Avenue of the Giants

Labor day weekend!!!!! My dad took me to the AVENUE OF THE GIANTS! There were some BIG trees!!
On the way there, we stopped at Hobbiton, USA! It was closed though... not that that affected whether or not we went in. It was so hard to walk under a log fence, you know? We ended up going backwards through the trail though. It was still cool.
After we got through to the entrance of the trail, we passed a house. WE had to go through the yard of somebody's actual house to get out of there. Which is why I'm running. We thought we were going to get caught. Smart, eh?
Then on the way form Hobbiton to our hotel in Fortuna, the sunset looked really pretty.
And the videos will tell the rest! But be warned... I wasn't watching my mouth, so there are a few swear words. Ooo, look at the big clover!!!!!

We drove through a tree!!!


Oh, this is the Flat-Iron tree.
And this is me on the way back down HWY-1.

Yeah, we came back down the 1. =)

It was FUN! For a semi-spontaneous vacation taken on Labor Day weekend, we did quite well.

Riverside

The other trip I took this summer was down to SoCal to visit AGK&UGH and the J's. I saw Wicked with Uncle Steve, his wife Lori, AGK (Grandma Katie), and UGH (Harold). It was just as wicked as the first time I saw it there, at the Pantages. I went to Disneyland three times, once with AGK&UGH, once with AGK, and once with AGK&UGH and the J's (minus Daddy J). Daddy J was off at a car show in Reno. I'm glad I got to see him before he left. Justin and Julia, the 2-year-old and 9-month-old kids of Mommy J (Jenny) and Daddy J (James), are two of my little cousins. Justin has claimed me as "My Taylor". Julia isn't amazingly interested with me... yet. Apparently toddlers are the ones who love me. I had a great time visiting them all. And the next time I have a long enough break to go down there again, I will. Hopefully my cousin Tori, Steve's daughter from his first marriage to Kathy, will come out to see me. She didn't come this time because she was with her mom in Arizona, and wouldn't/couldn't drive out. She would only come if someone drove out there (a 6 hour drive, one way) to pick her up, and then give her a ride home. We would have had to take a day to go get her, and a day to bring her back, and that's time we didn't have. Anyway, I had a great time in SoCal.

New York Summer Trip

The first trip I took this summer. Nine days in New York, getting to see seven Broadway shows. I went with my Dad (my parents are divorced), and although we did argue about at least one thing every day, I'm glad he took me. It was great.

Mary Poppins was a good start. Sadly I didn't get to see the Bert that is normally there, Gavin Lee. The understudy played it that night. He was still good though. Ashley Brown was great as Mary. At the stage door after the show, I didn't really want the kid who played Michael and the girl who played Jane to sign my stuff. There are at least two kids who get switched out to play the parts... anyway, the Michael kid saw me and was all "Can I sign your stuff?" So I let him... grr...

Avenue Q was really funny. Hey, did I mention my dad isn't a big theatre-goer? He fell asleep once. I guess that's pretty good, for him. My mom said he fell asleep at least three times when they saw The Phantom of the Opera. ...

Spring Awakening!!! I have to say I loved it. It was a great show that almost any teenager could connect to. Before the show, I went and bought the shirt that said "There's a moment you know... You're FUCKED", and when I got back to the seat, my dad made me return it... So I got the one that just had the Spring Awakening logo. I'm wearing it as I type right now!

The Little Mermaid was my dad's favorite. It was a very colorful show, with great performers who performed big numbers. I didn't get to see the right Sebastian (another understudy!)... so I didn't get to hear Titus Burgess' "soaring tenor". The youtube videos I had watched of him prepared me to hear HIS voice. I guess the understudy was pretty good too. Just a little disappoingting. Flotsam and Jetsam were played by guys who were, to be honest, VERY flamboyant. It was strange to see them at the stage door, because I had never seen two guys who looked and sounded as flamboyant as they did. Sad thing about the stage door here though... Ursula (Sherie Renee Scott) and Prince Eric ditched us and went out through the front door, and Ariel (Sierra Boggess) signed about ten peoples' programs, then had her bodyguard shove us out of the way so she could leave. I'm giving her the BOTD and thinking that she had somewhere she really needed to be. King Triton (Norm Lewis) was really cool. He stayed to talk to us, and really seemed like he cared about his fans.

Chicago was the one show I didn't like. Well, that's what I get for just looking at the box-office sales and saying that it was a show I would like. Well, Velma's voice was annoying, and the staging was VERY plain. Also, it was hard to figure out who was talking, because the ensemble played EVERYONE except Mama, Roxie, Velma, Billy, and Mary Sunshine. And there were no costume changes, so... yeah.

Wicked... I love Wicked. It was the second time I had seen it, and I loved it again. I saw it the first time last year on a chorus trip. Wicked is one of my favorite shows.

RENT is now tied with Wicked as my favorite show. It was amazing... it sucks that it'll be closing on September 7th.

Other stuff I did besides Broadway shows... ehh, all the normal NY stuff. Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Coney Island, Central Park, etc. My dad and I had fun taking a bunch of stupid pictures. =)