Extra Bits from California

Some pics that didn't make their own post from the California 2025 trip...

YouTube has offices that we visited on the day we headed south from San Francisco.

Massage chairs are the best!

Sad she had to leave

With the YouTube logo

Almost tall enough for bunny ears

Photo booth results

What a ham!

They also had a video game console that was a lot of fun. Killer Queen is a bee-themed game that allows up to ten players simultaneously!

We visited the Barney Schwartz Park in Paso Robles to have fun at a playground. They also have a large artificial lake and a couple of geocaches.

Playground #1

More of the first playground

View on the way to the second playground

Turtles in the lake

Spinner at the second playground

Blocking the slide

Tables are turned!

We had a lunch at Tin City, a collection of restaurants, wine shops, beer brewers, and other sellers, all under corrugated roofs.

Tin City Sign

We ate lunch at ETTO. I had eggplant parmesan, my go-to for Italian eating (too hard to make at home but so delightful).

Eggplant Parmesan

For dessert, we walked over to Negranti Creamery, which has ice cream. It's claim to fame is that the flavors are mostly made from sheep's milk. I had the peanut butter chip, which was nice but not great. I would try something else if I visited again.

Ice Creamery (we ate too fast to take pics)

I did some geocaching in the town of Atascadero, which has an amazing city hall.

Atascadero City Hall

We thought we would try a local wine, so we bought Paso Dragon from a local supermarket. It was ok, not my favorite. Again, I would try something else from the region before going back to this.

Hard to resist a wine with "dragon" in its name!

In San Luis Obispo, we went to a playground to use up some time before the mission opened. Our kids tried their hardest to go up a roller slide. They eventually succeeded!

Facing a challenge

We stopped for lunch in Solvang, a city in California that was settled in the 1940s by Dutch descendants. They made the town very Dutch in its architecture and food and decorations (we drove by wind mills, so I was not able to photograph them). We ate lunch at Ellen's Pancake House (I had the pineapple dutch pancake--a lot of pineapple chunks folded into a thin and delicious pancake). 

Sample of architecture

Pineapple pancake (with bacon pancake in background)

More un-Californian architecture

Of course we stopped at a bakery and got some danish to eat!

Cheese danish and cinnamon roll

Our next stop was Ventura, California, with a playground near our hotel (in addition to the Mission and, later in the day, the Reagan Presidential Library). 

Swinging too high!

Crossing a rope bridge

See-saw siblings

Beach and Pacific Ocean

Unloved playground equipment

Disneyland 2025

The final stop on our California trip in 2025 was Disneyland, which was celebrating 70 years of wowing guests. We had a one-day pass which was plenty for doing just the one park (Disney has an adjacent California Adventure Park). Like its Florida counterpart, visitors enter through a Main Street with shops and eateries.

Happiest visitors on earth!

Our first ride was Space Mountain, the famous indoor, in-the-dark rollercoaster. Our youngest has just started riding the more daring rides and was happy to start off with this. Since we arrived at 8 a.m. the line was not long.

Space Mountain entrance

People ready to ride

Our next priority was the new Star Wars rides. Since Smugglers Run, the Millenium Falcon ride, had a short line, we tried that first. Back in Orlando, I had ridden it twice as a single and wound up being the engineer both times, which is not the most fun role (the other roles are pilots and gunners). With our group of four, my wife and I were a gunner while the kids piloted the Falcon. It was a lot of fun for all.

Walking into the Galaxy's Edge area

Ready for some games

Relaxing before the run

Millennium Falcon!!

More of the Star Wars world

The line for Rise of the Resistance (the other Star Wars ride) had a long wait so we rode the nearby Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, a classic coaster that was fun for everybody.

The mine near the coaster

Another short line was Tiana's Bayou Adventure, a re-theming of Splash Mountain with characters from The Princess and the Frog. The ride was typical Disney, with lots of animatronic entertainment along the way. The part we did not like was the soaking we got at the end of the ride. We were still wet for quite a while afterwards. 

Tiana's Bayou Adventure

Happy at the start

Right next door is The Haunted Mansion, another classic Disney ride with narration by Orson Welles and lots of fun, spooky special effects. The Mansion itself looks more like a Southern Plantation house. In Florida it is a creepy castle. The ride was just the same.

Putting the "Mansion" in Haunted Mansion

Adventureland is home to a newer Indiana Jones ride. Called "Temple of the Forbidden Eye," riders go around in a large jeep that tosses back and forth as it travels through the menacing and dark temple. We enjoyed the ride and it gets the Indiana Jones vibe quite well.

Temple of the Forbidden Eye!

We went back to Tomorrowland to ride Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. We went around in a space cruiser shooting up bad guys with laser pistols connected to our car. It was more fun for everyone else--my pistol was not working and I ended with a score of zero!

Astro Blaster sign

Buzz Lightyear giving advice

Also in Tomorrowland is a gigantic round stone on a fountain of water. The water pressure is high enough to lift the stone slightly, allowing visitors to spin the stone in different directions. Moving it did take a lot of effort.

Rolling the stone

Teamwork!

My daughter wanted to ride Autopia, a car driving ride that was very laid-back. Each car runs as its driver steers and uses the gas. The track does not allow for too much steering!

Her goal

My son drove me

Caught in traffic

Picture of a picture taker

Crew of the other car

We decided it was time for Rise of the Resistance and used the Disneyland Railroad (which runs around the perimeter of the park) to get closer to the ride without a lot of walking. At one point, the train goes through a building that recreates the Grand Canyon as it is now and as it was millions of years ago.

Current Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon in the age of dinosaurs

The line was not too long at Rise of the Resistance, letting us bypass a lot of the flavor text and decor. The ride is just as amazing and wonderful as the Florida counterpart (it is in fact exactly the same).

Typical Rebel/Resistance equipment

More of Galaxy's Edge

I want an R2 grill

As we were walking around, we ran into Boba Fett. I managed to get his attention and a picture with him. So cool!

Talking to the man

He did not want my hand on him!

A better pose

We went on Big Thunder Mountain again and stopped at The Golden Horseshoe for a snack.

Train on the mountain

Yay ice cream! (Are those Mickey ears?)

Inside the Golden Horseshoe

My wife chose our next ride, Pirates of the Caribbean. My daughter complained that it was like It's a Small World but for adults. Our family (especially Grandpa) thinks It's a Small World is boring, more for little kids. The ride is a little different from the Florida counterpart, including riding past a dining area. Also, the entrance is much fancier in California.

Pirates line was not long, though not as short as walking the plank

We walked across the park, through the central castle (which is much smaller than the one in Florida) to Mickey's Toon Town. 

Sleeping Beauty Castle

Toontown is more focused on kids but Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway is the main attraction. It goes through a cartoon story with the same sort of technology and vehicles as Rise of the Resistance, so it was pretty amazing.

Rise of the Resistance but for kids

The next requested ride was the Mad Tea Party, on which my wife did not ride because it makes her nauseous. 

Happy riders

All but mom

I made the family go on the Jungle Cruise, which is a very silly ride with lots of dad jokes about life in the jungle. I enjoyed it but even I thought our cruise guide was over the top.

Entrance for Jungle Cruise

Shouty McJokerson

We went back to Galaxy's Edge for another go at Rise of the Resistance. I had a hard time not taking pictures. One of the First Order guards told us to move along after we documented our capture.

Rey imparts words of wisdom

Troops ready to torture us for information

Cell block

Afterwards, we spotted a Coke stand--I guess Coke Classic goes further back than we realize!

Coke even rebranded an R2 unit!

We went for a second time on the Indiana Jones ride. The afternoon was getting late. A lady approached us and said she was leaving and still had some unused Lightning Passes that she offered us. After explaining how it worked, my wife took a picture of her QR code and we used it to get ahead on the line.

Inside the Temple of the Forbidden Eye

We used the passes to ride Big Thunder Mountain again and Space Mountain twice in a row!

The town of Big Thunder?

How many mountain rides are in this park?

Picture from earlier in the day--you can get them free!

Dad and son not as bored as lady in front of them

Making up for the lameness of last picture

The sun started setting and we decided to get a few more rides in. My daughter wanted to ride the Astro Orbitor at the entrance of Tomorrowland. We waited in line and got to the front with only two seats left on the ride. The operator offered us to wait till the next ride but my wife and I bailed out so the kids could go on right away. The ride did not have Lightning Passes so we did not get on quickly.

Astro Orbitor

Kids in space!

We went back to Galaxy's Edge for another run or two on Smugglers Run, switching up who was in which role. It was still a lot of fun. Piloting was harder than I thought it would be!

Falcon at night

On board

Waiting for our turn

We headed back to Main Street to catch the end of the evening parade and the fireworks show.

Ladies from Frozen

Minnie having a ball

View of the castle down Main Street

Some fireworks

Some other fireworks

And yet more

The park was open till midnight but we did not stay that late since we had to fly back home the next morning and our Airbnb was a long way from Disneyland. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed it all.