Captain’s Log: Sunday, 27 July 2014.
12:03 a.m.—Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, and whatever it is that we did to deserve this, we’re sorry already!
2:47 a.m.—Really, really, really, really sorry. Really.
6:30 a.m.—We’re up. I take an early morning hike way down the mountain to the staff parking lot to retrieve the van, which thankfully is no worse for the wear. I’m astonished to find a parking space somewhat near our room as I drive back up. That makes packing a lot easier.
7:30 a.m.—We’re on the road and heading west. But we have one critical stop to make before the long drive really starts. You see, we’re also sick of Pop Tarts at this point. Fortunately, thanks to my crackerjack vacation research skills, I have located…
7:47 a.m.—A
Krispy Kreme joint on the west side of Phoenix with the HOT DOUGHNUTS NOW sign lit up. Unlike the Pop Tarts, I could eat these for breakfast every single day for the rest of my life and not get tired of them.
7:48 a.m.—Their coffee is kinda nasty, though.
8:02 a.m.—Back on Interstate 10, heading west. I keep calling it “I-10”, but I hear that when you’re in California, you have to call it “The 10”. Don’t know if I can get used to that. Anyway, it’s a 5-hour drive from Phoenix to Anaheim. Most of that ride consists of a view of nothing in particular. It’s the reason God invented the portable DVD player.
We also picked up
The Imagineering Field Guide to Disneyland and California Adventure for the kids (ok, and us) to flip through along the way and whet our appetites for the parks. If you’ve never seen these booklets (they have some for the Florida parks as well), they’re a neat little read.
10:13 a.m.—Sand. Rocks. Scrubby bushes.
10:42 a.m.—Zzzzzzz…hu-what? Oh, hey, look! We’re in a new state! And we’re traveling back in time again!
11:17 a.m.—Time for our side trip to break up the drive. We’ve exited the freeway to find ourselves in the middle of nowhere.
11:29 a.m.—But never fear. After a few miles, we find our destination.
Joshua Tree National Park was first administered as a National Monument in 1936, and then with good behavior and outstanding performance reviews was promoted to National Park status in 1994, tracking along roughly the same promotional schedule that I’m following here at my job. It’s meant to preserve the high Mojave Desert and the habitat for the Joshua Tree, a twisted, spiky-looking tree that only grows in this general area at elevations above 3,000 feet. We had thought it would be a good place to break up the drive a bit, as well as get yet another National Park passport stamp in our book.
My parents had advised me that if we had the time, there’s a side road that leads to Keys View, a wonderful view of the San Bernadino Mountains and Coachella Valley to the west. They also told us of a short side road that leads to Cottonwood Springs, a natural oasis in the desert.
11:42 a.m.—We stop at the small Cottonwood Springs Visitor Center on the south side of the park. The entry fee here is $15, bringing our grand total of entry fees to $118 vs. the $80 annual pass. It’s also as good as place as any to have our (sigh) PB&J sandwiches.
I notice as we eat that there are a lot of road construction signs around.
12:12 p.m.—Lunch is finished, and we head down the side road from the visitor center toward the oasis. We get barely half a mile down the road before we reach barriers announcing the road is closed. No oasis for us today.
12:15 p.m.—Back on the main road, we begin the drive into the heart of the park. The ranger told us it would take approximately 2 hours to drive from the south entrance all the way to the northwest corner, near the town of Yucca Valley, CA. There’s an alternate, shorter route to the town of Twentynine Palms at the northeast corner of the park, but if we went that way we would miss out on the Keys View road my parents had told me about.
12:16 p.m.—The main road is also under construction. There’s a beautiful, smooth, fresh layer of pavement that looks fantastic. Problem is, it’s on the southbound lane on the other side of the road. Our lane is all dirt.
It’s hard to tell from the picture, but it’s very rough and bumpy and dusty, which makes for slow going. Don’t tell the rental company about this part of the trip, ok?
We grit our teeth and deal with it. It’s probably only like this for a mile or two.
12:19 p.m.—Or three. Bumpity-bumpity-bump.
12:25 p.m.—Or five. Bump-bang!-shimmy-rocks-against-the-windshield-crunch.
12:32 p.m.—Or eight. This is ridiculous. Every time we approach another rise or bend in the road, we think we have to be close to the end. Then we clear the rise and see nothing but dirt road ahead.
12:34 p.m.—I start driving on the wrong side of the road. Don’t tell the rental company. For a few blessed moments, the road is smooth, the air is clear, and the motion is quiet.
12:35 p.m.—Julie is freaking out about me driving on the wrong side of the road, even though no one has passed us for several miles. Fine. Back we go. Bump-Bang!-Screech—Wham!-scrunch-slide.
12:52 p.m.—This goes on and on and on…for at least 20 miles. I’ve been trying to go as fast as I can to get to the end of the construction zone sooner, but the tossing around has made at least two people feel a little car-sick. It’s hot. My shoulders and neck are sore from gripping the wheel so hard. And we haven’t seen one stinking Joshua Tree yet.
1:03 p.m.—At one turnout, we see these bushes, called octolillo plants. Well, that was certainly worth the trip.
1:17 p.m.—We’ve climbed above 3,000 feet, and lo and behold, we finally see a Joshua Tree. Huzzah.
1:23 p.m.—There’s another one. Zippadee doo dah.
1:30 p.m.—We reach the crossroads. Turning left will lead through the rest of the park, toward Keys View. Turning right leads out, to the town of Twentynine Palms.
At this point, we’re all miserable and seriously underwhelmed by the Joshua trees. Looking to the west, the mountains appear to be completely socked in with clouds. Everyone in the car would rather be at
Disneyland.
We turn right. So long, Joshua Tree National Park. I’m starting to see why it took so long to promote you.
It’s probably unfair to compare this park with Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Grand Canyon, but I know where I’d spend my time if I had to come back to the region.
1:45 p.m.—With a renewed sense of purpose, we are speeding along the highway, heading back towards I-10. And look—to the left, outside the boundaries of the actual national park, just along a normal stretch of road…more Joshua trees than you can count. Sigh.
2:03 p.m.—Here are the mountains we would have seen from the overlook. I think we made the right call in passing it up.
By the way, if it feels like I'm speeding through the entire day just to get to the Disney stuff, you're absolutely right.
3:42 p.m.—We’re approaching Anaheim. It’s a Sunday afternoon, so we haven’t really encountered the infamous L.A. traffic jams you hear so much about. Traffic is definitely heavier the closer we get to the city, but it’s still moving. We’ve been following our GPS directions the whole way, but I go a bit off course and get onto Ball Road. We stop for gas, and then I proceed to make a left onto Harbor Blvd.
I wanted to go this way so we’d be able to do a drive-by of the parks. We can see a few Disney banners hanging from lightposts, and as we take the bridge over I-5 I can see the top of the Matterhorn peeking out over the tree line.
In my mind, I’d imagined that we would drive by and see Disney everywhere, with a monorail escorting us side-by-side down the road as we made our grand entrance. In reality, we see a little bit of the Matterhorn, an empty monorail track, and a lot of trees. On the other side of the street: Best Westerns, Denny’s, McDonald’s, etc. It’s a weird feeling to know we’re so close to Disney property and yet also in the middle of an urban streetscape.
4:17 p.m.—We make a u-turn at Katella Avenue and enter our home for the next two nights:
The Castle Inn & Suites.
This is not the place we would normally have chosen to stay. We had originally targeted one of the Best Westerns in the area, angling for a free breakfast. But at some point in our planning, Julie had found a groupon offer for hotels in the Disneyland area that beat any of the rates we could find. The only problem was that the deal was through an agency that would end up choosing your accommodations for you. Since we were already at the breaking point of our trip budget, we got the deal to save money. We stated our preference on the form as the Best Western…and they ignored that and put us in the Castle Inn.
It looks fairly cheesy as we pull in. Although I have to admit that it takes a fair amount of…shall we say, “chutzpah” to give your hotel a castle theme just a few blocks away from the masters of the castle theme.
Anyway, I’m being a bit unfair to the place. All we need is a clean room, with usable beds and a bathroom. The Castle Inn delivered all of that and we have no issues with the place whatsoever. It’s also a block-and-a-half walk to the main Disneyland entrance.
5:10 p.m.—Speaking of that walk, I think we’re all ready to take it.
5:20 p.m.—Like I said, it’s a weird feeling to see a typical city block on one side of the street knowing what’s on the other. Just a little ways down the road…
5:22 p.m.—We pass under the sign and walk along the hedgerows. The path is wider now, and not far down we start to hear it:
Music. “You’ve Got A Friend In Me,” to be specific. As we all know, if you go anywhere on Disney property, there will be a soundtrack to accompany you. You don’t think about it much while you’re there, but it’s one of those things that makes Disney “Disney”. And you certainly miss it when you leave. Disney knows that life is better with a soundtrack.
Julie smiles. “I’m feeling it,” she says. “I’m feeling it now.” And we all know what she means. Disney magic in the air.
We’re not going into a park this evening. The plan is to wander Downtown Disney, have dinner, and just basically stand around with goofy grins knowing we finally made it to Walt’s original park.
5:28 p.m.—We go through the security check and enter the main plaza between Disneyland and California Adventure. It’s exciting to see Main St. Station just a stone’s throw away. Thanks to Alison, we have 1-day park hoppers waiting for us. I go to the ticket window to see if I can grab them, but I’m told I have to pick them up on the day they’re reserved for use. No problem. They open at 7 a.m. Monday morning. They can expect to see me around then.
5:33 p.m.—We exit through the security gates on the other side of the plaza and enter Downtown Disney. Being a Sunday night, it’s somewhat crowded. We’re headed to a dinner reservation at
Tortilla Jo’s, just down the way.
(Photo obviously taken at a different time and then shamefully used here)
6:00 p.m.—We wait a bit for our table and then are seated. Julie and Sarah have actually eaten here before. They went to the Rose Bowl parade a couple of years back, and stopped by Downtown Disney on that previous visit. When they returned, they came back raving about this place. So it seemed appropriate to eat here and see what all the fuss was about.
Here are a couple of crappy photos of the interior.
6:12 p.m.—Julie and I peruse the menu and end up ordering the exact same thing. This happens a lot, and I always accuse her of just copying me rather than being original. I suppose it’s a good long-term sign for our marriage that we have similar tastes, but I still feel the need to give her crap about it. It’s a guy thing.
Anyway, we order the combination plate, and choose a pork-and-potato tamale to go with a beef enchilada.
The beef enchilada is outstanding. Really tender, flavorful, delicious beef. The tamale? Not so hot. Tough and chewy. In retrospect, we would have gotten a taco instead.
Luckily, Scotty can’t finish all of his tacos and fries, so I “assist” him. Can’t waste food with starving children halfway across the world and all that.
6:39 p.m.—We navigate the crowds again as evening falls. I love watching Disney parks light up at night.
Of course, no visit to Downtown Disney is complete without a stop at:
We’re not buying anything yet, but it doesn’t hurt to do a bit of advance souvenir-scouting. Also, this helps prepare us a bit for the sticker shock of actually buying the souvenirs.
And even if we’re not making purchases yet, there’s still nothing that says you can’t pull a KatMark.
7:15 p.m.—We’ve had our dinner, done our browsing, and we have an early start for a long day tomorrow. So we reluctantly decide to close up shop for the night and try and turn in early.
If we can sleep, of course. As Julie said, we’re feeling it now. We never expected to be on Disney property so soon after our last trip. It almost feels like a bonus. We set the alarm early, but I don’t think anyone is going to have a problem being ready to go in the morning. We can’t wait to see what’s behind all those hedgerows.
Coming Up Next: Seriously? You really need me to spell it out for you?
You nailed that description. 
