The Happiest Place on Earth

TRAVEL ~ Day 20

  Yesterday I was celebrating my birthday at Disneyland with my sister.

 

Cinderella's Castle from Fantasyland.

 First stop the Carousel.

My sister has been horse crazy since the age of 5.

Storybook Ride

Alice in Wonderland's village

 Aladin's village

Toad Hall

 When I was a kid I so wanted to be small enough to move into this wonderful place!  I was also a big fan of The Borrowers stories!

We had lunch at a wonderful outdoor restaurant in New Orleans Square:  Gumbo, goat cheese salad and a treat!

Can you tell it's a Mickey shaped cream puff?

Yummy!

While in The French Quarter, I shared with her what little I know about Club 33.  She has enough interesting friends, she just might wangle an invitation.  I told her she'd better include me and I'd fly out at a moment's notice!

Over-exposed, this captures the feel of some of the warmer places in the Park.  Knowing my husband has been shoveling snow most of this month, I'm awfully grateful to be here where it's sunny and warm.  I know how much he loves this ride.

 The back side of water.

Our daughter thinks when we retire, we should move to Orlando, FL or Anaheim, CA and my husband should get a job on the Jungle Cruise.  Not only does he love all the puns, he probably would come up with new ones!

 Waiting for the Matterhorn ride, we were lulled by these beautiful flowers.

Sis loves this ride but didn't know it had been made a lot faster!

It kinda scared me as a kid, but I always went on it.  It was lots of fun yesterday!

I learned something new about my sister . . .

She loves Barbershop Quartets!

We stayed all day and came home tired & happy!

Happy Australia Day

 photo credit stayz.com.au

Happy Australia Day 
Despite the serious challenges to Queensland in the north, I hope all my Aussie friends can celebrate their wonderful country on this national holiday.

Happy Birthday

TRAVEL ~ Day 16

I returned my zippy little car to the airport and afterwards, Betty & I went on an antiques jaunt.  When I lived here, she & I would go to estate sales, garage sales and antique shops together as often as we could.  We went to a couple places downtown and then over to Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach.

Vignette's

Everyone's favorite.  It is so pretty and fun!

They asked that I not take any pictures of handmade items,

so I limited my photo activities altogether!

 

Pretty pastel display on top of a tall armoire.

No pictures, but dinner out was with Cathy, Betty, Nancy and Renee.  It was a wonderful time.  Although all these ladies know each other (our kids went to elementary, middle & high school together at some time and in some combination), none of us see each other often.  At one point the conversation turned to books (all these friends love to read) and pens & paper were brought out while titles were written down and shared.  It's possible a new book club will grow out of this dinner.  I'm sorry I won't be here to participate, but it thrills me no end that my friends may become better friends with each other.

Balboa Park, San Diego

TRAVEL ~ Day 15

The next evening I went to Balboa Park with Betty, my former Girl Scout Co-Leader and Nancy, a PTA friend and Betty's older daughter's Girl Scout Leader.

The low light and a bit of shaking on my part makes this a less than perfect photo (one of these days I'm actually going to have to read the manual and shoot away from the "easy mode"), but that trumpet flower tree was so wonderful.  Maybe you can imagine it clearer.  There were also pink ones, but the pink ladies truly resisted having their pictures taken!

 The Arboretum
At first, none of us could remember what this building is called.

Of course, once we had, it seemed that Arboretum was in every sentence and became a word of plain silliness by the end of our wanderings!

Balboa Park was the site of the Panama California Exposition in 1915, and the California Pacific International Exposition in 1935.  Click here for lots more info.

My husband played with bands here . . .

. . . our kids love the Railroad Museum.

Plus the zoo is here, the organ pavilion, it is a very fun place.

Interesting architecture.

After walking around the grounds, my friends and I had food on the patio of The Prado restaurant and then were treated to tickets to see Jane Austen's EMMA  A Musical Romantic Comedy.  Nancy's daughter works at the Old Globe and was able to get us comps.  What a wonderful musical.  As Jane Austen is my favorite author, I might be a bit prejudiced.  Then again, perhaps I would have noticed if it did not live up to the book.  It was a lovely production -- set, costumes, actors & singing voices all delightful.

Coronado Island

TRAVEL ~ Day 14

 

San Diego, my old stomping grounds.

We lived in North County during my son's 2nd year; moved to La Jolla a month before my daughter was born (a great excuse to get out of lifting any boxes or furniture!); and finally settled in Chula Vista where the kids went to elementary school  and I made really wonderful friends thru classroom volunteering and PTA.

 One of those friends & I spent the afternoon on Coronado Island ~

,

We had lunch at Sheerwater,

one of the restaurants at the Hotel Del.

We ate outdoors, but were in the shade, perfect!

 After lunch we walked around the grounds,

 discovering these great garden beds.

 

too hot for my tastes!

 

Maybe the berries in our salad were from here!

Then a wonderful, leisurely walk on the beach!

Zipping Along in Style

Me & my rental car

I picked this car up at one CA airport and  will return it to another.  Enterprise provides that service and sometimes you are very lucky and the drop charge isn't highway robbery!  I was lucky in lots of ways!  Small drop charge, a zippy little Kia Rio . . .


RED!

My favorite car colour.

I don't have to clear off this car . . .

. . . or drive in this!

Antiquing On The Way

TRIP ~ Day 11, part 2

In between all the nostalgia, I found antique shops to visit!  There's probably some nostalgia in that too.  The first antique shop I visited as a kid was in old Calabasas.  At the time there was the Leonis Adobe, a little market where my mom bought meat and my sister & I bought Archie comics and red vines red licorice, a boat yard -- I could never figure that one out, we were miles & miles away from water, a shop with a soda fountain and lurid comics like True Romance, and an antique shop.  It's all gone, except the Adobe, which is now fixed up and posh, but when I was a kid, the adobe was ramshakle!  However, when I saw the Adobe, I knew where I was, and I knew the old Calabasas would have to live on only in my memory.  That's ok, I've got great photos in my head!

Before Calabasas is Agoura.

 

I remember Rachel Ashwell talking about the Agoura Antique Mart in one of her TV shows, so that was my first stop.

 Great Displays!

I got tons of ideas for my shop . . .

And saw so many pretty things for sale!

I met Heather, a dealer there who travels to the East Coast yearly.  I gave her my card & hope she visits next summer.

 One one side, Bungalow.

Wish these curtains were more in my price range!

 Close-up of the smocking.

 On the other side, A Beautiful Mess.

I met Marilyn, one of the proprietors & we had a delightful chat.

I shared about My Birthday Year Celebration.

She told me her shop is featured in the February 2011 issue of Romantic Homes!

 From the front door.

 Wonderful beachy wall hanging.

Something awe inspiring at every turn!

Out of focus, but you get the idea.

I love this shop!

Great shopping & inspiration.  Visit if you can!