Rocks and Mountains, Rides, Snow.
Okay guys, you twisted my arm, so I've sat myself down and am going to type up the rest of my adventures of travelling. At some later date I'll update about Life in Vancouver (it's BRILLIANT) and my Reading Week shenanigans.
But first, I believe I was on a plane bound for...
BOULDER.
- After all the drama of the previous days, I arrived into Denver in style, first class, wearing a fabulous (if slightly slept-in) outfit, and ready to face the day!
- I wandered down to baggage claim, hoping desperately that my bag had made it in similar style. I knew that it would be put on the first available flight to Denver, and to my knowledge, mine was the first that had touched down, so I was really hoping that my bag would be on it. Soon, the carousels started going, and bags from here there and everywhere began coming out. They were organised by the flight number they SHOULD have been on, so I checked my ticket and was keeping an eye out for my flight number, but it didn't appear.
- About a half hour later, my lovely friend Liana (with whom I stayed in Boulder) came to find me at the baggage claim. I explained to her the situation, and we settled down for a long wait monitoring the baggage carousels. After another half hour, my bag still hadn't appeared, but I realised that there was, in fact, an earlier SCHEDULED flight from DFW that had been delayed and consequently we'd left before it had. But, it would have been loaded first.
- Anyway, eventually, THAT plane made it in, and started producing bags. I assured Liana that though my bag was "black, about yea high", I would know it the instant I saw it, an she just had to trust me.
- It took a while, but eventually Ten Tonne Tessie did indeed appear out of the little shute. A tearful reunion followed. I may or may not have called my bag "darling" and informed it that "I was so worried you wouldn't make it! I missed you so much!" Fortunately, Liana already knew I was nuts, so she wasn't too taken-aback. I don't think.
- I was actually quite surprised and relieved at how little drama attended the retrieval of my bag. Sure, they held it hostage for a night in DFW, but they sent it along on the first flight to Denver like they promised, and there it was reuinted with its loving Mama directly upon landing on the carousel.
- Anyway, we headed out of the airport (me stll murmuring sweet nothings to my luggage) and hopped into LIana's car. Liana and I had so much catching up to do it wasn't even FUNNY, but in the end I spend most of the drive to Boulder (which is about 45 minutes from Denver, towards the mountains) just giggling about how we were on the wrong side of the road. I think it was pretty much the first time on this trip I'd been in the "driver's" position on a LHD car, so it was like, "I'm sitting in the driver's seat, doing nothing, and the car is going! THIS IS LIKE A RIDE!! HEEEEEEEE."
- Upon getting back to Liana's apartment, I met her roomie and then basically we all camped out in front of the television with our laptops and wireless internet for the rest of the day.
-
Eventually my inner tourist kicked in and I dragged Liana out to see Eragon (which was slightly dreadful) and then we went to the Safeway (SHUT UP this qualifies as touristing) and bought (among other things) Spaghetti-O's.
- Then we went back and sat around hanging and watching TV and stuff until around midnight.
- The next day was NEW YEARS EVE and I'm no ashamed to admit Liana and I didn't leave the apartment until around 6pm, at which point we ran out of Spaghetti-O's and went to the store to get more. You think I'm joking. I'm
not.
- We watched Merlin, then Peter Pan, and towards the end of the latter people started arriving as Liana and her roomie were hosting a small NYE get-together (WIN).
- Upon the New Year, we partied a bit, then sat down to play a board game and watch Arrested Development.
- I crawled into bed around 4am, then got up around 9.30am (I don't really do sleeping in), and watched some more Arrested Development.
- We went to lunch with Liana's parents, and I had a very delicious and hearty meal!
- After that Liana took me for a drive up the mountain, and we frolicked in the snow and discussed the possibility of sledding, but alas there was too little daylight left and Liana didn't actually know anyone with a sled or anything. So, we went back and watched Phantom of the Opera and part of Batman Begins.
- After three fabulous, relaxing days, which were exactly what I needed at this point in the trip, because I was
exhausted and touristed out and really just wanted to hang around in the warmth with friends, the next day I was flying to LA. But I realised my flight actually left at 6.20am not 7.20am, which meant leaving Boulder at 4am at the latest. By this time it was already around 11pm, so I went to bed.
- At 3.15am the next day, I got up, had a quick shower, then dragged Liana out of bed to drve me to the airport. :D
- At the airport, I discovered that the check-in queue was absolutely huge, and I had about 1.15 before the flight went. I was a little panicked, but thankfully they did call my flight and put us through an accelerated queue around ten to 6. I checked in, went through security (SECONDARY SCREENED AGAIN; THANKS FOR NOTHING, AA) and pretty much walked onto the plane.
- We flew over the Rockies, then over Nevada before entering California. The sky was completely clear until aorund Las Vegas, so I had the amazing experience of watching from the sky as the sun came up over the Rocky Mountains. There aren't really words to describe how beautiful that was.
- It was roughly a two hour flight, over a one hour timezone change, meaning I got in at 7.20am. Depsite this, AA DID NOT SERVE BREAKFAST, oh no. They served drinks and if we were hungry we could buy a cookie. ... QANTAS would have served breakfast.
LOS ANGELES (DISNEYLAND).
- I claimed my bag, fervently thankful that I had no more flights to do, and headed for my hotel, which was quite near the airport and had a shuttle service. I discovered that at some point in the myriad things I paid before I left I'd prepaid my room! Yay! They also assignment me a pre-cleaned room, so I could check in around 8.30 instead of at 2pm. Once there, I phoned my friend Jenny, to say, "YAY I GOT OUT OF COLORADO," because, of course, I really thought a blizzard was going to strand me there, I was going to have to switch to UC:Boulder and I'd never see my family again.
- We agreed to meet at Disneyland in around an hour and a half, because I thought that was how long it would take me to get there. Turns out it took a little longer because the shuttle I took made a few inventive detours, but eventually I got dropped at the main gate. Turns out Jenny was late too because of drama involving lost wallets, so in the end I didn't keep her waiting long. We met at the C A L I F O R N I A sign outside the park, and then headed inside. By this time it was around 11am, I think, and I'd been up since around 2am (3am Colorado time).
- Jenny has a season pass to Disneyland, so she let me pick the rides, and explained the Fastpass system (I am now officially A GURU WOO). We got fastpasses for Space Mountain (which were for 7.20pm to 8.20pm I think) then headed off to do other rides. I can't remember all the rides, but I know we started with the Star Wars motion simulator, which HASN'T CHANGED since the last time I rode it when I was 13. Then we had something to eat and went on... hm... this is out of order, but the Matterhorn, Pirates of the Caribbean (complete with Jack Sparrowwhich, bleh, I can understand the logic of including him, but I'm a purist), Big Thunder Mountain, Snow White's Scary Adventures, and the Haunted Mansion over the course of the day. The Haunted Mansion was still decorated for Christmas, with Nightmore Before Christmas characters taking ovr the decorations. They were pretty cool, like, scary presents in the dining room and Oogie Boogie in one of the rooms, but I don't know, I would kinda have liked just to have seen the original ride. Guess I'll have to go back down to Disneyland before I leave the continent! :D
- Over the day, I'd started to feel a little ill in the stomach, but I was ignoring it because, DUDE,Disneyland. We sat down and had dinner, and I felt a bit better, and then we had a Fastpass ticket for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom for around 6pm, so we went to that. Somewhere in the queue, I started feeling very, very sick, like I was going to throw up. i popped an antacid (which I'd been keeping with me, yeesh my stomach acted up on this trip, but then, I was treating my body pretty bad) and hailed the attendant to let her know I might presently throw up. she pointed me towards a garbage bin, so fortunately my gorge went away again and I was fine--actually better on the ride than standing in the queue--until we got out. It was almost time for our Space Mountain tickets, but I was petrified that I'd get sick again, so I said it might be better if we didn't do Space Mountain. I felt a little bad, but mostly for ME because I really wanted to go on it!! Jenny and her friend (I forgot to mention there were three of us) had bth been on Space Mountain a kajillion times, so they didn't mind too much, I hope.
- However, Jenny very kindly dropped me back to my hotel. I fell asleep in the car on the way back to LA and woke up just in time to be absolutel useless giving directions to the hotel. Eventually we got back, and I collapsed into bed moments later. My day at Disneyland was seriously one of the funnest on the entire trip. I just WISH it hadn't had to end like it did with me dead tired and sick alseep in the car. Hah.
- Anyway, it was probably good that I was back at the hotel because about an hour later I woke up and emptied my stomach in the toilet. After that I felt much better.
- The next day I got up in a leisurely way, checked out, and headed for the airport, whence I caught a shuttle to LA Union Station. I had a bit of a look at LA on my way to the station, but it is not a particularly entrancing city.
- At the station, they made me unpack my bag and take my shoes out so it was under 50lb before they'd check it. That, and various other annoying extingencies made me fairly irritated when I got on the train. It was the Coast Starlight from LA to Seattle, but that night (I think we're up to the 3rd of January?) I was getting off in San Jose.
- My seatmate was a very chatty Californian who was heading up to, um... *squints* Salinas (about an hour south of San Jose). she was lovely, and we chatted about the area and its history (John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men was set in the area--one of my tutoring kids studied it last year), and she bought me cookies and pop; I'm not sure why.
- The Cast Starlight, btw, has a dining cart 9which I didn't use) a snack bar (which I did--the food was decent) and a lounge car which had seats facing outwards and large windows. It also had powerpoints, as will be significant later.
- My chatty seatmate informed me that the Coast Starlight is ALWAYS late (though it's worse foing South than North) because it uses the freight train lines and consequently is constantly pulling off onto sidings to let freight trains overtake. It was about an hour late leaving LA; by the time it got to San Jose this was more like 2.5 hours late. I was being met in San Jose, so I had to message her and tell her to sit tight and I'd get there EVENTUALLY.
SAN JOSE.
- I did get there EVENTUALLY (around 9.30pm, I think), my usual effervescent self. My host, my friend Natalie, met me and we drove back to the hotel she'd booked, being not from San Jose herself. It was a nice hotel. It had cookies, and the beds were SO SO comfy, especially after napping on the train.
- We got to sleep around midnight, I think, and in the morning we hopped in the car and headed for, um... Rose-something? It's one of the small cities around San Francisco, which is where my other host, Mary lived. She took us for delicious breakfast, and then we drove up to...
SAN FRANCISCO.
Which will have to wait, because I am knackered. I swear I'll get to it soon. Scout's honour.
