My Amazing Race ... Day One

So.  My friend Mary was visiting over the weekend.  She was supposed to get to my house by 10:30 p.m. on Friday night.  She didn't get there until midnight.  Since our plan for the weekend sort of depended on me getting a solid 8 hours of sleep before we set off early the next morning, I said "Hello," ushered her to the fold-out sofa, pointed her in the general direction of some sheets, and went to bed.

From then on, we were on such a tight (some might say "insane") schedule, I kept making jokes as though we were on our own little version of "Amazing Race." 

I imagined we had a 9:00 a.m. Departure Call, at which point we would have been handed a clue that said something like ... "Make your way to Mickey's House..."

Can do.  We drove to Disneyland, making surprisingly good time, and we got there just before our tour started.

Yes, we'd signed up for a "Discover the Magic" tour.  It's a tour designed for the 5-9 age group, but we didn't let that stop us.  Neither did anyone else in our tour group.  Here were are with Mickey (he's the one in the middle holding a book). 

Note how nobody in this group is between 5 and 9.  Note also how we've all got our arms around each other even though we're total strangers.  But, y'know, after running around the park pretending you're flapping your ears like Dumbo, you're ready to share a group photo.

In addition to running all over the park like total nuts, we got to meet a whole bunch of Disney characters (you cut in front of the autograph line when you're on the tour).  Here's me and Mary after we rode the carousel with Mary Poppins.

(After we rode the carousel, and we were starting to leave, I'd said to Bert, "I need to get a picture with you, Mary Poppins and the Penguin."  And Bert said, "Why yes, I believe you do.  You absolutely do.  Truer words have not been spoken."  Who knew Bert was a grammar dork?)

After we finished the tour, we had a few more hours in Disneyland, and then we were off again.  Mary had ordered tickets for a skating show (Stars on Ice) that was playing a few miles away from Disneyland.  So, after a dinner of Yummy Park Food (slightly healthier than Yummy Arena Food), we drove over to the Arrowhead Pond for Stars on Ice.

The show ended around, oh, 10:30, but we weren't done yet!  (Where's that little yellow envelope sending me now?)  We piled back in the car, fought traffic to the freeway and headed South. 

Way South.

To San Diego and Beyond, South.

We ended up, around midnight, at a little hotel in Chula Vista, about five miles north of the border.  Exhausted but entertained, we threw ourselves in the beds for our brief "pit stop" before we were off again the next morning...