California

Our week in California was good. We were on very small planes for the flights down. Delta routes most western flights through its Salt Lake City hub, so we had a brief layover there. It was FREEZING cold in Utah. (One more US state I've been to!)

Highlights of California:

Seeing Gramma Gillette and the California side of the family. With the exception of Gramma G, the other rellies hadn't seen us since our wedding in 2007.

Disneyland. I am NEVER doing Space Mountain again. Much like speed-boat rides, once is more than enough. Matterhorn was much better - you could at least see where you were going.

California Adventure (Disney's 2nd park, directly across from Disneyland). Good ribs, and this park's restaurants were licensed, so I tried some Californian beer. Grizzly Rapids Run was the highlight of the day for me - it being winter, the lines for the rapids ride (you get splashed a lot) was short, and I did it twice in 5 minutes. Once was enough for Kara.

College Football - it appeared to be rivalry day while we were down there, with plenty of intra-state university matches: Oregon vs Oregon State, Arizona vs Arizona State, USC vs UCLA etc. American Football is still intriguing. Just look up its history - they used to score tries!

Christmas Concert put on by the School of Music at Azusa Pacific University. This was very good. Orchestra, choirs, jazz ensembles and a handbell choir combined to make a great night of Christmas music in celebration of the season.

In-N-Out Burger. Cheeseburger meal (no onion) for Kara, Double-Double (onion) for me. Kara had never eaten here, and it had been 5 years since my last In-N-Out. Great burgers! And root beer of course - we OD'd a bit on that at lunch and then on the plane ride back north.

And now we're back in Seattle!