Stan’s Obligatory Blog

Since Lucinda and I had the Presidents’ Day holiday off today, we decided to go back to Universal again. They only sell tickets with the ‘buy a day and come back any time for a year’ thing, we figured we’d take them up on it. Since today was a nice sunny and warm day, we figured there would be more people than last time, but the upside to dealing with crowds was that we weren’t going to get soaked. So we gathered up Kymber and we all headed over there this morning.

When we got there, we immediately headed down to the lower lot, since the sign said that the lines for the rides down there were not very long yet. We rode Jurassic Park once, then the Mummy twice, and then back to Jurassic Park again. In between the first and second Mummy rides, I stopped at the snack bar and got a napkin to make some earplugs. And then I was much more comfortable. As I’ve mentioned before, riding a roller coaster with two ten-year-old girls can involve a lot of screaming. The first picture on Jurassic Park had me stoically holding my ears to block out all the screaming on the final drop.

We had lunch overlooking the end of the Jurassic Park ride, and then we went back up and saw the “Waterworld” show. After that, we did the obligatory tram tour. I got a chuckle from the Los Angeles Fire Department golf cart. We usually think of the fire department with lots of gear going very fast to put out fires. And the image of them puttering around in a golf cart was just a bit absurd.

After the tram tour finished, we went back down to the lower lot for the “Backdraft” show. And then one more time on the Mummy. By then, it was getting late. I figured we had time for one more ride, so Kymber and I got in line for Jurassic Park again. This time Lucinda didn’t want to go for some reason. So while we were waiting, I texted her and said that we were going to send her a message from inside the ride. I wrote up a short message:

AAAAAAAAAA!!!

and saved it in the ‘Drafts’ folder on my phone. Then, when the boat was just tipping over the edge of the final drop, I pulled out my phone and hit ‘Send’. The ride photo shows me holding my phone in the air as the boat plunged into the water at the bottom.

All around, it was a fun day, even if we did have to wait in line some. The rest of the pictures are in Lucinda’s photo album.

Today was a random day off for Pasadena schools. For the past two years, Lucinda and I have made a tradition of going to Disneyland on these random days off. Since most other schools aren’t off, the parks tend not to be very crowded. But this time, our friend who works at Disneyland is off on family leave with his new baby, so he wasn’t available to let us in. So we decided to try something different and go to Universal Studios. I haven’t been there since 1996, and Lucinda has only been there once before. So we got her friend Kymber and the three of us went there today.

The school schedule dictated when we had to go, and the fact that it started raining today wasn’t going to stop us. It was cold and wet there, and we got pretty soaked walking around in the rain. But we still had a fun time. A lot of the rides are indoors anyway, so those gave us a chance to get in out of the rain for a bit. We rode the Simpsons ride twice, and eight times on the Mummy ride. In the afternoon, they opened the Jurassic Park ride, and we rode that one three times. Well, actually, Kymber and I rode it three times. Lucinda didn’t come the first time. But we dragged her along for the second time, and she decided she liked it enough that we all went around for a third time. This was the upside of the rain and cold. There were no lines for anything today. We just walked up and got on.

So even with the wet and cold, it was a fun day. The rest of the pictures are in Lucinda’s photo album.

This evening, Kathleen and I met up to go hiking with the Tuesday evening hiking group in Griffith Park. I’ve gone hiking a lot with them over the last two years. And since Griffith Park is about halfway between my house in Pasadena and her house out in the Valley, it seemed like a good weeknight date.

The group meets at the parking lot by the Merry-Go-Round, and it’s usually just us hikers there. But tonight there was some filming going on nearby, and the parking lot was filled with dressing room, prop, and food trucks. And there were a bunch of NYPD police cars parked there. So I guess it was a movie or TV show set in New York. Still not quite as weird as when I saw the New Jersey Transit commuter train at Union Station in downtown L.A.

This evening’s hike was the ‘easy’ one. Rolling hills on a fire road, ending with a short but steep stair climb up to Amir’s Garden. After doing the U.S. Bank Tower last fall, I’m not intimidated by stairs, but most everyone was panting on the way up. At the top we had a short rest and looked at the city lights. Then we headed back down by way of a fire road.

It was a nice evening.

I signed up for the ‘Scale the Strat‘ stair climb up the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas. When I did the U.S. Bank tower stair climb last fall, some of the other climbers told me about the Las Vegas event. They said it was fun, and I think it looks like it will be.

It’s a two-part event this time. The first round is on Saturday, with a ‘climb-off’ for the top 50 runners on Sunday. I was in the top 10% at both the U.S. Bank and the Aon Center stair climbs, so I think I have a decent chance of making the cut.

As always, it’s a fundraiser for the Lung Association. It’s a good cause, so if you can, please stop by and make a small donation to them. The page for that is here

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On Monday and Tuesday, Lucinda and I went to San Diego again to visit my father and to go to Sea World again. When we got there, we had lunch with Grandpa. After that, we visited for a while at his place. We watched “Fly Away Home”, which Lucinda liked. After that, we went to our hotel to register and then we came back for dinner with Grandpa.

On Tuesday, we got up early and went to see the seals in La Jolla. They were all lounging on the beach, but we saw a few sea lions swimming around in the surf. We also walked over to Cave St and took the tour of Sunny Jim Cave. Lucinda was a bit spooked to walk through the tunnel down to the cave, but I managed to coax her down there. After that, we went to Sea World. We walked around and saw a lot of animals. We also took the Skyride, which gave Lucinda serious willies. At the end of the day, we went to the Shamu show, where we made a point to sit above the stadium rows that get wet. That might be fun in the summer, but not so much in December.

It was a fun little trip.

Pictures from the day are here:
Lucinda’s photos
Nature and Animals photos

I had occasion this evening to go to the Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank. This is the original one, built in 1949, and it’s something of a SoCal landmark. And it has great neon signs. So I got some pictures while waiting for my date to arrive. Fortunately, there were a lot of newpaper boxes on the sidewalk, and they made great platforms to balance the camera for steady night shots. So I got pictures of the Bob’s signs, and also the neon hot dog across the street at Papoo’s Hot Dog Show.

On the day after Thanksgiving, Lucinda and I had some little adventures around San Diego. We started out at La Jolla Cove to see the seals. Then we went down to Mission Beach to ride the Giant Dipper roller coaster. After that, we went to Cabrillo National Monument to see the lighthouse and the tide pools. And finally, we went to Sea World. At the end of the day, we went back and had dinner with Grandpa before heading home to L.A. It was a long, but fun day.

Pictures from the day are in Lucinda’s photo album, and also in my Nature and Animals collection.

Today was a school holiday for Lucinda, so even though we’d just gone to Disneyland two weeks ago, I told her I’d take her again.

As always, we started out in California Adventure. We rode the rockets, Mulholland Madness, and the jellyfish rides. Then we had lunch and got some soft-serve ice cream before heading over to Disneyland.

We hadn’t realized it, but apparently Veterans Day is a big school holiday, so every high school kid in southern California was at Disneyland. It was as crowded as we’ve ever seen it. So instead of riding the Pirates of the Caribbean first, we headed straight for Big Thunder Mountain. Lucinda rode that last time and liked it. Alisha was a little apprehensive at first, but about halfway through the ride, I heard her yelling something like, “This is awesome! Let’s do it again!” So when we got off, I was glad that I’d gotten us Fast Passes for it. We were able to just walk back around and get right back on.

There’s nothing quite like riding a roller coaster with two ten-year-old girls. There is a lot of screaming. I’ve not traditionally been one to not hold on and put my hands up in the air on these rides, but I had to this time. Just so I’d have my hands free to hold my ears. Next time, I’m bringing earplugs.

After that, we went and rode the Matterhorn. The line was pretty long for that, and they didn’t have Fast Passes for it. Then we did Star Tours, which is my personal old favorite. Then we walked back to do Big Thunder Mountain again. Along the way, we stopped and picked up passes for Space Mountain, but they turned out to be useless, because they were for 9:40 that night, and there was no way we were going to still be there that late. So when we went to Big Thunder Mountain, I talked to the people running the line there, and they gave us a pass that was good for any one ride in the park, and they also let us do the Fast Pass line for Big Thunder Mountain again. So we rode that two more times for a total of four for the day.

Next, we walked to Toon Town to ride Gadget’s Go Coaster. Lucinda thinks this ride is kind of tame now, but was the first coaster she rode, back in August. So it’s something of a sentimental favorite.

By now it was dark and starting to get cold. We decided to use the pass they’d given us at Big Thunder Mountain to do Space Mountain. Lucinda was nervous, but we were able to calm her down and get her on the ride. And she loved it. Since that ride is completely in the dark, I couldn’t get any pictures, but there was a lot of screaming. They take pictures of each train right at the end, and our picture showed me sitting and holding my ears. Like I said, next time I’m bringing earplugs.

It was a very fun day. After the requisite stop at the gift shop, we went and had dinner at the Jazz Kitchen. We got our picture there, so I can add it to my track-my-progress collection.

The rest of the photos are in her album.

Wednesday was a Staff Development Day in the Pasadena schools, so Lucinda and her friends had a day off. And so I took Lucinda and her friend Claire to Disneyland. Since Lucinda had made a big breakthrough at our last trip to Disneyland, she was ready to try out some more roller coasters.

We went to California Adventure first, where we rode Mulholland Madness. They both enjoyed it. Next, we went to Toy Story Mania, and we got Mr. Potato Head to remove his ear. Then it was time for lunch, followed by Soaring over California.

Next, we walked across to Disneyland. As has become our tradition, we went to Pirates of the Caribbean first. After that, we got Fastpasses for the Haunted Mansion and then walked over for a look at Big Thunder Mountain. They watched the train go by and decided they were up for it. So we waited in the very short line and then rode it. They both had a good time, although it was difficult to take pictures on the ride.

By then, it was nearly time for our appointment at the Haunted Mansion, so we walked back and did the ride. It was decorated for Halloween and Christmas together, just like last year.

After the Mansion, we went to Toon Town to ride Gadget’s Go Coaster. This was the coaster that we persuaded Lucinda to try last time, and the reason she’s decided that she likes coasters now. We had fun riding it, and then they decided that they wanted to try the Matterhorn. The line wasn’t bad, and we got on in about 15 minutes. They both liked the ride, and decided that they wanted to do it again. So we got back in line. The second time, we rode the other side, so we got two different Matterhorn experiences.

Finally, they were curious about the Innoventions building, so we went in. They played some video games and did a little karaoke of one of the songs from “High School Musical 2”.

By then, it was time to leave. The park was filling up, due to “Mickey’s Trick or Treat Party” that was going on that evening. So it was a good time to go home.

We had a nice dinner at the Jazz Kitchen in Downtown Disney and then we went home. It was a long, but very fun day.

The rest of the pictures are in Lucinda’s photo album.

Today’s bike club ride was my “Down for the Count” route out to Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City to visit the grave of Bela Lugosi. The last time we did this ride was two years ago. And with everything that has happened in my life since then, it seems like it was another life. So it was time to do this ride again.

It was cool in the morning, and there was a slight mist around the towers in downtown Los Angeles. This combined with the morning sun reflecting off the windows of the new Ritz Carlton to make a very striking sight.

When we got to Holy Cross, we first went to the Grotto to see Bela Lugosi. Then we wandered around a bit near there, where we found Sharon Tate, Rita Hayworth, and Jack Haley. They have all been added to the Graves Gallery.

On the way back, we stopped at Noah’s Bagels on Venice Blvd. Then we rode Venice almost all the way into downtown, and then north to Silver Lake for the trip home. Once we got to Fletcher Drive, we were back on familiar territory. From there, we took the most direct route home, through Eagle Rock and up the Colorado hill into Pasadena.

It was a very nice ride.

53 miles.
cycling