First visit to Disneyland! Day One, Post No. 1

12:32 p.m. and I have walked through the gates at Disneyland for the first time in my life. Automatically, I feel like a kid again. Well, mentally at least. I know my body is the age that I am, but who cares. I know that there will be benches and low walls and rides and such to allow me the chance to rest when I need to. My friends Sharon and Jenna have been here before, so they are my aces in the hole, so I know they'll keep me from making too many missteps as we spend lots of time here over the next four days. I bought those sunglasses at the Rain Forest Cafe the day before so that I could deal with that bright sun. Sharon and Jenna remembered to bring theirs from home--see what I mean about experienced travelers to Southern California? Our hotel sells not only bus passes but also Disneyland tickets! By getting our four-day-hoppers before we left the lobby, we avoided one line at the park. Eyes glued to the flower-filled Mickey Mouse on the slope that led up to the Disneyland Railroad depot, I would have missed seeing my first characters. Thanks, Sharon, for pointing out princesses! Belle and Cinderella? Yes! I Googled to check my answer. Not bad for an ol' lady! We rode the train around the park, twice, at my request. I just kept looking and looking and looking. When we got off at the station, I looked across the street and saw a few folks in line, looked to the left to see what had grabbed their attention. Mickey Mouse! I took off across the street and got in line. Yes, my first character photo is with the greatest mouse ever! What a good hugger he was, too! One photo I took while we were on the train--Minnie Mouse being so sweet with a little girl. Wow. My face had started to ache a bit from the full-time grin plastered on it. And I'm certain that the excitement level in every word I spoke, every thought I had soared to the stratosphere, just like a rocket in a Disney cartoon! P.S. I apologize for the fact that the photos may be loading slowly--I think it has something to do with a change made at Flickr. There is nothing that I can do about it. I hope you'll still visit the blog and enjoy the photos. Thank you.

Winter Opposites - No. 6, motorcycle man wears it all well

Somewhere in Portland, riding a TriMet bus, I noticed this motorcyclist. His mustache caught my eye first, quickly followed by his sunglasses, helmet and pony tail. I sat there while the bus waited at a traffic signal, looking out the window on a sunny July 24, 2010, thinking of the times I rode behind my dearly departed husband LeRoy on his British racing green Triumph motorcycle. I thoroughly enjoyed holding onto him as we rode around Kansas City back in the day.

Sunshine and blue skies

Close crop of a bit of serendipity--the man's sunglasses reflects the blue sky (see next photo). A bit more serendipity, how the reflected color matches the glowing hair around Jerry Garcia's head. And the last bit of serendipity--how that other man's head almost completely pops out of the guy's dreadlocks, as if he were a two-headed man, current on the right, future on the left. Love it!

You know, I could have taken the time to clone a few of those dreads to completely cover that older dude's shirt, making it look even more like we were looking at a two-headed man. But I decided to only crop and straighten. I'll leave cloningfor another day.
 

Here's the wide shot of our beautiful Union Station. I took this photo on July 14 as I approached to enjoy Union Pacific's 150th birthday event.

One photo taken through my sunglasses, another one without the sunglasses

Through the sunglasses

Not through the sunglasses

I still feel awful, but I didn't want to miss posting today. Thanks for the well-wishes.

One photo taken through my sunglasses, another one without the sunglasses

Through the sunglasses

Not through the sunglasses

I still feel awful, but I didn't want to miss posting today. Thanks for the well-wishes.