Disneyland 2011

Mom and Loren and I went to Disneyland.

We were there for part of Wednesday, all of Thursday and part of Friday.   Here are some pics.

We started Wednesday with a buffet breakfast with the characters.   This is the photos they sold us.  [Hey, I didn't buy either of the photos from the roller coasters, getting one of Mickey Mouse is de rigueur.  ;-)]

Minnie Mouse was there too.

Stitch

And Pluto

Pluto puts the card on his nose to sign.

The end of Wednesday was a parade down main street.   Sadly, my camera batteries had gone flat, so no parade photos, but I did get one of the castle all lit up.

Our favorite rides were the Star Tours one and the Soaring over California.   The first was a simulated trip through Star Wars.   It turns out there is more than one version that they run, but we don't know how many.   They might change them by the day, or by the car, or just have a set they run randomly -- or something else.   We went on the ride twice and got two stories, so there is more than one.

The Soaring over California took us on a simulated hang glider ride over several parts of California.

Loren and I went on Space Mountain and I went on the Screaming California -- the latter being the roller coaster that sends you on a loop the loop.   We all went on the ferris wheel.   The ferris wheel has a variation of swinging cars, in which the car slides within the wheel.    Here's a pic from the web:

The paddle wheel boat was not running, but the sailing ship was.   It is a full size replica of a boat that went around the world.   It must take some nerve to do such a thing in a ship that size, but that was how it worked then.   More info on the ship is here.

Below decks -- the galley:

The captains quarters:

We rode on the railroad.

Some characters ...

Trip to Atlanta

Mom and I went to Atlanta to visit Loren last week.   I flew from Seattle, arriving Sunday and leaving Wednesday.   Mom flew from Tucson, arriving on Sat and leaving the next Sat.   I took my camera, but only got a few pics.   Here are Mom and Loren next to Loren's new car.

 

 

Mom and Loren in front of the house.

 

 

and Mom and I in front of the house.   My camera does a timer shot, but I had forgotten how to use it and since we were on our way out I didn't have time to figure it out.

 

 

We went out to dinner and to a musical on Tues night and had a lovely time.   THe musical was Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods, which was very cool.   The musician's were kids from the local high school -- it's great that they are having a chance to shine.   They played well too.

Guam

I just spent 7 days on the island of Guam (which is a US territory, fwiw).   I spent a lot of my waking time in a cold, windowless, loud shipping container (with doors), but I did get a chance to drive around the southern end of the island for a bit.   Here are some pics:

 

 

Yep, it's an island ...

 

 

It has coconuts ... at least, I think they are coconuts.

 

 

From a WWII park

 

The sign recommends against climbing on the guns, since they are rusting away.   This is a Japanese anti-aircraft gun.  [Guam was invaded by the Japanese not long after Pearl Harbor and was held for 2.5 years.  It has been a US territory since the 1898, following the Spanish-American war.]

 

The park is beautiful.   Sadly, my camera was not able to pick up the detail in the sky.   I could hardly see what I was photographing from the glare on the display, so I guess I should be glad to have anything.

 

 

There seems to be a certain fondness for bright colors:

 

 

The plaque on this bridge said that the original plan was just to build a bridge.  However, the governor insisted that it be made artistic (I don't remember the exact words) and be something that would celebrate the Spanish and Chamorro heritage of the island, so they added the towers.   [The Chamorro people are the indigenous people of the Mariana Islands,]

 

I am not sure the governers efforts were completely appreciated.   The bridge was built (the sign said) in the 1980s and the inside of the towers seem to have not been touched since then ...

 

 

This photo has a bit of the feel of Magritte's Empire of Light (without the great art, of course), but that is just a limit of my camera.