Anaheim (54/73)

After about an hour, we finally made our way off the freeway. I have to say it was quite interesting having an upper view of the traffic. Looking out of the window of the bunk above the cab of the truck gave Dallas and me an outstanding view of everyone’s vehicles around us. It was California after all. Therefore, there was more than a few convertibles. Directly in front of us was an army style jeep with a family in it. The two children were swatting each other in the back seat. Obviously siblings. We laughed as we saw them caught by their mother in the front passengers’ seat.

Anaheim was a busy metropolis. As we drove into the hotel parking lot, we had to slowly pull in because there were tourists everywhere. They were heading to the pool in the middle of the lot. All decked out in their pool shorts and bathing suits with their towels under their arms. We must have looked like the Canadian version of the Griswold’s. Showing up in our camper on top of a faded red GMC ½ Ton farm truck all the way from Canada. After we parked the truck we once again began to unpack the camper into our hotel room. Dallas, Devon and myself were very distracted by the pool. It was surrounded by many shrubs carved out in different Disney characters. There must have been at least two dozen of them surrounding what looked like a very large pool and possibly a hot tub or two. We were quickly reminded to focus on the task at hand by Grandma Lois. She was tired from driving and wanted to go have dinner and relax. The three of us quickly helped to get everything into our room. Once we did, we headed over to the restaurant beside the hotel called Coco’s. The desk agent had recommend it to Grandma when she checked us in. She said it was a great place to go with children.

Once we entered the restaurant, we came face to face with another line up. This time it was not traffic but a line up to get a table. The place was very busy but seemed to be moving along so we decided to stay. Devon gave the hostess our name as the rest of us went to have a seat in the waiting area. After about fifteen minutes, the hostess called Dallas’s name. He smirked and giggled as she did. He found it quite funny that he gave her his name instead of Grandma’s name.

As we finished our dessert, we came to see why the restaurant came so highly recommended. The food was great. The portions were huge and the price was amazing. Every dinner even came with dessert. Who could ask for more? Grandma was very pleased as she sipped her tea and prepared to pay the bill. As we walked back to the hotel, we asked if we could go swimming before bed. Grandma immediately said no. She was exhausted from driving from Las Vegas to Disney Land. She knew what we were in store for the next day and she wanted to rest before then. However, my Mother said she would take us to the pool. She wanted to soak in the hot tub for a while before bed. All three of us were delighted as we heard this and with in what seemed like seconds we were all changed and ready to go to the pool.

Once we were in the pool area our excitement faded, a bit, as we saw that the area was packed with people everywhere. It was a very large rectangular shaped pool with two square hot tubs off the far end. There were grassy areas surrounding the pool and sculptures of Minnie, Mickey and Friends scattered about. We all headed into the area looking to find a spot to soak our tired bodies. My Mother headed directly for the hot and Devon went straight into the pool as if he was the only one there. Dallas decided to walk around the pool looking for the best way to approach the water. As for myself, I was looking for a quiet spot on the grass to stretch out on for a bit.

I found a nice quiet area somewhere between Donald and Daffy Duck. I shook out my towel and laid it on the grass. As I did, I looked around and briefly wondered to myself… ‘Why are there not more people laying on the grass?’ I sat down on my towel and watched as people were coming and going out of the pool. After about ten minutes of relaxing, I felt as if something was crawling up across my right arm. As I turned about to brush off my arm and check to see if there was something touching me I noticed a snail slithering across my towel. In that moment I knew…. A snail was touching my arm. I immediately jumped up off my towel only to see that there were snails all over the grass and now all over my towel. My body shivered at the very thought of those creatures touching me. I now knew why nobody was sitting on the grass.