Dreams, Moments, Travels
A local Korean eatery offers up some Korean news to let us know what’s going on back in their neck of the woods. Best I could tell, Seoul had elections today with more than one winner looking like a bad guy from a Chan-wook Park film. The weather is going to be sunny for the next few days with temperatures around 27 Celsius (80 Fahrenheit), construction of an industrial complex is going forward, and the World Cup is coming soon.
The loop 101 freeway passing through Scottsdale is but another non-descript bland and poorly designed freeway here in Arizona. There are onramps on curves where traffic nearly piles up every day, onramps whose traffic is so dense that miles of cars back up behind it. The newly installed radar cams to catch speeders have people slowing down abruptly and then speeding right back up. We are but months away from traffic being as congested as any freeway in Los Angeles. Driving in Phoenix is bad enough, you should try getting in and out of the city on holiday weekends.
Attention: This is yet one more post that originally had but one photo and maybe 200 words that told of our day. Here in late 2022, this oversight is being repaired.
This corner of Placer Drive and Cathedral Oaks Avenue in Goleta will forever belong to my aunt and uncle Burns, who moved into the house as its first occupants.
On a similar note, this is Cajun Kitchen, but without my aunt and uncle, it is not the same place. Lots of fond memories of having breakfast with those two. Remember, I’m writing this in 2022.
Passing through Los Angeles on Highway 101 and only about 7 miles before we either merge onto the 10 Freeway or the 60 for our drive home to Arizona.
Today, though, we are detouring right from Downtown Los Angeles to make our way to Whittier Boulevard.
We went as far as we could on Whittier Boulevard until we turned to pick up Lambert Road.
That road becomes Carbon Canyon and takes us into Chino Hills right to the California Institution for Men in Chino. From there, we took Central North to merge onto the 60 Freeway that will bring us to Interstate 10.
Northwest of Palm Springs, about 120 miles from Blythe, this is U.S. Interstate 10 going east towards Arizona. Over the past 11 years, Caroline and I have plied this asphalt no less than 70 times, maybe as many as 100 times; we have lost count. From visiting family to shopping, going to concerts, movies, national parks, ethnic communities, or riding the subway and trying new food, this road to and from Los Angeles has delivered us to Disneyland, Hollywood, the Pacific Ocean, and back home again.
The question always comes up: why don’t you fly? For the 2 of us to fly to Los Angeles from Phoenix requires a 20-minute-drive to Sky Harbor International Airport, two days of parking at $20 per day, two plane tickets at $125 each, $45 for a small car in L.A., $21 for gasoline at a minimum upon rental return. The entire procedure takes 3.5 hours from home to sitting down in the rental car, so for $356 and still no hotel, we could go to L.A. 2 hours faster than driving. But, for the 70-odd times we have made this journey it would have cost us $24,920 versus the $3,570 we have spent for gasoline (that’s averaging $2.00 per gallon over the 11 years). With the money saved, we could have bought 362 entries into Disneyland, paid for 305 hotel nights, or flown non-stop roundtrip to Hawaii 22 times, or to Europe 9 times.
The homestretch, we are only 160 miles from our front door.
Attention: This is yet one more post that originally had but one photo and maybe 100 words that told of our day. Here in late 2022, this oversight is being repaired.
Moving slowly today after our marathon Disneyland visit, we meandered across Los Angeles on city streets, making our way from Anaheim through Cypress and Long Beach, where I stopped to take this photo of the San Gabriel River.
North, the streets took us up to Cerritos.
Wandering over to the intersection of Bellflower Blvd and Flower Street.
Before hitting Valley Blvd in Monterey Park and taking a left, that brought us to the Ming Ya Buddhist Association.
At the corner of Main and Daly in Los Angeles, we would soon be in Chinatown.
Back across Sunset to Hollywood Boulevard on some strangely quiet streets.
We failed to get breakfast earlier, so Oki Dog acted as brunch, and well, I don’t think there’s a better brunch in all of America.
We followed the road to Mulholland Drive for some beautiful views of the San Fernando Valley
Finally left the small streets and merged onto Highway 101 for our first visit to the Pacific Ocean on this trip.
Just a few feet to the left is the Pacific Ocean, on the right is Highway 101, and in the center is the train track for the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner.
Our ultimate goal today was to visit our aunt and uncle in Santa Barbara; this was not them.
Attention: This is yet one more post that originally had but one photo and maybe 100 words that told of our day. Here in late 2022, this oversight is being repaired.
Late yesterday afternoon, Caroline and I began the 350-mile (560km) drive from Phoenix, Arizona, to Anaheim, California, so we could spend ALL DAY AND NIGHT at Disneyland on Saturday. Up at 6:00 in the morning, in line by 7:00, walked through the gate at 8:00, and didn’t leave until nearly 1:00 in the morning.
We were just here six months ago on Christmas Eve, so having that experience so near our memories, we were able to slow down the chase to experience it all again and focus on some other details that might be missed though, after more than a dozen times of visiting Disneyland together, you’d think that we’d seen it all by now.
There are some attractions that we’ll never miss, such as the Tiki Room. If I knew the words by heart and had memorized every moment, we’d still return for one more show to listen to Jose wake up with “Buenos días, señorita. My siestas are getting shorter and shorter. Oh, look at all the people. Welcome to Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room. Hey, Michael, mi amigo, pay attention, it’s showtime.”
I don’t know that I’ve ever consciously seen this, which begs the question, how many other things at Disneyland have I missed and are now forever gone?
To have the imagination I did when I was but 6 or 7 years old and first saw this gate and fence and felt the crazy excitement that not only were we at Disneyland, but we were going to unimaginable places within it.
This was called Innoventions and was a showcase of tech built inside the Carousel Theater.
Asimo was relatively new to the world of robots when we saw it first perform here at Innoventions; it was astonishing.
The elevated track used to be part of the People Mover. Later, it became Rocket Rods, and now the thing sits silent, even now in 2022, as I write this.
Looking into odd corners.
Taking time to finally paddle the Rivers of America on our way around Tom Sawyer Island.
Just as Space Mountain propels us into the future, Rivers of America transported us into the past.
Nature’s Wonderland Railroad Engine that used to guide people on the Mine Ride.
The park simply looks beautiful from all angles.
And if all the fun wasn’t enough, throw in a parade for extra measure.
How long before the barber shop quartette idea no longer resonates with parkgoers?
After my family went to Disneyland, we always had a bunch of A, B, and C coupons remaining as those were kids’ rides, and we all wanted E-tickets as those were for the really exciting rides.
When we were kids, the last thing we wanted to see were the corny shows, now we’re those people that enjoy the corny shows.
No, Dad, not the stupid Dumbo ride; I’m not a little kid anymore. Now I’m older and find it cute and romantic as Caroline, and I take to the skies flying in circles in our own private Dumbo.
From Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride to the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, the formula still works.
The fireworks went off at 9:25 p.m. with a special extravaganza in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the park.
After dozens of times at Disneyland, we still find new things to do and are never bored, even for a moment – the power of imagination and romance.
The rides are all shut down; it’s now after midnight the only thing left to do is stroll down Main Street, stopping in at the Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor to share a sweet.
I think the title says it all, but I’ll use this opportunity to post yet one more selfie of the two of us traveling west from Arizona over to California.