I'm back... and sleeeeeeepy...

[cairistiona]

There's nothing quite like having to get up at 3 am for a 6 am flight. That was yesterday and I'm still fuzzy with fatigue this morning.

The vacation was good, though! San Diego was beautiful, but cloudy and chilly most days (the sun peeped through by late afternoon but then the clouds would roll back in, so I never did get a nice Pacific sunset photo there like I'd hoped). We toured the Midway, went to the famous zoo (took a special tour there specifically to see the pandas, but we also saw bonus cheetah cubs who were adorable). We also went to the zoo's big "safari" land thing that was east of San Diego out in the desert/mountains, where there was MUCH WARMTH AND SUN AND BLUE SKY. We went walking along the Strand and down the pier at Oceanside, where we were staying. We found a tremendously wonderful hole-in-the-wall Mexican place where I had some of the best carnitas, rice and beans I've ever had. We also ate at an In-and-Out Burger, which people tend to rave about and we... didn't see what the fuss was about. It was a good enough burger and the fries where great, but honestly, Five Guys has them beat all to heck. *g*

Then up to LA. We had fun, but the traffic was all you've heard it is. Stop and go on all the Interstates, for miles. Ugh. But we still had fun. Disneyland was... quite a bit smaller than Disney World. I knew it was, but until going there, I didn't realize HOW much smaller. The castle alone is... very smol. We came around the corner along Main Street and whereas at Disney World, Cinderella's Castle dominates the view, Sleeping Beauty's Castle is... underwhelming. Cute, but it just didn't compare. We had a bit of a quiet laugh about it. I did, however, get to meet Captain America and get a hug. *g* (No, not Chris Evans, but the young man was built nearly identically and had the right blue-eyed, square-jawed presence. Quite fun! We also saw a Guardians of the Galaxy dance off, which was entertaining. Disney does a fantastic job casting their characters--Cap, Peter and Gamora really looked a lot like the movie versions. We also saw Loki in all his grandeur walking down the street and it could have been Tom Hiddleston in costume (it wasn't, of course).

I was hoping to find better Marvel merchandise at Disneyland, as supposedly Disney has a usage license west of the Mississippi that it doesn't have east, which is why you don't see Cap & Co at Disney World but you do at Disneyland. There was VERY little stuff, though, and what there was featured the Guardians, mostly. So that was disappointing. I did buy an Avengers pin featuring Cap.

We went to a fancy shopping mall in the Beverly Hills area, drove up to see the Hollywood sign up close, and went on a whale watcing cruise, where we got a glimpse of a blue whale and her calf, which was very exciting. Dink, however, discovered she does *not* like being out on the open ocean in a boat (we'd previously only done small eco boat tours on inland water ways in Florida). Then the next day at Disney after riding the Guardians ride, which is a big tower with an elevator that suddenly drops and then swoops up etc, she started having a lot of inner ear issues that were giving her anxiety etc. We spent an hour in Disney's nice, quiet first aid station, where she laid on a cot until she got her equilibrium back, but the rest of the trip was a little fraught--she started taking a decongestant and that helped but every time it started to wear off, she'd find herself feeling weird and anxious and slightly dizzy. She had a bout of trouble with her eustachian tube having swollen shut about a month ago and I'm pretty sure that's what happened again, so if it doesn't clear up, she may need to go to the doctor for another course of steroids. I hope this doesn't turn into a chronic issue for her, because it does make her miserable. Disneyland, which we went to on her birthday, ended up not being as fun as it could have been, but she soldiered on and we did at least see everything, even if we didn't ride any rides after that. Fortunately the plane ride home didn't bother her ears.

I would post some of my IG pics, but for whatever reason, LJ isn't actually displaying them but just showing a link. I'll just direct you there for now and when I get the pics downloaded from my camera, I'll do up a photo post then.

Comments

[shirebound]

We're still trying to find a decent (read: ANY) Mexican restaurant near our new home. San Diego has great ones! I'm happy your trip went well, and that you got SOME sun. San Diego experiences "May gray" and "June gloom" and then it can be sunny until winter!

I never got around to touring the Midway. Glad you got the experience.

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

June gloom is a perfect term for the weather we experienced. It wasn't rainy, just foggy and windy and chilly, at least along the coast.

So there's no Mexican places in your area?? They're so ubiquitous here (and of course in the Southwest and California) that I always assume you can find a good Mexican place anywhere.

[mikononyte.livejournal.com]

Mexican food is.... dangerous. We do have a wonderful (so the people here say) Mexican shop just down the road, but I learned long ago to shy away. Only time I safely had Mexican food was in Firebaugh (CA) at a roadside diner. Best damned food evar! Never since. :(

Disney; I went there with my mum and cousin in 1959 (the last thing I did with them before orphanage so I really remember a lot of it). The castle was huuuuge back then. So was the Nautilus sub but the lines to get in went on for miles!!! We skipped the sub, went for the castle but being young I was afraid the the pop out of the dark stuff. *laughs* And don't get me started on the Mountain rides!

Glad you had descent weather. Yes, it was good for this time of the year. You could have had fires and that would have sucked big time.

Get rest. Recoup and dream of smexy Captains, Dangerous Stans and don't forget to cuddle Hubbs. He's more of a superhero that the movie actors.
*grins*

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

So far, I've never had a bad experience at any Mexican restaurant, so I'll continue to live on the edge and frequent them. :)

You might be interested to know that the old Nautilus sub ride is still there--only now it's based on Finding Nemo, at least from the signage. We didn't actually ride it. I remember the sub ride at Disney World, which when I was a kid was themed after Captain Nemo & 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but it's not there at all anymore. I had a nice nostalgic moment when I saw the Disneyland version.

Hubs is definitely a superhero. :))))

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Poor Dink - my daughter had similar problems at that age and it was a real nuisance. And I don't blame her not liking being out on the open sea in anything small - I quite agree; my personal preference is a minimum vessel length of 125m :)

But I am glad that it sounds like good trip otherwise.

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

I developed vertigo issues in my later 20s. Seems to be when it hits, sadly. I think Dink may have ear infections--she has an appointment with the doctor on Friday. She's also supposed to have her upper two remaining wisdom teeth extracted the following Monday--not sure how all that will work. I may suggest she reschedule the extractions.

It was definitely a good trip. As much as we love Florida, it was interesting to see new places.

[imbecamiel.livejournal.com]

Heyyyy! Sounds like a really nice trip. I'm glad you all had a good trip, despite the health issues. (Poor Dink! Inner ear issues can be so miserable, and it's even worse to have it triggering both physical and emotional reactions like that.)

I must say, I'd have had a hard time keeping my cool with a Cap lookalike like that wandering around - even if it wasn't Evans himself. *g*

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

Dink is still pretty miserable with it... she goes to the doctor on Friday, so it may be a long week. :(

I *just* did keep my cool, I hope. LOL There was an adorable little three year old whose eyes got as big as dinner plates when Cap finally came out, and there was a 60-something? 70? woman behind me who leaned forward and whispered to me with delight, "He has a new uniform this year and doesn't it look nice?" Um, yes, ma'am, it surely does. LOL

[mrowe.livejournal.com]

Looks like you had a good trip, despite Dink's health issues.

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

We did have a very nice time. Ate too much, slept too little, but that's all part of the process. :)

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

San Diego was beautiful, but cloudy and chilly most days

Ah, yes, June Gloom. I used to spend a lot of summers in California since most of my relatives lived there, and that was such a thing. We had better luck for our San Diego part of the trip when we went in late July/early August! :D

Sounds like an incredibly fun trip, though!

And it's sooo gloomy and rainy here today, too, I don't know how it is where you are...

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

We all concluded that if we ever return to San Diego or anywhere along the CA coast, it'll be in July, most likely. It was just a wee bit too chilly for our comfort.

Here it's grey and cloudy after some storms rolled through, but by the afternoon it'll be hot and steamy and the entire week will probably be really hot. Meh. I take back what I said about chilly California... I wouldn't mind some of that right now! LOL

[nefhiriel.livejournal.com]

Oh, what fun!

Especially hugging the Captain America part. XD

I would really like to visit Disney World and/or Disneyland now that I'm older. Ironically, I think that I got a lot less out of it when I went there years and years back...now I'd be much more into the rides and the whole experience of "meeting" characters from the films. ^^

Sorry to hear about the whole inner-ear issues Hannah's having! That sounds so miserable. I do hope it's not chronic. :/

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

I highly recommend a Captain America hug. *g*

I think if you enjoy rides, either park is probably fine. I'm not much on rides, so for me Disney World/EPCOT is a far better park complex, even though they don't have any Marvel characters roaming around. But really, both parks are so well done just as far as giving you that feeling of being transported into a different world. Disney's Adventure Park part of Disneyland did that particularly well with the Cars section... it was like walking through that little town in Arizona. They do an amazing job with the architecture at all those places.

I'm praying Dink doesn't need antibiotics. We'll see how it goes, I guess. She's still asleep right now, even though it's nearly 11 am, and that's probably the best thing for her.

[suzll.livejournal.com]

HARD SAME w/r/t In'n'Out. I don't get it...

I had sort of the opposite experience as you, LOL...went to Disneyland in October and was like "oh cool this is nice" and then went to World and was like OH WOW THIS IS HUUUUGE.

It sounds like you had a ton of fun, but I'm sorry about Dink's inner ear issues! I've been having that for the past couple years and it completely sucks (tho for whatever it's worth, I've now adjusted to it so that vertigo is basically the new normal for me l o l).

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

I have a friend who is OBSESSED with In'n'Out and so I was thinking I was going to be blown away, but... it's a burger. With some sort of thousand-islandy dressing. ooh. ah. I will say, though, that the buns were really good. Which is a weird thing to say, but I usually don't like buns.

I kinda wish we'd done the opposite--seen DL before DW, because DL just left us a little flat. I felt bad, because we went on Dink's birthday and the underwhelmingness combined with the ear issues made for a meh 19th birthday. Well, sort of meh. I mean, we *did* really enjoy the day, just not as much as we'd hoped. The San Diego zoo was waaaay better as a "oh wow" experience.

Ears can be so... annoying. I started getting vertigo in my late 20s and though it's far better now, yeah, I had to do that "okay, this is the new baseline" adjustment and it *sucked*. I'm hoping with Dink that it's just a eustachion tube thing that can be fixed with allergy meds/decongestants. Or that it's related to her two remaining wisdom teeth and well clear up once they're out. She goes to the doc on Friday and potentially gets her teeth out Monday (unless she reschedules because she's feeling too icky to deal with yet more icky), so we'll know more then, hopefully.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

Fortunately the plane ride home didn't bother her ears.

That's good! The decongestants worked, then? I remembered the last time I flew with blocked nose, the ear pain was HORRIBLE.

I've been to Disneyland once many, many years ago. We went to the one in Tokyo :)

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

I remember flying back from China with a head cold... my ears stopped up and didn't "unstop" for about 3 days. :P Fortunately, they didn't actually hurt, at least. Still annoying.

I didn't realize there was a Disneyland Tokyo! It looks a lot more like Disney World in Florida, where we usually go. BIG castle, etc.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

I didn't really realize that there's actual difference between Disneyland and Disney World. I thought they are just names. So, Disney World is bigger? Are there any other differences? Other than the size, I mean. They're from the same company I think?

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

Disney World in Orlando is pretty much the flagship park out of all the Disney Lands/Worlds (yes, all owned by Disney), so it's understandably huge. It has the "Magic Kingdom" portion, which is basically the same thing as the entirety of Disneyland, with the big Cinderella's castle and all the smaller themed areas--Frontierland, Tomorrowland, etc--but then there's also three separate parks, all connected by monorail and other transportation (boats & buses): EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios, all of which are also every bit as large if not larger than the Magic Kingdom (EPCOT and Animal Kingdom are huge). You can google for more info on all of it--too much to explain in a comment. Just search "Disney World Orlando" and you'll find info on all of it.

There's probably differences in rides and food, but on the whole, I found Disneyland to be very similar in atmosphere and architecture as the Magic Kingdom in Disney World. Just the scale is different, and there's different themes (Disneyland has a Cars-themed section and the Guardians of the Galaxy/superhero stuff, neither of which Disney World has).