The Greatest Show on Earth

Yesterday was a downtime day and I needed it after all the walking at Disneyland. We poked around a mall a little bit, did some shopping (two Disney shirts for 20 bucks anyone?), had a pretzel (I know we can get them in Canada but here they are ALL over), hung out.

Quick fact: In Huntington Beach people have Orange trees in their yard and as I was driving the other day I saw the equivalent of a bag of oranges (a nice bag of Valencia oranges) lying in the gutter like we would see plums, crabapples or walnuts at home, for some reason this struck me as a terrible shame.

In the evening Gary and Maggi had friends from church over, a delightful couple named Maynard and Nancy. We had supper at home and chatted, turns out Maynard is their church's Mr. Renner (the guy who seemingly does all the maintenance at the church). Super nice people. After a good supper we were off.... to the CIRCUS! When Gary said he would like to take I wasnt sure what to think. I havent been in soooo long but the idea definitely excited me, then it turned out it was THE circus. Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey, the greatest show on earth. It was a LOT of fun, like crazy fun. An acrobat actually freaked me out as he did one death defying stunt, he walked upside down in these little stirrups, fell down into a swing and then swung across let go and flew to another swing without a net. I know... you've seen it before... well this was right above us and completely nuts. I was amazed at how the show a kept its spectacle intact all these years, that feeling of danger on all sides that people way back when would pay to see. I think PT Barnum would have been proud. The moment you walked in you could hear the cries of "Popcorn! Peanuts!" And normally schilling drives me crazy but since Barnum nearly invented the idea I didnt mind it, they were true to their origins. The tigers were awesome, I cant remember ever seeing 7 of them in one place before. The best part was that they didnt seem terribly cooperative and there was a sense the trainer may become lunch. The tigers even took to fighting a few times! Candace was disappointed, she hadnt brought the camera because they never let you take pictures at these things, except at this one they did.

Quick fact: I hardly ever go to stadiums for sporting events or anything else and I have now been in the Honda Center in Anaheim twice. Go figure.