Life is a Journey

We continue our little tour below...   Above you see that I'm still in my favorite little alcove, looking to the exit stairs on my left. I love this place and wish it didn't have to disappear. :-( Once outside, I take a picture of my friend, Pete, taking my picture, LOL .  I could stand here for hours....I love the sound of water. Simply magnificent.

Sorry for the delay...crummy weekend. :-( OK, below you see one of the stairways leading to the waterfalls. Peeking into one of the tunnels below...Shall we go in? First, I look to my right... Now I'm inside the tunnel. I love it here. I remember as a child feeling that I was in an enchanted land, waiting for fairies to pop out at any moment! Standing in the center of the tunnel, looking to my right (where I entered). That's it for today....more pics tomorrow. P.S. In a totally unrelated matter (maybe not!)...anyway, check this out! http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/2010/06/25/behind-the-awkwardness-staycation/

It occurred to me last night that since this is MY blog, I can post my adventures in any order I like. So I am interrupting the Union Station tour to bring you a series of shots taken last night (6-24-10) of the Disneyland Hotel area that is soon to be history. Very sad, I know. OK, we begin with a look around the water falls... This area is so darn pretty... I hear they are once again renaming the buildings of the hotel. My friend, Pete, is crying because one of his favorite areas is being demolished. As you can see, I'm not happy, either. I'll post more shots tomorrow. I took a total of 76 pictures last night!

This caught my eye immediately...Where are the payphones? No longer needed, I guess now that everybody and their grandmother has a cell phone! Outside behind Union Station there are several walkways with beautiful flowers and fountains and lots of unique tile work. The bats caught my eye. What can I say - I like bats! Below you see one of the fountains I mentioned earlier. There was a homeless lady washing her socks in the fountain and she saw that I wanted to take a picture so she asked me to wait while she washed the tiles and made them shine. I thought it was pretty neat of her. I'm not sure what this is...a bench I guess. But it's sure pretty! As part of our tour we went into the MTA building to look around. I liked this traffic update board and watched it for quite a while! More pics tomorrow!

Any baseball fans out there? This cute Mickey was next to the station entrance. Why they would have the Pirates and not the Los Angeles Dodgers is beyond me but he's still cute. I asked if this information kiosk was original and they said yes. The only thing that has changed of course, is the addition of the electronic information. Back in the day, it was all done by hand. I'm glad to see that they kept the original structure. It still looks darn good. Part of the tour included going below to see some of the Metrolink trains. It felt weird being underground in Los Angeles, LOL. Back upstairs at the Information Booth...for you movie buffs, a scene was filmed here in 1949 for the movie Criss Cross starring Burt Lancaster. I was told it's pretty good so I'm hoping it's on Netflix. Well that wraps it up for today. Hope you enjoyed the photos.

Man oh man, if you are a history buff or just like checking out cool old places, take the Union Station tour! I learned that there was once a Harvey House restaurant at Union Station. It closed in the 60's but it can be rented for special occasions. The day of our tour, they were setting up for a reception. If you want more information on Harvey Houses, visit this site: http://www.harveyhouses.net/ Above you see a the beauty of this place. Look at that tile! In future posts, you'll get to see the inside of the Harvey House that was. Union Station has two courtyards on either side where train passengers could wait and enjoy the Southern California weather. This beautiful Art Deco water fountain blew me away. To think that it has survived all these years! Inside the station, there are many of these giant chandeliers. They weigh over 300 pounds! These chairs fill the main lobby and they are originals. The only thing that has changed over the years is the upholstery. Originally, ...

All in one day! Wow, this is going to be a quick post because I'm too tired to go into detail and post pictures. I promise I will do both soon. However , if you ever have the chance, take any of the tours offered by the Los Angeles Conservancy. They are fascinating ! Union Station is truly beautiful and I have the pictures to prove it. We stopped in at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising for a FREE Alice in Wonderland exhibit. Costumes from the movie were on display as well as clothing inspired by those costumes. And...the gift shop has the most amazing AIW merchandise. Amazing! Reasonably priced, too!! Our next stop was the Grammy museum. I could have spent hours there, it's that good. I want to go back and I think I will take my son (who is a musician) and it will be a great, great, great way to spend the day together. Finally, we ended our day sharing appetizers and drinking iced tea at Trader Vic's. Wow, what a fabulous place! I have to go back for there ...

I get my own room, woohoo! My friends are visiting from Florida and I am hanging out with them and playing tourist. Today is my last day of work and I'm taking a LONG weekend to do more fun stuff. Below is a shot of Crystal Cove Beach after we had an early dinner on Sunday. Below you see the view from our suite. Yes, that's the ocean way yonder in the distance! I'll be posting more pics soon...

Taking a few days off here and there to be with some friends from out of town and will be posting pics and updates as I can. Also tweeting, LOL !! Went to see the Zorro exhibit at the San Juan Capistrano Mission. Excellent exhibit!

I have been asked why I believe in the paranormal. Simply put, I believe because of all the experiences I have had in my life which cannot be explained. Since childhood I have seen, heard, felt and dreamed about things. I've decided to write about these things for two reasons. The first reason is simply to have a written account of what happened. I've never done that before. The second reason is because there is a growing interest in unexplained things that happen to ordinary people. I am one of those ordinary people. I am a mom - my son is 33. I go to work, I enjoy taking photographs of everything, I love Disneyland and little hole in the wall restaurants. I am not a weirdo or a misfit - I'm just me! Those that know me personally, know that I do NOT make up stories about things I experience. You should also know that when something DOES happen, I don't automatically accept it as paranormal. No, I try to find a logical explanation and/or cause for what has happened. ...

I needed a change...

Do you like Steampunk? I love it!!! You have to check out this Steampunk jewelry !

A while back, I blogged about listening to podcasts. I still listen to several of them but I’m thinking I have to find some new ones because I’m walking more now (3 miles a night, woohoo!). This is going to sound strange but I don’t like walking to music, mostly because I change my speed according to the song, LOL! Since my knee tends to hurt if I walk too fast or too slow (I know, weird!) I do much better if I listen to podcasts and walk at a steady pace. The Disneyland Gazette Love, love, love this podcast because it gives me news on my favorite place on Earth and the friendly banter is refreshing and entertaining. (I must confess, most of the time I listen to this twice – once while I walk and then again at home so I can look at the pictures, LOL!) Jim Harold’s Campfire Very cool personal stories! Jim actually interviewed me for one of the episodes (#25) so check it out! The Grizzly Bear Egg and Cafe I love to listen to this while I’m at work. Clayton and Mike crack me up. ...

Yes, I am a true Disney geek. How do I know? Because when I saw the following pieces of artwork in the Gallery, I was moved to tears. Yes, tears. I had a hard time taking these pictures so I apologize if they aren't exactly straight. I just needed to capture them for my own enjoyment. I hope you enjoy them, too. This first one in particular really put a lump in my throat... Man, I wish I was still a castmember so I could spend my checks in the Park, LOL!

Here are a few more pics from Sunday. I love sitting in the animation building and watching the screens change! To be quite honest, I've not kept up on what is really going in here. I know it has something to do with the Little Mermaid and I am hoping it's as good as the one in Florida. One should always find time to admire the flowers, LOL !

I braved the heat (ugh) and went to Disneyland yesterday morning. For the first time ever in my life, I rode this touring car. The castmember let me sit in the driver's seat and he took the pic. See the baby duck peeking out from under mama? Loved the colors in this candy display.

...but I'm trying out Twitter. If you want to follow me and my odd tweets, do a search for Nectarmaiden. Who knows where this will go!! :-)

April 3, 2003 marked the 30th anniversary of the first public telephone call placed on a portable cellular phone. Martin Cooper ( now chairman, CEO, and co-founder of ArrayComm Inc) placed that call on April 3, 1973, while general manager of Motorola's Communications Systems Division. It was the incarnation of his vision for personal wireless communications, distinct from cellular car phones. That first call, placed to Cooper's rival at AT&T's Bell Labs from the streets of New York City, caused a fundamental technology and communications market shift toward the person and away from the place. Can you believe it? The cell phone is 30 years old? For the complete story, go here... http://inventors.about.com/cs/inventorsalphabet/a/martin_cooper.htm