Disneyland

Just got home from a week in So Cal. Spent the first few days in RAINEY LA (yes, really) and then spent 4 days in Anaheim at the "happiest place on earth." Let me start by saying I really really really prefer my SacTown lifestyle to that of LA. It is WAY too fast paced for this country bumpkin. Anyway, after a few days of $12 pancakes and $2.00 per twenty minute parking (Farmer's Market parking lot so we could go to the American Girl doll store) it was on to Disneyland. I should start by saying I am not a huge Disney guy. I had my fun there as a kid. I have very fond memories of weekends staying at the Disneyland hotel, pulling out "C" tickets for Autopia (after all the E tickets were used up), and riding that Monorail back and forth back and forth all day long without the parents. Of course I was about 11 or 12 years old at the time. Ahhhh, those for the days. Now I go because my wife and kids enjoy it but I am Disney neutral let's say.

Let me start by saying I realize a lot of adults (mostly women) love Disneyland even if they don't have kids. I am just not one of those guys. I sort of lump those guys in with the comic book reading, Star Trek watching, Dungeons and Dragons playing, crowd... which I was NEVER a part of. Speaking of mega-dorks, there was a Disney pin collectors convention going on this weekend. Oy vey!

Well, a couple days ago I jumped onto the Winnie the Pooh ride over by Flash Mountain... errrr, I mean Splash Mountain (google "disney and flash mountain") with the little girl. Ok, yes I was on the Winnie the Pooh ride becuase my 4 year old wanted to go. I basically took a nap... though I didn't actually fall asleep as I did on Pirate's of the Caribiean earlier that day. Anyway, sitting in front of us were two pretty normal looking dudes. Not mega-dorks... at least I didn't hear them talking about their Dungeon and Dragon's dice or anything like that. They had normal to cool looking hair cuts, cool looking glasses, etc.... They were in their early 20's and I didn't see any kids or girlfriends in sight. So WHY on earth were they riding Winnie the Pooh AND pointing stuff out? Did they work there? I honestly don't know. It was hard to get a good picture of them without being too obvious so here you go.


All in all we had a really nice trip. The kids loved Big Thunder Railroad, I took my dude to the arcade at Space Mountain (where I wasted away many a days back in the late 70's and early 80's), and we roamed all over Tom Sawyer's island (did you know the fort is now a storage place and not open to tour?). Plus had a couple of nice meals with the characters... though the dude would not sit through the dinner with the princesses because "princesses are horrible."

Long drive home today. Darn, that I-5 is long and boring!

Peace out.

The "S Word"

Having dinner with the family tonight and the little dude announces that he knows what the "S word" is. I was thinking to myself, "oh shit...." My dude is in kindergarten and my little girl is a year behind that... how the heck do they know what the "S word" is already!? Doesn't that seem young to you? I asked who told him and he told me that several friends told him; naming Lex, Max and a few of his other buddies. He then said, "daddy, do you want me to tell you what the S word is?" I said, "sure, why not...?" "Stupid" he said. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, that S word. I then got real serious and told him how wrong it was to use, etc....