Pinnacle of Creation

In the first creation story of Genesis creation becomes increasingly complex and perfect as the days progress: light and dark become land and water become plants and animals until at the end of the days humankind is created.  A feminist Midrash takes this philosophy and applies it to the second creation story.  Since Eve was created after Adam, then she is the pinnacle of all God’s works.

I won’t comment on where I stand on that one, but this story came to mind as John and I drove through the central coast today.  I’m pretty sure that when God was creating the world God finished up with California.  And the pinnacle of all the mighty acts of God was to create the Santa Barbara Coast.  Goodness it’s lovely.

I called Jay and suggested we buy a second house there.  He’s sure I’m the first person to have this idea, so prices ought to be fairly reasonable.

But I digress.  Back to the travel log.

John and I woke up early and headed into Solvang for a proper Danish breakfast at one of the many Danish themed establishments in town.  Or, at least I had the requisite Danish pancakes.  John chose essentially the Atkins’s breakfast: one egg, FOUR sausages, and a slice of orange.  So he won’t get scurvy, I presume.

Then we were off.

And here’s the business tip of the day.

Before getting to Anaheim we did have one major errand to do.  In all the hustle of leaving, I had realized that my bathing suit was in bad shape but hadn’t had time to replace it.  Upon reaching Solvang and the hot tub of our hotel I realized that my suit had suffered an almost Bell’s palsy, one side was still taut while the other drooped unattractively.  A new suit had to be acquired – and fast.

So we started looking.  First John and I stopped at the outlets.  Nike store, Pacific Sun? No.  Then we found an REI.  No.  We tried Target and found a wide array of snow pants but no suits.  Macy’s had a sign for Suits and Coats so I was hopeful.  Then I realized they didn’t mean SWIMsuits.  Nope.  Finally Nordstrom’s came through.  Nordstrom’s, clearly, is the pinnacle of God’s department store creation.

So the business tip: Southern California seems to me a sunny place full of beaches where no one sells swimming suits after August.  There’s a fortune to be made here, folks!

John and I reached Anaheim by 1PM and drove boldly into the Disneyland Hotel parking lot.  Now I booked the Disneyland Hotel more or less on faith.  The Hines-Shah’s have made a roughly yearly practice of going to Disneyland, but we have never stayed at a Disneyland hotel.  We’ve refrained from learning the seasonal rotations of the rides, or downloaded a Disneyland app for our iPhones, or learned Disneyland lingo (did you know that all their employees are called “cast members”?)  But plunking down the kind of money it takes to stay at the Disneyland Hotel almost obligated me to do some research.  And so I read a little more than I should have at Disneyland message boards.

I learned that the Disneyland Hotel is undergoing major rehab and that the old rooms are entirely awful while the new rooms are magical but there’s no real way of guaranteeing you get one over the other, although everyone has their theories.  Quote the message boards, “I always show my collection of pins so they know how devoted I am.”  “I get there by 9AM to try to get them to set aside something early.” “I usually lie and tell them it’s my anniversary.” Etc.

Reading all this made me decide two paradoxical things.  First I knew that I wanted a new room (magic headboards! New linens!  Mickey’s hands holding up light fixtures!) But second I knew – I did not want to become a crazy Disney person.  So I had to trust in fate.

And voila!  Upon arrival at 1PM the very nice woman at registration upgraded us to a new room on the 8^th floor with all the amenities.  (The last Disneyland hotel God created was the Dreams tower.)  John keeps telling people about the view of the parks.  It is very nice.  (Although I’m pretty sure we would have enjoyed the “wretched” old room too.)

While I’d like to believe we got our nice room because we’re such lovely people it seems likely to me that the real reason is that there’s no one here on a Tuesday in November.  The parks are pretty empty which has pros and cons  Pros – no waiting in line.  Cons – the part opens late and closes early and there are no fireworks.    The no lines thing is a pretty big deal, so were happy with being here now.

After a full afternoon at the park, a swim in my new suit, and dinner (four cheese pizza and clams and mussels in tomato sauce – John’s choice) watching the light show at Disney’s California Adventure from our room we’re off to bed.  We have scheduled a day at Disney tomorrow followed by Palm Springs.