Emily's Continued Review of Vacation

I wrote about the first week of our trip, so here is what followed:

June 30: Knotts Berry Farm -- I am not a big roller coaster fan, but I did have some fun. My favorite ride was the Wilderness Scrambler.
July 1: Day of rest at Aunt Cheryl's.
July 2: We went to Uncle Gary's, watched home videos, ate steak, and played ping-pong.
July 3: We went to church with Eric and Laurel; the testimonies were on patriotism and the temples.
July 4: We went to Disneyland and spent most of the time in California Adventure. I really liked the Aladdin show. There was one part where Aladdin just told the genie he would not wish him free and the genie said, "Well, you know something?" He paused, and we could all hear a baby crying in the audience. "That baby's crying because of you!" That line got a lot of laughs and applause. We also got to watch the fireworks show, sitting in Main Street, playing cards while we waited. Their show was incredible, and it lasted almost half an hour. Getting out of the park was also an adventure.
July 5: We visited Eric and Laurel.
July 6: Disneyland again -- I lost one of the pins I had bought on Monday, and when we couldn't find it, a cast member got me a replacement. We ate at Village Haus, which is the equivalent to the restaurant where I worked. We attempted to go on the Roger Rabbit ride, but it broke down while we were in line. We got to ride in the golden canal boat in Storybookland; a lot of the rides have golden cars -- a golden carousel horse, a golden Dumbo, a golden teacup, etc.
July 7: We went to Aunt Cheryl's house.
July 8: Seaworld: I liked the shows, especially Shamu and the sea lion show, and the aquariums, and I really liked watching the penguins. (I got a little stuffed baby Emperor penguin.) My favorite ride was Wild Arctic, which took us to the exhibit with polar bears, walruses, and belugas.
July 9: Wild Animal Park (I think I would rather have gone to the zoo.) It was very hot, but we did see some interesting animals like an okapi and a white tiger. I also enjoyed the acrobatic show we saw late in the evening.
July 10: Church with Aunt Cheryl.
July 11: Our final day at Disneyland. We got in early and ran around Fantasyland. Mindy and Clarissa went on as many golden vehicles as they could. While the others went on Indiana Jones (I'd already been on it and I didn't want to go on it again), I waited in line for the Jungle Cruise, but a boat got stuck just before I got on the ride. After we finally got on, we had to wait while the other boats were being loaded, so we heard a lot of corny jokes. We watched Mickey Mouse climb the Matterhorn from the golden horseless carriage. We went to the ESPN zone, since we had free ten dollar passes for it. They had racing games and air hockey. We watched the electrical Parade that evening, and then we had to hurry to get to Space Mountain, and we watched the fireworks from the line. We didn't get out until the park closed because we were buying souvenirs. I got a CD with music from the Disneyland rides and shows.
July 12: We drove all day to reach Yosemite and had to set up camp in the dark.
July 13: Mom, Dad, and I went on a geologic walk in Yosemite Valley, learning how it was formed, and we went to see Yosemite Falls, which were running this time.
July 14: We drove some more, taking a shortcut through the mountains. Maybe it would have been better if we had stuck with the freeways. The campsite, while beautiful, was home to swarms of mosquitoes, and we ended up in a motel.
July 15: We visited the Redwoods; the trees were incredible, and it was wonderful to walk through a grove. Then we went to Oregon Caves, which I loved. We saw some very interesting formations such as those resembling a whale's back (the "spine" is actually a fault line), a wedding cake, a heart, bananas, and the Washington Monument. We also saw a cave spider which we named "She-bob." There were some steep stairs that I did not really like, but the whole cave was wonderful. And on our way out, we walked through a manmade tunnel and everyone made lots of noise to hear the echoes. (Apparently the natural tunnels don't echo.) Then we kept on driving and finally got home at 8:43 p.m.