Childhood Fantasy

California Family vacations can be a huge headache for parents, but if everything goes well, there is nothing a young kid could look forward to more. A new and wondrous paradise to explore, adventures around every corner, and best of all, mom and dad all to yourself.

As a young child our family never went on big vacations. Going camping and fishing were regular routines but nothing like California, nothing like Disneyland. That was why when mom and dad said that that was where we were going with all my relatives; I knew that it was no small event.

I was 6 years old and my uncle was getting married in California. The marriage was not the important thing; the important thing was two days at Disneyland with my family.

In the reality of the situation, mom had complications with a pregnancy so the trip to Disneyland was just a boys trip out, my brother, my dad, and I.

CALIFORNIA 1941-44 LICENSE PLATE WITH TABS

[California delegates cheering on stagecoach at th...

Mickey Mouse in the Disneyland Resort Station in H...

But hey, we are talking about a fantasy week and for a true fantasy week mom has to be there too.

When we first got to California we went to see my cousins in Burbank. At first it was a pretty scary experience because I had never meet them before. Not long after, my brother and I were playing hockey with our newly found older cousin in the garage. It's amazing how when a person is young, just being older means that they are cool? After hockey we got to eat fresh oranges picked off the tree in the backyard.

That night my brother and I got to sleep in the same room. Bedtime was supposedly ten but we talked all night. Way too many cool things had gone on in the last 24 hours to just sleep the night away.

The next two days were filled with meeting new people, mainly adults, and getting ready for the wedding. As a fantasy week, these two days were definitely the low point, but hey, mom and dad had to love the fantasy week too. These two days were their time.

The wedding went as planned but two major events did happen for my brother and me. First, we got to have our very first limo ride while mom and dad had to ride in a different car. Secondly, we were such perfect little angels during the wedding that (I'm sure that we were) my newfound aunt took us to Toys R Us and told us to pick out anything that we wanted. The toys of choice of course were transformers, only the coolest toys ever invented.

Now, with transformers in hand, the real adventure began. Mom, Dad, brother, and I were off to Disneyland. Rides, sights, Mickey, junk food; its was almost too much for a kid to be able to take in, in just one day. So of course when asked on the second day if we wanted to go to some dumb beach or back to Disneyland, what else were we to say? Disneyland!!! Space mountain with its exciting twists and turns, the haunted house with Dad being a skeleton in the mirror, and the train coaster that turned us away from the wall just in the nick of time; the fun was endless.

Afterwards, on the way back to Burbank, I was told we ran into a traffic jam, that's California for you, but it did not matter to me. I was sound asleep in the back seat, exhausted from the adventure.

To end the week off we had one more grand adventure, the plane ride home. I got to sit in the window seat and look down on the world so far below.

I have had lots of great weeks in my life, lots of not so great ones too. Through it all my family has always been by my side and that is why if I could have one week over again it would definitely be with them.

Mickey greeting guests at Disneyland Park

Disneyland Oct 2006 Disneyland Hotel DSCN9788

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