Our next big adventure - West Coast

Today we traveled to Marengo Cave.  Not as extensive or as many growths as Carlsbad or Mammoth Cave, but not bad.  A bit expensive, though (privately owned).  We are stopped for the night halfway to St. Louis, but we arrived at the campground an hour late because we received a Tornado Warning earlier.  After a quick look at NOAA's radar/warning map I realized it was directly ahead of us on I-64.  I had just filled up with gas so we hung around there as the Tornado Warning transitioned to a Severe Thunderstorm Warning, and with the winds whipping light poles and trees around there was no way I was going to pull my trailer through that.  So we sat and enjoyed the show - and we weren't the only ones, the parking lot quickly filled up with sensible people.

Tomorrow will be the Arch and more driving.

So we had a great day and a half to explore the Canyon.  We were there 2 years ago but since we were driving by anyway we dropped in again.  We took the shuttle buses to the western and eastern loops which we didn't see last time.  The western (red) section is the best part IMO.  Hope to finally get to the northern rim next time, probably years from now.  Then we moved on to Lake Mead and Hoover Dam.  I toured the dam back in '86 and things were different this time, partly because of 9/11.  But we still got to see one of the bypass tunnels and one of the power houses where the big turbines are.  The view from our campsite of the lake was incredible, a shame we were barely there since we also spent the evening in Las Vegas (didn't put a dime into a slot, amazingly - when I was there in '86 I won $20 in a nickel slot but then my family got kicked out since I was 14 at the time...).  Must get back there some day to enjoy the view.  Next up was Disneyland yesterday.  I've been to Disneyworld several times, and we all went in '08, and my wife went during a conference last year, so we are familiar with the east coast park.  Disneyland felt smaller than the Magic Kingdom, and Downtown Disney is definitely smaller.  We liked it.  I'm no big fan of the Mousedom with the high ticket prices and overpriced food, but that said we all felt it was a nicer version compared to Orlando.  I especially liked the Star Wars additions to Tomorrowland.  Today we did a whirlwind tour of LA including seeing the Endeavour space shuttle (we've now seen 2 of the 3 space-flown shuttles and the test shuttle Enterprise), the only external shuttle tank left, one Apollo/Mercury/Gemini capsule each, a great Mexican restaurant, the Hollywood sign, steep windy roads through Hollywood Hills neighborhoods (not easy in a Suburban with a 3-foot extension on the front), a drive-through of the Walk of Fame and Beverly Hills and Marina Del Ray.  Glad I wasn't driving because the drivers in LA are worse than the east coasters...  And finally I completed a 30-year quest to finally see and touch the Pacific Ocean!  When my parents and I toured the US in '86 we came within a day's drive of the coast but didn't have the time to make it to the coast.  We were just in the Atlantic Ocean about 7 weeks ago so nice to put my feet in the sand on the other side now.  Didn't like the part of Venice Beach we went to, though.  Maybe it is nicer farther north?

I've seen multiple pods lately, but haven't had the time to knock on any doors.  Saw 2 at the Grand Canyon (one was the same one we saw in Tucamacari NM), and one here in Anaheim.

Off tomorrow to Sequoia National Park.