Category Archives: Travel

Back to the Hilltop

Back on the Hilltop
Photo-A-Day #4578

Today I went back to my college today. From 1997-2001 I was working in Residence Life. For the first two years I was the Assistant Resident Director of one of the dorms. It was there that I worked with Fr. Mathias and Royce Burney. Royce was the custodian of the dorm, but he was much more. He was a humble man who gave advice and support as needed, friendship unconditionally, and a kick in the butt… also when needed. We had many conversations over the years. Royce loved to talk. He really loved to talk. He’s be the guy telling everyone to get to class but if you got caught in a conversation with Royce you were most likely going to be late for class.

Royce passed away on October 7th. I learned about this from a friend on Facebook. I learned that there would be a memorial mass for him at the college. I honestly debated if I should go up and attend. I did so up until I got dressed and into my car to drive to New Hampshire. I am glad that I went.

While I was there I ran into a few people that I worked with in the past. It made me wistful for the time when I was a Residence Hall Director and how much I loved the campus and the people there. I made some wonderful friendships with people and I am glad to see that despite time and losing touch we could still come back together and catch up. It really felt like I had never left. the campus has grown and changed so much but it still retains those special things that made it an amazing place to go for school and then to work. Continue reading Back to the Hilltop

Getting into the #HalloweenTime Spirit in Cars Land at #Disneyland #Cars3Bluray

Disney California Adventure

On October 9 – 11 I attended a Disney Press Event. My hotel and airfare and meals were taken care of while I was in L.A. Opinions and observations as well as recaps and such are all my own. This post will also contain some affiliate links to Amazon.com.

On the very first night of my #ThorRagnarokEvent adventure we loaded up into a couple of shuttles and headed from the hotel to Disneyland to spend the evening. Our mission, to check out everything going on in Cars Land. This year is the very first year that Cars Land has been converted to a Halloween theme, or rather Haul-O-Ween, as part of the overall park HalloweenTime theme. Cars Land did things a little differently and it looked fantastic. I have a ton of photos from the experience which was made all the better with our own personal Disneyland guide who took us all over the Disney California Adventure Park and also into Disneyland Park. We were in for an amazing night of fun.

Cars Land Entrance

We were broken into three groups according to what type of rides we did or did not want to do. Mostly it was for anyone who did not want to do the Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout which was made into Guardians of the Galaxy: Monsters After Dark. I was in the group that opted not to ride that particular ride. I just know that I can get a little queasy on rides like that and I wanted to have the best night I could because who knows, It may take another 15 years for me to come back again. Yeah, it has been 15 years since I’ve been to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. Allison and I went when we were out for a wedding. A lot has changed in that time.

Trunk or Treat

One of the things that changed was the creation of Cars Land. This is something that wasn’t there back then. The first Cars movie hadn’t even been released back then. Cars was released in 2006. When it was I made sure to get every single one of the character toy cars to save for the kids. When they were old enough to appreciate them I gave them my collection. They have been Cars fans ever since. Andrew and Eva even came with me to a Cars 3 sneak preview screening of the movie in Boston this past June. Now Cars 3 is about to hit Digital (Today 10/24) and Bluray (11/7) and we can enjoy the movie all over again. I personally thing it is the best of the three movies in the series. Continue reading Getting into the #HalloweenTime Spirit in Cars Land at #Disneyland #Cars3Bluray