First off, we listened to Brandon Sanderson's new book The Alloy of Law on audiobook on the way down. Soooo good, but I seriously thought it was supposed to be a stand alone novel, only to find out at the end of the story that it is obviously going to be a series. That's great because that means we get more, but it also means that I have to wait for each book to come out--that's the hard part. I highly recommend that everyone jump of the bandwagon and read everything by Brandon Sanderson and I suggest starting the the Mistborn trilogy.
The first couple of days in Henderson were pretty quiet. We just lazed around, did a little shopping and met up with some of Bryan's old friends. Can I just mention that furniture in Vegas is much cheaper than in Utah? We also spent some time going to see the newest films, a la Sherlock Holmes and Mission Impossible. Both really great entertaining movies. In no way disappointed. We also spent some time practicing the music to the cantata that the whole family sung in on Christmas Sunday. Literally, the whole family--even the in-laws. Dad Stiles was the conductor so you can see why we all joined. It was really amazing, probably one the best ward choir I've ever sung in.
On Wednesday we began our adventure inside an adventure. We went to California!! Bryan had this itch the week, or two or three, before Christmas to go to the beach and with only a 4 hour drive being the distance, we hoped back into the car and sped off. The day we got there we went straight to the beach, 1) because that was the whole point and 2) because we couldn't check into the hotel yet. Which, a little side note, we always wait to book until the day of on Priceline so that we get a 4-star hotel for $60--which is exactly what we did for this trip. Yee-haw! The ocean is so beautiful and settling in a way. Sadly the water was really cold (obviously being December and the west coast) so we didn't get in it.
It obviously did nothing for my hair either (which was perfectly straight that morning).
Some nice stranger offered to take our picture for us.
Notice that we rolled up our pants to walk in the sand and water.
It was wonderful! That night, after making it to the hotel where we had valet parking, we went for sushi. Yum!! I love sushi. I don't really get how people don't like it, but that's coming from the girl who won't eat oatmeal, so I'm going to start right there. But it is one thing that Bryan and I can always agree on. We also spent some time in the hot tub. Sadly it wasn't as warm as I thought it would be.....at least for a hot tub. Still, we had fun until all the band nerds (which I feel perfectly justified in saying because I was one) came down. Apparently the Parade of Roses was going on.
The next day was probably the funnest of all (and I know that funnest isn't technically correct). We went to the happiest place on earth. Literally. The flier told me.
Our parking receipt.
The shows and parade were great. And I love how their fast-pass system is really fair so that everyone gets to have some without paying more money. We were able to ride almost everything we wanted even with all the crowds.
The one "roller coaster" they have. It's all about the other rides here.
Their haunted mansion was in a Nightmare Before Christmas theme for the holidays.
I just LOVED this picture of Bryan! He looks like he's having so much fun. I just look weird.
There was one of me and I just looked terrified. It was the Hollywood Tower Hotel/Twilight Zone ride. It's the kind that drops you a gazillion feet straight down. I really hate those rides. I basically just scream my head off. You can ask Bryan just how well I take those type of rides. Funny side note--I was wearing my stretch "Y" shirt (as pictured above) and Bryan was wearing his Woot shirt (their icon is a big exclamation point) so that when we stood next to one another it looked like....Y! Everyone kept saying Yahoo around us.
That was a fun, long day. So worth it. Next time--Magic Mountain.
That night we dragged ourselves into bed and immediately fell asleep. We woke up late the next day and packed everything up. We were going to go get breakfast, but couldn't find the location (stupid GPS with non-existent Corner Bakery). We were going to give up until we remembered that the guy who parked our car mentioned a Cuban restaurant that everyone loves. Neither of us had ever had Cuban before....who has? Bryan and I know that we love food. But not just any food--good food. Good, exotic, usually expensive food. We'd rather spend $100 on a dinner than buying clothes or other random things. So we had to hit up this Habana place. It was in the craziest little shopping area. It was like a hipster, new age, grunge, storage units type of place. But don't get me wrong though. It was really cool and I felt very chic and Californian. I mean, we saw a woman selling hats for $200, but the art/water feature was of old oil drum (type things) pouring into a concrete pool with an old 50's trailer next to it. I hope you get the vibe I'm trying to describe here. I only store I recognized was an Urban Outfitters. We had about 10 minutes before the restaurant opened for lunch so we went window shopping. I wanted to get a hobo style maxi dress that everyone is wearing, but couldn't find one. However, Bryan let me get a shirt that was on clearance just so I could have something from Cali. Luckily it was actually 50% off all clearance so it was only $10--worth it to me. Anyway.....back to the food. It was AMAZING!! I will always thank that valet parking guy for suggesting it. I had a roast over beans and rice and it was so succulent and the flavor was wonderful! Bryan had some type of streak with pickled onions I think. It was all delicious and of course we forgot to take a picture until it was all eaten. However, we remembered with dessert. Behold.....
My chocolate cake surrounded in chocolate with chocolate mousse and chocolate syrup.
Bryan's fried bananas with ice cream and a glaze that I can't remember.
I cannot tell you how great it was and I would love to go back just to eat here and now how I want to find all the little places like this so that I can always eat amazing food. After eating we hopped into the car and proceeded to drive back to Henderson. Sadly everyone and their dog was going to Vegas for the New Years celebrations so a normally 4 hour trip took 7 hours, but we had more audiobooks to keep us occupied.
I'm sure we did other things along the trip as well, but this is WAY too long anyway, so I will end the adventure here. Thanks for coming along.
