I met a guy at the Denver airport who claimed that Denver was ranked the #1 most stressed out city in America. Maybe it was the altitude, but I was definitely feeling stressed the whole time I was there. I wasn’t in a conscious state of being stressed out, and by that I mean there was nothing to really trigger the stress in the first place. I always felt like I was running late for everything. I was more sluggish than usual, and found myself having to haul ass to get to my various destinations on time. From the moment I got to Colorado, I couldn’t wait to board my next flight and finally get settled in Orange County.

Of course, a large part of the reason I was eagerly anticipating my Anaheim leg of the road trip was because my friend, George, hooked me up with a free pass to Disneyland and California Adventure. For the first time in a long time, I was excited about something that wasn’t hockey related. I had never been to Disneyland! Growing up in the East, I was a DisneyWorld kid! Not to mention the fact that I haven’t been to Disney since 1999, which means I haven’t seen all the cool stuff they’ve changed in some of the classic rides. They updated the Pirates of the Caribbean ride to include the movie characters, and they completely gut the Haunted Mansion in the fall and transformed it into The Nightmare Before Christmas – eeeeee! Oh, the things you miss when you “grow up.”

Anyway, my off day started with my first trip to IN-N-OUT Burger. I actually was not in the mood to stray into the realm of the secret menu on this outing, so I stuck to my usual two burgers and a chocolate shake. YUM! I was supposed to be going to Disneyland with Lauren, but she didn’t get off work until 5PM, so after I was signed into the park around 12PM, I decided to wander around for a bit before heading back to my hotel. I was mildly concerned that I would come across as some sort of pedophile or child abductor if I was hanging around Disneyland all by lonesome, but apparently, “people do it all the time.”

I finally talked myself into going on a ride by myself. I go to hockey games by myself all the time, but something just seems weird about going to an amusement park alone. Anyway, I figured the Haunted Mansion was a good ride to choose because the cars are pretty private to begin with. At the top of the line, I met another lonely rider. Was it destiny? It was her birthday, so she came to the park to take advantage of the free admission. She was a local, so she knew all the ins and outs of the park, and taught me how to use to Fast Pass thingie.

We hung out at California Adventure mostly. I nearly died of laughter on the Tower of Terror. At the first drop, my instinct was to grab onto the random guy sitting next to me, which then caused my purse to go flying five feet in the air. Sorry, to the guy I kept grabbing at in the dark. I couldn’t help it! There was no lap bar! Another awesome feature about the California Adventure park was that they actually served alcohol. I didn’t really think too much of this until my path crossed with a margarita stand. Birthday margs all around!

After a brief pit stop back at my hotel (I figured I was going to need a sweater since the park is open until midnight), Lauren and I were back in the gates around 6 PM. I was really excited about ingesting large amounts of amusement park food, and the feeding frenzy began at a corn dog stand. I was very conscious of having to say, “corn dog,” but in a hazy bliss of corn doggie delight, I let my guard down and the P word slipped out of my mouth. Everyone around me was suddenly quite alarmed by my use of this Canadianism. Yes, all you Yanks out there, in Canada we call them, “Pogos!” I know, it’s an ugly word.

Anyway, it was a great night at the park. I don’t think we stood in line for anything longer than twenty minutes. I also put my newfound knowledge of the Fast Pass thing to good use. Disneyland made me feel like a kid again, but even as I was literally twirling around in the line for Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, I couldn’t help but stress about the Ducks game the next day. The Coyotes were in town, and ever since that game at the Pepsi Center, I was dreading it. The clock was winding down, and the eve of the game was finally upon me. Of course, the details of that game shall be revealed in my Day 5 post.

Roll the credits…