I saw palm trees.  And these tropical trees signaled to me that I had just arrived in Los Angeles, California.

I was ecstatic when my father approached me with the idea of going to California with him on a business trip last spring, and I was even more excited when he said that I was allowed to bring a friend since none of my siblings could accompany me. So my father, my friend Olivia, and I departed from BWI at 9:30 a.m. on Father’s Day and arrived in LAX in the late afternoon.

After passing through four time zones, we were famished. My father decided to take us to a restaurant called Gladstone’s Malibu literally right on the Pacific Ocean.

Our lunch experience wasn’t the greatest though because our waitress annoyed me and tricked my father into ordering a $100 appetizer capable of feeding the entire state of California that consisted of everything that swam in the ocean.  After our costly lunch at Gladstone’s, my father took Olivia and me on a quick visit to Pepperdine University, where we were able to view the beautiful sea and sky near its scenic campus.

We then drove back onto the Pacific Coast Highway and headed south back to Anaheim where we would be staying for our four day period.

When we were close to arriving at our hotel that was right outside Disneyland, I saw signs advertising the famous parks. Normally I would be jumping up and down with excitement, but in this case, after crossing the entire country and being extremely jet-lagged, all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and sleep for a hundred years like Sleeping Beauty.

However, my father thought differently.

He insisted that we experience California to its fullest and drive a half hour out to Huntington Beach for dinner. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to go to Huntington Beach, but the idea of ordering take out from the local Cheesecake Factory down the street was so much more appealing.

We made the drive and had a pleasant dinner, but I could only think about two things: going to sleep and going to Disneyland the next day.

Olivia and I experienced Disneyland to its fullest.  We rode the classic rides like the Matterhorn and Space Mountain, ate Mickey shaped ice creams outside of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, and took a ton of pictures with Disney characters. However, the best part of the day was when we rode on Splash Mountain in the very front row, where we got soaked.

The next day we went to Disneyland’s other park, Disney’s California Adventure. Olivia and I both were scared for this day, because this park housed The Hollywood Tower of Terror.

Throughout the entire day, Olivia and I avoided riding the Tower of Terror at all costs, but at the end we both agreed that we needed to ride it to complete our adventure.  With heavy feet, we trudged across the park, looked up at the ominous thirteen stories, and walked in line.

Olivia and I both decided to close our eyes, hum to ourselves, and hold on to the rails with a death grip so we couldn’t see, hear, or feel anything.

That plan failed.

The moment I decide to scratch my nose was the same time as the menacing voice said, “You have now entered the Twilight Zone,” and dropped us thirteen stories.  However, Olivia and I both realized that the ride wasn’t so bad and ended up riding the Tower of Terror six times during our visit.

The following day was spent running back and forth between Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure riding any rides we hadn’t ridden already, and the night was spent watching the “World of Color” show at California Adventure.

Our trip in Disneyland ended with us sitting on a bench that faced Sleeping Beauty’s Castle while we ate our ice cream like a couple of young children.

The next day was the day that we would return home to Maryland, and we drove to the airport with heavy hearts remembering all of things that happened in four short days.

As the plane took off into the California sky, I looked out my window and remembered that Katy Perry had said in one of her songs that nothing comes close to the Golden Coast.  I couldn’t agree more.

Cassidy can be reached for comment at [email protected].