Summer Road Trip - On a Disney Mission

Tuesday was our first full day at Disneyland and it opened at 8:00 am so were up early for breakfast. The hotel we pick is about a 15 minute walk from the front gate but it has a few benefits that we like such as breakfast included with our stay. It's a hot breakfast that includes eggs, hash-browns, a meat of some sort and plenty of continental breakfast options. We were finished breakfast around 7:30 am and started our walk. We had a slight detour as Kerry saw a parking spot she liked and had to move the car. Only two more moves until we get the perfect spot.

We didn't decide on our first ride until we got into the park. Kerry decided we would do the Matterhorn since Carter has never been and there is no fast pass. Correction. There previously was no fast pass but we have since noticed that it does have one. We're also trying to get the family into the idea of 'single rider'. Many rides allow for four or six people but groups don't always come in even numbers so there is often a single empty spot available. If you are willing to break up your group you can ride quicker and more frequently. Only Carter remains a little hesitant.

We managed to get in several more rides all before 10:00 am including Big Thunder, Indiana Jones, Pooh Bear and Splash mountain. Splash Mountain was are most eventful. Kerry was absolutely soaked which seems to be pretty common for her. I also had another amazing picture taken of me. I don't like drops so I close my eyes and tense up at the point that they take the picture. Looks like I'm trying really hard to take a poop. We also tried to get some crushed pennies but the machine ate Carter's quarters twice so we had to inform the machine was broken and get our quarters back. 

We stopped off in New Orleans Square for Callie's treat. She wanted a mint julep and some beignets. It seems there is a fine line on how much powdered sugar is too much. Too much is when you accidentally breath deeply as you take a bite and the powdered sugar makes you start coughing. The ground is white in this area. We only stopped long enough to eat and run to catch the train that circles the park. Kerry was on a mission to get in as many rides as we could which apparently was 22 on our first day.

The park has been surprisingly clear and we have a few theories on why. One is that people are staying away because of the recent earth quakes. The second theory is that people are staying away because they think the place will be crowded with the opening of Star Wars land. My theory is that Star Wars land has added several dozen acres of new space which spreads out the people over a larger area. I suspect it is probably a mix of all three. Either way, lines up to about 11:00 am are short and we don't feel crowded. A good time so far.

Our destination station on the train was Tomorrow-land but Kerry decided half way that there wasn't a stop there so we should get off in Toon Town. There is apparently a stop in Tomorrowland so at least we know for next time. Toon Town is not that exciting though I do enjoy Mickey's house. I have several pictures sitting in Plutos bed. We also found Donald Duck hiding out on his boat the Daisy Duck. I'm using a wider angle lens on my camera this time around and it's making for some interesting perspective shots for the character pictures. 

We went back to the hotel for the afternoon and switched over to California Adventure Land in the afternoon. Our first ride was the Ferris Wheel. It's apparently 160 feet at the top and Kerry and Carter were not exactly thrilled to be there. Carter wasn't too bad but at one point Callie asked if she could switch places with me and she got a resounding no from Kerry. We weren't allowed to breath when the car was at it's peak. It takes a full revolution to load and then it goes one more revolution all the way around. Kerry would have been content getting off after the first turn. 

The highlight of our day came near the end of the evening. I decided to skip Guardians of the Galaxy because it's a drop ride and then the family got in line but also decided to skip because the wait looked to long. This left us passing a place called "Smoozies" which my cousin Celine had told us about on Facebook at the perfect time. She recommended the Cookies and Cream shake and it sounded good so we planned on sharing one. Turns out we were the last customer and they gave us all free smoothies rather than throwing them out at the end of the day. Score!

Summer Road Trip - Universal Studios

Monday was our first full day without car travel. Almost. We had a 1 hour drive from our hotel to Universal Studios. We've never been to this park and the main motivation was the Harry Potter area. It was done very similar to the one in Florida except that there is only one one park with no train connecting multiple parks. My overall impression of Universal Studios is that it's designed to change often as new movies come out. The Harry Potter area is an exception . These rides were built to last. I'm still amazed at the Hogwarts sitting on the hill. Incredibly realistic.

The next stop was the Simpsons area. The kids have watched a grand total of 20 minutes of the Simpsons. Not because we won't let them but because they just haven't been interested. This may change. The start of the rides all have family friendly(ish) scenes from the show and the kids couldn't stop laughing. I'm pretty sure Carter is going to find a YouTube video of all the Itchy and Scratchy scenes. The other fun part waiting for the ride was the Krustyland map which included rides like the "Tilt-n-Spew" and the "Long, Long Line".

I should probably explain my ride experience at Universal. They are a mix of roller coaster and movie screens and I don't really enjoy the combination of the two. My ride experience is
1) Wait in line.
2) Get on ride.
3) Close eyes.
4) Ride starts.
5) Open eyes briefly.
6) Get dizzy.
7) Close eyes
8) Ride ends

Luckily not all rides are like this. The most enjoyable ride for all of us was the Studio Tour. Universal Studios is not just a them park. It's built around a working movie studio and the tour takes you through the studio lots where the big sound stages are as well as past famous sets such as Jaws, Back to the Future, War of the Worlds and Psycho. The highlight for Kerry was that they were  filming a Christmas Hallmark movie with one of her favorite Hallmark actors.

Universal Studios is easily done in a day, especially if you get the 'Front of the Line' pass for an extra $70 per person. I don't really like this because it means extra money gets you extra privilege. I prefer Disney where most people have the same opportunity to get short line-ups via the fast pass. The front of the line pass also messes with the line estimates since people can just keep going to the front of the line. The Jurassic World ride showed as 120 minutes for us and only took 45 minutes. The ride was great and we were surprised at how quickly we made it to the front of the line.

Universal Studios was a fun day trip but I don't think we'll go back very often. It's a long drive from our hotel, the lines are long unless you pay to go to the front and the rides are not nearly as inventive as the ones at Disneyland. If we were in the area though we would stop by the City Walk which is there version of Downtown Disney. Lot's of great restaurants and a fun atmosphere that probably gets even better later in the evening.

Summer Road Trip - Travelling to Anaheim

Today's destination was Anaheim but we did have plans to take the scenic route. We had spent the night in San Francisco and the trip to Anaheim is only about 6 hours so we started our day on the Full House tour. Kerry and I watched it as a kid, and the kids both found it on Netflix in grade five and were also actively watching the new series Fuller House. There are probably lots of individual scenes shot in San Francisco but we only had time for the highlights.

The first destination was the "Painted Ladies" which is a set of row houses visible from a nearby park. In the opening scene I believe the family is having a picnic in the park and the houses are in the background. The nice thing about this destination was that we could check them out from across the street. This wasn't the case for the second destination which is the house exterior that shows in the series. There is now a gate on the front steps to stop the fans. We drove by and were only there for about 2 minutes and we saw another family stopping bye. The owners must hate that show.

Our final destination was Lombard Street. I have driven down it but Kerry was unwilling to drive herself or even be a passenger. We drove by the bottom where there were quite a few people just standing in the street for pictures. The thing I find interesting is that some people have driveways off this street. There are apparently plans to start charging visitors which makes sense. The funny thing about Kerry not wanting to drive the street is that I think some of the streets we took to get here were steeper and scarier.

We got out of town around 9:00 am and started down the I-5 to Anaheim. San Francisco was cool weather wise but our drive was not. We hit at least 40 degrees. Our trip was relatively uneventful except for the fact that we didn't stop for breakfast in San Francisco. We waited until we were on the road. Callie was committed to finding a Starbucks and was prepared to navigate to one however she decided she couldn't wait and we stopped at a McDonald's instead. Apparently the Starbucks was at the next exit. Callie was not happy.

The directions to our hotel are relatively simple. Follow the I-5 until exit 109B. That doesn't mean the drive is easy. As soon as you hit LA the traffic on the roads gets crazy. Despite going 10km over the speed limit it still felt like were sitting still on the freeway with vehicles passing us on both sides. We made it and checked into our hotel with some time for laundry, grocery shopping and a trip to Downtown Disney for a snack. We also gassed up our vehicle. We don't want a half full tank if the big one hits!

Summer Road Trip - Meeting Up With the Family

A bit of an unusual start to our summer road trip this year in that we didn't start it as a family. Our summer began with our annual trip to Prince George. After we got home I packed again for a trip to San Diego to attend a week long conference. The plan was for the family to drive to Oliver to drop off Oliver and then drive to San Francisco to meet me. This meant they had a three day, 2000 km drive while I had a 1 hour flight to get to our meeting place at the hotel in San Francisco. I had no complaints.

I arrived in San Francisco at 8:00a and had about 5 hours to kill while I waited for the family to arrive from Klammath Falls, Oregon where they had stayed the night. Did I mention that I had spent the night watching fireworks from my hotel room while they spent the night listening to what may have been fireworks or gun shots from their hotel room. They're still not sure. Again, no complaints from me.

Our first destination was the trolley cars. As soon as I guided the family to the parking for the hotel I ran the five blocks to grab tickets and get in line. In hindsight I completely forgot about the trick for the trolley cars. There is a starting point where everyone lines up but they never fill the cars because you can hop on and hop off at stops along the way. This means that you can either wait in line for an hour or just get on at the second stop with almost no wait. We did get a seat which is nice and we did use the time to catch up on stories about our trip so far.

The trolley cars take us through the steep hills of San Francisco and end up at Fisherman's Wharf. Our first destination was Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory.where we got in line for sundaes. A few additional tourist tips here include the fact that there are multiple entrances to the factory with varying line sizes. I also recommend sharing the desserts. Even through we were very hungry and I can usually hold my own with ice cream, there was plenty to share. Kerry and Callie had the salted caramel sundae and Carter and I had the cookies and cream.

Another tourist tip is that even when it's nice out San Francisco is not always the warmest of places. I'm not sure why, but Kerry and the kids all chose not to wear their jackets. Luckily there was a tourist shop at the end of Fisherman's what where they had clothing on sale for 70% off. Carter got a jacket and shared it with Kerry. As a bonus the jacket even came with four Ghirardelli chocolates in the pocket. It was also missing a button. We're not sure what the history of this jacket is but we think it has an interesting story.

By this time it was close to dinner so we started looking for a place to eat on the wharf. I had previously gone to Lou's Fish Shack and Kerry liked what she saw on the menu so we stopped in for dinner. I don't know if I can truly recognize fresh versus frozen fish but if this was never frozen I could tell. Best fish and chips ever. The breading was light and the fish was sweet and flaky. Kerry had the crab bisque bread bowl and loved it as well. It was at this point that the family realized why I had recommended we add San Francisco to the itinerary this year.

After dinner we continued on down Fisherman's Wharf to Pier 45. There is a great penny arcade there with machines ranging from the 1800's to the 1980's. I broke a five into quarters to give the kids and soon realized that I have perhaps made them too money savvy. They seemed content to pocket their money. We did get them to try a few items including laughing Sally. Carter tried waiting for someone else to activate her but could wait no longer. She was really quite frightening. We also had a fun time with the telescope for 25 cents. Carter said it was broken because all he could see was blue. I helped him turn away from the water so he could see Alcatraz.

We finished our trip down the wharf with Pier 39. It's mostly restaurants and souvenir shops though we did have fun checking out the sea lions. Apparently they can have 1,500 later in the year. We saw a few dozen sunning them selves on some specially made docks just for them. We also checked out the pet store where we were amazed to find Schnoodle merchandise. You know you've picked a trendy dog breed when there is signage and socks for sale with Schnoodle on them.

The trolley cars are $7.00 per person one way so we found a cheaper way back to our hotel via bus. Kerry managed to make friends with the bus driver and got all sorts of advise and local knowledge sent her way. We stopped off a few blocks from our hotel at Union Square which appeared to be getting a major overhaul. 

Our first day together as a family was great fun. Only one more day of travel until our final destination in Anaheim.

ESRI Users Conference in San Diego

This past week I had the opportunity to attend a conference in San Diego for work. I've been to a few conferences in San Diego and have done most of the tourist relate activities so I only came down the day before. For reasons to be explained later I was also not in the same hotel for the full week. My first hotel was close to the airport. The bad part was that they hadn't paid their cable bill and the rest of the experience was on par with that. The good part was that it was near Old Town San Diego, an area I've never been to. It's kind of like Barkerville in BC with older buildings but there were also modern shops.

After my adventure in the less then desirable hotel on the first night I moved to my second hotel and got ready for the opening day of the conference. They call this part the Plenary and it's a mix of inspirational messages and product sales. ESRI is a bit unusual compare to other conferences I've been to because they do the Plenary for a full day. They kept things exciting though as they had Jane Goodall and E.O. Wilson attend. Being a science based application the ESRI conference is very left leaning on the political spectrum. It was fun learning about the charities these two have started. Goodall is 85 and Wilson is 91 and still contributing to the good of the world.

The next three days were a whirlwind of talks and wandering the hall floor. The conference is at the San Diego convention centre and had 20,000 attendees. This is the same convention centre as Comicon which starts next week and despite it's size we only filled a portion of the halls. I think one end of the hall to the other was close to a half kilometer. I was walking with a colleague who had an Apple watch and I think we walked 12k on one day. I should be well conditioned for Disneyland next week.

On the last day of the conference ESRI hosts a party at Balboa Park. They shut down an area that includes the Natural History Museum, the Art Museum and several other halls. The party includes music on multiple stages with DJ's and live  bands, acrobats and plenty of food. It was another long day of walking. Last year I left on Thursday evening and I'm glad I stayed the extra day this year. A great event.  I'm actually staying to Saturday because I'm flying to San Francisco to meet the family for a day before heading to Anaheim. A long road trip for me this year.

Saying Goodbye to GG

My Grandmother passed away in November and rather than a funeral the family decided to have a celebration of life later in the summer. This ensured that all the key family members could plan to get together. Everyone directly descended from GG was able to attend. This included 2 children, 5 grand children and 7 great grand children plus spouses. GG certainly knew all her grand kids and great grand kids but when it came to getting their names out in the moment there was often mistakes made. It didn't help that there were multiple Kerry's and at least 6 kids that ended with the sound en/an/on.

The celebration of life was an all day event and we started with a trip to the cutbanks. GG had many fond memories of this area as her family had a farm on the river right in front of them. She told many stories of making her way across the river to school. Walking, boating and crossing the ice were all valid ways of getting to school in her day. The family walked to an area where we could see where her farm was and we spread some of her ashes over the embankment. She will have fun walking back up.

The next quintessential GG location was West Lake. Our family has owned property there for many generations and we're left with 2 1/2 acres of the best beach. I have many memories of GG sitting on the beach by her tree. She didn't sit for long of course because there was always work to do, whether it be pushing rocks back up the beach, making the fire or cutting brush. She was always busy. Mom built a small garden for her ashes. GG always had a garden at the lake and the original is now too close to shore. This new spot should last a long time.

The Monday after the celebration of life was Canada Day and the family took our regular trip to what was previously known as Fort George Park. I would list the new name but it's native and hard to remember. I have no issue with the renaming. The park was built on top of an Indian Burial Ground. Good karma to recognize it with a name that doesn't represent colonization. The steam engine was working and we had some great food. The weather wasn't great but the rain stopped long enough to enjoy.

This was our first trip up since my nephew Lucas was born. I think he's about 10 months old. He's a funny little character. Quiet most of the time and he's got some baby chubbiness to him. He doesn't smile too much but by the time we left we had a few techniques including blowing on his feet and squishing his cheeks together. He was starting to crawl so he should be a handful for his parents shortly. He's quite alert so I think he should be as bright as his big brother Jackson.

Our last GG related event was a trip to the Prince George cemetary. It's becoming more common to cremate but GG wanted some of her ashes spread on Grandpa's grave. I never knew him as he died when my mom was 17 but we found him in the veterans area of the cemetary. Mom couldn't remember where he was but GG had taken us there often so I recognized the  group of trees where he was buried. Apparently GG brought some trees from the lake when he was buried. Not allowed anymore but fun to know the big trees were planted by our family. Bye GG. We love you.

Tying Fish

If you're wondering how much 600 fish cost the answer is $10k. That's the going rate to have six people show up to your school during a series of workshops, help kids paint pre-cut fish and then come back to help you attach them to chain link fences at your school. This trend has been happening in the lower mainland for quite a few years. Some schools fish are so old that they have started to fall off. Hopefully the fish at Frost Road last to the point of fading. I couldn't quite tell what kind of plywood they used but the paint they used looked good and they put a coat of clear coat over the fish after they were installed.

The fish had been painted during the month or so before fish tying day. Our role as parents was to help permanently attach the fish to the fence. It was a 'Bring Your Own Pliers' event and it was tougher than I was expecting. The organizers were responsible for placing the fish which was good. You could tell they were experts because they knew what shapes and colours went together best and really helped put together a fun layout. The wire was very thick which meant they were pretty tough to twist. I was on shift one of two and I think we were about 1/3 through. I'm guessing the organizers finished up. End result was a fun project for the kids and it looks great.