Disneyland and California 2013

California Science Center

 What an amazing machine

 I love this shot. That nose has experienced some

serious heat!!

 We had to walk over and peek in the Coliseum.

 Our first experience with Chick-fil-A....tasty. We figured it 

must be good with the amount of cops eating there. It

was packed with them!

I was looking forward to seeing Endeavour more then anything

on this trip. The California Science Center was cool but the

Space Shuttle is what made it worth the drive. It's almost 

otherworldly walking into the hanger and seeing Endeavour

sitting there. I saw her sitting on the pad once but this

time was much more up close and personal. It was so

 fun spending some with her, but I really wish she was

still flying. When they get the new building built for

Endeavour it's going to be truly amazing. The shuttle

will be displayed in a launch configuration complete with

external tank and SRB's.

Angels vs Athletics

 Walking in

 Ouch....expensive beer

 Check out our seats...front row!!

 Jered Weaver was on fire with 8 strike outs.

 Michael and his ball. The guy in the jacket behind him is

who tossed it to him.

 Josh Hamilton and Mike Trout. Trout and Albert Pujols

hit home runs for the Angels. Josh Hamilton was 2 for 4

with a double.

 Pretzels and beer..... or pop for the kids

 Beautiful stadium

Michael, Yosh my Dad and I took in an Angels game while

we were down there. The Angels have a very nice stadium. It's

close to Disneyland too. Dawn took us and picked us up after

the game. It was maybe a five minute drive if that. Our seats

were killer! Front row about midway between first base

and the right fielder. It was amazing watching a MLB game

from that close. All four of us had an outstanding time. 

Michael got tossed a ball that the outfielders were using

to warm up. How cool is that!? The food and drinks were

tasty but pricey...to be expected. The Angels won 4-1. 

After the game they had a huge fireworks display...all

in all a very cool day.

And this completes our California vacation (about time right). 

Hope you all enjoyed reading about our experiences.

Disneyland and California 2013

East West Shabu Shabu

This picture makes me so hungry...

 Liquor in the front...parking in the rear...

 Yum

 We hit East West Shabu Shabu twice during our trip. We're all

fans of Shabu Shabu/Sukiyaki and this didn't disappoint. Theme park

food was getting a little old, so I yelped Shabu Shabu and quite a 

few places popped up. I picked the one with the best reviews and

we headed out. It's not in the best neighborhood (Garden Grove), 

but the restaurant and it's surroundings were nice. Every time 

we're in Las Vegas we hit Swish Shabu Shabu in Chinatown.

East West was better then Swish. Everything seemed just a 

touch fresher and Dawn liked the broth more at East West. I

loved that they had some mysterious "hot drops" they would 

add for you. It was a tiny bottle with an eye dropper that had

the label covered up. A few of those really spiced things up! I 

think I had 11. Another thing I hadn't tried before was the raw

egg this is served with sometimes. You cook your meat then

dip in the seasoned raw egg for flavor. Sounds gross but I'll

be getting it from now on. The second time we went Dawn's 

friend Lisa came along. She liked it too.

On the drive back we came across a seedy little doughnut stand.

I'm always up for a doughnut so we swung in. Other then 

the broken liquor bottles around it wasn't bad. The 

doughnuts were quite good actually. Not the best location 

though. One of those places you wouldn't want to be 

after dark.

Disneyland and California 2013

Farmers Market and the Beach!

 The original LA Farmers Market. Established

in 1934.

 Roast Beef sandwich from farmers market. The bread

was dipped in Au jus. It wasn't as good as I thought

it would be. Not bad though, The mac and cheese in the 

background was really good.

 Pralines from Littlejohn's Candies. Really good. I'll put a 

link at the bottom to order.

 Bob's Doughnuts. Great doughnuts. The glazed old fashioned

I had was killer. Dawn had a beignet.

 The Grove is an outdoor, upscale shopping area next to

farmers market. Nothing too special but we did run 

into Mario Lopez, aka Slater. He seemed like a douche.

Fun in the sand.

 This has to be one of the coolest piers in the country.

 Michael, Yosh and I had a blast playing in the ocean.

 Michael and I are in this wave!

 The California coast is beautiful.

The end of the line for Route 66. Rush hour traffic in LA is

so bad.

After a day at Universal and two days at Disney we changed things 

up a bit. Today would be a stop at Farmers Market and the Grove,

then a few hours at Santa Monica Pier/beach. After breakfast

was delivered to out room we hit the road. Traffic wasn't

too bad on the way to farmers market. We got there nice and

early and scored a great parking spot. The LA Farmers market is 

neat. It's different from our farmers market in that the "stores"

are set up in permanent locations. There is everything from 

fresh produce to gourmet French foods with pretty much 

everything in between.After browsing around, trying a few things

and getting some lunch we walked over to The Grove. The Grove

is an outdoor, upscale shopping area. Nothing too special but I did

go in the biggest Barnes and Noble I have ever seen. Three stories

tall. E! was filming something and Mario Lopez was there. I

know...big deal. I used to like Saved by the Bell though. A little 

after noon we headed to Santa Monica. Again, the traffic wasn't

too bad. Little did I know what i was in store for later... It 

took awhile to figure out where to park and change once we 

got there. Once changed we headed straight for the water. 

Michael, Yosh and 1 spent a couple hours in the water. 

It was a blast. You get some big waves in California. I think

Michael would stay in the water all day if you let him. After

playing in the ocean we changed, got a bite to eat at Pacific

Park and hit the road. Big mistake! We should have looked around

for awhile and sat down for dinner. Rush hour in LA sucks and that

is an understatement. It took forever to get back. We did make

it though and had dinner at East West Shabu Shabu. I will

do a separate post for that.

Littlejohn's Candies

LA Farmers Market

Disneyland and California 2013

Disney's California Adventure

The view from the Golden Zepher

 Cars Land with Radiator Springs Racers in the background

 Fun times on Luigi's Flying Tires. Ask Yosh about it....

 Don't be tipping that tractor.

 A Warm Caramel Sunday from Ghirardelli

 Taking aim...I never did win

 The big winners!! It was tough stuffing all these

in the suitcase!

 Dawn's favorite ride

                     

Tasty food from Flo's V8 Cafe. I love this kind of food. 

 We were all anxious to try out Radiator Springs Racers in the new Cars 

Land. The plan was to run get a fast pass first thing Monday morning.

Turns out you need to get in line for the fast passes. After we got that

figured out we ended up with fast passes for around 11 I think. To pass

the time we decided to head to Soarin'. I was looking forward to this. It's

one of my favorites. A fast pass was available but it was basically a

walk on this early. After enjoying our flight the Twilight Zone 

Tower of Terror was next. This is Dawns favorite ride and one of

mine too. Disney had such good theming on their rides. It was almost

time to use out fast passes for Racers so we headed that way. Disney

really did a nice job on Cars Land. It's just like walking down the

street out of the cartoon. It's even better at night with all the neon. 

Radiator Springs Racers is basically like Test Track from EPCOT

with much better theming and a few twists. Very fun ride. Saturday

before we left we rode it at night....even better. After Racers it was 

time for lunch at Cafe Orleans so we headed to Disneyland.

The menu at Flo's Diner looked really good so that was on 

the schedule for dinner. The food at Flo's turned out to be as 

good as it looked. I had a great roast beef dinner. The milk shakes

were great as was everything else. I think most of the others had 

the turkey dinner. Its typical diner food but well done. After 

Monday, once again, things have blurred together so I shall summarise. 

One evening for dinner I had a sourdough bread bowl of clam chowder

at Pacific Wharf Cafe. It was really good. The bread is baked on site..

we even took a tour of the bakery. Dawn, the kids and I really enjoyed

California Adventure. Maybe even more than Disneyland. The games

are a blast and you actually win decent prizes. Michael and I rode

Grizzly River Rapids 4 times i think....such a fun raft ride. We also 

had a nice time hanging out with Dawn's friend Lisa....she was a

great tour guide. We ended our trip at California Adventure. 

Michael and I hit Grizzly River Rapids as our last ride. My last

Disney meal was a corn dog from Corn Dog Castle :)