The Ambitious Odometer

Saturday, July 4, 2015

{Road Trip} Day Eight - Desert Driving, Waving to Mexico, and Night Swimming Under the Fireworks

With the change in plans, we left California a little behind schedule on Friday night. Keeping in mind that Hubby was still planning to be at work on Tuesday morning (back at home in South Carolina), to get a good chunk of driving out of the way, we drove through the night (and through the desert, too) and arrived at the historic Arizona State Capitol building in Phoenix, AZ first thing Saturday morning.

From Phoenix, we continued driving on into New Mexico and crossed over into Texas, stopping in El Paso to wave over the border at Mexico and grab a late lunch...

We continued on through the l-o-o-o-n-g part of Texas, stopping in Fort Stockton for the night.

The littles were just thrilled to take in some night swimming while we enjoyed the city's 4th of July fireworks off in the distance...

Happy Birthday, U.S.A.,!

{Road Trip} Day Seven - DisneyLAND - Day 3

Well, you know how it goes... The best laid plans... Today's itinerary had originally included stopping in to pay our respects to both President Nixon and President Reagan and a trip south to San Diego to visit the famed San Diego Zoo, grab ice cream at the Hotel del Coronado, and take a dip in the Pacific Ocean...

Well...

We were having so. much. fun. annnddd hadn't finished everything on our Disneyland list, so we decided to stick around one more day. Afterall, our military tickets are a set 3-day park hopper pass anyway...

So, to clarify, we drove cross-country to California. We were extremely close to the beach. We did NOT visit the Pacific Ocean. Most people that know me would ask if I was feeling okay that day! I know I'll be kicking myself for quite some time over this, but let's just say that it guarantees that we will just have to road trip back over in another couple of years...

So, we kicked off Day 3 back at California Adventure to experience Cars Land during the daylight (you really must see it at both day and night - amazing)...

Cozy Cone Motel...

Stanley's statue in front of the Fire Station...

Luigi's Casa Della Tires...

Ramone's House of Body Art...

{Remember this stop at the U-Drop Inn on our trip out here?}

After our fun in Cars Land, the boys stayed put in California Adventure to ride the rides in both Cars Land and Grizzly Peak...

The Radiator Springs Racers ride was one of B's favorites...

as well as the Grizzly River Run...

while the girls and I went back to Disneyland to meet up with Mickey, Minnie, and friends in their Diamond Celebration attire. I'm so glad that we stuck around to do that. I would've regretted it if we hadn't ~ it did not disappoint...

Minnie & Mickey...

Minnie...

Pluto...

Donald ~ we just missed the elusive, Daisy...

Chip...

and, the best for last, Goofy...

I mean, he took my girls for a stroll...

and showed them the view of the castle...

Seriously, the best little memory for them!

Before leaving the Main Street, U.S.A. area, we grabbed a couple of the commemorative Diamond Celebration treats...

While the boys were still playing at California Adventure, we decided to tackle the line for Peter Pan's Flight...

Evidently, it had just opened back up after refurbishment, which explains why every time we attempted to get in line, it was over an hour wait time (& NO Fast Passes for any of the rides in Fantasyland)...