Christmas at the Happiest Place on Earth 2015: Day 4

Day 4: A Disney Legend

Today was my last day, and I decided to spend it at my favorite park: Hollywood Studios. I know many people think this is a half day park with not much to do, and well, I guess it sort of was for me because I had to catch a flight, but I wanted to stay all day with plenty to do!

I was up pretty early (for me) and packed. I had hoped to put my luggage in my car and leave for the airport from the park, but it was getting pretty hot, plus I had no trunk to speak of in the rental, so I stored my luggage and took off.

Disneyland Revisited

I hadn’t planned to visit Disneyland again so soon, but when your job sends you to Anaheim, whaddya gonna do?

The trip had an exciting start as a Jim Gaffigan lookalike immediately reclined his seat all the way into my lap and stayed there for almost four hours. Good times!

Rocky Mountain High

Another work trip, another chance to explore the local surroundings. I attended a conference in Denver at the end of April 2014 and got to take in some natural beauty, as well.

I rented a car upon landing in Denver and headed to Rocky Mountain National Park. The ride via Route 7 (a detour to avoid construction on 36) was gorgeous, with a river (I assume it was a river) running right along the side of the road. I didn’t venture too far into the park because by the time I got to the entrance that required payment, the skies were looking a little menacing, and I was feeling a little sleepy from my 4:20 (heh heh) a.m. wake-up call.

I did see a little wildlife, some gorgeous mountains, and a bit of Estes Park. Not a bad day at all.

View at Lily Lake

Weird Al Is Not as Weird as You Might Think

I recently had the opportunity to attend a book signing for Weird Al Yankovic’s new children’s book, My New Teacher and Me, at Joseph-Beth Booksellers.

J-B had a whole theme going, right down to the menu in the cafe:

According to the guy at the next table, the cafe was out of cheese for the Twinkie Weiner. Hmmph.

Weird Brady Milestone

Just to show that people love to celebrate anniversaries of the most arbitrary things, some of the cast members of The Brady Bunch returned to Kings Island today to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Brady Bunch episode that was filmed there.

Yes, I was a dork and stood in line in for an hour and a half to see their “show.” It was basically Barry Williams singing a little, and Williams, Susan Olsen, and Christopher Knight reminiscing, talking about what they are up to now, and answering a few audience questions. I thought about standing in line for an autograph until an announcement was made that fans could have photos taken with the actors for $20. Um, yeah. No.

California There I Went

I recently spent a few days in Los Angeles for a work conference. I stayed at the Sheraton Universal, so I spent a little time the weekend before the conference at Universal Studios Hollywood.

Universal has some great attractions. I saw everything in two days. My favorite of course was the tram tour. I tried it on two different days, and it did change each time. One time we got the Mummy attraction, another time the parting of the Red Sea. But, not both on the same tour.  I loved seeing the back lot and sets from so many movies. I just recently watched Bruce Almighty just to see the brownstone set from Universal’s back lot. Good times.

Town square from the “Back to the Future” movies.

Eight-Block Radius

In mid-February I attended a conference in New York City. I also felt kind of crummy, so I pretty much roamed around an eight-block radius of my hotel. No subways or sites, just eating (nothing special) and watching shows. And going to the conference, of course.

I flew in on Monday, February 11, on the heels of the Great Blizzard of 2013. Here’s the extent of snow I saw:

Blizzard? Puh-leeze!

A Calamity? Really?

November took us on two brief Kentucky adventures.

First up was an afternoon jaunt to Frankfort for the book fair. It was nice, but nothing spectacular. We did get to meet Erin Walton! (Really, actress Mary McDonough, who was promoting her book Lessons from the Mountain. How cute is she?)

 

Sweltering in the Great Melting Pot

Our annual girls trip was a huge success! This time, we left it up to the niece to decide where she wanted to go, and she chose New York City. Wow. A little different from our normal road trips, but we decided to go for it. As always, we are waiting for the time when she won’t want to go with us at all, so we are making the most of the time we have. We were able to use Hilton Honors points for some free nights, and flying out of Dayton, Ohio, made the airfare affordable (Boo CVG for making it craptastically expensive to fly out of Cincinnati, where I live). My niece actually saved up some money and paid for her own souvenirs and entrance to attractions, which was a lot to ask of a kid, so we were proud of her!

The Country Living Fair 2011

The Country Living Fair is the kind of thing that always appeals to me on paper, but once I get there I wonder exactly why I wanted to go. Essentially, you pay $16 (for a one-day pass, purchased at the gate) for entrance to…booths where you can buy things. It’s weird, but I did it. And the place was absolutely packed. I am still not convinced that the country is experiencing an economic slump.

It sounded like an Autumn-y type thing to do, was relatively close (in Columbus), and it was a pleasant, fun day, but I’m still scratching my head about why we fall for this. Home and garden shows, gun shows, antiques shows…we pay to get in so we can shop. It’s crazy, but people flock to them, so I guess they’re on to something. Or we are just constantly stupid.