Disney Trip 2022

I was out in Los Angeles last February and, through the magic of Collin, was able to go to California Adventure on day and Disneyland another. The idea was to go both days with Liz, but the weather and air travel had other ideas. So day one was a magical California Adventure adventure with Mom and Dad.

A proper Disney day begins with an early, early morning in San Marino. And getting in some of your day’s reading.

Collin met up with us at the Mickey & Friends parking garage. I love the feeling of Disneyland in the morning! The cool sunny ear, the feeling of possibilities ahead of you.
We were there in their early post-pandemic days where some ridiculous policies in place, like no tram to the park. So you start your day with a dang long walk. I’m glad my knee was operating fairly well back then.

Rope drop took place in the park—for a minute we headed with the throngs to Radiator Springs but then decided to start with the new Spider-Man ride, instead. It was pretty cool! Dad was very impressed by the effects during the ride’s pre-show.

Then Dad had his first ride on Tower of the Galaxians. And THEN we took our Radiator Springs Ride. What is it about that Radiator Springs Racers ride? It’s just go the Disney magic all bottled up so tight. They really outdid themselves with it.

Then we rode the Ferris Wheel which I LOVE but also comes stocked for people who do not love it. Then we passed through Chinese New Year-oriented celebrations, tried to ride Soarin’ except it broke down the minute we were taking off (we were able to come back and ride it later) and then enjoyed lunch at the Pym Test Kitchen, which is fun!

After lunch we rode most the rides a second time, plus some more rides that I don’t have pictures for, and did some exploring. Did you know that California Adventure embraces both kinds of otters? Meaning: the Good Kind and the Horrible Kind.

A fun thing about California Adventure is you can do everything a couple of times and around 3pm say “You know what? That was fun. Let’s go home.” It was nice to have a nice time with my nice parents. I probably hadn’t been to a Disney park with just the two of them since the time they took me when I was 3 and we went on Space Mountain and I didn’t ride another roller coaster until I was 13. This time went a little more smoothly!

Okay so then a few days later Liz had made it to California and we were up early for a trip to Disneyland! This time Dad decided he’d stay home and read, but Mom is a Californian and not one to pass up a Disney opportunity! Collin met us at the park once again and we took that long walk together and he got us right into the park. What a guy!

I love this little sign! Going to Disneyland is so exciting! Look how excited Mom is! They did rope drop right up at the edge of everything. We headed straigh to Space Mountain and I just don’t get how the line can already be so long when it seems like we’re some of the very first people to get there.

From there, a nice little visit to the Matterhorn

Then we passed through Fantasyland and checked out the new, less scary version of the Snow White ride. A service dog was learning to ride rides there!

And then…we took Mom to Galaxy’s Edge! It was her first time in Star Wars land, she was really impressed. I had been there late summer of 2019 during a quick evening visit before Rise of the Resistance had opened. It was great to be back and have a chance to check that ride out. And we also had a real fun time on Smuggler’s Run, too.

After that, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, and a corn dog lunch!

Then we rode Thunder Mountain. A bummer about Disneyland is that it can get to around 3pm and you’ve got to get one of your party to the airport and you feel like you just got there. Oh well. It was still a Ton of Fun! Aaaaand who knows…maybe I’ll go at Disneyland again soon?

Rose Parade 2023

Hello, for this latest entry of my non-sequential blog I’d like to show you pictures I took at the Rose Parade this year. It was great to be back for the first time since the pandemic…I think it was my first parade since 2017? Maybe.

The day begins with an early morning walk up to Leslie’s Pool Supply, the spot where we’ve been parking our chairs in collaboration with the McGregors and the Collettes for the last while. The pre-parade excitement along Colorado is one of the best parts of the whole day.

The Stealth Bomber had to take a break this year so instead we had two B-1 Lancers do a flyover…officially this marks the beginning of the parade, but down at our spot we know we’ve still got a good while so we took a little walk to PCC by way of our old parade watching spot at Colorado and Allen, snuck into the Church Institute building to use the bathroom, and moseyed on back to our spot at Leslie’s.

Back at Leslie’s the parade-anticipation begins. One of the McGregor grandchildren turned out to be an old high school friend of Liz’s. And we had other new friends in the bunch. Plus old friend! Soon the official Rose Parade police motorcycles rolled by and it was time to sit down and enjoy the parade!

And here we go! It’s the 134th Tournament of Roses Rose parade!

When the golden band arrived there was some kind of big breakdown somewhere and the parade was held up for quite a long time. So people start drifting out into the street. It proved an excellent opportunity for a picture with La Cañada raccoon float.

Ok! Back to business, everyone sit down and let’s go!

Illinois had a float! IYNYN (If you nose, you nose.)

And then, just like that, the parade was over! What a nice time we all had. Thank you for scrolling all the way to the bottom of this post!

The Rest of the Art I Saw in 2022

So I made that Katz post about my favorite art show of 2022, but now here’s a post about all the other great art I saw in 2022. Every museum or gallery visit I took last year is represented here as briefly as possible. I feel very fortunate to have access to world class art all over the place here in New York, but also saw some real cool stuff in states like Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois this last year. And Mexico, too, of course.

Art #1: The Sacred Feminine in LDS Art & Theology at the Center Gallery

Art #2: An afternoon stop at Christie’s to look at the old art they were auctioning off.

Art #3: A visit to the Met to check out the recently reopened European Paintings galleries

Art #4: Carl Arrington’s Jame Joyce art at the Center Gallery

Art #5: A visit to the Met with Emily

Art #6: Just a little bit of time passed at a few Chelsea galleries

Art #7: The Whitney Biennial!

Art #8: Birthday visit to the Indianapolis Speedway and you know what? I say those race cars are art!

Art #9: Popped into the Larrie Gallery on the LES to check out a little show of Daniel Arnold photographs.

Art #10: On my next Columbus trip, Liz takes me to the Aullwood (All wood?) Audubon Center to see their trolls. Trolls are art! (and you know I can’t resist posting an Eastern Box turtle)

Art #11: a nice Saturday afternoon visit to the Cloisters

Art #12: a quick stop into the New Museum

Art #13: a nice Chelsea gallery walk including a big Barbara Kruger show.

Art #14: Find an opportunity to go back to the Chelsea Galleries to check out a Devon Turnbull sound system. Anyone remember Nom de Guerre, the store that used to be in Noho that you’d go under the sidewalk to get to? Well now the guy that made that store makes these monstrous sound systems.

Art #15: Art Institute of Chicago — took a little Chicago trip, Liz came over too, Mom and Dad took us to the Art Institute.

Art #16: And then Liz and I went up the street to the Museum of Contemporary Art to check on their big Nick Cave show.

Art #17: then a day or two later we all went to Cantigny to see their alebrijes

Art #18: Went to the Columbus Museum of Art to see their show about Raphael tapestries as well as other nice art.

Art #19: Big Chelsea Gallery crawl with Rebecca and Paul

Art #20: And just a few days I went to the overwhelming Wolfgang Tillmans show at the overwhelming Friday night MoMA.

Art #21: There was a new Billy Childish show at the Lehman Maupin gallery in Chelsea. Billy is my #1 favorite punk musician and now he’s an art star. We’ve “met” twice! But it’s been a rather long time.

Art #22: On my way to one of my visits to the Katz show I popped into the UES Gagosian to see the Anna Weyent show. Anna Weyent is a downtown NY art darling AND she’s dating the owner of the Gagosian? Funny how that works out. I enjoyed her paintings and drawings, though.

Art #22: And right before going to a Christmas Party I popped into the new little Kerry James Marshall show at the Jack Shainman gallery (I’ve “worked” there!). Great stuff. I’m nuts for Marshall.

And that’s it! That’s all the art. Although now I realize I should have included Other World in Columbus. Oh well. Nice to always have something else to post about.

OH! You know what? I also went and saw the Edward Hopper show at the Whitney. Hmmm. I wonder where those pictures are?

Ok, found them!

Bonus Art: A December trip to the Hopper in NY exhibit at the Whitney. I had been dragging my feet about getting to this one. I don’t know why! It was a treat! (Also: appearance by hamburger guy statue)