California Summer 2018: Los Angeles

On the last morning of our stay at Josh's, Michael and I woke up and said, "Maybe we should go to Disney."

Neither of us are big amusement park fans, but we were in California, so why not?

First, we endured the L.A. traffic so Rylan could see the giant telescope...

...and Michael could side eye the Hollywood sign...

We checked into a hotel, where I spent the evening figuring out how to survive and master Disney. Apparently, I became too good of an expert: We arrived bright and early, rode all the rides (some multiple times), ate Dole Whips, and by early evening, we were like, "Welp, guess we're done."

Michael's lack of amusement at amusement parks partly stems from his tendency to get vertigo. He takes dramamine on plane rides and is the designated driver on road trips because he gets car sick in the passenger seat, so picture him on an amusement park ride. On Star Tours, to be exact - one of those motion simulator rides where you put on 3-D glasses and stare at a screen while sitting in a box that shakes, rattles, and rolls but doesn't actually move anywhere. 30 seconds into the ride, I glanced at Michael to see sweat pouring from his face. He was gripping the armrests like he was about to pass out, and then he started dry heaving. I really thought I was going to have to get the poor teenage ride operator to stop the ride and let us off, but Michael made it through without vomiting on everybody. After that, he was done with rides, though.

The next day, Michael decided to play some poker while the boys and I explored Venice Beach. I had planned to spend a couple of hours on the beach before heading to our next location, but Michael had a major goof-up during one poker game that 1) made us wait for hours in the parking lot of the casino while 2) some casino head honchos debated whether or not they should give Michael thousands of dollars, which 3) forced us to drive through the mountains in pitch black darkness on the edge of a cliff for hours and hours. Remember that time I almost ran out of gas in the middle of Texas and reported that "I have never been quite so stressed out in my entire life"? This was more stressful.

(Michael would have to explain the whole situation about what happened at the casino. It has something to do with poker rules, so I tuned out while he was explaining it to me...")