Baseball: San Diego Padres vs Los Angeles Dodgers NLDS game 5

We happened to be in Los Angeles during the baseball postseason, and managed to snag some nosebleed seats for game 5 of the National League Division Series. It was between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres, playing at the Dodger’s ballpark, Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California. Bonus baseball park for 2024!

Dodger Stadium

Field:

Field

Team store:

Team store

Musical entertainment on the top deck:

Musical entertainment

Hot dogs and fries at our seats at the very top of the top deck:

Hot dogs and fries

Hollywood sign visible in the distance:

Hollywood Sign

Selfie:

Selfie

Concourse:

Concourse

Souvenir cocktail beverages:

Beverages

View from our seats on the top deck:

View from our seats on the top deck

The stadium is surrounded by massive car parking surface lots (which made finding our car in the dark after the game extra fun):

Car parking

Presenter desk:

Presenter desk

NLDS:

NLDS

Rob Lowe before the game:

Rob Lowe

View from our seats

Baseball

Shohei Ohtani:

Ohtani

View from our seats

Dodger Dogs:

Dodger Dogs

Dodgers

Origami crane:

Origami crane

Dodgers

Dodgers

Bullpen:

Bullpen

Shake Shack:

Shake Shack

Trophies:

Trophies

Sunset:

Sunset

Sunset

Helmet nachos:

Nachos

Baseball

Baseball

Run scores:

Run scores

Hit:

Hit

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Scores:

Scores

Dodgers win:

Dodgers win

Dodgers win

Disney 2024: Disneyland

We also spent a day at Disneyland.

The park was festooned with Halloween decorations:

Entrance with Halloween decorations

The train station was looking a little more 2D, being refurbished:

The train station was looking a little more 2D

Castle selfie:

Castle selfie

Marching band:

Marching band

Band and characters

Characters

Lunch:

Lunch

It’s a Small World was closed:

It's a Small World closed

We did the Runaway Railway ride:

Runaway Railway ride

And the Roger Rabbit ride:

Roger Rabbit ride

And Teacups ride:

Teacups ride

Jenn during the teacup ride:

Jenn during the teacup ride

Jungle Cruise ride:

Jungle Cruise ride

Stormtroopers:

Stormtroopers

Blue milk snack:

Blue milk

The Haunted Mansion was (of course) Halloween and Nightmare Before Christmas themed, with a special virtual queue to access:

Haunted Mansion

Haunted Mansion

Haunted Mansion

Haunted Mansion

Haunted Mansion

Haunted Mansion

Haunted Mansion

Haunted Mansion

Haunted Mansion

Haunted Mansion

Haunted Mansion

Pumpkin and castle:

Pumpkin and castle

Disney 2024: Disney California Adventure

We visited Disneyland in California last year, and Disney World in Florida in April this year… so of course when back in California we visited the Disney parks again. We seem to be somewhat Disney adults.

This time, we only spent one day in each of the two parks, starting with Disney California Adventure.

We visited in October, when the parks had Halloween decorations:

Entrance with Halloween decorations

Halloween decorations

Halloween decorations

Fancy churros:

Fancy churros

We spent most of our time in our favorite area, Cars Land:

Cars Land

We did the Radiator Springs Racers ride:

Radiator Springs Racers

Radiator Springs Racers

Halloween decorations

Halloween decorations

Halloween decorations

Halloween decorations

Halloween decorations

Halloween decorations

Halloween decorations

Halloween decorations

Spiderman:

Spiderman

Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout ride:

Guardians of the Galaxy  Mission Breakout

Pym Test Kitchen for lunch:

Pym Test Kitchen

Pym Test Kitchen

The San Francisco area has been rebranded as San Fransokyo:

San Fransokyo

San Fransokyo:

San Fransokyo

Back out of the park, where there were long lines waiting for an evening event:

Entrance with Halloween decorations

Orangeland RV Park

We stayed at Orangeland RV Park in Orange (Los Angeles), California. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Our third stay here. Tight sites, but a few miles from Disneyland.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2024-10-06
  • Check out: 2024-10-13
  • 7 nights

Weather:

  • Partly sunny
  • High temps 80-85°F, lows 58-61°F
  • Negligible wind, gusts to 11 MPH

Noise:

  • No freeway noise, some road noise
  • No train noise, but distant horns a few times
  • Occasional helicopter noise
  • Some neighbor noise

Site:

  • #26, pull-through, asphalt
  • Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
  • Somewhat unlevel site; high in front and passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
  • Asphalt driveway about 45 feet long by 12 feet wide
  • 15 feet to neighbors on both sides
  • Table, chairs, and umbrella on 9×8 feet stamped concrete patio
  • Orange trees that can be harvested
  • Fairly clean site (a couple small bits of trash)

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, very conveniently located
  • 85 PSI water, conveniently located
  • Loose sewer connection, very conveniently located (4 foot of pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 5 Mbps down, 5-25 Mbps up, 30-40 ms ping
  • AT&T: 18 Mbps down, 3-5 Mbps up, 30-45 ms ping
  • Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
  • Campground Wi-Fi: 5-6 Mbps down, 1-4 Mbps up, 5 ms ping
  • Starlink: not used

Amenities:

  • Garbage pickup from site
  • Swimming pool and hot tub
  • Package delivery to office
  • A few miles to Disneyland

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Best urban campground

This was our third stay here and it’s still a favorite. They’ve raised the prices since last time, but it’s still a fair rate for the location and what it offers. The sites are on the smallish side, with one of our slides getting very intimate with one of the orange trees on our site, but it doesn’t feel cramped since the trees and other landscaping give a bit of a buffer. A quiet getaway it isn’t, but if you’re here, you’re probably doing Disney or any of the other things LA has to offer and not hanging out at your campsite, so it’s a pretty fair trade. We camped at Orangeland RV Park in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

A nice patio with table, chairs, and umbrella (but we also put out our own chairs, as the patio chairs weren’t all that comfortable for sitting for any length of time):

Patio

When staying in a city, it’s nice to be able to take advantage of pizza delivery:

Pizza delivery

And Chinese food delivery:

Chinese food delivery

Utilities:

Utilities

Utilities

The sewer connection was loose, but protruding enough, so I used my Dump Buddy for the first time; it clamps on to the pipe and my hose to hold it in place:

Dump Buddy

Neighbor site after they left; there was a trailer there most of the week, but this shows an empty site:

Neighbor site after they left

We’d be happy to stay here again, but next time we might try another RV park that is even closer to Disneyland.

Travel from Acton to Orange, California

We drove our coach just 83 miles, about two hours of driving, from Acton, California to Orange, California.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading south:

Route map

An interactive map:

Ready to leave; it was a nice view:

Ready to leave; it was a nice view

Passing by our site:

Passing by our site

Taking out the trash:

Taking out the trash

An RV waiting for check-in time:

An RV waiting for check in time

Interesting rocks by CA-14, the back side of Vasquez Rocks:

Interesting rocks by CA-14

Interesting rocks by CA-14

A classic car entering the freeway:

Classic car

I-5 South Truck Route:

I-5 South Truck Route

I-5 South Truck Route

Paladin sat on the dash for a while, enjoying a sunbeam; unusual for him, but he’s been getting used to it:

Paladin on the dash

Paladin on the dash

Citadel outlet mall:

Citadel outlet mall

We just love the super-smooth LA freeways:

Just love LA freeways

Tight corner onto Struck Ave; fine so long as nobody is waiting to turn out:

Tight corner onto Strunk Ave

Our destination, Orangeland RV Park:

Our destination

Busy check-in time:

Busy check-in time

Guided to our site by a guy on a Segway:

Guided to our site by a guy on a Segway

Preminder app for iPhone helps remind you when to book RV parks

It occurred to me that I should share this with the RV community. You may know me as the admin of the Tiffin Allegro Bus 2016-2018 Owners group on Facebook, or poster of our travels at Sinclair Trails, but I’m also an indie app developer for Apple platforms; my company is called Dejal.

A common situation my wife and I have as we travel around the country in our motorhome is that RV parks only allow reserving sites a certain time period ahead. We like to plan our route a year or more in advance, and try to book popular places as early as possible, before they fill up. So given the date we want to arrive, we need to add a reminder six months or 90 days (or whatever their booking window is) before that.

We used to ask a digital assistant like Amazon Alexa or Apple’s Siri to calculate the date for us, but this is such a frequent problem for us that I decided to write an app to solve it. The result is Preminder, a simple and free iOS app to add a reminder to Apple Reminders some number of days, weeks, months, or years before another date.

The app is useful for more than campgrounds, though. Some exciting gadget going on sale in 30 days? Add a reminder. Hard-to-get concert tickets becoming available? Need to buy birthday gifts? Add a reminder, easily.

6 months before Date picker Remind before

Give it a try:

Get Preminder 1.0 now — it’s free!