More Disney

I scanned a couple more artifacts from our trip to Disneyland. These show the evidence of my vertigo-defeating roller-coaster ride (on California Screamin'), and my artistic flair (or lack thereof!).

The Wonderful Land of Disney

Just back from Disneyland after an amazing three days! It's hard to do justice to the experience (if you haven't been you have to go sometime!), but perhaps the word "magical" sums it up best. From the moment you arrive there is a great, fun, wholesome atmosphere about the place. A good friend in South Africa expressed the wish that I would "let [my] youthful excitement enable [me] to enjoy it", which was definitely the case. On the Saturday evening, after the incredible show we watched, a little kid (about three-years old, I would guess) near where we were sitting turned around to his parents with huge eyes and said "Mickey does magic!" at the top of his voice — some of the magic was in making this 40-something feel like he was three again! But I'm getting the story all out of order!

We left Rocklin in the middle of the afternoon on Friday, after the kids were finished school, and travelled down to LA through the evening, arriving rather late (about 10:45pm) and tired. Despite the late arrival we were up early on Saturday and off to Disneyland to make the most of the day (and to beat the crowds as much as possible). We had planned our weekend days there using the amazing RideMax software package (highly recommended for anyone planning a visit to the Disney resorts to avoid excessive waiting in line). There are actually two theme parks there: the Disneyland Park itself ("The Happiest Place on Earth"), and Disney's California Adventure Park.

We started off on the Saturday at Disneyland with a simulator space ride, which was great (I had been on a similar ride at the Star Trek exhibition in Las Vegas some years ago). From there we headed to an "interactive" ride based on the Buzz Lightyear character from Toy Story, shooting at targets with a laser gun from a moving car on a track, which was great fun. We then did some fun, gentle, kid-oriented rides: It's a Small World After All (Christmas-themed vignettes of various nationalities), a ride based on the Wind in the Willows story and a great one based on Peter Pan (in a suspended flying "boat" cable-car).

From there the experience got a little more hectic as we did three "roller coaster" type rides in quick succession: Thunder Mountain (a roller coaster with an old-time gold-mining theme), Splash Mountain (in a water channel in a canoe-like boat with a long water drop) and Space Mountain, a rather more nerve-wracking experience of a roller-coaster ride simulating a flight through space, so in almost-complete darkness with spots of star-light. A little later in the day we rode the Matterhorn bob-sleigh roller coaster. Anyone who knows me well, will know that I don't particularly like heights so these rides required some serious motivation! (Nothing close to what was still to come though!)

One of the highlights of the day was the Indiana Jones ride. This takes you through an incredible replica of an ancient ruin in cars made to look like jeeps, as it tells an Indiana Jones style treasure-hunting story, complete with rickety bridges, rolling boulders, poison-dart traps, cobwebs and other nasty surprises! The Pirates of the Caribbean ride (on which the movie was based in an odd reversal of the usual pattern of movie-inspired rides) was also excellent: an underground water ride through the pirates' world.

In the evening, we settled down to watch the "Fantasmic!" show: an amazing combination of light, sound, lasers, boats, flames, fountains, fireworks and Disney characters set in the middle of an artificial river. This was the event that had me feeling like a three-year old again. It was followed by an incredible fireworks display, marking the end of a long, wonderful day.

The next day we arrived early at the Disneyland Park and headed straight to the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage ride, which was a very fun ride in a semi-submerged boat (you sit below water level looking out through underwater portholes) with various characters from the move making an appearance as one went around an artificial lake. After a few more rides there (including another flight through Space Mountain), we headed over to the California Adventure Park (which opens a little later) for the rest of the day.

California Adventure has a little less of the pure "Disney" feel (an issue which they are addressing) and focuses on various aspects of California as Walt Disney knew it. One of the main areas there is the Paradise Pier section, which recreates a traditional sea-side amusement park (unfortunately, the artificial "sea" is drained at the moment, as you can see in the photo). And one of the main features of Paradise Pier is a genuine roller-coaster called California Screamin' (no cute, kiddy-friendly ride on a fake mountain: a real roller coaster with heights, scaffolding, heights, massive drops, heights, a LOOP, heights, oh and did I mention some heights!)! Despite my misgivings I was persuaded to give this a go and actually enjoyed it! One of the good features (for me anyway) was that it starts on the level with a massive acceleration that shoots you up the first climb, rather than the traditional slow ratchet up to some dizzy height before letting gravity do the rest. I have to confess that I closed my eyes for the duration of the loop! However, to prove it wasn't a complete fluke, we did it again immediately (give or take 15 minutes in line!) and the second time I kept my eyes open for the loop! (And I bought the (expensive) souvenir photo to prove I rode it!).

After that things got a little more calm for the rest of the day with an excellent fake-rapids river ride. That left one fairly soaked, but fortunately Colin and Janet had done it previously so had come equipped with rain ponchos for the experience. Despite the ponchos we still got quite soaked on our two rides there, but it was really good fun. We did also do a haunted hotel ride which involved some bouncing up and down in a "broken lift" ride.

Later in the afternoon we did a couple of other rides that pressed some of my "height buttons". The first was an amazing "Soarin' Over California" experience where one is suspended in a tilting, twisting chair in front of a huge IMAX-style screen. As the screen displays various scenes of California the chair tilts to simulate the effect of flying (with added smell effects and winds at appropriate points) — very impressive. We then did a smaller roller coaster (Mulholland Madness, with a California highway theme). In some ways that was almost more scary than California Screamin' as the high, sharp corners were not banked, giving the impression that you are about to hurtle sideways off the rails and plunge to your death!

To cap off a day of conquering height fears we went on the Maliboomer: a 180 foot vertical boost from ground level, followed by a series of more gentle "bounces" until you return to the ground (and I did it with my eyes open!). We had a great time in the Disney Animation Academy where we got to sit for half an hour as a Disney artist guided through the process of drawing Goofy (I'm not about to give up my day job, but under his expert guidance, even I could produce a vaguely convincing Goofy!).

The day ended off with what was probably my favourite ride in California Adventure: the new Toy Story Mania! ride. That is a very interesting "4-D" ride where the cars stop in front of 3-D projection screens for you to play various traditional "amusement park" style games (throwing hoops, darts, balls, etc. at targets using a "cannon" mounted on the car). The 3-D effects are excellent and the ride is great fun (even better fun was beating the teenager in the car with me!).

Monday was a "bonus" day as we had got three-day for the price of two tickets through the AAA (American Automobile Association). Colin had to do some business in the area, so headed off in a taxi while the rest of us packed the car and headed to the park. We hadn't used RideMax to plan the day, so had to "wing it", fortunately with some good insights into how RideMax optimises the experience. We rushed into Disneyland and got Fast Passes (allowing you to "jump" the line at a later time during the day) for the Indiana Jones ride before getting in line at California Adventures to try to beat the crowds to the Toy Story Mania! 4-D ride. That was successful (and wise, as it is hugely popular) and we had a great time there. That we followed by another dose of California Screamin' (eyes open) to really prove it wasn't a fluke the day before!

We then headed back to Disneyland and managed to fit in Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain and a cute Snow White and the Seven Dwarves kiddy ride before meeting up with Colin, grabbing some lunch and heading back to Rocklin. The weather, which had been really good to us with warm, sunny days started to turn a little overcast as we left LA — we had been really blessed with the best possible weather for this time of year.

All in all, it was an incredible, magical experience, and great to be able to do it with such good friends.

Sunday in Davis

Well, it's been another great day in Davis. I went to my first service at the University Covenant Church, which I really enjoyed — the pastor is a great communicator/preacher, and there was a really friendly, relaxed atmosphere, with a nice mixture of new and old songs.

After that I treated myself to brunch at an Austrian café/restaurant, Konditorei, nearby. I had the Spinach Quiche breakfast, followed by a slice of "Kaffee Kuchen" (coffee cake, in the sense of to-accompany-coffee, not as in coffee-flavoured). Delicious!

This afternoon, I went for a long ride around the outskirts of Davis (which eased the guilt of brunch a little!).

Seems a pity to have to go back to work/research tomorrow after a day like that!

Fall Fun

Well, it's been a great day here in little old Davis, CA! As mentioned in my last post, I am staying in Davis for the weekend (a first), and decided to do some geocaching. A particular cache had caught my eye (Erin's Roundabout, GCC00B) for a number of reasons (it appeared to be in a picturesque part of the UC Davis campus, it wasn't a tiny (micro) cache, which are all too prevalent around here, and Colin and Janet's daughter's name is Erin!). I decided to use that as the centre of a search for caches in that area (West of the main campus), and came up with several promising-looking caches in the vicinity.

After a rather late start to the day. I set off on my bike and soon arrived in the general area of the first cache. There was a bike rack there (at a "lodge" very reminiscent of the Continuing Education Centre at Rhodes, only without the accommodation), so I locked the bike up and set off caching on foot. The first cache for the day (Mallards Hideaway, GCDE36) was right there and a very easy find, with several eponymous budgies swimming around the area.

From there my quest led me along the South bank of Putah Creek, which I fear I may have badly maligned in an earlier post by comparing it to Rhodes' Cotch Creek! Well, this part of Putah Creek is beautiful, with wider, lake-like areas, and surrounded by the trees of the UC Davis arboretum (cf. Bots!). What was particularly striking was the beautiful red, yellow and orange fall (sic) colours of the trees. It really makes the drab browns of an African autumn look a bit pathetic!

At the end of the path, I reached Erin's Roundabout and, after quite a bit of hunting found the cache and dropped off some travel bugs, including Cabey's Shutterbug, which I thought was appropriate given the picturesque nature of the spot.

From there I returned on the North side of the creek, finding my third cache for the day (The Gaze, GCJQEE) along the way. That was another beautiful spot in the arboretum (more fall trees nearby!) and a fitting spot to drop off a geocoin of my own. That was significant because the coin was made by friends Correen and Renier who cache as eragonSaphira, and I am busy at the moment reading the third of the books in the Eragon (Inheritance) series — a very good series, by the way.

After returning to my bike, I set off in search of my fourth cache for the day (Solano House, GCHV72). That is a two-stage multi-cache. The first stage is a very interesting monument giving the history of the first pony express mail service that passed through the area, using a nearby (now ruined) building as a staging post. At the first stage I gathered the necessary clues to find the second stage (the actual cache itself), but was unsuccessful. I think I was in the right area, but there was a profusion of thick rosemary bushes and I could not find the cache (at least I smelled good after my hunting around in the undergrowth!).

After hunting there for sometime, I gave up and set off for the next cache (Yamar's Unusual #6: The ORB, GCQEBQ), which was a very easy find with a most unusual container! The cache was between a parking lot and the railway line, and there were some passing trains and a student learning to drive a bus in the parking lot to provide some additional entertainment.

By that time, it was getting on for mid-afternoon and I hadn't had any lunch so I set off home. En route, I realised that I was passing fairly close to the site of a cache (Solano Park, GCZXAZ) that I had not been able to find in August, partly due to some "muggles" (i.e. non-cachers!) hanging around the site. When I got there, I found some other geocachers hunting for the cache too — it's always fun to bump into other cachers on the hunt! They found the cache, in a spot I know I looked in when I visited in August! There was a log on the geocaching website to say that the previous cacher had found the cache lying around and had "replaced" it where they assumed it should be, but I'm not so sure!

All in all, it was a rather fun day out in Davis, enjoying the beautiful, sunny, warm autumn/fall weather.

Public (Non-)Holidays

Today is a public holiday in the USA, ostensibly! It is Veterans' Day.

However, most US businesses do not recognise most holidays, so almost everyone works just like any other day. Fortunately for me, it is one of the holidays that UC Davis observes. The schools also have the day off.

Since it was a holiday, and I intended to take it, I took a long weekend break from Davis (Friday to Tuesday), to spend in Rocklin. I did do some work on Monday (debugging the programs I am writing for my research programme), but am studiously avoiding anything like work today!

I will probably spend the coming weekend in Davis, as the following weekend we are going to Disneyland for three days, which should be great fun! We get back on the Monday evening, and the Thursday after that is the Thanksgiving holiday here (a big deal that everyone does observe), so I will probably stay on for the rest of that week and the following weekend.

Centenaries

I mentioned a while ago (see the blog entry for 24 September) that there was a "weird symmetry" between Rhodes and UC Davis, as both are around 100 years old (RU in 2004, UC Davis this year). Well, it get weirder! I happened to browse across to the University of Bristol website (i.e. where I took my last overseas sabbatical and got my PhD) this morning, and it turns out that they will be celebrating their centennial next year (2009). What is it with me and 100-year old universities?!

I guess, in view of the observation that about "70 of the 85 institutions that have survived continuously for the past half-millennium are universities" (see the blog entry for 22 October) that shouldn't be too surprising, but it seems like a really strange coincidence.

Of Weather and Time Zones, and Saving the Daylight!

As I mentioned a few posts ago (October 22), daylight-savings time was due to come to an end, which it did this last weekend (at 2:00am on Sunday morning to be precise, when the clocks went back to 1:00am — giving a one-off gift of an extra hour's sleep!). So far, it hasn't been as bad as I remember it from the UK in 1994 (perhaps I was better prepared for what to expect!). The evenings are getting dark around 5:30 (rather than 6:30), but it's still no worse than winter in Grahamstown. At the other end of the day, the sky was just starting to lighten up at 6:15 this morning when I got back to Davis from the weekend in Rocklin, which was a pleasant change from the pitch dark.

Of course, the time-change means we are now ten hours behind SA time — even more inconvenient a difference than before!

The weather took a turn for the worse over the weekend, with the halloween drizzle carrying on for most of Saturday (the newspaper reported a total of about 1.6" (roughly 35–40mm) of rain for Friday and Saturday. That made for a very good day to stay inside and read, which was pretty much what happened! Sunday brightened up a bit, but today (Monday) has been colder (about 15°C) and drizzly again. Oh well, I guess winter and the attendant rain had to come sometime.

Of Pumpkins and Candy!

Coming from Africa, halloween has never been a big deal. Of course, in the US of A it is!

I came through to Rocklin early for the weekend, as I had been requested to help with carving pumpkins on Thursday night. That is remarkably easy and was good fun. Erin did one of the pumpkins (on the right) and I did the other.

On Friday evening (after the long-suffering Freckles had been decked out in his Yankee Doodle costume!), a friend of Erin's came around and the two of them set off to scrounge candy off the neighbours, with Colin and I in attendance to keep an eye on the young ladies (and to ensure that the candy was of a suitable standard!). Before long, our group had swollen its numbers considerably and Colin and I were "guarding" a rather large group of rather loud pre-teenage girls trick-or-treating the neighbourhood. At one stage it started to rain quite hard and we offered shelter by a kindly neighbour.

Many of the people had gone to great lengths to decorate their homes — fake cobwebs, pumpkins by the truck-load, strobes lights, flashing illuminated bats, and various other ghoulish decor items were liberally on display!

The evening ended off with the group gathered around the Hobson kitchen table, sheltering from the rain and drinking hot chocolate while the adults sat in the lounge with glasses of red wine and dealt with one or two last visitors in search of candy (business was apparently quite slow chez Hobson, which has left us with the most unfortunate problem of a slight candy mountain that needs to be dealt with!).

I have to confess that it all seems like rather a lot of effort to extort candy from kindly neighbours, but the kids were all having fun, and there was a great neighbourhood vibe out on the streets.