Tokyo Disney on New Year’s Day

So technically, we didn’t go to Tokyo Disneyland, with the castle and the princesses and parades. We went to the more adult park next store called Disney Sea. After comparing the two, the rides I wanted most to ride were there. Plus, it was New Year’s Day, and I figured Disneyland would be more crowded.

First impressions, everything was so pretty. Everything looked brand new! This park has been around for 14 years and it looks incredible. Pluto was even there at the gate to greet us!

The view as you enter is the great Mount Prometheus. It has a ride inside it, as well as a role in the night show, Fantasmic. It also periodically spits fire.

We explored American Waterfront, which includes Toy Story Mania!, the Tower of Terror, as well as a mishmash of American-esque culture, architecture and restaurants.

 

Instead of The Twilight Zone being the driving theme of this ride as it is in the U.S., they decided to go with an explorer theme (mimicking the park’s attractions) basing it off a man named Harrison Hightower, a shady guy who stole artifacts from all over the world, landing him a spooky cursed item. It was fun, smart, and hey, they avoided paying royalties to CBS!

We went inside Uncle Scrooge McDuck’s (a gift shop) and tried on a few silly things.

Silly was sort of a theme for us.

There were tons of old presidential propaganda posters everywhere.

Duffy the Disney Bear is HUGE here. There’s an entire store devoted to it. There’s a zillion different outfits, accessories, you name it. These were very old bears being displayed by an old man. He graciously let them model for me.

A view of Mediterranean Harbor

On Mysterious Island (where the mountain is) are two rides and a restaurant. This is the gift shop for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

We made reservations for Magellan’s, a super swanky place, for lunch!

While we waited for our time, we explored the fortress around the restaurant.

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Lunch was delicious. We splurged and got the four course meal, which made us feel a lot like Jack Dawson in Titanic. It was very good.

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Next, we hopped aboard the Disney Sea Electric Railway to get to Lost River Delta, the land where our next ride was. On the way, we passed over Port Discovery where the water rides are. The ride below is called Aquatopia, and it looked to be a sort of bumper cars on the water. IT WAS COLD PEOPLE. Why those people risked getting wet was beyond us.

Lost River Delta had the ride I was most excited for, Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull. I didn’t get to ride it in California, which was a huge bummer, because I wanted my mom to ride ‘my ride.’ I say it’s mine because it has the same ride path and vehicles as Dinosaur: the ride at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Orlando, where I worked for two years.

Indiana may have been running around, but all I heard was Dr. Seeker yelling, “Abort! Abort!” in my head.

Next, we headed to Arabian Coast. An Agrabah themed land. It was beautiful!!

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We didn’t feel like riding rides, but if we had, Jasmine’s Flying Carpets was there!
Instead, we headed for Mermaid Lagoon in search of dessert. (well, I had another search in mind). Yes, I found my secret treasure trove, full of whose its and whats its galore, most importantly, my Prince!!

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The line for Ariel was super short, plus the caramel popcorn cart was right next to it.
It was fate.

Freezing our butts off (if only), we headed back to American Waterfront to get a good seat for Fantasmic!. Now I had seen it at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, but this show was incredible. It was done on the water, with stunts, and fireworks, and dancing, and DRAGONS WITH HUGE AMOUNTS OF FIRE. I was thoroughly impressed and almost forgot how cold I was.

I left for South Korea the next day. We shared our last ramen together at the airport. It was a wonderful trip and I can’t wait to return! We plan to go to Kyoto next time, and perhaps even The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Japan!

I can’t believe I can now say I’ve been to Korea and Tokyo. Is this real life?

This postcard represents my ‘horizons being broadened’ with Mt. Fuji on the left, and Namsan with Seoul Tower on the right.

1989 Mother Tour – Southern California

We had finally made it to the West Coast!! The end was drawing near, but California had so much fun in store for us!

First stop San Diego

…to stay with my sister and her family. I had been missing this nephew of mine hardcore. I hadn’t seen my partner in crime in nearly 9 months!!

We couldn’t wait to start making trouble.

Obviously, the first thing we needed was rest. Driving really takes it outta you. Sun, sand, and warm air was the only cure we needed.

This bug is getting so huge. I had a really hard time saying goodbye to him, knowing he will be so much bigger the next time I see him. He’ll know more things, have seen more, and maybe, just maybe, not want as many kisses from Auntie anymore…

But we didn’t want to focus on that. Instead, we focused on injury #3.

All Mom wanted was to enjoy her book and eat her sandwich, but the seagull didn’t feel that was an option. He decided she didn’t want it enough, swooped down and snatched the entire sandwich from her hand.

“Only you, Mom,” we all said

It was a perfect day with this little bug.

After a very tearful farewell, with many blowing kisses, we started out early for Anaheim, California.

Second Stop, Disneyland!!

My father went to Disneyland as a kid, my brother went as an adult. My sister went to Walt Disney World for her honeymoon, and I worked there for 3 years.

My mom was the only one to never have experienced the House of Mouse firsthand. I needed to fix that.

This was my first time as well, to Disneyland. I knew the basic Disney tricks to get us around quickly, but in terms of knowing about all the attractions, there were a lot I didn’t recognize.

I’d describe it as the better, even more kid-friendly version of The Magic Kingdom. In Florida, MK has around 13 rides that any child can ride. At Disneyland, they have over 20. Anyways, don’t get me started on comparing parks…

Another perk was Disneyland was celebrating its 60th Anniversary. I feel like these days, they have an anniversary for everything, but this one was actually legitimate. 60 is the Diamond year, so that was the theme throughout the park.

First thing we had to do was get our buttons. Mom got a First Visit and I got a Happy Birthday one, hey it was the following week…

She thought this was incredible and couldn’t believe I knew about it. C’mon Mom…(just stop by Guest Relations on your way in to get some, the building is usually labeled City Hall)

Next was the big reveal of the castle. I filmed her reaction. I’ve gotta say, I was a little underwhelmed. She probably thought it was charming and loved it. I’ve just been spoiled with the greatness that is Cinderella’s Castle in Florida, so Sleeping Beauty’s is kind of blah.

But unlike WDW, we got to go inside this one. Each corridor led to another part of the story, all self-led.

She didn’t care about Meet & Greets with Characters (thank goodness) or hitting every single ride. We picked a few areas and let the day plan itself. We rode Jungle Cruise & The Haunted Mansion and explored Tom Sawyer Island.

I couldn’t let my Mom leave this place without trying the glorious Mickey’s Premium Bar.

We got souvenirs for surprisingly cheap in a glassware shop. We each got mugs and engraved glasses celebrating the 60th.

Lastly, before we headed out, we watched the 60th Celebration Parade. If there’s one thing that Disney know how to do well (besides fireworks), it’s a parade.

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It really killed me that we couldn’t stay all day to see the fireworks show at night. It’s something I’ve always wanted to show my Mom.  I really regret not biting the bullet and delaying the schedule to stay an extra day so she could’ve seen it.

But we had a blast. We drove the rest of the day, ending in Santa Maria. We couldn’t go too far because we were meeting an old friend in the morning that we both hadn’t seen in ten years!!

I decided to try my hand at people this time and practiced with the parade dancers.

Independence Day

We met our friend for breakfast. She was my youth pastor and a wonderful friend growing up. I miss her council and complete non-judgmental understanding.

Seeing her again definitely made our morning.

We were aiming for Napa Valley, but my Mom really wanted to drive through San Francisco. This, my friends, was a HUGE MISTAKE.

Pier 39 is a mess on the fourth of July. Never ever go there. We drove for two hours looking for a parking spot. I finally had to admit defeat and take the day as a loss. It wasn’t all bad though. We got some beautiful shots going over the bridge.

We also spent the night with my sister’s in-laws who lived about thirty minutes outside the city. They took us up this humongous hill so we could watch the fireworks shows of all the surrounding towns.

Even though we lost a day, it was a blessing to see friends and family.

Next Up: Napa Valley & The Redwood National Forest!

Me: so many hours, I can’t even keep track anymore

Mom: 2

Brothers, Badlands & The Black Keys

Planning a cross-country road trip is like planning a two-year old’s birthday party. It’s pretty much pointless. No amount of forethought and effort can stop the beautiful chaos about to begin, so you might as well embrace it.

Sure, you need to have a starting point and an ultimate destination, but everything in between? Let it happen. Don’t make fifteen different hotel reservations. Don’t map out ‘photo op’ moments. Get in your car, and just drive.

The only thing that warrants careful and precise planning is a decent Road Mix. If you don’t have good music, you’re going to go insane.

My second trek across the US of A had a snag in it even before we got in the car. Due to annoyances with the DMV, we were set back a day and a half. Gotta plan for it guys. And who was my co-pilot this time? My older brother. Well, he’s my only brother. But, if he insists on referring to me as his ‘little’ sister (even into my mid twenties?!), he’s gets to be old.

It just so happened that as I was planning to move to Florida, he was relocating to Tennessee for his job. “Tag along, partner?” I said. “Don’t mind if I do.” he said. (yes we are cowboys) –Can we take a minute to admire my Tetris-perfect packing job? My brother was allowed the big suitcase on the right, and his guitar. That’s because I’m so nice.

So we said ‘So Long’ to the parents in Oregon and drove off into the sunset.  – I told you, we were behind schedule.  It started out great. Windows down, blasting Ventura Highway (America) and Movin’ Out (Billy Joel) just to get the groove going. Well, guys, Oregon has badlands. That’s right. They are actually named The Badlands. And they go on forever.

The most excitement that first day was almost hitting an owl. No, let me rephrase that. The owl was flying directly at us. So he almost hit us. Jerk.
We decided to drive until we couldn’t anymore. That, my friends, is a bad idea.

(it needs to be said, that you, Idaho, were by far the most grotesquely smelling state we drove through, so thanks for that)
We dodged many a deer, goat, and cow (yes, wild cows) on the curviest, cliff roads ever. Not the best. The clouds were pretty though.

Our bodies lasted until 6am the next morning which turned out to be about thirteen hours of driving. I checked us into a skeezy hotel (I had to wake up the manager) to get a nap in. I said we’d check out in four hours, so he only charged me forty, which I thought was fair. I wanted to sleep; he could’ve said anything.

Sleeping Beauty here slept like a rock. I on the other hand slept maybe two hours. I was so nervous about completely passing out and sleeping way past our check out that I just couldn’t relax. Meanwhile, waking my brother takes nothing less than a blow horn and an apocalypse. But I settled for plugging his nose.

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Day two, we were excited to see new sights, explore the great open spaces of America, starting with its charming rest stops.

I always document how I look at the beginning of a trip, because as the days go by, my ‘style’ looks more like a 90’s grunge band.
My brother has been my reluctant model for years, and my weird photo shoots were finally rubbing off on him, because this was his idea.

As we dipped into Utah for a bit and onto Montana, we played a lot of Lord of the Rings. It just fit.

It was around this time, we got on the worst road in all of the United States; I-80 East.

It is one of the most hopeless stretches I have ever had the misfortune of traveling. We were on it for eight hundred miles. Not eighty. EIGHT HUNDRED. It was horrible.
So, we made use of all the rest stops to keep Jack from turning into a dull boy.

We chose most of our stops based on what food we were craving. Little America won us over with their 99 cent ice cream cones.

And I found a friend while we were there.

We continued on through mountains…

over bridges…

Through rocky terrain that belongs in The Flintstones…

I’m telling you, it went on and on. Thank goodness for The Black Keys and Gotye.

-side note- I’ve never liked the look of these wind turbine things.They just creep me out. They look alien. I think that’s how they spy on us. yeah sure. I’ll go 75…when I’m exiting…

As the day came to a close, we were somewhere around Nebraska. As we looked for a promising exit, we saw this:

There is no way there would be a sign in Nebraska for Oregon…Hours later….We pulled into a Days Inn. First mistake.
It was 2am. Second mistake.
The check in guy was the creepier cousin of Napoleon Dynamite’s brother, Kip. And what he was doing before he came out of the back room just made it all the more disturbing. Let’s just say I made my brother go back for shampoo. After our longest day yet at 17 hours, it was time for a good 6 hour nap.

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Day three, Independence Day!! If all went well, we would reach Tennessee and my brother would ‘supposedly’ leave me to drive the rest of the way alone.

All siblings have a language, or at least a verbal shorthand and ‘isms’ that only they understand. My brother and I are so hilarious together. Trust me. We almost pee ourselves doing Ace Ventura & Nicholas Cage impressions. If anyone could have seen or heard what was going on in that packed tight Honda CRV, we would’ve been committed immediately. We both oddly have an obsession with sunglasses. We had enough to each wear two different pairs a day. I have a lot because I break/lose them almost as fast as I buy them.

Letting my brother use my camera while I drive can be an interesting experiment. I wonder sometimes if he notices his own patterns.
The Beautiful Photography of ‘OLDER BROTHER‘

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After another full day, we were finally getting somewhere.

I was ready for a hearty, American meal to celebrate the fourth, but my brother was too hangry to listen to any of my Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives suggestions. We didn’t even get to stop at the St. Louis Arch. What a butthead.

This was the best I could do.
We finally stopped in Kansas City, but everything was closed! Well, duh…National Holiday nonsense strikes again.

This is where we would have loved to eat, The Brick, purely for the The Oklahoma. It’s a deep-fried hot dog wrapped in bacon.
You just salivated. Gross.
We did find a cool wall though.

We stuck to munchies until we finally made it to Nashville, Tennessee, where I slept twelve straight hours without even feeling it.

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Day four, because my brother is the BEST, was a short traveling day.

Yes, he gave in to my pleading and agreed to drive to Florida with me and fly back.

Gold stars, bro.
We drove four short hours to Marietta, Georgia to stay the night with our cousins, because frankly we didn’t have a 12 hour day in us.

The next day, with only six hours to go, we figured we’d seen it all when it came to strange-rest-stop-activity. But we were wrong.

Horrific murder scene? Dirty handed, clumsy bum? Trapped souls in the walls??

Oh, and there was a horrendous, monsoon of a rainstorm, which my brother braved to fill up on gas, while I took videos of him shivering and glaring at me.

Hope was in sight as we passed our final state border.

And as promised, my brother got to see the first palm tree of the trip.

Over three thousand miles, five days, too many energy drinks and 5 hour energy shots, and two days short on underwear supply (my brother freeballed it in his swim trunks; it was nasty), we finally made it to Orlando, Florida.
It was a great trip, full of laughter, farts, real talk, and wow-that-was-too-much-information.

You were an excellent driving buddy, Bro. We should do it again sometime.
(please pack extra undies)

Titusville Number Eight

Before leaving the land of beaches, Miss B and I decided to drive down to Titusville, FL. (It may sound random, but it’s actually famous! I mean, it was in Men In Black 3. Ok, it’s where the NASA space station is.)

Fun fact? yes. Did we go there? Pfft. no way.

We went to see a little piece of heaven called Playalinda. This stretch of beaches is only reachable by bridge and a loooooong windy road that may or may not have reptilian predators prowling the ditches.

We went to #8, because the rumor is the last beach….unlucky #13 does not require…swim apparel.  And we just chose one with the least amount of cars. It’s for their sake really. My skin tends to blind the unprepared.

We had a pretty sweet set up. We’d taken enough beach days together to know the necessities: water, shade apparatus, towels, snacks, books, music, camera, incredible hotness.

While the weather was plenty warm for sun soaking (crisping in my case) we were getting harassed by torrential winds. (ok not torrential, but large, annoying gusts)

-speaking of harassment-

Birds not only tried to steal my chips, but they pooped on my towel. Unacceptable.

So, because of this troublesome breeze, wading in the ocean proved to be quite abusive. The ocean literally kicked my butt.

I had to crawl away from the shore I was so wiped out from just trying to stay alive.
(I exaggerate a bit, you know this)

It was a beautiful, relaxing day regardless. We had no time-table (we hate them).

I wish I could describe the quiet. We felt so far away from everything and everyone. Time didn’t really seem to exist there. That sounds a little deep, but I felt like I was on a faraway island, or The Island, or maybe just Hawaii. It didn’t feel like touristy, loud, horrible traffic, Florida.

 

 

 

 

We were sad to leave. But I could actually feel my skin cooking to a nice medium rare. Plus the birds were getting aggressive.

We said adios to this timeless pocket of heaven. Probably never to return, because I kind of want this to be a one time experience. Makes it better, I think.

Riding North

The time had finally come. Miss B and I were leaving Florida, for good this time.

She had lived there five years, I, only three. We only lasted as long as we did because of the incredible people.

So we said our goodbyes, cried all our tears, and began our journey up and out. First stop: Tallahassee.

 

It didn’t feel like Florida. The humidity was gone. The trees were huge. And the bugs looked normal. (not the crazy concoctions Orlando had)

Miss B had cousins in the area, so we slept in a a old fashioned homey home, deep in the middle of the woods. Yes, we did have thoughts about whether we were being led into a creepy cabin, to never see light again.

It felt very Cabin in the Woods-y…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Next stop: Marietta, Georgia

We stayed here with my cousins for the weekend. Watched U of O be awesome. And I met my cousin’s son Gavyn for the first time. Total bug. I am such an advocate for family. I grew up knowing my cousins very little since we’re spread out all over the US. I feel so privileged to be a part of their lives now. We didn’t want to leave, and my aunt decided Miss B was part of the family now.

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Next Stop: Tennessee to a little place called Friendsville

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This state surprised me. I had no idea how beautiful it was. The image of Tennessee in my head was a flat, yellow, dusty plain. After visiting, I feel like I could live here for a year and love it completely. It has a peaceful calm about it. It welcomes you with its trees, and rollings hills, and quiet rivers.

We stayed with the gracious Marcum family. We tried our first moonshine cherries. We watched The Walking Dead outside on the patio. We drank our coffee on the grass and watched the dogs run by the water. I cannot wait to revisit this heaven.

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From here we had a choice. We could stop in Roanoke, VA (and disappear forever, c’mon history nerds) or drive the 9+ hours and reach Maryland late that evening. This would be our longest stretch of driving yet. We tried to keep our destinations close to each other to avoid that. We ended up deciding to just drive, and see what the day had planned for us.

Not even two hours passed and we were bored. So we pulled off the highway and followed signs to a pumpkin patch. Sure, it could’ve been a psycho killer’s ranch of death, but we were ready for anything more exciting than the unending road ahead.

Also– I forgot to adjust the driver’s seat to Miss B’s height. Hence, the lucky duck got to be the permanent co-pilot.

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A few hours after that, we stopped in another remote town (which eerily reminding me of Oregon) following signs to a national park in hopes for something pretty to look at, or at least a short trail to get our blood flowing in our legs again. Unfortunately it was basically a campground with massively long trails. Regardless, it was a beautiful detour.

I didn’t think I could make it the whole day. My eyes were droopy and my brain was mush. We had been listening to a grisly British man read Game of Thrones to us all day and I just couldn’t keep it together. So we stopped at a McDonald’s and wolfed down some fries and the nastiest cup of coffee I’ve ever had. That did it. We got to my sister’s in Maryland a little before eleven.

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We had one day to enjoy Washington D.C. together before Miss B continued north to her final destination in Michigan. It was a beautiful day, not only because of the sun, but because it was the very day the Government shut down ended and all the Smithsonian museums reopened.

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We say the classic D.C. sites as well. The National Monument looks a little weird because they were still repairing it from earthquake damage.

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It was a wonderful trip. I couldn’t have chosen a more laid back person to come with me. Thanks Miss B for always being there for me and accepting my crazy on a daily basis.

Until the next time….

Miami in the Morning

I lived in Florida for almost three years and made many many trips to the various beaches. I had my favorites, but there was one that I had to visit before I left the state for good. Miami.

When I thought of Miami, I thought of clubs, beach parties, neon colored clothing and Horatio Caine from CSI: Miami. Naturally.

Miss B and I were trying to tie up all our loose ends before we embarked on our roadtrip up north to new lives, away from TouristLand. Our bucket list wasn’t too long. One last trip to Universal, watch at least one of the fireworks shows, drink around the world at Epcot, go to St. Augustine, and drive down to Miami.

She had already been there, but never for a girl’s trip. Which is entirely different.

In one day, it was decided that our dynamic duo (which had suddenly become a foursome) would leave at two in the morning on a wednesday, drive four hours down to Miami; to watch the sunrise on the beach.

Sure, it sounded romantic and mushy in all the right places, but unfortunately, Miss B and I had forgotten our plans to spend all of Tuesday at Universal and Islands of Adventure, two very large theme parks. As a result, I slept maybe two hours in those two days and was basically a zombie by the time we got to Miami.

The sunrise was pretty. We took our group shots and cracked open some coronas, but it didn’t quite make up for the homeless guys sleeping a few feet away from us.

We walked around, but as the day grew hotter, we started losing steam, fast.

We ended up leaving for Orlando at four because none of us had any energy to do much. Pathetic, I know.

Hey, not all road trips are great trips. But we still had fun. The drive there was a ‘blast the music to stay awake’ kind of ride  and I definitely snored on Conor on the way home.