Several months ago I had decided to attend the final performance of the Lion King Celebration. After the Annual Passholder party, Tim Castro's girlfriend Sara proposed surprising Tim a little early for his birthday. I was already planning to drive down, so I could pick up Sara from Santa Barbara; I had made arrangements to stay with The Hoffmans in Northridge. Cindy Yan made arrangements with the Plaza Inn to provide a birthday cake. I alerted a few a.d.ders (people who post to alt.disney.disneyland) of the surprise. I also got a birthday card and made plans to meet with Cathy Gellis, and Andy (who was Tim's roommate at Cloyne Court co-op at Cal) and Michelle Gross at a San Jose Giants (they're in the minors) game so they could sign the card too.
After the initial plans had been made, some hitches occurred. I had planned on driving on from LA to Phoenix, which meant that Sara would have a tough time getting back to Santa Barbara (I would have added the round trip if she couldn't find a way). Then again, Sara was having difficulty in getting people to cover her shifts (she works several part-time jobs, including one at the Disney Store) for Sunday. Furthermore, the cake wouldn't be ready until well past noon (which meant we couldn't pull off the surprise at or around the noon a.d.d meet). Even our backup plan, pulling off the surprise at Rod's Piano at 2pm, couldn't be done because Rod was arriving later.
Still, things worked out right. First, in what normally would have been a blow to my plan, became an opportunity. My car had been in the shop for its 180,000 mile check-up and wasn't ready until late Friday afternoon. When I picked it up, my mechanic said "Because we worked on the camshaft, you need to bring the car back after five hundred miles for us to inspect it." I asked "I'm planning on driving more than 500 miles this week, what's the limit?" He replied "1,000 is o.k. but 1500 is the limit." This meant that my plan to drive to Phoenix had to be scrapped, but on the flip side, I could drop Sara off on my way back to the Bay Area (yeah, I could have flown from LA, but where's the adventure in that?).
Because I had to get to the ball game, I had to wait before I could notify anyone of the change in plans. Things went great at the game--the barbecue was excellent (as always), the Giants won, and Cathy, Andy, and Michelle all signed the card. On the way home, my cell phone rang and the caller-id said it was Sara. She sounded astonished when I answered "Hi Sara!". I pulled off the freeway so we could talk. When I told her that I could give her a ride back to Santa Barbara she was definitely pleased. On the otherhand, she still had one more shift to cover. Rather than wait for her to call me the next day, I said I'd stop by anyway, and we arranged to meet at the Disney Store at 8pm; Either I'd pick her up and ferry her to the park, or I'd have her sign Tim's birthday card.
Having to drive back gave me another reward too. Before my car was ready, I stopped by Other Change of Hobbit and picked up a copy of Phantoms of the Night because it contained the story Ancestral Cultures by my friend Kim Rufer-Bach. During Baycon (over Memorial Day Weekend), Kim and I talked about Disneyland. She mentioned that she wanted to go to the park again and we decided to make an excursion sometime in July. When I found out that I was going to be driving back, I thought about sending Kim a message asking "Would you like to go to the park?" but didn't. Instead, I chose to lie down on my bed and read Kim's story. As soon as I finished reading it (yes I enjoyed it) I decided "I've got to ask her!", jumped out of bed, fired off an e-mail message to her (I'd have called except that I didn't have her phone number), and hoped that she'd see it in time.
Fortunately she did, and she e-mailed back at 11am saying "Yes! I've found someone to take care my critters. I hope you check your e-mail before you leave." (She'd have called except that couldn't find my phone number). I got her message about 20 minutes after she sent it. I then called the Hoffmans to warn them that I was bringing someone else along. And then I called Kim to get directions to her home in the Santa Cruz mountains. With the way things were going, I knew that Sara was going to be able to get someone to cover her shift.
I had no problem finding Kim's place. Kim was appropriately dressed in a Mickey Mouse tee shirt, necklace and watch. After the nickel tour of her home (which including meeting her pet dog Zarty and pet cat Merlin) and the grounds outside (including her chicken coop), we took off for Santa Barbara. Actually the tour continued a while as she pointed out places along highway 9 (such as downtown Boulder Creek, the Brookdale Lodge, the James Dean mural, and our friend Larry's house), highway 1 ("Hey, those kayaks shouldn't be parked there!"), and highway 156 ("The Central Texas BBQ has great ribs!"). Even though I had brought music with me, I never used it as we chatted the whole way down to Santa Barbara (ok, Kim did most of the talking, but I've always been a better listener than a talker.)
We arrived in Santa Barbara at about 7:30--after the Disney Store had closed, but before Sara's shift had ended. She spotted me and said she'd meet us at the storefront. While waiting, we watched some kids toss a Mickey Mouse hackysack back and forth, looked into the store's windows, and laughed whenever a little kid would try to open the doors to the store. When Sara and the other cast members left the store, Sara said "I got someone to cover my shift!" I then called up Dori and Larry to tell them we'd arrive around 11...They said that they'd probably be asleep.
Sara had a few errands to take care of before we could leave. We first followed her to the stables, where she introduced us to her horse Bonaparte (whom we few carrots to) and left her car. After making what Tim calls the "300 point turn" in one point, we drove on, only to turn around and drive back so Sara could make sure that she had locked her car (it turns out she did). We then went on to a storage place in Goleta. I ended up missing it twice! Sara needed to drop off a check, but there was no drop box; she left it on the otherside of a chain link fence under a white board. As we were pulling out, a pickup truck pulled in...because it might have been be one of the guys who worked at the place, I backed up. As I was backing up, either Sara or Kim started singing the Indiana Jones music...I then imitated Indy and said "Uh oh...back up..back UP!". (It turns out the guy driving the truck didn't work for the storage company.)
Oh well, after stopping at a gas station, we were off to Northridge. Kim got her first real taste of how much an a.d.der enjoys Disney--I put on the Mary Poppins soundtrack and Sara and I both sang along. Somehow, despite the delays in getting started, we got to Dori and Larry's a little after 11. This time the key that Dori had given me worked, and we were able to get in without having to wake them up.
The next morning, I was awakened by the chirping of the Hoffmans' bird (I knew this would happen); at least it was better than being awakened by the earthquake chimes. Soon, everyone was awake, even Dori, Larry, and Daniel. After introducing everyone, I had Dori and Larry sign the birthday card, and I also gave them copies of pictures I had taken during my April trip with Cathy Gellis. At the same time, they showed their pictures from the same outing (their pictures of the LKC were much more colorful). When I introduced Kim, I also showed off the two books which have her stories in them (her other story, Daddy's Girl appears in Adventures in the Twilight Zone and was nominated in 1996 for a Bram Stoker award).
Soon it was off to the park. For the drive, I treated Kim and Sara to my special Beauty and the Beast cassette (what's special about it? I used my laser disc, the two different regular CDs, and the Ashman/Menken Boxed Set CD to create it). Again, Sara and I sang along.
We arrived at the park just after rope drop. Sara had a slight problem buying her cast member discounted passports (Disney Store cast members get passports for $29)...she was redirected to the group sales window and was able to buy one for Kim and herself.
When we planned the event, we were concerned that Tim might show up at the same time that we did. Fortunately, after asking Tim and Cindy when they were going to show up, Tim said "not until noon". Now, all we had to do was hide for a few hours.
First stop? The attractions board. Kim had never been on Mr Toad's Wild Ride, Tom Sawyer Island, or Splash Mountain. Unfortunately, Splash Mountain was down at the time.
Next stop? Indy! Kim wanted to see the Eyore sign. We also made Kim push the pole in the spike room. I then pointed out Eyore and soon we were aboard our jeep (We went into the treasure room). When we crossed the bridge I saw that the snake's head was moving and shouted out "Yes! They finally fixed it!" After that, when we got to the rat room, we saw the rats too! Finally! When we got to the rope, Indy shouted "I've got a very bad feeling about this!" which is one I had not heard before. The only problem was that Sallah gave us the post Fountain of Youth spiel when got to the end.
Next stop? Breakfast at the River Belle Terrace. While in line it was fun to watch the cook make the Mickey pancakes. As a bonus, the line on the other side opened, and we got to watch someone else decorate the pancakes. Breakfast was good (scrambled eggs, sausage, potatoes, a blueberry muffin and orange juice)--even better was that as a cast member, Sara received a 20% discount.
During breakfast I had wondered if they had gotten Splash Mountain up. Sara said "Well, I don't hear any screams of people falling or the splash of the logs." Then we all heard in the distance "eeeeeek! SPLOOSH!" "You were saying?", I replied.
Sooo, our next stop was Splash Mountain. With the recent discussions on a.d.d about well themed queues, this is one that I wish they had done a better job on. Sure, you have the music from Song of the South, and the odd story sign or two, and eventually you get to see Brer Rabbit singing "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah", but they could have done a better job. To get back to the music, it sounded like I could hear dixieland music in the background of one of the queue music tracks. Maybe the Twain was passing by with the dixieland band on it, but it sounded like it was coming from the speaker.
Kim enjoyed the ride on Splash Mountain, though we didn't get all that wet...this time. Also, when we reached the end, the Owl was giving his spiel, and our picture came up. During my last trip, he wasn't talking (though the photos were taken).
It was getting closer to noon, but we time enough to explore Tom Sawyer Island (I'd always thought it was Tom Sawyer's Island, but Sara pointed out otherwise). The last few times I had visited the island I had only gone to the quiet spot across from the abandonded mine train, but since Kim had never been on the island, we explored the caves (Kim noted that the real Injun Joe's cave isn't like the one on the island), visited the cemetery, and took potshots at tourists from Fort Wilderness (at which point I joked "Look! It's Paul Pressler"). I think Kim had the most fun when we all crossed the pontoon bridge.
When we returned to shore, we had a few minutes before the meet, so we went to Sleeping Beauty Castle to stand in the main arch to listen to the music. When we got near the hub, we witnessed a couple getting their wedding photos taken on the grass between the gardens and the hub. This made me recount a proposal story posted to a.d.d about a week earlier.
We still had time to do one more thing before the meet. I wanted to visit Snow White's Grotto...so that was our next stop. It's nice to see that they finally got the fish working again.
We then made our way to the hub. Somehow Sara managed to sneak up behind Tim and surprise him. I introduced Kim to Tim and Cindy, and chatted with a few others. We then made our way to lunch at the Festival of Foods. Tim and Sara stopped at the Village Haus to get some cheese pizza. In hindsight I should have taken the opportunity to remind everyone that we were going to surprise Tim with a birthday cake later in the day. Oh well. When we reached the Festival of Foods, it was closed, so everyone decided to go on to the Mexican restaurant in Frontierland, which would allow people to pick up stuff from any number of restaurants (Someone said "It's the Rivers of America food court!"). After retrieving Tim and Sara, I stopped at Clopin's Cart for a turkey leg...but I ended up buying the corn on the cob and a lemonade instead (and for less).
After lunch, Tim, Sara, Kim, and I went to the 1pm princess story telling at Tinkerbell's Toy Shop. Snow White and Justin did a fantastic job telling the story of the Frog Prince. I had as much fun as the kids did listening. Afterwards we thanked Justin for doing such a great job.
On our way out we saw another wedding party. This time the couple was feeding each other the cake with Mickey and Minnie at their sides. (awwww.)
We decided to stop by the attractions board to grab a copy of Disneyland Today and see how long the lines were for some rides. The board said "Star Tours--5 minutes". I'd never seen the line so short so early in the afternoon...I guess that the Tomorrowland construction has really had an impact.
The wait wasn't much more than 5 minutes...and most of that was spent just outside the star speeder. We did notice a few changes since our last visit:
The scrolling message boards now work, but are used as captioning for the video wall display.
The Star Tours destination posters in the exit area have been replaced with Energizer bunny posters...sigh.
After exiting into the Star Trader, we looked for the Tomorrowland Construction hats. When we saw how cheaply made they looked (cheap plastic with loose decal stickers), we said "Forget It!"
Even though it's not a Disneyland specific activity, Kim asked if I would play her in a game of Air Hockey. She said that nobody else would play her. I soon found out why. In the three games we played, I scored all of 6 points...and some of those were because Kim made some "own goals". Still even though I got my butt kicked, it was fun. At the same time, Tim and Sara split their two games.
From the upper level of the Starcade, it was an easy walk into Space Mountain. The attraction went down when we were on the ramp down into the loading bay. The wait wasn't too bad. After that, it was a short walk to the Matterhorn (we took the Tomorrowland track).
We still had a little time before the last Lion King Celebration, so we decided to go to Kim's favorite ride--The Mark Twain (she plays the Banjo, and the piece you hear on the Twain is her warm-up piece). On our way, we intercepted Cindy who was dragging Mike (who posts on a.d.d as "genghis") to "It's a Small World". We rescued Mike by convincing Cindy that we could ride Small World after the Lion King Celebration.
When we reached the Twain, Mike had the same idea I had "Let's ride in the wheelhouse!" He asked first, and we went up. Unfortunately there were too many of us to ride up there, so he graciously volunteered to wait outside...thanks Mike!
The ride up in the wheelhouse was a blast. Several of us got to blow the whistle, and spin the wheel (yeah, I know, it has no effect). The captain also answered our questions and told us when we should do certain things ("Ok, ring the bell", "Give me one long whistle and on short whistle"). The view was nice too. I can't wait to see what my photos look like when I get them back. We were also given certificates of our visit to the wheelhouse, which made Kim happy, because she was looking for something with the picture of the Twain on it.
After the Twain, we had a little more time before we had to get to the hub. We made our way to Fantasyland again to see what the lines were like. Nobody was in line for Snow White's Scary (but incomplete) Adventures, and since Kim had never ridden it, that was our next stop. We stopped at the golden apple outside, and Mike set it off. For some reason, he had the magic touch because none of us could do it (and I know that I've made it go off before). After several of us tried, he did it again. After riding it, Kim described the ending as "abrupt". (Oh yeah, the apple on the inside was missing too.)
Cindy made a bee-line for Main Street and was able to catch the Trash Can Trio's performance. We then found the rest of the a.d.ders gathered in front of Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. As always, the Lion King Celebration was fantastic. We all made sure to cheer on the cheetahs (TracyTurbo, who posts to a.d.d, was one of the cheetahs) and I got a chance to rub one of the rhino's horns.
Following the town square performance, we started to follow the parade. When it stopped on Main Street, Kim and I took the opportunity to duck into the Main Street Cinema to watch Steamboat Willie (a week earlier at Baycon, Kim had missed it when they projected Steamboat Willie alongside one of the hotel's walls overlooking the pool area). When we finished watching the film, we caught up to the parade at the hub and followed it all the way through Small World Plaza.
When the doors to the backstage area closed, all of the a.d.ders gathered along the doors for a photo. It took some effort to get some of the more shy members of a.d.d to get into the group photo, but eventually we were all together One a.d.der (I can't remember his name) was having trouble with his camera, which prompted John Frost to say "Anybody else have a camera?" I handed him mine, and soon the photo fest began. Even a few non-a.d.ders took our photo; I'm sure that they'll be asking themselves "Who are these people?"
To make good on a promise, I said "It's time for Small World". Other people balked. Cindy also reminded me to spread the word around that we were all to meet at Rod's at 6. Adrienne (who posts to a.d.d as AVBalloons) kindly announced "Meet at Rod's at 6!" without giving anything away.
Those of us who weren't scared by riding Small World made our way into the queue. It looked like it would be a long queue, but it moved fast enough. We took up most of the boat and started singing along. (During one part, Kim and I started singing the Meow Mix jingle, because we had done that a week earlier.) When we reached the Irish dancing dolls, Cindy shined my flashlight on them and said "Look! It's light Magic!". Also along the ride, Mike, Cindy, and I started a minor water fight. This would continue later.
Our next stop was Rod's, though we also stopped at the Sleeping Beauty Castle walk-through. After the walk-through, some of us gave the turnstile a few more turns ;) I then had to book over to the lockers to retrieve the birthday card and some photos. I showed the photos, which were from my two previous visits to the park, to Tim and Cindy while Sara clued Rod in and went to get the cake from the Plaza Inn. When she was gone, we let Tim go back to the piano, and I shared the photos with the other a.d.ders who were with us. At the same time I passed around Kim's books (do I get a sales cut? ;). The most often asked question "Why do you have a photo of the San Jose Airport parking lot?" (See Cathy's Disneyland Birthday for the answer).
Soon, Sara was back with the cake and Rod started playing "Happy Birthday". The lighter supplied by the Plaza Inn didn't work too well, so Mike used his to light the 11 candles (2 of the candles were worth 10 years). Tim then blew them out with one blow after making his wish. At the same time, I had other people sign the card and then gave it to Tim.
The chocolate rum (yes, we could taste the alcohol) cake supplied by the Plaza Inn was beautifully decorated with Belle and the Beast pictured on the frosting. (I took photos of it, and if they turn out and I get access to a scanner, I'll put them up on my site.) It was also delicious. The folks at the Plaza Inn said that it fed 12... don't you believe it...there were more than 12 of us at Rod's and we only got through half the cake (ok, well Cindy and Kim didn't have any). We ended up sharing the cake with other people in the area (Those of you a.d.ders who forgot to show up missed out).
After that taste 'o rum, there was only one place we could go-- Pirates! The line was quite short. We didn't fill up the boat but we did sing along. The water fight between Cindy, Mike, and myself resumed as well. Nobody got seriously wet...this time.
After our boat ride, we decided to head for the Haunted Mansion since Maynard was working. We were distracted by a dixieland band playing across from the Cafe Orleans. This gave Kim a chance to hunt down a bracelet she wanted to buy...During an earlier trip, she saw a little girl who had a bracelet with glitter inside it. Kim asked the girl where she had gotten the bracelet, and the little girl pointed to one of the shops in New Orleans Square. Unfortunately, the shop that the bracelet came from no longer exists--now it's a place that sells soap. :(
Our distraction also reminded us that we were hungry (well, I wasn't that hungry because of the cake) so we went to the Cafe Orleans for dinner. I ended up having the clam chowder in the sourdough bread bowl...it made for a nice little dinner, plus the sourdough went well with the coffee.
Our next stop was the Haunted Mansion...When we entered the foyer, Tim, Sara, and I sang along with the music. When the chamber opened, there was Maynard (an excellent and famous cast member). He also sang along, reminding us that for the best view to step into the dead center of the room. After the lights came back on, Maynard smiled and had two little finger puppets direct us toward the doom buggies. During our tour we only stopped once...just before the worst place to stop (the beating heart). Fortunately the interruption was brief.
It was still kind of warm, so we went on to Splash Mountain. The line was not that long. Wouldn't you know it though, but Mike, Cindy, Kim and I were loaded into the same log. This allowed us to continue the water fight in earnest. We made sure only to splash each other, and still didn't get that wet...until our log decided to scoop up some water after the beehive--everyone's right side got soaked (I'm glad my backpack was on the left ;). Still, it was fun, and it dried quickly.
We then decided to head over to watch Light Magic. We stood outside the Blue Ribbon Bakery, which was a good spot opposite one of the projectors. Everyone else besides Tim, Sara, Kim, and I decided not to stay. We all agreed to meet for the 2nd showing of Fantasmic at Cindy's backstage viewing area.
My second viewing of Light Magic was much better than the first, but I was glad that I didn't wait for hours to see this, nor am I expecting to watch the show again. I had more fun with comments than I did with the show itself. When the bagpipe music started, I quietly hummed the theme from Xena. When the narrator said that the pixies introduced the Disney characters to pixie dust, Kim said "Don't do it, Mickey -- it's only free the first time!" (which made me recall the line from Tom Lerher's The Old Dope Peddler which goes "He gives the kids free samples, because he knows full well, that today's young innocent faces, will be tomorrow's clientele."). One other thing... hearing that insidious music made me decide to listen to the Main Street Electrical Parade soundtrack for the drive back to Northridge.
Our next stop was Fantasyland. Kim still had one more ride she had not been on--Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Sara and Tim got to ride in Mr. Toad's car, while we got Weasel. Everything on Mr. Toad's worked just fine.
We had time to grab a snack at the Village Haus and take a ride on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad before Fantasmic. On Big Thunder I noticed that the falling rocks shadow effect was not working, but it was still fun.
We made our way around the Rivers of America to watch the backside of Fantasmic with 5 minutes to spare. Sara, who initially was reluctant to watch the backstage (since you don't see any of the show), grabbed a couple of chairs from the Hungry Bear for us to sit on. I ended up kneeling on mine. It was a fun view.
When King Louie came by, we waved and I beat my chest. He responded in kind. After they transformed the temple into Ariel's rock, we watched Eric carry Ariel onto the boat. Eric waved to us, but Ariel upstaged him by waving her tail. Then the Columbia came by and we watched as the pirates dashed off the ship and the ship go on around the riverbend followed by the croc. Unfortunately for us, Belle, Beast, Snow White, and the Prince were too busy to wave to us.
Our next action earned us a few strange looks from the other side. Since it was the second show, we knew that we would get to watch Ursula deflate. She took her time about it though. When she went past us, she hadn't deflated yet, causing us to go "Rats!" Then she started to deflate, causing us to cheer loudly.
Next it was time for the ramp crew to take off. The guy running the boat with the ramp was in too much of a hurry though, because he left of the crew on the landing. When he backed up the boat I made the "beeep beeep beeep" noise that you hear from trucks. After the last crewmember hopped aboard, they booked out of there. They waved goodbye too.
Finally, the Twain made its way around the bend. The last time I had been in this vicinity, the Twain was still lit up and the characters on the deck (but that was at the end of a first show). This time, the Twain was dark, and most of the characters were already getting ready to off load. Only the sweeps, the three little pigs, Roger Rabbit, and Pluto were still performing. We gave them a big cheer, and they waved back at us.
All in all this was a fun spot to watch the show from. The next time, I'll probably watch the show from one of the regular viewing areas (the grate?) and I still vow that I will someday attend the dessert buffet in the Disney Gallery.
We then wanted to ride Indy again. At this point Cindy, Mike and some others decided to go home, since they had to work the next day and could come back at any time. The line for Indy was the shortest I had ever seen it...it stopped in between the elevators. This meant that if we boarded a left hand side jeep, we would end up on the right hand side upon our return, and we could join the line right where it stopped.
We boarded our jeep, and I looked at the name tag of the CM inspecting our seat belts...it said "Ryan". I asked "Indy Ryan?" (who posts to a.d.d). He said "yes." We all said "hello" and introduced each other. It's nice to put a face to an on-line personality.
Our first ride took us through the fountain of youth. We got to see the rats too (yay!). As predicted, we ended up exiting on the right, which allowed us to quickly re-enter the queue. Another group from our jeep followed us. This time we boarded a right hand side jeep. This time I got the driver's seat. Again we got the fountain of youth. When we reached the mummy room I looked over my shoulder and thought I saw "Bones" (the skeleton with the mouse ears). This time the rat effect didn't work (darn) but for some reason, our jeep stayed to the right for exiting. Sooo, we went again, this time boarding on the left (and we said "hi" to IndyRyan again). As they say, the third time was the charm...we went to the room of the future (which meant that Kim and I had seen all three rooms in one day), and when we reached the rat room, the effect was the best I had ever seen it. Our jeep stayed to the left, which meant that we couldn't intersect the the boarding line as quickly. We took this as a sign to ride something else.
Another one of my favorite nighttime rides is the jungle cruise. The boat wasn't that crowded, and before we departed, another couple of a.d.ders boarded and sat across from us. Also, before we pulled away from the dock, we saw another boat pull in. We recognized Adrienne and shouted "Yo! Adrienne!". It didn't look like she heard us, but we did elicit a "Rocky" comment from Jason, our skipper.
Jason did a great job as our skipper. When we reached the African Bull elephant he did the "And this is the fastest animal in the jungle." joke. At the African velt he called the Zebras "referees" and he used the Simba and Nallah(sp?) joke at the lions' den. At the backside of water, he went through the "condensed" Fantasmic show, also told us that it was the backside of water, and reminded everyone not to try to see it at home as you'll probably end up banging your head on the faucet. Upon reaching the attacking natives he said "And here we come to the mumbling trees...oops my mistake, it's some attacking natives!" And finally, when we got to Trader Sam he told the story of how when he arrived late at a dinner Sam was hosting, he ended up getting the "cold shoulder".
It was almost time to leave, but just before we got to Main Street, midnight arrived. We all stopped, watched the Disney Lights move in time with "When You Wish Upon a Star" and light up the castle. I loved being able to see this for the first time. Even though this was a cheaper effect than Light Magic, I felt a lot more magic from this moment than I did watching Light Magic. Now we could go home (after a stop at the Blue Ribbon Bakery for some coffee).
Because we were parked much closer than Tim was, we gave Tim a ride to his car. During the short time it took, I rewound my tape of Fantasmic and the MSEP. It finished rewinding when Tim and Sara started to say goodbye...I had forgotten that Fantasmic on my tape didn't start at the beginning...i had two songs from the end of Hunchback of Notre Dame at the start of the tape. Hearing the strains of Someday somehow seemed appropriate for the tender moment Tim and Sara wished each other goodbye.
The drive back to Northridge was uneventful. I found out that it takes about 50 minutes to get from the DL parking lot back to the Hoffman's. I wanted to get back quickly, because I knew that the next day we had to get Sara to Santa Barbara before 8am. When I got out of the car, I took a glance up into the sky and saw a meteor streak across the sky and pointed it out to Kim and Sara. It was just one more magical moment to end the day.
I somehow managed to wake up at 5:30 in the morning. This made me wonder if I've discovered my worthless super-power. Last week at Baycon, Kim's brother Russ, his wife Tracy, and I were talking with several other people at the bar. Somehow the subject of worthless super-powers came up. I forget what Russ' is, but he mentioned that one person could sleep anywhere, whenever needed. I've noticed that if I forget my alarm clock, and just somehow have to get up at a certain time, I tend to wake up at that time. (I am Alarm Clock Man!).
But back to our story. After quietly (but not too quietly, because Kim heard me stirring) showering and changing, I woke up Kim and Sara. We didn't have time to say goodbye to Dori, Larry, and Daniel, so I left a note on their computer thanking them for their hospitality.
We got back to the stables in Santa Barbara before 8, and bid Sara thanks and farewell. Our next stop was for some coffee...I should have asked Sara for a suggestion, because the only coffee place we found was a Noah's Bagels. The coffee was ok, and I had an Egg and Cheese Mit for breakfast while Kim had a bagel with Lox shmear.
When we reached Santa Cruz, Kim said "Ah, I'm home. Now if something went wrong, I'd have no problem getting back to my house." It made me laugh...fortunately, nothing went wrong, because I still had a lot more traveling to do. We made a couple of stops though. First we stopped in Ben Lomond to personally thank Kelly (whom I had met at Baycon the week before) for taking care of Kim's critters. Then we stopped in Boulder Creek for lunch.
Kim mentioned that the Liquor Store/Delicatessen in Boulder Creek sometimes barbecues Tri-tip steak in its parking lot. When we drove past, we saw the sign saying "Tri-tips today". That cinched where we'd have lunch. The tri-tip steak sandwich was great...nice and juicy but not too greasy. We ate outside overlooking highway 9. Kim talked about how nice and friendly the area was. During this time a few people said "Hello" as reinforcement. (She described downtown Boulder Creek as something like Main Street USA, and I could see her point.) I said that I'm going to have to visit again when I don't have any time constraints. Unfortunately, I had to be home by 5:00 so I could pack and turn 'round and go to the Oakland Airport for my flight to Phoenix.
I then took Kim home, and we had just enough time for her to introduce me to her chickens. First I said hello again to her dog Zarty. When I petted him, he was so excited he wet the carpet. I apologized, but Kim said it was ok, it just meant that he liked me (though if he had wet me, it would have meant he *really* liked me). I also said hello and snapped a photo of Kim's cat Merlin. Then, it was out to the chicken coop to meet Maybelline, Lucille, Lula, and Dorothy. Kim gave me a few maple leaves to feed them. Unfortunately soon it was time to go. (Aww.) Usually the ride home from Disneyland is "the worst ride"...this time leaving Kim's place was the worst part.
I did manage to get home before 5...but since my flight was leaving in less than two hours, and I wanted to take my time, I ended up changing my reservations to a later flight on Southwest. This change gave me an unexpected bonus. My original flight was non-stop, while this one stopped at LAX. On the way to LAX, we flew past the Santa Cruz Mountains, and Santa Barbara, so I waved goodbye to Kim and Sara. On the way to Phoenix, we flew right over Disneyland, and south of Northridge, and the San Gabriel Valley, so I waved good bye to Disneyland, the Hoffmans, Tim, and Cindy.
I arrived in Phoenix exhausted. I was in massive sleep debt, and I had to work the next day. Still, given the chance I'd do it all over again.
This trip was a lot of fun, and I know a lot of people helped make it that way. Thanks to Kim, Sara, Tim, Cindy, Mike, Dori, Larry, Daniel, Rod, Justin, Snow White, Jason, IndyRyan, Maynard, Al, TracyTurbo, Adrienne, John, all of the a.d.ders who made it to Rod's.
And if you've gotten this far...thanks for reading.