My whirlwind trip to Los Angeles
Sep. 16th, 2008 10:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
puppetmakerI'm figuring that this is going to get rather long so to save some people's bandwidth, I am going to put a majority of it behind a cut.
Overall, I had a lot of fun. It was nice seeing all the people I rarely get to see and spending sometime with them outside the convention setting.
The wedding was lovely and very moving. It reminded me how lucky I am in my choice of spouses for life.
I would like to say a special thank you to Brandy and Glenn for helping out with the kids. I could not have done this without your help.
I am grateful for the experiences I had in LA.
The plane trip to LA was rather pleasant over all. I sat next to a mother and daughter who were on their way to visit some family. They were Russian but both spoke English. The mother kept apologizing for having to get up because she was getting leg cramps. I told her not to worry and do what she needed to do to be comfortable. She reminded me of my maternal grandmother a lot including a certain timber to her voice that probably comes from speaking a Slavic language.
Peter met me at the airport and took me to Jerry's Deli for lunch since he knew that they didn't feed me much of anything on the plane. Wow, that was a good lunch. The chicken noodle soup made me feel a lot better and the sandwich was big and filling. We went to check into our hotel and I took a nap.
While I was napping, Peter got a call which switched our evening plans around a bit. Our friends couldn't really get together as we had planned so we made alternate plans and headed for Disneyland. Our goal was to ride all the rides that are not at Disneyworld and the ones that differ between the two parks (ie: Pirates). The Haunted Mansion was closed since they are decorating it for Halloween and doing some minor repairs that need to have some time to be done correctly.
I rode both the Roger Rabbit Ride and the Indiana Jones Ride for the first time. We both went on the new Nemo ride in what was the 20,000 leagues under the sea ride (which I do miss) and the Buzz Lightyear ride which is very different from the one at Disney world (we rode that one about 5 times since there was no line and it was a lot of fun). We rode Pirates which is a lot longer than the version at Disneyworld. We ate at the Blue Bayou restaurant, which was very nice. We rode Mr. Toad's Wild ride which, after Indy and Roger rabbit, seemed kind of tame. But it was classic Disney which makes it so nice to ride. The visuals are great and harkens back to earlier days at Disneyland.
We left the park at closing and fell into bed rather exhausted. I still woke up before 7 which was about 9 something my time. I noodled a bit on the computer and we got ready to go have breakfast/brunch with Paul and Misty Dini. We went to a lovely place called Little Dom's. I had a frittata and the most amazing desert consisting of really good gelato with a shot of espresso poured over top. We talked about various projects that we were all working on and things that we had in the hopper. It was nice to just have some face to face catch-up time. I got to show pictures to Misty who was amazed how big Caroline had gotten. It was a fun time.
We went back to the hotel and looked at the time we had between then and the wedding and decided to take it easy until then because it was going to be a long evening for both of us. Peter did laundry and I watched some football and took a nap. We got into our adult clothes and walked to the wedding which was taking place less than a block away at the Japanese American National Museum and Democracy Forum.
Security was tight but polite. We made our way into the forum and sat down with Harlan and Susan Ellison. We caught up quickly on news and listened to the music of the koto. The floor had a circle of lotus and yellow roses around where the ceremony was to take place. The ceremony was just lovely. We had to laugh and applaud when George and Brad entered down the steps to "One" from Chorus Line. The Buddhist monk explained the parts of the ceremony that we might not know. There was a tea ceremony that was lovely and nobody dropped anything. The vows were very heartfelt and brought a tear to my eye.
We then all became extras for the press coverage of Brad and George walking through the line of people popping confetti over their heads lead by a bagpiper. The cocktail hour was interesting and I met a lot of fascinating people from many facets of both George and Brad's lives. They have as eclectic a group of friends as we do. I did have a chance to chat with both Walter and Nichelle. Along with various diplomats, senators, actors, and civil rights activists.
Dinner was fun filled and the entertainment was top notch. The food was nice but not quite my cup of tea. We spent time talking to Harlan and Susan along with the other people at our table. We went around the table introducing ourselves and how we knew George and Brad. All too soon it was time to leave for the airport so I could get back home.
The trip back was not the best trip I have ever had but nor was it the worst trip. It was one of the longer ones due to the plane being diverted to Kanas City because one of the passengers was apparently having a heart attack. He was lucky that we had a cardiologist on board (what are the odds on that one) who helped until they got him off the plane. We were told that he was OK and resting in the hospital when we got off the plane in New York. So I came home late, sleep deprived and a little punchy.
I got Caroline off to school and then collapsed until the afternoon. I did go bowling last night but it was not my best scores.
This morning I feel more human than I have in a while. So now my travels are over for a bit and I can concentrate on other things I need or want to do.
Overall, I had a lot of fun. It was nice seeing all the people I rarely get to see and spending sometime with them outside the convention setting.
The wedding was lovely and very moving. It reminded me how lucky I am in my choice of spouses for life.
I would like to say a special thank you to Brandy and Glenn for helping out with the kids. I could not have done this without your help.
I am grateful for the experiences I had in LA.
The plane trip to LA was rather pleasant over all. I sat next to a mother and daughter who were on their way to visit some family. They were Russian but both spoke English. The mother kept apologizing for having to get up because she was getting leg cramps. I told her not to worry and do what she needed to do to be comfortable. She reminded me of my maternal grandmother a lot including a certain timber to her voice that probably comes from speaking a Slavic language.
Peter met me at the airport and took me to Jerry's Deli for lunch since he knew that they didn't feed me much of anything on the plane. Wow, that was a good lunch. The chicken noodle soup made me feel a lot better and the sandwich was big and filling. We went to check into our hotel and I took a nap.
While I was napping, Peter got a call which switched our evening plans around a bit. Our friends couldn't really get together as we had planned so we made alternate plans and headed for Disneyland. Our goal was to ride all the rides that are not at Disneyworld and the ones that differ between the two parks (ie: Pirates). The Haunted Mansion was closed since they are decorating it for Halloween and doing some minor repairs that need to have some time to be done correctly.
I rode both the Roger Rabbit Ride and the Indiana Jones Ride for the first time. We both went on the new Nemo ride in what was the 20,000 leagues under the sea ride (which I do miss) and the Buzz Lightyear ride which is very different from the one at Disney world (we rode that one about 5 times since there was no line and it was a lot of fun). We rode Pirates which is a lot longer than the version at Disneyworld. We ate at the Blue Bayou restaurant, which was very nice. We rode Mr. Toad's Wild ride which, after Indy and Roger rabbit, seemed kind of tame. But it was classic Disney which makes it so nice to ride. The visuals are great and harkens back to earlier days at Disneyland.
We left the park at closing and fell into bed rather exhausted. I still woke up before 7 which was about 9 something my time. I noodled a bit on the computer and we got ready to go have breakfast/brunch with Paul and Misty Dini. We went to a lovely place called Little Dom's. I had a frittata and the most amazing desert consisting of really good gelato with a shot of espresso poured over top. We talked about various projects that we were all working on and things that we had in the hopper. It was nice to just have some face to face catch-up time. I got to show pictures to Misty who was amazed how big Caroline had gotten. It was a fun time.
We went back to the hotel and looked at the time we had between then and the wedding and decided to take it easy until then because it was going to be a long evening for both of us. Peter did laundry and I watched some football and took a nap. We got into our adult clothes and walked to the wedding which was taking place less than a block away at the Japanese American National Museum and Democracy Forum.
Security was tight but polite. We made our way into the forum and sat down with Harlan and Susan Ellison. We caught up quickly on news and listened to the music of the koto. The floor had a circle of lotus and yellow roses around where the ceremony was to take place. The ceremony was just lovely. We had to laugh and applaud when George and Brad entered down the steps to "One" from Chorus Line. The Buddhist monk explained the parts of the ceremony that we might not know. There was a tea ceremony that was lovely and nobody dropped anything. The vows were very heartfelt and brought a tear to my eye.
We then all became extras for the press coverage of Brad and George walking through the line of people popping confetti over their heads lead by a bagpiper. The cocktail hour was interesting and I met a lot of fascinating people from many facets of both George and Brad's lives. They have as eclectic a group of friends as we do. I did have a chance to chat with both Walter and Nichelle. Along with various diplomats, senators, actors, and civil rights activists.
Dinner was fun filled and the entertainment was top notch. The food was nice but not quite my cup of tea. We spent time talking to Harlan and Susan along with the other people at our table. We went around the table introducing ourselves and how we knew George and Brad. All too soon it was time to leave for the airport so I could get back home.
The trip back was not the best trip I have ever had but nor was it the worst trip. It was one of the longer ones due to the plane being diverted to Kanas City because one of the passengers was apparently having a heart attack. He was lucky that we had a cardiologist on board (what are the odds on that one) who helped until they got him off the plane. We were told that he was OK and resting in the hospital when we got off the plane in New York. So I came home late, sleep deprived and a little punchy.
I got Caroline off to school and then collapsed until the afternoon. I did go bowling last night but it was not my best scores.
This morning I feel more human than I have in a while. So now my travels are over for a bit and I can concentrate on other things I need or want to do.
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Date: 2008-09-16 02:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-16 02:52 pm (UTC)*hugs again*