California Trip 2011--The Time Of My Life!

Whoever said that four 18 year olds couldn't successfully plan and carry out a trip to California is crazy! Because we did It!! Yes, that is correct, from August 6th-13th I had the time of my life with my 3 best friends. 

On The Pier of Pismo Beach

Our adventure started on a Saturday morning as we packed up Tanner's little gold Kia Rio (Little Toot). We were off! First stop.. St. George! The ride to St. George went smoothly, complete with blasting broadway tunes. Tanner was the key driver, and I the key navigator while Sam and Jeremy slept in the back seat. Once in St. George, we got ourselves dolled up and headed to Tuachan for an exciting performance of Grease! 

Tuachan... St. George, Utah

The next morning, we started out bright an early, on the road to Nipomo, California, where we would be staying with Tanner's Grandparents. This leg of the trip was a long one, but fun! Tanner and I up front again, creating "Harry Potter" games through the mountain passes, having deep conversations, being "Grubby Models," and seeing people we thought we knew drive by us on the road. All of this while, of course, Jeremy and Samantha slept. 

"Grubby Models"

A familiar scene in the back seat..

We got lost only once on our way, and ended up taking the Old highway (which looked very much like Radiator Springs from the Movie Cars,) Instead of taking the New Highway. Go figure. Our little... Excursion only lasted about ten minutes or so, but none of us minded because the four of us sang the ENTIRE song of "99 bottles of beer"... It's a lot harder than it seems, and was difficult to continue due to all the insane laughing attacks. Thanks for our PAM (GPS) We got back on the right road, and onward again to California! The rest of that drive consisted of beautiful California countryside, and of course, more broadway tunes. Then, many hours later, we arrived at the Rampton home in the foggy, chilly, Nipomo, California! Tanner's awesome Grandparents took us to the Melodrama down the way to introduce us to the culture we'd be experiencing. However, the show was a Utah original. Go figure.

Next was the beautiful Pismo Beach. The first day at the beach was perfect. We got there, and were quickly aquatinted with the small town and all the little shops. We wandered around for a good chunk of time before we finally asked someone where the best place to eat was. Their reply was The Splash Cafe:

 The splash cafe was definitely the place to be, and you could tell by the enormous line that went outside, and wrapped around the building.

Waiting for Clam Chowder..

Was It Worth the wait?!

YES!!!! Fresh Clam Chowder. A Fresh Sourdough Bread Bowl. And Fresh Crab Topping. 

In fact, the Clam Chowder was SOO good. We had it when we went to the beach the second day. To those readers that read my blog ( yes, all 3 of you) If you are ever in Pismo Beach, do NOT leave without enjoying, what i'm happy to admit, the BEST Clam Chowder in the world.  

We then continued to explore the beach, and were told by some "Regulars" That there were these awesome caves down the way. Well, we figured, What the heck! So we went wandering yet again. The caves were awesome, but the coolest part were the rocks we had to climb over to get to them. We finally got to this huge cluster of rocks away from everyone else, and found that they went out quite far into the Ocean. This, of course, caused us to challenge ourselves to an extent of who could get furthest on the rock, and experience the biggest splash. For those who have seen the little mermaid, you know that one part where she is up on the rock and the water splashes up all around her (Part of your world)? Well, It was sort of like that. Or, at least, we made it out to be like that. For the next few hours (Yes. Hours.) We kept trying to see who could get the biggest, most dramatic splash. Never have I had sooo much fun at an ocean. The only problem was that time really does fly when you're having fun. We'd been there sooo long, and were on the rocks and not the shore, that we didn't realize the tide had come in. A Tide that just happened to be the biggest tide they'd had so far!!! The lifeguard yelled. We left our rocks. Continued on to get our beach gear. And enjoyed the rest of the afternoon. The other problem with the rocks and the time spent there, was the lack of sunscreen. I, being the pale canadian one, got burnt. Not only did i get burnt bad, but I got THE WORST sunburn of my life. "When's it my turn, Maybe after yours...."

This was what was left of the Sunburn about four days later. This was after it's purple/blue phase.

 The Beach was just great! The Sun. The waves. The Seal that same up on shore ( I thought it was a dog) Wave jumping for hours on end- Seeing how far we could go out, and just how big of waves we could actually jump. Walking around the shops. Getting ice cream! The Pier- "No overhead casting" The Giant pelican. No stilettos on the boardwalk. Our titanic moments. So many memories and more!

Set the camera on a railing. Put the timer on. This picture was taken just before the Camera fell into a large pile of bird poo. 

After 3 WONDERFUL days in Nipomo, We set on our journey again onward to Anaheim. Tanner's Grandparents took us about half way there, and we stopped to eat lunch at "Moby Dicks." We indulged in fancy (delicious) Sea food. That was pretty much the theme of this trip: Seafood. We all even had some good ol' Calamari! Thought we were going to get attacked by pigeons as they casually walked over our feet while we ate. But the view was unbeatable! Beautiful Sail boats and wave runners rushing by us on the Ocean. Afterwords, we said our goodbyes to The Ramptons! Such sweet people, and they definitely made us feel at home in their home. From salmon dinners, to rides in the golf cart; We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly! I will never forget their kindness.

This picture has a story behind it. Whilst I was looking for
someone to take the picture, the only guy I could find
was smoking a cigarette. I asked him if he would help us out
and for a moment, as he looked for a somewhere to put his
cigarette, I thought he was going to ask me to hold it!
I can just imagine my Mom seeing this picture and asking
"Lauren, why do you have a cigarette in your hand?"
"Mom! I promise I was just holding it for a guy!"
Haha, Classic. 

After the Ramptons and us parted ways, the ride was fine. Not once did we get lost, but we DID get completely caught in traffic!!! A couple times it was really bad. Ok. So we got a LITTLE off track when we tried to go to Malibu, and ended up at the strip mall of a lifetime. Drove around aimlessly. Got some extra strength tylenol for my sunburn. Then off again towards LA. The LA traffic got to us pretty badly too, but we carried on through with, of course, broadway tunes and friendly conversation. It was then that I told myself that if I ever married a guy with the last name of Wood, that I would name my daughter Holly. Holly Wood! Tanner asked what her middle name would be... Well... Holly FREAKIN Wood.  After a good ol' drive, we made it the our La Quinta Suite. 

Once we settled into our place, we decided to head to downtown disney. Now THAT was fun!! With a stop at IHOP we then entered the happiest place on earth. Almost.  We went through shop after shop, watched the fireworks as they went on in Disneyland. And even danced to a live band!!! We were all just so happy, and thrilled to be there. 

                                                                      DISNEYLAND!!!

The next day began our day at THE Happiest Place on Earth!!!!! Had a great time. From the, go figure, Broadway tunes playing on Main Street USA. The Pineapple Juice. The Turkey legs. The girl who would NOT stop talking on splash mountain. Walking strait onto Pirates. WORLD OF COLOR!!!! Plus sooo many more memories. Words can't explain. Good thing a pictures worth a thousand words. All I know is that it was there in Disneyland that I realized that I had made it California. With my three best friends. On Our OWN! We did It. 

Space Mountain.

Disgusting looking right?

In line for tower of terror!

Tower Of Terror... I struggled with the pose

Our old fashioned poses. Again. Fail on my part. 

The New Star Tours!!! (It made Tanner sick.. Sorry Tan!)

                                     

   It's a Small World!!

SCREAMIN!

This picture was taken on our 6th and Final ride of Splash mountain. At midnight. As the park was closing.
After the first few times, the guy in charge of the ride eventually just let us stay on. Again. and again!
It got to the point that we'd MEMORIZED the ride. The drink made of powder. The Duck missing her boy and dress.
The creepy opossum that warned us of the mountain. The fact that the flash of the camera blinded Tanner.
And sooo much more! What a night.  

After Disneyland, we woke up the next morning and headed to st. george. Tanner went to the Little Mermaid, while the rest of us ate our panda express at the Condo. Sam's mom, Micki, came to babysit us at the condo that night, and the three of us (Sam, Myself and Micki) ended up not sleeping much that night. Instead we decided to play pranks on the boys while they slept. The only probably was that all we had was toothpaste.... The rest of the story is self explanatory :)

All in all, I am so proud of the four of us!! We actually planned a trip. And we actually WENT on the trip. And it was a success!!! We all lived. And we all had fun. Haha, we all also got a little sick of each other toward the end, but that is to be expected. I have the three most amazing best friends in the world, and this trip showed me how amazing they truly are. And how they're all there for me no matter what. They're also pretty patient with me ;) I love each of them very much and wouldn't trade them for anyone. There is no one I would of rather gone on a trip like that with. It was the perfect way to wrap up our years as high school student, and a great send off to adulthood. For as long as I live, I will never forget the good times the four of us have had, and those times include so much more than Just California. I'm talking about years of non-stop fun; Breakfast at Dennys. Trips to St. George. Movies. Long talks. Laughter. Tears. Birthdays. Musicals! And sooo many more memories. Tanner, Sam, and Jeremy. I love you. And I wish each of you the best of times in your future endeavors. I can't thank you enough for the past 7 years!! California was perfect, and I owe it to all of you. Love you!!

My Best Friends.

Am I ready to grow up? Sure. Bring it on. Goodbye to High School days. Hello to the future! Thanks for Tanner, Sam and Jer for preparing me for it. I owe you.

Until Next time!

-Lauren