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  • Disney California Adventure

    Our last hurrah of the summer was a trip to Disney California Adventure, and while it was still August, it was already Halloween there! The park was decorated and the after hours Oogie Boogie Bash event had already started.

    Disneyland is also celebrating it’s 70th anniversary, so there are some fun features of the park in honor of that event, such as updated 70th anniversary targets in Toy Story Midway Mania, celebration parades and of course anniversary merch.

    We are crazy people in that we usually leave our house around 6am to make it to the park in time for rope drop, and then we stay another 12-14 hours, which was no exception on this day. Whenever we start at California Adventure we rope drop Radiator Springs Racers, the line that is consistently the longest in part due to the fact they sell individual Lightning Lanes, but going on as a single rider can get you through the line more quickly. On one trip I think we were crazy enough to wait 3 hours for this ride, but it is definitely one of the best immersive experiences in the park. In fact the whole Radiator Springs area is so true to the movie, and probably my favorite place in the park.

    Afterwards, we headed straight to buy Baymax bread at a cart near Aunt Cass Cafe and the Bakery Tour. It was not only cute, but yummy, and definitely enough for the three of us girls to share.

    We then went to the Pixar Pier area to ride the Pal-Around Ferris Wheel, and my girls were freaked out by the swinging gondolas. It was actually the first time I got motion sick on this ride, but that must be common since as one of my girls pointed out, there were motion sick bags tucked into the side of the gondola.

    Another highlight of the trip was the Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Break out ride, one of my all time favorites. They also had a fun Halloween re-theming of the ride that started after 2pm, and since Lightening Lanes were separate for the original version of the ride and the Halloween version, we went twice. Besides the video update to make the ride more spooky, it seemed like they changed the drop pattern to make the ride scarier as well. There is a great Behind the Attraction for Tower of Terror on Disney+ that explains the mechanics behind the drop pattern and how it was altered when they changed the ride to Guardians of the Galaxy, which I recommend if you like behind the scenes information like that.

    We were also sure to ride the Monsters, Inc. ride before it closes early next year to make way for Avatar. It’s a shame to lose it because it’s such a cute ride and one of the only things really young kids can go on.

    We hit up other favorite rides, such as Soarin’ Around the World and The Little Mermaid before park hopping over to Disneyland. It was hot and everyone wanted to go on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. We had made reservations at Carthay Circle so we did go back to California Adventure for a little while, and I had this delicious pear martini.

    In all, I think we walked about 20,000 steps and were exhausted by the time we went home. We had bought the three day Costco tickets, so we’ll be back again in October to enjoy even more Halloween fun, so more to come!

  • Universal Studios Hollywood

    Summer has gone by in flash, and we tired to squeeze in all the fun we could manage before going back to school and our usual hectic schedules, so a few weeks ago my youngest daughter and I hit up Universal Studios Hollywood.

    I’ll start by saying we are hard core Disney fans, and really, no one has the theme park magic down like Disney, but Costco had a great deal on 11 month Universal passes, so we sprung for those.

    We went on a Saturday, and it was crowded, but luckily not too hot considering it was July. We heard everyone in line talking about going to Super Nintendo World, so we decided to not follow the crowd and go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter first.

    Being a big fan of the Harry Potter franchise I love this area, but I think both rides here have major limitations.

    First we went on Flight of the Hippogriff. This ride is about 15 seconds long and only worth it if you walk on, although the Buckbeak animatronic and seeing Hagid’s hut in Fun.

    The main attraction here is Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

    One thing Universal does better than Disney in the queue, and this ride is definitely an example of that. Walking through Hogwarts, seeing the moving portraits and entering Dumbledore’s office are definitely highlights while you wait. Be prepared, however, to leave your bags behind in the lockers outside the ride because you can’t take them on. Unfortunately for us, the smallest free to use locker wouldn’t fit our mini Loungefly backpacks, so we had to pay $5 to upgrade to the middle sized locker. That did prevent us from going on the Mummy ride, which also requires a locker, and I definitely didn’t want to pay again. Next time, smaller bags.

    The major downfall of this ride is that if you get motion sickness, this ride will definitely make you nauseous. Having experienced that before, both my daughter and I took Dramamine, and it definitely helped. Besides this ride, some of the other motion simulation rides at the park will definitely cause motion sickness, with The Simpsons Ride being another big offender.

    Next we hit up Super Nintendo World, which is so cute and definitely immersive, albeit a little loud and overwhelming as you first enter from the warping pipe.

    There is one ride here, but if you spring for the Power Up band, you can engage in different challenges, using the band to interact with the features of this area as you would in the Super Mario games. The characters were also out taking pictures, again, very fun for fans of the Mario Franchise.

    The one ride here is Mario Kart Bower’s Challenge, which we had to wait 80 minutes for, but it was well worth it. After donning your Mario hat and visor, you ride in a Kart, throwing shells at your opponents and driving on some of the most iconic Mario Kart tracks, such as Rainbow Road. This is definitely a unique and fun attraction.

    Then it was lunch time, and the food here was definitely not as good as Disney. We struggled to find something great for my vegetarian daughter. She says next time she’s bringing her own.

    Then we hit up the Studio Tour, which is a must see here. I didn’t get any pictures but the Studio Tour is a one hour tram ride through the Universal lot, with a few fun movie magic features, including encounters with the shark from Jaws as well as King Kong. King Kong was having a “bad hair day” on the day we were there but it’s always fun to see where some of your favorite shows and movies are filmed, and hear all about what goes into making these productions.

    It started to get super crowded so we did just one more ride before heading home, The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash. This is a cute dark ride in which you get to play the part of a puppy up for adoption. Again, the queue is fun here. You walk through the pets’ apartments and can look into mail slots to see what they are up too. I love this dog on the counter getting a little massage.

    Next up for Universal is Halloween Horror Nights, and we decided we might all be too chicken for mazes such as The Terrifier, so Grinchmas might be our next time to visit. We also hit up Disney’s California Adventure, so more on that soon. Until then, enjoy Labor Day and the unofficial end of summer!

  • 26 Miles Across the Sea

    We were lucky enough to spend 4th of July weekend on Catalina Island, a wonderful and quick getaway off the coast of Long Beach. It had been almost 2 years since we had been there, so we were excited to visit for the 4th, which is one of the best weekends on the island.

    The trip is just over an hour via the Catalina Express, leaving from downtown Long Beach. There are other ports that will get you there in both San Pedro and Newport Beach. Once you arrive in Avalon, the main town on the island, you can grab a taxi to your location or take a short walk to the center of town. Otherwise, transportation is largely by golf cart.

    Hotel St. Lauren

    The island has an interesting history, but one of the more fascinating points is that the Wrigley family, of Wrigley’s chewing gum, largely ran the island in the early 20th century. This meant the Chicago Cubs also came to the island for spring training during that time period! The Wrigley mansion still stands, but now runs as a bed and breakfast, the Inn at Mount Ada. The view of the island is quite spectacular from that vantage point.

    Inn at Mount Ada

    The Casino is another landmark building on the island, commissioned by the Wrigley family in the 1920s. Its ballroom still hosts events and you can check out a movie in its historic theater. Also worth checking out is the tile on the exterior of the building, created by the Catalina Island Tile Company.

    Catalina Island Casino

    While there are many adventurous things to do on the island, such as zip lining, kayaking, snorkeling, SCUBA and inland tours, we chose to relax on the beach. There are three sandy beaches to hang out on, but by far the best is the Descanso Beach Club. You can rent a cabana, book a lounge chair, or just hang out on the sand. There’s a bar with both drinks and food and the cleanest bathrooms I’ve ever seen on a beach. We loved our day there. If you do go, I recommend water shoes because the beaches are fairly rocky.

    In driving around the island we saw a few, or maybe the same deer, out having a snack. They are fairly used to humans, and this one posed by the side of the road to let us take her picture. She didn’t seem at all afraid of us.

    The deer were introduced to the island in the 1930s, and their population has put a strain on the island’s resources. There has been some controversy in the last couple of years over population control, with island residents fighting some of the methods the island’s conservation company wants to take. Also not native to the island is the herd of Bison, brought by a movie company to the island in the 1920s. You can see these magnificent animals by heading to Two Harbors, a more remote section of the island that offers camping. We once hikes the Trans-Catalina trail from Two Harbors to Avalon, camping along the way. It was one of our favorite trips to the island, and we encountered many of the resident bison, as a safe distance of course.

    Our last day there was the 4th, and Avalon sponsors a golf cart parade, complete with the USC marching band, as well as a dingy parade, topping the night off with a spectacular fireworks show.

    One of my favorite 4th of July traditions is watching the movie Jaws, which also has a link to Catalina Island. Much of the underwater filming occurred there. The Catalina Island Museum had a great exhibit on the movie a few years back, and I’m hoping some of it ends up at the Academy museum in Los Angeles when their Jaws Exhibit opens later this year. Being that it’s the 50th anniversary of the movie, there is plenty of merch including this wine my husband found, which wasn’t half bad.

    We ended our celebration with a cake that my daughter and niece decorated especially for the occasion.

    It was a great, relaxing trip. Next stop is Boston in a little over two weeks, so more to come soon!

  • El Dorado Park- Memorial Day Weekend

    The unofficial start of summer, and I’m itching to be outside, so we took a trip today to one of my favorite places, El Dorado Park in Long Beach, CA. This is a real outdoor gem in an urban area. There are ponds to fish in, an archery range, bike trails, plenty of picnic spots, a little train ride, and a nature center. Anything someone might want to spend time outdoors. One of my favorite parts of Long Beach this time of year is the jacaranda trees, which are spotted throughout the park. According to my grandmother, jacaranda was a word I liked to say as a toddler.

    Speaking of my grandmother, the park is nostalgic for me because I spent hours there with my grandparents as a kid. They would take me and my brothers there to feed the ducks. My grandma would save the heels of bread loaves in her freezer to take over to the park, I guess no one really likes that part of the bread. Over the years it seems like the geese have taken over and on this trip we saw a species I have never seen before, according to Google image search, these are Egyptian Geese. They were very pretty and much less aggressive than the white geese that used to chase us for break crumbs.

    We love to use the bike paths here because they are nice and clear, unlike the sandy bike paths at the beach. I feel safer here where there isn’t slippery sand. There are about four miles of bike paths throughout the park, and we’ve found a one-ish mile loop that we like.

    Today, however, my husband, who isn’t generally thrilled with outdoor activities, was hemming and hawing about loading up the bikes, so I assumed that we would just relax at the park. Then we passed the bike and surrey rental stand, and I decided to indulge a long requested wish from my older daughter to rent a surrey.

    Rental was $39 for an hour and we managed two loops in an hour. Peddling this thing was so much more work than a bike! But we all had fun. Definitely worth the cost and the work.

    After biking we headed over to the nature center, a fantastic space to make you feel like you are really out in the middle of nowhere, even though the 605 freeway runs nearby. There are three trails here, a quarter mile loop, a one mile loop, and a two mile loop, as well as visitor center with some information on the wild and plant life in the center. Today we just walked the one mile loop, which is was nice and shady, and not too crowded. It’s definitely an easy stroll.

    The busiest wildlife today were the squirrels, who were pretty aggressive and not at all scared of people. There were many signs letting you know not the pet or feed them, so I guess there must have been some incidents. The turtles were also out and sunbathing, this little guy was hanging out by himself on the bank of the stream by himself.

    My favorite animal spotting ever in the center was a family of baby bunnies. We just happened to see them because we were quiet, looking at a bird or something, and the bunnies hopped out to see us.

    This was definitely a great way to spend the day and kick off the start of summer.

    On the way to the park my daughter told me she needs to be at the beach tomorrow by 9:30 am with a rotisserie chicken for a video she is filming for a school project, so a guess a totally different type of day awaits us tomorrow!

  • Here Comes The Sun

    On Monday I had dinner with an out of town colleague, who like many people who visit Southern California this time of year, was surprised by our horrible spring weather. May Grey and June Gloom means it doesn’t usually get good and sunny until about July. For a sun loving So Cal girl, this weather is miserable. But every now and then we get a little peek at the sun, and this weekend I am soaking in this mini heat wave.

    When the sun is out our backyard is one of my favorite places. When we moved into this house the yard was a knee high mess of weeds, which my toddler daughter and in-laws hunting dog loved to roam in. But since then we’ve had it landscaped, and my little dog and I love to hang out, me enjoying the plants and him sunbathing or barking at whatever creatures cross his path.

    My husband and I also took advantage of the great weather to head down to Marina del Rey for lunch today. I’m not a vegan, but Planta has the best view and food in the Marina. We decided to forego entrees for small bites and desserts. The Lychee Paloma Spritz was perfect for a warm day, and the Horchata Cheesecake was so yummy. Planta is a chain, so if you have one in your area and want to try some great vegan food, I highly recommend it.

    We took a little walk after to look at the boats. It was a gorgeous day to be near the water, and we decided we need to come down here to walk more often, hopefully on a day that is less busy. The Marina was hopping with Mother’s Day traffic, and it took us about a half an hour to get through the Marina and to a parking space. It definitely wasn’t this crowded the last time we ate lunch here on a Saturday.

    One more day and then back to the gloom. Summer can’t get here soon enough!

  • First post

    It’s been a while since I’ve blogged but I felt the need to start again. Too much work is killing my creative spirit, especially with the constant corporate grind. So regardless of whether anyone reads this or not, I felt the need to start something to keep myself accountable for making sure I take some time at least a few times throughout the week to relax and do something that let’s me detach from work and all my responsibilities.

    Photography is a hobby I really love and never take the time for. I alway feel like I need to be somewhere special, or doing something special in order to engage, but can the mundane be interesting? Can trips around town be something worth documenting? Maybe someone not living my life will find them fascinating, in a way similar to how I am awed when taking in a new landscape or scene that someone else has probably seen a million times before.

    With a new blog comes a new camera. Over the last year I have wanted to become more involved with instant photography. I have great digital cameras, but feel like they sometimes create more pressure to make the best the best image ever, when in actuality I should just be looking to have fun. I’m hoping this new medium will help me accomplish that. So my first shot of one of my more photogenic models. Hopefully more to come soon!

    Oliver Cat in his favorite chair