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Wandering North

Chronicling my travel adventures since 2007

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Where I’ve Been
  • Destinations
    • Africa
      • Algeria
      • Benin
      • Botswana
      • Burkina Faso
      • Côte d’Ivoire
      • Democratic Republic of the Congo
      • Ethiopia
      • Ghana
      • Mauritania
      • Morocco
      • Rwanda
      • Senegal
      • South Sudan
      • Sudan
      • Togo
      • Tunisia
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      • Zambia
      • Zimbabwe
    • Asia
      • Azerbaijan
      • Bangladesh
      • Brunei Darussalam
      • Cambodia
      • China
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      • Indonesia
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      • Japan
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      • Nepal
      • Oman
      • Pakistan
      • Philippines
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      • Saudi Arabia
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      • South Korea
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Tag: Halloween

Posted inNorth America USA

Disney at Halloween

What would a trip to Los Angeles be without a trip to Disneyland? D and i made the trip there yesterday. We’ve both been to Disneyland and Disneyworld multiple times but i had never been in October when the park gets a Halloween makeover.

 

Mainstreet USA (the America that never was outside of film and nostalgia) is decorated with jack-o-lanterns and the Haunted Mansion gets a Tim Burton theme. It was wonderful. It amazes me how attractions and rides that are 60 years old still delight and awe. I still love the Jungle Cruise, even though the replicated sights are now things i have seen in real life in my travels. The Pirates Of The Caribbean is still cool with its obvious animatronics (i do believe though that they have taken out some rapey bits). (Allegedly this is this ride that terrified me as a toddler due to a fear of men with facial hair.) it’s A Small World is a kitschy delight. And tomorrow land feels more retro than anything, but it still great.

I love it. All of it….well, except for one thing. There are just too many children. I know, it is a family theme park and i don’t begrudge people taking their kids, but there are just so many strollers and babies screaming and kids that are just way too young to enjoy or remember any of it. We thought/hoped that by nighttime they would leave, but they didn’t. If anything, they multiplied and got exponentially louder and more unpleasant as the day waned.

In the end they beat us. Families with their strollers (including fat kids who should not have been in strollers but lacked the ability of sustained walking) stayed and camped out, awaiting the fireworks display as they cried and bickered. At that point, we had had enough and left.

It was great though. Always magical.

Read More about Disney at Halloween
Posted on 15 October 15
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Posted inNorth America USA

Fulfilling Childhood Dreams in Los Angeles

I don’t usually blog about places in North America. I live here, so it doesn’t seem very exotic, but this time i thought: Los Angeles is blog worthy. It’s not Ethiopia, but it still has much to see. So i cranked up a few choice songs from the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack and set out to explore.

I am here visiting my sister, D, who moved here from Miami Beach a few years ago. This is not the first time i have come here to visit, but it is the first time i have been here for more than a long weekend and the first time i have had days entirely on my own – on foot – to wander without aim, as is my preference.

As much as Los Angeles doesn’t seem exciting it was the first and only proper vacation (as in: air travel required) we took as a family. I was 11 and we went to Disneyland and Hollywood and it was the highlight of my young life. There is still the memory of that childhood delight in seeing the landmarks, even if i no longer have a desire to stand in celebrity cement footprints and shop for plastic souvenirs.

More recent trips have involved drives down the coast, walks down Venice Beach, and cocktails at the Formosa.

This trip does have something of a purpose. D and i, both horror and Halloween fans, are centering many of activities around that theme. So far there has been horror movies and browsing in the sort of amazing year-round Halloween stores that could only exist in Los Angeles (or more particularly, Burbank.)

One of the highlights of this trip happened yesterday when we attended a screening of one of our favourite child movies: The Monster Squad. This was ordinary screening, mind you. This was an event. A screening at the stunning United Artists theatre, which feels like a cross between a gothic cathedral and a haunted castle.

We shelled out for the vip tickets which gave us access to a pre-show reception with many members of the cast and crew. You just don’t get to do this sort of thing in Vancouver. It was very cool to talk to people that had been in and created the movie we love so much. Everyone was so nice and generous with their time. Following the reception there was a Q&A and then the movie. It was a great experience. I also tried my first and last Twinkie (a snack featured in the movie). It was disgusting, but another once in a lifetime experience.

After that, still giddy, we had a cigar and coffee at a cafe on Broadway in the glorious 100 degree heat before driving to Pasadena for dinner.

It was a great day that satisfied both childhood and adult me.

Read More about Fulfilling Childhood Dreams in Los Angeles
Posted on 13 October 15
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About Wandering North

Welcome to Wandering North, where I have been blogging about my travels since 2007.

Dale Raven North

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