My Birthday continues...

Monday was a big day for me because it was my final day of Birthday Celebrations!  I was looking forward to Monday but also happy that it was the last day of celebrating because I was exhausted from all the craziness.  I was so thankful to get to see and spend time with a lot of my friends because it's hard to get everyone together all at the same time, but hopefully, that can be a more regular thing!

Neil's Birthday Surprise was a Season Pass to Hurricane Harbor along with tickets for us to see Steel Panther at The House of Blues on Sunset in Hollywood!

The day started off with our usual tradition of Bagel's at Dink's in Valencia.  Oh how I had missed my Bagel Sandwich!!  We got off to a late start so we arrived at Hurricane Harbor around 1 pm and saw there was a long line to get pictures taken for our Hurricane Harbor ID.  Luckily, Neil had purchased the passes on-line so we got to cut the line and go straight to the front!  I'm pretty sure both of us hated our pictures but we had water slides to get to and sun to embrace!

After getting a locker, we headed to the Wave Pool which was freezing (like usual) and then to our favorite slide and waited almost an hour before we made it to the top with our giant raft.  It's like a tornado, there's a big drop and you go up the sides, almost getting vertical, it's crazy!  Since it took so long for our first ride we found some chairs and laid out for a while and then when it got too hot we were off to another slide who's line seemed shorter and fairly quick.  Well, we were wrong, and we waited there almost 40 minutes to ride that one and better for me that Neil didn't try to flip the tube like last time!  We always like to get take a lap or two on the Lazy River, so we swam for a little bit, got some more sun, and then called it a day for the slides.

*I think the main issue for our visit on Monday was that they started this new system with a Fast Pass (for $15 more per visit) where you find out the wait time, and then you get to come back and ride the slide and you can do that for all the rides and time them out so there's no waiting in between.  The problem was, this is still new so I'm not sure if all the employee's have it figured out yet.  On top of that, they were only letting a certain amount of tubes up the staircases, so if 10 people came to the Fast Pass line, that would be all they would allow, so now you had to wait for all of them to get to the top then come down, and then the line would move forward.  Hopefully, things will be much smoother the next time we go.

First timer of Dippin' Dots!

Onto the food...before we left I got some Dippin' Dots because Neil had never tried them before, and they seem hard to come by.  It's amazing what they charge for food and drinks at these water parks ($11 for a large soda, are you crazy)?!  He thought they were strange at first but ended up liking them a lot!  Success :)  After our day in the sun we headed over to Chili's for Happy Hour & Margarita's.  I got a Mango Margarita and then a Strawberry/Raspberry while Neil stuck to The Original.  They have the best chips, thin and crispy, with a small film of oil on them...soooooooo good!  We also ordered some Southwest Egg Rolls and Onion Rings with Jalapeno's.  After filling up on goodies we headed back to the Valley and got ready for Steel Panther!

Finally had an occasion to wear this top
that's been in my closet for 5 years with
the tag still on!!

In our rocker outfits we headed to Hollywood and found a parking spot a few blocks away on Sunset Blvd.  We got there around 10:30 pm thinking that the opening band would almost be done but they played for another almost 45 minutes.  Just before midnight the show started.  I had forgotten that Steel Panther didn't play mostly covers anymore, they played their own music with a few covers here and there.  I love 80's music and they write some great songs that fit that genre so perfectly.  My disappointment is that none of the songs are serious, even their slow songs are all jokes and slightly disgusting.  I think they would sell more records if they took the songs seriously and just played great 80's glam rock with a new twist because people love that stuff.  I wanted to get close to the stage, and I think Neil was surprised because I'm usually pretty claustrophobic and on top of it all we were in the middle of a ton of huge dudes with wigs, ripped jeans, and mesh shirts.  He was very protective of me and was ready to kick someone's butt if they bumped into me (thanks Sweetheart)!  Of course, Steel Panther did their usual chatting in between, bringing girls up, and cracking jokes...more music, please!!  The drummer from Ratt played 'Round & Round' with the band but he might have had one too many cocktails before he got on-stage...oops!   I think my favorite part of the concert was when Matt Sorum of Velvet Revolver and Guns & Roses went up to play drums with them.  He literally killed it up there, playing an Ozzy Osborne song but then ending his set with 'Sweet Child of Mine.'  It was certainly one of the coolest things I've ever seen!  So thank you Neil for making my Birthday very special!

The show ended just after 1 am and we were both exhausted from such a long day but it was so much fun!  I'm glad to start the Hurricane Harbor season off with a bang, get to see some cool live music, and spend the day with someone who makes me laugh.  And of course, it's always great to see the Yankee's win :D