The last weekend of September I went on a trip to California with my dad and two of my brothers Rick and Steven. It would’ve been nice to have my little brother Brandon there as well, but he is currently incarcerated. Hopefully next time he can come too!
My dad had never been to Disneyland before and it’d been years since he’d been to California, so my brothers and I thought it’d be fun to take him. We stayed in a really nice hotel near Disneyland for two nights. The rooms were very nice, each having two rooms; one for a living area with a tv, couch and a computer desk; and one with the two beds and a tv as well. The bathroom was shared by both rooms. We got a good deal on them through a friend of my mother’s.
The first day there we woke up early and ate a nice breakfast at Denny’s. We then went to Disneyland and waited until it opened. We had previously bought our tickets the day before so we didn’t have to the day we were going. Once Disneyland opened we ran to the new Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which was re-done to include characters from the movies. We then spent the rest of the morning going to every big ride in Disneyland, and some small ones too.
Once we had our fun at Disneyland we went across the way to California Adventures. We spent the afternoon going on ride after ride. I think we all liked the Hollywood Tower ride the best. It was the only ride we went on twice. Once we all got tired and worn out, we decided to go to dinner away from the park. We agreed to find an Olive Garden to eat at. I decided to look for one on my phone’s internet. I found one that I thought was the closest one. When we followed the directions on the internet we couldn’t find it. We called them and found out that they were located in a near-by mall. I’d never seen an Olive Garden in a mall before.
That evening we went back to Disneyland to go to the Haunted Mansion. The park had the Halloween theme so we felt we had to go to the this ride. We got there and had to wait in line for an hour. It was the longest we had to wait in a line all day, but I thought it was worth it. After that ride we went back to the hotel for the night, spending some well deserved time in the jacuzzi.
The next day we got up and had another nice breakfast, this time at IHOP. We were returning home this day, but decided to visit the ocean before leaving. The closest beach to us was Newport Beach, so we headed there. We had a nice visit to the ocean, walking a pier and going in the shops there.
We hit the road home. On our way, we wanted to have one more thrill and decided to stop at State-line to ride the roller-coaster there. This ride was the hightest and fastest in the world in 1996. I had previously rode this ride, but had forgotten how crazy it really was. I don’t think I’ll be riding it again any time soon, at least not until I forget how it is.
I had a blast and I know my dad and brothers did too! I couldn’t believe how much fun my dad was having, being over 65 and all. But he rode every ride and loved it. I look forward to going on another trip like this some day.
To view the pictures from this trip visit my website at www.jasonruesch.com
Personal
