Cars Land at Disney's CA Adventure

Got to go to the Cars Land preview for annual passholders, and I was really impressed with their attention to detail in making Cars Land. The rides were fun, especially the Radiator Springs car ride, but I don't know how much of an attraction getter the whole thing is. Perhaps if you're a big Cars fan, then you may be more interested in the place. Overall though, I think it was really well done, and my pictures probably can't capture how nice it all looks. Here's some pictures of Cars Land and the three rides.

We were let in through the side entrance right next to the Radiator Springs ride.

Radiator Springs Racers 

 

The actual ride goes through some scenes inside and then to the racing portion outside. The inside is done really well, and the racing portion is pretty fun. It's like the test track ride at Epcot. One word of warning, I think this ride is gonna break down as much as Indiana Jones haha.

Mater's Junkyard Jamboree

They compare this ride to the teacups at Disneyland. My motion sickness is pretty bad, but I actually did okay on this. The ride kind of throws you around as if you were in the towed car of a tow truck. The cool part is how the ride works on these tracks. Too hard to describe.

Luigi's Tires


These "tires" hover over what's basically a huge air hockey surface. You have to lean in whichever direction you want to go in. Sounds boring right? Actually it's quite fun. Trying to grab these humongous beach balls flying around in the air. Good ride.

Some pictures from "Route 66"

The Cozy Cone Motel had a variety of snacks. They had churros with chocolate sauce, chili, pretzels with cheese, I forget what else. What we tried was Chicken Verde. It was chicken in some green sauce kept in a pretzel like bread cone. Interesting.

Didn't try this place, but they had stuff like steak loin, more dinner type stuff.

A couple Disney shops here.

That was Cars Land. If you're interested, here's some pictures from the new entrance, or the Buena Vista Street.

And finally, one of the best new additions to CA Adventure, Ghirardelli Soda Fountain. If you like dessert, the best option is the Warm Brownie Sundae. No picture of it, just try it.

New bike, it's here!

After weeks and weeks of waiting, my new Specialized Sirrus has arrived. Sophy got her bike maybe 3 or 4 weeks ago, but for whatever reason, I had to wait for mine.

Took Lui out for his first bike trip. The first stretch down the block wasn't so good, but after that, he started listening to my commands more, and actually kept up quite well. Way to go Lui.

Who wants to go bike riding?

And thanks again Ellen for the free bike.

Cherry Picking

When I was younger, I would often go cherry picking with my family every June, but I can't even remember the last time I went. The one thing I do remember was that every time I went cherry picking, I ended up with a stomach ache from all the cherries I ate.

Today, we went Cherry Picking in Leona Valley at 2 orchards. The first one had maybe 5 types of different cherries, while the second had just 2 types, but they were much bigger and sweeter.

Turns out I'm quite the picky cherry picker because my family each had two or three times the amount of cherries I had at any given time.

Anyway, still ended up taking home about 7 pounds of cherries.

Coronado with the Dogs

Decided to make an overnight trip to Coronado with the dogs. We stayed at the Loew's Coronado Bay Resort which sits right next to the ocean and they allow dogs. It's a pretty nice hotel, and the dog fee for two pets is just $25. Coronado is a really dog friendly town, with lots of dog friendly restaurants, a dog beach, and just a lot of nice areas to walk around with your dogs.

They obviously don't know there's a 2 hour car trip ahead of them.


At Petco Park Stadium waiting for Sophy to pick up Carne Asada Fries from Lolita's (1 of 2 trips within 24 hours)


At Loew's Coronado (they don't get to do this at home)

At the Coronado Dog Beach

Sheldon and Lui are quite curious about this whole ocean business. Sheldon's been to the dog beach, but this was Lui's first time.


They've realized the water is there to attack them.


Couldn't outrun the water


They've made it away from the water and Sheldon definitely does not want to go back.



The end result is dirty dogs.




After wiping off the dogs, we took a walk around the Hotel Del Coronado.

Behind us is the Beach Village  at the Del, which sits right in front of the ocean and apparently costs about $1000 a night. 



After walking around the shops and restaurants, we went on the other side of the island to the Coronado Ferry Landing. Again, lots of dog friendly shops ad restaurants.

Here's a picture of Sheldon and Lui with downtown San Diego in the background.

The next day we did a little more walking and eating around Hotel Del Coronado.


After a long 24 hours, this was the ultimate result.

Strawberry Festival

Went to Oxnard to check out the Strawberry Festival this year. Take a quick shuttle from Camarillo Outlets to the festival.

If you're into arts and crafts, that stuff is always there. The more interesting parts of course are the food...


What we tried:

Deep Fried Strawberry



Strawberry shortcake



Strawberry beer
Strawberry wine
Strawberry funnel cake


What did we not try?

Chocolate covered strawberries
Strawberry smoothie
Strawberry pizza
Strawberry popcorn


Festival's not bad, though I probably wouldnt go every year.

Trout: Fished and Cooked

Went fishing again in Big Bear, but this trip didn't see as much trout as the last trip. Ended up coming home with 5 Rainbow Trout.


Went home and tried a very simple pecan crusted fish recipe. Blend some pecans, mix it with a little bit of panko and drop the fish in the mixture. Fry it in a pan for a few minutes and it's done.