California for Labor Day weekend

A few months ago Landi and I decided that since we haven't really gone on a vacation since our honeymoon to Disney World four years ago we wanted to go on one for Labor Day weekend. We knew he would have Saturday, Sunday, and Monday off so we thought of three places we could go to which were New York, DC, or California. We decided on California because we thought it was going to be a shorter trip and if we were going to go to New York or DC we wanted a couple of more days to be there. A couple of weeks after we decided that we were going to go to California we found out that Landi was going to have Friday off as well. So our plan was to start driving Thursday night after Landi got off work and drive all night long getting there early Friday morning. Check in to our hotel and sleep for a few hours, go to the beach and have a relaxing Friday. Then Saturday we were going to spend the day in San Diego at Sea World and Sunday was going to be spent at Hollywood. Then on Monday we were going to drive back. Plans got changed around and this is how we spent our vacation. Landi ended up having Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday off. I had also asked for the same days off. So we decided rather then drive straight through even though it was only 9 hours we drove to Las Vegas on Thursday. We booked a hotel room at Planet Hollywood so when we got there at about 11 am we checked in. We we went up to our room and put our stuff away and walked around Planet Hollywoods miracle mile mall. We then went back to our hotel room and changed into our swimming suits and went to the pool to swim for a couple of hours. At about four or five we went back to our hotel room and changed and went to the Monte Carlo buffet for dinner. We walked over to Treasure Island and watched their pirate show and had also watched the Bellagio's water show that they do in front of their hotel. We then headed back to Planet Hollywood because we had tickets for a hypnotists show at 10pm. It was hilarious. We had so much fun that day.

Friday:
On Friday morning around 6 am we checked out and started driving the last 4 and a half hours to California. We were going to stay in San Diego but we got a hotel in Fullerton, California which is right by Anaheim because it was cheaper. So we got to our hotel around 11:30 and checked in. While we were waiting to check in I was looking at a calendar of events for Disneyland that they had on the counter. Landi asked what I was looking at and I told him. He was like "should we go to Disneyland?" so I was like "heck ya let's go." So we check in and realize that our hotel has certain times that the shuttle leaves for Disneyland and they had one that barely left and the next one wasn't until 5pm. We figured not a problem. We will just hang out by the pool and eat some lunch before we go in since disney food is always so expensive. So we checked in put our stuff in the hotel changed and went to the pool. We sat in the chairs by the pool and talked for a couple of minutes before Landi fell asleep. He has been working about 60 to 80 hours a week since he got his job in march so he was really tired. While he fell asleep I couldn't resist and went into the pool to swim. After about 20 pr so minutes I got out and sat in my chair to dry off. I fell asleep for a few minutes. We both woke up and jumped into the pool. We were there for a couple of hours before we decided to go get some lunch. Once again we changed and went to this mexican restaurant down the street. We came back to our hotel around 4:30 and waited out front for our shuttle to leave. Our shuttle left at five and we got to Disney around five fifteen. We bought our tickets and went to California Adventures first because it close at ten and Disneyland closed at eleven. We got fast passes for Soarin' Over California and went on the Grizzly River Run while we waited to use our fast passes. We got soaked while we were on the river run but it was great. When we were done with that we went and used our fast passes on Soarin' Over California. Which was kind of bad because we were soaked and the air conditioner was on so it was really, really cold in the building. But it was still way fun. The next ride we went on was the California Screaming roller coaster. Which I don't remember being that fast. But then again it's been like 8 years since I've been to Disneyland and California Adventures. Needless to say it was AWESOME! After those rides we decided there wasn't any more rides we wanted to go on so we headed to Disneyland. I forgot to mention that we asked to be in back while we went on the roller coaster. They forgot about us and they gave us a fast pass that we could use on any ride inside Disneyland or California adventures except for Star Tours. So while we were going to Disneyland I told Landi we should use the fast pass they gave us on Indiana Jones while we get a fast pass for Splash Mountain. The wait for Splash Mountain was only 25 minutes so we just waited. Next we went on Pirates. We then used our fast pass they gave us on Indiana Jones. After that we went on Thunder Mountain Railroad. Then we started to head back to where our shuttle picked us up because it left at 10:15. On the way back down main street we stopped by the best ice cream shop ever, bought some ice cream, and watched to firework show they had going on. We weed only there for five hours but we had so much fun.

Saturday:
On Friday we noticed that the hotel had all kinds of brochures for all kinds of things to do around the area. One of the things that Landi has always wanted to do was go to a vineyard. It so happened that there was a vineyard about an hour away from where we were staying. So Saturday morning we ate breakfast and got directions from our hotel to the vineyard and from the vineyard to sea world since we already had directions from sea world to our hotel. We headed to Temecula, California since that was where the vineyards were. We got there at about 9:30. Most of the vineyards you had to pay for a tour but there was one vineyard that did them for free but they didn't open until 11. So we went and checked out what they call "old town" which is what Temecula used to be before it got all modernized and stuff. It was really cool to check out how Temecula used to look like before it became what it is today. After checking out "old town" we went on the tour. We bought a bottle of wine for his brother to drink so that way we can keep the bottle because it looks cool. After the tour we went to burger king for lunch a d to target to buy swimming suits because we forgot ours at the hotel and we didn't know if we needed them or not. We wanted to swim with the dolphins so that's why we bought them. We headed to sea world and got there around 2 pm. We did everything but like 2 or three rides/museums that they have. The killer whale show was amazing and the seal show was hilarious. The seal show made fun of some artists from past and present such as Jackson Five, Backstreet Boys, Justin Bieber, and Katy Perry. It was great. Landi wouldn't leave until he touched a dolphin and he did. They have it where you can get close to the animals and touch them. So Landi was determined and he got to touch one. We left around 9:30. It took us about an hour to find the stupid freeway. We had to stop and ask for directions from a police officer. Sea world is about an hour and a half from our hotel so we didn't get back to our hotel until after midnight. It was so frustrating to try and find I-5 but it was worth going to sea world.

Sunday:
We decided to sleep in which to us was like 8:30. We ate breakfast and then went to the beach. We were planning on going to Hollywood and universal studios after wards so we didn't wear our swim suits. We got to the beach at around 10:30 and had so much fun we decided not to go to universal studios and Hollywood. Landi jumped right into the ocean with his clothes on and was like a little kid. It's been years since we both have been to the beach so that's why we decked to stay there. We walked along the beach collecting a bunch of sea shells. My purse and Landi's pockets of his shorts were completely full of sea shells. By the time we got back to our hotel we were covered in sand. We got back to our hotel at around 2 and decided to take showers and hang out at our hotel until 5. While we were at our hotel Landi took a two and half hour nap while I packed our suitcase. At 4:30 I woke Landi up and we headed to the front of our hotel. We took the shuttle to Disney again. This time not to go to Disney but to eat at downtown Disney. We were walking to ten ESPN Zone to eat when we stopped and had our faces drawn. It looks pretty cool. We went and ate. We missed the 8:15 shuttle back to the hotel so we listened to a band outside of the ESPN Zone. And watched the fireworks from outside the park. Then we headed back to our hotel and went to bed.

Monday:
Monday we took the long 9 well 10 hours because the time change back home. We had so much fun. And it was a much needed vacation especially for Landi. I just got to come along and enjoy the ride.