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Family Trip I
Apr. 15th, 2004 08:36 amAfter the fam arrived the first touristy thing we did was to head to Big Basin for some hiking and giant redwood viewing. I discovered that I would probably rather undergo oral surgery than drive 236 ever again. Twisty, turny scary drive which required all of my concentration. Next time I'm taking Highway 1, dammit.
But once we got there it was glorious. We arrived nice and early so almost no one was there. Uncluttered trails are a wonderful thing. We did the redwood hike twice and then a more challenging one that turned out to be almost entirely uphill. Ugh. Still once we'd reached the top it was so beautiful and peaceful that it was worth it. The view was spectacular.
I really need to get out to the woods more often.
The most entertaining part of the day was when my niece, who'd just seen Fellowship and Two Towers for the first time, decided to be in the lead and do so as Gollum. Every so often she'd turn back and intone, "Don't follow the lights!" in her best Gollum voice. I couldn't help cracking up.
We then stopped in Saratoga to do a bit of shopping, then home to meet up with Aelf for dinner and then off to the Century 14 for one more viewing of Return of the King. My niece almost made it through the whole thing before falling asleep. Oh and a quick PSA: Century 14 sucks ass, the seats are horrible with no leg room, the theater itself is not too well designed and they actually flubbed up the reel switch (which occurs, we discovered, during Elrond's "Here, Aragorn, enjoy this nice shiney sword I re-made for you" bit). :P
And then we all went home and promptly passed out.
But once we got there it was glorious. We arrived nice and early so almost no one was there. Uncluttered trails are a wonderful thing. We did the redwood hike twice and then a more challenging one that turned out to be almost entirely uphill. Ugh. Still once we'd reached the top it was so beautiful and peaceful that it was worth it. The view was spectacular.
I really need to get out to the woods more often.
The most entertaining part of the day was when my niece, who'd just seen Fellowship and Two Towers for the first time, decided to be in the lead and do so as Gollum. Every so often she'd turn back and intone, "Don't follow the lights!" in her best Gollum voice. I couldn't help cracking up.
We then stopped in Saratoga to do a bit of shopping, then home to meet up with Aelf for dinner and then off to the Century 14 for one more viewing of Return of the King. My niece almost made it through the whole thing before falling asleep. Oh and a quick PSA: Century 14 sucks ass, the seats are horrible with no leg room, the theater itself is not too well designed and they actually flubbed up the reel switch (which occurs, we discovered, during Elrond's "Here, Aragorn, enjoy this nice shiney sword I re-made for you" bit). :P
And then we all went home and promptly passed out.
