(no subject)

So, had an eventful few days.

Mom, Zach and I headed out on Wednesday around 11. Made it to OC right at 3, after a stop for lunch, which was awesome timing because that's when Check-In started. We stayed on 15th street, which is pretty much right at the point where the streets of hotel meet the streets of boardwalk entertainment. We did, however, manage to find a hotel that still proudly advertised that it had 'COLOR TV!' and 'AM/FM RADIO!' which... yeah. Not surprisingly, they had no Wi-Fi, but luckily my phone still worked so I wasn't entirely internet deprived. The room had furnishings roughly circa 1999ish. With a giant boxy TV that was indeed in color. The room was also tiny.

However, they did have an awesome pool. Which they also proudly proclaimed on their sign along with color TV and radio. It goes to 10 feet. You still can't dive, but it's awesome nonetheless. We forewent the beach on Wednesday, it was 3:30 or so by the time we got settled in the room and everything and we decided to just got to the pool for a while before heading to the boardwalk.

After some failed attempts at trying to get my brother to swim (and by swim, I mean float) that were not successful (I have theorized that he was like, born without buoyancy or something) some guy started playing a guitar and singing songs. Awesome! This is now a concert post! He played a lot of cover songs - Third Eye Blind, Zac Brown Band, Jason Mraz, Matchbox Twenty, John Mayer, Josh Turner, Luke Bryan, Dierks Bentley, Aerosmith, and a lot more. His name was Blake Haley, and is a link to hsi website.

After the unexpected concert was over, we headed back to the room to change and then hit the boardwalk. We walked down a few streets to hit up an arcade we always went to when we were little that was still pretty fun. Walked a few more streets, made a few stops, grabbed some pizza for dinner (that took forever to get, the place was so crowded) and then continued on our way. Stopped for ice cream at Dumser's aka my Dad's favorite ice cream place ever. Got to the end, chilled for a bit and then headed back to the hotel on the tram. Watched like 5 minutes of Royal Pains and crashed out at like... 11.

Woke up at 7 on Tuesday. Shock to my system. Umbrella rental place on the beach didn't open til , so we grabbed breakfast at the hotel restaurant next door. Which was significantly more fancy than a. our hotel and b. that it used to be. It used to be called the Santa Maria, but they tore that down and replaced it with some fancy Courtyard Marriott thing that looks nice (and has Wi-Fi!) but is also ridiculous expensive. OC has no right to be that expensive. Anyway. After 9, we hit the beach. The water was freezing and it got deep too fast to boogie-board, so we mostly spent the time chilling on the beach. After a while Zach got bored so we headed back to the pool for a while. No free concert this time, but still fun and relaxing. Zach bailed on us after that - but Mom and I headed back to the beach and then back to the pool before we headed back inside.

Once we were cleaned up, Mom and I walked down a few streets to Phillip's for an awesomely tasty dinner. Brought food back for Zach, watched a few episodes of NCIS on TV and then headed back to the boardwalk. Wandered a bit and grabbed Thrasher's fries and then ended up getting stalked by seagulls and then feeding seagulls which was fun, if also kind of terrifying (especially when a GIANT one sits there staring at you, kind of unnerving). Didn't stay out long, got back into the room before half-time of the Ravens first pre-season game, which we quickly switched off of. Watched Burn Notice, watched Suits and then crashed out.

Woke up at 7 again this morning, we were ready to go by 9 and checked out. Drove up a few streets to get popcorn and taffy to take home with us, but Mom saw some store she'd been looking for that she'd thought closed, so we chilled until 10 when the opened. Wandered a few stores and grabbed the snackage and we were on the road by like, 10:10.

Made it home before 2, which was good because Mom and I worked tonight.

I am hopelessly sunburned. I slathered my face in aloe and silvadine burn cream enough to get through work, but owwww. So not cool.

A few beach pictures are under the cut!

( HERE )

(no subject)

So, had an eventful few days.

Mom, Zach and I headed out on Wednesday around 11. Made it to OC right at 3, after a stop for lunch, which was awesome timing because that's when Check-In started. We stayed on 15th street, which is pretty much right at the point where the streets of hotel meet the streets of boardwalk entertainment. We did, however, manage to find a hotel that still proudly advertised that it had 'COLOR TV!' and 'AM/FM RADIO!' which... yeah. Not surprisingly, they had no Wi-Fi, but luckily my phone still worked so I wasn't entirely internet deprived. The room had furnishings roughly circa 1999ish. With a giant boxy TV that was indeed in color. The room was also tiny.

However, they did have an awesome pool. Which they also proudly proclaimed on their sign along with color TV and radio. It goes to 10 feet. You still can't dive, but it's awesome nonetheless. We forewent the beach on Wednesday, it was 3:30 or so by the time we got settled in the room and everything and we decided to just got to the pool for a while before heading to the boardwalk.

After some failed attempts at trying to get my brother to swim (and by swim, I mean float) that were not successful (I have theorized that he was like, born without buoyancy or something) some guy started playing a guitar and singing songs. Awesome! This is now a concert post! He played a lot of cover songs - Third Eye Blind, Zac Brown Band, Jason Mraz, Matchbox Twenty, John Mayer, Josh Turner, Luke Bryan, Dierks Bentley, Aerosmith, and a lot more. His name was Blake Haley, and is a link to hsi website.

After the unexpected concert was over, we headed back to the room to change and then hit the boardwalk. We walked down a few streets to hit up an arcade we always went to when we were little that was still pretty fun. Walked a few more streets, made a few stops, grabbed some pizza for dinner (that took forever to get, the place was so crowded) and then continued on our way. Stopped for ice cream at Dumser's aka my Dad's favorite ice cream place ever. Got to the end, chilled for a bit and then headed back to the hotel on the tram. Watched like 5 minutes of Royal Pains and crashed out at like... 11.

Woke up at 7 on Tuesday. Shock to my system. Umbrella rental place on the beach didn't open til , so we grabbed breakfast at the hotel restaurant next door. Which was significantly more fancy than a. our hotel and b. that it used to be. It used to be called the Santa Maria, but they tore that down and replaced it with some fancy Courtyard Marriott thing that looks nice (and has Wi-Fi!) but is also ridiculous expensive. OC has no right to be that expensive. Anyway. After 9, we hit the beach. The water was freezing and it got deep too fast to boogie-board, so we mostly spent the time chilling on the beach. After a while Zach got bored so we headed back to the pool for a while. No free concert this time, but still fun and relaxing. Zach bailed on us after that - but Mom and I headed back to the beach and then back to the pool before we headed back inside.

Once we were cleaned up, Mom and I walked down a few streets to Phillip's for an awesomely tasty dinner. Brought food back for Zach, watched a few episodes of NCIS on TV and then headed back to the boardwalk. Wandered a bit and grabbed Thrasher's fries and then ended up getting stalked by seagulls and then feeding seagulls which was fun, if also kind of terrifying (especially when a GIANT one sits there staring at you, kind of unnerving). Didn't stay out long, got back into the room before half-time of the Ravens first pre-season game, which we quickly switched off of. Watched Burn Notice, watched Suits and then crashed out.

Woke up at 7 again this morning, we were ready to go by 9 and checked out. Drove up a few streets to get popcorn and taffy to take home with us, but Mom saw some store she'd been looking for that she'd thought closed, so we chilled until 10 when the opened. Wandered a few stores and grabbed the snackage and we were on the road by like, 10:10.

Made it home before 2, which was good because Mom and I worked tonight.

I am hopelessly sunburned. I slathered my face in aloe and silvadine burn cream enough to get through work, but owwww. So not cool.

A few beach pictures are under the cut!

( HERE )