Disneyland 2024- Day 6: May 17

The App Is Useless Except We Didn't Use It Today 

But Pluto Picked A Favorite Family Member 

And It Is Me So Ha

With no Park reservation we slept until 9:30 on our last day. It still felt as completely disorienting as getting up before seven did on the rest of the days. I had no idea why a text related to a mid-day meeting back at work showed up before I arose. Clearly a week was not enough for my biological clock to adjust to a three-hour difference, particularly when starting out (and, honestly, continuing) with almost no sleep.
 

Between the issues on the flight down and being in a coma the duration of every stay in the room, it’s a good thing I brought books with me. They looked extremely cute sitting motionless all week on the nice little shelf next to my side of the bed.
 

I thought I dropped my ever-present sharpie somewhere in the Parks. When cleaning out my little shelf, and removing some extra print outs, I learned my “back up pen” had been in my pocket the whole time, and my main pen and sharpie were under those papers all week.
No amount of planning can counteract general male cluelessness.
 

This was to be the last ride for Anabelle’s Pink Princess backpack, which was her kindergarten backpack and made several Disney trips with her. To give it some final moments of dignity, Rosa removed the Minnie button covering the hole and sewed it closed for this last day. She’s not “purse in the purse and a roll of aluminum foil” stocked like Grandma, but she is very well prepared.
 

I started looking into PhotoPass. I remembered seeing the package listed on the website for a week’s worth of photos, but couldn’t find it on the App. A call to Disney IT revealed there was no way to access that on the App, and we’d have to wait until we got home to a computer, select “buy” on the earliest picture and THEN activate the “everything after that for a week” package download.
 
Anabelle, still frustrated by being misled throughout the trip, pointed out, “Of course there’s no button for that selection. That would mean the App was good.” When I pointed out Guests could only download the photos instead of getting them on an easier to handle memory stick, she replied.
“Of course… Because they’re hippies.”
 
This morning was definitely the longest conscious time we spent in the room, allowing enjoyment of California Adventure view. Anabelle wanted to use the supplied coffee machine. Rosa, being amazingly efficient, had already packed all the supplies for it leading her to have to dig them out.
 
We hunted on the television for the analogous “Must Do Disney” channel and failed to find any equivalent. (Freakin’ California) Anabelle decided to peek at the Disney World App, extending the rant she had resumed for the PhotoPass discussion.
 
“Oh look, it says Alice will be in EPCOT at 2:30… I bet she shows up.
And ALL of Winnie the Pooh’s appearances are written down. Ah, the dream!”
She searched through all of the maps and announced, “MGM will now be called ‘Two Square Feet,’ now that I truly know what ‘One Square Foot’ Disney Parks look like.”
Then she switched to the Magic Kingdom. “Oh look, the Country Bears are wandering around Frontierland…
I bet they have listed times.”
 
While we were still in the room, I tried taking a Panorama picture of the gorgeous Pixar Mural behind the beds. I did this by holding the phone as steady as possible while side stepping across the room, nearly falling over furniture and luggage multiple times.
[“That was hilarious.” – Anabelle]
Rosa followed up by taking a much better one without getting off of the couch.
Show off.

I had one last time of trying to push the door open to exit the bathroom (it was a sliding door which confounded me all week) before we did a last review of the room. Downstairs we checked out. There was no print out due to not getting the far less functional, and more expensive, Magic Bands Plus leading to us not charging anything to the room for the first time in our Disney visiting history.
“God forbid they use a system that works.” - Anabelle (still mid Freakin’ California rant)

 
We stored our baggage and trekked over to the Disneyland Hotel for our Noontime “Breakfast” at Goofy’s Kitchen.
 

They had taken the “Spring Special” sign down, and the outside “Goofy’s Kitchen” sign looked a great deal like the “Chef Mickey’s” one back east. Rosa and I recreated the picture we took near that one for our one-year Anniversary. That’s the one visit Anabelle is still bitter about not being brought on, despite not existing. [“You should have thought of that” - Anabelle]  Anabelle took one like the ones she took near the Chef Mickey’s sign the days of the “incidents,” while holding her hair up, just in case.

Going for the end of breakfast on a weekday had orders of magnitude less people than going to the end of dinner on a Sunday night, on the final night of a special promotion…
On Mother’s Day.
Go figure.
 

Goofy was still in his own little room at the entrance. He made kisses and “Hyuck” noises which only weirded us out a little after a whole week of Relaxed and Groovy. We were seated immediately with no wait time.
 

Clearly the Relaxed and Groovy folks were sorry to see us go. The music playlist included: “I Wanna Be Like You,” Shakira’s “Try Everything” from Zootopia, plus “Hi Ho” and “Everybody Wants To Be a Cat,” in Spanish.
YAAAAY!
 
The waiter offered to have the Chef give Rosa the gluten free tour of the buffet. She accepted because she forgot what she learned earlier in the week. The Relaxed and Groovy mentality can be contagious.
 

Rosa was getting an omelet at the station and I was grabbing food. Anabelle let us know Pluto was coming. Because we were used to characters skipping tables when not everyone was present, I went to stand next to Rosa while she was waiting for her eggs, figuring Pluto would bypass the table and catch us later, per normal, non Relaxed and Groovy character procedure.
 

He instead indicated to Anabelle that we were missing, gave her hugs and kisses, complimented her ears, and took a selfie with her.
YAAAY!
But still-
Freakin’ California.
 

Dale came by after Rosa and I returned. Rosa was not about to miss one of who she started referring to as, “My Boys.” They got more hugs and kisses, and I got a fist bump with an explosion noise.
Those Relaxed and Groovy characters were nowhere near as silent as we were used to. 

Anabelle’s rants were put on hold as she sang the praises of the Caesar salad. She was also happy to hear the “Move It Shake It.” Song again. The napkin twirling dance happened, and Anabelle’s excitement continued as she survived both that and Goofy passing by.

I was reminded again why I was not a fan of the Napkin Twirling Dance as both my wife and child once more twirled their napkins to make them repeatedly smack me upside the head.
 
Chip was coming towards us when a cheery, pushy and obviously local girl (nice but not kind) from a nearby table interrupted his path and demanded a selfie. When she left, he hit us with a funny, “What the heck was that?” pose. The girl did the same thing to Minnie later after she was leaving some fun times at our table.

Characters in our home Parks have perfected juking away from rude people to make sure the turn order is respected.
Freakin’ California.
 

We had fun with Chip, the other half of Rosa’s “My Boys.” Then there were three birthday celebrations all around us. The Relaxed and Groovy people still use fire on their birthday desserts. Anabelle covered her head and yelled, “I’m surrounded.” Luckily, she came out unscathed.
YAAAAAY!
 
The waiter brought our diet soda, cranberry juice and lemonade refills while calling me, “Boss.”
Anabelle was puzzled. “Why are you always ‘boss’?”
 
We talked about the trip between characters. I pointed out that I expected to have seen the Tiki Room more often since that’s Anabelle’s “comfort ride.” She countered that it was oddly placed. Plus, this time her comfort ride was Pinocchio.
I DON’T WANNA BE A DONKEY!!!!

 
The characters kept passing by and acknowledging us, Garden Grill style. Anabelle and Dale “raised the roof” together during a dance number.
 

Pluto returned and made excited “They’re Here!” gestures. We gave him some parting hugs. Anabelle said it was a good thing we were gone before, since that meant she got to see him twice. She crossed her fingers, “We’re like this.” It was a nice bookend since he was the first character we ran into in the parks, and due to Relaxed and Groovy, we weren’t supposed to see him at the beginning (unscheduled) or the end (second stop) of the trip.
 
The food at this place was excellent, probably the best of the vacation, the accidental double feature here worked out well. Rosa had breakfast at the start of the seating, and then lunch before we left. That’s a testament to the quality of the gluten free selections. Anabelle always raved about the eggs benedict at 1900 Park Faire. I get it now. The scary part is she said while these were excellent, the Floridian ones were better. WOW! I guess we do have to see the new characters meeting there at breakfast. Snow White in the Wilderness Lodge can work fine as the only out of park dinner.  (Y minus XXXXXX)
 
Also, Rosa’s hand delivered gluten free cookie was far softer and more appetizing than the circular brick she’d received on Mother’s Day. Freshness matters.
YAAY!
 

We went to pay the bill, and a week of over exertion kept us from remembering which character buffet included the tip (because of pre-payment, which is a substantial hint that would have helped in a less addled state) and which didn’t. After blankly staring at the receipt for far too long, we figured it out, closed up shop and left our table. While we were looking at the bill, Anabelle checked old pictures on her phone and yelled, “I cracked the code!” She noticed Goofy’s mouth had a visible tongue in Florida but had far less detail here. She theorized that led to his ability to “Hyuck.”
Who am I to question this logic?
 

Dale (“MY BOYS!”) was passing as we left and mimed weeping when we told him we needed to leave Disneyland. There were huge warm hugs for all.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!
 
I didn’t notice the nifty wallpaper in the hotel bathroom, until the little girl whose Dad brought her into another stall started randomly naming Disneyland rides. The paper featuring a bunch of them was very cool.

Anabelle’s pin trading was limited this trip, for reasons we’d find out shortly. (I still got a little foreshadowing left in me.) However, she found a Hidden Mickey Fantasia fish pin to trade for in this hotel’s store. She did face a significant update to her boards when we got home, primarily via purchases.
 
We passed through security for the final time to walk and shop through Downtown Disney. On the main stage was a Hawaiian Dance demonstration. Maybe that’s where all the performers from the Polynesian Luau were transferred?
 

After a week of passing it once or twice daily, we finally got to enter the big Star Wars store with Rey’s speeder outside. YAAAY! Anabelle looked into getting a Kyber Crystal. Sadly, not only did their prices raise, but the only way to make them light up was a small platform…
Which only worked if you plugged it into the super expensive light saber holder.
Alas.

I did pick up the official Sabbac card game. Anabelle’s response led to the following exchange-
“I knew you were going to buy that.”
Me- “I see… Will you play it with me?”
Anabelle- “No.”  (alas.)
Me- “Well, at least it kept me from buying the Dejarik board.”
Anabelle- “That is a good thing.”
 
Getting it home I found I should have listened better to the demonstration we sat near in Batuu as the instructions are FAMOUSLY vague. Luckily, nerds run the internet and clarifications were much easier to find than other players.
 

Back outside in an area with picnic tables, there were coloring sheets with the various emotions from Inside Out 2 along with collections of crayons. Anabelle chose Fear and I went with Anger. No one is surprised by these. Rosa picked Anxiety but hadn’t seen any of the trailers for the new film, therefore she went in blind with no idea who it was and made some epic color choices. Also, she mistook what features were eyes on the black and white drawing, adding more uniqueness to the image. The table covering added a wild texture to the pictures. There was a wall to hang them on in a big rainbow pattern, but we took them with us instead of leaving them hanging there.

YAAAAY!
 
I needed a pit stop and planned to meet them at the Lego store. I learned that the Relaxed and Groovy set maintain their slow walking pace even when they are en route to a rest room.
Seriously?!?!?!?!
This time I KNOW they had somewhere to be!
FREAKIN' CALIFORNIA!!
 

The Lego store was cool, but combining Disney with Lego meant the additive overpricing was more insane than both of them usually were. Somewhere along our walk, Rosa broke down again, and took a pill to let her have a final sample of the legendary Disneyland Churros.
YAAAY!
 
At the main Pin place, Anabelle picked up a couple of Blind Box hidden Mickey Pins, she had done this as well in Tomorrowland which was where she learned they only allow trades for certain sets of pins with the same set, and they must be purchased in that specific store. Back there she did trade a Big Hero Six one to get her beloved Honey Lemon. (A frequent cosplay and one of the reasons she’s a chemistry major.) Here she got Chewie and Minnie with an airplane. They were the right wave, but not the ones she was hoping for. Even if we had park tickets, she couldn’t have traded them back where she saw the one she wanted because she didn’t buy them there.
Freakin’ California.
 
I was looking at the outdoor racks and a woman was inside telling the Cast Member she was only interested in collecting pins with Disney Villains. She had a shirt which reflected this fandom. The Cast Member came up to ask if I needed help, saw my ancient “Every Disney Villain” shirt and said, “I assume you’re with her.”
I replied, “Nope, I’m just a weird coincidence in your day.”
Honestly, this is my main function with most people, whether I know them or not.
 
We worked our way into the World of Disney for the main shopping of the afternoon. There was an overly Relaxed and Groovy, really slow guy checking out the Pin Board, leading Anabelle to move on to other shopping before checking it herself.
 
Rosa demonstrated I wasn’t the only one worn out and jet lagged. She found what she expected would be a great water bottle souvenir for one of the kids.
It was a Disney Pooper Scooper.
 
Anabelle had been going back and forth concerning the purchase of some Minnie Ears. She eventually locked on to a set of shiny Cinderella ones, partially out of noticing she really missed Cinderella on this trip. She took that Princess for granted, being everywhere in Disney World. Here she was only in the Disneyland Parade, and tucked deep inside her carriage, limiting interactions. Anabelle debated a while, but then realized with this trip wearing out her custom Donald Ears, she would need a new set for the Magic Kingdom. YAY!
 
It was a long shopping trip, but honestly, that’s the only way Rosa will have enough time to make comparisons and pick things for herself which she did. YAAAY!! This included a shirt hunt comparing a vast number of designs. She found a red one with a boatload of characters she liked, plus a Disneyland shirt with a different mess of characters in front of the (little) Castle including ride specific ones like Mr. Toad, a, Ghost, and a Pirate, that was very me. While the hunt went on, Anabelle found one with a collection of characters, including Clarabelle, over by the Disney Vacation Club stuff. YAAAY!!
 
Anabelle learned here why the pin trading had been subpar the whole trip. The pin board had all the typical stuff that no one wanted. Then the slow person in front of her asked for the trivia question to get access to a better pin. He answered and then could only trade for the pin related to the answer. Anabelle did the same for one she didn’t really care about and was soured by the whole experience.
“THEY GATEKEEP THE GOOD PINS!!!”
Freakin’ California.
 
This led her back to the end of the trip, exhaustion fueled, near constant, rant state. She said, “I know I called this the most magical place on earth after meeting Oswald, Clarabelle, and Miss Marvel, but I take it back. The character selection is peak but the execution is horrendous.”
 

It wouldn’t be a Disney Trip without a Dad reference. As we were paying at the checkout counter, on the wall behind the register was an “animated painting” of Thumper, his favorite.
 
Every single Relaxed and Groovy cast member, and many guests as well, had a big painted on smile and told us to “Have a Nice Day” in a visibly more forced way than Disney World Cast Member Awesome Happiness. I asked Rosa and Anabelle if they now understood Steve Martin’s profane response to those same kind of Californians’ “pleasantness” in My Blue Heaven?
“Oh, I get it now.”
 
We went back to the pin store, to allow Anabelle to buy thank you presents for us, because she’s awesome. “My Boys” was for Rosa and Pirate Skeletons for me. YAAAY!
 
We’d heard the Cast Member vendors would let you take a picture holding all their balloons on Main Street. Some folks posted they’d hold the strings a little down stream from the Guest. That did seem too good to be true. Rosa asked a Downtown Disney balloon seller, and it was a far more obvious method. The Cast Member maintained the balloons and Rosa stood in front of her with a fist overlapping where the strings collected. The illusion worked and she got a cool picture.
YAAAAAAAAAY!

 
On the way back out of Downtown Disney, a guy a little way in front of us saw the giant Maleficent Dragon on the Lego Store and shouted,
“HOLY S***!!!! That whole thing is made of Legos!!!!”
I laughed a little too loud and he turned around and apologized.
I told him not to worry as I’d said those EXACT words a few days before the first time I saw it.
 
We passed the Disneyland Hotel and heard the start of a wedding reception in the outside area. Since it doesn’t rain (at least in the afternoon) they could plan an outdoor wedding like that. Fun!
 
We had a bit of extra time. Instead of hanging around our hotel, we went to check out the Grand Californian instead. If there had been any indication of appearance times in our hotel, we probably wouldn’t have done that.
Freakin’ California.
 

The Grand Californian really did look like the illegitimate child of the Wilderness Lodge and the Grand Floridian. There were Disney songs being played on a fancy looking piano. There was also a six foot Millennium Falcon made out of pastry.

That was… a thing we saw.

Rosa and Anabelle practiced some snooty poses while we rested a bit. I peeked at the App to check line lengths and confirmed hitting the park on the arrival Sunday was a better idea than going on the leaving Friday. Also, to no one’s surprise, Rise of the Resistance was broken.
 
A kid was walking in front of his Dad, passing the Falcon dessert and doing a little jig. His father and I exchanged glances, shrugged, and did the same jig walking behind him. YAY! Weird Instant Disney Friends!
 

As we rested, Anabelle went back into rant mode, complaining about the general lack of Donald and the fact that the only Princess meal was the weird one in this hotel where you made crafts with them between trying to eat brunch. We also looked in the stores, and Rosa got some more chocolate coins. Anabelle checked out some pin boards and traded for a Duchess pin. This was probably more for “drummin’ up bizz-niss!” than anything else.
 
We walked completely the wrong way out of the hotel and got stuck in a dead end. Luckily a Relaxed and Groovy, but also Happy and Awesome, Cast Member going off duty let us go out through his employee exit and follow him back to the street.  YAAAY!
 
The sun was bright for a change in sunny California. This was one of the few times I really needed my sunglasses. Bringing them three thousand miles was kind of a questionable choice, no?
 

Back at Pixar Place there continued to be no sign of Bing Bong which we believed confirmed he was only there on weekends. I did ask someone (probably a little late on that one there, Jeff) and found our he appeared every day, but only on the half hour. (And given when we were in the lobby throughout the trip, only for tiny periods of time. Freakin’ California.) While I was getting the bags out of storage, Joe from Soul walked by to go to the break room. He apparently had a regular schedule at the lobby piano as well, but obviously they were too Relaxed and Groovy to let anyone know what it was.
 
We knew we couldn’t eat in the “Cafeteria” without a reservation. Therefore, we set up camp next to the little coffee shop to wait for our ride and maybe grab food.
It closed just as we got there.
Freakin’ California.
 

What happened next can only be referred to as “The Cab Fiasco.”
 
Our driver had texted me regularly throughout the week after I had sent him our confirmation number. He checked in with me the day before, he texted me the day of saying he’d be in the area if we wanted to leave sooner, and he let us know when he arrived at the time we agreed on. For this Relaxed and Groovy location, he was very conscientious.
 
I also received a text from the cab company itself about the same time he arrived. Foolishly, I believed these two things to be connected. A cab driver, with an accent so thick, not only could I barely understand him, but I could not ascertain what the accent was, called me. He said he was here to take me to the airport for the Yellow Cab company.
 
I informed him he was not there to take us, as our cab was already there. He yelled at me incoherently a bit about policy.
What followed was a parade of phone calls and texts from: him, our driver, and the cab company, frequently overlapping each other giving me various, and often conflicting, instructions and questions.
 
Finally, after our driver gave us his cab’s number, I was speaking with the cab company dispatch. I flatly stated:
“Look, we are going to walk out of this hotel, get in cab number X and he is going to take us to the airport.
That is what is going to happen.
Anything else is your problem which I trust you can deal with.”
And hung up.
I had run out of Relaxed and Groovy.
 

We did have an exceptionally nice, mostly traffic free, short, and safe ride to John Wayne Airport, and I did take the driver’s information in case we do ever go back.
 
The airport remained tiny and mostly empty. Security called me “boss” again.
Freakin’ California.
 
There was no wait at all for security. The attendant complemented me on my Darth Vader jacket followed immediately by, “Now take it off!”
And then he said Anabelle's My Melody Hello Kitty socks were nice.
Because he was Relaxed and Groovy.
Anabelle responded with, “Ah… the duality of man.”
Because she is hilarious.
 
We breezed through the carry on check and questioned worriedly. “How will we ever make it all the way to our gate in the other terminal from security?”
We could have literally spit on our gate from where we were.
 

Rather than the massive Disney store we were used to passing in Orlando International Airport, there was a small airport convenience store with a couple of shelves of outdated Disney merchandise.
However, they did have Post Cards.
No, I didn’t buy any. I had already emailed photos as “digital postcards” to everyone whose addresses I’d remembered to bring.
Dig me, I’m green.

 
Our gate was in Terminal A. Due to food shortages in Pixar Place we did not eat. The only location in our terminal with food was a McDonalds. Well, the store had some snacks available, but shortly after we looked at the postcards, it closed before Eight at night.
Freakin’ California.
 
There was a bar next to the McDonald’s that said it would send drinks to other restaurants in different terminals. I checked it out and reported back. “There’s other food, but it’s WAAAAY over in Terminal C.”
They asked me where Terminal C was.
I pointed-
“Do you see that wall right next to the bar? That’s Terminal C.”
 

We took a couple of steps through two terminals and found a Qdoba and a California Pizza Kitchen. Rosa had gluten free left overs smuggled out from brunch. We realized we really could have used some of Grandma’s aluminum foil after all.
 
Anabelle got her bowl and the hideously salty chips from Qdoba, hoping to raise her blood pressure and prevent repeat slumping into unresponsiveness from the trip out. (It did. YAAAY!)
She did not take the Dramamine this time. We can be taught.
 
I was thinking that I was still on vacation, and in my pre cardiac concerns days used to really enjoy the “not really pizza” sold at California Pizza Kitchen. The little order tablet was hidden from where I stood, and I was already grumbling like Gollum as CrazyHungryLand approached while I tried to order online. Fortunately, the woman who worked there came out. Unfortunately, she said, “I’m only making salads now.”
I followed up, “You mean California PIZZA Kitchen is not making any PIZZA.”
Missing my clever emphasis, she simply said, “Right.”
“Qdoba it is!”
 
I had a burrito, minus any jalapenos or anything else that would dance in my stomach during the near five-hour flight.
 
Rosa was going to have some of my soda and Anabelle yelled for her to stop, because I had gluten from the tortilla on my lips.
I responded, “She had three churros this week, and the pills for the last one are still active.”
“Oh yeah,” said Anabelle thoughtfully, “Drink away.”
 
While eating we talked about favorite Disneyland rides. Anabelle easily chose Radiator Springs Racers as hers. She realized that she was “Sarge,” because in the ride, whatever the variable conversation exchange he had with Filmore about the visitors (us) was, it ended with him saying, “Hippie.” Rosa’s favorite, the “big fancy” small world was, however, a remarkably close second for Anabelle. Mine, unsurprisingly, remained (the extended dance mix of) Pirates. ARRRRRRRRRR!!!!
 
Two terminals, (or three steps) away we were back at our gate. The attendant’s speech about the number of carry-on items had as much redundancy and confirmation of numbers that were not allowed that it may as well have been the “Holy Hand Grenade” counting speech from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
 
We were allowed into the plane and settled into our seats. Anabelle got her music ready and showed me her Disney Playlist informing me, “I’ve returned to my 4-Town era.”
 
If we thought the “number of bags” speech was entertaining, it was about to be left in the dust. The attendant phrased, “Put the bags under the chair on your feet” in more ways than I would have thought humanly possible.
 
Rosa decided to read the Disneyland Hidden Mickeys book I got her for Mother’s Day on the way home. Perhaps she had adopted the Relaxed and Groovy lifestyle, but it was more likely she had a lot more on her mind for the trip out.
 
The flight attendant who distributed snacks was a HUGE defensive lineman looking guy. He was wildly excited about the chocolate or pretzel selections, practically singing whatever the person chose as he tossed it on their table.
 
My streak of having unpleasant turbulence hit whenever I am in an airplane bathroom continued unabated. Does the weight really shift that much when I leave my seat?
 

I cannot sleep on planes. I never could, including redeye flights like this one. I enter my little trance and read. Sometimes I nap briefly but the reading trance is what keeps me sane when cramped into those tiny seats. I have no idea what they did to the little “personal” lights. They used to focus directly on those individual tray tables. Mine lit up three rows. I certainly didn’t care about the woman sitting in front of me who was incensed that I would use my own light. [“Jerk.” – Anabelle] 

However, it also flood lit my sleeping wife and daughter’s chairs. Therefore, I alternated going through all my photos from the trip to delete my many terrible ones with holding my head in my hands and trying not to freak out.
 
We landed in Newark and hiked the five hundred miles from the gate to the main terminal.
New York Area Airports really are too big.
 
Luck smiled on us. The luggage came out almost instantly, and the limo was already coming around to the pick-up zone. There was no traffic on a Saturday morning. Our tired carcasses were delivered at home with haste and no incidents.
 
We unpacked minimal amounts. Rosa and Anabelle having napped on the plane, watched Monster’s University.
 
I desperately needed sleep, far more than my usual state of desperately needing sleep. I told them I’d get up at Nine or maybe Nine-Thirty. Rosa said to sleep till Ten. I woke up a little before Ten, thought, “I need to get up.” Then I blinked and it was shortly after Eleven. I panicked, “I need to see my family.”
This was followed by looking next to me in the bed and realizing. “Oh, there she is.”

California only. 
8933 steps.
3.3 miles. 
 
Plus 1613 New Jersey steps
0.4 miles. 
 

Trip Total- 121,788 steps and 45.8 miles.
 
For reference, a walking intensive day in the oversized Bronx Zoo (Which we insanely did two days after this… so we wouldn’t “get soft.”) on May 20 was only 15,479 steps, 5.8 miles.
 
Count references: The Notes alone were 4381 words, over 22 pages.
The final version was 39951 words:
Putting it over a thousand words above The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.
I seem to have written another short novel.
 
Including the planning was 56107 words, almost as many as The Dark Tower: Gunslinger.
Not bad for a “short trip” but nowhere near “extended family goes to Disney World” range.
That truly is our home. [“Because the App doesn’t stink.” – Anabelle ]

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