Girl's Trip!

Time to share with y'all my many wonderful adventures in Californ-aye-eh. Picture bombardment ahead - you've been forewarned.

We took an eeearrrly flight out of SLC on Thursday morning and just about missed it. They seriously were about to give our seats away just as we showed up to the gate. I was sweating bullets through the whole security line, ready to run as fast as I possibly could as soon as I got through the metal detector, but luckily fate was on our side. We arrived in Long Beach pretty tired from waking up at the butt crack of dawn, however our excitement to go to the happiest place on earth cancelled out any negative feelings we might have been harboring from fatigue and the fiasco at the airport.

What's a day at the D-land without Mickey Mouse? Love that guy.

Magster and I about to get on Small World. My grandmother's personal favorite (we have to ride it at least once a trip just for her). Plus nothing sounds more appealing than a fifteen minute, air conditioned boat ride when it's 90 degrees outside. Pirates of the Caribbean is also another great sanctuary from the heat. We ride those both in excess during our summer trips. It's fine.

I don't know how any Disneyland Fanatics I have out there amongst my (maybe four) readers, but is the new Cars Land not the awesomest? It is seriously my new favorite place. They have the Cozy Cone Motel and everything. You feel like you stepped right into the movie. Also the Radiator Springs Racers are so much fun, definitely a fav. Definitely. Too bad the line is astronomically large because it is still so new. Thank goodness for fast passes is all I'm sayin'. They are life savers.

After two magical filled days at the park we headed out to the Santa Monica Pier for some beachin' time. I had never been here before because my family is obsessed with Laguna and that's the only place we ever go, so it was kind of fun to try something new out. We ate at this pretty good Mexican restaurant at the end of the Pier, the name escapes me... but you got to eat with the world's best ocean view, so no complaints there.

The next morning was our race! I had to share this picture because I had to impress in your minds how many people show up for this thing! 30,000!!! Can you believe that? And honestly this photo does not even show half of the racers. They load you all up into separate corrals (and corral is such an appropriate name because you literally feel like a cow being herded or something). They release each corral one at a time. We were in 'I', so even though the race technically started at 5:30 in the AM, we were not released until 6:30 AM. So like pretty much some of the faster peeps were almost done with their race just as we were starting. The first 3 miles or so you don't really have an opportunity to get very far ahead because you're so squished, but after that it evens out and you're fine. 

I absolutely loved the Disneyland Half Marathon, because the first half of the race you are running through the parks, they have characters and workers and bands all lined up cheering you on. After you exit the park they have more dancers and cheerleaders lining the streets, then after that you run through 3 miles of classic cars parked with more people cheering you on. Then you go through Angel's Stadium and the seats are just packed with people (again cheering you on) and then you end back in Downtown Disney! There is entertainment every mile, and people all the way just clapping and holding signs. It gave me such a rush of energy to see all the people out there supporting the runners! It was so awesome.

Yay we finished!

And because a trip to California is never complete without visiting Laguna, we spent the time after our race there relaxing and enjoying the sun. Also I got to wear my new swimsuit, which I was super pumped about. Woo!

Our last day at Disneyland, Maggie (my sister) and I woke up extra early and went and ate Mickey Mouse pancakes. They somehow taste better when they are shaped like that. For reals.

I was so so sad that I had to come home and come back to reality! Seriously the last few days at work have been rough... vacation hangover I guess? Knowing my family though I am sure we'll be back before too long. It was so nice to just get away with the girls for a little R&R, but I did miss my hubby so coming back and kissing his cheeks is one positive thing about being home, I suppose.