the happiest few days on earth

[quantumchick]

The past week has been a whirlwind. The trip to California was amazing for all kinds of reasons. I have listed some of the highlights
Saturday

• Our flights to Chicago and Orange County went off without a hitch-- on time, and completely pleasant.
• It was sunny and 85 as we stepped out of the airport in Anaheim.
• The hotel where NARST was being held was grogeous, and Cory and I got a complimentary upgrade to a family suite. Which means... BUNKBEDS! :D (Yes, there was still a King size bed in the main room.)
• I had enough time in the afternoon to check in at the conference and attend a joint paper session on conceptual change in physics instruction. Seeing the other speakers' presentations really put me at ease.
• I met up with Alan (and the Indiana crew) for a great dinner at Buca. Mmm... bruschetta...

Sunday

• I woke up feeling relatively calm and confident about my presentation.
• When I got down to the room, the other presenters in the session were really nice and friendly.
• Audrey arrived before we got underway, and she and I were both wearing light gray tweed suits with robin's egg blue button down shirts underneath. We didn't plan this. It was completely hilarious.
• I was the second speaker out of five, which I consider to be the most desirable position.
• My talk went really well, and I was the only person who finished with enough time to allow for a few questions.
• Several people came up to me afterward and told me that my research was really interesting, and that I was very poised during the presentation for a doc student.
• I got to hear Leona Schauble speak at the keynote afterward. She is amazing.
• Cory and I took off, and hopped over to our Disney hotel.
• We dropped off our bags, and made a beeline for Disneyland, which was literally a crosswalk away.
• We started off on Main St., and just soaked in the marvelous atmosphere, gawking at how incredible it all was. Next we ambled into Tomorrowland, and started with the Star Wars ride.
• Afterward, we shared a delicious fruit plate at Buzz Lightyear's launchpad. Yeah, I know-- but seriously, I was really impressed by the healthy options that they've added at a lot of the restaurants.
• We moved on to Matterhorn, It's A Small World, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Haunted Mansion, and Peter Pan (which was much better than expected.) The classics are just that, and they're great! :) Everything was just as spectacular as I remembered it, and we walked around hand-in-hand, grinning like nobody's business. (There were plenty of Disney kisses, too, but not in a gross PDA kind of way.)
• Next we decided to hit up Pirates of the Caribbean since the line didn't look too bad. I had heard that the ride had been revamped since the release of the new movies, but I had no idea how much the special effects had improved. The animatronics were so realistic that I was absolutely convinced that actors were interspersed among the mechanical people and animals. The boats departed, and the scene was quickly set in the Bayou, replete with cabins and fireflies. As the boats ambled on, diners in a dimly lit bistro in the French Quarter became visible. It was then that we realized that these people were in plain clothing, and that there was an actual restaurant located inside the ride! The pirate scenes proper featured the expected level of piratitude, including select appearances of a freakishly life-like Jack Sparrow. All-in-all, the ride took a good ten minutes, and we made a mad dash to the front of the Blue Bayou restaurant, the one we had seen from the boat. We couldn't get reservations for dinner that night, but we scored a slot for a late lunch the next day, and we were superpsyched.
• We left Frontierland, and went on to Adventureland, making visits to Tarzan's Treehouse and the Tiki Room along the way. We ate dinner at the Bengal Barbeque, and then headed back to Main St. for the fireworks.
• These fireworks were fireworks as only Disney could do them, of course. The voice of Julie Andrews resounded throughout the park, and sparkle after sparkle in all shapes and colors illuminated the park. Tinkerbell herself flitted about above the castle. It was really incredible, and a great way to end our first day.

Monday

• Excited about a whole day in the parks, we got a reasonably early start, and decided that we'd start at Disneyland proper, move on to California Adventure, return to Disneyland, and finish off the night with a little shopping at Downtown Disney.
• We grabbed a Fast Pass for the Indiana Jones Adventure, and then took advantage of the lack-of-line at Splash Mountain, which was as great as it always is. By the time that was done, we went back to IJ, which was equally awesome.
• After hanging out in the French Quarter (Cory's favorite place) a bit longer, we decided to head across the way California Adventure. We took a VR ride over California, navigated some whitewater rapids, and looked around the Hollywood sets. Since Cory had ridden Splash Mountain with me, I promised that I would ride the Tower of Terror exactly one time. (Which is a good thing-- my heart couldn't take it again.) We wandered through the It's A Bug's Life land, and then went back to the hotel to cool off for about 45 mins. It hit 100 degrees on Monday!
• Renewed, we went back to the main park in time for our lunch at the Blue Bayou. Set aside the unbelievable ambience, the food was amazing. With the atmosphere of the bayou, with the riverboats periodically floating by, it was absolutely over the top. It was easily both of our favorite experience of the whole trip.
• We headed to Toontown, and met up with Goofy and Minnie. We toured Micky's pad, which turned out to be a very cool experience. It's so odd to see a fully furnished house decked out in oversized, cartoony furniture.
• With our time woefully winding down, we hung out in Frontierland (my favorite place.) We went to the petting zoo, visited the Presidentially pardoned turkeys who now have taken up residence in the Happiest Place on Earth, and walked around for a bit.
• We rode on Pirates of the Caribbean one more time, and then the Finding Nemo submarine ride. As dusk set in, we went back to Main St. and procured the two treats we had earmarked as the most desirable as we scoped out all of the options over the past few days. Cory picked an ice cream sandwich made with freshly-baked cookies, and I had a vanilla cupcake with a Mickey Mouse ring on top. We took some seats in a cafe courtyard, and just enjoyed the evening and the people watching
• Around 9:00 it was time to head out. We stopped by Downtown Disney in search of a Christmas ornament to remind ourselves of our trip. With that taken care of, we went back to the hotel.
• The return trip was as uneventful as the trip out, and we arrived in Albany around 10:00 on Tuesday night.

The rest of the week is filled with the usual game of catch-up after any trip. Tomorrow I'm having lunch with sarah_p, and going to the Grad Newman Wine & Cheese party at Jorge's. On Saturday my mom is in town for a conference, and she'll be staying over. Cory and I are going to make chicken with olives and dates for dinner for her, and we'll probably rent a movie. Other than that, it's back to work, kids. ::sigh:: I so wish I was still with The Mouse.