Adventure is Out There!

We started off our day at Ruby's Diner; it has drive up ordering speakers and food is delivered on skates to your car if you order during lunch hours.  The atmosphere was fun and there were plenty of options for everyone. After breakfast, we headed off to the LA Zoo! Our zoo visit did not exactly go smoothly... One of the otters in the enclosure was bleeding and when we finally tracked down a worker to inform them, they seemed less than concerned.  The picture with my stepdad and the tapir was taken right before the tapir turned around and tried to pee on him through the plexiglass.  The leopard threw up a hairball and the giraffe got its tongue stuck on the fence.  Bottom line, the LA Zoo is terrible and don't waste your money.  We headed to the Griffith Observatory before it closed early for the holiday.  We arrived at sunset and the view was all the more impressive for it.  Traffic was at a compl...

When I was a child there was a Disney sing-along video that was set in Disneyland and I watched it religiously.  It featured the rope drop and rides they don't have in Florida.  I had my heart set on visiting Disneyland one day and it finally happened!   The castle, in all of it's festive glory, was magnificent and regal.  The Haunted Mansion, set on the Louisiana bayou, was Nightmare Before Christmas themed and we had some tasty beignets in the "French Quarter".  It's A Small World was a free standing building and it was also dripping in sparkling icicles, silver and gold.   Pirate of the Caribbean had a sudden, almost immediate drop in the pitch black that I was NOT expecting and I almost lost my ears!  I definitely prefer Disney World's Pirates but there are so many aspects of this park that are fun and different from Florida.  This was not nearly the disappointment that California Adventure was, but it was just as crowded! ...

My family and I agree that the highlight of our Cali trip was by far our tour of the Tournament of Roses Parade float barns and learning/observing how the floats are decorated.  Each year there is a theme to the parade, and this year it was "Making A Difference".  Each group that participates is free to develop its own style and design, however every inch of visible float must be covered in only natural and organic materials.  Sometimes it's rose petals or sunflower seeds, sometimes it is orange slices and marigold pollen. There are rows of shelves, all covered in bins, trays and boxes of material.  The sheer magnitude of this operation is overwhelming  The floats are built months ahead of time, but aren't moved into the barns until the week prior to the parade.  The decorating begins so far in advance to the actual parade, they have to come up with solutions to keep the flowers and buds looking great until the big day!  ...