Bend, Oregon--why ski anywhere else? February 20-24, 2017

This year there was no drought in California.  In fact, the California of February 2017 is a virtual skiing wonderland.  Everything is open.  The snow has come and more is coming.  Just tell us where you want to go!

Bend. We want to go to Bend, OR.  We started going to Mount Bachelor three years ago, when nary a snowflake graced the slopes of Dodge Ridge just days before our departure.  Despite the 9 hour drive..which this time actually took 8.5, even with some fairly hairy weather in the Bay Area and around Shasta, Bend is worth it for us and here are some reasons why...

1)  It's not really THAT far.  Mostly what I heard from the Tahoe goers this year was that the trip up/back was a nightmare.  Traffic, closed roads, white out conditions.  People were taking 6-8 hours to get to and from Tahoe.  Why not take another couple hours and have it be smooth sailing all the way?  I read, watch PBS episodes, listen to podcasts, I even drove a little bit this time.  Before you know it..you are there.  That being said, I do believe good fortune was on our side.  We had friends leave two days before we did and they were delayed by unprecedented FLOODING in the town of Williams on Highway 5, requiring them to take 12 hours to get to the same destination.

2)  Ladies and gentlemen, it's CHEAPER, a LOT cheaper.  Everything is cheaper--lift tickets, rental packages, accommodations...what's more?...there is no sales tax in Oregon, so when you buy four ice creams at 4 dollars a piece, you hand over a 20 and you get 4 dollars back!..not some random amount dictated by the needs of the state at any given time.  Anyway, a three out of five day adult pass ran us $205, roughly 69$ per day (Teen 165, or 55$ per day).  This was with our taking advantage of a 10% discount for buying the tickets four days in advance.  I looked up three day advanced package purchases in the Tahoe area.  Kirkwood was comparable, but you had to book 7 days in advance, and the teen deal was not as good.  Northstar's 3 of 5 adult ticket even seven days in advance was $321 or $107 a day.  THIS IS THE DISCOUNTED RATE, PEOPLE.  And let me tell you, Bachelor is every bit as much a mountain as Northstar, actually Bachelor is 1000 skiable acres bigger.
We also paid 450$ for three days of rentals for five people for the run of the mill sports package.  Big shout out to the guys at Powder House in Bend who set us up for the third time. There is some break down that occurred between adult prices and teen prices and second and third day discount prices--but this translated out to less than $17 per day.  Are you kidding me?  I won't even try to compare that to any mountain rentals, but I did look up a few "in town" rentals in Truckee and Tahoe City.  Tahoe Dave's was $30/day for a beginner package with a two day in advance reservation.  Tahoe Sports Hub was about $26.  So you see where I'm going with all this.
But there's more...We stayed in a 3 bedroom,3 bath recently renovated townhouse with a full kitchen and a stunning view of the Deschutes River for four nights during ski week for a grand total of $1087.22.  I can't imagine how that would be remotely possible in the Tahoe Area.

3)  The snow is amazing and the mountain is huge..and just seems to be getting huger!  The addition of the Cloudchaser Chair (check out this YouTube video about opening day!) added 635 acres of skiable terrain and 6.2 miles of groomed runs to the south east side of the mountain making Mount Bachelor the fifth largest ski area in the United States, and the 8th largest in North America.  It doesn't get warm enough to melt and then get hard and icy again overnight.  The powder actually stays powderey, so forgiving and soft under your skis.

THIS TIME IN BEND....

Well so far I have reported on Bend three times, and I would have to say that in terms of weather, this year fell right between the other two.  The first time we endured snowfall and winds and treacherous visibility. The second it was so sunny that we skied without hats and in sunglasses and open jackets. This time, somehow qualified by the fact the weather only permitted us to ski two days...more on that later...no snow fell, no wind blew, and we could see, but the temperature was colder than that I had experienced even in Canada and Sun Valley Idaho.  Even double gloved and double wool socked, it was hard to prevent the 6 degree temperature at the top of the mountain from turning your hands and feet into ice sausages.  I had on six layers, plus a scarf around my face.  This year I decided to get on the band wagon and wear a helmet while I skied.  The helmet provided a lot of warmth and was comfortable.  I don't know why I didn't start wearing one a long time ago.  Well, I know why..I thought it would be clumsy and I wouldn't be able to see or turn my head.  None of those things happened.

See the EXT?  well...that's the temperature outside in the parking lot

On the top of the mountain it was much colder!!

Hard to believe this is the same parking lot 24 hours later...

Gearing up for some extremely cold weather!

A few had to ask which kid this is...

Sometimes it's easier to just stay dressed..even indoors!

WHERE DO YOU GO WHEN THE WEATHER SAYS NO??

We heard around town that the weather on the mountain the day we arrived had been pretty nasty, and that maybe it would be slightly better the next day.  It wasn't.  We knew as we drove up the road to the resort that things were going to be ugly.  Howling winds near our condo gave way to blasting snow at higher elevations, and by the time we reached the parking lot the snow was sideways, slamming your car doors shut as you struggled to open them.  I trudged to the ticket window and secured our prepaid three day passes, and got the delightful information that every lift on the mountain, minus one little beginner chair, was on wind hold.  Many chairs were not expected to open the entire day.  We met for a little family pow-wow as we watched the horizontal precipitation blast away at the parked cars.  As long as we made no attempt to ski, we didn't lose the day on our three day passes.  We dragged our sorry butts back to the car and drove home.

This is the weather saying "no."

But no matter!  Make lemonade, right.  Luckily Bend has a lively downtown with lots of cozy hangouts.  We made our stop Thump Coffee.  Thump is a cute little place with seating for about 10 with another 10 at the bar.  Most of my team had the Belgian Mocha but I opted for the Spicy Mayan Mocha.  We cozied with our travel books, our magazines, and my daughter with her SAT prep stuff and made our best use of the time.

Now doesn't this look like a nice way to spend a winter day?

Right across the street from Thump is Bonta Artisan Gelato.  This place was so crazy good the first night we tried it, that we went back a second time a few nights later. Bonta has gelato made from all organic ingredients.  Many vegan flavors are featured, making it a good place for those avoiding dairy.  Unique flavors including pumpkin spice, marionberry, salted chocolate, peanut butter with chocolate and chocolate lavender tempt customers even as they stroll in from the chilly streets.  The second night I scored a big hit with the fire strachiatella, a chocolate chip and cayenne pepper concoction.  Wow!  The website said they have a pint of the month club....OH SO TEMPTING!

 Yeah, baby!  Natural Artisan Gelato goodness!!

Yeah, we were stuffed from Mexican food, but

when will you be back in Bend???

And when in Oregon, drink like an Oregonian!  After a little lunch back at the condo, Craig and I left our disinterested kids at home and made a return trip to Deschutes Brewery Tasting Room.  There is a tour you can take and we have taken it before, but this time on finding out we were going to have to wait for quite some time, we decided to go straight to the Tasting Room.  The set up is spacious, with a bar, bar tables, and friendly staff.  For free, you can select four beers from a menu of about sixteen choices ranging from the very light Deschutes River Ale to the 12.2% ABV Abyss 2016 Reserve, beer so specially crafted it has a vintage!  As the pours are about 6 ounces, there is plenty to share with a friend if between the two of you you want to try even more by requesting different things.  The beer is good.  Frankly, since coming to Deschutes the first time, we are complete converts to the brewery. My fave is the Inversion IPA, which is available at Nob Hill and Whole Foods here in our neck of the woods.

 I couldn't have said it better myself!!

My choices for the day will be.....

After all this you are ready for a little soak in the hottub and a little homemade mac and cheese while looking forward to better weather on the slopes tomorrow!

WINTER WONDERLAND!

Thank you for reading this post!  Next it's off for a little southern CA jaunt to visit colleges with my daughter.  Don't know if will make the blog, but something's bound to soon!!

A Disneyland Christmas in November, November 20-23, 2016

I think this is the fifth year straight we have gone to Disneyland during the Christmas season, which in terms of Disney, stretches from about Veteran's Day to New Years Day.  Every year I gather a wealth of information and plan to write about it, and year after year passes and it all just gets too busy and I fail.
It's been about 6 weeks since I posted.
I know I touched on it before but here were the circumstances.  This was the continuation of our trip with my mother in law and my sister in law and her family which started in Las Vegas a few days before.  We left Vegas on Sunday morning at 645 am to arrive back in San Jose at about 8:30 am.  We dumped out our bags and repacked and were on the road to Anaheim by 10 or so.  We were joined there by the rest of the family that had driven from Vegas and one brother in law that flew in from West Virginia.  The other brother in law in San Diego was preparing for hosting Thanksgiving and never made it, so our bunch was 10.
So what's so great about going to Disneyland during the holidays?

CROWDS:

Well there is no doubt we have seen some mighty wicked crowds during this time.  This time we .

wound up there the Monday of Thanksgiving week, and I would be hard pressed to say that this was not the busiest we had seen Disneyland, given when we usually go.  The stand by line for Haunted Mansion in the middle of the afternoon was 120 minutes and there was actually a line to get back in with your fast pass.  On this day we actually had to watch the line at the Monorail to make sure we made it to our dinner reservation at the Disneyland Hotel on time!  Tuesday was about 30-40 % better if I had to take a stab at it.  Last year we went the WEEKEND before Thanksgiving which coincidentally turned out to be the same weekend the "Season of the Force" opened in Tomorrowland, and that was about as crowded as Tuesday this year.  Most of the years we have gone we wound up going the weekend before the weekend before Thanksgiving. Once we went on a rainy first weekend of December, and this was by far the best.
So should the crowd factor keep you away from Disney during the holidays?  Well, I'd say not really. A savvy Disneylander can manage to have a full day and hit most of the major rides.  We rode everything except for Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Carribean, and Alice in Wonderland and rode Matterhorn and Haunted Mansion twice on Monday.  There are doubtless some tricks.  The first is to take advantage of the very early and very late hours.  If the park opens at 8, you are through security and at those turnstiles at 740 or earlier.  Put someone in charge of "running" for past passes, and let this person hold all the tickets.  The minute the park opens, this person runs for the first set of FastPasses while the rest of the family get in the busiest NON-FASTPASS ride available.  I suggest Peter Pan but we always seems to go to Dumbo, more out of tradition than anything, then to Peter Pan second.  The instant you are allowed to get another FastPass, the runner needs to go get the next set.  Usually you cannot obtain a second FastPass until your window opens on the one you are holding, but this is not universal, so you have to watch carefully when you are allowed (this info will be on your ticket) and

again, the instant you are allowed, send the runner.  Effective use of the FastPass system may require some traversing of the park, but I think it's worth it.  We will usually use our time waiting for our next FP window to wait in lines at non-FP rides, which this time were at worst about 40 minutes (Jungle Cruise).
A couple more tricks for time saving:  1) watch the fireworks from BEHIND the castle.  OKAY-it's not quite the same--it's not the classic Disney picture of the castle with the fireworks behind, but it's nearly as beautiful behind Small World.  2)  Watch the later night parade, as a lot of people leave after the fireworks.  In both of these cases, you save a lot of ride time as you can literally run up to your spot just before show time.
I could also give you some advice about knowing which direction the parade is heading and planning your spot stake out accordingly but you have heard enough from me about managing time.
NOW this all being said--these tips do not apply in Walt Disney World, where the FP system is completely different.

SO WHAT'S SO SPECIAL?

RIDES:
There are three rides that are decorated specially for the holidays.  For this reason the wait times at these rides are generally longer than they would normally be.
IT'S A SMALL WORLD changes to a display of children worldwide celebrating Christmas.

 Though I noticed that none of the costumes on the children change (that would be a lot of costumes, as there are about 300 characters), each child holds or wears something additional, a gift, and ornament, a garland, a hair ornament, that makes that child Christmasey.  In addition, festive banners in native languages, trees, stars, fireworks and other detailed decor transform the surroundings to a Christmas wonderland.  The final salon, which as always shows the children united in song, is particularly festive all dressed in winter white. And for all you scrooges who hate this ride for the obvious reasons, the kids take a break from singing "It's a Small World," to sing us "Jingle Bells" in native languages, a refreshing change.
Also particularly beautiful are the red and gold lights that illuminate the ride at nightfall.
The Jungle Cruise becomes the "JINGLE CRUISE."  The ride runs its same course and includes its usual litany of puns which are now geared to the holidays.  Lots of decor changes suggest the natives are decorating a totem pole, the hippopotamus has eaten a fruitcake and that the jungle animals are "playing with" Santa's reindeer. It's a hoot.  The puns make me laugh out loud.  I am the only one laughing.  Everyone must think I'm a complete idiot.  "When getting out watch your step and watch your head, but if you miss your step and hit your head then watch your language..."

Perhaps my favorite is the HAUNTED MANSION HOLIDAY.  Apparent this ride gets decorated into a "Nightmare Before Christmas" theme for Halloween in October and stays the same throughout the Christmas season.  Jack Skellington and some of the other characters make an appearance throughout the ride, including in the complete holiday revamp of the preshow in the stretching room. Lots of decor crossing the line between Christmas and scary, like a wreath with big sharp teeth and a cemetery covered in a blanket of snow. I find it to be mostly colorful and clever rather than scary. I actually prefer this version of the ride to the original.

PARADES AND SHOWS:

The two specifically Christmas shows at Disneyland are the "A Christmas Fantasy Parade" twice daily and the nightly "Believe...in Holiday Magic" Fireworks Spectacular".  Disney's California Adventure has the "World of Color--Season of Light" twice nightly.  We have seen the first two so many times we have nearly memorized them.  World of Color we have never seen.  Quite frankly, the night shows at Disneyland park are so fabulous that we can't bear to tear ourselves away and make the trek over to DCA to sit there in a crowd, all the while missing a change to see the Paint the Night parade one more time.  More on that later.

A Christmas Fantasy Parade runs twice daily, and has been doing so since 1994!.  It runs from Small World down to Main Street at 1:30 and then back again at 4:15.  It's a sweet parade.  Disney characters are featured on floats depicting different Christmas scenes.  Woody rides a rocking horse, the princesses attend a candlelight Christmas ball, and Minnie and Mickey manage Santa's mailroom with Chip and Dale.  In addition to all this is the usual Disney parade magic--shiny toy soldiers, men "skiing" on roller skates, dancing snowmen, all accompanied by a catchy tune that I think even my husband can hum on cue by now.  It is a little funny to watch this parade in the middle of November.  I kid you not, I watched this parade in 80 degree whether once, during which I wondered if Elsa would finally thaw.
The Believe...in Holiday Magic fireworks show runs once a night at 930.  This is another show we have seen about ten times, but it never seems to lose its charm.  The show is a medley of Christmas

The gorgeous castle after fireworks

and holiday type songs of course accompanied by the choreographed fireworks show.  The simulated snowfall on Main Street (it's soap bubbles I figured out) after the finale makes this event particular magical.  People sit and wait in front of the castle for hours but we always slip under the rope about 20 minutes before the show.  No big.  Show still enjoyed.  Why waste all that time?  One thing I should mention is that they do tend to warn several times that due to high winds the show might be cancelled.  They did this both nights this year and also in the past, but I do not remember the fireworks ever being cancelled.
Closer to Christmas..I do remember this happening the year we went in December..Disney arranges special holiday events. One year there was a candlelight procession down Main Street.  100's of carolers processed in rows of 10 or so, shoulder to shoulder, wearing choir robes and holding candles, while singing traditional CHRISTMAS (notice the caps) carols.  It was stirring.  Five years later I can't think about it without getting a little misty.

Not exactly Christmas, actually not Christmas at all, but I have to take a little time to talk about the "Paint the Night" parade.  The Paint the Night parade began in Hong Kong in 2014 and debuted in Disneyland in May of 2015 as part of Disneyland's 60th anniversary celebration.  Apparently its last regular run was in September of this year, but it ran twice nightly while we were there.  I have heard that there is no plan for the parade to run at all past January 8, 2017, and that Paint the Night will be replaced by the Main Street Electrical Parade.  Learning this is a huge disappointment.  This parade is SO FUN!  It is almost impossible to NOT get up and dance and sing along.  The two years we were able to see it we watched it both nights at 10:30 pm.  This parade is a literal party of lights and music and everyone's invited:  Jessie, King Triton, Slinky dog, Lightning McQueen, Belle, Buzz Lightyear and of course Mickey Mouse.  I would say if you haven't seen it go now cuz it doesn't look like it's gonna be around much longer!  Boo-hoo!

DECOR:

Really a huge part of the excitement of this time at Disneyland is just the huge amount of detail that Disney puts into the conversion of Disneyland and DCA into a Christmas wonderland.  Everywhere you turn are garlands, bows, wreaths, lights, bells, snowflakes, decorated trees, and just about anything else you can imagine that would make you think of the holidays.  No eave, lamppost, or storefront goes ungarnished.  Particularly fun are the whimsical car themed Christmas decorations of Cars Land in DCA, in which tire wreaths hang from garlands of oil filters, orange cones are strung with lights and a huge tree is adorned with hubcaps.  It's super clever and just about the only entire land in themed decoration.

There are PLENTY of family Christmas photo opportunities all over and plenty of photographers willing to take pictures of your family, even with your own cameras.  The last two years, our Christmas photos were taken in Disneyland by Disney photographers.  The Disney Photopass system makes in easy to download images and use them with whatever photo service you desire!

Well after five years I finally got this post done!  I hope you enjoyed reading it!  And now for some pictures!

Last year's Christmas card picture at DCA

This year's picture at Disneyland

Our niece Hannah had never been to Disneyland :)

The cousins waiting for the Matterhorn