Author: alohawild

We rose early by alarm before 6 to be ready for the rope drop at Disneyland this morning. I had purchased our Tier 4 tickets for two with Lightning Lanes, but not park hopping. It was still a lot of $. We looked into VIP treatment, but Disney, never afraid of charging too much, sets a premium on those services of over $5,000. The hotel charges $7 each for its bus service to and fro, inclusive. The first bus leaves at 7:15, but we were ready and in line by 6:45, with Deborah getting a quick sandwich and coffee at the Starbucks in the hotel lobby. Everything went as planned, and we soon passed security and entered the long lines to get access. This involves scanning the bar code or watch and then accepting a picture. This can be a lot of moving parts, and some lines are stalled. We were able to pass by those challenged by technology and get scanned and photo’d without delay.

The first ride at Disneyland for us and about 35 minutes amount of more folks who got there before us was our first target: Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. It was a separate $29.99 purchase for faster access (each)! Deborah was disappointed that we had to wait that long. But eventually we were arrested by the First Order, and we told them nothing. We escaped with the good guys, destroyed the ship we were on, and, after considerable work, found an escape pod. We would discover that the lines were short at one point in our visit and would return to escape again, but this time following a different path, and I would be called out by one of the First Order Officers to be watched, as a likely escape was on my mind.

It was still early, and we were in the Star Wars area, so we were engineers on Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, and later returned to try at piloting. Piloting with Deborah going left/right and I trying up/down was great fun. The Haunted House was the usual fun, but our Lightning Lane failed for Space Mountain as the attraction stopped working. Later, we would get back to it, though there was a mistake in how we handled the pass, and they let us in anyway. I forgot how much I enjoyed Space Mountain. We learned that our passes are only good once per ride. The Hanted House was down to 13 minutes (notice the number) for the evening, and we would return, and I would buy an expensive shirt there (using Deborah’s magic credit card to get 10% off).

By chance, Deborah spotted and grabbed a lunch stop at Blue Bayou, which I have wanted to eat at for years. I had the 70th-anniversary prix fixe dinner: steak, salad, and dessert. Deborah had the market fish, and we both had the mint julep without booze, which they have served there forever.

The Pirate ride was down for updates. We did see the test runs for the Pirate Ride of empty boats and one filled with test dummies at Blue Bayou, and Deborah loved the falling-star simulations we could see while we ate lunch/dinner.

We did the bobsled ride, which, to my memory, has never been open during any of my visits, and it was an excellent ride, though I felt a bit pretzel’d getting in and out. We did silly rides like Mr. Toad, Dumbo, and Snow White just for memories. I outscored Deborah on Buzz Lightyear. The Enchanted Tiki Room was enjoyed with the required Dole whip (after having to order online while standing in front of the stand, with them walking me through the steps). The Mount Thunder railroad reopened, and our pass worked this time, and we got a short line for that.

Deborah’s magic credit card got us a bonus round with Star Wars’ Kylo Ren. He demanded that we join, and there was some unusual directness for Disneyland. We were neutral on our acceptance of the Dark Force and the First Order. We were, we learned, luck to survive.

Lunch at Ranco Zolcals was too much chicken, and we learned we could have shared soft drinks and coffee, since the portions were all beyond what each of us needed. Something to remember next time. At the Blue Bayou, we had dinner for lunch, and the portions were appropriate for dinner.

Somewhere we did Indiana Jones, which ends suddenly, Jungle Cruise, and others I have missed. We stopped by the magic shop, where there is a signed photo of Steve Martin; this is where he started his career. The magician was talking shop–various ways to move your hands for a disappearing trick, and I did not see anything I needed.

We found Starbucks as we started to walk out. We visited the last showing of Lincoln at the Opera House. It has been playing since the 1965 World Fair, where the animatronic Lincoln and film were a hit. And while it is not as good as a human actor, it is still surprising how accurate it appears and how wonderful the words are. With Lincoln’s strong warning words that the only thing that will destroy the US is internal dissent. In the current times, a near-overwhelming message.

We took the train all the way around the park, as I do not remember doing the whole of Disneyland before. It is a small park that you realize you have time for only because there is no time to get to the next section on the train. The time-worn images of a made-up Grand Canyon and poorly animated stuffed animals are now blocked off, and 2D paper cutouts cover some of the glass (now opaque). The same music and voice-over were kept.

We had fun and enjoyed each other’s company as we rode everything we wanted (between breakdowns) and skipped It’s A Small World. We skipped the California park this trip and focused on Disneyland, and that was fun.

We walked out of the park just as our bus pulled away, waited 30 minutes, then were back at our hotel and went to bed early. 18,000+ steps for me, plus standing, made my Apple Watch happy.

It was a good time!

Thanks for reading.

 

We rose late on Saturday, as we had no time-constrained plans. Deborah had her leftovers, and I had cereal and shared a banana with Deborah. I made us coffee. We then spent most of the morning together. In the late morning, we boarded Air VW the Gray and headed to San Juan Capistrano to see the Mission we missed last time. The traffic was light but still had slow spots, even on Saturday late morning.

We paid for parking after we managed to get one of two parking places made available when folks pulled out as we pulled in. There was a van that got the other spot, and we all cheered each other. I used a parking app to pay. I have three on my phone, as it is safer to use them than the machine, as you never know if the machine worked (I learned to be more cautious after a $200 fee last time I missed a payment that did not complete in Portland).

We then walked into the Mission, paid $15 each, and got a recorded tour that we used maybe once or twice; mostly, we enjoyed the garden and reading the signs as we wished. I did not know that the founder of the mission, Junípero Serra, was declared a saint in 2015 by Pope Francis; the process began with the saint and Pope John Paul 2. It was a lovely, not-too-hot day for walking around the garden, full of cacti and succulents. Huge palm trees also graced the grounds and the sky. We walked the ruins (the main church was lost in the 1912 earthquake, killing many folks), and the tanner, kitchen, and other buildings are in ruins.

I was surprised to learn that the area was sold for a pittance to a family member of the governor, and that the church and community lost the land for years. The land was returned, again a surprise to me, by President Lincoln a month before his assassination in 1865. There is now a smaller church built into some of the remaining buildings; the museum houses some of the silver treasures from the original church.

It was a good day, but it would have been hard to do Los Rios and the Mission on the same day. This worked out well. We then headed across the street to Bloom Restruant for lunch. It was good as we were hungry and parched. We both had breakfast specials, and our server was excellent. He gave me the wrong breakfast (but the scrambled eggs were still good) and gave us a free dessert for the mistake. I meant to give him a large tip, but miscalculated and gave him a very large tip. He earned it.

We stopped next at the antique barn as Deborah wanted to check it out. And as often happens, I spotted an item that I wanted. They had a receipt from Adams Express, a local carrier I collect (I am a stamp collector and a specialized one), and I purchased it for too much money, but for less than what the same item goes for on eBay (plus CA tax). There were some other unusual items, but I don’t collect currency or coins. I like stamps from about 1840 to 1939, known as the classic period.

Next, with my purchase paid for and explained (nobody there knew what it was), we headed to the Friends of the Library bookstore. There, I spent $2 on a book by Erik Larson, and Deborah found one as well. We do not seem to resist freeing books.

Aside: The remnants of the Adams Express & Company still exist here. The current price for the local stamps used in the 1800s is here. We also visited a tourist store, where I found a book about the missions. I was disappointed with the Mission’s store, as it had no copies of the original writings by the people who built the mission or worked there. I will track some down as they were mentioned in the exhibits. I was happy to find something.

Ebisu Life Store was next on our list. We had passed by the place last week and wondered what it was. It is a large, colorful store of Japanese and Asian items, including food, health products, toys, and collectibles. Deborah was overwhelmed and called her sons to see what they might want. She picked out a few easy-to-travel items to take back to Michigan.

After that, we parked for 50 minutes at In-N-Out Burger to charge the EV. It was done to 30%, and there were decent 250kW chargers there that were not as expensive as the 305kW and about as fast. We got diet soda drinks while we waited and used their facilities.

We drove back to the Hyatt, parked the EV, and had dinner at the bar; it was Friday night, and the other places had long waits. There, we ordered from the menu, and I sent my pasta meal back (the pasta was all glued together). Our server, “Cat,” had it remade at no charge (I left another large tip).

After that, I returned to write this blog. We are up early tomorrow to catch the rope-drop at the Park.

Thanks for reading!

PS: A couple of typos fixed Monday.

We rose a bit later as we had no plans and Deborah’s conference was over. It was also headed into another weekend here in California, my second weekend here, and a new set of folks, all with kids, were appearing to head to Disneyland. It feels like the hotel is rolling over its guests. Deborah reheated her eggs from yesterday, and I had cereal with a sliced banana. I made coffee, of course, with the coffee pods.

We spent the morning together, unhurried, and headed out to the Sherman Library and Garden in Newport Beach. We had little traffic and soon arrived, parked in their (we never see this) free parking, showed our eTicket, and then spent the rest of the morning walking in the garden (about half of it unavailable as they are reconstructing the cafe and updating the garden). The focus on the remaining plants was on succulents and cacti, then green fern-like plants. There was also a collection of orchids, huge bamboo, and bonsai plants. The library was open to us; we got a pass when we showed our tickets, and the art by one artist reminded me of some of the older art at Disney. We then learned that the artists had worked on some of the early animations and other Disney projects.

The library’s focus seemed to be raw information, with thirty years or more of registry books and studies on the shelves. I sat, after a while, in a chair in the stacks next to Cost Mesa lists of residences and businesses that went back to the 1800s (One set was stamped by a funeral home, which needed to know, I guess, where their ‘customers’ lived or once lived). Another ten years were stamped by a plumber. Definitely a research library and not your usual place to get the latest SciFi books or read a current magazine.

We tried Summer House for lunch, and I watched some of the USA game against Australia. The USA would lock in its place in the 32-elimination round today. My BLT was above average (I get a better one at Lucky Labrador’s in Portland), and Deborah had a huge turkey burger.

Next, we traveled to Balboa Island without difficulty, following the advice of someone we met yesterday to park on the island for free and take the ferry to the peninsula. We walked the few blocks to the ferry. The vibe of the area was safe, almost intense, like a gated community, and I commented that it felt like Stepford Wives had found an island. Later, we saw a real estate listing with homes priced $3-15 million.

We took a car ferry (handling about three cars at a time) for $2 each to the peninsula, which had a beach-and-pier feeling, with young gals in bare feet walking around and feeling safe. I stopped by Balboa Inn, half a block from the beach, and learned that a decent room there costs $350 per night. Not insanely priced. Resorts were double that, and there were options in the $ 4,000-a-night range. I picked off-season for the price as shortages would like drive up prices now.

We walked through the carnival-like area, then to the pier, and out into the Pacific. Out on the end, I caught a glimpse of some whales, but I could not see them return to show them to Deborah. We skipped getting more food at Ruby’s, which is at the end of the pier.

We skipped getting our feet in the ocean, as it was roaring and crashing, with folks often running back up the beach slope to avoid being knocked down or covered in the white water. It is very cold water. The beach was more like a sand-built dike, with you walking down into the surf. With the shape angle, the water returns fast and feeds the next wave. The sound was loud!

Next, we returned by ferry (another $2 in cash each), walked back to the car, and started to leave Balboa Island, but there was an easy parking spot in front of a Frozen Banana shop, and we thought we could not refuse divine intervention. We each got one. The banana, while frozen, is more like a frozen ice cream bar and is edible.  Deborah got some merch to take home. An episode of the TV show Arrested Development was filmed here.

We also visited the local museum, where we met some friendly locals who enjoyed the story of the impossible parking space and the obvious divine need for frozen-banana consumption. We bought some cards and a sticker there.

Next, we tried Lido Village Bookshop. I nearly ran down some folks crossing the crosswalk while I was dodging another car pulling out. Too many things to deal with at once. I stopped the car in time, thanks to Deborah’s callout that there were people near. I managed, slightly shaken by the close call, to park in a garage (hitting one curb, but with no damage), and we got to the bookstore, tiny and stocked only with new books, before it closed, without further incidents.

After some study, I found that the store had bookmarks in some of the books describing them, and I soon picked out The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. I remember the movie and thought it a good read (it was also the shortest of the books they had by the author, two were marked with their notes). I also got my $10 parking validated to zero with my purchase. Not a bad deal.

Next, by a slightly convoluted path, we changed directions mid-way to have dinner at Season 52. A new chain, to me, of restaurants often found at high-end malls. While not cheap, the food was excellent and cost about the same as what we had been paying for lunch without drinks. Deborah and I had wine and a snack of humus, pita, and artichoke hearts, and then dinner with dessert at a table. It took 40 minutes for our table, but we got seats at the bar. And yes, I did see more soccer at the bar.

Dinner was shrimp and grits, though not true New Orleans style (which I make myself from my classes), it was still good. Much like a deconstruction of the original and then simplified. Deborah had cedar-planked salmon, which was delicious. We had two mini-desserts. With us full and sleepy, we headed back to the hotel, and I wrote out postcards and cards before passing on writing this blog last night. I woke up often, and my dreams, though forgotten, were vivid, and I think about traveling with Deborah.

Thanks for reading!

Waking from nightmares and broken sleep, Thursday luckily had no plans. I rose, made coffee for Deborah, and tried to stay out of her way as she got ready for one more day of labs and sessions. I also offered bagels, though the cream cheese was frozen solid, but I learned that Deborah, while she buys them for her sons, does not eat them. I had one microwaving the bagel and the cream cheese to get at least close to expectations. We still had plenty of her cereal and shelf-stable 1% milk in the fridge (and not frozen solid), and that worked with coffee.

Deborah returned to her sessions, happy to have newly washed clothes (I did the laundry yesterday), and was soon on her way. I wrote the blog and had a second coffee. I wrote a postcard to Mom Wild. I published the blog, dressed, and headed downstairs to let the room be cleaned without me and to change my surroundings. I don’t like to work too long in hotel rooms. There are plenty of bars and coffee shops in this world for my work.

(Deborah is going with the Conference theme of safari)

Deborah met me there between sessions and asked me to carry some items up for her. The usual heavy educational trinkets and books; Deborah coordinates English as a Second Language in a Michigan school district and teaches some of the classes. I got the postcard on its way, and the bellhop (do we still use that term?) remembered me from my previous stay and welcomed me back.

I was back in the room, reading some Facebook posts, and posted the complete text of the Iran-USA Menu of Understanding that I saw Trump sign on TV to Facebook. I like facts; it is a lousy deal for the US, in my opinion. It is on the Internet, Dear Reader, if you want to read it and decide how to react. It does not seem worth the lives of our troops, billions of dollars in arms, and paying $300 Billion to rebuild Iran. That it gives the UN control of the deal was unexpected by me, a strange document, indeed.

Deborah had no time to eat, but things changed, and we ended up having brunch at the hotel. Deborah’s meal is covered by her employer. It was good, even when we had to send her meal back, a good time, and the staff was pleasant and helpful.

I took a nap. Deborah would later point out that, as she went to bed early, I had taken multiple naps today while she worked. I agreed with her. I write the blog while she sleeps.

Joe’s Italian Ice was on the to-do list. With the conference done, Deborah and I walked the four blocks to the place. We watched a mob of cops with even a helicopter hit pile into a parking lot across the main drag, guns drawn or hands on guns at least. At least seven cars. We checked the Internet, but nothing so far. It was gone, with no sign it had happened (police tape, closed businesses, and so on).

We ordered Italian Ice and ice cream together. It had a lot of sugar, but it was still great. We could have shared one. We sat with a gentleman and his daughter and talked. He suggested visiting Balboa Island, parking on the island (for free), and taking the ferry to the peninsula. We walked back to the hotel.

Next, we tried Book Town USA, a used book store. The store had a 40% off sale on their already reduced prices. It was the usual disheveled store with some books in boxes that could not fit on the full shelves. The shelves were marked, sometimes with authors’ names, but those tags were now out of date and served more as approximate locations. I found a good Michael Grant history, a cheap but newish chart of history that I have not bought before, as it was always expensive ($9.99 with 40% off now). I added a Cold War spy novel and a murder mystery/crime story in Alaska. Deborah found a book from the 1990s on a political topic.

The owner asked that I tell my friends about his sale. Cheap, good books, used, plus 40% off.

We then, with not much planned for the rest of the day, drove around the area to see what it was like. This was not the high end with nicely maintained trailer parks and smaller homes on tiny lots. There were many apartment blocks too. Endless strip malls filled the spaces in between, with the number of parks reduced by the area’s apparent wealth. All the housing is near roads, and many have high fences.

We returned to the hotel, dropped off a few things in the room, and then headed to Red Robin for something less expensive. We got a booth seat at the bar for two and could watch the second half of Mexico vs. Korea. It was 0-0 until Mexico managed an impossible goal of recovering the ball from the Korean goalkeeper and sending it past him after he had stopped a usual shot and was on the ground. Wow! Mexico will be in the 32 teams in the next round.

While it is hard to admit, we were both tired and went to bed early. I started, but did not complete the blog. I slept well through the night. All my dreams, pleasant and maybe driving through dream Anaheim, are forgotten.

Thanks for reading

 

I do not get many not-busy days while traveling, but Wednesday was mostly reading and watching the World Cup while Deborah was busy in her conference.

I rose early with Deborah, and we were going a bit early and had to wait until it was time for her breakfast. I collected our soiled clothing from the past ten days (I started earlier than Deborah to drive down for two days). I carried the bags down to the EV and headed to the nearby coin laundry. There, I also took the bottle of liquid soap (I had repurposed a drink bottle, filled it with soap, and put it in a ziplock bag), along with Bounce sheets, a bag full of coins from my last trip to a coin laundry, and various change I have collected over the year. I used three moderately sized washers to run three loads (Oh, that is about all the excitement we are getting this blog). A woman who was doing her laundry and I discussed the different machines; she was using the toploaders (same price). She believed, as I did, that top loaders beat up clothing more, but she seemed more used to them and thus preferred them.

I gave Jose, one of the folks there, who seemed to be running low on soap, my unused half-bottle of laundry soap and my remaining dryer sheets. He was surprised, and we chatted for a while with his English being a bit challenged, but he was happy to be noticed. Being seen is important. I did make a joke to many that Disney should have a Character Laundry in addition to their brunches and breakfasts. There were a few characters, local, at the coin laundry, but everyone was fixated on getting done and out of there. I had started just after 8, and the place was getting busy as I finished.

I chatted some more with the top-loader using women, and she suggested doing the Christmas tour in Finland and then heading to Sweden for the Northern Lights. She did this in March. We talked about Iceland first, and then she added that she did Iceland at the end of her Scandinavian trip. It sounded lovely, and she really enjoyed the Northern Lights in Sweden.

The instructions were in English and Spanish, many in Spanish first. The TV was on a Spanish Channel with the World Cup starting again. I was the only gray-haired white guy. Many guys were there washing their uniforms. The prices were $3 for the moderate-sized washers and dryers, and a quarter for about 10 minutes. About $1-$2 for a larger load. I used two.

I folded everything and put some in Air VW, the Gray, since I would not need two weeks’ worth of clothing. I grabbed a cloth grocery bag from the cargo hold and pushed all the reasonably clean clothing into it. I returned to the room, hung some of the clothing, and laid out some for Deborah to fold or use as needed.

Exciting, I know.

I returned to the same area and picked up WaBa rice bowls for lunch, since today was a find-your-own-lunch day at the conference. Deborah had 90 minutes for lunch, and we spent it together in the room instead of going somewhere else. It was nice to be together for a while. Deborah had dinner out for the conference.

I spoke to my server from yesterday; she was happy to see me back at the bar, feeling better, and she was sporting an England jersey (they played earlier). She has lived in Anhiem her whole life, was born here, and loves it. She and her husband are both in the service industry (I am sorry I forgot her name) and cannot imagine living anywhere else.

I headed to the hotel bar around 4, after surfing the Internet and doing some church paperwork, and spent too much on a salad and a bowl of chips. I did get to watch Ghana sneak in a goal at 90+5, wow, now ranked just behind England. I am reading a new mystery author for a locked-room mystery, Thus Was Adonis Murdered: A Novel (Hilary Tamar Book 1) on my Kindle. The story’s characters mostly receive letters about a murder and try to solve it from a distance. The use of obscure words, often in their archaic usage, makes the writing fun to read. I often have to use the built-in dictionary on the Kindle. I read this book all day and during the endless passing on the game.

With a last-minute attempt by Panama to score (Ghana’s goalkeeper stopped it and was run over by one of the Ghana players, earning the Ghana player a Yellow Card), Ghana kept the win. This goalkeeper was hurt multiple times, stayed in, seemed to be everywhere at once, and stopped at least four good Panama shots.

Deborah arrived at the bar as the game was finishing, and I paid my check (wow, that should have got the hotel a Yellow Card) as the next game started up. We spent the rest of the evening just resting and reading. We went to bed early.

I woke with a start from a bad dream. I have a terrible dream where I find myself in a diabolical, escape-room-like predicament, but in a whole complex. I have to solve the mystery, which is obscure, but as time moves on, people start to disappear, and monsters start to roam. I am trying to learn what I have to do to end this thing. Deborah is there, and she enters with me, but the complex sends us to other sides, and already the thing is timing down fast to disaster. I wake shaking and scared. But all is safe in the room. I managed to sleep again. Another dream, faded now, is about traveling and not scary, but again, my memory is faded now.

And that is a good place to stop. Thanks for reading.

Late addition: I forgot to say that I was delighted to see my first Social Security Benefit payment in my checking account on Wednesday! It is a major financial milestone for me and the execution of the plan I built years ago.