July 24, 2013 - Wednesday

We left the North LA/Ventura Ranch KOA at 6 AM and headed toward Anaheim. It did take us about three hours to get there, verses GPS’ 2 hour estimate because of traffic through Los Angeles. We arrived in Disney around 9 and ended up with a good parking spot and a short wait to board the tram to the parks! Once we got off the tram, we picked up our tickets and headed to Adventureland. Chris and I decided to go to Adventureland only because we were interested in seeing the new Cars Land. Our entire day was taken up just in this one park and we did not even ride all the rides. Tower of Terror was first on our list-it was just as terrifying as when I was 6 or 7 and went on it. The entire experience of walking through this old hotel and the Twilight Zone story really puts your right in the shoes of the people who did not “survive” the Tower of Terror! This ride only had a twenty minute wait, so it worked out really well. We then headed to Cars Land and rode a couple rides there. We got to see a few of the characters driving around and enjoy the scenery. The Luigi ride was pleasantly surprising. It was like an air hockey table and you sat in one of the pucks which was actually a big inflatable tire. When they turned the ride on, all these air compressors pushed air up through the holes and you levitated in your little bumper tire and could move around by shifting your weight and run into other tires.

There was an Italian restaurant in The Pacific Wharf area and we ordered a glass of wine and pasta; it was delicious. I didn’t mention, the weather here was impeccable. It was in the mid 80s all day with a nice breeze and lots of sunshine. After lunch, we headed to the pier in the park, which is a lot like a boardwalk. We went on the longest roller coaster in Adventureland-not sure about Disneyland’s roller coasters. We did have to wait 40 minutes, but it was a long ride with loops and turns and points where you felt like your stomach was in your throat; we loved it! Grizzly Point was something I really wanted to go on, so we waited the 70 minutes to get on. It was a white water rafting ride modeled after the national parks out west. There were fake geysers like we saw in Yellowstone and cliff areas like much of the west. We got extremely soaked and there were a few parts that were scary as we crested a waterfall and slid down through the rapids below. It was worth the wait. On our way back, we stopped for ice cream and meandered through the shops along Buenavista Blvd. The neat thing about Adventureland was that everyone dressed as if they were from the 1920s-30s to model how Disney first pictured Disneyland during this time period.

It took us about 5 hours with stops to get to Las Vegas. Mind you, we spent 7 hours in Disney and drove 5 hours and expected to go out and have a blast in Vegas. The land was just as my dad described from his trip out here over 35 years ago. You get about 100 miles from Vegas and you see signs advertising things in Vegas and these signs are in the middle of the Mojave desert. LA’s weather was perfect. As we neared the desert, the temperatures rose drastically. It went from 70 to 96 to 107 at 9 PM. We also passed an exit for a street called “ZZyzx,” really? What kind of street name is that? We just had to laugh. We started to see the lights and were so excited to explore Sin City. The KOA really was on the Strip. We were right next to Circus Circus and the KOA was basically a HUGE parking lot with hook-ups for campers along with a  pool, playground, and showers/bathrooms. We did not get out until midnight. We went to Circus Circus first since it was so close. This was a different type of casino. It had a midway and a small theme park for children. There were a bunch of stores, too, but everything was closing up when we were getting there. The casino was older but nice. We were complete outsiders and overwhelmed with all the choices. We’ve been to Atlantic City and it seems much easier to choose where to spend your money since it’s a smaller place overall. Circus Circus was a little musty and a lot of people were smoking in there, so we moved on to see another casino. We decided to walk down to Treasure Island. It’s pretty impressive how the sidewalks take you right through the casinos. This is a great money-making strategy! This was our second and last stop. We had a great time in Treasure Island. We would have loved to check out the Senor Frogs there and some of the other bars and stores, but we just wanted to play some games and see some of Vegas and call it a night. It was disappointing that we didn’t get to see all the big sights everyone talks about and some that Emma, my coworker, recommended. However, we reminded ourselves that we are taking this trip to see the country, dabble in a little bit of everything, and decide where we want to spend our time on future trips. At 3:00, we decided to head back to the campground. As all of you know, I have a special talent. I can fall asleep anywhere…as my eyelids started to get heavy, Chris knew it was time to head back. :-) This city really never sleeps! Every store and casino was lit up at 3 AM and people were still outside at our campground. The temperature was still hovering around 100 when we got back, so we turned the air up and fell asleep.

 

(I will be adding more pictures tomorrow, so check back!)