2012 May 16

We are still working part-time at the park, and here the schedule is usually a split-shift.  It's common for us to work from 8 am to 11 am, take a break and then work 3 pm to 7.  It beats working 8 hours straight but it does take up the whole day and we usually don’t get anything else done on days when we work.  So on the days we’re off, we’re trying to get out.  Recently a couple came into the park a day late because of engine trouble.  It robbed them of a day at Disney and all Randy and I could do was commensurate with them, from one RVer to another.  They shook it off and had two wonderful days at Disney and when they left, they offered us their extra day’s tickets.  Well, OK, let’s have another free day at Disneyland!

We started off at California Adventure because we love the Tower of Terror.  But the ride was closed and nobody could (or would) tell us what was going on.  That was a bummer so we decided to change things up by just going on rides where we would not have to wait in long lines.  We went over to Disneyland and started in Tommorowland.  I get a kick out of Tomorrowland because the architecture is still what people in the 1950‘s thought of as futuristic.

We went to most of the rides without a line - Monorail, Jungle Ride, Railroad, Captain Eo, and we watched the very first Mickey Mouse film.  And we went on rides with short lines - Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Manson and the Ferris wheel.  We went on the Indiana Jones Adventure and then decided we'd done so much that we would stand in line for one ride - the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.  Another nice day at Disneyland - it's amazing how much "free" adds to the enjoyment!

A few days later we went to the Medieval Times Dinner Tournament.  That was a special event for me because they have some of the most beautiful horses there.  When I learned their horses performed the “Airs Above Ground” maneuvers, I assumed they were Lipizzans because that’s the only horse I know who does those moves.  But they are Andalusian horses!  Andalusians are gorgeous Spanish horses - very muscular with long, thick manes and tails.  And they are wonderful at dressage.  Medieval Times uses white Andalusians for the classical dressage show and uses other horse breeds for the tournament.  I think Andalusians would also be great at tournament but perhaps they are too expensive for that.  At any rate, the dressage show was wonderful.  Unbelievably, I choose that night to forget to bring my camera (!!!) so the only picture I have is from a postcard, but at least I have something to remind me of those beautiful horses!

While the dressage show was going on in the arena we were served dinner.  Our server ladled Tomato Bisque into our bowls, joking about serving us Dragon’s Blood.  We waited a few moments for him to return with spoons before we realized that wasn’t going to happen.  So we just supped from the bowls, and it worked out fine.  The next course was Focaccia bread which I think it was supposed to be served with the soup, but our server was a too slow.  That was (eventually) followed by half of an oven-roasted chicken, a BBQ rib and potato wedges, with apple strudel for dessert.  All pretty good, and all eaten without the help of utensils.

Before the actual tournament started a Falconer came out and did a short show with a falcon.  Very cool!  The tournament itself was OK - it was fun to watch, although the acting was pretty mediocre. And we got a kick out of the guy announcing each knight - he did a great imitation of Geoffrey Chaucer’s introductions in “A Knight’s Tale”.

We worked the few days at the park and then went to Riverside to celebrate Mother’s Day with the Burns/Booth clan.  As always, there was lots of great food and a great visit.  We miss them a lot now that we're in Anaheim.  We thought we would be able to visit more, but the traffic here is awful.  A 30 mile trip can take well over 2 hours.

Here's some good news - our RV is finally painted!  There are a couple of touch ups needed but the bulk of the work is done and we have moved back into it.  It was so generous of our Riverside cousins to lend us their 5^th wheel, but it is good to be back home - and what a difference!