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    • May 7, 2006

ABSOLUTELY ENCHANTING!


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Dude. Felt like I got beat up by a rollercoaster! Last Sunday, Bean woke me up to ask if I wanted to go to Enchanted Village. She had FREE passes from Matt’s mom. Yay! Jess had stayed the night, so the three of us went and spent the afternoon riding rides until Jess had to leave for work. Bean and I returned to the park to go on one last ride. The Wild Thing rollercoaster. Ups, downs, and a few twists and turns upside down. You’re enclosed in the seat by a pull-down harness that rests on either side of your head. Standard coaster seating. The ride started out smoothly enough rounding the bend and starting the climb up the track -chu-chunk-a-chunk-a-chunk- until the peak and- WHOOOOSH!!!!


The WHOOOOSH was great! Good fun. And then on the upsweep, rounding another bend, it happened. Something boxed my ears. All the way through the upside down swirls that followed, my head bobbed back and forth like a pinball, between the harness on either sides of my poor little head. Youch!! Totally hurt. Wasn’t expecting it. And it cracked me up. Could hear me sister’s head rattling around over there, too. Laughing hysterically, we were! At each other’s yelps from continuous boxing of the head. The car pulled into the loading area. Ready to get off? Nooooo! They send you through a second time. Off we went fairing a little better a second time through, but boxed all the same. Nevertheless, the pain was so worth the thrill.

I’D TOLD HER ALL ABOUT THE UPCOMING TRIP AND TO JOKINGLY SHARE THAT SHE WAS FREE IF THEY’D LIKE SOME EXTRA COMPANY.

Our amusement park outing landed on one-year-to-the-date of our last trip to another, altogether better amusement park: Disneyland! Early last May, Tina told me to keep the 21st open. Said we were gonna be out and about all day starting with an early rise in order to make it down to the waterfront to watch the sun come up. The 21st arrived, and I was up and ready to go by 4:45 a.m.-ish. Down the hall walks Denise and Michelle, two good friends! Denise is going on about how we need to book it to make it to the airport on time. Turns out, weeks before, I’d been telling Bean all about Denise’s latest trip to Disneyland for the 50th anniversary celebration (she works for Alaska Airlines, hence, free travel, and is the biggest Disneyland fan I know). Denise had another trip planned to take family down for the upcoming weekend (See? Including our trip, that makes three trips in one month alone!) Tina, being the second biggest Disneyland fan I know, was wishin’ and hopin’ to go along in vain, when I suggested she send an email to Denise stating that I’d told her all about the upcoming trip and to jokingly share that she was free if they’d like some extra company. Denise being Denise, totally took Bean up on her email and set a date for the four of us to spend the day together a few weeks later, on the 21st. They decided not to tell me because at the time, I was a bit down about school coming to an end which meant I wouldn’t be seeing people I cared about on a regular basis as I had been. One of those melancholy endings, happy to move on to a new phase in life and sad to leave the old, comfortable one, you know? They figured what better to put a smile on my face, then to take me to the happiest place on earth! SURPRISE! Totally worked. :)


So many things to love about that day … from the Starbuck’s at the airport to the doting, exceptionally friendly airline attendant to walking down the colorful tile tunnels at LAX out to the first glimpse of swaying palm trees beyond the parking lots in the background. Love Toon Town, Mickey and Minnie’s houses are too cool with their paint jobs, all the shading and blending of colors. Love! My favorite is New Orleans Square with the likes of the Pirates of the Caribbean (love those fireflies!) followed closely by Tom Sawyer Island. The best treats have to be Tigger tails at Pooh’s Corner and Bean and I adore that gooey honey popcorn. The Mad Hatter was great fun to interact with! Give the man an Oscar. It’s a Small World, is wonderfully tacky and a bit creepy, too.


Bean and I’ve gone three years in a row now and need to make it a fourth. DisneyWORLD, not LAND, would be nice, I’m thinking. In fact, Denise just returned from there last week!


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