Back to Berkview Lane

Yesterday, we spent the day with the Newbury Park McKays. We visited their church, The Bridge, and enjoyed their service. Afterwards we went to lunch at the Side Street Café. I ordered chicken and waffles which were delicious. We then headed back to their house. My cousin Alex introduced us to a game based on the show Firefly. I’ve never been a fan of the show unlike my Mom or brothers, but the game was pretty fun. I thought I was making some headway in the game, but my cousin Ian won the game, despite our attempts to delay his victory. We had been talking about the Maze Runner series and Ian suggested we watch the movie he’d bought. The movie was pretty good, but I felt the plot was too rushed. It was around seven, so we packed up our stuff and said our goodbyes to the Newbury Park McKays.

The drive home was only a three hour trip with little traffic. We finished the last book in the Maze Runner trilogy and I enjoyed the story, but was disappointed with the fate of some of my favorite characters. Around 10 pm, we pulled up to our driveway, tired but satisfied with the memories we’d made on this road trip. I look back on all the places we went and people we spent time with these past twelve days and wouldn’t want to change any part of it (well accept being detained by the U.S. at the Canadian border). Thanks for all who read my blog posts and hopefully you enjoyed reading about our road trip as much as I did writing about it. Until the next road trip, enjoy your life and stuff.

One of my favorite pictures from the trip...you know because there's a random family in the background

To read a different perspective of today's events, read my Mom's blog here  or my brother Joe's blog here.

Saving the Best for Last

Today was the day I’d been waiting for the entire road trip, the visit to the Walt Disney Family Museum. I’ve been a fan of Disney ever since I can remember. I enjoy the feature films and am probably an even bigger fan of DisneyLand. I’ve had an annual pass for the past two years and have loved visiting the park with Mom and Joe, as well various people in my dorm at college. I’m not one of those crazy DisneyLand fans, however, who go to the park thirty times a year or takes pictures with Disney princesses. Okay, well maybe I have gone to the happiest place on earth twenty-five times this year. I guess I can’t really help that I have a passion for the park. I never get tired of going on the different rides, watching the magnificent shows, and learning about the park’s history. So you can understand my excitement when we pulled up to a museum all about the life of the man behind it all, Walter Elias Disney.

Alright, so maybe I got a photo with one princess.

The Walt Disney Family Museum

Located in San Francisco, the Walt Disney Family Museum offered visitors a chronological history on the life of Walt Disney, from his parents’ marriage to the passing of the influential man. There are several rooms with tons of placards about Walt’s life and a wide collection of artifacts. Some portions of the museum were even narrated by Walt Disney himself. The first room provided info about Walt’s childhood and the constantly changing careers his father had. The next room was about Walt’s time in WWI and his growing interest in entertainment. We then road an elevator decorated like a 1920s train caboose, symbolizing Walt’s move to Hollywood and to a career in animation. The second floor was devoted to Walt’s early successes and failure in the entertainment business. There were placards that mentioned Walt’s Laugh-O-Grams, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and of course Mickey Mouse. The next room was about process of making Disney’s Silly Symphonies and their increasing sophisticated animation over the course of the 1930s. The following few room gave information about the feature length animated movies done by Walt as well as a few nature films. We walked down a hallway which provided a nice view of the Golden Gate Bridge and entered my favorite room in the museum: the DisneyLand room. 

Thought to be the earliest drawing of Mickey Mouse

The Academy Award given to Walt Disney for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

This room had clips from the DisneyLand television series, a model of Walt’s vision for DisneyLand, and even an old Autopia car. Further down the room, there was information about Walt’s hand in the World’s Fair, especially the influence of audio-animatronics. Another room had some info about some of the final films Walt had a hand in, like Mary Poppins. The next room was very solemn as it informed visitors about Walt’s death, a loss felt by millions around the world. The final room paid tribute to Walt as it featured pictures of his life and achievements as well as quotes from family, friends, and others who had been inspired by the legendary animator. Overall, the museum did a phenomenal job honoring Walt Disney and his contributions to animation, film, and theme parks. It has definitely become my favorite museum of all time (no offense to the Museum of Clean). I could have spent the entire day reading and learning about one my favorite heroes, but we had a six hour drive to Uncle Marc and Aunt Jackie’s house, so we hit the road around three.

Walt's train that he rode in his backyard

Walt's vision for DisneyLand

The drive to Newbury Park was only made shorter by listening to third book in Maze Runner series. The road was not very scenic and we drove through the least pleasant smelling portion of the I-5 decorated with manure fields. After only a couples stops for gas and food, we pulled up to Uncle Marc and Aunt Jackie’s house around 10 pm. We greeted our family and spent some time catching up and telling stories from our road trip. Tomorrow, we’ll spend the day with the Newbury Park McKays and then head home to Spring Valley to conclude our twelve day adventure.

To read a different perspective of today’s events, read my Mom’s blog here and my brother Joe’s blog here.

I Can Drive the I-5

After such a late night on the road, we slept in a bit so we’d be awake for the drive to Sacramento. The car was packed up and we were checked out of our hotel by noon. We drove to Voodoo Doughnuts in Eugene which was featured in the Travel Channel show, Man v. Food (though it was their Portland location that was featured). The shop has a wide variety of doughnuts, everything from a classic glaze to a peanut butter Oreo. Their most famous is the voodoo doll donut, a raspberry jelly-filled doughnut in the shape of a man with a pretzel stick in his heart. We ordered the voodoo doll doughnut, along with some of their other creative selections. We tried a few of the ones we purchased and they were all delicious. We returned to the I-5 South around 1 pm to continue our drive to Sacramento. 

Doughnuts!

Which one? Which one?

He'll just take one of everything

When we’d put some road behind us, I took the wheel and drove for a couple hours. I drove into California and was met by some mountainous roads. The engine in Mom’s Honda Fit roared as we climbed up and down the hills. I drove an average of 55-60 mph for the span of the mountainous highway as about forty cars passed me in the left lane since the speed limit was 65 mph. Mom is often a bit nervous when any of me or my brothers drive her car on road trips. To my surprise, however, Joe seemed more uneasy I made turns at 50 mph. He kept commenting on speed and reminded to slow down on the turns. Perhaps Mom was too exhausted from the night before to be anxious. I don’t why either of them are worried. I’m the only one in the group who hasn't received a ticket or been in a fender bender so far. I drive an eighteen feet food truck for my job at college, I think I can handle a small Honda Fit. Anyways, we made it out of the mountain region and I sped up to the 70 mph speed limit. After we passed Redding, Mom started driving again and we arrived at our hotel in Sacramento around 9:30 pm. Tomorrow, we’ll drive to San Francisco to visit the Walt Disney Family Museum (the most highly anticipated stop on the road trip for me) and then head down to my Uncle Marc and Aunt Jackie’s home in Newbury Park to spend Sunday with them.

For another perspective of today’s events, check out my Mom’s blog here or my brother Joe’s blog here.