GO BEARS!

I'm a Chiefs fan, but I just can't help myself... Go Bears!!!

ANYONE WANT TO ADOPT A WESTIE?!

There was a toy under the couch full of treats... guess that didn't work out so well.

DISNEYLAND!

I travelled to LA this past weekend (extended) to visit my good friends Orion and Sarah who live in the Hollywood section of town - perhaps you are familiar with it? I didn't get to hang out too long but I had a whirlwind tour of the place from both of them with lots of good eating and sight-seeing. It was a great trip - other than the beating that the Chiefs took at the hands of the Colts. Orion and I are both big Chiefs fans so it goes without saying that Saturday afternoon was a big glum. Also, I slept on their air matress on the living room which was unexpectedly comfortable - I nearly always have horrible back pain when travelling but on this trip - nada! Thanks air! Perhaps this is the way to go for me when travelling.

On Friday after I woke up trying to adjust to the time, Orion and I travelled to Disneyland where I'm pretty sure I haven't been since 1986 when the Hawks were in the Rose Bowl. It was quite different than I remember. Now there are huge parking structures, a virtual town around the place, and an entirely new park across the way. After paying what seemed like a huge sum to me we went into the park and I began snapping pictures:

Here is the entrance - just like I remember it... swarming with hoards of people.

Here is the first ride that we went on - the cliche riddled Jungle Cruise... I don't know if it was our captain or how they are directed but that bad boy had more cheesy jokes than a Don Rickles show. Nothing had changed either. I think i'd read that they made it more PC. Not really. There are still a bunch of "native people" in fezes scrambling up a pole, holding shrunken heads and the like. Plus he still fired some rounds off at the hippo. I bet more people complained that it wasn't like it used to be than did about it being insensitive. Oh Disney...

The place was swarming with people. Orion and I had imagined we might luck out on a Friday and beat the crowds - no dice. We were able to hit 8 rides in 7-8 hours. And that was using fast pass. We did, Jungle Cruise, Tiki Room, Indiana Jones (awesome), Pirates of the Carribean now with new and improved Johnny Depp character, the Haunted House completely made up with Nightmare Before Christmas stuff, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (we got the Winky car!), the Matterhorn, and Big Thunder Mountain. We also had Funnel Cakes at the Mint Julep bar in New Orleans Square. There are only 2 places in the whole park to eat those. What a shame. We learned this at the information booth where Orion asked about directions to a bathroom. After being directed towards 2 or 3 of them, we found one, basically right in back of the booth which she'd failed to mention. Here is Orion standing outside of it. As you can see, he is quite proud of himself:

We didn't get to go on Space Mountain (75 minute wait and the FastPass was out) and Alice in Wonderland. Those are the 2 others I wanted to visit. Oh well. Perhaps next time. I did get these other shots that I like:

The Hawai'ian "gods" outside the Tiki room... I thoroughly love the retro-ness of these, especially the fire god that looks like it could easily burn young children or the stupid (see background). Also, I enjoyed the new stand sponsored by Dole where you can buy $5 pineapple whips while you wait. Orion and I made Orange-Whip jokes... see Blues Brothers if you don't get it.

This whale has a sweet eyeball that moves - I wanted to touch it... but didn't.

The MATTERHORN - it's all about the Yeti... and the yodeling.

Don't forget TOMORROWLAND - which is more like, 60's land... now featuring Neon

All in all a pretty fun time. I do have to say that by the end of the afternoon - the Disney "magic" was wearing a little thin on me. You can't do anything in that place without paying for it. I'm surprised they don't have a fee when you sneeze. And watching the people mindlessly roll their strollers around (they have stroller corrals now) and drop $$ left and right didn't make me proud to be an American. You have to just take it for what it is and let it go at that. The word "magic" just gets thrown around a bit too much for my tastes.

What was really magic, was when Orion took me to the record store he works at... AMOEBA. Now that place is magic! What a sight. After taking me behind the scenes and showing me all the catalogging and work areas - which was amazing in it's own right, I spent at least an hour going through used and new DVDs/CDs which allowed me to find used versions of all kinds of crazy stuff that i've been looking for. I spent way too much money and got a tote bag and t-shirt for free! Thanks O! If you ever get out to Hollywood, please go here. We also went to 2 comic stores which were also a blast: Golden Apple and Meltdown which included Baby Melt - a totally sweet section of baby/kid stuff.

We ate at a bunch of good places as well - the 101 Coffee Shop being one of the coolest. Went to so many cool stores, etc... I don't have time for it all before I need to jump in the shower here. Thanks to Orion and Sarah for sharing their space with me and hauling me around. It was a blast and I wish we could do it more often.

Sticky Rice?

LAST WEEKEND:
Carrie and I traveled to Madison, WI last weekend for a vacation that I wish we could do every year. This was the first time we'd gone since 3 years ago when we drove my brand new truck up. It's 3 hours on the nose and I love the drive up there. We went with the purpose of getting some Christmas shopping done, going to Whad'Ya Know at the Monona Terrace and just enjoying the city.

Friday night when we arrived, we checked into the Lowell Center where we stay - kind of the Madison version of the Iowa House. It's not too fancy, but for $80 a night it's pretty good. And the location is awesome. You can walk right out onto the State St. mall. We ate at the Great Dane Brew Pub which is a favorite of ours (and many others.) It's what a Brew Pub should be - excellent beer and excellent food. Carrie had some sort of vegetarian thingy and I had a delicious BBQ meatloaf covered in Onion Rings... mmmmmmm.

On Saturday morning we headed to the Marigold Kitchen - another favorite that Carrie discovered. It's very cozy and has delicious food and friendly people. Bottomless cups of coffee and their apple smoked bacon are yum! After a leisurely breakfast we headed to the Terrace for the radio show. We milled around a bit and called Sue to get her Christmas list (again - I forgot it.) We were second in line for the show and sat right in front. About 1/2 way through, Carrie got picked to read the 4 disclaimers and I was selected for the quiz. I WON! Big surprise - never heard anyone lose. You can hear the show here. Listen to PART 2 at about 15 minutes in. (December 2, 2006 show.) You can listen to the whole show too. I have it on CD if anyone wants a hard copy. Like an idiot, I didn't bring the camera and Carrie could have gotten a sweet shot of me right on stage - oh well. I have the CD anyway, and a signed copy of his book that Michael wrote "YO ROB, INSPECT THIS!" in. It was a great time.

After the show we did an afternoon of shopping on State Street and a little area to the South of Camp Randall stadium as well. All of it was very cool but perhaps the coolest store was a little kids clothing store called Wild Child. It was absolutely awesome. Great hand decorated clothes, cool German toys, neato baby carriers, and all thoughtfully done - organic fabrics, etc...

Sunday morning we headed home but not before stopping for breakfast at Mickie's Dairy Bar which is S of the stadium. Sorry Hamburg Inn but this place is even better. I had the most delicious blueberry pancake ever. Carrie had a sort of strange chocolate chip one. And the eggs and sausage were delicious.

The drive home was beautiful and sunny. A fun time if anyone ever wants to join us for the next go around.