back to L.A.

I enjoyed yet another mini vacation last weekend. Destination: L.A. with my friends Marianne, Kimber and Emily.

Highlight of the trip: the fantabulous musical, 9 to 5. It's a musical of the classic Dolly Parton/Lilly Tomlin/Jane Fonda movie. It's been playing in L.A. getting ready for it's big Broadway run next year.


This is probably one of the best shows I've ever seen. Yes, it could use some work, but I'm sure they will retool things before the Broadway run next spring. Megan Hilty was a mirror image and perfect duplicate of Dolly Parton. I still can't get over Stephanie J. Block's vocals. Man that girl can belt. She made Judy loveable. And how can you complain about Allison Janney? She was a hilarious Violet. I still can't get over the dream sequence. I don't want to give anything away. Just go see it.



Before the show, we stumbled into Hollywood somehow. Yah, we didn't plan it. But I'm so glad we did. I found Celine Dion's star on the walk of fame. We took pictures in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater and compared our shoe sizes to the stars. It was an unexpected bonus to the trip.

The next day we went to Disneyland.

I never thought it could be possible to have too much Disney goodness in one year. But alas, I think the impossible is possible. I went to Disneyland on Saturday. Kimber hooked us up with free passes for the day. Now don't get me wrong. I did love it. I've never seen the Halloween decorations. I've never seen the Haunted Mansion revamped into the Nightmare Before Christmas Haunted Mansion. Oh and there was a new ride at California Adventure: Toy Story Midway Mania. Best ride of the day, no joke. I loved it.

Here's what put the downer on Disney for me: long lines. I have managed to avoid busy Disney weekends every time I have gone. In April with the family at Disneyland it wasn't too bad. Then in May, the Disney World lines were a breeze. Somehow we managed to go on one of the busy weekends. In fact, I think the entire state of Utah decided to go to Disneyland that weekend. It was UEA weekend (formerly known as The Hunt) and Utah schools had the week off. Thus, all the BYU and U of U shirts I saw throughout the park.

I hate long lines. Even fast pass lines were long. The single rider line on Soaring Over California was long. All my tricks didn't really work.


Nevertheless, I still loved it. Disneyland really is the happiest place on earth.

Runner-up for best highlight of the trip: the doo on the dude sitting to the left in the rail car on Big Thunder Mountain.