Fall Trip to CA: Los Angeles

Since our trip was a little on the lengthy side, I've broken it up into a series of posts; links to the additional posts can be found at the bottom of this one!

We spent part of Tuesday, October 6 finding a few places in and around LA that we wanted to visit.

Our first stop was Huntington Beach, where my family spent countless summer weeks visiting my grandpa.  I absolutely love Huntington Beach and have so many happy, happy, happy memories from this place – and even though my grandpa moved the east coast a couple of years ago, we still like to visit Huntington Beach whenever we are in California.  If we ever win the lottery, it is most decidedly on the list of places we'd love to live.  This beach is so beautiful!

We then found an ice cream place called Afters that we'd read about and it did not disappoint!  I had a "milky bun," which sounds strange, I know.  But it was delicious!  It was like a warm donut filled with ice cream.  I chose Cookie Monster ice cream and all I can say is YUM.  We ended up going back again later in the week because it was that good!  On our way there, we passed a sign for Balboa Island, and if you are a fellow Arrested Development fan, you will appreciate the giddiness I felt.

We then drove downtown because I wanted to find Alan Menken's star on the Walk of Fame and had learned it was located in front of the El Capitan Theater, which is very important in Disney history.  I written about my love for Alan Menken previously (here and here and here and here and here!), so I was over the moon to find his star!

Our final stop before returning to Disneyland was Griffith Park.  This was not our first visit by any means.  However, during all of our other visits there, I never knew that I was in close proximity to a significant piece of the Disney legend:  the merry-go-round where Walt would take his daughters.  As the story goes, it was here that his dream of Disneyland was born.

The merry-go-round is not only still there, but it still operates on the weekends!  Given that we went on a Tuesday, we missed out on a chance to ride, but the upside was that the area was devoid of other people, so we had it all to ourselves.  As we walked around and took photos, I was completely overwhelmed by the realization that Walt Disney himself had spent time in this very spot.  The man was a dreamer.  A visionary.  And a place I love was first imagined in this very spot.

The result of all of these thoughts and connections and realizations was me standing on a grassy hillside on a beautiful fall afternoon with tears pouring down my cheeks.  Utterly overcome with emotion.

where the dream was born

Next time, we will plan our visit for a weekend so that we can experience the merry-go-round first hand.  For now, the memory of just standing where Walt once stood is enough.  More than enough.

I feel this way when people ask me why I like Disneyland when it is "small and crowded" compared to WDW.  Because Walt was there.  He walked down Main Street, USA.  When I am walking down Main Street, USA, I always think to myself, "I'm walking where Walt once walked," and I can't say that when I'm in Florida.  There's something magical about Disneyland and I am always at a loss for words when I try to articulate exactly what makes it so special.  But it definitely has something to do with Walt's presence...his footprints - both literal and figurative - that exist in the park.

Visiting the Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round was the same kind of experience for me.  It doesn’t matter if others don't get it or don't understand why we were so thrilled to visit an old merry-go-round.  Although I'm fairly certain that if you think of yourself as a "Disney person," you will probably appreciate what it meant to us.

That's it for this post!  Check out my other posts about our adventures on this trip...
~ Northern California
~ Disneyland Hotel
~ Disneyland
~ Disney California Adventure
~ Mickey's Halloween Party
~ Disneyland Tours

Happy Tails to you!

Fall Trip to CA: Northern California

Since our trip was a little on the lengthy side, I've broken it up into a series of posts; links to the additional posts can be found at the bottom of this one!

On Thursday, October 1, we flew to LAX, picked up our rental car, and headed north because we had plans to make it to Fentons for dinner.  We went to Fentons on our last trip to CA in 2013 and I was so looking forward to a return visit!  It did not disappoint and we were thoroughly enjoy our dinner and dessert when I noticed a elderly lady sitting alone, eating a sundae and drinking a cup of coffee.  This seems like the exact type of thing my own grandma might do, and while I am familiar with the idea that one should not judge a book by its cover, this lady just looked so sweet that I could not help sneaking peeks at her throughout our meal.  When I noticed that she was almost done eating, I asked our waitress if we could pay her bill.  I had hoped to do this anonymously, but our waitress told the lady's waitress, who in turn, told the lady that we were the people paying for her.  Sigh.  But since she knew it was us, I decided to stand up and say hello as she was leaving, because we had paid our bill and were getting ready to leave, too.  We had a very nice chat as we left the restaurant together, and she was as adorable as I had suspected.  It was one of those examples of 'to give is to receive' because I was so filled with good feelings after our encounter!  She was an incredibly lovely person and I am beyond glad that our paths crossed that night.

We spent the following day at The Walt Disney Family Museum, which we also visited back in 2013.  It was fantastic – and as a bonus, our admission was gifted to us by someone who works there that I met on Facebook through a Disney Weddings group!  Such generosity from someone I've never met face-to-face!

As you can tell from all of the photos below, I thoroughly enjoyed every part of the museum because I love Disney history!  Truthfully, I spent the better part of the day with tears in my eyes because I am consistently overwhelmed by all things Disney.  In a good way!

After the museum, we went back to Fentons for dinner again before calling it a night because we had an early start the next day.  No adorable older ladies dining alone this time, but dinner was still fantastic!

On Saturday, October 3, we were up early because we were driving back down to southern California, but before we left, we drove over to Emeryville to drive past Pixar Animation Studios.  Unfortunately, they do not allow tours, but it was cool to see the actual studio and its sign that is replicated at Disney's Hollywood Studios in WDW!

We drove to Santa Clarita for our tour at The Gentle Barn in the afternoon.  Loved every second of that experience!  You can read about that in a previous post.

After The Gentle Barn, we continued on to Anaheim.  For the first time, we were staying at a non-Disney hotel for three of the six nights because the Disneyland hotels are very expensive.  We chose Hotel Indigo, which is only about a ten-minute walk from the parks, and it turned out to be a very nice hotel.  My only "complaint" – not really a complaint, per se – was that I prefer to be inside the Disney "bubble" and stay at Disney's themed hotels, so it seemed weird to return to a "regular" hotel when we left the parks at night.  However, the hotel was great and if someone were looking to stay at a non-Disney hotel in Anaheim, I would definitely recommend it.  The location was great, the room was spacious and comfortable, and the staff was awesome.  Despite all this, it was not until I got home that I realized I failed to take a single photo of any part of the hotel – highly uncharacteristic of me!

That's it for this post!  Check out my other posts about our adventures on this trip...
~ Los Angeles
~ Disneyland Hotel
~ Disneyland
~ Disney California Adventure
~ Mickey's Halloween Party
~ Disneyland Tours

Happy Tails to you!

The King Has Returned

A couple of weeks ago, one of my dear friends mentioned that a teacher at my former school, on my former grade level, had resigned and that they needed to find a teacher to fill the position.

I'm not going to lie – the wheels in my head immediately began spinning because the three teachers on the grade level who needed a new teammate are three people I adore. I taught with them several years ago and the idea of being on a team with them again was exciting.

However, I went home and looked at my calendar, and realized that my schedule was just too crazy over the next few months to make a full-time teaching position work.  I emailed my friend and explained that there was no way I could be full-time until February 1 because I already had conferences and travel planned that I could not cancel, as well as the graduate class I teach every Friday morning.

She asked if I wanted her to mention me to the principal anyway, and he gave me a call the next day.  I explained my scheduling issues, and in all honesty, thought that would be the end of it.

I was wrong.  The principal has worked some magic and as of Friday, I am once again a fifth grade teacher!  November through January, I will be teaching part-time, and then beginning February 1, I will be teaching full-time!

I resigned from my GRA position, which was bittersweet, because I have enjoyed being a GRA for more than three years, and I absolutely love the people I work for and with.  It also means that my life has suddenly become much more busy, because I am still involved with several ongoing projects for my doctoral studies, and I've got a lot of work ahead of me to set up a classroom, get to know students who've had an unusual start to their school year, and dive right in to the actual instruction!  Plus, I'll be planning for the 20 days I won't be there because of my schedule, and if you know anything about how much work goes in to sub plans, then you know what I'm in for.  Fortunately, my sub is going to be a retired former colleague who is a phenomenal teacher, so the students will be in great hands!  Plus, my "new" teammates have offered to help me in any way they can.  I am counting my lucky stars – these three teachers are just about the kindest and most thoughtful people you'd ever want to meet and the thought of teaching with them made my decision to return to the classroom very easy.

I also have this little thing called a dissertation to complete, so I'm not sure I'll have much time for fun in the foreseeable future!  However, I've made no secret of the fact that I have missed teaching, and this seems like the perfect scenario for me while I complete my Ph.D.

I love the school and I am looking forward to this new challenge in my life, even if things will be a little crazy for me.

This was definitely not something I was looking for.  Had it been any other school, or any other grade level/team, my response to hearing that they were looking for a teacher would have been, "Good luck to you!"

But THIS school, and THIS team?  A completely different story!  I am always saying "Life is short - say yes!" so I took my own advice and jumped at this unexpected opportunity.

I can't wait to get started!

Happy Tails to you!