Anaheim 1998

4 February 1998 - We (Mom, Cassie and I) flew out of Minneapolis at 9:00 am. It was a pretty big plane, and I was smack-dab in the middle of 5 seats. I did some of my calculus and German. It took us 3 hours to get to the Los Angeles airport. We got our rental cal and drove to Long Beach. We toured the Queen Mary and saw artifacts from the Titanic. Then we drove to Anaheim to check into our hotel - The Jolly Roger. Mom went out and got pizza for us. Man, I'm really tired. The Queen Mary was really (and big!) to see up close.

5 Feb - We got to sleep in late today. We went to Target to get a few things (I got a pair of sunglasses). We drove up to Los Angeles to go to the Warner Bros. Studio. There, we went on a tour. It was really neat, because we got to see a lot of the backstage things, like sets, props and the street they sometime use in filming. We also got to see some of the pieces of film history in the Warner Bros. Museum. They had some neat displays of Rebel Without a Cause, My Fair Lady, and a bunch of other old WB movies. We drove back down to Anaheim, getting caught in traffic a few times on the freeway. We got some food for dinner, then got dressed up and went to meet Dad at the GCSAA Reception. We stayed there for a little while, then came back to our hotel.

6 Feb - Today was a very interesting day. It was rainy this morning, so we drove down to Newport Beach. El Niño is really doing crazy things down here. We were trying to get to the Hard Rock Cafe, but we ended up getting lost on the Balboa Peninsula. It was windy and raining hard, so we got out to see how high the surf was. We weren't able to walk upright, because the wind was so strong. The waves were huge and the beach had been eroded a good 5 feet. We ran back to the van, soaking wet. We circled back until we reached the Pacific Coast Highway and finally found the Hard Rock. I got a classic t-shirt. After we were done eating, we went outside to find that it was a total downpour. We drove over to the Fashion Island mall to wait out the storm. The rain thundered on the ceiling. We walked around for a bit before we decided to leave. We started to drive out on MacArthur, but there was some flooding, so we turned around to find another way out. We drove down one street, only to find that the bottom of the hill was washed out completely. Mom drove over the curb to get back to the mall. The rain was lightening up, so we shopped a bit before trying to get out of there again. The sun started to shine and we got back before it began to rain again. We met Dad at the hotel and he and Mom went to the President's Reception over at the Hilton. Cassie and I stayed in the room and watched the special edition Star Wars on television. It's raining again now. This is crazy weather they've got out here. Many flood warnings, mudslides, and all-around wet weather. I hope it clears up soon.

7 Feb - Today was pretty nice, so we (Mom, Cass and I) went to Disneyland. The morning was nice, so I just wore shorts and a light jacket. We walked over and got in when the park opened. We went on the Matterhorn first. Then Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, then Splash Mountain. We spent a few hours looking into the stores and took in the Hercules Victory Parade. We also went to Star Tours in Tomorrowland, where they were remodeling and shooting a commercial. We took the Monorail over to the Disneyland Hotel to see about some lunch. We ate at the Monorail Cafe. I was getting cold, so we walked back to the hotel to put on some warmer clothes. We stuck around there for a bit. Dad came and we decided to make one more trip to Disney. It had started to rain, so it was a little sloppy out. The first thing we did was go and stand in line for the Indiana Jones Adventure, a new ride. It was about 45 min. later before we actually got on the ride, which had a lot of neat effects. We went back on Pirates, then Big Thunder Mountain. It was down-pouring by new and we were soaked. Cassie and I went on it three times. We were so wet when we finally decided to leave. There was standing water everywhere, more than 2" in some places. I forgot to mention that we saw a show at the Golden Horseshoe in the morning. Not the can-can dancers, but 4 guys playing guitars and fiddles and being funny. After we got back to the hotel for a second time, we all went out to dinner at Baker's Square. The service wasn't good, but at least we got some food. Came back, watched some stuff from the Olympics in Nagano, Japan, then went to bed.

8 Feb - Dad didn't have anything going on in the afternoon, so we drove down with him to Newport Beach. The day was a lot better and there were more people around. We ate lunch at the Newport Beach Brewing Company. Then we drove down the coast to Laguna Beach and got out and looked at the high surf. We tried to go down further, but the highway was flooded, so we turned around and came back. It was pretty late by then, so Mom and I went out to get some food. Ate it, and went to bed.

9 Feb - We had to get up at 3:50 to get to the airport with some time to spare. The flight back was okay. They underbooked the flight, so I went to the back of the plane and had a whole row to myself. I did some reading and got some schoolwork done. The plane was delayed a half-hour before takeoff with a technical glitch. We got to Minneapolis at 2:900 pm CT. It was too late to pick up Sadie, so we went to the Mall of America. Walked around for a bit, mainly window shopping. I talked Mom into trying to find where they shoot my favorite TV show, Mystery Science Theater 3000 on the Sci-Fi Channel. We got a bit lost looking, but we stopped at a gas station to get directions. Finally, I found myself standing in front of Best Brains, Inc. Cassie and I walked up to the door and I got enough courage to press the buzzer. We waited for a bit and were about to give up home when a man came to the door. It was Michael J. Nelson, host of MST3K. I was so amazed, I swear I did a double take. He let us into the building and even let me have my picture taken with him. I blabbed about how much I enjoy the show and stuff like that. He told me they were in the middle of writing episode 905, Space Children. (If you don't know anything about the show, Mike is in space with his two robot pals, Crow and Tom Servo and they're forced to watch really bad movies. You have to see it to understand.) I thanked him and let him get back to work. The Studio was really neat and really small. There were huge pictures of the cast up on the walls, plus props they used in the show. It was so neat for me! We drove back home and got back around 9 pm. I emailed all my friends about the trip and meeting Mike. Good Day.

{transcribed 2/5/2020}