Disneyland and SoCal Trip Photoblog

Tags

california adventure, disneyland, santa monica, socal, Vacation, venice beach

I had been waiting for this trip for a very very long time! This was our first Disneyland/Southern California trip with each other.  We bought 2-day park hopper passes.. I think 2 days is enough time to complete everything on our Disney experience wishlist.

Justin was a trooper… we woke up at 3 AM and he drove us the entire way to Anaheim.  At the 100 mile mark to LA County, the sun was just rising.

When we finally got there I felt like I was dreaming.  :) I really couldn’t believe that we were there… yup I was that excited.  Mornings were cloudy and sometimes drizzly!

A view of the Matterhorn ride from the Finding Nemo submarine ride:

The submarine ride was one of my favorites as a kid.  I was sad when they shut it down for a few years.

I wore my DIY Minnie Mouse ears  Here we are in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle… Justin is looking quite tired.

We were running on very minimal sleep yet we were too excited to even nap!  And we definitely tried mid-day but sleep wouldn’t come.

Waiting for the Tiki Room:

This was also my first time visiting Disneyland complete with Halloween trimmings!    They had a special Halloween event under this big tent with performers, evil villains and pumpkin carving displays.

Mickey said he liked my UNIQLO pixellated Mickey shirt

Unfortunately once Donald saw my shirt later that day he put his head and his hands and started crying.. LOL!!!!

Later in the day we took a quick break at the California Adventure park.  I tried to dress comfortably with legging jeans and workout shoes.  I think no matter what I do my feet will always be killing me at the end of a Disneyland day.

California Screamin’ is one ride that I will never get sick of… When I was in high school our choir group would make a trip there every year together and this ride makes me think back to those goodl ol’ days

Disneyland is really going crazy with the variety of hats in their stores!  Most are $20+ (*cha-ching!*) and it looked like at least 60% of park visitors were sporting one.  It seems like they have a pair of Mickey Mouse ears for every character/theme imaginable.  Justin was particularly excited about the Star Wars hats!

I liked these guys  The Vinylmotion line is right up my alley

Space Mountain had a long queue time… I’m really glad they have the Fast Pass program.  The ride was changed to “Ghost Galaxy” for Halloween.  :)  So fun!  I miss it already.

We stayed at the Orange County Hyatt just a few blocks down from Disneyland, using Chase Ultimate Rewards points for the two nights.  All we had to pay for was parking!

After we had our fill of the parks we stopped by Downtown Disney for a much needed smoothie…. and hat test drives.

The next day we woke up bright and early to get a Cars Land Radiator Springs Racers Fast Pass at the California Adventure park.  The line to get a Fast Pass was over 45 minutes long. Ridiculous!  But if you’re not waiting in some sort of line I guess you’re not getting the theme park experience, right? -_-

Even the line for Starbucks coffee took at least 15 minutes to order.  In the meantime, I ogled some fun Halloween-themed pastries.

Toy Story Midway Games is sooo fun  Justin beat me in this one… Our arms were hurting by the end of it!

BUT!!! I did manage to beat him at the Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters game.  I have never won before!  He said he wished he let me win… but I won fair ‘n square ;D

Our strategy was to get Fast Passes for the major rides as quickly as possible.. and then do the minor rides and viewing experiences (like the Sleeping Beauty Castle) while we waited for the FP’s to activate.

During this trip I visited the Tom Sawyer island for the first time as well… In all of my years of visiting Disneyland I never thought to check it out.  The island is much bigger than I thought it would be.

I was itching to check out the Haunted Mansion ride!  They update it to include The Nightmare Before Christmas for the holidays.  Needless to say the lines for this one were very long.

When I was a kid my parents bought me this Disney Singalong VHS tape and the “Grim Grinning Ghosts” song was one of my favorites:

After 80 minutes of combined Fastpass and regular queue time, we experienced the new Cars ride.

The queue was over 120 minutes on the Saturday that we went! So we skipped it and waited until the next day. And trust me the ride was not worth a 2 hour wait!  It was fun but it was basically a fast paced kids ride, or a stepping stone to much faster rides like Space Mountain or California Screamin’.

On the way home we visited the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica! It has changed drastically since I was attending UCLA wayy back when.  That janky enclosed mall is gone and I really like the outdoor mall opposite the beach.

We also stopped by Venice beach & Sunset boulevard  I miss southern California and I’m excited to go back.

Some quick Disneyland tips:

• Take a break in the middle of the day if you can… you can do the most in the mornings and the evenings anyway.  And you can get a reasonably priced meal outside the park!  I cringed at the ~$10 clam chowder bowl
• Download apps like MouseWait and the Lines Disneyland app to get an estimate for wait times before you trek across the park. They’re not perfect but they can give you a good idea on what to expect before you waste your time
• Iced water is free!
• You don’t have to use your Fast Pass in the allotted time frame.. you can go way past that until the end of the day, or in some instances you can ask nicely about using a pass from the day before
• Bring lots of snacks!  The night before we left I bought a bunch of fruit snakes and baked chips to eat in line.

♥ E&I

Our day trip to Carmel-by-the-Sea

Tags

beach, biking, buddy, carmel, monterey, Vacation

Life has been quite busy lately so a relaxing day trip was in order.

As Buddy gets older I want to take him to fun places to explore… Carmel Beach is a leash free beach and Carmel-by-the-sea, CA is one of the most dog friendly towns in the US!

Buddy snoozing on the way to Carmel:

The beach!

Looking at this photos I realize I really need to give Buddy a haircut. He ran more than I have ever seen him do before! We’ll have to come again soon.

Very tired with lots of sand on his nose:

Biking along the Monterey Bay Coastal trail:

We also stopped by the Monterey Fisherman’s Wharf to eat some clam chowda! ;D

Justin and I had a really great time.. hopefully Buddy did too.

♥ E&I

Hawaii 2012 – Kauai Part 4 *pic heavy*

Tags

anuhea, bali hai, hawaii, kauai, soja, south pacific, travel, Vacation

Previous posts in this series:

• Kauai Part 1
• Kauai Part 2 
• Kauai Part 3

Besides seeing J. Boog, Justin and I were lucky enough to catch Anuhea and SOJA concerts in Kauai as well.

We experienced a beautiful sunset on the way to the concert:

If you haven’t heard of Anuhea, you should!  She does a lot of acoustic live performances and her music is great.  Her voice is really soulful and I love her love songs… its hard not to feel happy listening to them :}

I’m not a big alcohol drinker and I don’t like the taste of beer… but I did try a bit of white wine.

Wine wine wine make you feel so fine!

SOJA on stage:

One of my favorite SOJA songs, “You and Me” (another romantic love song)

Towards the end of our trip we tried our best to see more natural landmarks, like Waimea Canyon, aka “The Grand Canyon of the Pacific”:

The mist in the air made it a bit hard to see, but it was still breathtaking nonetheless.

Wailua Falls (Justin loves waterfalls!)

We also stopped by an interesting man-made beach, aptly named “Glass Beach.”

This beach is entirely made from glass debris that has been pummeled by the ocean.  The color and amount of the glass varies depending on the tide.

I had a hard time capturing the sparkles in the sand.

Another beach that we enjoyed was Tunnels Beach.  Right behind the beach access there were these huge caves underneath a mountain:

Tunnels has great snorkeling too!  The next time I go snorkeling though, I’ll make sure to bring some fins and some kind of swim noodle… snorkeling and treading water for long periods of time is so tiring.

Tunnels beach is really beautiful!  Check out this interesting mountain view:

Now, compare with this still image from the movie musical South Pacific (1958) with the famed mountains of “Bali Hai” in the background…  Maybe you’ve heard of the song by the same name?

…this still image was taken from the movie’s original movie trailer here:

Speaking of South Pacific…this is for the ladies! Cuz ‘there is nothing like a dame’ ;D

Moving on…  If you’re in Kauai and looking for some great local food, make sure to visit Mark’s Place!

They also have some homemade snacks and cookies for sale:

What we bought:  Butter mochi, baked parmesean crisps, and a spam musubi

Korean-style fried chicken and rice:

And Mark’s Famous Mixed Plate:  Katsu, beef stew, and teriyaki beef. The beef stew was my favorite!!!

On our last morning in Kauai, we woke up extra early to see the sunrise for the last time. I brought the camera and Justin brought his ukelele:

A fisherman set up his fishing poles along the beach:

The sun came out and it was time to say goodbye.

I love Kauai!  Out of the two islands I’ve visited thus far (Oahu and Kauai), Kauai is definitely much prettier and it has a much more peaceful feel.  I can see why its nickname is the “Garden Isle.”

Thank you so much for coming by to read my about my vacation adventures!  As of now I have no idea where my next trip will be…  I’m currently saving up credit card rewards points as well as extra cash in anticipation though.

♥ E&I

Hawaii 2012 – Kauai Part 2 *pic heavy*

Tags

atving, hawaii, kauai, kipu ranch, travel, Vacation, ziplining

• Kauai Part 1

Kamalani Playground at Lydgate beach park

Lydgate beach park is on the east side of Kauai.  It’s very kid friendly and has two rock-enclosed coves (great for new snorkelers) and an AMAZING children’s playground.  I’ve never seen such a beautiful playground… maybe if I have a kid in the future I’ll bring him/her back here. There are so many creative details in this park.  I would have really loved it as a child. A giant slide enclosed in a wooden volcano: A concrete cave leading underneath the volcano: The islands of Hawaii depicted in a wood carving: A xylophone (?) with instructions on how to play children’s songs! Wooden towers that remind me of Hogwarts: When the storm came we were hit with a lot of rain.  Pummeling rain.  I wanted to see if we could chase the sunshine across the island but to no avail…  Some bridges were flooded so we headed back.  We spent the afternoon in the resort hot tub while it poured. Actually the rainiest spot on earth is on Kauai:  Mount Wai’ale’ale!  Luckily only one day of our trip had rainy weather. The next day we visited the Shrimp Station in Kapa’a.  I was craving shrimp because Giovanni’s in Oahu was so spectacular. I ordered the “Got garlic” shrimp plate with white wine sauce.  It definitely looked appealing.. ..but on the first bite I tasted a lot of alcohol in the white wine.  Blech.  It was too much.  Honestly this was nothing compared to Giovanni’s, and the $12 price tag didn’t help.  Justin ordered beer battered shrimp.  His verdict:  nice batter but the shrimp inside was tiny.  Oh well.  I wouldn’t recommend going here if you’re in Kauai. Since Justin has ziplined in Maui he asked me if I wanted to try it.  I’m afraid of heights!  But I said yes anyway… It did sound like a good time. We booked Princeville Ranch Adventures in Princeville.  It has 9 ziplines, with the longest being King Kong at 1,200 feet.  We paid $145/pp that included all lines, lunch and swimming at a pretty swim hole: Justin bought a Go Pro camera a while back and it is well worth the initial investment!  For the ziplining adventure he attached it via head mount. A closer look at the harnesses: My harness was pretty nasty though.. it smelled like sweat! Gross. The Princeville Ranch is a working cattle ranch. “Please do not feed or pet the horses… They are well fed and much loved” The weather was absolutely perfect…  you wouldn’t have known we had torrential rain the day before. I felt like Maria in the Sound of Music! haha Its hard to see in these shots but the lines were quite high up.  It seems like bushes are below the line but they are TREES.  Eeeep! We had to cross wooden bridge to get to more lines.  Each wooden plank was  a foot apart from the other!  Needless to say.. I was scared. Haha! Here’s me.. There was barely any wind so we were advised to tuck into cannon ball-formation.  I tried my best.. I didn’t want to get stuck in the middle of the lines!  But after I got over my initial fear.. I LOVED ZIPLINING!!  Landing is the hardest part though.  There were a few times where I landed backwards. Here’s my first attempt at editing a Youtube video!  (I don’t know how people can do this on a regular basis.. it took me forever!)  This was the last line, King Kong.

On our way to the swimming hole: We had a nice little lunch (sammies, cookies, chips, drinks) on this little deck. The water was a bit cold, and deep at around 30 feet! The scenery while we were swimming was absolutely breathtaking.  Here’s the view from the water, looking up: It was one of those moments where I had to pinch myself.  I was swimming in a freshwater pool in the middle of Kauai!  I want to keep travelling so I can have that feeling again and again.

After ziplining, we visited Banana Joe’s…they are famous for their frosties and they carry locally grown produce.

This is a true mom and pop shop!  Here is their simple menu: By the time we visited in the early afternoon, their smoothies had sold out.  But we weren’t looking for smoothies… we wanted their pineapple frosty!

Their juicer/blender is so powerful that it whips fruit and ice into an ice cream-like consistency!  This is pure pineapple and ice:

Some of their local produce:

I liked this little sign… “no weird stuff added!”

My first concert in Hawaii: J Boog!

No, I’m not talking about the J Book from B2K (remember them?)  I’m referring to the J Boog originally from Compton with a distinct R&B-meets-reggae style.  Justin and I fell in love with his music while we were in Oahu listening to Island 98.5 on the radio.  Honestly I never was into reggae until recently.  When its mixed up with pop & R&B it’s quite catchy and easy to listen to.  And recurring themes are island life, happiness in general, loving someone, losing someone or missing someone.

This is one of my favorite J Boog songs, “Let’s Do It Again”…  Every time it came on the radio we’d turn up the volume, laugh and dance in the car like maniacs and sing along.

Ahh I love that song.

Anyway moving onto the next adventure:  ATV’ing at Kipu Ranch!

Kipu Ranch is another privately owned property that has been owned by a single family since the 1850′s when the kingdom of Hawaii was still in existence.  According to our guide, Ryan, he said that William Hyde Rice bought the land from  Hawaiian princess Keelikōlani and promised to always keep the land in the Rice family.  And it has ever since.  I think that’s amazing!

The owners now allow two tour companies to access the property, including Kipu Ranch Adventures.

Here’s our guide Ryan… if you’re to book a tour with Kipu Ranch I recommend that you request him as your guide!  He is incredibly knowledgeable, friendly and hilarious.

Before entering the property we had to drive through a huge stretch of tall trees, one row on each side.  Apparently the trees were planted to signify you were entering royal grounds.

Isn’t it beautiful?

A lot of movies were filmed here… Jurassic Park, The Decendents, Pirates of the Caribbean ‘On Stranger Tides.’

Our vehicle:

Justin drove and I sat in the back, gripping the bar handles for stability (and holding on for dear life~!)

I had never been so close to such beautiful mountains and valleys before.

The ride was incredibly bumpy.  Well that’s ATV’ing after all!  Justin and I were the only ones in the group with the Can Am Outlander XT (aka “Bomber) while the other families chose the more comfortable Rhino vehicle.  We had a really fun time but for both driver and passenger… it’s definitely not for the faint of heart.

Some waterfalls we saw during the tour:

We also had the opportunity to swim in a river and swing from a rope swing into the water… (This is where Indiana Jones swung from in “Raiders of Lost Ark” to escape the Hovitos.)  Justin did it but I wasn’t feeling it.

Because when we stopped at the river, I started feeling VERY UNCOMFORTABLE.  I was wearing bermuda shorts, and I had taken off my jacket because it was getting hot while ATV’ing.  We were near fresh water… and fresh water meant mosquitoes.    I’m not sure why I didn’t get bit during our ziplining adventure in Princeville.. but at Kipu ranch mosquitos were flying around EVERYWHERE.  I quickly put my jacket back on and wrapped a large beach towel around my waist.

My mind and my body started panicking.  My arms and legs broke out in hives, and I asked Justin to spray me with more bug spray, which he did.  I felt a little better after that, and the hives slowly went away.  We went on with the tour thinking that the bug spray would deter them.  Nope.

We realized later that within the span of those few minutes, I had gotten bit ALL OVER my legs, my back and my arms.  Justin realized he had gotten bit as well.  :(

Our bugspray was 15% DEET.  DEET sprays can go up to 30 to 40%.  15% wasn’t nearly enough to protect our bare skin and we learned this the hard way.

I’m allergic to mosquito bites.  Maybe not death threateningly allergic, but I definitely have a skin reaction.  (When I was a kid, I spent a few summers in the Philippines… I still have scars from those summers.)  Anyway… a bite on my ankle made my left ankle and foot swell.  The bites on the backs of my legs and arms turned into huge welts the size of saucers.  Not pretty.  I tried my best not to touch those areas but it still felt like pure H-E-DOUBLE-HOCKEY STICKS for the next two days so I had to load up on Benadryl.    Luckily for me Justin was a sweetheart and did everything he could to keep me comfortable.  I grumpily stewed in my pain and self pity and he even tried to crack jokes to make me smile!  I’m so lucky to have him.

So the moral of the story is… I’m never going out on an outdoor adventure near freshwater without the proper protection: long pants, jacket, and the highest DEET spray possible.  And I’ll be bringing a variety of allergy sprays and anti-itch creams if I do get bit.

Would I go ATV’ing again?  Yes, in a heartbeat.  Was it worth it even after getting bit?  Well… yes it was.  It was a very fun experience despite everything.

Part 3 will be coming up soon!  Thanks for reading!

♥ E&I

Hawaii 2012 – Kauai Part 1 *pic heavy*

Tags

hawaii, kauai, travel, Vacation

Kauai! Kauai is Hawaii’s oldest island. The island is not very big… roughly 30 miles long and across so you can drive around most of it in less than 2 hours. So far I’ve only been to the island of Oahu and now Kauai.

In comparison the feel of it is very much countryside mountains, small towns, and gorgeous beaches versus Oahu’s big city feel. The highways are generally only 1 lane each way.  I took a lot of photos while traveling in the car… the scenery is beautiful no matter where you go.

Stores and eateries generally close very early. Shopping and nightlife isn’t prominent, but if you’re looking for a romantic, outdoorsy paradise with phenomenal beaches then this is it!

The flight wasn’t too bad… One stopover in Oahu and then you have to take a second flight (only 45 minutes long) to Lihue, Kauai.  I don’t think there are any direct flights from the mainland, but please correct me if I’m wrong.

After doing some research on car rentals on Flyertalk, I scored an awesome deal at Hertz.  9 days for roughly $40/day after taxes and fees!  And we were upgraded to a Mustang convertible!  I suggest if you go to Kauai, though, try to get a 4WD vehicle.  A lot of beaches are only accessible using 4WD.   Oh well!  I had never been in a convertible before and Justin was very excited to drive it!

Oh and if you’re curious… here are the approximate gas prices when I visited:

Justin and I stayed on the east side of the island in Kapa’a (KAH-PAH-AH).  In this town there’s an interesting mountain called the Sleeping Giant.

Can you see him?  Head, neck, torso, legs?

When I visited Oahu, I was surprised by the amount of Japanese tourists.  In Kauai  I saw mostly locals, young families, and retirees from the mainland.

We stayed at a private vacation rental at the Islander at the Beach (which I found through vacation rental ratings on Tripadvisor for ~$90/night after taxes and fees).  I highly recommend this resort as it was central to everything.  Close to the airport and equidistant from the prime north and south beaches.

The resort had a pool, bar and jacuzzi (which we used quite frequently)

View from the lanai with a bit of ocean peeking out:

Our room was a small furnished studio complete with kitchenette.  No maid service here, since it was a vacation rental.  I found it to be a plus though.  It helped us keep things tidier in the end and we felt our belongings were very secure.

The couch converted to a bed as well.  You can easily fit in 4 people and split the $90/night costs quite nicely.

To save money we managed a lot of eating in with our little electric burner, cooking tools and rice cooker.  (Yes! Rice cooker!  I was so happy!) Most days we went to the beach, and by the time we got home a lot of eateries were closed or too far to drive (street lights on the road are sparse).

Before I go on with this post, I want to mention this travel book.  This is the first trip I’ve done with a travel book and I’m hooked!  I highly recommend this series.  No ads, honest opinions, and no BS.  There are also travel books for all of the other islands as well. We bought this one for $12.99 at their local Costco.  But you can buy it via Amazon prior to your trip as well.

Another random fact about Kauai:  There are chickens EVERYWHERE.  In the parking lot at Walmart, in the mountains, on the road, EVERYWHERE.  They crow at all hours, not just the morning.  This is another reason why Kauai is a true “country” island.  Lots of plantations, cattle ranches, and green lush land.

Shopping really only consists of smaller boutiques or shops.  The only really big places to go are Walmart for basics and a small outdoor mall with a Macy’s.

Our first beach stop was Moloa’a Beach.  This beach, like a lot of the beaches, is close to privately owned homes.  So you have to park on the road instead of a designated lot.

I noticed a lot of these homes are off the ground with parking underneath, probably to get a better ocean views.  Almost like living in a treehouse!

Gorgeous!

Rough waters at Moloa’a Beach:

An interesting seashell from the beach!  Did you know its illegal to take shells from Hawaii?  I had no idea until this trip.  Honestly there weren’t a lot of shells to be found.  But a lot of the touristy shops sell shells, mostly from other places like the Philippines though.  Nothing local.

I wish I could buy a beachfront home.  I wonder how much these houses cost.

Next up is our favorite beach in Kauai: Secret Beach.  Secret Beach is a little difficult to get to; you have to park on a dirt road walk a short hike down a hill.  Supposedly nude sunbathers come here but we didn’t see any.

The trail to this beach is right next to a new, beautiful house.  Seriously this is my dream house!

Graffiti on the construction site:

Good things happen to good people!

The start of the trail:

This is such a secluded beach!

No one was around for miles!  I think because of the hike down not too many people visit.  Especially families.

After the beach we decided to check out the grocery stores and stock up.  We bought a few groceries to cook with at Safeway and Foodland.  Grocery prices are high in Kauai, unfortunately.  One local we befriended said one time a gallon of milk was ~$9!!!  Kauai has a lot of cows but non are dairy cows.

Many varieties of poke at the deli:

Local sodas (unfortunately I didn’t like the pink one… tastes like cough medicine to me)

Our favorite snack from Foodland:  Butter mochi!!

Coffee for the mornings in our little coffee machine: Kona vanilla mac nut!

Ok this isn’t food, but do you remember this from the Charlie’s Angels movie?  That’s what it reminded me of.  This helps you stick to your surf or boogie board.

Some loco moco in Princeville… unfortunately I’ve had better.

A hotdog with bacon (Justin’s choice):

Lappert’s Ice cream!  Supposedly this has originated from famous locally made ice cream to hit-or-miss flavors.  We still loved it.

We chose Kauai Pie!

Black Pot beach:  There used to be a huge black pot here for residence but now its gone.  A really nice place for boogie boarding or to watch the sunset.

The water is SO shallow so its easy to go far out.  We saw a lot of surf classes here.

Boogie boarding on our cheap board from the ABC store:

One nice thing we bought from Walmart that helped with shade:  a little cabana!  We split the $40 cost and took it home with us!  Easy to assemble and great for taking naps and preventing too much sun exposure.  Little bags can be filled up with sand on the sides so it won’t blow away.

More Kauai posts coming soon!

Read Part 2 here.

♥ E&I