A Magical Week

Downtown Disney

December began with two magical days.

The first was none other than the "happiest place on earth," the magical place that started them all --Disneyland. We drove down to Anaheim the day before and got a hotel room so we could hit the Park first thing in the morning without having to deal with those annoying issues of traffic and getting up early. Our hotel was walking distance. We checked in around 2:30 in the afternoon, and headed out to explore "Downtown Disney," which is essentially a shopping mall situated between Disneyland and its sister park, Disney California Adventure (DCA). When they say, "two or three blocks away," what they mean is a half mile. (Mark and I found out the hard way how pathetically out of shape we are.) A couple hours later and who knows how many steps (because I forgot to put on my step-counting watch), our feet were sore, my lower back was aching, and we wondered if we were going to be able to manage a whole day at Disneyland come morning.

The next day we decided to buy tickets to ride the shuttle that ran from our hotel to Disneyland. An all day ticket, with a senior discount, was $2.50 each-- and we were glad we did!

Steve and Al (son & daughter-in-law) were meeting us there, but since they have annual passes and visit fairly regularly, they came a little before lunchtime. Mark and I have both been to Disneyland many times, but neither of us has ever been to the California Adventure side, so we decided to buy "park-hopper" tickets so we could spend time in each area...and also because Steve made reservations for lunch on the DCA side and dinner on the Disneyland side. It turned out that we probably didn't need to make reservations, but you never know...and better safe than sorry.

We arrived when the Park opened at eight, headed over to DCA first. and visited as many attractions as we could before the kids showed up. It was great fun. If you get a chance to go, there are two rides there you have to ride:  "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Radiator Springs Racers". I think those were our favorites. Fortunately, it wasn't too terribly packed the day we were there (a Tuesday) and lines weren't too terribly long in most places (less than an hour).

Guardians of the Galaxy tower

Entrance to the Guardians ride

Radiator Springs Racers...just before the race

After lunch we all headed over to the Disneyland side of the Park and went straight to Galaxy's Edge, the new Star Wars Land. Be it known that I am directly responsible for crashing up the Millennium Falcon. I'm very sorry. The "Smuggler's Run" attraction is an interactive ride where guests act as pilots, gunners, and cargo handlers. Apparently I have trouble with "Up" and "Down". Still we all managed to survive the ordeal, and next time (if they let me on), I'll volunteer to be a gunner. 😉

Galaxy's Edge town

Entrance to the Galaxy's Edge interactive ride

After we emerged from Smuggler's Run,Stormtroopers were dispatched
to look for troublemakers... (maybe they were looking for me!)

Most of our afternoon was spent just walking and looking. Some of the attractions we might have visited were closed; others had lines that were longer than we felt like standing in. But I was able to get a good start on my pin collection. We spent a lot of time shopping. 

Indeed it is!

A memento from my piloting debacle

Commemorating my 2019 visit

The Christmas season is a wonderful time to visit because the Park is decorated so beautifully. I'm told the light show at DCA is fabulous, but since everyone knows it's fabulous, it is also unbearably crowded unless you are fortunate enough to get premium seating, and we weren't. Maybe next time. Besides, we were all beat and ready to call it a day by 7:30, which is well before the light shows and fireworks.

The castle, all lit up

After Steve and Al left, we decided to hop on the Disney Express and take one last spin around the Park before heading out. It was a very enjoyable day. No matter how many times I visit Disneyland, it just never seems to get old.

We spent the night again in the hotel and drove home the next day.

The following Saturday, my lovely daughter-in-law, Alicia, who is a manager at the Six Flags Magic Mountain Park in Canyon Country, provided us with complimentary admission so we could accompany Katie, Brent, and Sophie, to Magic Mountain for Sophie's first theme park adventure. It was a chilly day, and none of us were well dressed for the weather, but we had a great time anyway. I had the honor of riding with Sophie on her first roller coaster ride (children's version).

"Did you have fun?"
"Yes."
"Do you want to ride again?"
"NO."

Sophie rode on several rides--we each got a chance to accompany her at least once. The holiday lights were beautiful and Sophie got her picture taken with Santa after making s'mores over a fire pit.

On the carousel with mom

Dinner is done; heading to the s'mores fire pit

Melting marshmallows for s'mores

Yum!

It was great fun until the end. By that time we were all freezing, but no amount of reasoning with a three-year old could convince her it was time to go home. The fountain of tears erupted amid wails of, "I don't want to goooo...I want to ride the airplane agaaiin...I want to get my face painted...I want to ride the airplane...I want to get my face painted....[repeat a dozen times or so]."

I can't wait to do it again! 😄

December got off to a good start. We're looking forward to spending Christmas with our kids and that adventure is just around the corner. But in my next post, which I'll try to finish in the next few days, I'll tell you about my little spill and its aftermath.

Safe travels to all our RV friends, and God bless you all!

More pictures...

Mark is shopping for a special "Grumpy" hat

Waiting behind a barricade for the 8:00 opening

We rode the Ferris wheel with its rocking cars

Steve and Alicia showing off their special
tile commemorating their wedding day

Space craft parked along the path

 

The Millennium Falcon...before I crashed it

I believe this is a Tie Fighter

Lighted trees at Magic Mountain

More Magic Mountain holiday decorations

Chilling in the Hills of Santa Barbara

As I reported in my previous post, we were evicted from Soledad Canyon RV Park due to complications from the power outage and were sitting it out at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds RV Park, along with many of our fellow campers. When it looked like it might be a while, we booked a Thousand Trails park in Idyllwild, the only park reasonably close with openings. At $25 a day, the AV Fairgrounds was biting into our budget too much and we had pretty much reached our limit there. However, we had to stay at least through Monday, the 4th, for Mark's dental appointment (to fix his broken tooth).

Happily, we got the call that Soledad Canyon Park would reopen the next day, on Tuesday. So of course we cancelled the Idyllwild booking and were able to finish out our stay in Acton.

Now we are in the Santa Barbara area at the Rancho Oso Thousand Trails RV Campground. This park is about 25 miles northeast of Santa Barbara, up in the mountains. It is very remote and we can't get either phone or internet connectivity here. Supposedly, there is WiFi at the lodge, but it's no good for anything except perhaps checking email and text messages.

Rancho Oso's claim to fame is horses. They cater to campers with horses, and they also have horses available to ride (for a price, of course). Having no horse skills whatsoever, I hesitate to rent a horse. I've only ever been on the back of a horse twice - both experiences were disastrous. The first time was as a teenager. I went horseback riding with a church group. The horse I ended up with kept stopping to eat grass, and if I made any attempt to motivate him to move along, he answered by reaching around to bite my foot, which I kept well out of the way. This horse knew I was terrified of it and took full advantage. The second time I was a little older and it was considerably less traumatic, but I still couldn't get comfortable with the whole experience. It's probably better that I leave horse riding to the equestrians and be satisfied with admiring them from a distance.

Our first excursion after arriving at Rancho Oso was Solvang, a quaint little Scandinavian town about a half hour's drive from the campground. They are noted for their ambiance, which is primarily pricey. Everything was expensive. I almost bought a coffee mug, but couldn't bring myself to pay $15 for it, especially since it was likely made in China with slave labor. Still, we visited three bakeries for lunch and pastries. (I love my pastries!) It was a very nice day, and if nothing else, we got a good walk in.

Solvang, CA

We had a bit of a scare last week when a fire broke out between us and Santa Barbara due to severe wind and probably a downed power line. We weren't too worried until the next day when the wind shifted and we saw the giant plume of smoke coming our way. Fortunately, the good Lord sent a rain storm to put it out, but not before it did some damage on the highway-- melted some guard rails, I'm told. They're supposed to have everything repaired and the road opened again before we're due to leave.

The fire north of Santa Barbara threatening to come our way

In the meantime, the high desert (Lancaster) and Soledad Canyon RV Park are dealing with a couple inches of SNOW! It seems we chose a good time to be gone from there. By the time we return it should be melted away and back to its normal fifty degree weather pattern.

This year we spent Thanksgiving with our community of campers. The Park hosted a full blown Thanksgiving dinner and asked attendees to bring a dessert to share. I made two pumpkin pies:  one regular and one non-dairy with a gluten free crust. It was my first attempt to make a pumpkin pie with almond milk, but it turned out surprisingly good. Nut "milk" is the only real alternative because nobody wants their pumpkin pie tasting like coconut. We sat with another full-time RV couple from California and really enjoyed the afternoon.

Thanksgiving dinner at Rancho Oso with John and Janet.

The only thing missing at the Thanksgiving meal was the actual "Thanks" giving. No blessing was asked over the meal (though of course we asked our own blessing privately). Perhaps they were worried about offending someone. It makes me sad that praying to the God of heaven, the Creator and Sustainer of life and thanking Him for His provision would give offence or cause discomfort to anyone. Too many have forgotten from whom the blessings flow.

Nevertheless, I hope your Thanksgiving was happy and bountiful.

God bless, and safe travels to all!