The month of August was a VERY busy travel month. I may post about it. I HOPE to post about it. In the meantime, here's the flickr pics of the drive I took across the country with my sis as we ventured from her place in Chicago back to my place in California. Peep them here.
Showing posts with label adventure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adventure. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Go West Young (Wo)Man!
The month of August was a VERY busy travel month. I may post about it. I HOPE to post about it. In the meantime, here's the flickr pics of the drive I took across the country with my sis as we ventured from her place in Chicago back to my place in California. Peep them here.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Carolwood Foundation: Riding the rails!
Me, in the Combine
Passengers on the Combine
Jeff in the baggage section of the Combine - that's where we took our first ride!
This train carries some dangerous freight!
Train pulling in.
Train leaving the station! All aboard!
All together now! The cars from the original train hooked up (minus the 'Belle).
Taking a curve on the train!*
*This was a special treat! We hadn't thought we'd be allowed to ride the trains once they were hooked up but, the engineers assured us we could! Everyone filled the last three cars and we took a single spin 'round the property. Such a great way to end the day!
Fill 'er up!
Roger Colton conducts us to our seats.
To see the entire photo album, peep them on my Flickr page.
Labels:
adventure,
Carolwood Foundation,
Disney,
Disneyland,
fun,
trains,
Travel,
trips,
Walt Disney
Friday, September 09, 2011
Carolwood Foundation: Riding the Retlaw 1
Also in May, Jeff and I took a trip with the Carolwood Foundation to ride the Original Disneyland and Santa Fe Combine - a part of Disneyland's original railroad!
The trip started in Oakland where Jeff and Mr. Floyd Norman were the 'guests of honor' on this leg of the trip. Animation (and Disney) Legend, Floyd Norman gave a great talk about working for Walt Disney as we chugged our way down to San Luis Obispo.
That evening, Floyd, Jeff, Tony Baxter and Ray Cadd gave a great talk called "Story is King: The Magic of Disney Storytelling". Jeff and Floyd focused on story in film and Tony and Ray focused on Story in the theme parks. Fantastic stuff!
To help raise funds for the Combine (for more info on that, check out Carolwood's website) - they had a auction. I love auctions! I love helping with auctions!
Bookends that used to belong to Walt.
Oh, I wanted this poster!
The next day we all arrived at Santa Margarita Ranch in order to ride the rails ALL Day!
Lunch was a BBQ on the ranch. Yum! And then we had MORE rail fun. I'll post additional pics of that later.
Labels:
adventure,
Carolwood Foundation,
Disneyland,
railroad,
trains,
Travel,
trips,
Walt Disney
Destination D: Walt Disney World!
So, it's been YONKS since I've posted - with very good reason (you'll get more of that as I get around to updating - soon!).
I did a full on TR over at the Dis: ATG does WDW Han Style...SOLO you can peep out all the deets and photos there. For the full on photo blast from that trip, here's my flickr link: Destination D: WDW
I've been doing a LOT of travel, gang. Whew. You'll be sick of all the pics I'll be posting in NO time!
Labels:
adventure,
D23,
Destination D,
Travel,
vacation,
Walt Disney,
Walt Disney World
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Walt Disney World Day 2: Epcot!
My first full day in Florida was a scorcher! I headed for EPCOT - my favorite park - to explore and have fun! However, I do NOT do well in the heat so this day was a real slog for me. I had on a sundress, a GIANT hat, AND I was carrying a parasol. I looked ridiculous! The cherry on this outfit was the lace fan I was carrying to TRY to keep my self cool. I lugged my camera around but, it was just to hot (and I was carrying too much crap) to bust out.
My first stop was Paris for a breakfast pastry. It was very good. The coffee slushie was NOT.
Next up I took my bear, Berrie, to the 'cool zone' to sample the Beverly soda. Lemme' 'splain. I took Berrie to Disneyland with Jeff a bit ago and we had a blast. I snapped pics of the day and laughed and laughed. It was almost like seeing the park again for the first time. So, I thought it would be fun to take Berrie to WDW and take lots of pictures. Something to fill the time and keep me busy since I was going all by myself!
What's this?
It smells weird.
*slurp*
EEEWWWW!
Poor Berrie! I'm really the only person I know who likes that weird soda! Apparently, it's quite the game to take a newbie to the 'cool zone' and video their reactions to the very first sip. I witnessed a pretty epic one while I was there. A couple of teachers line their students up against the wall (like a soda firing squad) and gave each of the kids a little cup of the Beverly. The teacher got the camera set up and then instructed the kids to sip. The looks of horror on their little faces! (we'll never trust again!).
My other 'mission' for visiting EPCOT was to 'Race Around the World Showcase'. A "Cars 2" promo. You picked up a little passport and visited marked 'countries' for a sticker. When you get the whole set, you picked up a little prize.
Yeah, not really worth the hike around the world.
Hot and disappointed, I called it a day and began the trek to my afternoon ADR at Coral Reef. I'd never been there before and wanted to sample it to see if it would be a good stop for our nieces next year. I got a seat RIGHT next to the tank, which was lovely. The service was very good as well. I'm just not sure the gals would enjoy this place without that same seat by the tanks.
There ARE fish here, right?
It was so boiling hot that I just wasn't really hungry. I needed to EAT. I hadn't eaten a thing since that pastry in Paris. I ordered the appetizer sampler for two as my entree. It came with fried shrimp, crab cakes, and lobster bisque. The food was all very good. I especially liked the shrimp! I would not, however, recommend eating the sampler as an entree except on a occasion where you're not starving. It really was not a lot of food for the money.
If you're a Smurf, this food overload will cause your stomach to explode! If you're a normal person, this is a drop in the stomach bucket!
After nursing my iced tea and soaking up the arctic death blast from the A/C, I decided to begin my trek to the Contemporary Hotel to meet some friends for dinner. I had heard that the transportation could take quite some time.
Berrie rides the Monorail
I really liked that resort. I wandered the shops and grabbed a coffee. Then I headed over to the ballroom to pick up my Destination D packet for the weekend. I met my friends for dinner at the California Grill. It had a beautiful view of the Magic Kingdom
I ordered the filet with the mascarpone mashed potatoes.
One of my Disney vet pals suggested I sub the potatoes for the goat cheese polenta. I had a hard time with the thought of NO potatoes so, I ordered the polenta on the side.
Oh, goat cheese polenta, where have you been all my life!
My dessert was a latte!
Berrie is STUFFED ! Wokka-wokka!
After all the food, I was too tired to do anything but crawl back to my hotel. Which is exactly what I did.
Next: Destination D - Day one!
Labels:
adventure,
Florida,
Travel,
vacation,
Walt Disney,
Walt Disney World
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Destination D: Walt Disney World
So earlier this month, I jetted off to Walt Disney World for "Destination D: Walt Disney World". It was a solo trip - No Jeff this time and would last about 5 days (including travel). It was a whirlwind!
I hopped on a Virgin America DIRECT flight from SFO to Orlando (Oh, Virgin America. How I love you!) and snagged a upgrade to "Main Cabin Select" seating. Best way to fly! Free movies, free food, priority boarding...it's like a cheapie version of First Class. I like it! Pictured is my 'travel bear', Humphrey. He keeps me company on trips when the Mister can't come along. That would be him enjoying his free headphones and free entertainment aboard Virgin America. (end unpaid commercial).
Arriving in Orlando, I caught a 'Magical Express' bus to my resort, Coronado Springs.
The room
From the closet area.
Where Humphrey spent his week. Lazy bear.
The room had some really nice touches, too:
I finished off my evening at Portobello at Downtown Disney for dinner. Meatball sliders and pistachio gelato are the perfect way to start a trip (and end a travel day).
Labels:
adventure,
D23,
Destination D,
Florida,
Travel,
vacation,
Walt Disney,
Walt Disney World,
WDW
Thursday, April 28, 2011
CHOCOLATE!!!
So, every year (for the last three), there has been a chocolate fair at Jeff's work. I have not missed one. How could I?! Some of the same folks and some excellent new ones were there!
Au Coeur des Chocolats - the most heavenly little hearts with a creamy center and a burst of refreshing fruit flavor (lychee I believe). Amazing. These were very quickly gone. I tried for seconds later and no dice.
Go To Chocolate - this table was a MAD HOUSE! I barely snagged a teensy piece of almond bark and then I had to flee for my life.
Barlovento Chocolates - I love these. They have such interesting flavors! Really fun and creative. Favorite? The very spicy chocolate and chile truffle.
Toffee Talk - not a HUGE toffee fan but, the red walnut? AMAZING! I totally stalked the gal passing out samples.
Coco Delice - Such great truffles. I'm still bummed I didn't buy the Cognac truffle. Instead, I took home two boxes of Peanut Butter Bunnies - just in time for Easter!
Chocolatier Blue - Oh, how I love them! Peanut Butter truffles, Honey Sage truffles, heavenly caramels. What's not to love about these guys? I visit the shop on 4th street for my chocolate fix so, I didn't buy anything from this table. I just kept dragging my friends over "Eat this!"
My haul of goods - A very decadent box from Vice Chocolates (they had this amazing butterfly with white chocolate ganache, lime and coconut milk. I couldn't walk away from that!!), Claire Square (WHERE have these been all my life?! Shortbread, caramel, and chocolate? Be still my barely beating heart) and a bag of Barbary Brix "The Distinguished Gentleman" caramels (They had the BEST names for their products! And the caramel was divine! Espresso and creamy caramel goodness. Distinguished, indeed!)
Of course, now I cannot even THINK about eating chocolate for a nice long while.
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