San Diego, CA

Wow, has it really been since last Sunday since I posted to my blog? Well, time to get caught up I guess. Last Monday was my last day in San Diego so I retraced my steps to one of my favourite places, Seaport Village and I headed up to Mount Soledad to see the Memorial to Vets at the top of the mountain and the view from there.

My first stop was the Memorial. It was a beautiful day for a drive up there, snaking through residential areas of lovely homes with hints at the views to come at the top. It is a perfect spot for reflection and to pay homage to the American (and a couple of British) Veterans. The cross was put up in 1913 and the black granite slabs to hold memorial plaques were added in 1952. The plaques honouring those who served in every war, even the Civil War, cover the majority of the walls. The docent who was there to help explain the memorial, or to help visitors find specific plaques showed me the two British plaques since there are no Canadian ones. The Memorial is maintained by a NFP group with volunteers providing all the necessary administration, fundraising, cleaning etc.

The view from the top of the Memorial was spectacular with a near 360 degree exposure of the hills and waterways around San Diego and out into the Pacific. A perfect place to say so long to San Diego, for now.

Then I hopped back on the freeway and down to the waterfront adjacent to downtown to Seaport Village, an area of shops and restaurants for a great lunch on a patio overlooking the walkway along the water. I had a great grilled cheese and tomato basil soup lunch that was awesome, at the Edgewater Grill. I did a bit of shopping and they headed back to my trailer to get ready to move on the next day.

The trip from San Diego was short, only 2 and a half hours or so, and I took the route through the mountains rather than on the freeways as it’s a much more interesting and pretty drive. From Temecula on Highway 15 I headed over the mountains on Highway 79, on to 371 and over to 74 and down into Palm Desert where my beautiful oasis awaited me.

Emerald Desert RV Resort, in Palm Desert is by far the nicest of the Parks I’ve stayed in. The grounds are manicured daily with scissors, I’m sure. The pool area is as nice as I’ve seen anywhere. It has a well equipped exercise room (not that I’ve stepped foot in it), and the showers are even nicer and bigger than the ones at Cape Lazo, the previous winner in that category. And the good news is that I’m here until January 4th.

My close friends, Karen and Allen from North Vancouver, who you met in my blog on October 20th, winter in Palm Desert so I have great company during my stay here in Palm Desert. We went out for dinner on Tuesday night to a great restaurant on El Paseo Drive (the “Rodeo Drive of Palm Desert”), California Pizza Kitchen. Since then I’ve been puttering around at the Resort, getting caught up on some reading, getting my rig cleaned and waxed, etc.

So for the next month or so you will only hear from me sporadically if I do anything interesting or get any great pics.

San Diego, CA

Well, I didn’t really go to Spain, but it felt like I did. I had a busy day yesterday trying to take in as much as I could before I leave the San Diego area Tuesday.

I started my day in Balboa Park near downtown San Diego. I’d been there once already, as it’s home to the San Diego Zoo, but today I wanted to focus on the museum area. Several of the buildings built for the Panama-California Exposition in 1915-16 have been preserved or recreated and turned into a plethora of museums, performing arts centres, and art studios. There are 28 buildings and museums organized around a pedestrian corridor called El Prado. The architecture for the most part is Spanish-Renaissance style, there are multiple fountains (which Vera will remember with affection from Spain) and with names like Prado and Alcazar it’s not surprising that it has a Spanish feel to it.

I wandered around the grounds, the gardens and in and out of some of the buildings, did some window shopping in the Spanish Village Arts Centre, grabbed a great chicken quesadilla for lunch and took way too many pictures. It was 3 hours later before I realized it.

Next I headed to the San Diego Mission, or Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala and another visit with Father Juniper Serra. This was the first of the missions Father Serra founded in 1769 and the first of the 21 California missions. The mission was burned to the ground by Indian attacks in 1775 but was rebuilt with more reinforced defences by 1790. In 1821 whenMexico gained independence the Mission was handed over to the Mexicans, but after the US/Mexican war it was transferred to the Americans and the US Cavalry used the mission for some years having to repair decaying buildings in order for it to be used. In 1862 the mission was turned back to the church by President Abraham Lincoln. Unfortunately much of the mission was not open yesterday because of a wedding in the church but I did tour the grounds and the museum.

It was a beautiful afternoon, so I headed towards one of the coastal areas I hadn’t seen yet and read about, Sunset Cliffs Natural Area. It was hopping with surfers and people walking, running and just enjoying the warm afternoon. And fortunately it was on the way to Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma.

You’ll recall that I was not able to get in to Cabrillo NM last Thursday because it was closed for Thanksgiving, but instead I stopped at the Rosecrans National Cemetery. Today it was open and crawling with people. There is a fabulous view from the monument, and displays about an interesting part of the area history, both military use and the Point Loma Lighthouse.

Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo sailed north from Mexico in 1542 and landed at this spot. Point Loma, San Diego because of the great natural harbour. He died shortly thereafter without finding the route to Asia and the Spice Islands or gold which he set out to do.

The lighthouse was put into use from 1855 (using a Fresnel lens I learned about in Oregon) and was extinguished for the final time in 1891, and the light keeper moved down the hill to a newer light station. There is also an area developed to allow people to spend time wandering the tidal pools down at the ocean’s edge but I arrived too late in the day to participate in that.

Then it was back “home” to get snuggled in before the heat of the day turned in to a cool, cool night.

P.S. Just an aside about one of my most favourite things about my trip. Where ever I go, I end up chatting with people; in lines at tourist spots, in restaurants, at the campground, at gas stations. Often the conversation gets around to my travels. Am I alone, how long am I away, where am I going, do I like my little trailer, where are they from, has it always been home, etc.? They are always interesting conversations which I cherish.

Last week a lovely lady stopped over to my campsite to say hi because she noticed my plates were from Ontario. Although she has been a long time resident of San Diego area, she was born in southern Ontario. She and I chatted for some time before her grandson came to politely let her know it was dinner time and so she re-joined her visiting family. We talked about how she’d ended up in San Diego, my trip, her job and what she was doing in retirement, what I should do in San Diego while I was here, and my travel blog among other things. It was a delightful conversation which I thoroughly enjoyed. She stopped in before she left to go to her nearby home that evening to tell me about a couple of things I ought to try and see while in the area, and also to ask if she could read my blog as she was interested in my travels. Her family left the campground last Wednesday to spend Thanksgiving at home and the woman from San Diego, (Marilyn is her name I have since discovered) headed to their home to spend that special time with them.

Today, just before coming out to write my blog, Marilyn dropped by my campground to let me know that she hadn’t received my blog and would I mind trying again, and to drop off a book of all the national parks in the U.S. for me. How nice is that! She made my day! That’s one example of the nicest kinds of things that have happened on my journey.

Chula Vista, CA

Yesterday was Thanksgiving in the United States of America. The campground was packed with families either camping here while visiting nearby family, or just spending a few days together in the campground. Living in a campground you have a little bit of a window into how other people live since you’re packed in to a small space and you spend so much time outside. Just a walk to the washroom is instructional.

Camping is a great thing for kids to grow up doing and I love staying in parks where there are lots around. I avoid the 55+ ones for that reason. Given that the wifi is practically non-existent or useless in many campgrounds and lots of the sites don’t have cable hookup, kids are forced to find other things to do, which their parent encourage (“get out of that trailer, now!”). And they do. In most cases their parents do stuff with them. The playgrounds are swarming with little tots to early teens with parents standing and sitting around the perimeter chatting among themselves. You really have to drive 5 mph through the park because there are so many kids and adults on the roadways on their bikes, etc. In the early evening you can hear “Home free” throughout the park as a game of hide and seek breaks out which takes me back to my own youth. The young teens find each other and swarm from one part of the park to another in a pack.

One of the things that surprises me is how much paraphernalia people brought with them specifically for preparing their dinner. (some of this happens even when it’s not Thanksgiving but things seemed to be on overdrive this weekend). Patios were covered with propane ovens, stoves and/or deep fryers. The little chimney fireplaces augmented the fire pits provided. Folding tables were produced to add to the picnic table supplied at each spot. Pop up canopies and tents with sides used by event companies were produced. Cases of drinks were piled high. Lights of all kinds were added – some Christmas lights, some fancy lanterns, and strings of red, white and blue ones. Even the LED ropes were laid along the outline of the patios in a couple of instances.

As the day progressed and the preparations for dinner were well underway, groups played games of horse shoe and other tossing games, threw footballs around, rode bikes or scooters (both human energy and electric models), and lots of people sat around their big screen TVs built into their huge rigs doing that other traditional Thanksgiving thing, watching football. At least they were outside.

I enjoyed sitting around reading and chatting with people as they passed by, and given the weak wifi, even finished a 786 page book I’d only started a few days ago. By early afternoon I was ready to venture out to see some more of San Diego. I chose to go to the Cabrillo National Monument, which had been recommended to me by a fellow camper (and former Canadian), and to re-visit Coronado.

Cabrillo National Monument is on the tip of Point Loma, a high point overlooking San Diego and Coronado, and it’s where Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo was the first European to set foot on the west coast of the US in 1542. The park includes a visitor centre, Point Loma lighthouse, hiking trails and tidal pools for exploring. Unfortunately, I hadn’t clued in that since it was Thanksgiving Day, it was closed. So I’ll have to try to fit it in again before I leave Tuesday next week for Palm Springs.

But I did have a chance to wander through the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery also located on Point Loma. The “national cemetery” designates important cemeteries where military personnel, veterans and their spouses and children are usually buried. Arlington National Cemetery across the river from Washington, DC. which has 400,000 graves is the best known, but there are 147 of them across the US. The Fort Rosecrans one has approximately 100,000 graves (which still seems like an overwhelming number) in the same kind of layout as Arlington. It was an appropriate place to spend some time on Thanksgiving I thought.

Then I was on to Coronado, across a huge big bridge on Highway 75 running off Interstate 5. I learned something new while looking up Coronado to see if it was truly an island as it is sometimes called. Seems it’s a “tied-Island”. The definition I found is as follows:

“Tied islands, or land-tied islands as they are often known, are landforms consisting of an island that is connected to land only by a tombolo: a spit of beach materials connected to land at both ends.”

Who knew?

Coronado is an upscale neighbourhood whose economy is tied to the local tourism business. There is a beach that was once rated as a top10 beach on the continent, and is similar to many of the California beaches, long and wide, with fine white sand. In addition to the historic Hotel Del Coronado there are other major hotels and smaller ones running along the beach along with some newer mega-houses and smaller older ones. I had been to Coronado almost 30 years ago and stayed at the Hotel Del Coronado when we attended a sales conference in the late 80s.

The Hotel Del Coronado, shown above, has a long and interesting history. Architecturally, it’s classified as a wooden Victorian Beach Resort genre, and is the second largest wooden structure in the US (after the Tillamook Air Museum in Tillamook, OR which I saw earlier this fall). It’s a California Historical Landmark which, when it opened in 1888, was the largest resort hotel in the world. It was also the first hotel to have electric lighting and the first electrically lit outdoor Christmas tree on the hotel’s lawn (1904). When we stayed at the hotel in the late 80s, the power frequently went off between 4 and 5 pm during the high demand of people getting prepared for dinner. Hopefully by now it’s been re-wired.

Many celebrities have stayed there. Presidents Taft, Wilson, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, JFK, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, HW Bush, Clinton, GW Bush, and Obama to name a few. Hollywood celebrities Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino, Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable, Errol Flynn and Mae West were frequent guests. There is even a rumour that Edward, Prince of Wales met Wallis Simpson there in 1920 but in both of their memoirs they noted they met much later.

There is also a rumour that the hotel is haunted by the ghost of a woman dying of cancer, who shot herself at the hotel in the late 1800’s.

Chula Vista, CA

Well, an Escondido Safari, not African. I drove the 30 minutes or so north to San Diego Zoo Safari Park near Escondido.

I visited San Diego Zoo a few days ago, and yesterday I headed out to the 1800 acre Safari Park facility of the Zoo which houses species from all continents except Antarctica. The area is semi-arid so the African animals are quite a home. The free range enclosures are huge and they emulate the natural habitat of the animals as best as they can including putting several different species in the same enclosures. The park is divided into several different areas.

I started my visit with a tram ride of the African area since the waiting line gets longer as the day goes on. Even with seeing the largest area by tram, there is still lots of walking and some of it up and down hills. There is an elevator to get you from one area to another where there is a dramatic change in elevation.

Overall, the visitor facilities are really well done, with lots of shade, lots of restrooms and areas for kids to let off steam. And of course there are frequent opportunities for purchasing souvenirs and places to eat. Oh yes, and there are photographers everywhere looking to help you remember your trip to the Safari Park, with a photo they have taken along the way. For a price of course. I found the map of the site a little confusing, I think because it wasn’t to scale but they include sign posts and locator numbers that help to keep you on track.

There are also all sorts of upgrades available in addition to your ticket. You can go on the back of a truck to tour the Africa area, which includes a stop in the giraffes pasture where they feed them to enable you to get a picture with a giraffe. There is a behind the scenes tour which allows you to see the areas that are for the zoo keepers only, and learn more “hands on”. There is a balloon ride where you can go up in a tethered hot air balloon, and some other specific animal packages. You can also pay extra to get more convenient parking (on top of the $12 just to park in the regular lot), to get to the front of the line-up for the tram, to get into a VIP area to watch the cheetahs run, etc. So bring your wallet.

The Safari Park facility is used for research into breeding and conservation and their mandate is to bring back as many endangered species as possible. The facility includes the world’s largest veterinary hospital and they have an extensive Conservation Research facility which includes holding frozen samples for breeding purposes. They have several global awards for conservation and breeding research.

In 2014 one of their Northern White Rhinos died at the zoo which leaves only 5 in the world, including a female at Safari Park. They hope in the future to use invitro fertilization to impregnate the female to start a comeback for the Northern Whites.

They are noted for their California condor breeding program. In 1987 they took the last remaining 22 condors into captivity and by removing eggs from nests, they induced females to lay a second egg which they left for the females to hatch. The egg which they removed was hatched in an incubator. By 1992 they started reintroducing them into the wild and by 2011 the population was 191 in the wild and close to 400 overall.

Over all, it was a great day but again I was left wanting to visit the real thing in Africa in the not too distant future. And to be honest, I’m not sure it was worth visiting both the Zoo and the Park. Since the Zoo is closer in, and the grounds are a little smaller, if you only have time for one, I’d hit the Zoo. If you are going to both parks take a look at the ticket package deals that can save you some money.

I didn’t get this posted last night because the RV Park is so full the wifi is ridiculously slow. Overnight it rained and the cooler weather has come in, but it’s sunny with just a few fluffy white clouds left hanging around and about 18. Still very usable.

La Jolla, CA

This morning proved to be as perfect weather-wise as was forecast, so I was off to La Jolla along with piles of other people. I drove a slow route to get there along the downtown waterfront, along Mission Bay Beach, past Belmont Park where the 1920s “Great Dipper” wooden rollercoaster is the only part left of a bygone amusement park and up into La Jolla.

La Jolla is a beautiful community, one of the most desirable areas in San Diego, with houses set among the hills looking out to the ocean. It’s home to the Salk Institute (founder Jonas Salk, was the developer of the polio vacine), and UCSD, and nearby is Torrey Pines Golf Course.

I walked along the walkway overlooking La Jolla Beach and Cove, and watched the seals or sea lions (I need to figure out the difference, don’t I?) kayakers, swimmers, snorkelers and joined those wading and walking the beach.

Next I was south on the I-5 to Old Town. It is a State Historic Park which commemorates the beginnings of San Diego (the first European settlement on the west coast) in the early 1800’s. Guess who started a mission and settlement there in 1769? Those of you reading my blogs no doubt got it, the then-Father Junipero Serra and the same year a Presido was built to protect the growing community. The Mission (Mission San Diego de Alcaia) moved upriver after a few years, but the settlement at the base of the hill where the Presidio was built continued to grow. Several of the original adobe buildings are still standing, although some have been turned into commercial entities.

Nearby is Whaley House Museum which was built in 1857 by the Whaley family to house their home and general store and was even a commercial theatre at one point. It is rumoured to be haunted and has received attention from various movies and TV shows as a result.

San Diego was part of Mexico before California was admitted into the United States in 1850. So it’s natural that Mexican themed gift shops and restaurants have sprung up around the State Historic Park and I grabbed lunch on the patio of one of them. It wasn’t great food but it was billed as “californian” so I probably should have gone with one of the numerous Mexican choices.

After lunch I wandered some shops and sat to listen to entertainment provided in a commercial area adjacent to the Park, called Fiesta de Reyes. It’s a huge outdoor restaurant in the centre with a stage for entertainment, and shops around the perimeter. It’s definitely a tourist trap, but it’s a really well done one. The displays are nice, the stores carry quality items, and I was sorry I hadn’t chosen it as my lunch stop the food looked so good.

Chula Vista, CA

I had driven right past San Juan Capistrano on my way down to San Diego, wanting to get my “house” settled and then backtrack for a trip all along the coast at my leisure. Given today’s forecast was for “summer-like” temperatures, I decided to make today the day I did that. The temperature got up to about 26-28 degrees just after noon.

So I headed north on the freeway to San Juan Capistrano and the Mission there as my frist stop. This is my favourite of the Missions I’ve seen so far. It has been more romanticized because of “the return of the swallows” but it is one of the Missions most associated with now-Saint Junipero Serra, as well. (the swallows come back in March, BTW) So it’s got lots of history. And the grounds are by far the nicest, despite the fact that there was a special event going on there this evening and the events team were there setting up. I ran around and took as many pictures as I could before they put their tables and light standards, etc up in the way.

This mission was founded in 1776, the 7th of the 9 missions established by then Father Serra and is one of the most historically significant. The Serra Chapel, still standing, and dating back to the 1780’s is California’s only chapel still standing where Saint Serra celebrated Mass.

After leaving San Juan Capistrano, I headed back down I-5 to the point where Historic Highway 101, the original coast road splits off and then I spent the rest of the day meandering down the highway. I stopped at a crazy diner in Oceanside called Cafe 101 which was originally opened along Highway 101 in 1928 and they still serve a mean burger.

There are beaches all the way down the coast, some rustic with just access, and no facilities to some that had parking lots, food stands, showers, washrooms, etc. My two favourites were Carlsbad and La Jolla Cove with the later winning out because of the beautiful hills dotted with mansions surrounding the cove.

I’m sitting at a Starbucks in La Jolla in the dark, having not even gotten back to San Diego. It’s getting cool out so I will head for home and carry on the beach journey tomorrow.

San Diego, CA

Today I decided to spend the day at the San Diego Zoo, and so apparently did the whole San Diego school system. It was the first day of Thanksgiving break for some of the local school boards and there was a special offer for kids to visit the zoo today. Wouldn’t you know. It is probably as busy on any day in the summer though and the lines for anything weren’t too long.

The 100 acre San Diego Zoo is situated in urban Balboa Park, and both it and the San Diego Museum of Man (buiiding which looks like it has a church clock tower attached) and other structures are remnants of the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, held to celebrate the opening of the Panana Canal. The zoo has 3700 animals, give or take a few, and no, I didn’t get a chance to see all of them.

I started my day at the zoo with the narrated bus tour (included in the one day pass) to get my bearings and get an overview of the zoo. Earlier is better for most of the popular activities and I only waited 15 minutes or so for the tour. It was really well done, and seeing some of the things from the bus meant that I didn’t have to walk back to see those areas that were out of the way.

The tour/driver pointed out that the zoo is also a botanical park and plants required for the feeding of some of the animals as well as just for display are grown throughout the property.

Then I wandered through the exhibits that I was interested in such as the monkeys, elephants, giraffes and pandas.

The longest line was to see the Panda Trek Exhibit. There was one lone two year old panda being shown today, and he was adorable. Well worth the 15 min wait in line to get my turn to walk past as slowly as possible.

One of the things they didn’t talk about but which I read about was an orangutan, named Ken Allen, who became famous in the 1980s after he escaped three times from enclosures which were thought to be escape-proof. He got the nickname “Hairy Houdini”, had his own fan club, and even had a song written about him. He died of cancer in 2000.

I ended the day taking the Skyfari Aerial Tram back to the entrance/exit area. It was a bit of a wait (15 mins) to get on, but it was a great way to get from the far back of the zoo back to the front to save wear and tear on tired body parts.

I will try and get to the Zoo’s Safari Park which is a larger park outside of the city associated with the Zoo where animals have much larger areas to wander. The animals are moved between the two facilities when necessary or for variety for the animals.

I came away, having enjoyed my day, but also thinking that I can’t wait to get to see these animals in the wild.

Chula Vista/San Diego, CA

Yesterday I hauled my “house” a very short distance down I-5 from Anaheim to Chula Vista a southern suburb of San Diego. Nice to only be on the road for an hour and a half.

In addition to this being the furthest point I’ll get away from Ottawa and most south-westerly, it’s also about the mid-point of my No Fixed Address North American Tour. Hard to believe this started more than 5 months ago when I picked up my little house in St. Jerome, QC. That was 21,296 km ago. Wonder how many beaches I’ve walked on, how many lighthouses I’ve seen, and how many times I’ve hitched/unhitched my house? Guess I should have been keeping track.

I’m here in Chula Vista/San Diego for two weeks, and won’t move until December 1st when I head to Palm Desert. So I may not post every day. Depends on what I’m up to. There are a million things to do in the San Diego area but I’m also using this stop to rest, catch up on some reading and generally chill. I know, I sound like a spoilt brat, but t’s tiring being on the road and uprooting yourself on a regular basis, just when you’re getting to know you way around. So, yes, please play your world’s smallest violins for me, having to rest up in sunny San Diego. Also, please send me any suggestions you might have about what I should do while in this region.

Today I did some laundry and then headed to the Seaport Village and Embarcadero area of San Diego. My temporary home in Chula Vista is near the southern most part of San Diego Bay, just south of National City. At National City there is a huge car/truck port and there are hundreds of cars stored along the shoreline, and a mile of car dealerships along one of the main thoroughfares. I headed north towards San Diego on Harbor Blvd, which passes through Naval Base San Diego. It’s huge but you can’t see much along the way. I do hear the helicopters overhead on a regular basis throughout the day, but I think they stopped around 10 pm last night.

Seaport Village, as the name would imply is on the harbour. I had been here years and years ago at a sales meeting, and I remembered the Seaport Village area, but San Diego has grown up around it.

The convention centre complex along the Embarcadero opened in November 1989 and most of the highrise hotels weren’t here the last time I was here, so the complexion of the area has changed a lot. The convention centre reminds me of Canada Place in Vancouver, with it’s teflon sails. Turns out it was designed by Canadian architect, Arthur Erickson.

I wandered the shops, bought an ice cream and went for a long walk along the various parts of the waterfront, all the way from Seaport Village down to Embarcadero Park at the south end of the development. Absolutely perfect day.

On my way back to the KOA I stopped by a mall nearby and turns out it’s huge, and includes a Macy’s, Nordstrom, etc. However, there are a bunch of outlet malls here too, so I’m going to check those out before shopping at a regular mall. I will be here for U. S. Thanksgiving and Black Friday, when I’ll be on a beach or anywhere far, far away from any shopping.

Anaheim, CA

Today I decided my ultimate destination would be Santa Monica Pier, but that I’d wander a bit before getting there. I didn’t stop to take too many pictures because most of what I saw is stuff you’ve all seen pictures of anyway and I wouldn’t have been able to cover as much ground if I stopped frequently.

I started at the Griffith Observatory in Griffith Park. I’m ashamed to admit it was just to stop to take a picture of the Hollywood sign since I’d read it was a good place to get one. I just didn’t have time to stop and have a look at the Observatory, although it looked really interesting.

Hollywood was my next stop. I parked near Hollywood and Highland near the heart of the area. Turns out they were just implementing a diagonal crosswalk at that corner and the traffic was a mess because everyone was confused about what was going on, both pedestrians and drivers. I managed to cross without getting killed.

I wandered along the Hollywood Walk of Fame looking at all the stars there. I was actually surprised by how many of the people I didn’t recognize. In one block is the Hollywood Ave entrance to the Dolby Theatre which is where the Academy Awards have been held since 2001 when it was opened (previously called Kodak Theatre). There is also a 4 story mall with restaurants and shops as part of the Theatre complex.

It’s just down the block from historic Grauman’s Chinese Theatre which is where the Oscars were handed out in the 1940s. It was opened in 1927 and still hosts openings of movies from time to time. In the courtyard in front of the theatre are the hand and footprints (and glove print in the case of Michael Jackson) of generations of Hollywood stars.

There are other tourist traps as well such as the Madame Trussaud’s Wax Museum and Ripley’s Believe it or Not.

Then it was down to Sunset Blvd and the Sunset Strip and then over to Rodeo Drive which I drove from north to south where it joins Wiltshire Blvd. I didn’t stop to shop or even take a picture. Every designer you’ve ever heard of has a store there.

Then on to Santa Monica Boulevard for a quick stop at the Beverly Hills sign and lily pond, and then all the way out to Santa Monica Pier. Yes, another pier. This is my second favourite after Santa Cruz. I think it must be the roller coaster and carousels. It was cool and really windy, so not a great beach day. Santa Monica is the western end of famous Route 66 which used to go east all the way to Chicago, Illinois covering 3, 940 km.

Coming back I freeway-hopped back to Anaheim. At times I was speeding along at 90 and others I was crawling along at 40. Thankfully I was never stopped completely. I certainly couldn’t do this freeway driving on a regular basis.

Anaheim, CA

Yesterday was time for me to leave all the yucky stuff going on in the world behind and enter into that “happiest place on earth”, Disneyland. I was about the 20th guest into the park at the 9 opening and I didn’t leave till 11:30 pm. I was exhausted, had really irritated my SI joint and eaten too many calories (yes, I had a churro), but I was happy.

I’m sure many of you have experienced Disneyland or Disneyworld so I won’t go into too many details here. It’s been a long, long time since I was there last, and really, things haven’t changed that much. Which is a good thing. It’s Disneyland’s 60th anniversary this year, and the Sleeping Beauty Castle is decorated in diamonds, silver ribbon and the “60” is on the castle, banners and at the entrance.

What was different this time, is that given the time of year Christmas has taken over some of the attractions and their decorations. “Jungle Cruise” has become “Jingle Cruise” and their theme is all about missing Christmas decorations. “It’s a Small World” has more Christmas songs than their annoying theme song and many of the scenes have been augmented by Christmas decorations. The Haunted House has Halloween and Christmas touches as well and the afternoon parade is totally Christmas themed, (aptly named “A Christmas Fantasy”), including dancing reindeer and of course Santa as the finale.

The evening parade was called Paint the Night and I’m sure Chris Hatfield could have seen the lights from outer space. I hadn’t planned on sitting on a cold, cement curb for over an hour waiting for the parade among the hordes of cranky kids but I got talking to a grandmother from Omaha, Nebraska who was there holding a spot for her daughter, son-in-law and three kids, and she offered me a piece of their curb and I ended up talking to her non-stop for the hour and a half about everything under the sun. She was really interesting and I was impressed she even knew about our new Prime Minister. And the parade was great.

I stayed around for the 9:30 fireworks and the Fantasmic show at 10:45pm. I watched the fireworks from the Rivers of America plaza (to be near my designated Fantasmic watching spot) instead of Main Street, and enjoyed both. I was glad that I’d lugged my fleece around all day despite the afternoon temps of 28 degrees or so, because by 9:30 it was really cool. The fireworks were great, and so was Fantasmic. Amazing effects, but hey, it’s Disney!

Disney California Adventure is a new park located right next to the original Disneyland property. In fact you enter each through the same plaza and security checks. (Oh yeah, that was new too-just a quick bag search). I didn’t even venture into the new park. Will save that for the next time I come to California to check out the Missions I haven’t managed to see.

Logistics things I discovered:

Single rider – if you are willing to go as a single rider you can get in much quicker on some of the attractions. I did that on Splash Mountain and I was on the ride in about 10 minutes when the regular wait was at least an hour. You enter through the exit and then are fed into the loading of the line when they have a single seat available. A couple in front of me took the single line and ended up in the same log anyway.

Fast Pass and early opening – Disney has a system where on some of the most popular rides you can use your Park entry pass and go to the Fast Pass kiosks to get a ticket to come back later in the day. They assign an hour of time that you have to come back and when you do come back you go in the Fast Pass Entry line where there is no or minimal line up. You are feed into the regular line at some point. If you pay extra for the early opening ticket you could get a bunch of Fast Passes.

Sore SI joints really don’t like the Matterhorn ride

Fantasmic- Is a great show taking place on the Rivers of America. I watched the fireworks from the Rivers of America plaza instead of Main Street, and you get the added benefit of a presentation on the water at the same time as the fireworks and it’s less crowded. You can also book reservations at some of the restaurants around the Rivers of America and have a seat and watch the show over dinner instead of standing in corals or sitting on cold cement.