The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter

I have been dreaming about visiting The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood since they first opened in April 2016. Since our home is only a four-hour drive away, I thought I would have visited sooner. Alas, the opportunity never arose. Also, not to mention the prices are up there with Disneyland. At this particular time, it costs $105 for a one-day general admission ticket. That means for a family of four it would be $420 just to get in through the gate. Then there are the added costs of hotel rooms, food, and souvenirs. It's no wonder I had not visited Universal Studios.

My family decided to drive back home for an extended weekend visit, leaving me behind in Southern California because I had to work. I thought it was only fair that I had at least one fun day while they were gone and settled upon a trip to Harry Potter land. I just had to pay for one ticket admission, and I could eat a big breakfast, pack water and snacks, and save myself for one big meal at the Three Broomsticks. I bought my tickets the night before and went to bed that night super excited for the upcoming day.

The park opened at 8 am and I had planned on arriving at that time to get the maximum amount of fun at Universal Studios. My family also woke early that morning for their drive home. My daughter was upset she could not stay behind and visit the amusement park with me, but I reminded her the fact she has never read nor watched any Harry Potter books or movies. She only knows one character, you guessed it, Harry Potter.  I had my big breakfast, packed my bag and I was off before everyone else.

I have never visited an amusement park solo before. I found it to be very relaxing and enjoyable. I got to spend as much time as I wanted in Hogsmeade, I stood in the single rider lines, I did not have to argue with anyone, nobody complained their feet were tired and needed to rest, and I could maneuver through the crowds with great ease. My only issue of the day was at the end when I decided it was time to ride the Studio Tour tram. There was no single rider line for this ride. The line was a never-ending zigzag. I ended up waiting for 55 min; my feet were barking!

I stayed at the park all the way till closing time, having a blast all by myself. My co-workers asked me why did I go by myself. I told them it was better that I went alone and I was glad that I did. Everyone should experience traveling and visiting places solo at least once in their life. It teaches you not to be so dependant on others and gives you the feeling of freedom from doing what you want to do. Maybe a solo trip to Disneyland will be next!

Flying Our DJI Phantom 3 Standard...FINALLY!!!

I watch a lot of YouTube videos, and the ones that impress me are ones with stunning drone cinematography. Being able to have a bird's eye view down onto earth is just amazing. Earth looks so much different from above. All the different textures, colors, and lines you can not appreciate from the ground is magnificent from above. 

So, last year on Black Friday, (yes, you read that right, LAST YEAR), after a long day at work, I drove down to the local Target store. I had my eye on the DJI Phantom 3 Standard because I knew that day it was $100 off, which is a big deal. Since it was late afternoon when I drove to Target, I didn't have high hopes of any being left. I told myself, ok, if there is one left it is destiny, and I will buy it, if not, then I am not going to worry about it, it just must not be our time yet. Cruising down the store's central aisle, I finally came upon the electronics section. Sitting alone in it's locked cage was a single DJI Phantom 3. I stood there for a couple of minutes having second thoughts on spending so much money on a drone but finally decided it was all in the name of photography and fun, I called the clerk over and told him I would like to purchase the last drone. He immediately told me how the rest of the drones were sold rather quickly that day and he had assumed the store was sold out, but just a few minutes before I walked in, he happened to be in the back supply room and found just one more drone. See, it is destiny that brought me to my drone. Lucky me!

We have brought our drone out with us on several trips in hopes of getting fantastic shots but either it was too windy, drones were not allowed, or I was just embarrassed to fly it. I have charged it countless of times, but it has never been flown. Looking back, I do regret not flying it along the coast in Monterey, CA. The ocean is such a stunning blue and the contrast of the sea with the rocky shore is just crazy.

Finally, I decided enough was enough. We are going out, and we are going to have our first flight. Now, finding a place to fly it in Southern California is hard. Drones are not allowed in the city of Laguna Beach, you can not operate them in parks, in neighborhoods, or near an airport or military base. I searched on Google Maps for a vast open space, not near any housing and came upon a place called Ortega Falls.

Saturday morning came, we all piled into the truck and headed on down to the falls. We pulled over to the parking spot on the side of the road and saw a little trail leading down the bottom of the hill. This trail was pretty steep and full of bushes and plants. We got down just a few feet and decided to turn back and try flying the drone from the flat area we saw just on the other side of the highway. So, we ran across the street and quickly placed the drone down on the ground. It was a little breezy at the particular spot and being drone novices we were not prepared for it to be blown away over the edge of the hill right after take off. Fortunately for us, the drone was swept into a bush and not over the side. Our next problem was how do you turn this thing off?!? After looking like total noobs reading the directions, we finally managed to turn the propellers off. 

My husband and I talked things over and decided we should go to a flat area for our first flight and just our luck, according to Google Maps, a flat field was just down the road. After making sure we did not see any no trespassing signs we set the drone down and took off on our inaugural flight. We learned how to maneuver the drone and control the camera at the same time, how far we able to fly away from us, and how to land.

It was a great experience, and we had a blast flying it around. The video that was recorded came out better than I thought it would and I was even able to grab a screenshot and post a picture on Instagram. We are all looking forward now to flying it along the coast. I have no doubt some great photos and videos will soon be published because of our year old drone. 

Big Bear, California

Since most of my weekends in December are open, I am trying to make sure we spend at least one day each week on an adventure. Today's experience was up to the mountain to Big Bear. Big Bear is just about a two-hour drive from Orange County. You can wake up early in the morning, catch a couple of waves down at the beach, and then find yourself skiing or snowboarding down the mountain in the afternoon. There are not too many places on Earth where you can do that!

The drive up was pleasant, minus the usual SoCal traffic. I love driving up the winding mountain roads with views that go on forever. It is always interesting too to see the change in vegetation as you rise in elevation. We went from sea level to 6,752 feet. Our ears were popping as we drove higher and higher. 

Our first stop was the Big Bear Discovery Center. If you ever get the chance to visit Big Bear, this should be your first stop. All the information you could ever need for the area including hiking trails, bird watching, off-road destinations, and excursions can be found here. Also, permits are required to park at specific hiking starting points, and they can be purchased here. 

After checking out all the exhibits in the Discovery Center, we drove around Big Bear Lake and headed to the central part of town. We drove past Big Bear Snow Play area and were sad all our winter snow gear was back at home in Las Vegas. The ski runs are also visible from here, and even though it was mostly human-made snow, you could see lots of people were having a great time on the slopes. 

We reached the Village where all the tourist shop and eat. As we were walking around, I could not help but chuckle inside at all the different degrees of winter wear everyone was sporting. Even though I have lived most of my life in the desert, I do pretty well in the chilly weather. The temperature that morning was around 40 degrees. I had on sweatpants, a short sleeved shirt, and a sweater. I thought the weather felt fantastic. My kids were dressed in their everyday winter attire of boots, sweats, and hoodie or jacket, while the hubby had on jeans, t-shirt, and hoodie. Everyone else was dressed like we were in a full-on ski resort. I saw people with puffy winter coats, knee-high fuzzy boots, scarfs around their faces, beanies, ear muffs, ski pants, and mittens. My hubby swore he saw a girl standing, decked out in full winter battle and her teeth were still chattering! It was not even cold enough to snow yet. Hence the human-made snow on the slopes. I have no idea what these people would do in a real winter town like Banff or Whistler!

We stopped to eat at the Teddy Bear Restaurant. The kids wanted pancakes, and my son was deciding if the kids' portion was significant enough to satisfy his hunger. The kind waitress told him the pancakes were sized about yeh big which led him to order a short stack over the kid's menu. He even wanted to order a double short stack, but I told him his eyes are much larger than his stomach. When the pancakes finally arrived, they were MASSIVE! He barely ate half of one pancake, and he had two on his plate. As you can tell, we had to bring home two take away boxes.  

Big Bear was a fun day trip out of urban life. It is always good for the soul to reconnect with nature, and for me, it is the pine trees and fresh mountain air I crave. 

Los Angeles Natural History Museum and LAX Plane Spotting At In-N-Out

This was my first day off from work in three long, long, weeks. I worked my regular Mondays through Fridays, but I was on call at the hospital over Thanksgiving weekend and the following weekend as well. Unfortunately for me, both weekends ended up being rather busy days. But, it only hurts until payday as we say. So, it should be no surprise I already had my first off weekend days planned out with activities.

Back home when the kids were little we would wake up early, if it was not a sweltering hot summer day, drive over to Dunkin Donuts, grab a box of yummy Munchkins, and head on down to the airplane viewing area at McCarran airport and watch as the planes took off and landed. My son loved watching the aircrafts, but he became even more interested after our trip to Thailand in 2011. He knows all the domestic planes and their livery as well as a few international airlines we would sometimes see arriving in Las Vegas. I knew Ethan would grumble when I told him to wake up and get ready but, I also knew he would be super excited once we saw how close we would be to the planes.

The best place to view the planes landing is at an In-N-Out right next to the LAX runway. We all just LOVE In-N-Out. I think I could eat there every day and never get tired of it. It took us about an hour drive to reach it and just like every other place in Los Angeles; this place was packed. The line of cars was through the parking lot and out into the street. We had to park on the street even though there were plenty of parking spots. Because of the constant line of drive-thru cars, you would never be able to back out and leave. There is a row of a few umbrella tables along the landing path, and I immediately claimed one and sent Thao and Ellie off to fetch our burgers. It took them about 20 minutes to return. In the meantime, Ethan and I were in awe of all the large planes passing right in front of us. Guys were sitting with binoculars, and across the street, at a little park, a kid was having a birthday party. All were there to plane spot just like us. 

After eating our scrumptious burgers and fries and getting our fill of airplanes, we headed out to our next destination. I believe the Los Angeles Natural History Museum was our first natural history museum. I was not too sure what to expect since I did not do too much research beyond checking out the ticket prices, and I can assure you the prices are very reasonable. The museum entrance is through the gift shop. We passed the gift shop and were so surprised at how the museum looked as if it was straight out of the movie "Night At The Museum," complete with skeleton dinosaur at its entrance. The themed rooms such as Hall Of African Mammals and Hall Of North American Mammals was just like the staged dioramas in the movie. This gave the museum a little something extra. I think we were all hoping for the exhibits to come alive and party with us. 

The Hall of Gemstones and Minerals was a crazy place. So many gold nuggets, and precious gems. I can't even begin to imagine how much insurance they would need to cover such goods. Three meteorites are on display here and look so unlike anything I have ever seen on Earth. It just makes you wonder what else is out there in the universe that we have yet to see. 

I love when the kids see an exhibit that relates back to their school work.  Ellie did a project this year on short-faced bears. I had never heard of them before she did her research. She would talk about how short-faced bears never come up in pictures, articles or books bears are mentioned. At this museum, she found a skull of one of these extinct short-faced bears, and she could measure herself up against one. Fabulous! 

All in all, we had a fantastic day. If you are ever in the Los Angeles area I highly suggest visiting the Natural History Museum and if you have extra time and are a bit hungry, In-N-Out by LAX has great food and great entertainment. 

Gold Mining in Julian, CA

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A few weeks back when I was at work, I was pondering about what fun Southern California activity my family and I could enjoy over the weekend. Being from Las Vegas, Southern California was always the destination for a quick weekend getaway. So, it comes as no surprise that there are many things we have seen and done already. It was hard trying to find an activity we could do as a family that did not cost an arm and a leg and was something new to do. I asked my co-workers if they had any suggestions and one of them asked: "Have you ever visited Julian?" I told her that I had not and asked what was there to do there and she quickly replied that it is an old mining town situated in the mountains that are famous for their apple pies. Naturally, I was intrigued. 

Julian, California is a designated California Historical Landmark. In 1869, gold was first discovered in a creek just west of Julian and soon after on February 22, 1870, the first gold mine was established. Word spread and soon hundreds of men and their families were rushing to the area to stake their claims, creating a gold rush. The town grew and so did their apple orchards. Today, Julian has a population of 1,502 and is known for their annual Julian Apple Days Festival and their famous apple pies.

We set out early in the morning after a quick breakfast with plans of eating pie and touring the Eagle and High Point Mines. After driving down the winding, mountain roads we finally arrived at this cute, authentic western town. I am not sure if it was because it was Veteran's Day or if the crowds we saw are an every weekend kind of thing but this town was PACKED with tourists. There was absolutely no place to park your car. Our first plan was to walk around the main street and check out the shops but we took one look and said "NO WAY! Let's just head over to the mine". 

We drove my cute two-wheel drive Fiat up the dirt, pot-holed road to the mine. I must admit I was not all that impressed upon first glance and I could tell nobody else was either. If you plan on visiting Julian, be sure to bring lots of cash. We are normally debit card people who never have cash on us, so when it came time to pay for our admittance, there was an issue. If you sit and listen to everybody's conversation you will hear that everyone else did not bring cash either. The folks at the mine must be used to this and actually are very trusting. They tell everyone who does not bring cash to just go ahead and do the tour and afterward drive down to the gas station and get cash from the ATM. That gas station owner or the owner of that particular ATM must make a killing off all these unplanned cash withdrawls! 

I will say the highlight of the trip was the actual mine tour. I have been partially inside some mines but not totally exploring deep inside like you get to here. Our tour guide even turned off all the lights so we could see just how dark pitch black really is and then lit a candle similar to ones used by the miners over a hundred years ago. There is no way I would have ever found my way out of those tunnels without modern lights!

After the mine tour we drove down the road and was lucky enough to find a parking spot right on the main road.  We at lunch at Miner's Diner after a 45min wait due to the enormous amount of people who also wanted food. I was expecting some small, lame burger but I was pleasantly surprised with a large, juicy, not overcooked burger and french fries galore. After filling our bellies with diner food, we strolled down the road to Julian Pie Company and got ourselves a whole apple-pumpkin pie to go. 

If you ever find yourself in Southern California in the fall and are looking for something just a little different to do, I highly suggest visiting Julian. Just be sure to bring lots of cash with you!