I save actual seconds each week abbreviating words. It's phenom!
Nathan and I are back from our trip to AZ and Disneyland. It was pretty fun, and I've got pictures to prove it!!! I believe I shall do this in snippets, because there are many pictures from the many phases of our trip.
Phase 1 - The drive to AZ, Jan 1st, 2009
As much as I often detest this place called home, AKA the Bay Area, it really is quite beautiful.
It was soooo foggy on our drive that morning. All the way from our home in Berkeley to just before LA. Fog fog fog fog fog. Kind of scary in some places actually, because we'd be driving up a mountain with very low visibility and people would still be zooming around. Dangerous a-holes.
Wide open and amazing. Get a load of that vanishing point!
Yup, that's snow. This was somewhere still in CA called Tehachapi. We visited a fine establishment in this town. You may have heard of it, Walgreens.
Phase 2 - The fam, Jan 2nd to Jan 7th, 2009
From left to right, mom, Piggy, Nathan.
Awww, Piggy loves Nathan. Frickin' adorable!!!!
Oh, poor old Floppy. She's got no hearing, hardly any vision, but a strong sniffin' snout. This old puppy loves to mooch, and the habit has gotten more aggressive with old age. Perhaps she thinks she's alone in the room since she can't see or hear us, and so she thinks, "Why don't I put my cute little puppy paws on this table and try to get Allison's food? She'll never know it was me. Woof!"
Mom and G-ma. My mom insisted on getting some family portraits taken when we were in town. They turned out pretty funny because my mom has her mouth open and laughing in all of them (I'll have to scan in a couple maybe). In her defense, my nephew Daniel, 2, was cracking her up the whole time.
My little Pigglet. Piggy loves laying on laps. It's probably her favorite thing in the world. Other favs of Pigglet include chasing the Trash Truck Monster, barking at hot air balloons, mooching, sleeping, and barking at the neighbor dogs. Oh Piggy, you're so cute!
Phase 3 - DISNEYLAND, Jan 9th to 11th, 2009
Here I am outside of Splash Mountain in Disneyland. Nathan got the brunt of the splashing that day, but out of the shot my pants are soaked. I didn't mind, it feels nice when you're walking around in the sun. Yes, it's warm to hot even in January. Add to that my sissy-hood when it comes to heat. Equals, SPLASH FUN TIME!
Big Thunder Railroad broke down when we were on it. Not just temporarily either. We were stuck sitting stopped on the tracks for a good 10 or 15 minutes and then had to walk through the attraction to get out. There were two pre-teen girls sitting in front of us who kept talking to us and were pretty funny.
We had a very delicious lunch in Downtown Disney at this place called Naples. It was pretty expensive (thank you, greedy corporate such-and-suches), but did I mention delicious? It was delicious. There was a really creepy chef/clown thing projecting out from the restaurant that this picture is supposed to show. But you can't expect too much from a random person taking your photo, at least they got me and Nathan in it.
I'm sad here because Nathan didn't want to go where I wanted to go. I don't remember where I wanted to go, but it was somewhere, I know that much. You can see Nathan trying to worm his way into the photo, heh heh. I also like that you can see the big ship in the background and all the crazy people.
Here we are on Space Mountain. I love riding this ride with Nathan because he giggles the whole time. Giggling is funny any time, but Nathan giggling is hilarious. He sounds like a mixture of Mickey Mouse (no joke) and a giddy schoolgirl. And for some reason, this ride in particular elicits the giggle fits from my goofy dear. He always looks so funny in these pictures that they take on the rides (here he is making sure nothing falls out of his pockets), while I look calmly happy.
Beautiful Disneyland. It really is beautiful too. The amount of details they have around the place is just amazing. You don't even need to go on the rides to enjoy the place, just keep your eyes open for unexpected decorations around the entire park.
This is over in the other park, California Adventure. Nathan doesn't like this side as much because it's not so Disney oriented. But I love it because it has the biggest roller coaster, California Screamin'. This, however, is their newest attraction, which is the 3D Toy Story Midway Mania. For your line-ly entertainment, Mr. Potatohead. Potato Potato, Potato Potato.
One of Nathan's favorite Disney movies (the favorite?) is Pinnochio. We found this little restaurant within a part of the park we'd never seen before, tucked away in behind the Dumbo ride and some random princess stuff for little girls. I really like this picture, because as Nathan pointed out when looking at it last night, it looks like his thought bubble.
This is in CA Adventure again heading into the Hollywood side of the park, which houses the Twilight Zone's Tower of Terror. We finally decided we were going to do this ride though it frankly terrifies us just to look at the building. It's a tall hotel looking building with a flickering neon sign. Our friend Richard and his new lady friend were at the park with us this day, and they were going to ride it together, even though she gets motion sick. Nathan and I thought, if she can do it, so can we. So we did. I was so scared waiting in the line and walking into the elevator where the ride actually happens. But it wasn't too bad at all. The ride shoots you up real high in the elevator and drops you, up, down, up, down, in various stages and heights. BUT, you're inside a building and can't really tell how high you are. The scariest part for me actually was when you get to the very top, there's no wall between you and the outside and you can see just how high above the park you are. THAT was the scariest.
Every time Nathan and I go to Disneyland, we each buy one pin for our lanyards to mark the occasion. This was our 5th trip. I first took him to Disneyland to celebrate his graduating from ASU. He hadn't been since he was a little kid, and was very excited. Needless to say, he loved it! So, when we moved to Berkeley and he started working at a coffee shop, I started saving all of his tip money to fund two year-long passes for us. He made pretty good tips, we bought the passes, and we've been 4 more times. We'll probably only make it back one more time before they expire on June 4th, boo. Anyway, the point in my telling this story is that Nathan's pin for this trip was sorcerer Mickey and we found this statue in CA Adventure of sorcerer Mickey. Picture needed. Picture taken.
If Nathan were here right now (and not on his way to his first day at a new job, to be described at another time), he would say that this is an epic blog post. Yes.
The end.
This guy is in a bind, but you gotta love that fluff butt.
There's nothing better than yawning in a tree.
When my boys stand like this, I call them gopher kitties. This guy looks more like he's doing tai chi.
Geez, these frickin' guys are cute, and helpful. 
More cubby panda butt.
To me, this guy looks like he's doing a dangerous downhill cartwheel.
Just how much chubby cuteness can you stand? Because I'm almost at my limit.
Oh for crying out loud.
This guy looks sad to me. All alone with a ginorm bootab.
I like this dude's nosicles.
And finally...? I don't know what's happening here, but it reminds me of The Mystics from "The Dark Crystal".
