California – Page 2 – Hoots of a Night Al

Beauty, California, Disney, Disneyland, Married Life, Travel

God Bless America & Disneyland

July 12, 2013 4 Comments

Since Louis & I are in Cali, we couldn’t attend my parents annual 4th of July Party this year. To distract ourselves from that, we decided to spend our Independence Day at Disneyland. Nothing’s as great as being with family, but we definitely had a fun day! Since we are in a hotel, I didn’t get to decorate for America’s Birthday. To appease my pain, I decided to decorate my body as much as I could. Okay, that sounded weird. What I mean is, I wore red, white, and blue eyeshadow and painted my nails navy and glitter! It was probably too much, but when else can you be that patriotic and not be judged?

For anyone DYING to recreate this American look, the products are as follows: Blue-Ulta eyeshadow, Red-Urban Decay Gash, White-MAC Blanc Type. My eyeliner is Maybelline Unstoppable Eyeliner in Onyx, and my mascara is Maybelline Falsies in Blackest Black.

For my nails, I painted two coats of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Navy Baby. Once that dried I added a stripe of Essie Beyond Cozy for some American sparkle.

Don’t worry, I don’t always do my makeup and nails this obnoxiously, but I figured I might as well go all out for the 4th!

Louis and I headed to Disney California Adventure first, so we could ride the thrills over there before heading to Disneyland for fireworks! It was a beautiful, sunny, hot day. We rode Tower of Terror THREE times without a wait! I guess everyone wanted to spend their day in Disneyland, and we were happy to have DCA to ourselves.

After Tower of Terror, we enjoyed the Disney Animation Academy building (a nice break from the heat), Toy Story Mania (Louis’s fave), California Screamin’ (another great way to cool off…it’s speedy!), and Soarin’ over California (one of my faves). Those are all favorites of ours, so I’m happy we were able to enjoy them! We figured Disneyland may reach capacity for the fireworks, so we headed over there around 3:30 PM to enjoy more rides. We grabbed lunch right away (corn dog for me! Yummmmm.) and enjoyed some people watching in Frontierland. After a bit of relaxation, we headed to ride Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion. Is there a better way to celebrate Independence Day than with Pirates and Ghosts? We didn’t think so. By then it was almost 6:00, so we decided to get a spot for Mickey’s Soundsational Parade.

The parade was cute and a fun way to see several of my favorite characters. We also had a great view of Sleeping Beauty Castle and of Matterhorn Mountain.

As you can see, it was a beautiful, blue sky day! Another thing it was that day? CROWDED. The fireworks were scheduled for 9:30 PM that night. Louis and I assumed we could stake out a good spot around 8:00 PM. However, when we got our seats for the parade at 6:00 PM, there were already people saving seats for the fireworks! Even crazier, we talked to the people sitting behind us, and they had been saving their benches since 8:00 AM!!! They hadn’t gone on any rides or anything! They took turns grabbing food and using the restroom, and that was it! Louis and I weren’t that insane, but we decided to stay put to keep our spots for the fireworks show. While Louis saved our seats, I grabbed him a Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bar and a nice cold Coca Cola to wash it down (along with some Space Mountain FastPasses!). The crowds were so crazy and thick, that it was almost impossible for me to get back to him!

The time went by surprisingly fast as we chatted with the fellow Disney lovers sitting around us. We all exchanged stories, tips, and memories, and had a great time. Soon the castle was lit up for the evening.

Finally, 9:30 arrived and the incredible fireworks show began! The entire thing was probably around 20-30 minutes with speaking interludes, fireworks synced to patriotic music, and projections on the castle. I can’t lie, I definitely teared up a few times, while thinking about how proud I am to be an American! The show was beautiful, whimsical, patriotic, fun, and magical! Everything I have come to expect from Disney! The pictures below are a small sampling of one portion of the show, but they definitely don’t do it justice. The final picture is from the finale, which was obviously too bright and amazing for my iPhone camera to handle! Haha!

When the amazing show came to an end, we headed toward TomorrowLand because I was craving a yummy Mickey Pretzel. We perused the gift shops until our Space Mountain FastPasses were eligible, and then we hopped on our rocket to outer space! Since Louis had work the next day, once our rocket returned to earth, we decided it was time to head home. I ~~passed out~~ kept Louis company on the drive back, and we got back to the hotel around 1:00 AM. After our showers, we fell into bed, exhausted from our long, exciting 4th of July. It was a fun-filled day and a great way to celebrate America!

California, La Jolla, Travel

San Diego Zoo

July 4, 2013 2 Comments

According to everything I’ve heard, the San Diego Zoo was a “MUST DO.” Everyone said it was really incredible and unlike any zoo in America. Supposedly, it is the #1 zoo in the United States. It better be for the $45 a day adult tickets! I mean seriously? That’s half a Disneyland ticket! My review? Eh. I mean, it’s still a zoo. It’s still crowded, hot, and makes me kind of sad to see wild animals in tiny cages. However, I was offered a coupon to go with some of our friends, so I tagged along with them last week to see what all the excitement was about.

Once we arrived, we headed to the koala exhibit to see the little cuddly marsupials. They had a large exhibit and were mostly just relaxing in their trees or enjoying some leaves.

The next thing we saw was my favorite part! It was their cheetah exhibit. The cool thing though was each cheetah had a best friend that stayed with them 24/7. Their best friend? A dog!!! Apparently the dogs being around the cheetahs keep them calm. So calm in fact that they often walk the cheetahs around the zoo on a leash! Can you imagine!? The dogs and cheetahs are raised together from birth, so they are used to being together even if their schedule or exhibit changes. How would you like to be the first dog they tried out this combination on? Hah! They were nuzzling an playing together…it was precious! The pair we saw were Bakka and Miley.

How cute are they? I loved it! Next we strolled through some other various exhibits…

Precious Polar Bear enjoying a carrot for lunch!

After exploring a chunk of the zoo, we made sure to checked out the panda bear exhibit. They volunteer said they have the only female panda outside of China, and she has birthed all of the cubs at the San Diego Zoo. This handsome guy was climbing all over the place while we were there…too cute!

The last exhibit we checked out was the Orangutan area. There was one male and three females in this large exhibit. The big guy walking on the ground below is the male. The orangutan up on the ropes is pregnant right now; she’s due in October! Can you imagine climbing around like that when you were pregnant!? Ya right!

I’m pretty sure the best pat of the exhibit though was how this sweet girl, Karen, traveled around the exhibit. She LITERALLY used this method of transportation to get from one side of the exhibit to the other. It was cracking me up so much, I took a quick video.

How cute is it that she rolls everywhere!?! I loved it! After the monkeys we decided it was time for a quick ice cream snack, and guess what? I ran into a girl I know from A&M! What are the odds of that? I guess the Aggie Network really does extend everywhere! Gig ’em!

Overall, it was a fun day, and if you are a zoo fan you should definitely check it out. However, if you want to save $45, I’d say a day at the beach is just as well spent (and free!)! Hope y’all enjoyed the quick zoo review!

California, La Jolla, Married Life, Travel

La Jolla Life: Part 2

July 3, 2013 5 Comments

As we begin Week 3 of our La Jolla adventure, I figured I would add another update. We are still really enjoying our time here, and trying to explore as much as our schedule allows.

Last weekend we attended a picnic at a park that far outshone any park I’ve ever seen!

It had volleyball courts, playgrounds, kites, bubbles, and spray on tattoos! I was cooler than Louis and decided to get a paw print tat on my wrist. It felt very Lion King-esque to me. Is that a thing? I’m making that a thing.

In addition to the games they had delicious catered food…no PB&Js, Lays, or ants at this picnic. Cali is too fancy for that apparently. We had a great time enjoying the weather, playing bingo, and admiring the fact that we needed to wear sweatshirts outside in June. A very foreign concept for us Texans! After a few hours of picnic fun, our hunger returned, and we decided to hit up a well known California landmark…In-n-Out!

Apparently there are several not-so-secret “secret” ways you can order your burgers like animal-style, 3×3, etc. However, Louis and I are pretty boring when it comes to our burgers, so we just went simple.

The burgers were pretty yummy. They reminded us of Sonic burgers. The fries were pretty meh though…not sure what all the hoopla is about! Oh well, at least we can say we tried it!

Speaking of food, our hotel conveniently offers free dinners Monday through Wednesday evenings as well as free breakfast every morning. Tuesday is usually “homestyle” food, and Wednesdays are always BBQ night! However, Monday is almost always “Chips & Salad.” The first time I saw that on the community calendar, I assumed they must mean taco salad or something more exaggerated. I was wrong.

Y’all, this is seriously what they have for “dinner” every Monday night. Thankfully, we’re within walking distance of several yummy restaurants. Typically our Monday nights end up looking more like this:

Yes, Chipotle is just as delicious in California as it is everywhere else. Yum.

No, eating isn’t all we do in La Jolla! We also enjoy the beautiful scenery. Even driving around here I am constantly in awe of the landscaping, terrain, and random ocean views that spring up. The other day we were lucky enough to enjoy the sunset down at La Jolla Shores. First, we took a stroll down Ocean Lane. How cute is this?

Even though the streets are painfully steep, they make up for it with cute street names and adorable views.

Once we finally made it down to the shore, we were not disappointed. I’ll let the pictures do the talking here…

Aside from animating the first two pictures, I haven’t edited any of these pictures! That beauty is all God! I can’t believe this view is only a mile and a half away from us here! So stunning!

This is only a sliver of our La Jolla Life so far, but I’ll update again soon!

California, Disney, Disneyland, Married Life, Travel

Disney Dreams

July 1, 2013 8 Comments

Exciting news! Louis and I spent last Sunday at Disneyland! We took the big financial plunge and invested in annual passes, so we can enjoy the parks all summer long. We felt SUPER official and very “legit Disney fans” having our official passes with our names on them and everything! Definitely worth the chunk of change to us. Plus, we only have to spend 6 days in the parks for them to “pay for themselves.” Also, we get 15% off food, and 20% merchandise in the parks! Another big plus is it covers parking, which is $16 a day (ouch!). All of the positives added with our love of all things Disney meant the passes were the perfect purchase for us!

Back to our first trip. We are staying in La Jolla, which is about an hour and a half from Anaheim where Disneyland is located. We woke up around 4:45 AM to leave at our planned time of 5:30 AM! EARLY. Thankfully, we’re still on “Texas time,” so it felt 2 hours later to us! After a quick stop at Ralph’s to grab some breakfast, we hit the road! Thanks to Louis’s lead-foot, Disney Way popped up on our map after only about 45 minutes of driving! Apparently, the speed limit wasn’t 85 MPH…oops?

So, we rolled into the Mickey ‘n Friends parking garage at about 7 AM…only 30 minutes earlier than planned 🙂 We parked on Daisy Duck’s level and ~~sprinted~~ strolled down to the tram. We couldn’t contain our smiles as we rode towards the park!

We hopped off the tram and power-walked to the gate. We arrived 45 minutes before the park even opened! Haha! Typical over-zealous Disney lovers! We stood waiting and chatting with fellow passholders about the best rides to go on first and extra park tips. Since it was our first time at Disneyland, we were soaking up any information we could!

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, we were let into the park! We rushed to adventure land, as we planned to go on Indiana Jones Adventure first. As soon as the rope dropped we ran over and were one of the first people on the ride! The theming was incredible, and it was SO much fun!

After Indiana Jones Adventure, we walked toward New Orleans Square to take on some rides. It felt like we had the park to ourselves! We were able to ride Pirates of the Caribbean with an entire boat to ourselves! It was so fun to experience the Disneyland version of the ride with just the two of us. And I must say, the Disneyland version was much more fun than the Disney World one!

We hopped off our boat and walked right on to another one of our favorites…Haunted Mansion!

It was fun to see all of the differences between this version and Disney World’s, but I think DW’s version takes the cake this time! We stepped out of our Doom Buggies (with a hitchhiking ghost!!!), and walked right on to Splash Mountain…with our ponchos on of course! We stayed relatively dry, and loved following Briar Rabbit through his adventures. We then stepped onto The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh to dry off a bit from Splash Mountain. And this was all before 10:00 AM!

It was time to dry another Disneyland classic, so we walked over to Matterhorn Bobsleds. It was quite obvious to our bodies that this ride was built quite a while ago…I think my tailbone is still bruised!

After that, we strolled over to another Disney classic and were met with our first line! It was well worth the wait though! Disneyland’s Space Mountain was AWESOME. I think it was my favorite ride of the day!!! I can’t wait to go on it again.

After Space Mountain, Louis grabbed his favorite Disney snack (a churro), and we decided to head over to Disneyland’s 2nd park, Disney California Adventure. Several parts of it really reminded us of Disney World’s Hollywood Studios because it had an “old Hollywood” feel. We journeyed over to the newest portion of DCA, which holds Cars Land!

This area is themed SO cute! Louis and I aren’t huge Cars fans, but this area was so fun to walk around. The one big downside is new at Disney=CROWDED. They wait for the main ride, Radiator Springs Racers, was OVER 2 and a half hours ALL day! We explored the rest of the park and rode Tower of Terror, California Screamin’ (twice!), Toy Story Mania (Louis’s favorite in DW), Little Mermaid (I know my mom will love this one!), and strolled back to Cars Land to tackle the wait for Radiator Springs Racers. We waited TWO AND A HALF HOURS. Ugh. We were dying to get out of line, but the ride was fun! Granted, it wasn’t worth that long of a wait. However, at least we can say we experienced it! We’ll only ride it again this summer if we can snag some fastpasses though!

That long line did us in, and we walked out of the park to head home surprisingly early! We decided to eat McDonald’s for dinner instead of paying 5 times as much for the same amount of food in the park! Hey, our annual passes don’t give us THAT big of a discount! Disney is expensive! Even though or feet were killing us, on the way home we were already planning our strategy for our next trip! We’ve actually already returned since I’ve written this…but that’s for another post! 🙂

Can’t wait to share our remaining Disney adventures we have planned for the summer!

California, La Jolla, Married Life, Travel

La Jolla Life: Part 1

June 21, 2013 6 Comments

Louis and I have the awesome opportunity to spend some time in La Jolla, California this summer! We have been here almost a week now, so I figured I would share what our La Jolla Life is like so far!

We flew in Sunday morning on Southwest. My parents were sweet enough to drive up to San Antonio on Saturday to celebrate Father’s Day early, and they drove us to the airport on Sunday morning. They’re so great! Our flight was smooth and relatively quick. Louis let me have the window seat, so I got to see the terrain change and enjoy the clouds!

When we arrived we immediately walked outside to cross the airport and get our rental car. When we walked outside, I honestly couldn’t tell we had left the air conditioning. It was so cool and breezy, it took us at least a minute or two before we realized the walkway didn’t have windows and this was our first taste of beautiful Cali weather! Coming from a Texas summer, that was quite a welcome change! I was in charge of watching our suitcases as well as our fellow traveler’s, so I had to stand outside alone with 7 suitcases while we waited for our rental car. I felt like everyone thought I was such a diva. (I mean 5 of the 7 suitcases WERE ours, so I guess if 1 of the 10 pairs of shoes I brought fits…)

Our first La Jolla stop was our hotel, and since our rooms weren’t ready, we headed straight for Downtown La Jolla! We grabbed burgers at Prospect Bar & Grill, which offered us a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean.

I immediately noticed an immediate attitude shift here. In Texas people will wait twice as long to sit inside a restaurant instead of outside on the patio. The exact opposite is true here! Multiple people came and left when they realized the patio was full! The one downside to our meal was the fact that our table was two inches from the speakers and the live “musicians.” Despite our temporary deafness, the burgers were delicious and the view and weather were unbeatable. After our yummy lunch, we ventured down to Scripps Park to walk along the ocean! My phone was dead, so Louis happily snapped some pictures for me!

In every direction we saw the beautiful Pacific Ocean and felt the amazing ocean breeze on our skin! There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and it was so great to people and dog (…saw lots of chihuahuas! Shout out to my little bro, Sparky!) watch while we walked along the shore.

We were finally able to check into our rooms, and on the drive back to the hotel I saw some familiar faces…

All of the traffic control boxes around La Jolla are covered in beautiful graffiti ranging from cityscapes, to ocean scenery, to THE BEATLES! The traffic control box closest to our hotel has a different Beatle on each side along with lyrics from “Across the Universe.” I took this as a sign that we were in for a great summer as a huge Beatles fan. 🙂

After dropping off our luggage at the hotel and grabbing some necessities at Costco, we headed to see Man of Steel. There is a large shopping center across the street from our hotel that has 3 grocery stores, numerous restaurants, and 2 movie theaters. One of those theaters is a recently renovated AMC Cinema that has leather recliners in all of its theaters. Unfortunately, we went to the other theater. I’m pretty sure it was built in 1935. The projectionist came out before the movie started and introduced herself if that gives you any clue to the technological state of the theater. Also, we were the youngest people there by at least 45 years. Check this place out…

Those seats! I couldn’t feel from my waist down 15 minutes into the 2 and a half hour movie. Despite all of our first world suffering though, the movie was pretty good! After grabbing a few more “non-bulk” groceries at Ralph’s (California’s Kroger), we headed back to the hotel to shower and crash. Even though it was early-ish in Cali, we were still on Texas time!

We’re almost a week into our summer California adventure, and I can’t wait to see what adventures and memories await!

I’ll try to keep everyone posted!

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