Hey all.  Finally doing a blog on my California vacation from last week. Such a wonderful time, I just did NOT want to leave!!! Can’t wait to get back out there in July now!

First off, we had a 501st event in Benton – Sparks in the Park, only a few pics, but there they are. Was a nice little festival that we had attended previous years.  Unfortunatly due to bad weather in the area, they didn’t have that big of a turnout, and then to make matters worse, the rain finally made it to the park, so we packed up and left early.  I had driven up north to near the searcy area to pick up one of our newest troopers in Arkansas. Generally i don’t play taxi driver, but the young trooper was desparate to get to go to an event and just didn’t have a way, so i just said screw it and drove 2 hours out of my way to pick him up and then again to drop him back off at home. Probably won’t do it again, but i can be a nice guy on occasion.

April dragged on for me, mostly cause i knew that i was getting to leave on the last day of the month to go see friends that i normally only get to see in July! Finally April 30 showed up and i flew out to LA.

Kim was nice enough to play host and chauffeur for the visit for me! i can’t thank her and Cris enough for the hospitality!!! The visit started Thursday afternoon with Kim picking me up at LAX.  We then proceeded to one of their local favorites, Tico’s Tacos… This was a very different take on tacos for me, it was interesting and wasn’t bad by any means, just very different than i’m used to… i think i’ll stick with what i know when it comes to tacos/burittos   lol…

Friday brought about some fun stuff.  Kim had to do some work and have a meeting friday, so we had planned to go and do a little sight seeing after her meeting.  The original plan was to go to Hollywood to see the chinese theater, walk of fame, hollywood sign, and eat at Pink’s. Unfortunaly, the plan failed miserably thanks to traffic on the 101. Apparently i’m cursed for LA traffic as it was terrible all weekend.  Instead of getting to go to hollywood, after being stuck in traffic so long, we finally decided to just pick up drive through lunch and head on to our next planned stop., so we stopped at In-N-Out Burger, which is one of my favorite burger places ever!!! i’m soo glad they don’t have these in Arkansas, cause i could eat there everyday.  Anyways, we tracked one down and did the drive thru there, when i looked up only to discover we were right across the street from Vivid Entertainment…. if only i could have went on a tour of that place! lol…  Moving right along, we got back on the freeway and headed south to make it over to Mike Senna’s place! he had been kind enough to let me come over to take a look at his droids and pick his brain on some questions.  It was a great visit and i can’t thank Mike enough, and after seeing his setup and such, i am going to HAVE to make it to a R2-LA sometime.  Also during the visit, Kim said she thought she felt an earthquake… i was completely oblivious, but apparently there had been a 4.4 quake up near to her house up north… i didn’t even feel it…  but was told it was really weak where we were and wouldn’t have known it since i had never felt one.  Next up, we left Mike’s and headed over to Downtown Disney! We met up with the SoCal Garrison for a nice dinner on 501st day! After getting lost in the restaurant trying to find the group, finally ran into a few and followed them to the table! lol  I didn’t know most of the folks there, but was nice to meet them. I did see Lesley, who was nice enough to give me a SoCal and a 10th Anniversery Poker Chip!  i was VERY happy about this as i’d been wanting them since i saw the prototypes!  Dinner and conversation were great, and was happy to make new 501st friends. After dinner, me and Kim headed out and stopped at the lego store there at Downtown Disney… i was happy to find out they had a minifig pickabrick, only to have my hopes dashed to find out they had a very pitiful selection of parts… i didn’t even buy anything    After leaving the lego store, we paused to watch the Disney fireworks show then proceeded to the Disney store so i could do some soviener shopping.  I ended up dropping about $100 on stuff to bring back for various kiddo’s… lol… After leaving Downtown Disney, we headed back to LAX to pick up Rachel who was flying in from Seattle and staying with us. Was great to finally meet her after plurking with her for almost a year…lol… next stop Kim’s house (12 hours after leaving)… we were all tired, but we still managed to stay up and watch Dollhouse (good show on Fox). After that lights out as we were all pooped.

Saturday brought about sleeping in a little bit more than Friday… i think i was in bed till almost 8am (10am for me). Kim was sweet and cooked me some egg’s and toast, it was scrumptious! We then did a bit of driving… managing to make it to Fry’s (one of my favorite stores btw, and this one was a themed store of Alice in Wonderland) where i spent too much money, but got a bunch of hd-dvd’s, then a few other places before heading back to the house.  After getting back,I helped Cris with some vacuforming for some parts for his 300 costume, then  Mike, Marie, Montine, and John all made it over to the house finally for some costume work. My first time meeting Montine and John, though we’d been plurking for a while, and it was great to meet them. after a few hours of work and some great conversation, we all loaded up and headed south to Chevez Ravine!!!!

Yes, it was finally here, after being a Dodger fan my whole life, i finally got to visit Dodger Stadium and see the boys in blue play!!!  This was possibly the most exciting part of the trip for me, as this is something i’ve wanted to do since grade school! The trip there in traffic was again too long and arduous, but we finally made it and it was worth it (though we didn’t get in till the 3rd inning due to traffic).  At the game, i finally got an authentic game hat, and we had great seats in my opinion (though others didn’t care much for them).  I did the whole shebang, including having some Dodger Dogs!  The game was great, it was 1-1 when we got there in the 3rd, and was still 1-1 at the end of the 9th inning.  Finally, in the bottom of the 10th, the Dodgers loaded the bases, and Either hit the game winning shot that the right fielder couldn’t get to in time!  Very exiciting stuff.   We actually stayed for the longest time after the game, so that we wouldn’t have to fight as much traffic on the way out. It also gave me a chance to get to the Dodgertown Store to spend more money… lol… about an hour after the game we finally got in the care to head home, then hit the sack very quickly after getting there. See Dodger Pics here

Sunday arrived, which was also Bat’s Day (unofficial Goth Day at Disneyland). We’d had plans in affect to meet everyone at Disney at 8:30am so that we could have a full day and so that I could see everything since i’d never been there before. Well, much like other plans, this one didn’t turn out quite like that planned either… lol…  We got there at 9am and were the first of the group there.  Finally around 11am, we had all the group. This was a bit frustrating to me since i’d basically just been sitting around waiting on people (which is something i hate) combined with wanting to do so much, but needing to wait on the rest of the group.  I finally got over everything as i got a chance to enjoy the park finally!

See all Disneyland Pics here

Joining the group of the previous day, Brandon, Beth, and Tamara showed up, along with Jeff and Amanda. Again, it was a blast to get see all of them, and i find it hilarious that the majority of my friends live in California and that i only get to actually see them once a year… i really need to correct that… Anyways, we made our way around taking in the park. I rode my first roller coaster (Space Mountain) and it was kinda scary, but not too bad after i had done it… i’ll do it again next time now that i know what to expect.  We transversed Disneyland and California Adventures having a great time.  Was very glad to be with my friends and it was just an awesome day all around!  People started having to leave around 6pmish… and by 11pm, it was down to just the original 4 that started the day and was there first…. Plus Carol who made a late appearance in the evening after being in vegas till sunday morning… lol.  Just before midnight we made it back to the car and started the trip home.  yet again though, the traffic curse upon me showed it’s ugly head and forced us to sit still on the 101 for a while as we waited on an accident at 1:30am… who else would be so unlucky…  After getting home finally, i went ahead and said my goodbyes to Cris and Rachel, as i’d be leaving out for the airport pretty early.

Monday morning came WAY too fast. Kim took me to the airport shuttle around 6:15am or so, but we had to double back to the house as of course i forgot my phone… lol.  I said my goodbyes to kim at the shuttle and then was off to LAX when my vacation came to a close and i had to head back to Arkansas

Now i’m just waiting for my next trip, which just happens to be this Friday!  Its only Dallas, but i’ll still get to visit a few friends, have a good time, and learn about some robotics If you are interested in B9 or robotics/R2-D2/people goofing off, feel free to tune into the webcam this weekend. May 15th-17th at the Texas Build-Off.  Also, i’ll hopefully be cutting out my test frame on Tuesday of this week, which would be awesome! Updates to come if it happens