California Fun

I just spent a week in Anaheim, CA, with some friends from church. Madeline had a dance competition (which she placed 1st in 2 of her group routines - they were AWESOME!) We stayed across the street from Disneyland (literally) and each morning walked through the parking area, through the main plaza, through Downtown Disney, to the showroom to watch dozens of groups perform. It was really cool to see these gals show off their talents and work together. Then in the afternoons/evenings, we'd go roam around using "Janice," the GPS thingy, and find places. Twice, we spent a few hours at Newport Beach - day one: without an umbrella. Day two: with a nice, big, handy, umbrella, as I learned my lesson on the potency of the sun's rays. It was so relaxing to lay on the beach, read a book, take a nap, and watch lots of people who shouldn't be sportin' bikinis! COVER UP PEOPLE!!! Gross!!!!!!! Anyway, we never did actually go TO Disneyland, but we did go miniature golfing in the blazing sun and laughed a lot as we searched out shady areas of each hole to stand in.
One afternoon we went and saw "Mama Mia" at an old, musty theater somewhere in Orange (it smelled like an old granny's basement near the ocean), then we walked around the old historic downtown of Orange - it was so cool - had a turnabout park and fountain in the middle. It reminded me of small areas of New Orleans and Chicago. I stopped a guy on a motorcycle to as where a good local pizza joint was and he directed us to a place in the historic section where we had to walk down this red brick alley to get to. It was FABULOUS New York style pizza and such a cute, quaint place. It was a nice week - nice to enjoy cool evenings and mornings and once again, escape the scorching heat of Vegas. I've only got about 2 more weeks off of summer before heading back to work...we'll see how long I stay in town! Thanks Benfields for a great week!