TaylorHaps

Birthday at Disney

30 April – 4 May

I flew down Saturday morning, took an Uber to Disneyland, and met Gary for the day (he drove down). On Sunday we went to church and the had lunch at Ralph Brennan’s and then he drove back. I spent a lot of time at the animation academy in honor of my dad’s birthday. Spent my 50th birthday in the park. The next night I went to the Star Wars after hours event which was awesome for short short ride lines 🙂 The next morning i spent with Ethan and Emily (they were tagging along with Jason’s trip with Alicia who were at universal studios for the day). I flew back that afternoon.

I collected 50 delightful things for my 50th. I actually got more than 70! 🙂

Capitol Reef and nearby state parks

13-15 April

Drove through the beautiful Escalante-grand staircase NM

The hell’s backbone road was disappointing. 2 hours of washboardy dirt roads

And the bridge was really short and not very precarious

Beautiful morning at Capitol Reef campground

Northeast Trip Part Two

Pentagon 9-11 Memorial There were benches lit from below for each person who died in the attack

LBJ memorial is built on the Potomac where he and Lady Bird would sit and look at the city.

I had never been inside…just seen it from a distance

The John Paul Jones Memorial…so cool in the moonlight!

WWII memorial…not as cool with no reflecting pool

I had walked more than 2 hours! Good thing Ada stayed back at the hotel.

I slept late so I had to skip Mt Vernon. We went to the National Gallery. Love this sculpture of the black regiment in the civil war

Love these works of Thomas Cole. Such great use of light

We got out of the rain at a Spanish restaurant called Jaleo. I had heard of it.

The food was beautiful as well as delicious!

Tortilla, pan con tomate, ensaladilla rusa, patatas bravas, and Kas limon. We got two extra cans to take with us. 🙂

We didn’t want to wait a whole hour to tour so all we saw of Ford’s Theatre was this portrait…

Riding scooters in the rain right down Pennsylvania Avenue was the most awesome thing we did in DC!

Arlington House, Robert E Lee’s house. the greatest view!

Teddy Roosevelt Island, a nature preserve 🙂

Washington DC temple. From a distance since it is being renovated

Delaware State House, complete with green dome in honor of St Patrick’s Day 🙂

First State NHP was really cool in the early morning fog

If I can’t have a green burial then this is what I want 🙂

After an eventful afternoon of traffic, wild goose chase looking for a bathroom, unpacking all our stuff from the rental car and dragging it on several trains to get to our hotel, we finally made it to Company. 🙂

Loved it! I did stand the whole time after having an attack of claustrophobia, but it was still awesome!

I walked down to Castle Clinton as well but I neglected to take a picture

The memorial always touches me. That’s all 3 9-11 memorials on this trip

The African Burial Ground was really neat

Got tortilla, bread, Kas limon, and nocilla from Despana and authentic churros y chocolate from this place

Hadestown left me speechless. Sad and touching. Love the music!

Fun Stranger Things store with cool photo ops

Little Shop is so fun! We didn’t love Audrey but everything else was great 🙂

Happened upon a Harry Potter experience when looking for a bathroom

The most amazing pastries! Almost too beautiful to eat!

Had some NY pizza at Carnegie Pizza across from our hotel, picked up our bags, and headed to the airport. What a great trip!

Northeast Trip with Ada

11-20 March 2022

We flew into JFK very late, got our rental car, and drove to Boston. Ada stayed to hang out with her online friends and I drove up through Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York.

The storm made the roads horrible so I had to skip Acadia 😦 I went to the hotel early and went for a swim, got some dinner, and went to bed very early.

Left for my next adventure at 4:30 am. The roads were quite snowy so it was slow-going. And then it was no-going when I ran over some wood dropped in the road and got a flat tire. I called AAA and they promised to send someone in an hour. It was really really cold so I had to run the car most of the time. After almost 2 hours a really nice man stopped and helped change the tire. I called AAA back and told them not to bother. Ugh. At least it was really pretty once the sun came up 🙂

Polly’s pancakes. Delicious maple syrup but I didn’t care much for the pancakes. I was really hungry after the car trouble. I spent the previous hour at a car place getting a new tire.

Vermont State Capitol. Nestled right up against a mountain in a really small capital town.

Frederick Law Olmstead’s beautiful grounds…

Really cool hedges that were unfortunately covered with boards in order to protect them

Picked up Ada from the hotel and we stopped at The Blueberry muffins for breakfast and Captain Parker’s Pub for the most delicious lunch. Incredible mozzarella sticks and seafood chowder!

Cape cod lighthouse was moved 4 times because of erosion.

We missed the New Bedford Whaling museum but we did wander the cute historic village. 🙂

Speakers corner in the first American settlement.

The most amazing pizza made by actual Italians 🙂

The Hartford temple is really beautiful!

First stop after lots and lots of horrible traffic…Paterson Great Falls

Drive through lots of Pennsylvania Dutch territory to get famous pretzels. Alas, they were not big soft ones like I was picturing. 😦

The chocolate, on the other hand, was all I was expecting and more!

Pennsylvania Capitol has the coolest green dome!

The Tower of Voices is cool. A chime for each person who died

Movie night in the hotel room. West side story!

Shenandoah National Park in the early morning.

Picked up Ada from the hotel and headed to Richmond

Richmond temple will be super beautiful when it’s done!

Maggie Walker did so much for civil rights in her time

Colonial National Historic Park -Jamestown

The frogs here were captivating!

Ada wouldn’t pose by the statue of John Smith because he was a terrible person…

We found a little place with the most amazing biscuits and fried catfish!

…made for a great spot for cannon fire onto Fredericksburg

The manor was also used to treat wounded union soldiers

Disney by myself (almost) Feb 2022

20-22 Feb

I flew to LAX on Sunday after going to sacrament meeting. Gary was taking a road trip that weekend so he picked me up from the airport and we had a really nice conversation in the car and an excellent lunch at Splitsville in Downtown Disney. Both of our annual passes were blocked that weekend. He left that afternoon, dropping me off at my hotel.

Came back for dinner at Catal (yum!). Watched the fireworks from the plaza.

Peter Pan was the first ride I hit. Took a bunch of photos with my little Lego guy.

Aladdin characters with Agrabah in Storybook land, at the Adventureland Bazaar where the Magic Lamp is and with the characters! They were very flattered to be able to pose with their Legos 🙂 Poor Aladdin got left out 😦

Anna in front of her castle on Storybook and in the hallway where the Elsa & Anna meet and greet happens

Daisy in front of her bowsprit on Donald’s boat

Scrooge McDuck loves the pirate gold on the island

Hades was hard…in front of the fireplace in Beast’s library, in a fake forge in the Big Thunder line, on Mr Toad in the part where you go to hell didn’t work at all but the blurry image is kind of fun 🙂

I ride the Fun Wheel every time to try to enjoy it and work through my feat

Was able to just drop in at the Blue Bayou. Love that Louisiana lemonade 🙂

The most amazing raspberry crème brûlée tart

Magic Key Slush…not spectacular but the glow cube was fun

Blackened catfish and not-quite-carrot cake at River Belle Terrace

Salmon at Blue Bayou. My server Paul was awesome and slipped me a few free chocolate-dipped madeleines and man were they delicious. 🙂

Traded a bunch of pins. Finished this collection! 🙂

Disney with Alex and Ada

23-27 January

Love the carousel! Alex got the tallest one which is honestly a little backward if you ask me

We had the car to ourselves on Winnie the Pooh 🙂

Space Mountain! Sorry about the poor lighting

We bought matching sweatshirts on Sunday night (it got kind of cold!) and then wore them on Tuesday.

We actually asked a cast member if we could use our anything fast passes on this ride and he just let us in through the exit but didn’t take our passes. We thought about seeing how many small rides we could get away with this on, but ran out of time 🙂

Mickeys Mix Magic is my very favorite! The first night we saw it with fireworks. I went again by myself on Tuesday. 🙂

Catal restaurant in Downtown Disney has the most amazing Spanish food. Even the paella! We went with Alex’s friend Sasha after the park closed at 8

Finished this set and did a whole bunch of other pin trading 🙂

We left the park at 2 on Wednesday and drove to Vegas where we saw My Fair Lady at the Smith Center. Great show! We stayed there that night and drove home Thursday. Stopped at the Creamery in Beaver for amazing cheese related food (in the freezing cold!) Alas, we are not in California anymore!

Christmas 2021

Went to the sing-along alone and masked but it was still awesome!

Anne got Covid so everyone tested before coming and wore masks. And we didn’t sing 😦

I bought everyone socks and we played Wasington 🙂

It was supposed to snow but it was a beautiful not too cold day

Disney for Christmas

7-9 December 2021

I drove to Southern California to present at an NSTA conference. Went a few days early to hit Disneyland 🙂

Did a lot of pin trading this trip. Love these new Mardi Gras masks!

I rode this twice at around 9 pm. It was cold but so much fun!

Here we go! I love having a waterproof phone 🙂

Yummy food! New chocolate dipping sauce for beignets, pumpkin spice shake with yummy doughnut, strawberry Nutella churro, and the beautiful marriage of peppermint ice cream bar to hot chocolate. 🙂

The new fast pass replacement (lightning lanes and genie plus) was so glitchy the first day but worked like a dream later on 🙂

My Sulley drawing with my Sulley headband with the Sulley ride

Southern Utah…but actually Splash Mountain

On Friday I drove to the convention center. My session went great! The rest of it was a bust so I left early.

Delicious lunch at the Jazz Kitchen and some wandering at Downtown Disney since I couldn’t get a reservation to go in to the parks

Chilling at the campground…waiting for the traffic to die down enough to drive home. By the time it did I was tired so I just watched the fireworks, went to bed, and left early the next morning.

Hiking the Narrows

5-6 Nov

Overnight hike with Ken and Scotty. Very hard and incredibly beautiful! We rented dry suits, neoprene socks, and boots for hiking in water. We stayed at a site along the trail where we set up hammocks (it was so cold!) On day 2, Ken and Scotty took my pack off and on since I was slow and my knee was really hurting me.

Disneyland for Ethan! And Gary, Emily, and Me :)

25-27 Oct 2021

I spent Monday presenting at a conference and waiting forever at the airport and being freaked out on a plane while Gary and fam enjoyed Disneyland! They did lots of Lego shopping!

Made it to the park at about 9 pm. Had grilled cheese at jolly holiday, rode pirates and Indy and looked for decorated pumpkins on the way back to the condo

Morning 1…Dumbo, Ethan made his light saber, Matterhorn, breakfast at Carnation Cafe (delicious new skillet!) and Splash Mountain.

Afternoon 1…Emily’s dream of eating at The Blue Bayou finally came true! and we got a table right on the water edge! Standing at the center of Disneyland. Carousel, Toontown, and a special Mr Toad photo op for Magic Key Holders.

Evening 1…beautiful river 🙂 we waited to do The Haunted Mansion at night.

Day 2 DCA Avengers photo op, breakfast at Pym’s, Midway Mania (I won!), Fun Wheel (I went on the swinging one but Em insisted on a stationary one), delicious lunch at Lamplight Lounge, some photos in the evening that I took after Guardians and drawing Lightning McQueen on my own.