Travel – britt anne

WDW 2021 & Disneyland 2022 – Misc. Info & Lessons Learned

This post has turned into a combined post of misc. information from the Walt Disney World trip my mom and I did in October 2021 (Part 1 and Part 2) and my recent Disneyland trip.

Everything below didn’t have a logical home in any of the 3 above linked posts, and includes some FAQ I get from folks in my life – enjoy!

Trip Stats From Walt Disney World:

Miles Walked: 8 per park day
Pins Purchased: 17
Puzzles Purchased: 2 boxes, 5 individual puzzles
Mugs Purchased: Shockingly 0
Churros Eaten: Somehow only 1

How did we book our Walt Disney World trip?

We went through our dear friend Traci Taylor who is a travel agent specializing in Disney and lives near WDW. The only thing we did not coordinate through her was booking our flights and that was due to using credit card points.

What did we do well in planning our Walt Disney World trip?

We were fortunate enough to be able to add one buffer day after flying to Orlando and before we started our park days, and after our park days before our travel day back to California. Both my mom and I felt like that made a huge impact on our trip as far as avoiding burnout and avoiding impulse / now-or-never buying.

We also did a lot prep work before the trip and went into each park only having 1-2 required rides / attractions and 1-2 food items we prioritized, in a couple of cases having reservations. Again, this removed impulsive choices and buying or spending time debating a bunch of food we weren’t sure if we wanted. It also made sure that rather than rushing from ride to ride we had our “must-do” items and could just experience the rest of the day without pressure to hit XX rides in order for the day or trip to feel “worth it.”

For me, what worked best was to create a Google Sheet so we could filter & prioritize. I had one page for food and one page for rides / attractions. Filters included park, land, and “details” about why we wanted to go to a specific restaurant / stand. I had the app downloaded to my phone so we could filter each day and mark what we completed.

What do we wish we would have done differently for Disney World?

I have two regrets from the trip. One was buying a margarita in Pandora. It sounds silly, but I forgot how Disney proportions their adult beverages and if I were a regular tequila consumer I would have been happy. The other was not preparing better for Epcot. We opted for being more opportunistic and had the intent to sample a bunch of things, however that led to far too many options and lots of indecision (which is funny given the spreadsheet mentioned above), coupled with a very hot day. The Epcot one is more of a lesson learned.

How expensive are your trips?

It depends, and I’m going to start the breakdown with what they look like with my partner. Back in 2017 / 2018, Levi & I were both Annual Passholders paying ~$60/month each for our tickets with our only blockout dates being around Christmas / New Year. We stayed at the same Marriott a little further away from the parks every time, and with our AP tiers we had free parking in the garage. Approx. 2017 was also when I got my Disney Visa.

My birthday in 2018 I bought a Dooney using rewards money and we had some left over for incidentals, too. Back then I was making about 30% of what I do now, and had very little as far as expenses go. Our trips back then were the cost of hotel, gas, and food in the park – incredibly minimal, and why we went as often as we did.

When we went for our anniversary this year, we did splurge on hotel – in part because of that massive bathtub – as well as dinner and a few of the souvenir items we got. We did also have to pay for park tickets out of pocket, and plane tickets for Levi. I also had boarding for the dog. We had budgeted for this, and ended up spending about what we had anticipated.

With my family, it’s very different. My family started going regularly after my dad retired for the first time in 2009 as we didn’t have a ton of family trip time like that prior. We did have annual passes back then, and the cost per person with no blockout dates was <$650 if I remember correctly. With my dad’s mobility being what it was (pre-knee replacement) and having the income, it was worth it on many of our trips to stay at Grand Californian, order room service, and do what was needed. We did eventually start staying off property but still in the same block, and it was a choice contingent on there being a shuttle for my dad. I do want to note that was all occurring from 2010 – 2012 when the cost of Disney was much less than it is now. When my mom & I took my grandma in 2018 for her 80th birthday, we made a similar decision to those we had for my dad and stayed at Grand Californian for mobility purposes.

When my mom & I went to Disney World, we spent a very long time discussing what we wanted in a trip and what our non-negotiable features were. For this trip, exploring the parks and Disney Springs were the most important to us, so we were cognizant of modes of transportation available at each resort area. Food and souvenirs were also a priority. My mom did also make the decision that class when flying was a non-negotiable. Where that landed us was flying first class, making reservations at the nice restaurants we decided we wanted to try, mapping out what mobile order food we wanted outside of that, and choosing a hotel that was near the Skyliner and would be comfortable which ended up being Pop Century. We heavily debated Animal Kingdom Lodge and Riviera, but every time we came back to the fact that our goal was to spend time absorbing the parks. As a result, spending all that money on a room we planned on using as a landing point to sleep, store items, shower, and get ready in did not make sense, and we were very happy with that decision in the end.

When we went to Disney World, I had nearly $800 in rewards money which covered most of our pricy meals and souvenirs, and had nearly $200 left over with how I broke things up. I had just under $400 built up by the time Levi and I went to Disneyland and that paid for our 3 reservations. Having credit cards that earn points for things that matter to you are important, and I’m happy with my choices in cards.

In both cases, I did have cash for tip.

Are you planning on getting back to your previous Disney trip frequency?

Honestly, no. Part of it is location, part of it is money, and part of it is time spent. Disney still holds the same weight it has, and I’m at a point where I would rather have one trip of the exorbitant quality I want it to be per year than to go for quantity of trips.

How do you think the parks compared?

I am thankful that I didn’t compare them nearly as much as I thought I would and I do treat them as separate entities.

Things I did notice:

PhotoPass people are EVERYWHERE in WDW.
- PhotoPass was still pretty sporadic in comparison at Disneyland outside of the Sweetheart’s Night event. I’m interested to see how this shifts with character meets coming back.
The ride queues are prettier at WDW – there is a lot more covered queue area and I’m sure there’s a weather related reason.
The churros at Disneyland are better – this is not up for debate.
The castle in FL is massive. You can look at height comparisons and pictures all you want, seeing it in person is different.
Expedition Everest > Disneyland Big Thunder Mountain, and Thunder is one of my favorites so that says a lot
Mine Train > Disney World Big Thunder Mountain
Facade of Disneyland Haunted Mansion > Facade of Disney World Haunted Mansion
Interior of Disney World Haunted Mansion > Interior of Disneyland Haunted Mansion

Disneyland Anniversary & Valentine’s Day

February 2022 was the first trip I was able to make back to Disneyland since September 2018. If you would have told me back then that my next trip to Disneyland would be under this collective of circumstances, I would not have believed it. Despite that, I’m grateful for what brought me back, and that is what this post is about.

Going into this trip, both Levi & I knew it would be emotional. The last time we were at the parks together was July 2018, and that trip was emotional for other reasons. There may come a day where we discuss that topic further as I do think there are important lessons from that story, as well as how & when we got back in contact, but for now we are going to refrain – if you need a refresher on my boundaries, click the link to Disclaimers Moving Forward.

Disney Day 1

Levi flew in to Phoenix on the 11th. The next morning, we took miss girl to boarding, picked up the food we had called in ahead of time from Snooze, and arrived back at my place to finish packing and pack the car (successfully keeping the little miss in the dark that we were going somewhere without her). We drove the ~5 hours westbound and made it to our hotel around 3p.

Once we had a quick dinner via room service & got our bags unpacked, we changed to head into the park for the evening before our dinner reservations for our Anniversary.

We made it to the park, I changed my shoes from flats to my heels in the esplanade, and then we walked through park gates. It felt very surreal.

The first PhotoPass person we encountered had us do a prom-esque pose and it turned out really cute, so I’m here for it.

Once we got pictures in front of the train station, we walked hand-in-hand down Main Street, USA, which was an experience that had its own set of deep emotions tied to it.

After getting pictures and doing a couple of rides, we made our way to Grand Californian for our 8:30 reservation at Napa Rose. Dinner was absolutely amazing and we got everything our hearts desired to eat (note from the link – they do rotate the menu options).

We each got a Central Park West to open the adventure & accompany our starters – he ordered the butternut squash ravioli and I got the diver scallop. With the main course, we got glasses of wine to go with the filet he ordered and my pot roast. To close out the meal he got the up-side down pear cake and I got the creme brûlée.

To answer the inevitable question by this point of the post, yes, dinner was expensive. Disney Rewards were key here. If you read my Walt Disney World – Part 1 and Walt Disney World – Part 2 posts, you already know we had a lot of pricey restaurants & merch on that trip, Rewards are to thank & there will be a post coming on that part of the adventure coming.

After dinner we debated going back into the park, but it was already after 10 and we knew we wanted to rope drop California Adventure the next morning, so we walked back to the hotel.

Disney Day 2

We started our morning by making it to California Adventure in time for rope drop. As one does, our first order of business was Radiator Springs Racers & a picture with the Cars Land sign.

As it was Sunday, I had planned – clearly not well enough – to get Cars themed waffles from Flo’s because waffle Sunday must continue even if I’m not home. Unfortunately, through the reopen, waffles had not made it back and I was actually very sad about this. Internet is free and I did not use my resources. Whoops.

We decided to pivot breakfast plans and instead mobile ordered from Pym Test Kitchen. Mobile ordering food easily became my favorite post-closure park adjustment when my mom & I went to Disney World and that continued with Disneyland. I got the Impossible Quantum Garden Breakfast and Levi got the Ever-expanding Cinna-Pym Toast which weirded me out because it had blue flakes. Both items were delicious and had amazing presentation.

We continued our day going on rides & looking through shops. Midday we went by the hotel to change because it was H O T before heading to Downtown Disney for a late lunch at Ballast Point on our way to our later afternoon Trader Sam’s reservation.

Like the hooligans we are, we split an Uh-oa, and for our second round I got a Krakatoa Punch and he got a Zombie. On our way back through Downtown Disney we stopped in a lot of stores and my one rule at the start of the day was that my credit card does NOT make an appearance after Trader Sam’s, which I held to.

After drinks we went back into the park and I absolutely crushed Web Slingers (scored 240,000). We also did the Silly Symphony Swings. We ended up back in Cars Land for a Bacon Mac & Cheese cone, a ride, and souvenirs before wandering back to Avengers Campus to close the day with Guardians.

That night as we left the park, we got a Pirates of the Caribbean Thomas Kinkade puzzle in Cars Land, and we purchased a Tangled canvas painting by Thomas Kinkade that we had seen earlier in the day at Off the Page. It was the last one they had & we did not see it anywhere else in the parks, so naturally it had to come with us. It now lives on a wall in my apartment that will be featuring pin boards & my ear headbands in the coming weeks.

Disney Day 3

Valentine’s Day in the park was an experience in and of itself. I had managed to get us 8:30a reservations at Carnation Cafe, which was a huge accomplishment and made that the first stop in our day.

This morning was very calm as we had already processed the initial emotions of being back in Disneyland together on Saturday evening. After breakfast we got pictures in front of the partners statue before making our way to rides & churros.

Following a morning of rides and browsing shops, we made our way to Jolly Holiday to collect a mobile order for lunch before taking a midday break back at the hotel – also avoiding the cavalcade for the Super Bowl MVPs. Later in the afternoon we made our way back to the park for more rides, food, and to get checked in for Sweetheart’s Night.

Neither of us had done an after-hours event before and were really excited to share this experience. Leading up to the event we had seen a couple sneak peeks of some of the photo-ops and character sightings and knew it would be perfect.

The first order of business when we got back into the park was our Lightning Lane return for Rise of Resistance. We ended up being held in the room with the Storm Troopers for about 15 minutes, and I personally think this is one of the coolest places to get ‘stuck.’

Following that ride we picked up our mobile ordered lobster rolls from Harbour Galley and sat on the patio that is wrapped around by the river to eat. With food on board we made our way to Tomorrowland to get checked in for the Disneyland After Dark event.

After getting checked in, we made our way over towards Adventureland to ride Pirates and Jungle Cruise. After Jungle Cruise we made our way to the Tropical Hideaway for Dole Whip and the PB&J Mochi (which was surprisingly good). I am a big fan of the adjustments they made on Jungle Cruise & the use of the space for the Tropical Hideaway.

Following the food stop, we decided to go on Matterhorn and in my opinion that was a mistake. That ride is not the same ride I remember taking my 80 year old grandmother on in 2018 and that unfortunately became the last ride of the night – we had planned to also do Space Mountain.

As we got off Matterhorn and the park was cleared of everyone who was not there for the event, we sought out the site for our most important photo-op – the Tangled lantern scene.

Back in 2017 is when the Rapunzel & Flynn comparison started, so hearing that there was a photo staged for one of the most significant scenes in the movie was a part of the event we were most looking forward to.

The above photo is CLEARLY pre-COVID because we’re up close & personal / not masked with face characters. Also note my same shirt from Disney Day 2 of this trip & how early in the Loki-look-alike hair growth journey Levi was.

We absolutely resonate with the characters in individual personality and in their relationship having an outward appearance of being between people who are opposites. I have also said to him many a time that I always knew the ‘Eugene’ side whereas his public presentation is more like that of Flynn.

ANYWAY, enough with the mushy explanation. Have some mushy pictures & then we will close out this post.

After we got those adorable pictures, we did another ride, went to the photo spot by Haunted Mansion, and then closed out our must-do events in the shops of New Orleans Square.

The prompt here went from smiling to deadpan and we actually startled the Cast Member with how quickly we adjusted.

When we got back to the hotel, my back was screaming at me from the not-very-arch-supportive shoes I wore all day long. Comfy? Yes. Supportive? No.

Overall, the After Hours event was great and I’m so glad we decided to follow the impulse & buy tickets.

Post-Disney

Tuesday, Feb 15 we took our time checking out of the hotel and then went to Downtown Disney for final purchases, lunch at Naples, and to snag coffee for the drive back to Phoenix. The rest of the week was incredibly busy with Trujillo wedding prep and general life things. The following Waffle Sunday at home was really nice and featured Levi before he flew back and my parents before they started their drive.

Fun Facts & Little Accomplishments:

Both full days in park we walked over 10 miles each day
We had many churros on this trip. Disneyland Churros > Disney World Churros. No contest
My red anniversary shoes are the same brand as the ones I wore for Dapper Day Spring 2017 at Disneyland but not the same shoes
Levi made it all day long on Valentine’s Day in a white shirt and didn’t spill anything on it
Pre-planned – we splurged on small, complimentary, everyday wear jewelry pieces on this trip
I finally bought one of those damn Mickey-shaped foam soap dispensers

Walt Disney World – Part 2

…. continued from Disney World Part 1:

Wednesday, October 6

In-park day 3 of our trip was for Epcot and I chose a dress and sandals. I had done Disneyland twice in a dress and sandals, though I don’t believe either of those times were as walking intensive as our Epcot day was.

I got this dress for $10 at the Dillard’s Clearance Center earlier this year and not only does it have pockets, it also makes me feel like I should be sitting on a beach singing “By the Sea” to whoever is begrudgingly with me.

Around 7 that morning I got on the app and got mom & I a boarding group for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure with an ETA on return time working out to about 2p. Since the park opened at 9, we were slow getting to breakfast and then getting on the Skyliner to make our connection out to Epcot.

We arrived at the Skyliner Station on the west side of the World Showcase near France. Our first order of business in the park was coffee. From there, we continued working our way clockwise around the World Showcase towards the Norway Pavilion.

We got in line for the Frozen ride and clearly did not do our research or read the ride notes because we were confused about why there was a warning about drops and getting wet. That did not stop us, though.

After Frozen we made our way towards the Epcot ball and went on Spaceship Earth. Since I was a kid and had the Walt Disney World Explorer on CD, I wanted to go inside the Epcot ball, and I got to mark that off my list.

After we got pictures in front of the Epcot ball, we made our way around the path and went to Living with the Land.

After our boat ride we continued down the path back to the World Showcase as it was time for lunch. We stopped in the Mexico Pavilion and got tacos.

After we ate we continued our walk clockwise around the World Showcase looking at the Pavilions. By the time we made it all the way around the lake it was our turn to go to the queue for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. We ended up waiting a little over an hour before we loaded into a car, and it was well worth the wait!

After Remy’s we decided we wanted to go on the boat ride through the Mexico Pavilion so we made our way back over.

Once we completed that ride (which has one of the most spatially tight queues I have ever experienced), we knew it was time to figure out dinner. As weird as it sounds, we ended up opting for a sit-down dinner at Le Cellier in Canada.

Following dinner we took one more round trip of the pavilions making sure to go into each one that we hadn’t gotten to yet.

After our last lap around the World Showcase, we headed back to the Skyliner station and went back to the hotel for the night.

Thursday, October 7

Thursday morning we got up, got breakfast, and made our way to the Skyliner. Once boarded, we made our connection, and found ourselves at park entrance for Hollywood Studios.

First order of business once inside was making a beeline for the line for Rise. We made it through the line and to interrogation when the ride shut down, which was unfortunate because we had waited a couple of hours, but we did get the equivalent of a FastPass to return later.

Once we got our passes set up, we made our way back to the park entrance for coffee. With our coffee, I also grabbed a carrot cake. As we wrapped up coffee and what we wanted of the carrot cake, my mom decided to take it to the trash and on her way fell off the curb and I barely caught what happened as it happened.

As soon as she was down, 4 moms from other groups swooped on her. One grabbed a cast member, one pulled ice out of her stroller, one pulled bandaids, and one was doing a preliminary check on her. Mom was adamant she didn’t want to go to first aid when the cast member arrived, and I helped her set the bandages we did get from all of the wonderful people who stopped. She then sat for a little bit with the ice on her knee (which was the biggest casualty).

Once she stood up again, I immediately recognized that the bandage job would not hold and told her that we were going to first aid. She tried to protest saying it was too far away and I did not allow that for a moment – for context, we were sitting in front of the Pandora store and first aid is at the front of the park. The stars on the below picture show how far we were (Galaxy’s Edge got cut off on my screenshot).

First aid was just as much of a hands off adventure as it was the few days prior. Mom signed in, they asked us what we wanted for her injury, and the passed the supplies to us through the gap in the divider. We moved over to the little bench in the lobby and I got to work cleaning and replacing the bandage on her knee.

We joked about all the practice we have with odd bandaging because of dad and the nurses asked a few questions that led to us giving them a brief history of his injuries over the last 35 years. Once mom’s knee was situated, we made our way out of first aid and started walking the shops on Hollywood Boulevard before moving towards Tower of Terror.

After losing The Tower in DCA, this was probably my most highly anticipated ride of the whole trip. Though it was a little different from what we had in California, I was very, very happy with the differences (and honestly a little shocked to find I still remembered most of the video scripting).

Once we finished our stay, we made our way through the park to Toy Story Land as we knew we wanted to have lunch and go on rides out there.

We decided to get in line for Slinky Dog Dash – which was by far the hottest queue we waited in – and while we waited we put in a mobile order for a BBQ Brisket Melt at Woody’s Lunch Box.

After the ride we made our way over to the Alien Saucers since we still had some time before our mobile order return.

Following our ride on the saucers we crossed the pathway to collect our mobile ordered food. The day was another warm one and we were lucky to find a table in the shade. We split the BBQ Brisket Melt and were very happy that we did. It was so good, but with it being a hot sandwich and a hot day we could only really consume half each before we were full.

We walked around Toy Story Land a little more once we wrapped with lunch, and then followed the path on the far side of the land around to Galaxy’s Edge.

We did stop for a few photo spots, and made our way over to Rise. With our return pass we basically walked on the ride, which was great, and we are very happy we got to go back and experience it. Following the ride we spent a little more time walking through that section of the park before heading back towards the center.

We are both fans of the museum/history type things at the parks, and next on our list of things to do was walk through the exhibit and watch the short film at Walt Disney Presents.

After the show, we exited the theater and made our way back down Sunset Boulevard to get in line for a second round at Tower.

Around that time we were able to check in for our dinner reservation for the Hollywood Brown Derby. The food was exactly as I was expecting, and I was surprised by how loud it was in there (especially after how quiet Le Cellier was the day before). We did get a booth on the edge of the main dining room, and overall had a great experience!

Once we left the restaurant we wandered the shops on Hollywood Boulevard and I snagged the last of the souvenirs I wanted from this park.

As far as attractions, we decided to end our night with one more round on Rise of Resistance. Since it was so late in the night, we stopped in the Storm Trooper room and took a picture.

While we were in line for Rise, mom discussed wanting ice cream, so we decided to go to the stand just outside of Tower.

After our ice cream, we wandered back down Sunset Boulevard and then up Hollywood Boulevard to the park exit. We boarded the Skyliner and made our return trip back to our hotel for the night, and along the way got to see the Epcot ball lit up.

Friday, October 8

Friday we had planned to be a slow day of packing and going out to Disney Springs to get final souvenirs. We got up as we woke up (which if you know my mom and I, you know that means we still woke up at the crack of dawn).

After getting ready we made our way over to get breakfast and then got on a bus to be at Disney Springs as early as we could. We started our morning by going to the Lego Store since the mini castles had been released the day before. We managed to get one for each of us and then made our way to Starbucks, the Disney Store, and wandered over to check out Uniqlo (which I got a bunch of new clothes at).

We finished up our shopping for the day and went back to Polite Pig for lunch – again opting for a collection of sides to make up a meal. After lunch we took the bus back to the hotel and started packing for the travel day that was to follow.

Saturday, October 9th

With our flight time being a little later in the morning and a confirmed Magical Express Shuttle time of 8:00a, we got up, finished packing, and got breakfast before making our way to the front of the hotel where the shuttle pickup was.

You may find yourself wondering why our return trip get it’s own day marker at this point in the storytelling and you’re about to find out why.

We arrived at airport around 8:30, gathered our luggage, and made our way to the ticket counter to check our bags. When we got to the counters, it was immediately apparent that the mass flight cancellations of the day before had not been handled by any of the carriers. It was to the fault of exactly 0 of the humans we saw or interacted with, and that also does not make it any less stressful. I am thankful that everyone involved in the ticketing area seemed to uniformly understand that the situation was not in anyone standing in that room’s control and treated people as such, which was nice.

We had opted for first class and the Sky Priority line was essentially just as long as the standard queue. The line we were in did not move for nearly 45 minutes and it took us an hour and a half to get our bags just dropped off. I had not had a true anxiety attack in a public place in nearly a decade and that situation was enough to do it.

Once we got through that line we made it to TSA and thankfully made it through in less than 10 minutes. We got to the gate around the same time they started boarding, so it all worked out (it would have either way), and that was appreciated. However, we did sit on the plane door closed for 40 min and that made our connection that was originally had an hour and a half window have a boarding time window.

We did end up making our next flight, as did our luggage, and made it home safely that afternoon.

to be continued with misc. information & thoughts….

Walt Disney World – Part 1

This year has been beyond full of unexpected twists and turns, and far busier than I had anticipated. I am happy to be back to writing and excited about the topic that sparked it! Without much more of an introduction, let’s get to it:

Levi flew out to Phoenix the weekend before my mom and I were set to go to Disney World to help me pack and prep the house to be gone for 17 days.

As per usual operating rhythm with trips, we had a couple of date things set up. One of these was getting up and going to the Phoenix Zoo with coffee during the member’s only hour and walking the park looking at animals (as is becoming a standard part of our Phoenix trip routine). Another was getting reservations at Undertow – an effort to get our tiki themed bar fix in the interim while Trader Sam’s is not an option.

On Wednesday, Sept 29th we drove from Phoenix to Fresno with Shay in tow. She was the neediest baby alternating who’s shoulder she was resting her head on between naps.

I used the next few days to knock out a few appointments, visit with family, and do both my mom’s nails and my own (since COVID I have been doing dip gel myself at home).

Saturday, October 2nd

My dad and brother dropped my mom and me off at the airport in Fresno first thing in the morning. We had a layover in Salt Lake City and then were on our way to Orlando. Prior to our trip I had finally caved and bought a Kindle, and I must say that is one of the best decisions I have made.

When we arrived in Orlando, we gathered our luggage and moved to the Magical Express. We had a great time and appreciated this service, and with Disney discontinuing it at the end of the year, I’m interested to see how the paid options pan out.

We opted to stay at Disney’s Pop Century Resort which was the perfect choice for us. We did not want a rental car and knew we would need to rely on Disney Parks transportation. We also wanted to be centrally located. Pop Century has buses and access to the Skyliner, and both were perfect.

When we got to our hotel, I had our room number on the app and our Magic Bands were already set up as our room keys, so we got our luggage off the bus and got to go straight to our room. We got semi unpacked and went to the main building of the hotel to get food.

We also took a little time that evening to wander around the hotel property.

Sunday, October 3rd

We got up and went to the main building food court so I could snag my Mickey Waffles. Once we wrapped up breakfast, we gathered what we needed for the first part of the morning and started exploring.

We started by going over to Art of Animation – accessed by crossing the bridge over Hourglass Lake and passing the Loading Dock for the Skyliner – to explore that hotel. The way that hotel was set up brought me so much joy.

Once we walked the property of Art of Animation we went to the Skyliner and boarded. We ended up taking a trip to Hollywood Studios and then back to the hotel.

After doing a little more exploring that way, we decided to go to Disney Springs to preview what was there.

We ate lunch at Polite Pig which was AH-mazing.

In the afternoon, we returned to our room and got ready to take the Skyliner to the Riviera Resort to see the mosaics.

Monday, October 4th

Monday was our first in-park day and one of two park days where we would need to rely on the bus system for transportation.

We arrived at Animal Kingdom during the early entry hours for folks staying at the resorts. We stopped at a couple of photo spots and got some good pictures in, and then made our way to Pandora.

The first ride we did for the day was Flight of Passage knowing full well it was 3D and that we both ran the risk of having motion sickness. We only had to wait a little over an hour and it was so worth they hype and the wait, however we definitely needed something a little calmer after that.

We worked our way back through Pandora and went to the Na’vi River ride. Once we made it through that ride we made our way over to the Starbucks near Discovery Island before moving towards Dino Land USA for Dinosaur.

Once we rode Dinosaur, I wanted to trek to Expedition Everest. My mom was such a trooper and on this ride came one of the best quotes of the trip.

We made it to the point of the track where the whole train is angled up and comes to a stop where the track looks like it has been pulled up by the Yeti. There was a child in front of us that said “oh, this is the part where it goes backwards!” and my poor, sweet mom who did not know what she had gotten herself into started yelling “What!? NO NO NO NO” as we switched and flew backwards. Clearly it didn’t scar her too much because we ended up doing the ride again later in the day.

After Expedition Everest it was time for food, and we decided to mobile order from the Satu’li Canteen. Mom got the Cheeseburger Steamed Pods and I got Combination Bowl.

After lunch we wandered over and got in line for the Kilimanjaro Safari. Once we got off of the Safari truck we took the Rafiki Train on a full loop before deciding it was high time for Dole Whip.

After Dole Whip we wandered back over to Pandora so I could buy a puzzle. We also got alcoholic beverages and found a place to sit where we could talk through the game-plan for the next day. After we sat for awhile we wandered towards Expedition Everest for it’s 2nd run, and took our time walking through Discovery Island as we did so.

We had a dinner reservation for 4p at Tiffins Restaurant, and when it was our time we made our way over.

Yes, I am being that person and uploading a picture of food. I would eat there and order this again in a heartbeat.

Overall, we could have started our day a little later in Animal Kingdom and still gotten to everything we wanted to. As it was, we left the park early and the only thing we did not do that we had on our list of potentials was see the Tree of Life lit up at night, though we don’t regret missing that.

Tuesday, October 5th

In-Park Day 2 of our trip showed us that mindset is everything. Our day started off with us in a broken-down bus on the side of the highway. The bad news: it was hot in the bus. The good news: we were in the ‘fun’ part of the bus, in true Disney fashion we had replacements in ~5 min, and we still made it to the park in time for park open (not rope drop).

First order of business once we were in Magic Kingdom was to knock out the key 3 pictures:

I cannot get over how long my mom’s hair is or how dang happy she is.

With our pictures at the Park Gates, on Main Street, & in front of the Castle out of the way, we made our way to the Seven Dwarves Mine Train.

Between our morning bus delays, pictures, and the wait for Mine Train, it was time for the first coffee of the day around 10:30a. I have never been so grumpy to wait for coffee in my life and I regret not stopping at a coffee cart prior to that adventure.

Once I had coffee in hand and refilled our waters, it was time to see The Mansion.

I personally like the style of the exterior of the mansion in Disneyland more, however the ride portion of the WDW rendition holds the new spot to beat in my heart. I don’t know if I loved the library or the staircase room more, and can say they are both reasons why Magic Kingdom is my favorite of the two. Once we got off the ride, I got pictures in front of the building, and mom and I wandered through the shop just outside the queue.

Following that, it was time for lunch, and we once again opted to mobile order. We ordered Lobster Rolls from Columbia Harbor House and sat upstairs in that building. I must say, Disneyland can hide some people, but Walt Disney World can make them disappear into buildings you don’t even think are able to be the size they are.

Once we finished eating, we went on The Little Mermaid ride (which is identical to the one in DCA). On my “required rides” list I had the PeopleMover, so once we were done with Ariel we wandered toward Tomorrowland. It moved faster and had a much longer track than I was anticipating, and none of that is a complaint!

After the PeopleMover we wandered over to Carousel of Progress and then went to the Monsters Inc. Comedy Show. From there, we crossed to the other side of the park and went on Pirates. While on that side of the park we also went to Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain.

After Big Thunder we made our way to First Aid near the park entrance as I had not properly bandaged the burn I got on my wrist Sunday afternoon curling my hair – to add to the fun, the burn was where my Apple Watch band sits.

While there we poked on over to City Hall to pester our favorite Guest Relations cast member:

Next up, I got a Churro and my mom and I headed back to Haunted Mansion for our 2nd round on the ride.

Around the time we got off of Haunted Mansion, the Taylor family was getting off of the Mine Train, so we met them behind the castle. That day it was Traci’s birthday, and we had planned to see them that day anyway. The last time we had seen Traci was when she and Tyler were in Disneyland at the same time we were back in June 2018. To add to the fun, Tyler and his fiancée Katelynn flew out from Alaska to surprise Traci!

Once we had spent a little time catching up with them, my mom and I went to the Mine Train for the 2nd time that day. It was once again time for food and we mobile ordered Mac & Cheese w/ Bacon Hot Dogs and I have 0 shame about that.

After we ate, we decided to go for one more round on Haunted Mansion and since it was now dusk, we wandered over to see Rapunzel’s Tower with the lanterns lit up.

We decided to close out our night by riding Mine Train one more time because my mom and I are absolutely the people who like to “experience it at night, too.”

On our way out of the park, we stopped at the Emporium for final purchases of the day before finding our bus and going back to the hotel for the night.

Days 3 & 4 in park and our trip home to be continued in Part 2…

Disneyland for Grandma’s 80th Birthday

When I moved back to California, I wanted to have more time for Disney trips, so I made it. The more I shared my adventures with my grandma, supplemented by my mom’s experiences in the park, the more vocal grandma got about wanting to go to Disneyland herself. In 2017 we decided that we would take her for her 80th birthday that was in August of that year.

Unfortunately, that fall stayed too hot, and by the time it cooled down enough for us to be comfortable taking her, the holiday madness in the parks started. With that, we decided to make the trip in the spring. We opted for the period of time after spring breaks ended and before Grad Nite season started. This meant our trip would have to take place in the last two weeks of April.

In planning this trip, we decided that we would dedicate Monday to driving down, Tuesday and Wednesday to being in the parks, and that Thursday would be for driving home. We also went into the trip with a list of pictures we knew we wanted, food we wanted to try, and rides that were important. We are proud to say we accomplished everything on our lists!

Everybody loaded in the Subaru ready to go to Disneyland

My mom and I picked up grandma at her house just before 10 a.m. on Monday, April 23rd. From there, we made our trek down to Anaheim. Quite a few stops were made along the way, and we finally made it down to the hotel just before 3 p.m.

For this trip with grandma, we decided to really splurge and stay at the Grand Californian – proximity to the parks, bell/valet services, room service, and amenities played a big role in our decision here. Of the Disneyland Resort hotels, this one truly is my favorite.. since the room renovations, the showers are to die for!

Once we got settled in the room, the three of us went into Downtown Disney for dinner. We made our own “family style” experience at La Brea Bakery, and it was just the right amount for each of us.

From dinner, we made our way through Downtown, pausing to go into some of the shops. We made it to the other end and found our next destination: Trader Sam’s.

Despite it being around 6:30 or so, we lucked into a table inside! This meant grandma got to experience the activities that accompany some of the drinks (for those who are unfamiliar, this includes brief changes in lighting, yelling by the bartenders, and other special effects).

Teacup chair by registration for the Disneyland Hotel.

When we left Trader Sam’s, my mom wanted to go into the lobby of the Disneyland Hotel to see their teacup chairs. This was a brief detour because by this point we were all very tired from the traveling of the day. We made it to the room and called it a night shortly after.

In the Parks – Day 1:

The next morning we all got up early and started getting ready while we waited for room service to arrive. During our trip the parks closed a little earlier and opened a little later – this kept us from having to rush ourselves and grandma first thing in the morning, and kept us from staying in the parks too late.

We were at the entrance to Disneyland about a half an hour before the park officially opened. After getting through the gates, we took advantage of the fact that the park wasn’t technically open yet and wandered through the Emporium that sits on the corner near the City Hall at the start of Main Street.

After stopping to look in the shop, we made our way down Main Street to get castle pictures before it got crowded.

We crossed the bridge into Fantasyland and went to Snow White’s Scary Adventures. When we finished there, we decided to move on to the Mad Tea Party, which grandma got a kick out of!

When we finished our spin on the teacups, grandma expressed interest in the Matterhorn, and after mom and I weighed the pros and cons (i.e. how jerky it is, the lack of real padding, etc.) we decided to get in line.

She ended up liking that one too!

When we were done there, mom wanted one of the chocolate churros that are a limited feature for Pixar Fest inspired by Coco (which I still haven’t seen), so we stopped at the churro cart in Frontierland. Once the churros were consumed, we went to Adventureland to do the Jungle Cruise.

Following the cruise, we made our way through New Orleans Square. While walking through the square, we witnessed a proposal at one of the caricature stands, which was adorable! Once we had passed through, grandma and I made our way to Haunted Mansion while mom waited elsewhere. When the ride was done, we met with mom where I waited in line for one of those Toy Story Alien popcorn buckets.

I kept referring to him as my child, since he is about the size of an infant

That day we had reservations at Carnation Cafe for lunch, which was phenomenal! From there, we headed across Main Street to the silhouette shop.

The silhouettes at Disneyland have to be one of my favorite souvenirs, and I’m so glad my mom brought up wanting to do one while we were in the parks with grandma.

It had been a long day already, so we started our trek to the hotel so that at the very least, grandma could have some down time. On our way back to our hotel, we stopped in World of Disney, followed by the Starbucks Reserve in Downtown.

Once we got grandma back into the hotel room, I decided to look at ride wait times for some of the more intense rides that were not a particularly great idea to try and take grandma on. At that point in time, the wait time for Guardians of the Galaxy was allegedly only 45 minutes. I decided I was going to go, and I knew mom wanted to as well, so we left grandma to rest and wandered into the park (which was particularly convenient coming from the Grand Californian).

Turns out the wait time was closer to 90 minutes, which was okay overall because grandma got to really rest. When we finally got through the ride, we made our way back to the hotel room to pick up grandma so we could head back into California Adventure with her.

Our first ride stop when we were back into the park was the Little Mermaid ride. After that, we decided to take grandma on the Silly Symphony Swings. She LOVED those – they would end up being the only repeat ride with grandma the whole trip.

From the swings, we moved on to Cars Land as it was nearing dusk. The only ride we did in Cars Land that day was Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters. After our ride, mom wanted a Neapolitan shake from Flo’s V8 Cafe. We walked through Cars Land with the lights on, and I made sure we walked around the back side of Flo’s toward the wharf so that grandma could see they way that the Cadillac Range gets lit up at night (a personal favorite of mine).

We got back to the hotel relatively early that night, which was good because it was a long day. According to my phone, we had walked just over 5 miles that day.

In the Parks – Day 2

Day 2 of fun in the parks started similarly to day 1 in that we got room service and went to Disneyland first. We only had one objective for that park when they opened at 9 a.m. – get a picture with the Mickey flowers in front of the train station.

After we got our picture, we hit California Adventure. Once through the park gates, I took our park tickets and got FastPasses for Radiator Springs Racers while mom and grandma took their time walking up Buena Vista Street. From there, they met me at the entrance to Cars Land so we could get a picture with the Buzz and Woody cars by the “Welcome” sign.

With our picture taken care of we made our way to Toy Story Midway Mania, which only had a 5 minute wait time. Once that ride was marked off the list, we made our way back around the pier the long way (construction is still heavily underway) to the swings so grandma could ride them again.

Mom and grandma went on their way to do Soarin’ and I made my way to the Starbucks location in the park. When we met back up, we headed towards Hollywood Land. On our way to our next destination, we took a little detour to take a picture by a mosaic wall near Schmoozies, ride Mike and Sulley to the Rescue (a ride mom and I had never been on) because grandma likes Monsters Inc, and to grab a hot dog.

Around that time was our return time for our Radiator Springs Racers FastPasses, so we made our way there through Bug’s Land so that grandma could experience that. Mom and I also paused to get FastPasses for a second round of Guardians later that afternoon. Following our race, I wandered to the Cozy Cone for a bacon mac & cheese cone and my mom went back to Flo’s for another Neapolitan shake which grandma had a little bit of.

At that point, we had finished most of what we wanted to do in California Adventure, so we headed back across the plaza to Disneyland. Our first order of business in the park was to take the railroad on a round trip. Once we made it back, we walked up main street and got pictures in our Minnie ears with the “Partners” statue.

That day was particularly warm, so we made our way towards Adventureland to get some Dole Whip and sit through a Tiki Room show. After the show we walked across the park to the Monorail. We rode the Monorail to Downtown Disney, and made a stop in the new Disney Home Store as we made our way from the station to the hotel.

With grandma at the hotel to rest once more, mom and I made our way back to California Adventure for our Guardians FastPass return. After the ride we got back to the hotel (much faster than the day before) and gathered grandma to get dinner.

We walked back to the park entrance of Disneyland and jumped on the train for a 3/4 trip to Tomorrowland. Dinner was at Pizza Planet (which is fantastic rebranding in my opinion) where mom got pasta and grandma and I got slices of pizza. Mom also got one of the Alien macaroons. After dinner, we got back on the train to go to Main Street and head back to the hotel.

Based on my phone’s tracker, we walked just over 6 miles the second in-park day of our trip.

We had room service delivered Thursday morning before we left and were thankful for bell services to help us get our stuff back down to the car. As might be anticipated with typical LA traffic, it took us an hour and a half to get the 30 miles from Anaheim to Downtown LA. We ended up making it home in just about 5 hours.

We all had a great trip to Disneyland, and I’m so grateful that I have those memories with my mom and grandma!

My Revolt Story

Ink Master has been among my favorite competition shows since it’s inception, and in 2014 it introduced me to a few tattoo artists I have dreamed of being tattooed by. One of these artists is Season 4’s runner-up Walter “Sausage” Frank. Since Ink Master, he relocated to Las Vegas and opened a shop, Revolt Tattoos, with Season 3 winner Joey Hamilton (another truly gifted artist). I have driven through the area numerous times since the shop opened, but I had yet to find a design nor actually set foot in the shop. His tattoos are striking, bold, and legible photorealistic designs, and I knew someday I would find myself wanting something sizable, detailed, and meaningful enough to contact him. I also knew my Revolt story would happen organically, when it should, but I never could have guessed what the price of that inspiration would be.

After Colin died, I knew I was going to get something tattooed on my body in remembrance of him, and initially I was decided on red roman numerals on my side of his date of death. Later, after his mom found a zoo worth of owls in his room, my plan changed. I started my artist search around Fresno, but realized that anyone who could accomplish the photorealism that I wanted would be expensive and I would have to wait. It then dawned on me that if I was going to be paying as much as I was and waiting as long as I would be, I might as well go to one of my “dream” artists.

I first contacted the shop in December 2016. I filled out the basic contact form, explaining my flexibility in timeline and in design so long as there was a photorealistic owl. Additionally, I was open to color so long as it was mostly neutral toned. For how much I like to be in control, I was pretty open about what the tattoo would look like.

Through our communication, an appointment was booked for me to come in on October 3, 2017 at 10 a.m.

From the inception of the idea, I decided I was going to make a small trip out of this appointment. I chose to not fly for a number of reasons, but fortunately for me, I have made the drive between Fresno and Vegas half a dozen times and find it relatively easy.

As it turned out, Emily’s bridal shower was the Saturday before near Pasadena, so it made sense for me to go down then, stay in the LA area, and then head to Las Vegas from there (my last post, “SoCal Adventures,” details that part of the trip). As it turned out, I made my way to Las Vegas on October 2nd.

October 2nd in Las Vegas turned out to be a dramatically different day than I had planned. The original itinerary I had included going to the Luxor to see the Bodies Exhibit, and possibly walking The Strip. With the shooting the night before, everything was closed and eerie, so I loitered in LA a little while longer than intended. I took myself to breakfast at Twisted Sage, a place my darling Sarynna had showed me on my trip with her to Azusa nearly a month before. From there, I headed into Vegas, drove past the Strip on I-15 before getting off the freeway, after which I checked into and sat in my hotel room for awhile before heading to a Yard House that was south of The Strip right off the freeway.

The following day, I had my appointment which was far and away the most well documented tattooing experience I have ever had.

My mom and aunt drove into Vegas that morning from Fresno, arriving at the hotel around 9 a.m. They ate breakfast, took their stuff to the room, and then we made our way to Revolt.

I met Walter Frank for the first time just after 10 a.m. as we discussed in more detail what I was looking for. Through our talks and looking at pictures, we decided moving the image to my hip from my side would be a better decision as far as fit, size, and longevity were concerned. This move required me to change out of the yoga pants and athletic shirt I had originally worn to the shop and into a dress which would allow easier access to my hip.

Almost 2 hours later, we had a sketch, he prepped his station, and we were ready to apply the stencil.

The shop offers live streams of their tattoos, so I took this opportunity to share the link to Walter’s station so that friends and family not present could watch the process unfold.

The course of the next 5 1/2 hours consisted of lots of tattooing, lots of jokes about ass, and walking breaks. I’ve included the “progression” pictures below:

**BLOOD WARNING**

I wanted the owl’s eyes to be Colin’s eyes. For those of you who are unfamiliar, his eyes were a dark brown that became a vibrant green in direct light. The group present acted as voting committee of how to best do them in the likeness of his eyes as to not get too muddy with the black of the outline and the pupils. We opted for a green color toward the center, becoming brown at the edges.

Applying the wrap that would cover it for the next 4 days

Walter was such a great artist to sit for. He humored our questions, sass, and the emotions associated with what we were there for for nearly 6 hours that day.

We ended up leaving the shop around 6 p.m., heading to Yard House for dinner. That evening was highly emotional, and we were all spent by the time we got to dinner. We all were asleep by 9 p.m.

The day following my appointment, we all made the drive back to Fresno.

I am so happy with my experience and the end result. This trip helped create a small light in an otherwise grim situation. As much as I don’t like the fact that my reason for going to Walter was to memorialize Colin, there is no one I would have rather had as my artist.

SoCal Adventures

What was originally going to be a short trip to Las Vegas for my newest tattoo turned into a 5 day trip that started Saturday, September 30, in La Cañada, California for my darling Emily’s bridal shower!

Emily has been a close friend of mine since she moved to Fresno and started playing for the same volleyball club as I did between 7th and 8th grade. A few months back I visited her and her fiancé Bobby in Santa Barbara. Since then, more wedding plans have come to pass, and we are now a few weeks away from their big day! The shower was brunch in a family member’s backyard. I’m proud to say I won the game that was guessing Em’s age in a collection of 16 pictures!

One of my favorite features of the shower was the video Emily’s sister-in-law Amanda made with Bobby that consisted of Amanda prompting 20 questions to Bobby and him guessing Emily’s response. His answers were so genuine and honest, and Emily’s reaction to some of his answers was priceless.

I ended up staying with Emily’s mom that night near Anaheim. Being the Disney addict that I am (and knowing I was going to bite the bullet and get an annual pass again), I decided to take a quick detour on my way to her home. I was hellbent on seeing Disneyland in all of it’s Halloween glory, so I reinstated my annual pass (I went with the signature pass, I previously had a signature plus pass.. I’ll go more into this on a later post), and went into Disneyland with the intent of walking up Main Street, looking at all the decorations, and riding Haunted Mansion. Yes, that is all that I did in the park that day.

The next morning, I got up and drove to North Hollywood where another dear friend of mine lives: Catriona. We planned to spend a portion of our Sunday at Universal Studios exploring the Harry Potter section before her show that evening.

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While there, we ended up seeing a friend from high school who is currently in the frog choir, and went on a studio tour tram narrated by another cast member of the show she was in that night.

Overall, I thought the Harry Potter section was very well done, and the food was fantastic! The “big” ride that part of the park features, though, is not one that sat well with me because I cannot do 3D or copious amounts of movement in rides (for comparison, I can’t do Star Tours at Disneyland because it gives me motion sickness).

The show Cat was in that night was called The Scarlet Pimpernel, one I wasn’t familiar with. It was a very small production, but the actors were all talented, so it was enjoyable.

The next morning, October 2nd, I started my drive to Las Vegas.

..to be continued.

Tuolumne Meadows

Since our trip to Yosemite last September, Lela and I have both been determined to make it to Tuolumne Meadows in a timely manner. We knew going into it that in order to properly do Tuolumne Meadows and surrounding area hikes, we would need more time than we had. Nonetheless, we both wanted to get up there to see what it was about. It took us nearly a year, but on Saturday, August 5th, we finally made it.

As with most Yosemite trips, we left around 6 a.m. to head up the hill. Weather was forecasted to be a reasonable temperature, but there was a good chance of thunderstorms, especially in the afternoon – we planned outfits accordingly. The drive was a relatively easy 3 hours up, and the direction we came from required we go through part of the valley before getting onto 120 for Tioga Road.

Along the way, there were many places to pull off. One was Olmsted Point, which gave us a gorgeous view of Half Dome from the opposite side of the usual Valley view.

Broke out the big lens on my Olympus Camera for this one. It was taken from the same spot the selfie above was.

After that, we approached Tenaya Lake, which was breathtaking. The reflection of the mountains off the lake left us both speechless.

We reached Tuolumne Meadows midmorning, and as expected, we were met with slightly overcast weather.

Little Blue handled the drive like a dream

Due to our time constraints, we decided that wandering around the meadows would be the best course of action for this trip. On a map of Tuolumne Meadows, we found a point of interest that we wanted to have as a true “destination” on our walk, so we headed to the east end of the meadows. We parked the car on the dirt road by Lembert Dome that leads to Tuolumne Stables and walked up the road to where the true path to the meadows starts.

Our “set” destination for that day was going to be Soda Springs and the adjacent Parsons Lodge. The path toward the heart of the meadows offered stunning views of the surrounding mountain ranges, including Cathedral Peak (which Lela was rather taken with).

Lela with Cathedral Peak in the background

The paths through Tuolumne Meadows (that we experienced) were roughly car width, and were very well maintained. Altitude was the only thing not on our side, but overall, the weather was lovely, so we didn’t notice it much on our hike/walk.

*Disclaimer: this sign is actually on the part of the path between the springs and Parsons Lodge*

A short while later, we made it to Soda Springs. The springs were small but fascinating:

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From there we continued up the trail to Parsons Lodge, a gorgeous stone structure built in 1915 that is still used for events by the Yosemite Conservancy.

When we left the lodge, we headed towards the Tuolumne Meadows Footbridge, which allowed us to cross the Tuolumne River.

View of the bridge and river from Parsons Lodge

Lela and I sitting on the Tuolumne Footbridge (note the Davis Farmers Market hat making a reappearance in our Yosemite trips)

From the bridge, we continued along the path that lead toward the Tuolumne Meadows Visitor Center, though the visitor center was busy, so we opted to not go that far. Walking through this part of the trail made me feel like I was wandering through the set of Lord of the Rings, which made me even happier than I already was.

Perhaps my favorite part of the walk led us to a weird rock/embankment on the edge of the river. Water is probably my favorite element, and there were so few people that you could hear everything happening in Tuolumne Meadows. Lela and I sat on the water’s edge for a little while listening to the birds in the nearby trees and the water running down the river.

Some time later we headed back to the car. We decided we would go back by Tenaya Lake to eat lunch; Lela had gone to Subway the night before and picked up sandwiches for our lunch that day. We took our food and made our way down to the edge of the lake. There weren’t many people in this area, so lunch was very peaceful.

When we were done there, we started to head back toward the valley (Yosemite Valley because we have to pass through it to get back to the 41, and more broadly the Central Valley). By the time we made it back to Yosemite Valley, traffic was getting a little ridiculous, and until that moment we both had forgotten that it was the last real weekend before school was back in session.

We were both very impressed with Tuolumne Meadows, and our only regret is that we didn’t have time for any of the other hikes with true destinations at points of interest like lakes or peaks. I cannot wait to make it back up there, though that will likely have to wait until next year.

Yosemite Falls Had Us Mist-ified!

Hiking is a hobby I picked up while I lived in Colorado. Towards the beginning, I was still experiencing joint pain that was most likely caused by my time playing volleyball, and that limited the types of hikes I could take on. Due to that, I tended to limit my hikes to those rated moderate or below. Three years ago, on June 18, 2014, Charlotte and I attempted Yosemite Falls, rated at moderate to strenuous, and only made it to Columbia Rock before opting to turn back and get into the pools below Lower Yosemite Falls. Reminder: All collages can be clicked on to see the individual images in a larger format.

The lookout where we turned back

Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls from Lower Yosemite Falls trail

Charlotte and I met in 7th grade and she has held a special place in my life since. She is one of the most strong willed, ambitious, and charismatic people I know. Our relationship has always been one based in a more “adult” perspective – we can go months without talking but there is no hesitation with picking up right where with left off. For undergrad, Charlotte went to Cal Berkeley, and is continuing her education with Law School at Ole Miss. This trip fell during a break in her school schedule when she happened to not only be in town, but have a full day free.

Our second attempt at the Yosemite Falls Trail (which we were determined to complete) was scheduled for Monday, June 19th, coincidentally just one day after the 3 year anniversary of our first attempt. We left town around 6 o’clock that morning, and by 8 a.m. we were in the valley.

On our way through the valley just as we crossed the river to get to the north side of the park, we stopped to capture this gorgeous view of our only plan for the day:

Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls from the parking lot by Shuttle Stop #11

Spring into May and June is typically when waterfalls in Yosemite experience peak runoff, but due to last week’s snowfall, there is a tree-mendous volume (my dad gets credit for that one!) of water coming over Yosemite Falls right now.

We didn’t take any pictures of the trail while we were on it, but the National Park Service webpage for Yosemite National Park allows you to navigate to the information below about the Yosemite Falls Trail (also linked above):

Elevation gain – Yosemite Fall via nps.gov

Yosemite Falls Trail Topographical – From nps.gov

Needless to say, we had quite a day ahead of us. We parked the car in the lot just across the road from the Lower Yosemite Falls Trail, and had to walk from there to Campground 4 where the trailhead is located. At 8:53 a.m. we left the valley floor on our journey to summit Yosemite Falls. Note: The only two times we know for sure are when we left the valley and when we got back down, every other time listed is based on picture timestamps.

Around 9:30 a.m., we made it to Columbia Rock. This portion of the journey was much easier to accomplish than I remembered, though my memory served me correctly in just how steep and winding it was.

eIMG_7601 — View of Half Dome from Columbia Rock (yes, I’m wearing the same Maserati hat as I did the first trip)

From that point, we started the strenuous portion of the hike – 2700 ft elevation gain over about 2.6 miles. About a mile into that, we got gorgeous views of the falls and benefited from all the mist coming off the fall.

After the mist comes what seems like a desert. The trail coverage that is relatively abundant for the first half disappears, and all that is left is the sun and the sandy path. Around 11:40 a.m. we summited the falls and were pretty exhausted. The overlook was an open, rocky area that had signs pointing toward stairs which provided a closer look at the falls.

Good news – thanks to my beloved Camelbak (this is the one I have), I didn’t run out of water, nor did I feel or exhibit signs of dehydration. Bad news – the muscle fatigue was very real. Getting to the top was a push, but let me be clear, the last few stairs to and from the actual edge of the falls were painful.

As we approached Yosemite Creek, we were expecting just that – a creek. We did not anticipate just how much water would be coming down the mountain. The staircase pictured above was very narrow and led down to a lower lookout point.

Over the edge to the side of the fall

From the higher point, we could see a bridge up the Yosemite Creek which was surrounded by a bunch of rocks on the bank that would be great for laying out on. Based on trail markers we saw just before reaching the outlook, we figured the bridge was a short way up the Yosemite Point Trail which branches off of the Yosemite Falls Trail. After crossing the bridge, we opted to go opposite the direction of the trail to get to the rocks on the edge of the creek (this part is definitely not recommended by the NPS as the creek is fast moving and directly above the falls, you should stay on the trails, kids).

Working on that nice healthy glow (I don’t really “tan” per se)

While down by the creek, we had the lunch we had packed – crackers, salami, and cheese, various bars, and PB&J sandwiches. We also took this time to soak up some sun, and give our bodies some reprieve from the hike up. The water was quite possibly close to freezing, but it felt great! We spent quite awhile up there, and around 1:30 p.m. or so we started our descent.

Truth be told, we didn’t take many pictures during our ascent because of how strenuous it was and our focus being on reaching the top. The descent was when the bulk of our scenery pictures were taken, and I’ve provided a compilation below.

The edge of Half Dome is peeking around the rocks to the left of the image

Wildflowers and Yosemite Falls

The trip down the mountain was much faster than the trip up, and we made it back to the valley floor at 3:20 p.m. According to Charlotte’s Fitbit, with all of our adventures included, we took just over 31,000 steps, traveled about 13 miles, and climbed the equivalent of 380 staircases. I am so proud of what we accomplished and the view was worth every muscle-screaming step. On our way down the hill, we stopped at Robert’s Frosty in Coarsegold for soft serve as a reward for making it all the way to the top of the falls.

This trip also marked Lil’ Blue’s first to Yosemite! I greatly appreciate Charlotte letting me be *that* person who stops to take artsy pictures of my car.

My Outback below the Three Brothers rock formation on the North Side of Yosemite Valley

3 Days in Redwoods National & State Parks

It has officially been one year since Shannon and I went to Redwoods National and State Parks just north of Eureka in Orick, CA. This was a trip we first conceived shortly after finally meeting in our Senior Honor’s Seminar at Colorado State the semester before we both received our Bachelor’s degrees.

Shannon and I had been Facebook friends because of common interests realized from a “CSU Class of 2016” page for four years before we actually had a class together (and realized that we should have been real friends the whole dang time). We are both fans of adventure and loosely structured plans. Our seminar got us talking about National Parks which led Shannon to bring up the Redwoods, I mentioned I hadn’t been before, so we decided right then and there to make a trip together. We got closer over the course of the semester, too, and that definitely encouraged follow through. After graduation, we figured out when we would be in California at the same time and planned from there.

We decided that we would leave on June 5th, and come home on June 9th. It didn’t make sense for either of us to go to the other to begin the journey because of our relative starting points in California, so we opted to meet just off I-5 in Los Banos because it was the least out of the way for Shannon and the most reasonable for me to get to. From there, we got back on the 5 and headed north towards Eureka. We hardly needed directions as Shannon has been going there throughout her life to visit her paternal grandmother. Additionally, her older sister now lives in the Santa Rosa area, which is conveniently on the way to Eureka. We made a stop in Santa Rosa in the early afternoon, and met Shannon’s sister and brother-in-law for lunch.

As we drove up, we searched hotels online and made hotel reservations at the Eureka Inn. From Los Banos to Eureka is about a 6 1/2 hour drive without any stops, and we figured we may as well make it scenic. The next detour we made on the trip was at the Chandelier Tree in Leggett, CA. Unfortunately, Shannon’s truck wouldn’t fit through this tree because of the height, so we settled for walking the property.

We left from there and continued the journey north. We made it to Eureka in the early evening, checked into the hotel, and settled in for the night.

The next morning, June 6th, we got up bright and early and drove north about an hour to the parks. These parks are particularly unique in the National Park System because there is no true park entrance or exit gate, and thus, no standard park entrance fee (though there are a couple areas that are pay areas, Fern Canyon being one of them).

Trail leading to Big Tree

Shannon hugging a tree

Base of a downed redwood on the trail

Peeking out from behind a BIG tree

To start the day we parked in the Big Tree Wayside parking area and sprayed copious amounts of bug spray on our bodies. Our first move was starting up Circle Trail and moving on to Cathedral Trees Trail before crossing the road with the intent of hiking Prairie Creek Trail and finding the Corkscrew Tree. During the latter part of our hike, we definitely got a little bit lost and ended up stumbling upon the tree we were in search of, but there are much worse places to be a little lost. On the way back to the hotel for the day, we stopped in Klamath for lunch. Across the street from the diner we ate at was a drive-thru tree, and Shannon was hell-bent on getting her truck through one, so we went. Spoiler alert, success was hers!

Shannon is in the truck which very narrowly fit inside the tree

That night, we drove into town and met Shannon’s grandma for dinner. After eating, we went to Humboldt Bay for ice cream.

On the morning of June 7th, we made our way back into the parks early, and decided we would go to the visitor center to get a permit to hike Tall Trees Trail. The road to get to this trail is relatively narrow, tree-lined, and unpaved, and requires passing through a gate that is locked and the code is changed daily. The drive was easy, and we reached the trailhead quickly.

The trail starts with 800 feet of elevation change, going down in order to get to the Tall Trees loop area. This trail was the first we encountered with wildlife that wasn’t flying or trying to bite us – I could hardly contain myself upon finally getting to see banana slugs in person (sorry Shannon!).

The path became relatively leveled out just before reaching the loop portion that runs alongside a river. These trees seemed so diverse in form despite being in such a relatively small area, and the walk was relaxing.

The trail where it levels out just before the loop

Shannon on the loop portion of the trail

Me getting really excited about the trail and the trees (and the possibility of more banana slugs)

When we were done in the park for the day, we headed south towards Eureka. We stopped in the town of Trinidad for lunch and to sight see.

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When we got to the hotel that night and were beat, so we decided to have burritos delivered to our room (yes, to the door of our room) from a local restaurant. They were AH-mazing.

Our final morning to go in the parks, we decided to stop for brunch on the way in downtown Arcata (also known as the cutest little town I’ve seen to date). We went to a local cafe where we could order crepes, and it was a delicious choice! When breakfast was done, we headed north with Fern Canyon on our minds. The 1 1/2 lane “road” that Davidson Road becomes looks like an extended, unintended off-roading adventure through Jurassic Park. This entire day in our trip blew my mind – most of the road in and the trail for the hike looked like it genuinely hadn’t been disturbed for 325 million years.

Fern Canyon

There were waterfalls on either side of the ferns that had an unclear point of origin

Yes, our pants match – no, we didn’t plan that

Boardwalk on the upper part of the loop

After we made it back from the trail, we decided to walk out on the beach.

From there, we decided to go to Patrick’s Point State Park. This area was a pay area, and there were a lot of campgrounds, but we also found some fun stone buildings and got to see some whales.

Shannon and I concluded the day with her grandma on the way back towards Eureka. That evening we went back to the hotel and began packing so we could leave as early as possible (and reasonable) the next morning.

The trip was so memorable, and was just the beginning of a string of adventures that Shannon and I have shared in. Since this big trip, the scale has been much smaller (mostly spending time on the Central Coast of California), but there are already more big trips in the works for the two of us, and I couldn’t be more excited!