The Silent "I"

California Girl

 

Beach at Laguna Niguel, California

My husband is fond of telling people that sixteen years ago, he dragged me to California "kicking and screaming". I don't remember kicking anyone, but I was pretty vocal about the fact that California was never on my wish-list of places to live, and that it would be a temporary stay. I made my husband swear a blood oath that if and when we ever had kids, we would move back to Austin to raise them.  I had family and friends and favorite haunts in Texas; California was a brave new world and I was sure I wasn't cut out for the lifestyle.

Growing up in the midwest, my impression of California was that it was a free-spirited, anything-goes kind of place, full of pot-smoking hippies, actors, and surfers.  I didn't know how I might fit in, even though I had previously made myself at home in Ohio, New York, Chicago, and Texas. I was willing, however, to try, as long as I had some assurance that if I hated it, the stay would be temporary.

Sixteen years and a house, a child, and a career later, I've grown to love California for its indescribable beauty and innovative spirit.  California is my home now, and I don't want to live anywhere else. I've been spoiled by the temperate climate, beautiful scenery, and opportunities around every bend in the road for some new adventure.

Pacific Sunset

I spent the past weekend in Southern California, and was struck by the beautiful beaches and serene, but glorious technicolor sunsets over the Pacific. The sky turned the colors of cotton candy, reflected in the waves of the Pacific, the beauty is enough to make you weep for no othe reason than you are there, and alive to witness something so glorious in its simple beauty. 

While Southern California can boast about its beaches, theme parks, and mountains, Northern California has its share of wonders as well. Where we live in the San Francisco Bay Area, we are no more than an hour from the beach, the mountains, or what I think is the most beautiful city in the world--San Francisco.  Lake Tahoe is a 3 hour drive, for gorgeous boating and hiking in the summer, or hitting the slopes in the winter. In Northern California, kids traditionally have a week off from school for "Ski Week", making up for the fact that there are no snow days due to the year-round mild weather.

I live in the town where Facebook, Google, and Pinterest all got their start, and every cafe is full of young men and women making deals, creating apps, writing code, and dreaming big dreams of making their mark on the internet and on the world. Palo Alto is a fun and exciting place to live and learn and dream. There is an iconic ad for Hewlett-Packard that shows the founders, (Bill and Dave to the locals) peering into a small garage in Palo Alto and seeing the whole world. In Palo Alto, Mountain View, San Francisco and all up and down the Peninsula, companies work hard to innovate and bring new ideas and products to the world.

I also love the diversity of our community here, where you can hear multiple languages on any street corner at any hour of the day. Children at my son's elementary school spoke 30 different languages at, the most common being Spanish, Korean, Chinese, and Hebrew. People from all over the planet gravitate to the Bay Area for work and school, and some never leave. Each culture leaves an indelible mark, and we are all richer for the experience.

I really doubt that I will leave California now, and if I did, you'd better bet there would be kicking and screaming involved. I'm a California girl now.

 I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own. Photos by Glennia Campbell, 2013. All Rights Reserved.

The Lion King in SF: Long Live the King!

 

Jelani Remy, as Simba in The Lion King

My family had the opportunity to see the latest incarnation of The Lion King at San Francisco's  beautiful Orpheum Theater recently, courtesy of SHN.  My son and I had seen the show about 7 or 8 years ago, when he was a very little tyke who was scared to death of the big stampede.  He was so scared, in fact, he hid under the seat until the wildebeast stampede was over. As a jaded, world-weary 12 year old, I wasn't sure how he might respond to what had been one of his favorite, yet most traumatic, stories of his childhood.  At twelve, he was as enthralled with this production as he was with the one he had seen at age 5, and more impressed than ever with the showmanship, the dazzling costumes, puppetry and sheer magic of the production.

Prior to the show, we had a chance to meet the stars of the show, Syndee Winters and Jelani Remy, who play the adult Nala and Simba, respectively.  Both are hugely talented singers and dancers, and are destined for great things on the stage or movies and television, wherever they chose to land.  They were wonderful with all the moms and kids, answering questions and posing for pictures with everyone. 

The Lion King is not a show that is easy to write about; so much of it is visual and defies words.  From the waving grass on the savannah represented by dancers posing and contorting themselves on the ground, to the African-inspired songs sung in Swahili, to the visual schtick of comic relievers Timon and Pumbaa, the show is chock-full of stunning imagery and auditory delights.

This is a show I can recommend for the entire family, although, be forewarned that some scenes may be intense for the youngest children.  There were a 3 year old and 5 year old sitting in front of me who took the whole thing in stride, but my son was a little more sensitive to loud noises and the death of Simba's father, Mustafa when he was 5.  Know what your child's sensititivies and tolerances are for loud noises, the idea of a parent's death, and a tremendous amount of visual stimulation and plan accordingly. Older kids will definitely love the music, costumes and jokes.

If you are looking for a real holiday treat, or a terrific present for grandparents, go see this staging of The Lion King before it leaves San Francisco on January 13, 2013.  Tickets are available on-line at SHNSF or by calling 1-888-746-1799.

 

Photo Credit: Top photo by Joan Marcus, courtesy of SHN/Disney. Used with Permission. Bottom Photo by Glennia Campbell, The SilentI.com, All Rights Reserved.

Disclosure: We received three complimentary tickets and some Lion King promotional products from SHN Orpheum, but no financial or other compensation for this post.  As always, the views expressed herein are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of SHN Orpheum or the Disney Corporation.

 

Cavalia Opens in San Jose

Internationally acclaimed circus-style show Cavalia by Normand Latourelle, one of the creators of Cirque de Soleil, arrived in San Jose, California last week amid a flurry of manes and tails and hooves, and local press. Cavalia combines beautiful trained horses, daring feats of riding and acrobatics, lights and music for a spectacular entertainment.  It's a mash-up of horse show and circus, a "Horse de Soleil," if you will. I was there on their arrival with a number of bloggers, newspapers, and TV stations to cover the event.  It's not every day a world-renowned show like this comes to town.

I was driving on Highway 101 near the airport week before last when I noticed a huge white castle-like structure on the side of the highway, normally reserved for empty lots and office parks.  I don't go that way often, but I knew it didn't belong there.  I wondered what it was and saw the sign that said "Cavalia" with a picture of a horse.  I thought maybe San Jose was opening up some new Renaissance dinner theatre or hosting some kind of show pony competition.  I looked it up and found out that it was something much more.  When I received an invitation to attend the press preview, my curiosity got the better of me and I had to see it for myself.

The horses arrived on Friday, much to the delight of the trainers/performers who ride and care for the horses while they travel.  The horses were back from two weeks of R&R at a large horse farm, a kind of horse spa, where I'm sure they enjoyed idyllic frolics through verdant pastures, pedicures, and plenty of fresh air.  The performers also had time off, and were lined up outside the stable to greet their horses when they arrived by truck.  The company had finished a successful run in Mexico City a few weeks prior, and were ready for prime time in San Jose.

Performer Fairland Ferguson came out to greet the members of the press on hand and answer questions about the show, the horses,  and the performers.  There were several young girls along with their moms in attendance, who all wanted to know how one trains to become a performer in Cavalia. Fairland noted that she had grown up around horses and after finishing college had learned trick riding in a dinner-theatre show in her home state of South Carolina.  The performers hail from around the world, and we cold hear them speaking French, Spanish, and English as they milled around waiting for the horses to arrive. 

The horses finally pulled up and the excitement was palpable. It was clear that the performers and the horses share a special bond.  We were then treated to a tour of the stables and a short demonstration in the practice tent of various riding techniques used in the show.

On Tuesday, we were invited back to see a sneak peak of the show, with full costumes, music and lights.

The show is ostensibly about the evolution of the relationship between horses and people, so the opening scene is very austere: a beautiful horse running freely around the arena, and a man in simple costume giving hand an voice commands and befriending the horse.  The segment ends with the man riding bareback on the horse, with no saddle, bits or bridles, just holding onto the horse's mane. It is a simple, gentle performance that was touching and beautiful.

Later, acrobats bound in from the sidelines and perform some amazing tricks, including a guy doing about 30 one-armed handsprings in a row that made me tired just watching him.  A troupe of dancers whirled around while the acrobats performed gravity-defying flips and formed various human pyramids and towers.

In the following segment with a backdrop reminiscent of the Coliseum, Roman riders thundered in, circling the arena, with a rider standing atop a pair of perfectly sychronized, incredibly fast horses.  How the riders kept their balance is a mystery to me, although performer Fairland Ferguson earlier told us that "you have to develop big thighs" to do this.

Probably the most enchanting portion of the show was what looked to me like a fairy tale sequence in which female aerialists, hanging by the thinnest of silver wires, dropped down to swoop above and around male riders and horses.  It was a beautiful, ethereal scene, like colorful birds or angels descending into the theater to protect and guide both horse and rider. The women performed some lovely acrobatic dance moves in the air, while snow fell all around.

As the show progresses, the tricks and settings become more elaborate and fast-paced, culminating with acrobats, aerialists, and two dozen horses all performing simultaneously. It was a dizzying spectacle, and it was hard to know where to look at times with so much happening at once.

Cavalia runs in San Jose from July 18-August 12, 2012. Tickets are available through their website, and range from about $50-$250. VIP packages are available that include dinner and some special access. If you like horses, circuses, or just plain fun, go see it.  You will surely be entertained and delighted.

Disclosure: I was invited as part of the media corps to cover the arrival of the horses and a complimentary short preview of the show. I did not receive any compensation for writing this review. All opinions are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cavalia.

Photos: All photos were taken by Glennia Campbell for TheSilentI.com. Sets, costumes, and scenes depicted are copyright of Cavalia and were photographed permission.  All Rights Reserved.

Toyota USA Museum: Past, Present & Future of Cars

Bloggers Demonstrate the Toyota Jump

During my trip to TWIN Camp, one of the trip highlights was a visit to the Toyota USA Automobile Museum in Torrance, California.  Driving through a business district in Torrance, it would be easy to miss the museum if you weren't specifically looking for it.  It's a fairly nondescript-looking gray building that appears more like a dealership than a museum on the outside. On the inside, it's jam-packed with  hundreds of representative models of Toyota's unique and distinctive contributions to automotive history, or at least as it has evolved in the United States. It's like Alice slipped down the rabbit hole and right into Cars Land.

An Early Toyopet, the Hello Kitty of Cars

Inside, we learned about the history of Toyota in America.  Toyota Motor Sales, USA was founded in 1957 in Hollywood, California.  The first Toyotas to hit American soil were called Toyopet and were sold in a handful of dealerships beginning in 1958, along with the Land Cruiser.  The Toyopet, which I thought was completely adorable, was smaller and more expensive than most American-made cars and didn't really fit the US market.  Toyota decided to pull the line in 1961 and focus instead on the sturdy, all-terrain Land Cruiser until 1965, when the Corona arrived.  Toyota introduced the economical Corolla in 1967, which has become the world's best-selling passenger car of all time, with over 27 million sold in 140 countries around the globe.  The rest, as they say, is history.

Inside the Toyota Museum, you can see examples of all of these models from the past, and some special, futuristic eco-friendly cars as well.  One car was so small that it looked like my eleven year old son could drive it.  In fact, I think I have purse larger than that. 

Minority Report Lexus Concept Car

The Lexus branded concept car from the movie "Minority Report" is on display, along with some memorabilia from the move.  The car was all sexy rounded shapes and slick design, in a dark red tone that I'm sure I have a lipstick to match.  I'm not a Tom Cruise fan, but regardless of who would be driving it, this is one hot-looking car.

 

Jenny & Jill Show Off Their Toyota Jumping Skills

 

Along with a hundred or more cars, there are displays on Toyota's advertising history, with some familiar slogans like "You asked for it, You Got It...Toyota!" and "Oh, What a Feeling" with the famous "Toyota jump" in the ads.  Jenny from Mommin' it Up and Jill from Diaper Diaries showed us how the Toyota jump should be done.  Later, everyone else got into the act and demonstrated the Toyota jump.

About large bookcases line one wall of the museum and display row after row of quality and service awards that Toyota has won over the years, including JD Power & Associates Quality Awards.  It was an impressive sight to see so many trophies lined up in one place.

After viewing all of these fine vehicles, displays, and awards, I was sorry that my husband and son didn't have a chance to join me at the Toyota USA Museum.  I think my son would have loved the race cars, and my husband would have enjoyed seeing a pristine version of his beloved and dearly departed 1981 Corolla on display.  During our visit, quite a few Facebook and Twitter followers of the TWIN campers expressed extreme jealousy at our being so near to some really special cars.

Maybe on your next trip to Disneyland to see Cars Land, you can stop in at a real land of cars and enjoy the view.

Toyota Tailgate

 Note: The Toyota USA Automobile Museum is open by appointment only. If you are planning to be in Torrance, California, it's worth planning a trip to view the cars.  For an appointment to see the museum, call Susan Sanborn at (310) 468-4728 or email her at susan_sanborn [at] toyota.com.

Disclosure: I was selected for participation in the TWIN community through a program with Clever Girls Collective. I did not receive any compensation for writing this post, or payment in exchange for participating. The opinions expressed herein are mine, and do not reflect the views of Toyota.

Photo Credits: All photos are © Glennia Campbell 2012.

Exit the Highway to White Sands National Monument

One of my favorite places in our travels across the US has been the White Sands National Monument, near Alamogordo, New Mexico.  This summer, our friends at Toyota have partnered with the Audobon Society to encourage everyone to exit the highway and visit beautiful, off-the-beaten-path places like White Sands.

The White Sands National Monument rises up out of the scrubby brown New Mexico desert like a far off  dream.  You might think you're seeing the purest, whitest snow imaginable, but get closer, and you realize that it's a hot, dry white powder covering the landscape for as far as the eye can see, rimmed by mountains on the horizon line. The fine, white dust covering the landscape looks like a million tiny hands clapped chalk-laden erasers to form undulating dunes of glistening white fairy dust.

 

When my husband suggested we go there on our trip to Texas in December, we had been driving through the California, Arizona, and New Mexico desert for several days.  My initial thought was, "another sand dune. Big whoop."

 

Disney California Adventure Cars Land Opening: Seeing Stars

Disney California Adventure' s new Cars Land opened recently, and I was fortunate enough to be part of the media corps of bloggers covering the grand reopening of the park as a guest of Disney Parks & Resorts.  It was an exciting, memorable event that included a red carpet with celebrity guests, thousands of media folks from television, radio, print and online news sources, and a chance to experience Cars Land firsthand before the eager public arrived.  As usual, Disney put on a thrilling show, featuring the opening of Cars Land, an entrance reimagined to look like Walt Disney's Hollywood of the late 1920's, and a brand new techno-night party called the Mad Hatter's T-Party. 

 

Larry the Cable Guy, voice of Mater in "Cars"

The first night featured a red carpet with some of the voice talent from the movie "Cars", including the voice of Mater himself, Larry the Cable Guy.  Larry is a very friendly guy, much like Mater in the movie, and joked around with everyone from the mombloggers to the TV broadcasters to the Radio Disney correspondent on hand.

Larry's co-star, Bonnie Hunt, seemed a little more shy, and was hiding under a baseball cap.  I didn't realize it was her until she was halfway down the red carpet. Owen Wilson was nowhere in sight.

Real Housewives of Cars Land Carry Prada

John Ratzenberger, the Pixar "good luck charm" who appears in some capacity in every Pixar movie, was seemed to enjoy the attention. Ratzenberger's date was carrying a very interesting Cars-adorned Prada bag.  I didn't see these on sale in the gift shop.  Apparently, only the Real Housewives of Cars Land know where to get these.

Kona Coffee: A Traveler's Tale

Visiting coffee plantation tasting rooms on the Big Island of Hawaii is one of our favorite things to do when traveling there. On prior trips to Kona, we stopped at coffee farms and did some coffee tastings of island-grown Kona Coffee, and have been addicted ever since.  Last week, Frank attended a conference in Kona, and before he left, my one charge to him was to bring back some coffee.  He took that seriously, and this is his tale of finding a special family-owned Kona Coffee farm at Da Kine Coffee Bean.  You wouldn't dream of visiting Napa Valley without tasting the wine, so you shouldn't visit Kona without a taste of the rich, wonderful coffee.

Da Kine Sign

I landed on time in Kona, and after getting a grey Chevy Impala and a bite to eat, I headed down Highway 11 to Kona Coffee country.  Before I left for Kona, I had tried looking for some places to try coffee online and found a website for Kona Coffee Roasting listing a huge number of coffee farms and plantations on the western slopes of the Big Island. The list was lengthy, and it was hard to pick a place. However, many of the listings boasted about “cupping competitions,” so I started doing Google searches for Kona coffee farms who won these, and stumbled across an old article that mentioned Terry Fitzgerald and his farm Da Kine Coffee Bean.  It seems he was one of the Kona pioneers.

In the early 1970s, Fitzgerald took over a coffee farm that had gone wild, and helped cultivate Kona Coffee to be what it is today. This sounded like a piece of Kona Coffee history, so I e-mailed him through the website to ask if I could visit, and was told to “come on up”.

So, between milepost 105 and 104 on Highway 11 in Honaunau, I saw the small yellow sign for Da Kine, and headed up the mountain. 20 minutes and 1 mile later (yes, it’s a really rough road), after wondering if I’d made a wrong turn somewhere, I again saw a little yellow “Da Kine” sign, and parked.

Terry Fitzgerald came out to greet me a very friendly man with a beard in a sarong. His wife, Susan, peeked out and also said a cheerful “Hello”, and wanted to know if I wanted my beans dark or medium. They had some dark, but no medium, and I said I’d try both and so she fired up the roaster. At first I was honored at this special treatment, but they said the way they always do it - the beams are all stored green and roasted to order, even when ordering through the internet. While we were talking, their 7 year old son, Sonny, started poking out from behind the bushes, taking pot shots at me with his Nerf gun.

Annular Eclipse: May 20, 2012

 

Eclipse Watchers in Redding, California

 We traveled up to Redding, California last weekend to pursue one of our favorite family activities: viewing a solar eclipse.  This time, we didn't need a fancy cruise ship or a trip to the Sahara Desert or even an airplane to get to the site.  We just drove our trusty, dusty Lexus RX300 about four hours north.  

An Annular Eclipse is one in which the moon covers most, but not all, of the sun.  What's left is known as the "Ring of Fire".  You don't get the same twilight effect or the diamond ring of a total eclipse, but it is still a pretty spectacular sight.  The moon moves slowly over the sun, leaving only a golden ring shining through.  The center line of this particular annular eclipse ran through Oregon, Northern California, Nevada, New Mexico, and the Texas Panhandle. It's a once-in-every-forty-years sight at any given location, so it was worth the drive north to see it in all its glory.  The last annular we viewed was in Costa Rica when Alex was 18 months old.  

We headed out on our 2012 eclipse adventure on Saturday, May 19, after a rushed packing job that left us without sunscreen, lawn chairs, or hats.  As much as we travel, you'd think we wouldn't forget essentials, but it happens to the best of us. We made do with what we had, which included a golf umbrella in the car, and even a grocery bag that Frank fashioned into a hat so his head wouldn't roast.  Thankfully, I found an emergency supply of sunscreen in my purse.

Sundial Bridge

We met up with some local friends who are also eclipse buffs the night before for dinner.  We weren't quite sure where the best viewing spots would be, so we debated the various spots that were recommended by the local astronomy club as good bets.  We decided to play it by ear, waiting to see what the weather would be prior to making a decision. 

On Sunday, we woke up to cerulean skies and little cloud cover.  The news reported that it would be hot, so we thought that being near water would be a good bet.  We spent the morning touring Redding, which is a lovely little town with view of Mt. Lassen and Mt. Shasta off in the distance, surrounded by lakes made from the hydro-electric dam nearby.  The Sundial Bridge over the Sacramento River is something of an architectural marvel, with a tall spire swooping above the river like a tall-masted ship flowing in the wind.  We walked across the glass-tiled bridge and enjoyed the views of the river and hundreds of tiny birds swooping over and under the bridge.

Saguaro National Park: Beauty Takes on Many Forms

When planning our December roadtrip, a stop at the Saguaro National Park was an absolute must-see for my husband Frank.  Frank loves cacti of all shapes and varieties. He has kept a cactus collection for more than twenty years through moves from California to Texas and back, with only a few casualties along the way.  He loves cactus so much that Alex and I teased him throughout the trip by pointing at every wilted, dried out cactus we encountered and saying, "Hey, Dad, look! A cactus! Don't you want to take a picture of it?"

We thought it was hilarious. Frank just rolled his eyes, and endured.

 

Country Inns & Suites: Home Suite Home

Ever hear of Country Inns & Suites?  I hadn't until about a year ago, when they generously offered us a voucher to stay in one of their fine establishments.  We were not able to take them up on the offer until our Christmas roadtrip to Austin, and I was pleasantly surprised by the accomodations they offer at reasonable prices.  We enjoyed a complimentary overnight stay  at the downtown location in Tucson, Arizona, during our long journey through the desert.

Like many of the better highway hotel chains, they offer free Wifi in the rooms, complimentary breakfast, and a pool.  What sets Country Inns and Suites apart are the little things, like complimentary cookies and bottled water on arrival, a full hot breakfast (not just microwaved sandwiches and cold cereal, but bacon, eggs, the whole works), and a homey, charming decor.  We found the staff to be friendly and efficient, as well as knowledgeable about the area.

On our December roadtrip, we left the Salton Sea Recreation Area and headed east on I-8 through the dusty California border towns toward Tucson. We were hoping to be in Saguaro National Park before sundown.  Unfortunately, we arrived too late for the park.  I dubbed this our "Too Late Tour," since it seemed like we always arrived at our destinations just after the sunset so we couldn't see anything.  Frank said that he planned a perfect itinerary for summer, or anytime the sun stays up a little past 5:00 pm.

Anyway, we arrived in Tucson after dark and couldn't get to the Saguaro National Park on time, so we went straight to the Country Inns & Suites.  We were welcomed with freshly baked sugar cookies in the lobby, a homey fireplace, and some bottles of water, which were great after a long, dry drive through the desert. The front desk staff was extremely friendly and answered all of our questions.  There were some kids running around the lobby, and the hotel seemed to be extremely family-friendly.

Our room was nicely furnished and large enough for the three of us. The furnishings and decor were nicer and more traditional than some that we encountered later on our trip at similar hotels. It seems that the latest trend in hotel decor is blinding florescent lighting and migraine-inducing neon green bedding with fuschia accents and large black and white photos of doorknobs and exposed pipes in the hallway.  I was happy to find the room to be comfortable and not over-done, with more muted colors and soft lighting.  During our trip, we used Marriott and Hilton loyalty program points to stay at Fairfield Inn and Hampton Inn in different locations along the way.  We liked Country Inns the best for food quality, service, and general ambience, although the three were pretty similar in locations, space, and pricing.