Our Personalized California Adventure.

We went to California! YAY!!!! it was so much fun! I loved it. absolutely Loved it! We stayed in Pasadena, CA. just down the street from H&M one of my favorite clothing stores ever. (however we did not know we were so close to H&M until the last night of our trip, which was fine) because of the activities we'd done! Our first night there, was thursday. We checked into the hotel, got cleaned up and headed out to downtown L.A. We had italian food for dinner just before we went and watched the new broadway hit, WICKED. It was good. but I doubt I'll be as hooked on it as the rest of my family. I did however become fascniated with the special effects this theater was able to produce. Quite exquisite to be honest. Anyway, after the play we went back to the hotel and pretty much crashed. Since the traffic in famous california always lives up to it's reputation of being horrible and crowded, we had gotten back about 12:30-1am. The next day Friday, us younger ones stayed at the hotel while our parents went to the Los Angeles Temple. I was fortunate to babysit my niece Emma. Who was fairly good the whole time....actually she was great until it was time to go. It was around noon, when my dad called and gave the signal to take the rest of the group out to Magic Mountain! aka, Six Flags! WHOOO! which is one of my favorite places in Cali. because of the thrill! So.....here's that short story.
I had everybody in the car ready to go and I looked down for the map my dad had left me with, only to find.....I didn't have it. I raced back into the hotel, retracing my steps. I found nothing. I went to the elevator and waited quite impatiently for the machine to reach my level. While waiting I looked around me, and found on the side table, next to the telephone a bunch of papers stapled together. Relief was appreciated as I realized, "That's my map!" I grabbed the papers, double checking them as I raced back to the car. I didn't want to be late! We were after all going to have only half a day at six flags. And having been there before, I knew we'd want as much time as possible (I was right). So off we go. Tyler was assisting me with the directions. and From what I remembered my dad telling me.....I was to get on the 210 and just follow that highway straight all the way up to where they were waiting for us at the subway. Well...I got on to the 210 and drove for a few minutes, and then I started to notice names on the signs that were also on my map (imagine that) so that was good. Because I'm not the best when it comes to directions in places I am completely unfamiliar with (driving wise) Such as California. Now, the only problem with the names of the cities and with me noticing the fact that I recognized them.....I was heading the wrong direction. I was going east instead of heading north. Well obviously this was a problem. So, I got off, flipped a U turn and got back onto the 210, this time heading west. And looking for the exit to the on ramp to head north. Well, this is california, so of course they don't have signs to point out the places you need to go, at least not that I noticed. I did however know I was going too far west because I saw the North freeway, passing underneath the 210 I was currently on. Well......I got off the freeway, made another U turn and got back onto the 210 heading East! This time I was on the phone with my dad, explaining what had just happened as previously stated. Needless to say, we were both upset because things weren't going right and we both felt pressured to be ontime, whatever time that was. Finally I got onto the 210 heading North, which is where I was trying to go in the begining. *(sigh)* it was okay though because I discovered california....ha ha...mhm anyway...We finally got to the Subway where the adults were playing catch with a football in the parking lot, and everything was finally good. for the most part. Tempers were still slightly high but by the time we got to Six Flags, it was all good for sure. so that's that short story.
Another short story that happened Friday night, was the crash. No it was not us, but rather 5 semi trucks. It was about 1-1:30am by the time we were done with dinner and heading out to the hotel. And we were just getting on the on ramp to head south, when we passed a car that was backing up off the on ramp. talk about Weird! But when we saw the reason why....we didn't think it was so weird after all. Infact we followed suit! The reason; Traffic was so backed up. It was completely stopped. Nobody was going anywhere (got the picture? haha, I did) It was also completely backed up on the other side as well. So, after we backed up off the on ramp we had just driven on, we headed passed a few on ramps south, but still couldn't get on. However the next on ramp we passed, the firmen and police men were blocking it. The entire freeway was closed down. Five semi trucks had crashed and caused a fire just in the mouth of a tunnel used for Semi Trucks only. And you would think that just the lanes where the accident had been would need to be closed, but because the fire was in a tunnel as well, the state took precautions and closed the entire freeway down. Now, this was only for the area where the crash was..but because the freeway goes pretty much everywhere.....i'm sure nobody would be using it for a while. Infact we had to go all the way around and down a mountain-type road (I cannot for sure say if it was in the mountains since i was kind of asleep during this part) to the hotel. We did not arrive there until 3am. another hinderance in the speed of travel was the weather. It was raining.
Saturday morning was fabulous! We had to be up and out of the rooms by 7:30am? We were going to Catalina Island! WahoooO! It was an hour and a half by boat to Avalon. So so cool too! During the boat ride, everybody slept except me. I stood the entire ride. I love the ocean and it was fantastic to see. We were even lucky enough to see dolphines jumping through the water! That was amazing! When we arrived to Catalina Island, we found a locker or two to stuff our dive gear in. and then continued on to a Bus tour of the island! It was great! And the driver was hillarious. Thank goodness for people who can take a job that would seem so boring and make it fun. When that was over with, we grabbed a bite to eat, and Tasha, Tyler, my Dad, and I headed off the casino to go diving! I mention the casino because it's a landmark in the city of Avalon, and is next to the stairs of the diving place entry. Diving was a slight disaster. I didn't have enough weights to go under the water and stay there...nor did my dad. I also did not have a loose enough wet suit to move in. In other words, swimming was minimal. So I pretty much went snorkeling with an air tank. and let me tell you, swimming on the surface of the rolling ocean with your head constantly under the surface can make one sick. But no matter how hard I tried, I could not throw up, so I finally gave up on that. (I tried puking because it does help). But even though that was bad, being able to see what was under the surface of that water was absolutely beautiful! You can look down at the water and see just blue waves, but when you put on goggles and poke your head through the blue waters, you see the most vibrant colored fish. My favorite were the neon orange ones. They seemed so close because of their color. Tasha and Tyler even saw a school of fish. And though the visibility wasn't as good as the water in hawaii.....there was more sea life closer to the surface here. But I will readily admit, I do prefer the boat entry over the stair entry anyday. The stairs where we entered, were slippery and the waves pushed you back up everytime. This was bad for entry and for exit. But we survied and in the end, it was quite cool. When we were done with that, we met up with the rest of the family and after a few minutes of Emma playing in the sand and everybody else eatin their ice cream, Tyler and I headed off for some shopping before the boat came back to pick us up. The ride back to the mainland was deliciously perfect. We got to watch the sun set. and the colors were absolutely beautiful! So vibrant too. Once the sun was pretty much set, Dad, Mark, Kindra and I had multiple different contests to see who could keep their balance the best withouth holding on to anything. Dad kept saying that girls have better balance, which is true, but I think he did the best. We got back to the mainland and headed back to the hotel for some swimming without the waves. It was very nice, escpecially the hot tub. :) and that was our last night. On sunday, we checked out of the hotel, and headed off to church. Which was unfortunately not in session due to stake conference. So, we went to another LDS building to attend church. I've heard people say how friendly Salt Lake wards are, and how nice it is to go to church in Utah.....but This ward we attended, had by far the friendliest, most out going, members I've ever met. We were very fortunate.
We arrived home in orem at 3am. yippie! that was alot of driving! Once again, thank goodness for people who invented tv's and dvd's for the traveling families.
And that, concludes the happenings of our california adventure. For the most part. :D