The Happiest Place on Earth

Yesterday was my day off from work, and I spent the entire day hanging out in the the Happiest Place on Earth; aka Disneyland.

Now, I have been to Disneyworld a truckload of times thanks to the fact that 90 percent of my extended family lives in Florida. However, whenever I point this out to Californians they tend to scoff and make it perfectly clear that Disneyworld is little more than a desperate wannabe struggling to live up to Disneyland's awesome factor.

In truth, they're remarkably similar. The same rides. The same characters wandering the little paved streets. Even the same shows.

However, I don't think I'd ever been to Disneyworld during the holiday season, and seeing Disneyland all decked out in Christmas lights and decorations was a real sight to see. Especially impressive was the completely-redone Small World. Outside, the Small World castle boasted a facade-full of glittering holiday lights. Inside, the trademark dancing children had been decked out in holiday gear and spun around bearing signs that said things like "Feliz Navidad!" or, in the case of the Chinese children, "Happy New Year!"

California Adventure was a completely new experience for me. I fully admit to having been a ride-dodger throughout my teenage and young adult years. I was the girl who stood patiently on the platform holding half a dozen purses while everyone else went on the rollercoaster on top of New York New York in Las Vegas. But, since I'm trying to approach life in a different way, this time around I did all the rides right aloneside them. And they were a blast! I loved it all; especially the Hollywood Tower of Terror.

We left at about 9:30 am and didn't get back home till almost 1:00 am. It was a completely full day, jam-packed with constant walking from one "land" to the next (i.e. TomorrowLand to FrontierLand, etc). I was completely exhausted by the time we got home, but it was totally worth it.

Road Trip: San Francisco & LA

In the interest of not boring all of you to death with a ridiculously long post, I'm going to compress each day into a brief recap for your enjoyment. Sit back, relax and enjoy the blog!

Day #2
I arrived in San Francisco a little bit before 4:00 p.m. and met up with Erin at her apartment in the Mission. After some necessary coffee and bonding time, we headed to Bernal Heights to meet up with Mel, Michaela and Zoe (who was also visiting SF this weekend). Drinks and delicious food were had, and there was a lot of gleeful squealing when we reunited. A random woman in the bar even approached us to comment on how happy we all seemed. It was pretty sweet.

Day #3
Erin, Mel, Zoe and I had breakfast bagels at a little place in Bernal Heights. Then Zoe left to meet up with some other local friends while Erin, Mel and I headed to Tiburon and Angel Island for the day. The town was adorable with lots of little restaurants and boutique shops, and the island was really interesting. Apparently Angel Island is known as the "Ellis Island of the west." Immigrants had to pass through Angel Island before they were permitted access to the mainland. Sadly, the main immigration building was temporarily closed for renovations so we didn't get to see it... but we did have the opportunity to see a lot of the other nearby ruins.

Day #4
This was pretty much the ultimate day of kickassness on my sojourn to San Francisco. Today, the five Emerson girls (Erin, Melanie, Michaela, Zoe and myself) journeyed to Sonoma to visit vineyards and taste a lot of wine. We visited the Sebastiani and Buena Vista wineries, the latter of which is the oldest winery in the region. We had a picnic at Buena Vista, and had a blast tasting all their different wines. I bought a bottle of Adagio Port from Sebastiani. Mmmm...

Day #5
Labor Day, and my last day in San Francisco. Erin and I stayed in town today and found our way to Fisherman's Wharf, Coit Tower and the North Beach neighborhood. That evening we met up with Mel, Michaela and Erin's boyfriend Ryan for dinner at a Mexican restaurant with freakin' amazing fish burritos.

Day #6
This morning I said my goodbyes to Erin and got back on the road to finish the drive down to LALA Land. Miraculously, my mp3 player worked exactly as it should for the entire day; an extremely pleasant change from the previous two driving days. I spent the drive down rocking out to road trip songs and the cast recordings of Legally Blonde: The Musical and Aida. I got to Sherman Oaks a little after 3:00 p.m. and my new roommates (Monica and Vicki) helped me unload my car, showed me around the area and brought me grocery shopping. I unloaded a decent amount of my stuff in my room, but at the moment I am still bedless because the bed isn't scheduled to be delivered until tomorrow afternoon. That means I get to sleep on the couch tonight. Woohoo! But at least tomorrow night I ought to finally have a bed, and my room will start looking more like an actual bedroom. Monica and Vicki's cats, Robbie and Nermal, are quite intrigued by all the new stuff coming into the apartment. I suspect they'll be even more intrigued when Osiris and Isis come down to join me. Hahaha.

So that's pretty much the story of my move to SoCal. I'll keep you updated as more crazy fun things occur.

Road Trip Day #1 - Ashland

A little after 8:00 a.m. this morning, I left my parents' house driving a hatchback packed with everything from clothing to a coffee table shaped like an elephant (Best. Table. Ever). Armed with a double-shot latte and an mp3 player loaded with appropriate driving tunes, the big move had officially begun.

Mom thought that the cats would have nervous breakdowns from suffering through the road trip with me, so they aren't coming along just yet. They'll be holding down the fort with Mom and Dad until I'm at least a little bit settled, then either my parents will deliver them in a month or so, or I'll pick them up when I go to Seattle for the holidays. I was sad to leave them behind, even if only temporarily. But I have to admit it does save a lot of hassle on the drive down.

I arrived in Ashland at approximately 6:00 p.m. with relatively little incident--my mp3 player ran out of batteries halfway through the trip because I'd inadvertently left it on the previous night, but in the grand scheme of things it was a minor inconvenience--and settled into my hotel room. Then, at 8:00 p.m., I headed off to see The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler.

Now, I considered seeing one of the Shakespearean shows on offer (Comedy of Errors and Corialanus were the options for tonight), but neither of them are shows I'm particularly eager to see and the summary of Further Adventures was just too bizarre to pass up: "It’s the final act of Ibsen’s play, and Hedda’s just done herself in—again. In hopes of a rewrite, Hedda ventures out on a rollicking quest to liberate her story. She’s joined by a quirky collection of other well-loved dramatic characters equally eager to jump off their pages."

I'm so glad I went. The show was awesome! It's written by Jeffy Whitty, the man responsible for Avenue Q's award-winning script, and he pulls off a hilarious yet poignant show. Hedda shares the spotlight with her sla-- er... "hired help" Mammy from Gone With the Wind in a world where fictional characters abide until their stories are forgotten and they die. While most die within moments of being born, those from memorable stories endure, like Hedda, Mammy, Medea and every version of Jesus ever written (at one point they stumble across the "Verdant Glade of the Christs"). The show had me laughing hysterically at a lot of points, but ended with an interesting comment about the purpose of art. For example, if Mammy is tired of being a slave stereotype and decides to change her story... will she remain a timeless character or will she bring about her own death? Do misery and prejudice and outdated stereotypes play an important role in letting us examine our history?

I'll leave you with one of my favorite moments (of many). This occurs near the beginning, after Hedda has "awoken" from her latest suicide with no memory of recent events.

HEDDA

My life is miserable all because of the machinations of that stupid novelist!

(She throws herself melodramatically onto the sofa, despondent.)

TESMAN

Playwright.

(Horrified, HEDDA sits bolt upright.)

HEDDA

What? I'm a play?! Ugh.

On your mark, get set...

...GO!!!

The journey begins. See you in Ashland!

Road Trip Itinerary

Here is the basic itinerary for my drive down to Los Angeles, just in case anyone feels the need to know where I am at any given point over the weekend. I like to keep my stalkers well-informed.

Thursday, August 28
8:00 a.m. - Leave Seattle.
5:00 p.m. - Arrive in Ashland, OR (estimated).
8:00 p.m. - See The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler, by Jeff Whitty (the guy who wrote the book for Avenue Q)

Friday, August 29
9:00 a.m. - Leave Ashland, OR.
3:00 p.m. - Arrive in San Francisco, CA (estimated).

Saturday, August 30
Drive across Golden Gate Bridge to visit Tiburon, CA.

Sunday, August 31
Vineyards.

Monday, September 1
Women's Banjo Society Labor Day Picnic.

Tuesday, September 2
8:00 a.m. - Leave San Francisco, CA.
2:00 p.m. - Arrive in Los Angeles, CA (estimated)!!!


Edited, Aug. 27: Time of departure on Thursday changed from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m., after deciding that I just wouldn't be able to handle starting out that early in the morning.