The Cat Returns

What a trip! I was going to say the room was awesome, but I think the wife said it was more of a condo or something like that. What I do know is it had two full bedrooms, a living room, dining room, and full kitchen. We were at Disneyland so the kitchen's only use was drinking glasses for water, and microwave to reheat a snack the others got while I was at the park. Could have done both of those in a regular room honestly.

While I don't have any pictures of the condo/suite, or whatever you'd call it. What I do have is this photo from the balcony of our room.

I believe they call that Grizzly Peak, and it is one of the more obvious formations inside Disney's California Adventure. From our room we could look directly down, and see Discovery Trail.

 A hard look to the right, and we could see World of Color, and attempted to watch it one night from the balcony. Problem was you could hear it quite well, but seeing the pictures on the water was a no-go. This was a bummer as one night they were working on the Christmas version, and while we got to hear most of it we didn't get to see it. Kind of a sneak preview on a show that I think started the same night that we left. Would have loved to see it, but I guess you can't win them all.

Our park days were as expected with the crowds at almost peak levels. We still got tons done in the way of rides, but not so much in my favorite part of pictures. I got a fair amount of pictures of the Christmas displays, and loved the Carsland stuff.

The problem came in the form of lines for all the characters, and Photopass photgraphers. Much like ourselves, it seems tons of other people want pictures in front of the Christmas Trees, and displays. Add in a fifteen year old who would rather spend her entire trip doing nothing, but rides and skipping the pictures. So pictures of us on vacation isn't as large of a batch to choose from.

We did get to do the two things though that I wanted most on this trip. The first was to finally see the 'Nightmare Before Christmas' overlay they do on Haunted Mansion.

The second was to get a photo with Jack Skellington, and Sally.

Check, and check.

 Skellington was an awesome experience as they didn't just snap a picture, and send you on your way. The two interacted with each group before doing the photo. The daughter had on her Olaf t-shirt, and he talked about how much he liked Olaf's brother. Said they could use a people eating snowman in Halloween land.

Once things start to get back in order I'll have to pick out one of the pictures, and put it in the Jack Skellington frame I found a few months back at the thrift store. Then comes the adventure of making room in the hobby room to show it off. Hopefully I'm up for the challenge in the near future. Don't want this to be one of those things I put off, and put off until it either never gets done or takes two years.

There was so much to see, and do in the way of Christmas stuff. That is probably the thing we enjoyed the most about this entire trip. Showing the pictures I have is just tip of the iceberg in the way of decorations. Every day more started appearing which only added to the experience. What is the most nuts in my opinion about all the decorations. They didn't officially kick off the Christmas season until the day we were leaving. So odds are more stuff went up that we didn't even get to see. It has definitely put me in the Christmas spirit.

In the end I was glad we went, but it is nice to be back home, and relaxing for the next four days before going back to work. All the rushing around begins to wear on you towards the end, and being able to wind back down will feel great. The worst part is we left some beautiful weather in California. The first two days were insanely hot, but the remainder were perfect. Cloud cover with that not to hot, and not to cold feeling you love to have. In Portland we arrived to it snowing, and icy roads which we managed to maneuver through just fine. Now at home it's raining, and we've had to crank the heat on, but it is good to be back.

It Still Hurts To Watch 8

As has been the ritual anytime I will be away from blogging for more than a few days. The ever popular 'It Still Hurts To Watch' makes its blogging appearance. Throw in that I am accumulating quite the stack of cards for these posts. Why not give the blogging world another one of these fun little posts.

Honestly I'd love to have something either wise or funny to say, but I don't. What I do have is the first of three cards that feature the ever popular play at the plate.

Great job by Martin in blocking the plate, and getting the out on this card. Amazingly they put the stop on plays like this in 2014, and the card is a 2014 card.

Not the best final card I've shown in all these posts. I honestly can't even confirm that this card represents a play at the plate. The dust all flying through the air, and the fact he is crossing home got this card into the pile.

On a side not of interest. This is the first card I have done in all the posts that shows the back of the card. There are a few more in the pile, but Al Martin can now say he got to be the first.

Ernie "Big Cat" Ladd

Since we are currently on vacation I am breaking out a few of the old stand by type posts to get through this time. One of those has been the cat nicknames post I've only done three times. What that means is today we are adding a fourth to that list in the name of.

(image from an internet search)

Starting off his career as a standout player during his time in high school. Ladd received a scholarship to Grambling State as a basketball player.  

While I can't find any stats for his basketball career I did see the man player Defensive Lineman on the football team as well. His time playing for the school left a lasting impression as he was selected by the both the Chicago Bears of the NFL, and the San Diego Chargers from the AFL.

Deciding to go with the AFL choice in the Chargers. Ladd came into the league, and dominated from the start. Being one of the biggest, and strongest men to ever play professional football. During his short time with the Chargers, Ladd helped lead the team to four AFL Championship games in his five years.

The relationship ended fast though as Ladd, and the Chargers front office had constant problems with each other. Making an agreement with the Chargers to take a pay cut, and become a free agent at seasons end in 1965. Once the season ended both sides didn't go quietly as the AFL Commissioner ruled in Ladd's favor. Signing with the Oilers for one year then moving on to the Chiefs the following season.

When Ladd's football career ended up being cut short due to a knee injury he turned to professional wrestling. Starting of a short run as a fan favorite, Ladd's true calling was as a heel. In the 70's Ladd quickly became one of the top heels due to his arrogant behavior towards the good guys. Sticking around until 1986 when his knee injuries final forced his retirement.

Sadly Mr. Ladd was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2003, and died in 2007.

Been A Busy Week

To say this past week has been a busy one would be an understatement. If you are one of the few that reads my NASCAR race update it would be slightly obvious as I didn't do that post Sunday. Throw in that all except for the cards from 'Bob Walk The Plank' blogger Matthew. My posts have been a little off this week.

All this is because we have been preparing for a trip to.

We are a little extra excited about this trip, and have been going nuts trying to get things ready. Not only for ourselves, but for the wife's friend who will be watching the house, and dog. I won't go into details, but I keep calling this the dream trip. The reason is we will be getting to stay at a Disney hotel which is something we've never imagined possible. I think we will enjoy ourselves to the max being we aren't sure when the next trip will be as this trip wasn't supposed to happen.

Now onto the main reason for this post. More than anything there is another blogger out there who I can't leave hanging before we leave. Chris who runs  'The Raz Card Blog' sent out a mailer my direction. I can't go away, and not let him know it arrived in all its glory.. So, more than anything my point of this entire post is to let Chris know that I got said mailer. Once we return, and my head is a little more clearer it will be getting a full write up. So for right now all I can say Chris is thank you so much. To everyone else I say go to Chris' blog, and hit him up for a trade or just stop in, and read his stuff. He does a great job, and is one of the blogs I constantly visit.