans crying, whining and temper tantrums. lo and behold, i was gifted this awesome vacation to celebrate our 3rd year anniversary. we threw in some motocross riding and vegas for scott so it wouldn't be too unbearable for him :)

we decided to drive to cali to save a little money (little did we know that california was experiencing over 4 dollars per gallon for gas). scott is so financially savvy, i wouldn't know what to do without him. he knew exactly where to fill up so that we wouldn't have to give our firstborn for a gallon of gas. haha.

 
ready for the roadtrip.
scott drove the whole way. what a stud.
we stayed in a really nice hotel in henderson, nv for the first night. i think it kind of spoiled the other hotels for the rest of the trip. we left bright and early for california the next day. we spent some time at huntington beach and i decided that after my retirement, i'm relocating there. it is beautiful! and there are all kinds of cutesy shops, restaurants and beach homes. my kind of living right there.

catching rays while scott body surfed.
disneyland was on the agenda for the next THREE WHOLE days! wahoo! i'm such a kid and i'm not ashamed of it, guys. we spent our first day mostly in disneyland. it was decked out in all its halloween finery and i wished i would have gotten more pictures (especially of the haunted mansion). i guess we were too busy skipping hand in hand from ride to ride (more like me dragging scott behind me to beat all the little kids to the line). we were able to see fantasmic that night and the fireworks in front of the castle with great seats both times. that show was probably the highlight of my trip. so cool! the second day, we spent more time in california adventure which is a little more of scott's cup of tea. we rode the roller coaster many, many times and i almost lost my lunch on the tower of terror twice (ah the things we do for love). we rode my personal favorite ride, soarin' over california. i want that ride in my basement. such a good stress reliever! they had a preview of frankenweenie in 3D that we watched in one of the theaters and i want to see the rest soon. scott's favorite show was the bug's life one where all manner of things are shot, sprayed, dropped on and crawl under you. so creepy, but fun! we also loved the new cars land. it was so amazing that they could replicate the town from the movie with such attention to detail. we were so dead tired every night from walking/standing that even our scary hotel's hard, lumpy mattress felt like a cloud from heaven. by the way, we survived staying in a very shady spot in buena vista with locked gates surrounding the entire hotel. no axe murderers for us!

scott on the teacups
teacups with an awesome view of the parade

part of cars land. you guys thought i was in southern utah, huh?
our splash mountain stolen photo
after the glorious days of disneyland had come to an end, it was time to leave anaheim and head to glen helen raceway. this is a motocross track that hosts some of the biggest names in the sport. scott was so stoked to go ride where all the legends go. he rode for most of the day and saw a couple of riders training for the monster energy cup. yeah, we're pretty much famous by association now. i should have gotten some pictures of him riding, but he's so dang fast! i mostly enjoyed a book and treats in the truck as it was raining that day.


we spent that night in vegas where our handy smart phones alerted us that there were flash flood warnings throughout the whole city. they weren't kidding! there was water about 2-3 inches deep everywhere and it would just cascade off the casinos like waterfalls. we got an anniversary dinner at the cheesecake factory in caesar's palace and stayed at the hard rock hotel (my favorite place!). in the morning, we were determined to find the gold and silver pawn shop to catch a glimpse of chumlee or the old man. we didn't see any of them, but apparently they were filming while we were in the store. like i said, we're famous.

shrimp pasta at the cheesecake factory

love pawn stars!

look familiar?
 overall, we had such a great trip (besides me getting lost in disneyland with no phone and navigating the extensive california freeways). i love how relaxing vacationing is and i felt so rejuvenated coming back. although i do love disneyland, this trip made me grateful to live in utah where i am sheltered, have beautiful mountains and people aren't trying to make me spend money left and right. thanks scott for such a wonderful getaway!

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