Day 18 - Universal

Day 18 June 27

Universal Studio

Temp: 100+ degrees

Mileage: 320

Time away from home: 16 hours

We left the house at 6:30am to get to Universal.  Got to the ticket booth at 9:15.  Only a little bit of LA traffic.  I am sure it could have been much worse.   I got us there without my phone gps – I hate the thing.  I swear it is going to take me in the wrong direction AND it is quite a distraction to keep looking at my phone when I should be looking at the road. It was an easy drive: 14 to 5 to 170 to 101.  I can remember that!  Who needs technology?

We bought year long season passes as they were no more expensive than a day pass.  We have 4 more weeks here –who knows if we will be back?  It only made financial sense. 

We got back to Transformers 4-D ride.  Ugh – I have an upset stomach because of that thing, but I won’t show my distress to the boys who want to ride it again (wait time - 30 seconds).  I sat through the 2^nd ride with my eyes closed – it helped some.  Then the THIRD ride…I  opted out.  (wait time – 5 minutes). Went over to Jurassic park water ride – I’ve just leaned it was only exciting at the end: going down the big hill in the dark.  SCARY and FUN!  But, we did it twice (wait time – 30 seconds).  Off to the Mummy for 2 rides (wait time – 1 to 5 minutes).  This was a fun ride – similar to the speed of Mr Freeze at 6 Flags.

Lunch on an upstairs patio by ourselves – oh and Dora the Explorer.  She walked by two times.  After lunch…were in the Name of Mike did all these people come from!!!!!!  Boys rode the single person line for Transformers again – me, not so much.  The wiggling and jiggling and brain shaking of the 4-D is way too much for this lady to take.

You know that time of day when you have been to a theme park and it is crowded and the lines are long and it is 100+ degrees the water cost $2.99 a bottle and there is no water fountain in sight and there is one adult and two kids who want to go in different directions: you know the time of day when everyone is happy!!!! Hahahaha.  To not choose one child over another I decided to chose the next adventure – and they were not happy.  I think their exact words were “I don’t want to see a special effects show!!!!” (immediate seating) Second row, up close and personal to the stage and the next 25 minutes were (GASP) funny and a few “MOM did you see THAT!”.  Then to make matters worse after this show was over I chose the next activity again –Waterworld.  Another round of “What is it?  I don’t want to go!”  (immediate seating) You’d think they would learn that 1.  At a theme park everything is fun and 2.  Mom rarely disappoints.  Once again “WHAT!  How did they do that!?”  “I want to sit in the front row next time!”

After a Simpsons Ride (40 min wait) and Seth going thru the House of Horrors 2x in a row we finally got in line for the Studio Tour: a mere 50 min wait the line said.  One hour and 2 minutes later we boarded the tram to tour the back lot.  It was interesting and learned some things: but I don’t think we’ll be standing in that line again.  Plus there was a King Kong 4-D experience on the tour – my stomach hadn’t settle much so this wasn’t a fun surprise.  There was an earthquake on one set, Norman Bates was moving a body from a hotel room to a car, Jaws came up to us, there was a flood in an old west town: so maybe it was more fun than I thought.

Now it was 6pm and there was a 40-70min wait for everything.  We left to go find the Hollywood sign.  After some searching we found a good spot to see it.  Sullivan didn’t want to get out to get a pic. Drove home and picked up some In N Out burgers for the first time – yum. It was amazing to see such a small menu board –just burgers and fries and shakes.

I am sure we will be back (free admission next time!), but with a better plan.  We don't need to be there all day and we don't need to ride certain rides. However, I don't like these places for vacation as they are money suckers and the brain is on fire the whole time between the smell of the churros, the clanging of all the bells and whistles, the long lines/wait, the park employee on a megaphone telling you yet again that this or that show is starting, the incessant playing of the movie theme song in what ever ride you are on...  I much prefer the quiet of non-theme park vacation where we read the signs in front of the ruins, see the historical site of a bygone era and just play on the sand or rocks.

Best Part of the day

Seth – Simpsons Ride “It was hilarious!”

Sullivan – Transformers “Because it was cool and intense and awesome!

Sarah – Wateworld

Worst Part:

Seth – Standing in line for the Studio Tour

Sullivan – The Studio Tour line

Sarah – queasy  stomach

Day 16-17 at 'home'

Day 16-17 June 25-26

“home”

Temp: 100+ degrees

Milage: 0

We really needed some down time after our day in Vegas.  Brian is traveling for work so it was just the boys and I at home.  We were supposed to tag along on his trip but I wasn’t physically able to get in the car yet again.  I needed to not move!  We tried watching movies in the DVD player, but it didn’t work – all the movies skipped.  Brian took the player to landlord for a new one.  However he was told that most units don’t have a dvd player as people what movies on the computer or phone now a days.  I feel old.  

We did some climbing at Wagon Wheel and Red Rock Canyon.  At Red Rock Seth was shimming up the sheer rock face with no fear.  He had some trouble getting to the top so he reluctantly backed down.  We plan to go back when Brian is with us.  Once again , I felt like I SHOULD have been scared, more than actually being scared for him.  He knows his limits.

Day 14-15 VEGAS Baby!

Day 14-15 June 23-24

Vegas Baby!
Temp: 100 degrees
Milage: 500
Time from home to home: 22 hours

 What to hear a story about how finally have a “I went to Vegas without a hotel room” story?  Well, here you go.  We were picked to sit in the audience of the American Ninja Warrior tv show.  It tapes at 12:30 AM Monday morning.   Brian has to work a mere 9.5 hours after taping starts.  How will this work?????

We left around 10am and drove 4.5 hours to the Hoover Dam.  We first walked ½ way across the Memorial Bridge – it was HIGH!  900 ft above the water if memory serves me right.  It was SOOOOO windy.  It made us wonder if Nic Wallenda was experiencing the same wind gusts just 250 mile east at the Grand Canyon – he is supposed to walk across an open expanse ¼ mile long and 1500 ft from the bottom of the canyon.  He was able to cross and we were having a hard time keeping our hats on.

At the Dam itself let me attempt to guess how many dam jokes the guides and the boys made: infinite.  We did the power plant tour and walked on to the viewing deck – well 3 of us did.  Sullivan was nervous about the heights.  It is quite amazing how big the dam is – 660 ft wide at the base!  It was said that there is enough concrete poured to make a 4ft wide sidewalk around the perimeter of the earth at the equator.  Geesh!  When walking through the power plant tour the boys started thinking too much and got claustrophobic thinking they were under so much water and concrete.  Brian was able to distract them by discussing hydo-enginering, it worked.  Ok answer me this: what is PSF? ok good. Pounds per square foot.  PSI? Pounds per square inch.  PePSI? A drink that rivals Coke.  The tour guide questioned the group and Brian was the only one who yelled out Pepsi.   

On to the Venetian – or the Venenzulan as Sullivan is calling it.  After some parking issues we  got to the hotel.  We split up as 2 smaller people were picking on each other and it was not fun for a while.  Seth and walked around the Forum and found some people dressed up – both people in the pics liked the shirt Seth was wearing. He thought the hotel was the fanciest hotel of all time and when he comes back to Vegas he is coming back here! Sullivan and Brian found a beautiful art gallery of photographs and looked over them for a while.  We also saw one of those statues that moved if you gave him money.

 Well, that killed an hour.  It is now 7pm, what will we do for the next 5.5 hours?  Let’s go to a movie.  We bought tickets for World War Z at The Orleans (Wait!  This is a hotel AND an 18 screen movie theater!  Amazing!).  The previews were SO scary – eyes closed, ears plugged… we left during the middle of the 3^rd scary preview and changed theaters to see man of Steel.  Very good!

Went to a food court for the 4^th meal.  10:30 pm.  Eyes were drooping and bodies were slumping in chairs.  Cokes all around!

 American Ninja Warrior is a show we’ve watching for a few seasons.  It is amazing how this guys do these obstacles.  So getting these tickets was quite a win for us.  We got the absolute last tickets possible for the taping. The worst ticket time possible – 12:30 AM Monday. At midnight we parked in the very dark lot on the east side of the strip across from Mandalay Bay/Luxor.  We tried to shut our eyes for a bit, but that last about 60 seconds.  We got to the waiting line just after 12:00 and had to fill out waivers.  Now this is a good time to say that the minimum age for attendance is 12 years old.  We have now taught our kids to lie about their ages – I hope this doesn’t come back and bit us in the butt.  We got into the stands at 12:30, front row!  An obnoxious older man was sitting behind us telling ‘jokes’. 

 Thankfully we had to move to the right and got away from him.  For the next hour we sat, waiting for the show to start.  FINALLY the announcers came out and we had to do about 6-7 takes of loud raucous cheering/high fiving!  We finally figured out that if we pretend to yell we can save our voice – so ½ the time you see me ‘yelling’ I am just mouthing.  At 2:08am we moved to a different set of bleachers to actually watching the competitors – we are not in the 6^th row, not the front! But, it took another 30 minutes to get that started: 2:40am.  We were cheering the Americans and Japanese.  I can’t tell you how athletic these guys are – you have to watch the show.  We saw about 8 guys go through the course of varying degree.  Then, a standstill about 20 min of nothing.  We aren’t sure what was happening but  it was getting late(r)- 3:30.  We, and many others in the stands, left then.  Out to the car and on the road at 3:50am.  I took the first leg of the trip – hoping to make it to Barstow, but only made it 100 miles.  We got home at 7:20am, boys went straight to sleep, Brian took a cat nap and went to work around 8:00.   Not sure what time Sullivan woke, but Seth got up at 2pm.  SOOOOO tired.  But totally worth is.  I thought I would be driving in the dark for about 2 hours, but it was about 4:30 and the sky was glowing behind me.

 

So that is how at the ripe ages of 41/42 we now have a “I went to Vegas with no hotel room” and the boys are only 9/10 and they have the same story.  Oh and we felt like super awesome parents parading the boys through the casinos at 11:30 pm on a Sunday - we looked like real winners.

Best Parts:

Brian: Watching the guys compete!
Sarah: Watching Seth marvel at the Venetian and being in the front row for the taping.
Seth: American Ninja Warrior because I got to stay up late.
Sullivan:  American Ninja Warrior because we got to stay up late!  And seeing the statue guy at Venezualian.

Worst Parts:

Brian: Being to flipping tired. Switching movies.
Sarah: The drive home.
Seth: Not watching all of ANW
Sullivan: the previews at World War Z

Day 10-12 Cambria and Morro Bay, CA

Day 10-12 June 19-21^st

Cambria, CA
Temp: A frigid 54 degrees on the water.  Got up to 79 at Hearst Castle
Mileage: 500

We had no other plans for this first week so we went to Cambria, CA.

Fiscanali Ranch Reserve

 

 

 

The first stop was to the Fiscanali Ranch Reserve.  A mile long sandy path on the cliffs edge.  One little slip and whoosh, straight down on to the rocky Pacific shore line.  Before going further let me remind you it was freezing!  My van read 54 degrees.  Of course Sullivan loved it, and of course Seth hated it.  He changed into jeans, long shirt and hoodie.  The wind was ferocious.  At times this first day we could hardly walk forward – we were getting blown backwards!  Along the walk I saw tons of local succulents that were blooming and gorgeous. 

 Elephant Seals

 After checking in and getting a bite to eat we checked out a long pier just under the Castle.  Then we found the elephant seals!  The loud, huge, funny looking creatures that come to this shore line all through the year to give birth, hang out and molt.  This day was sooooo windy we couldn’t even hold the cameras steady to get good pics.  It was amazing to see them move to effortlessly across the sand into the water when they can weigh more than 1000 lbs.

Hearst Castle

  







Huge. Ginormas. Gothic. I think the house in The Great Gatzby movie was modeled after this house.  My pictures aren’t going to do it justice. (Just as I assume I’ll be saying when we see the Grand Canyon in a few weeks).  Whenever we go on these tours I want to read more on the people and the time and place.  I wish I had more time in the day to do that.  I think on this adventure the person who stuck out most to me was Marian Davies – WR Hearst girlfriend.  Google her, she sounds pretty amazing minus the whole dating a married man thing.

Glass bottom boat tour

Morrow bay, CA Just what you think this would be.  Awesome!  Seeing fish get fed under water AND steering the boat!

Whale Watching Tour!

Wahoo – Sullivan found a brochure for this when at breakfast the day before.  So we extended our stay to Morrow Bay, CA so we could go on a 3-hour tour (sing the song if you wish, I did).  We took some Dramamine this AM – Seth and I took pill form,  Sullivan had to have one crushed and dissolved in water.  Remember it is 54 on land…we packed for that.  We didn’t pack for being on the water.  Off to the gift shops we go!  Three layers, sun screen on the boys (oops, forgot about MY face) and cameras at the ready we head out to sea with 15 other excited people.  Three hours later we return... without seeing a whale.  We saw many sea otters and sea lions but not even one spout!  The swells were about 10ft which I think were huge.  We sat in the front and boys said it felt like a roller coaster – thank God for the Dramamine.  Seth got a little green ½ way through so he and I moved to the back of the catamaran.  Sullivan stayed in front, with no adult chaperon to catch him if he decides to fall over board.  My own personal Sophies Choice – stay with the one who might puke or the one who has no fear and is likely yelling “I’m king of the world!!” in his head while standing up, holding on to the railing and laughing, no,  taunting the huge waves.  I stuck with the potential puker.  His stomach settled down; Sullivan didn’t fall in.  All was well.    I was very sad we didn’t see whales and was dwelling on it for many hours after.  I want this trip to be perfect and to have nothing go wrong…hahahahha   I can’t control an 80 ft water animal.  I was able to walk myself through the sadness and remember that this is but one thing.  We didn’t see a whale, but we did get to experience the open waters of the pacific and have water sprayed on us as passed over waves.  That was pretty neat.  Cold, but neat.

 

Day 8 - Death Valley

Day 8 – June 17, 2013

Death Valley
Miles: approx 300
Temp: 77-110
Time: 8 hours

 

Death Valley

The drive is long and boring.  It was very easy, after Trona, CA, to drive 80 and not fear being pulled over.  I could see miles and miles. On the way home I saw 10 vehicles in a 60 mile stretch.  Along this stretch of road I saw a fighter jet overhead.  He made a second pass and this time he banked the jet just as he was passing me.  I swear he did it on purpose.  Here is the dialog I assume the pilots were saying:

 

sing....Highway to the Danger Zone …

Maverick: Hey, Goose! You see the rocking 2002 Montana minivan down there going 80?

Goose: Yeah Mav, I do.

Maverick: I bet there is a hot mom in there with 2 boys who would love to get a closer look at us.

Goose: Let’s do this!

Van is in sight, jet banks right just as it passes van, loud sonic boom

Maverick: Hey did you see the looks on their faces? Priceless!

Goose: Yeah that was awesome. Now let’s go back and play volleyball.

 

They totally high fived afterwards!

(end scene)

 

Mesquite Sand Dunes

These dunes were MUCH hotter than the White Sands Dunes.  I forgot my socks so had to wear tennis shoes barefoot – I collected about 1/4lb sand in each shoe.   We each had a backpack with 3 water bottles and a little snack.  It was only 9:30 AM, how hot could it really be out there in the sand in Death Valley, I mean come on it can’t be as hot as they say.  I see a dune way out there that is huge and I want to climb it, not just the boys.  HAHAHAHA.  We made it 1/3 of the way and I stopped the Sully train.  He was way ahead of us climbing up and jumping down each dune.  But as he got further out he was slowing down and was turning beat red.  He was quite alright with turning around.  Back at the car it was 98 degrees of baking hot heat.

 

Furnace Creek Visitor Center/Borax evacuation site

 Watched a movie.  Assessed the color of our pee, rated it against a poster in the bathroom – everyone was ‘on target’, no threat of dehydration yet! You know what I say – If you aren’t going to the bathroom every hour you aren’t drinking enough. Near here is a old borox excavation site.  For reasons I will only attribute to heat stroke Sully wanted to go and read all the signs. The pic is the remaining part of a 20 mule train that carried 36 ton of borax and 150 gallons of water to and from the site.

 

Bad Water

This is the lowest place in North America. The salt is briney and the animals don’t drink it.  A map surveyor brought his donkey to the area 100+ years ago and made a note on his map that it had ‘bad water’ and the name stuck.

 

Golden Canyon

 

Remember the heat I've been talking about.  Well Sully the Invincible doesn't remember it nor does he think it affects him.  I didn’t know what this canyon was so I wore flip flops – Thank God! It was a great excuse to make him turn around.  Basically it is a 30 ft narrow canyon with many side canyons off it to explore. He wasn’t happy when, after not being able to see or hear him, I made him turn around.  I bribed him with the idea that there was another canyon on the way out.  There WAS another canyon, but it was 110 degrees by that time and there was no way I was going back out there.  Nothing a little cookie ice cream sandwich can’t fix, right! (Sully is barely visible - he's to the left of the pic in a white shirt)

 

When climbing out of Death Valley we went from -282 ft to 4956ft above sea level.  The van didn’t like that too much.  Turned off the AC  but had to keep turning it back on as it was 110 degrees and we were baking!

Day 7 – June 16, 2013 – Father’s Day

Lone Pine, CA
Miles: approx 200
Temp: 90s
Time: 8 hours

  We stopped on the side of the road to climb on big rocks on the side of 395. 

Lone Pine Visitor Center 

We met a young man who was hiking from Mexico to Canada.  He left Mexico in April and hopes to get to Canada before the snow in September.  I had many questions for him but he seemed much more interested in moving along, so I will only be able to dream about what his adventures are. WAYYYY behind us is Mt Whitney, the highest point in the lower 48.  It is above Brian's head, not mine.  Mt Whitney is behind this front mountain range. 

Manzanar 

 

 This is one of the Japanese interment camps set up in WWII to “keep the Japanese safe”.  Besides the death the accompanied the concentration camps, it sure seemed like a bad place to be.  No freedom or privacy for years. My words won't best describe this place http://www.nps.gov/manz/index.htm

 

 

Alabama Hills

 

 

 Lone Pine is known for being the spot where many old westerns (and a few new ones) were filmed.  In the Hills are thousands of boulders to climb, there are arches as well.

 Can you see Seth by the eye of the monster!

Can you see Sully below near the top of the rocks? He's in white

 We were looking for one mobius arch and drove 10 miles (in the minivan) on gravel to find it.  We flagged down ranger who said it was right around the corner.  THERE WAS NO SIGN visible from the road.  But we found it and it was great.  

   A little cubby for hanging out.