L.A., baby: part 1

First of all, I'd like to dedicate this post to McGyver, who drove a thousand miles and stoically paid Disney's highway-robbery prices for everything from park tickets to sandwiches to take his wife and kids on their extra-special dream Los Angeles Christmas extravaganza vacation. Thanks, loverboy!

Our trip was a smashing success...although I was reminded a few times that despite my love of planning things down to the last detail, the illusion of control is fleeting, and sometimes you have to be ready to roll with the punches. The first thing we noticed upon rolling into Anaheim was that our go-to restaurant right down the street from our hotel had shuttered since we were last in town. And the folks at Disneyland also didn't get the memo about my plans for the perfect trip, because Pirates of the Caribbean was broken down for the better part of the day and the evening fireworks show had to be cancelled because of high winds. But the imperfections that happened to our perfect trip were all part of the adventure, and the end result was that a great time was had by all.

We made the marathon drive to Los Angeles in about seven hours (not bad at all!) and had time to go explore Downtown Disney before dinner. It was freezing cold, but there were carolers and colorful twinkling lights in the trees, and shops all brightly decorated and the scent of caramel corn wafting through the air. As the four of us walked around arm in arm, snuggling to warm up a little, we couldn't deny the excitement and Christmas spirit all around us, and it was the perfect appetizer for our day in the park that was yet to come.

Ravenously hungry, and having discovering that "our" restaurant had closed (McGyver: "I thought you checked on it." Me: "No, I just assumed. And you know what you do when you assume."), we found that the only place that didn't have an hour-long wait on a Saturday night was Panda Express, so we ate there. It really is hard to go wrong with orange chicken. After that, it was back to the hotel and off to dreamland, looking forward to a new day of adventures.

In the morning, we headed up to the Getty Center. I've probably said it before, but if you haven't been there, you must! The location, art, architecture and landscaping will take your breath away.



Christ and the Adulteress, Valentin de Boulogne



From there, we went to Griffith Park to see the famous observatory, which you've probably seen in a movie at some point. It has an amazing view of the city, as well as some interesting exhibits on astronomy.

Finally, we had to go to The Grove to make our second pilgrimage to the American Girl store, where Agent K's doll got her ears pierced and we perused all the clothes and accessories. I also discovered the Zara store, where I finally broke down and bought some red jeans, which Agent K assures me are not too young for me, and I take her at her word. The whole mall was gorgeously decorated, with a huge Christmas tree and lights ablaze everywhere, and I regretted not bringing my camera to get some pictures. Fortunately we happened to be parked on the roof of the parking structure, so when we went back to the car I had the bright idea to grab my camera and get a quick shot of the scene from above, which ended up being an even better view than I would have had if I'd taken pictures while we were inside. And I didn't have to walk around the mall looking like a tourist, so it was a win-win situation.

Our dinner plans again fell through when we found that the restaurant I'd researched on the Food Network website turned out to be on a pretty dodgy stretch of Hollywood Boulevard, so we drove back to Anaheim and ate at California Pizza Kitchen, which we'd never been to before. Then we went back to the hotel and tried to get our children to stop bouncing off of the walls and go to bed early, but they were giddy with anticipation of the next day at Disneyland...