Summer Vaction

Our yard has taken up most of our summer, but we were able to go on a vacation. It isn't very often that Dale gets time off and he had a week off again, so we thought that we would take advantage of the time and we would go somewhere. Dale has always wanted to go to Six Flags and I've always wanted to go to the beach..... What a better place to go then California. So, we booked our flight and activities and made it a done deal!!!

We had an early flight at 6:00 am on Sunday morning.(Father's Day) We decided that we would go down to Salt Lake that night. We went to dinner with my sister Katie and Dan. We stayed with Adam ( Dales nephew), he was kind enough to let us sleep at his house and then we would have him take us to the airport. THANKS ADAM!!

We flew into Long Beach Airport

At the airport the luggage pick up was outside which I thought was so cool. I just had to take a picture of it. Throughout the whole trip I always had my camera, I felt like I was one of those tourists who were coming to America and were seeing things for the first time. I would pull out the camera to take a picture and I could see people look at me funny and probably thinking why are you taking a picture of that. I really need to get out of Utah more!!!

After we had gotten our luggage we headed over to the car rental place to pick up our car rental. We were supposed to get a Chevy Malibu but instead we got a KIA Spectra. Dale and I were just hoping it would make it through our adventure in California. We also rented a GPS unit. Man, was that a lifesaver I was a little nervous about being the co-pilot and telling Dale were we needed to go, ( I have a hard enough time getting around in my own state) So, when we had that as an option I was like "YES!!!" It was a great purchase to start the trip off right.

Our Rental Car

Our GPS unit came in handy many times. We ended up calling the thing Saving Sally, A.K.A. Sally for short.

As we were driving around trying to find the stadium of the Angel's. We found a street sign that said 'Burnett' we just had to take a picture of it.

I have never been to a live MLB game, Dale always talked about how going to a live game was so much better than watching it on T.V. and I thought it would be fun to go and see one. The Angels just happen to be playing the Dodgers. It was a good game to go to.

Outside the Angels Stadium.

One of the Pitches for the Angels, Nick Adenhart was killed earlier this year by a hit and run drunk driver. Fans put out hats, jerseys, bears and other items in Lou of him.

Us inside the stadium. We went and bought ourselves some hat's so we would fit in with the rest of the crowd. I have never seen so many people decked out in baseball gear. Everyone was layered with Angle's or Dodgers attire. We had to get something so we wouldn't like we were from out of state :-) The game was very slow. I think it took the 4 or 5 inning before anyone even got a run. I was very entertained by watching all the drunk people and seeing how much people spent on food. The highlight of the game was there was someone that had ran onto the field and was tackled down by the security officers. Also, the famous MVP Kobe Bryant was there.

The next day we went to Six Flags, WOW!!! As we are driving into the park I'm a little nervous seeing all the roller coasters. I look over and Dales face was priceless you would have thought it was Christmas morning. I took some medicine for motion sickness and hoped that I wouldn't loose my cookies. I kept telling myself that It was something... the only thing Dale really wanted to do on the whole trip. I didn't want to hold Dale back from any of the rides so I kept giving myself pep talks when we waited in line. I'm proud to say that I was able to do them all with Dale and I didn't die.

This is just one of the many roller coaster rides that we went on. Overall, Dale and I would have to agree that our most favorite ride would have been the X2. If it wouldn't have been that we waited in line for 1 hour I think that we would have gone on it again. What an amazing rush!!!! On a couple of the rides you would be going so fast and all the sudden you would black out. The first time this happened I was freaking out screaming to Dale that I had lost my vision and he would yell back it's was OK he couldn't see either. (Almost like when you stand up to fast and you see stars that kind of feeling.) We did that until the park had closed. We went back to the hotel and we crashed having a wonderful nights rest.

The next day we went to Universal Studios. We first took a tour of the studio, it was really fun to go and see how movies are made and what all is entailed with movies. The had some rides that were a lot of fun.

I think we went on this ride at least 5 times!!! Very fun.

Another one of our favorite rides.

We were able to go to some Beach's while in California. This is what I had been waiting for the whole trip, Beach's and shopping!!!

This is Newport Beach.

We decided that we wanted to try and go to the Beach's earlier in the morning before it got to crowded. I think that is everyone else thinking too.

It was a little chilly that morning and we decided that we were OK not getting in our swimsuits we ended up just walking around to all the little shops that were on the beach. There were sections of homes that their backyard was the beach. How would you like that set up?

Another area in Newport, with the beach and homes.

In between Beach's we did a little shopping Irvine called the Spectrum. AMAZING!!!!! I've never been to a shopping mall like that. We were able to get some clothes, and swim shorts for Dale. We saw The Proposal and an IMAX movie Transformers 2. I loved this place. They had a cool water fountain that is pictured behind us that I tried to get a picture of when it would go off, I got the water fountain but my face is kinda odd... oh well, couldn't get both.

A couple weeks after we had gotten home from California. We received a NOTICE in the mail from a tole road company. I called Dale and asked if he remembered going through one on our trip. He was like no, but I remember a sign saying that one was coming up, but I just figured that we had gotten off the exit before we came to one. ( I was sleeping in the car) Well, to make a long story short we ended up going through one and must have been the fast lane were they have a computer up above that just scans it when you go through that area . We ended up owing money because we had gone through it. A 4.00 pay toll road went to a 49.oo ticket, we talked with our brother-in-law Dave and he said that we should call and try and see if we could get it down, because we are out of staters and didn't know the area.. Thanks for the advise Dave. We were able to get the ticket down to 29.oo. Watch out for those tole roads. I'm glad we don't have those in Utah.

The next area that we went to was Huntington Beach. I think that this one was my favorite. So, I think that we had someone tell us that this is were the the big PRo volleyball games are played

Volleyball courts, bike ride path and the beach. What more would you want?

People walking on the Pier.

Little shops that were on the Pier

For dinner that night we went to a place called Duke's. It was recommend to us by a couple people so, we thought we would try it. We both ordered a steak that was very yummy, couple strawberry lemonades. When we were done with our meal the waitress brought us our total for our meal. Dale looked at the ticket and I'll I saw was $$ signs in his eyes. I don't think that Dale or I had ever spent that much on a meal. Dale was dying,..... We didn't even get a dessert is what we both kept thinking. 60.00 was our total... That was the best 60.00 spent Dale would probably say different. After dinner we went and found ourselves a McDonald's and got us a .99 cent frosty. Good thing that we will only do that once and awhile.

That morning we got up and went and saw the San Diego Temple. What a beautiful temple! We were going to try and do a session but we were running out of time, we had to be back to Long Beach to catch our flight and we were cutting it close, We got lost a couple times trying to find the temple, but we both wanted to see it. We had just enough time to get out take a few pictures and then hurry and get back in the car. Man, was it worth it!!!

We wanted to try and get someone to take our picture with the temple, but no one was outside. So, we tried ourselves.

I had a really good time in California. I was glad to get to spend some quality time with my husband that I love so much, It isn't very often that we get to spend that much time together. I can't say that I was ready to come home but I was glad that we got to come on this great adventure and make some memories. We so be doing something like this every year!!!