Disneyland trip - Part 10 - the last day
May. 24th, 2005 01:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sugarplumkittyWe packed the night before and dispensed as much food as we could. The maids were going to end up with a lot of unopened stuff. We checked our luggage with the valets and went off to enjoy ourselves until it was time to leave.
Most of the group went to a Gospel brunch at The House Of Blues. Joyce, Carlene and I went to the Rainforest Cafe for brunch. I was very grumpy. I hadn't slept well at all because my feet kept cramping even with tylenol. I didn't dare take aspirin because my female problems had been going non-stop all weekend already. Aspirin would make it worse. So when they assigned us to a table that took 10 minutes longer to clear than they said it would and took other parties of 3 who had arrived after we had to their tables before they took us, I grumped about it. The food was good... when it came. We were ignored for a long time. Just as our food finally came, a photo crew came by, shoved stuffed animals into our hands and told us to smile. I'm sure it was a horrid photo. We were all pretty crabby. We didn't check it out at all. We shopped until the others were done with the Gospel Brunch. I picked up graduation hat ears for Chris, a t-shirt for me and some pins for other people. Joyce told me I should get a tie-dye shirt for Eric. They were too bright and I knew he'd never wear them. I had my mind made up that I'd get him a set of wings from a flight shop I saw in California Adventure. We wanted to ride Soaring Over California again without the distraction of worry.
Carlene hadn't seen the Bug's life 3D and we hadn't used our preferred seating tickets for it the day before, so we got fast passes for Soaring and went to watch the 3D show with Carlene. For that show, the preferred seating is a great thing to do. The 5th row is perfect for the effects. I saw double sometimes the first time we went. In the 5th row, that didn't happen. Then I shopped for Eric's wings and it was time for Soaring. We didn't get the front row this time. We were in the third. We saw the people's feet in front of us. Still, it was wonderful! We went to see the show in the mini-Palace of Fine Arts. I wondered why they showed Califia, the spirit of California as a black woman. It seemed to me that Califia would be native American. Once we were seated in the theatre, Joyce wondered why the carvings of Califia on either side of the stage looked like Whoopi Goldberg and just then the lights dimmed and we found out why. Whoopi portrays Califia in the presentation. It's a mini-history of California that focuses on a few ethnic groups as they moved into the state and left out half my pioneer ancestors and some of Joyce's, too. Still, it brought tears to my eyes at the end.
We wandered to the Monterey part of the park since that was the only part we hadn't explored. We toured the Boudin bread factory and had lunch at a cafe. Then it was time to mosey back to the front of the park and head back to the hotel to get our luggage and catch the shuttle. We stopped in a few stores. I was looking for a specific t-shirt I'd seen on adults. All I could find were children's sizes and adult sweatshirts. All the while, my feet were horribly painful, I had a headache, I was so tired I could hardly function and my stomach was not very happy with me. Joycey started teasing me that they should buy me a Grumpy t-shirt. I actually agreed. I'm going to see if I can find the one I want online.
I worked hard to stay patient. Gena was driving me nuts. She'd been driving me nuts all weekend. She worries about every little thing, rarely finishes a sentence before starting a new thought and often will start to tell you something then turn mid-sentence and walk away while mumbling the end of the sentence softly. When you say, "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you," she'll do EXACTLY the same thing again only softer. She INVENTS things to worry about and yacks about them endlessly. She'll ask you a question and won't listen to the answer, so she'll ask you again. And again. When Karen was trying to collect all the room keys, Gena was four feet from her yacking about whatever. Karen asked me three times if I'd given her my key. The first time, I gave it to her. The second, I reminded her I had already. The third time I smiled and told her she'd now asked me three times and she had it. Gena was getting to her, too. I suspected I knew who hadn't given Karen their room key. I interrupted Gena's current spew of words and asked if she'd given Karen her room key. She hadn't. I winked at Karen and said, "There you go!" She whispered, "Thank you."
By the time we got to the airport, I was praying I wouldn't end up next to Gena for the flight home. I was very close to my emotional edge. Before we got to the ticket counter to check in, I got my drivers license out, expecting that Karen would check us all in the way Gena had in San Jose for the trip out. We got a different mindset with this airport. Because we didn't all have the same last name, we had to individually check in. They wouldn't accept my passenger receipt to check me in, I had to find a credit card. My credit cards were buried in my purse which was buried in my backpack. The woman who was supposed to help me pointed to the self-check in touch screen and walked away. I lost it. I started blubbering that I wasn't prepared for this and it shouldn't have to be this hard and I didn't understand why they made it so difficult. I just want to be home. Then I apologized and said that I was so tired that I just couldn't deal with anything right now. It was embarrassing. It's not like I had any control over it. I wanted to do what two year olds do and just scream "NO NO NO NO!" At least I didn't go that far with it. I did dig out my credit card and check myself in as I blubbered. As a punishment, they didn't give me the ticket jacket with a place to stick my luggage claim sticker. She just handed me the sticker.
We got through security without incident. I got some water to drink. Karen got some chocolate frozen yogurt. It looked good. I wasn't sure sugar was a good idea but it was too tempting. It helped a lot. I was calmer after that.
Karen was next to me on the plane. She fell asleep. Joyce and I ordered some Sprite for her and I woke her when it came. Joyce picked up a flight magazine and read it most of the trip. That kept Gena quiet. The luggage got to the carousel faster than I've ever seen it happen before.
Eric picked me up. I have never been so happy to see him. Ahh. Home, sweet home.
Most of the group went to a Gospel brunch at The House Of Blues. Joyce, Carlene and I went to the Rainforest Cafe for brunch. I was very grumpy. I hadn't slept well at all because my feet kept cramping even with tylenol. I didn't dare take aspirin because my female problems had been going non-stop all weekend already. Aspirin would make it worse. So when they assigned us to a table that took 10 minutes longer to clear than they said it would and took other parties of 3 who had arrived after we had to their tables before they took us, I grumped about it. The food was good... when it came. We were ignored for a long time. Just as our food finally came, a photo crew came by, shoved stuffed animals into our hands and told us to smile. I'm sure it was a horrid photo. We were all pretty crabby. We didn't check it out at all. We shopped until the others were done with the Gospel Brunch. I picked up graduation hat ears for Chris, a t-shirt for me and some pins for other people. Joyce told me I should get a tie-dye shirt for Eric. They were too bright and I knew he'd never wear them. I had my mind made up that I'd get him a set of wings from a flight shop I saw in California Adventure. We wanted to ride Soaring Over California again without the distraction of worry.
Carlene hadn't seen the Bug's life 3D and we hadn't used our preferred seating tickets for it the day before, so we got fast passes for Soaring and went to watch the 3D show with Carlene. For that show, the preferred seating is a great thing to do. The 5th row is perfect for the effects. I saw double sometimes the first time we went. In the 5th row, that didn't happen. Then I shopped for Eric's wings and it was time for Soaring. We didn't get the front row this time. We were in the third. We saw the people's feet in front of us. Still, it was wonderful! We went to see the show in the mini-Palace of Fine Arts. I wondered why they showed Califia, the spirit of California as a black woman. It seemed to me that Califia would be native American. Once we were seated in the theatre, Joyce wondered why the carvings of Califia on either side of the stage looked like Whoopi Goldberg and just then the lights dimmed and we found out why. Whoopi portrays Califia in the presentation. It's a mini-history of California that focuses on a few ethnic groups as they moved into the state and left out half my pioneer ancestors and some of Joyce's, too. Still, it brought tears to my eyes at the end.
 |
Cooling mist at California Adventure |
 |
Soaring Over California Flight shop |
 |
Me in front of Soaring Over California |
 |
The Sorcerer's Magical Hat |
We wandered to the Monterey part of the park since that was the only part we hadn't explored. We toured the Boudin bread factory and had lunch at a cafe. Then it was time to mosey back to the front of the park and head back to the hotel to get our luggage and catch the shuttle. We stopped in a few stores. I was looking for a specific t-shirt I'd seen on adults. All I could find were children's sizes and adult sweatshirts. All the while, my feet were horribly painful, I had a headache, I was so tired I could hardly function and my stomach was not very happy with me. Joycey started teasing me that they should buy me a Grumpy t-shirt. I actually agreed. I'm going to see if I can find the one I want online.
I worked hard to stay patient. Gena was driving me nuts. She'd been driving me nuts all weekend. She worries about every little thing, rarely finishes a sentence before starting a new thought and often will start to tell you something then turn mid-sentence and walk away while mumbling the end of the sentence softly. When you say, "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you," she'll do EXACTLY the same thing again only softer. She INVENTS things to worry about and yacks about them endlessly. She'll ask you a question and won't listen to the answer, so she'll ask you again. And again. When Karen was trying to collect all the room keys, Gena was four feet from her yacking about whatever. Karen asked me three times if I'd given her my key. The first time, I gave it to her. The second, I reminded her I had already. The third time I smiled and told her she'd now asked me three times and she had it. Gena was getting to her, too. I suspected I knew who hadn't given Karen their room key. I interrupted Gena's current spew of words and asked if she'd given Karen her room key. She hadn't. I winked at Karen and said, "There you go!" She whispered, "Thank you."
By the time we got to the airport, I was praying I wouldn't end up next to Gena for the flight home. I was very close to my emotional edge. Before we got to the ticket counter to check in, I got my drivers license out, expecting that Karen would check us all in the way Gena had in San Jose for the trip out. We got a different mindset with this airport. Because we didn't all have the same last name, we had to individually check in. They wouldn't accept my passenger receipt to check me in, I had to find a credit card. My credit cards were buried in my purse which was buried in my backpack. The woman who was supposed to help me pointed to the self-check in touch screen and walked away. I lost it. I started blubbering that I wasn't prepared for this and it shouldn't have to be this hard and I didn't understand why they made it so difficult. I just want to be home. Then I apologized and said that I was so tired that I just couldn't deal with anything right now. It was embarrassing. It's not like I had any control over it. I wanted to do what two year olds do and just scream "NO NO NO NO!" At least I didn't go that far with it. I did dig out my credit card and check myself in as I blubbered. As a punishment, they didn't give me the ticket jacket with a place to stick my luggage claim sticker. She just handed me the sticker.
We got through security without incident. I got some water to drink. Karen got some chocolate frozen yogurt. It looked good. I wasn't sure sugar was a good idea but it was too tempting. It helped a lot. I was calmer after that.
Karen was next to me on the plane. She fell asleep. Joyce and I ordered some Sprite for her and I woke her when it came. Joyce picked up a flight magazine and read it most of the trip. That kept Gena quiet. The luggage got to the carousel faster than I've ever seen it happen before.
Eric picked me up. I have never been so happy to see him. Ahh. Home, sweet home.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-05-24 12:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-24 03:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-24 11:21 pm (UTC)Glad you got home--and away from Gena!--safe and sound. :)
no subject
Date: 2005-05-24 11:29 pm (UTC)I've got friends and family in the area who would have put me up until I felt better, but home is what I needed.
She's a very nice person, just um.. scattered and insecure(?). She makes me feel scattered and confused just being around her.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-24 11:30 pm (UTC)