First time at Disneyland (Anaheim, CA)

I went to Disneyland last week with Xeng and Stephanie. For all of us, it was our first time at Disneyland. We were really excited. We also decided to see Knott's Berry Farm too while we were there.

On Thursday morning, we drove to Disneyland. It took about 8 hours and we arrived a bit before 4pm. Then, we got Korean BBQ and some boba. Afterwards, we relaxed at the hotel. I, however, decided to work out for a bit before heading to bed.

We woke up around 7 and we ended up leaving the hotel by 8:30ish. We took the hotel's shuttle to Disneyland, which was good because we didn't have to worry about parking.

When I entered, I bought the Minnie Mouse ears and then I saw Minnie Mouse! Me and my friends went in line and then some other characters came out, such as Pluto, Mickey Mouse, Daisy Duck. We also saw some other characters walking by, but we couldn't get pictures with them.

I was glad to get it with Mickey Mouse because he is one of the most popular characters there. I also heard stories of people waiting in line for hours just to meet with a character. Glad I didn't have to wait too long.

I like the cast at Disneyland. Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse were both excited to see me and did lots of movements with their hands.

I also liked how Daisy Duck wanted us all to show some sass for the photo. I thought that was cool.

I liked how some of the cast can actually talk to you. I like that because it makes the experience seems magical somehow.

After walking around Disneyland, we got our "first time" pins. Then, we looked around for breakfast food. We ended up at Carnation Cafe, which served general American breakfast food. I ordered the burger and my hands ended up getting much more wet from the juice than I expected, but I finished the whole burger.

I remember our first ride at Disneyland was "it's a small world". I did not expect that ride to be a long as it was, nor did I expect it to say "it's a small world" so many times. It's still stuck in my head. Other than that, it was a smooth boat ride and the effects and toys were good.

I been wanting to try the beignets in New Orleans, but I haven't had the chance to go there yet, but I found out that Disneyland had them, so I gave them a try. I like the Mickey Mouse shaped beignets. It was pretty good :).

We saw the railroad and it was about to board, so we decided to go on. The first stop for us was Mickey's Toon Town, which was about to have it's first show. Lucky for us that we made it there on time before it started. It had some Disney characters and princesses and a story about Mickey Mouse. 

We went on some other boat rides as well. I think one of my more favorite of them was the jungle boat ride because the tour guide was pretty entertaining. I also like the ride where it take you to a a building and shows you a story of a princess, Toad, or Tinkerbell. My favorite one would be the Snow White ride. I believe the longest line we stood in that day was the Toad ride inside the building and it was probably around a 30 min wait.

I wanted to see Fantasmic, but it conflicted with the parade and fireworks, so we had to decide one or the other. I felt that the "Paint the Night" parade and the fireworks didn't disappoint though.

The parade was beautiful. I loved how all the floats lit up at night and they were all beautifully designed. My favorite float would have to be the one with Belle in it and there's a big rose.

Some other ones I like are the Frozen one, Tinkerbell float, Little Mermaid float, and Mickey Mouse float. But still, all of them were pretty good :).

I liked how Mickey Mouse ended the night. It's good to see a character you know and love at the end. Right after the parade was the fireworks. It was really crowded at that moment. It was hard for anyone to move or leave since there was so many people and because some places were blocked off after the parade.

I felt the parade was pretty good. I wished I had a better spot, but it was still nice. After we left Disney, we checked out Downtown Disney for a bit and waited for our shuttle, which was late.

Overall, I liked my first time experience at Disneyland. I got to see some Disney characters and went on more rides than expected. The crowd wasn't that bad until the fireworks segment. For next time, I will see some Disney princesses and try to go on more of the popular rides. Maybe I will also get to go to California Adventures or Universal Studios.

Crystal Hermitage at Ananda Village

I like research. I like pinterest, yelp, and facebook. I also like festival, city events, and beautiful sights. I believe it was due to my interest in festivals and special events that I started looking up events that I could attend. I was aware that there were a lot of things going around me that I didn't know about. As I was looking through events in Northern California, I stumbled upon an event called "Springtime in Ananda Village". I browsed through their website and noticed a very pretty garden filled will mostly tulips. I, then, looked up the location of the place and noticed that it was about 2 hours away past Auburn. I thought that it was a place I could possibly go. At that day that I discovered the event, I was also approached by my Xeng to attend an event. I wasn't sure if I was going to go to that event, but I asked her if she wanted to check out the event and she said yes.

We went on Sunday. It was a nice sunny day and the drive there wasn't all too bad. I'm glad that there's not much cars around there, especially on the mountains.

When we got there, we paid the admittance fee of $5.00. I believe the garden is called Crystal Hermitage.

I wasn't all too sure what to expect really since no one I knew had came there before and I didn't see much pictures.

I was amazed by the different colored tulips they had. I also liked their ponds and pools. I liked that they had some tables there. It would have been a great place to just have a picnic.

My favorite tulips there are the red ones. I also like the red and white tulips.

I'm glad that I went to Crystal Hermitage. I almost decided not to go, but I convinced myself to go because I wanted to check it out. I'd say it's worth it. I wished the arboretum had that many flowers. But, I have to say check this place out if you love flowers or nature. It's so beautiful.

I really liked Crystal Hermitage, despite the fact that I knew very little about it before. There's so many popular attractions or events I would go to and I would be all excited, but when I actually go there it doesn't provide the same excitement. Not knowing the beauty I would experience made it a good experience for me.  I like the element of surprise. Then again, each person looks at the world differently and are surprised by the littlest things, which makes everyone unique. Also, nothing beats seeing something in real life. So, I guess I also have to say sorry if you looked at the pictures and or exposed to part of what Crystal Hermitage looks like. But, I have to write about this place because it would be cruel if I kept it to myself and it would support Ananda Village if it had more tourists or business.

A Day in San Francisco

On Friday evening, I went to stay over night in San Francisco. This time around I wasn't doing the driving, which I was grateful for. I really don't like driving in San Francisco, especially up and down the hills since I'm afraid of heights. We took a different route there, which was pretty cool. I got to see a new side of California I never seen before.

When we arrived at our hotel, we had to find parking. It wasn't easy. All of the parking spots were taken on most of the streets and we had to drive around a few times just to find one.

Our first stop the next day was Japantown. Japantown had it's Cherry Blossom Festival going on. This year the hello kitty cafe came. There was a long line for it, which was why I didn't go to it.

We were there pretty early, so we walked around to check out all the booths and in the plaza. Some of them were open, but a lot of them were not. We ended up getting takoyaki and karrage from one of the food booths and it was good.

I had my friend, Eric try the crepes there because I liked them and believe Eric would enjoy them as well.

At 12pm, we dined in Benihana's. Patrick really wanted to go to a place that cooked in front of you, so that's why we went. It was a cool experience. I ordered the hibachi steak with chicken fried rice. I liked the hibachi steak, but I didn't like the chicken fried rice because it included onions.

After Japantown, we were going to head to Fishermen's Wharf, but it was too packed for parking. But, my friends just really wanted to go to the beach, so I suggested Crissy Fields.

Crissy fields has a view of the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz Island. There were lots of dogs there. It was cool seeing the dogs playing around.

When we left, we passed the golden gate bridge.  The gate doesn't really look golden to me.

It was a fun experience going to San Francisco and hanging with my friends. There's still so much of San Francisco I haven't explored, but I guess that's why I keep going back.