I decided to see if I could get some photos with the Winnie the Pooh characters. The line did not look to long and was moving very swiftly. Unfortunately Tigger was not around, but I got to see Eeyore and Pooh in their Christmas finery. Tigger came back just as soon as I was done. For a moment or two I considered getting back in line, but decided against it. They have a really neat Winnie the Pooh themed tree in that area that reminded me of the character trees that they used to have at Camp Minnie-Mickey at the Animal Kingdom.
I started to make my way back towards the front of the park via Frontierland and decided to check out the Jingle Jangle Jamboree during daylight on the way. I have to admit that this appeals a lot more to me in daylight. There is so much clever detail. Just outside the Jingle Jangle Jamboree there is a sleigh and there was a Photopass photographer with this so I stopped for some photos. I do like the rustic feel of the decorations in that area down to snowflakes made from ropes. I also managed to get a photo with Santa Goofy while I was there.
The highlight in this area for me though was a log cabin. I am not sure if this was supposed to be Santa’s house or if this had a different meaning entirely, but the theming of the area and all the little details were absolutely amazing. I spent a fair while in there, just looking around, taking everything in and taking photos. Even though it was in plain sight, it turned out to be a bit of a hidden gem as hardly anybody was in there.
At that stage, I was all parked out. I started to head towards the exit. However, I had one last thing to take care of. At some stage during my travels, I had come across another cash machine. That one did not want to give me any money either. I really did not fancy having to call my bank, but I started to think that I may have to. There was one thing I wanted to try. I wanted to see if I the card worked when making a purchase in one of the shops. If there was an issue with the account, this would not work either. So I decided to get the Christmas sweatshirt after all. The payment went through without any issues and I was very relieved. The new top came in handy the next day, too.
Once I had completed my purchase, I headed out of the park and in search of a cash machine that was not operated by Chase. I have the issue in Dubai that a lot of the cash machines even of the big international banks like HSBC and Citibank don’t seem to like my card and I can only get cash from the machines of two or three different banks. I hope that I won’t have the same issue in the USA as well from now on and that it was just a technical glitch that day. I did find a cash machine that was operated by a different bank at one of the Good Neighbour Hotels and that gave me cash without any issues. While I was there, I also saw a “bigger brother” for my Olaf Beanie Baby, but I resisted for now.
I headed back to our hotel. I still had about an hour until one of our friends was due to pick me up so I decided to use one of the internet computers in reception to catch up online. The internet access is complimentary and to my delight, they had iMacs. Once I had replied to my emails and checked in on Facebook, I headed over to the room to get freshened up and to switch bags. I then headed back to the front of the hotel to wait for our friend. She arrived shortly afterwards.
We headed to Seal Beach. On the way we just chatted about all kinds of stuff. It was nice to get some time with just the two of us. This was getting even better. We had some real girl time coming up. I get manicures with a gel-based nail polish that is cured under LED light on a regular basis. This has been a real revelation for me. Ever since I moved to the UK, my nails have been extremely brittle. This just adds enough strength that they no longer break without adding the bulk of traditional gel or acrylic overlays. They also look pretty and last for up to three weeks. Because of work and other commitments, I had to get my nails done quite early before the trip. So at that stage I was coming up to 4 weeks. Add to this that my nails had a bit of a hammering between swimming, snorkelling and theme park rides and they started to look a bit of a mess. So when my friend suggested we should get our nails done, I grabbed the opportunity with both hands. It was nice going with a friend. I ended up with multi tonal glitter in a frosted white base. I thought this was kind of a Frozen theme. I liked how they came out. Unfortunately I never got around to taking a photo. I was spoiled rotten while one person worked on my nails, the other gave me a neck and shoulder massage. I seemed to have acquired quite a few knots and it was heavenly to have them worked out.
When we were nearly finished Graham suddenly turned up. He knew that we were going to have our nails done and figured he would find us at one of the salons on Seal Beach Boulevard. He was right. I was relieved to see him. Graham also saved us some time and aggravation. It was the tree lighting ceremony at Seal Beach that day and we had planned to drive by the waterfront on the way to the house of our friends to check out the decorations. Graham mentioned that it was complete chaos in that area so we decided to avoid this particular pleasure.
Once we were done, we headed to the house of our friends. Ken had arrived back as well so we just had some time relaxing and catching up as we had not seen him since May 2013. This will never cease to amaze me. We live half-way around the world and only see each other once a year, but when we do get to meet up, it is like we have only seen each other a few days ago. At some stage we started to talk about dinner. We had no preference. Our friends suggested Lucille's Smokehouse, which was fine by us. Sue called to make a reservation, but they were unable to make a reservation on such short notice. They did however offer to put our name on the walk up list so that we would get seated as soon as possible after we arrived. We set off shortly afterwards. This worked fabulously well. When we got there, we had to wait only a couple of minutes before we were seated.
The food was absolutely amazing. We both had an ice tea. Graham went for the plain option and I had mine with peach flavour. Graham did play it safe and had Lucille's Marinated Sirloin Steak, which was tender sirloin steak marinated for 24 hours in a special marinade, sliced and served over garlic mashed potatoes. This was served with steak gravy and fresh vegetables. I was a little more adventurous and had Texas Style Beef Brisket with macaroni cheese and BBQ beans. Everything was delicious. Graham had some fruit cobbler, which he also enjoyed. I really wanted to try the Snickers Ice Cream Pie, but I had no room for dessert.
We had taken our time over dinner and thoroughly enjoyed the lovely food and the great company. However, all good things have to come to an end and all too soon it was time to leave. On the way back to the hotel, Ken and Sue asked if I wanted to drive by Crystal Cathedral. I took them up on their kind offer. Crystal Cathedral will always have a special place in my heart. On the way be drove past Shepherd's Grove, which is the new home of the Crystal Cathedral congregation. I have seen photos from the inside and this looks lovely, but the outside is not much to write home about. When we got to Crystal Cathedral, Ken offered to park so that I could have a proper look, but I was happy to just drive past.
Soon we were back at the hotel and it was time to say goodbye. This was quite sad. Not only did I have no idea when we would see our friends again as neither of us had any concrete plans for when we would return to California, but it also suddenly hit me that this adventure was rapidly drawing to a close.
We were both quite tired. We had a lovely day, but it was quite a long one. However, there was one last thing I needed to take care of and that was kind of sad. I had finally got up the courage to give Napa Rose a try and 60 days out, I got up in the middle of the night to make a reservation for the Chef's Counter. Unfortunately this can only be booked with the restaurant directly and due the time difference, I had to get up in the middle of the night to call them. I got a reservation for our last evening and was so excited. Unfortunately for some reason I had been off my food all holiday. That evening was the first time that trip that I actually finished a meal, but a single course was a real struggle. As the Chef's Counter at Napa Rose is a multi-course experience, I had to accept that this was not going to work. It is not a cheap experience either and after Graham and I discussed this at some length, I decided with a heavy heart to cancel this. So I had to call the restaurant and the person I spoke to was very understanding. I really hope that I get the chance to experience this on a later trip. Once I made the call, we got ready for bed and called it a night.
