California / Arizona trip day 6

On to a new adventure ...

Today marked the end of the first part of the trip and the beginning of another.... And because of the new adventure waiting for us, it proved to be a very long day.

The day started very early. We had an 8:30 a.m flight scheduled for today so we aimed to be at the airport at the insane hour of 6:30. Well, knowing this family, that wasn't going to work, and it didn't. We weren't too far off though. Thanks, in part, to Jen knowing the 'lay of the land' as it were at the airport she knew exactly which terminal to take us and where to park the car. It also helped that the airport wasn't too crowded at this early hour. We managed to check-in by 7:00 a.m. We still had some time to share a light breakfast with Jen before saying our good byes and heading through the security check point. We were only heading to Los Angeles, CA and being so close I feared we would be on another turbo prop. Luck continued to be with us during this early morning departure as we found ourselves on a plane a bit bigger than a turbo prop. This was good, because I still didn't have goggles..... :)

The flight itself was rather uneventful but the family of four sitting in front of us, well, let's just say I never ever wanted to put a gag on a small child as much as I did with these two. They screamed and cried the entire hour and half flight. They had just made the flight so perhaps they had a tough morning. And has hard as I told myself this over and over, it didn't help. The headache came on anyway. I guess that's why Excedrin is made, for just such occasions....

We didn't wait long to get our checked bags (that we didn't have to pay for) and go to the rental car area. Our rental car was waiting, we had easy directions to head to Disneyland Hotel and we were on the road. While we were on our way, the phone rang. It was our friends Dave and Linda. They were also on their way.... And another adventure begins!

Luck happened again as we both made it to Disneyland Hotel at the same time!

As we checked in, we learned that our rooms were upgraded to resort view and we had adjoining rooms. Nice. The rooms were small but comfortable. We had a great view of the pool area (which was a tad chilly to use). Much to the disappointment of the guys, we unpacked first before heading to the park.

Disneyland has grown considerably since the last time Tom and I were there. It had been about 25 years since we were there. Jen had just turned three then. ;) At that time it was just one park and there was only one Disneyland hotel. Now there are two parks, a Downtown Disney and three hotels to choose from. Time has certainly been good to Mickey and his friends. :)

Scenes from Downtown Disney ...

We explored Downtown Disney and then took the new monorail to the Magic Kingdom. The monorail takes you to Tomorrowland where rides such as Space Mountain, Star Tours and the Matterhorn reside. This Magic Kingdom has more narrow walkways but the atmosphere and people all say Disney.

As we disembarked from the Monorail, we decided it was time for lunch (not surprising for this group). We walked through Tomorrowland and headed for Main Street.

Scenes from Tomorrowland....

Scenes from Main Street...

There we found the Carnation Cafe. The wait was a little longer than we would have liked but the food was great even if Tom did order the meatloaf (inside family joke).

All tanked up, we were ready to hit the park. Passing the Tiki birds, we headed towards Adventureland. Here we got our fast pass tickets for the 'Indiana Jones Adventure' ride. We then headed to the 'Pirates of the Carribbean' ride. This ride is longer and more detailed than the one in Florida. While on this ride, we noticed people eating at a place where they can watch folks on the 'Priates of the Carribbean' ride. (We later learned that the name of the restaurant Blue Bayou) After the Pirates ride, we still had time so we headed to the Haunted Mansion in New Orleans Square.

Scenes from Adventureland...

New Orleans Square ...

The Haunted Mansion was redone with the characters from the Nightmare Before Christmas movie starring Jack Skeleton. Here is, as the folks at Disney claim, where two holidays collide. It was done really, really well!

The Haunted Mansion Holiday ...

It was time to head back to Adventureland and use our fast pass to ride the 'Indiana Jones Adventure' ride. Because of the fast pass, we were able to 'cut in' the waiting line and go right in. That was weird but worth it. The ride was fun. We hadn't screamed and laughed through a ride in awhile. In fact we screamed so much that some of us lost their voice!

Time to do something a little quieter. So we hopped onto the Disneyland Railroad (Tom called his folks while waiting for the train) and we headed over to Toontown. At Disneyland, Toontown seems to be a lot bigger than the one at Disney World. We got fast passes to ride the Cartoon Spin ride (a ride based on the movie Rodger Rabbit, Linda's favorite.) Tom and Pam were a little chilly so they went back to the hotel to get jackets and Dave and Linda went to Innoventions. When we met up again, we headed back to Toontown and rode the ride.

By this time it was about 5:45 and was time to head back to Main Street for the 6:30 Christmas Parade. As you can imagine, the parade route was jammed packed! We did manage to see some of the parade. Afterwards we decided to go back to New Orleans Square to see if we could get into the Blue Bayou Restaurant. But sadly, the place was booked for the evening. Wanting table service instead of fast food service, we decided to head out of the park and to Downtown Disney. Here is where we found Brennan's Jazz Restaurant. On the menu was 'turducken' I always wanted to try it but the waiter announced that they were out of it. Rats. So at 7:30 p.m. we had dinner at a really nice place, sitting outside on the balcony, under a heater enjoying the view, jazz music, good friends and a great meal.

The night, however, didn't end with the great meal. We decided to head back into the Magic Kingdom via the monorail to see the fireworks spectacular. We didn't make it for the very beginning, but we did manage to see a good portion of it as well as the magical snowfall.

A few years ago when we had been at DisneyWorld, we missed Fantasmic and later learned that this was a show we shouldn't have missed. Although we were very tired, we were determined to stick it out for the 10:30 p.m. showing of Fantasmic! tonight. In order to help stay awake until this show started, we hopped on the Pirates of Carribbean ride, visited the Haunted Mansion and drank coffee.

What can we say, FANTASMIC! was a show worth while seeing! The story line of Mickey in a battle of good vs. evil, enhanced by the special effects was, well, fantastic. :)

On the way out of the park we had to ride It's a Small World as it was decorated for the holidays as well.

Tired, exhausted and almost closing time at the park, we headed to the monorail for our ride back to our hotel for our evening rest.

Other noteworthy scenes from the day include...

and my all time favorite...

.... click here to view the photo album for the day ...

Picasa Web Albums - Steigerwalt - Disneyland_30Nov08_Day01

Arizona / California trip - Day 5

Day of Rest....

Heh, today was the day that reminded us that we're not getting any younger. We all needed some rest after spending the entire day and evening at the Zoo the previous day. We had a great time but it did tire us out. So we decided we needed to take it a little slower today and foregoe the idea of going to the Heard Museum. (Check it out by going to this link http://www.heard.org/Page.aspx?pid=214&srcid=214 )

We went to ASU campus to visit the bookstore and the library. Unfortunately the bookstore was closed for the holidays but Jen was successful in securing the books at the library she needed for her upcoming paper. Afterwards we decided to try a new restaurant, Z'Tejas http://www.ztejas.com/ Believe it or not, we haven't tried a southwestern grille style place before. Not only was the food great but we met up with one of Jen's friends, Heather and her husband Dan and had a great time.

Click HERE to see our photo album of the ASU campus.

Tired and now fed, we wandered back to the apartment for some rest. The girls got a nap in while Tom did some web searching for airline tickets for Jen's trip back east for the holidays.

By early evening we were recharged and headed back into Tempe to see their Christmas parade and then have our 'last supper' with Jen before heading to California to meet Dave and Linda. The parade was fun (loved the decorated tank) and the meal at P.F. Changs. http://www.pfchangs.com/

Let us be the first to wish all of you a Merry Christmas!

Click HERE to see photo album of the Christmas Parade in Tempe.

Arizona / California trip - Day 04

YEAR of the FROG ...

Although the tradition of a lot of people is to go shopping on this day, the day after Thanksgiving known as Black Friday, we chose not to observe this tradition. We decided to avoid the crowds and visit the Phoenix Zoo. http://www.phoenixzoo.org/ heh. little did we know that lots of families with little children would decide to visit the zoo too. I suppose it's been a little while since we had a little one in our family. Over all we saw everything we set out to see and then some. Did you know that according to the folks at the zoo, this is the year of the frog? We saw pretty many frogs and then some. Here is just a sample of all of the animals we saw at the zoo.

Bamboons, Cheetahs andRhinos . . .


Big horn sheep, Oryxs and a Tiger in a tree.....

long horn cattle, birds and giraffes....

Antelopes, wolves and mountain lions....

and let's not forget the little praire dogs....

These were some of the animals we saw during our visit. We left near closing time and ran home for a fresh battery and a coat so we could go back later in the day to see the new attraction titled "zoo lights" where the park is decorated in lots of lights for the holiday season . This is their 17th season and according to the website, it keeps growing every year. http://www.phoenixzoo.org/events/zoolights/

Click HERE to see our photo album of the Phoenix Zoo in the day time.

Before we went back though we decided to have dinner at Rula Bula. http://www.rulabula.com/ It's a great Irish Pub located in downtown Tempe. It was starting to ge a bit chilly but we were assured that if we wanted a table right away, we had to take a table outside. Of course, they had patio heaters so we ate outside. While we were waiting for our food, we decided to call Deebs. They were home so we left a spirited message for them. (We'll be meeting up with them on Sunday in CA). The food was great. Afterwards we headed back to the Phoenix Zoo to see Zoo Lights. If you checked out the link to Zoo Lights, you know that Jengo the talking giraffe is their official mascot if you were of this event. We tried to take pictures during this event but you know if you want to see better pictures, you should really visit their website.

Jengo the talking giraffe at ...

There were various animal shapes outlined in lights.....


as well as dancing lights in the trees set to music.....


It was a great time for everyone at the Phoenix Zoo Lites....!

Gotcha! Until next year....!

Click HERE to see our photo album of the Phoenix Zoo at night ....

Arizona / California trip - day 3

Happy Thanksgiving from Arizona!

Yes, here it is. Just one of the reasons we came cross country to Arizona so we can be with Jen. Everyone knows that the Thanksgiving holiday is meant to be spent with family. No matter what kind of characters make up a family, this is the day that was meant for families to get together, talk, eat and get to know one another. We knew we wanted to spend this holiday together but no plans were made for the traditional turkey dinner. This is especially difficult to do with this family as one member is not only a vegetarian but the kitchen here is a tad tiny to cook in. But one of Jen's colleagues had invited Jen (and her parents) to her house for Thanksgiving dinner. Valerie is married and lives in Paradise Valley with her husband and three college age children. Paradise Valley is north of Scottsdale, AZ (see http://www.ci.paradise-valley.az.us/ for more information on Paradise Valley.) According to Wikipedia, "Paradise Valley is a small town with a population of about 14,500 people. Although small, it's home to 12 resorts, making it one of Arizona's premiere tourist destinations. It has exclusive real estate, with a median home price at $1.74 million, with many exceeding $5 million and some over $20 million." Hmmm, what did we agree to? Jen assured us that Val and a few of the other ASU grad students who were invited, are very nice, down to earth folks. Besides Val is the one who adopted Zoe (go http://www.project-cat.blogspot.com/ for more kitty info).

As we were heading toward Val's house,we realized that we were actually early (not the norm for us). So we pulled over to park at town hall and post office. We decided to use this time wisely

and checked in on folks back home. While Jen and Tom were on the phone, Pam grabbed the camera and started taking pictures. Here are a few....

<--The one on the left is Jen walking and talking to her grandparents.

The photo on the right is Tom ----> waiting for Jen to finish as she's talking with Nanny and Poppop Steigerwalt.

These next few photos are of the area where we parked....

The first picture on the right is the entrance to the parking area and by the entrance to the post office. Nice indian, no? ------->

<---This sculpture, photo on the left, is further back in the parking area. Pretty picture below.

The dinner in Val's home was tasty (complete with two kinds of turkey - roasted and deep fat fried) and the people were delightful. We met one person who moved here from NY and had grandchildren attending Lehigh University. Jen ate with colleagues and we chatted with Val's family and friends. It was a day that truly meant a lot to us. Thank you Val for the invitation to be a part of your family's holiday. It was a lovely afternoon.

After we left our host and hostess for the afternoon, we stopped in Tempe at one of Jen's friend's place to look in on Baby B. Baby B is another one of those special kittens that Jen rescued this past summer. Again, more information on this and other kitties can be found at http://www.project-cat.blogspot.com/

Click HERE to see pictures from our stop at Paradise Valley's town hall area....

At any rate, here is a picture too of Baby B ----->

Here is Jen and Baby B. Seems the kitty likes the attention Jen is giving her.

After we left Baby B, we came home were Jen did some spinning of yarn, Tom fell asleep in front of the television and Pam, well, she's the one who updated this blog. Over all it was a great Holiday.

Arizona / California trip - day 2

We awoke the next day to a beautiful sunrise. This picture is from the balcony from Jen's apartment. But this scene didn't last very long as soon afterwards it started to, of all things, rain. Yes, it doesn't rain often out here but did it have to while we're here? oh well.

Soon afterwards the area that holds run off water in the apartment complex became very much pond like. During the normal dry season, the tunnels that you see in the picture usually is the hang out for the ferrel cat colony that lives here. Where they go when the area suddenly becomes a retention pond is still a mystery.

Maybe it's the fact that it doesn't rain often here but seeing rain drops on the trees was actually very pretty.

Jen had to work this morning so we hung out in the apartment until she came home. We decided to go out for lunch, then do some shopping at Arizona Mills, a huge outlet mall. heh. It was decided to go to a great little place called "House of Tricks" located in Tempe, AZ http://www.houseoftricks.com/

After enjoying a great light lunch we headed to Arizona Mills for some shopping and a movie. We enjoyed the latest James Bond flick titled "Quantum of Solace". The shopping wasn't complete success but Jen did manage to buy some very nice shoes. :) It was getting late and we were hungry. It had stopped raining so we decided to go to one of our favorite little places, Four Peaks Brewery in Tempe. http://www.fourpeaks.com/ This place is a great little micro brewery that has good beer and food. Because it had stopped raining, we were able to enjoy our meal sitting outside but under a patio heater. Afterwards we bought a six pack of their Kiltlifter brew and went home to crash.

Click HERE to see the photo album

Arizona/California Trip! - Day 1

Arizona....

As much as some of us like to travel, we haven't been able to get away since the spring trip to Hawaii (great trip!) Things have been a little hectic in our lives. Some of the older family members needing attention, a few other family members living in other states, coordinating travel plans difficult to make. As some of you know, our daughter Jen lives in AZ and we live in PA. Since the Thanksgiving holiday is about family, we knew we couldn't leave her in AZ alone. So we packed our bags, took our four legged girls to the kennel, contacted folks, coordinated plans and headed to AZ.

With PA being a tad wet and chilly, Tom and I were looking forward to warmth and plenty of sunshine that AZ is noted for. Our flight was broken into two parts. The first part took us from the Allentown, PA area to Washington, DC. What we didn't realize was that this first stretch was done courtesy of a small turbo prop plane. Oh dear.... but as you can imagine, we survived. The rest of the flight from Washington, DC to Phoenix, AZ was long but thankfully uneventful.

We landed in AZ after 9 pm AZ time (after 11 p.m PA time). As we were landing, the pilot noted that the tempurature was a nice 76 degrees. People cheered at that news. We were greeted by our wonderful daughter, Jen. As we walked to her car, it was great to shed the winter coats and enjoy the warm night air. Tired, we talked a bit with Jen and then crashed on her futon for the night.