Sunny With a High of 75

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9na42244ZU

If you don’t know the Relient K song, you should.

I realize some people may come to California for slightly warmer weather than that, but 70’s is perfect for me. I think it was just about the perfect day to go to the beach.

I realize I glossed over a day, so I’ll backtrack before we hit the beach. The last day of driving was spent driving through the rest of Utah, (surprisingly) Arizona, Nevada, and some California. We’re quite happily in Anaheim now.

We learned that yeah, everything out West is really big. Mostly really flat. But then suddenly you’re driving through a valley with mountains of monstrous size on either side. And there are cacti. Still haven’t seen any tumbleweeds though…

Today we went to Seal Beach to experience the Pacific Ocean. This was mostly because Nadia has come to the ocean with the goal of seeing seals. Also the internet claimed parking was free. (The internet lied, by the way.)

Despite my deathly fear of fish and other sea creatures, I do love swimming in the ocean. The water might have been a bit cold for the natives, but I think it was just about perfect. I led the charge into the ocean and unwisely just kind of stood there letting it pull me a little further in every time. It was all fun and games, but I did faceplant once or twice from some pretty big waves. I have a deep respect for surfers now.

Eventually I started to get cold (because my favorite water temperature is a little chilly so I can get out of swimming for forever) and sat on the beach to attempt to dry off. We had lunch, surprisingly unbothered by seagulls. At the end of lunch, Nadia pointed out a large shape in the water.

Nadia: “That’s a big piece of something in the water. Must be a log.”

Me: “Looks like it. Unless it’s… NADIA, IT’S A SEAL!!”

Nadia was one step ahead of me and already sprinting to get a better look at it. I followed with her phone and eventually handed it off to her because I was, once again, freezing. Eventually Nadia finished seal watching and we strolled along the pier. We had some extra time for parking (internet lied…) so we explored the touristy stuff and bought souvenirs. (I needed sunglasses anyway.)

We’ve discovered that we can walk to Disneyland/the surrounding parks from our hotel without too much effort. Our Disney expert tipped us off that Downtown Disney would be worth investigation. Needless to say, the Disney/Star Wars/Marvel nerds were pleased with the investigation. We found more souvenirs, and some excellent food as well. Personally, I acquired a Pascal – the chameleon from Tangled. Since I’ve been declared Rapunzel, I decided I needed Pascal in my life.

I ended up walking the trip from the hotel to Downtown Disney four times today, in addition to wandering around the Seal Beach area. More than a little tiring, but I am really starting to like Anaheim. It’s a friendly sort of city, and definitely very pretty.

Thanks to a tip from a California native, we got to watch the nightly Disney fireworks from the street in front of our hotel. Then I found a nice tree and had Nadia help me film a ukulele cover. Then I got stuck in a traffic jam picking Quincy up from his baseball game. We still had fun anyway.

So we’ve made it all the way here to California, what are we going to do now?

WE’RE GOING TO DISNEYLAND.

NOW We go to California!

That was what Nadia said when she got in the car at the first gas station anyway. Actually we were going to pick up Quincy on the way out of Ohio. Then we were going to Kansas City. Now we're in Utah. But the end destination is California, so the sentiment is right.

Multiple people have agreed that I should resurrect my blog for a travel blog of sorts as we drive across the country. I'm willing to give it a shot, especially since Nadia has stolen my thunder as far as posting quotes on Facebook. (Fine, fine. It's because she has a smartphone and I can't stand the things.)

First of all the basic facts:

Who:
Me, my big brother Quincy, and my big sisters Nadia and Noelle.

What:
Driving to California. Obviously, by way of all those other things.

When:
Right now. Until the end of May (for Quincy and I, anyway.)

Where:
Allllll over the place.

Why:
Ah, that's the one you actually want to know. My generic answer is: because we can.
The actual answer is a little hazy. Sometime way back when (last year. Maybe the year before) the idea of going on a trip when I graduated college came up. Originally it was New Zealand - that'll still happen someday. But we decided California was slightly more feasible at the moment. So we started vaguely planning, then Quincy got on board and did a better job on planning. And really, at this point, Nadia and Quincy do all the planning, Noelle is here to make sure we CAN do it and to finally have a break from work, and I'm here for the adventure so yes. Thank you for planning. Makes my adventuring easier.

Long story short: I graduated. We're going to California.

Now to the trip so far:

• It was snowing when we left Sunday morning. I drove through a snowstorm. This is also why we're going to California.
• Noelle has finished two books so far, I think? Quincy finished one, but he's also doing a lot of the driving.
• Turns out that with a lot of effort I can at least write in the car. Reading might still be pushing it. This is why I drive. Or pretend to sleep.
• In addition to the awesome people we've left behind at home, we have now left some awesome people behind in Kansas City. But they were cool and let us sleep on their couch/recliner/floor like the hobos that we are.
• Colorado's very pretty. But I drove through another snowstorm.
• We've reached a state none of us have ever been to! And Utah's quite pretty too. Everything really does seem huge. O.o

Now this morning we're leaving for Anaheim. NOW we really are going to California!

That's really about it for the overview. I was going to do a section for quotes at the end here, but Nadia has posted alllllll of the best ones on her Facebook. If you don't have her as a friend... well go ahead and add her and I'll explain to her why she's got all these friend requests.

Her fault for having a smartphone. Makes you popular.

Final note: Thank you to all of you who suggested songs for the California playlist! I quite enjoyed it. I think my passengers enjoyed most of it too. And contrary to rumor, Party in the U.S.A. is definitely not on the playlist.

(Yeah, okay, it is.)