Road Trip: Day 9

Today we met up with my parents and Uncle Ryan, who drove up from Tucson.  Then we all went to the Phoenix Zoo.  We got to see all kinds of animals including giraffes, elephants, lions, tigers, and a whole bunch of others.  We even got to pet a bunch of rays!  Calvin was a little scared of them but he still pet a couple of them.

Just like the Minnesota Zoo, they had a petting zoo which is always a favorite of Calvin's.  He especially enjoys petting all of the goats.  And I do mean ALL of them!

We we asked Calvin what his favorite part of today was, he said the animals.  When he asked him to be more specific, he said the tiger!

Road Trip: Day 8

Since our trip to the beach got rained out yesterday, we checked out of our hotel and headed towards Coronado, but this time we went to the north side.  Even though that’s actually the side of the island that faces the bay rather than the ocean, there’s a boardwalk with a bunch of little shops.  After having lunch at an awesome little pizza place, we headed back to the other side of the island near the Hotel Del Coronado.  Calvin had a blast running around on the beach and into the waves.

Then we officially turned around in the general direction of home, taking I-8 east towards Phoenix.  All that playing at the beach must've worn Calvin out (or he was still catching up from Disneyland) because he checked out before we even left San Diego.  He slept for 3 hours in the car!  Then just a couple of hours later, we were in Phoenix and back to the Mountain time zone and sub-$4 gas (yay!).

Tomorrow my parents and Uncle Ryan will be coming up from Tucson to join us!

Road Trip: Day 7

Today was kind of a relaxing travel day.  After packing up everything from the hotel room, we spent the morning bumming around Downtown Disney. Specifically, we spent the majority of a couple hours of the morning in the immense World of Disney store and the Lego store.

Calvin fell asleep pretty quick after we hit I-5 south towards San Diego.  On the way, Denise and I hit an In N' Out Burger drive-thru.  We also took a short detour down to the PCH to get a peek at the ocean.

After finding our hotel and unloading some stuff, we headed towards the ocean so Calvin could play around at the beach.  But we had some bad luck in the weather department.  Even though San Diego supposedly has perfect weather year-round, a brief but nasty rain storm passed through while we were at Coronado Beach and we were forced back to the car.  Naturally, the rain was over by the time we made it back across the Coronado Bridge but it was too late.

So instead we bummed around Old Town.  Among the assorted little shops, we hit an old time candy store which Calvin obviously loved.  Then we hit the Old Town Mexican Cafe for a delicious dinner.  Calvin was pretty amazed by the mariachi band that came around and played for us during dinner!

Not surprisingly, Calvin said his favorite part of today was the candy store!

Road Trip: Day 6

Today was Disneyland: Day 2.  We went back to go to the other side of the park, California Adventure.  Calvin was very excited since that’s where Cars Land is.  On the way in, Calvin got to see Mickey again and give him a big hug.

Cars Land is basically an exact recreation of Radiator Springs, the fictional little town from the movie Cars.  Throughout our time here, I’ve been continually impressed by the attention to detail on the part of Disney.  They really think of every last little thing.  But with Radiator Springs, they really outdid themselves.  Denise and I were floored at how realistic everything was.  And Calvin could barely believe his eyes!

As soon as we came in, we saw Red (the fire engine) and Calvin got to take his picture with him which he thought was pretty awesome.  For some reason, from the first day to the second day, Calvin developed cold feet regarding rides.  I had to practically drag him onto the Luigi tire ride.  Afterwards, he said he had fun on it but that didn’t seem to help with getting him onto other rides.

For breakfast, we dined at Flo’s V-8 Café.  After breakfast, we saw a familiar face in front of the Cozy Cone Motel… it was Mater!  I can’t even describe how excited Calvin was!  So we all got our picture taken with him.  After checking out the rest of Radiator Springs, we passed the Cozy Cone again and there in front was none other than Lightning McQueen!  If Calvin was excited to see Mater, this was easily double that.  So of course we had to get our picture taken with him, too!

Before this trip, we told Calvin he could pick out a Lightning toy for doing a good job with potty training.  Since I’m a softie, I caved and bought him a giant Mack with 15 cars inside that he really wanted.  It’s his new favorite thing!

Right before leaving for our midday break, Denise convinced Calvin to go on a Bug’s Life ride which he also really enjoyed… after the fact.  We also did a Bug’s Life 4D which is kind of neat.  Denise and I had already done the same thing at Disney World, but you actually get air blown at you, the seat moves when “bugs” are supposedly crawling underneath you, and so on to add another dimension of realism.

When we came back, Calvin got to meet Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates!  As if Calvin didn’t think that was cool enough, Jake grabbed Calvin’s Lightning McQueen car that he was holding and played with it.  So now it’s officially been blessed.  Afterwards, we went on a Monsters, Inc. ride.  Then we went on what we thought was a Muppets 4D thing but to our surprise, it turned out to be a 4D preview for the new Oz movie.  That was a little bit scary for Calvin but he made it through it.

After that, we caught the Pixar parade which was really awesome.  It had elements from all of the Pixar movies.  We all loved it.  Then we headed towards Radiator Springs again which we were all excited for since, in the movie, it was all lit up with neon at night.  It definitely didn’t disappoint!

Somehow we managed to get Calvin to go on the Mater tractor ride which is kind of like a Scrambler/Tilt-A-Whirl type thing.  He really loved it!  In fact, he told us later that it was his favorite part of today.  We then went to Paradise Pier, which is a boardwalk-type area, and went on a Little Mermaid ride (Denise’s favorite) and a Toy Story ride.  We then finished up rides with a spin or two on the giant Mickey ferris wheel.

Even though Calvin was getting pretty tired, it was almost nine o’clock at this point so we decided to stay for the 9:15 water show.  It’s a pretty incredible combination of Bellagio-style water jets, colored lights and Disney music from most of their movies.  Calvin got really into it and even clapped at the end of most songs.

Once again, he didn’t even make it to the park exit before zonking out in his stroller!

Road Trip: Day 5

Today we were at the Disneyland gates waiting to be let in when they opened at 9am.  Calvin couldn’t contain his excitement!  We briefly saw Mickey and Goofy on the way in but we had to hurry past and make it in time for the “character breakfast” reservations Denise had scheduled for 9:10.  Fortunately, the sighting seemed like it was too quick and Calvin was too amazed to really realize what was going on.  But once we got to our breakfast at the Plaza Inn, it finally sunk in that he was actually going to get to meet some of the characters that he’s seen on TV for as long as he can remember.  Anyone who’s seen a three-year-old go through that can attest to how absolutely touching it is.  During the course of breakfast, Calvin got tableside visits from Minnie, Chip and Dale, Captain Hook, Rafiki, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore.

With the exception of the break we took for lunch and to rest in the hotel room, the majority of the day was spent going on rides.  We went on a Buzz Lightyear ride, an underwater submarine Finding Nemo one (twice – Calvin loved that one), a jungle cruise, a Roger Rabbit ride (who’d have thought that would still be around?), a Winnie the Pooh ride, a Peter Pan ride, a Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and we took a train ride around the park.  We also spent a fair amount of time in Toon Town which is a very toddler-oriented area where Calvin got to play in Mickey, Donald, and Goofy’s houses.  He also (finally!) got to meet Mickey and Goofy!  We even got to see the nighttime parade down Main Street.

We ran into some rain and cold throughout the day but we didn’t let it ruin our day.  On the way out we bought Calvin a Lightning McQueen hat with Mickey Mouse ears.  We didn’t get a chance to ask him what his favorite part of today was since he passed out in the stroller on the way out, but my guess is that he would pick that hat!

Road Trip: Day 4

After around 2,070 miles, we finally made it!  We got up bright and early this morning in Richfield, UT, and hit the road.  We made it to Las Vegas by lunchtime and had the buffet at Treasure Island.  We spent a little bit of time just walking around The Strip and enjoying the sun and the warmth.  We walked over to The Venetian so Calvin could see the gondolas paddling around in the river inside the hotel!  He thought that was pretty cool!

The drive from Las Vegas to Disneyland didn’t go quite as smoothly as we had planned.  After days of open roads, we hit some nasty traffic on I-15 headed to Los Angeles.  So with stops and everything, the drive that should’ve been four hours or so was more like seven!

But we’re safe and sound at the Annabella Hotel right across the street from Disneyland ready to hit it tomorrow.  When asked what his favorite thing from today was, Calvin told us it was his own room at the hotel!

Road Trip: Day 3

Today started off with a trip to the Downtown Aquarium in Denver. We already knew Calvin would love it since he's always loved looking at fish.  But even before we got in the door, Calvin was totally floored by a woman near the ticket line who was showing off a gigantic Golden Eagle!  All he could do was stare at it!  I don't think he was aware that birds came that big!  Once inside, as we had thought, Calvin had a great time.

While we were looking around, I pointed out a funny looking little crab to Calvin and he promptly responded, "That's a spider crab!"  Denise and I both blew it off that he was just saying it looked like a spider, which it kind of did.  But then Denise looked at the sign next to it and, to our amazement, it was actually called a Spider Crab!!  When we asked Calvin how the heck he knew that, he replied very casually, "From Octonauts."  So thanks, Octonauts!

Because of all that, we didn't get on the road until after noon.  And then, just outside of Denver, we drove up into the mountains so we could get out and prove to Calvin that we were, in fact, in the mountains.  He kept telling us that we weren't. He then became obsessed with mountains and kept asking when we were going up another mountain.  Much to his disappointment, he slept through most of western Colorado and therefore missed most of our drive through the mountains!

Once again, we asked Calvin what his favorite part of today was. Was it the awesome aquarium he got to go to?  Driving through the mountains?  Going to McDonald's?  Nope.  He said it was picking out his snack at a gas station!

Anyway, after around 500 miles driving, we didn't get to our final destination, Richfield, UT, until around 9:30pm local time.  Tomorrow on to Anaheim and Disneyland!