When you hit the northernmost part of California your drive becomes all about the redwood trees – nature’s true giants. They can be taller than the Statue of Liberty and larger around than a Greyhound bus. I guess outside of the random dinosaur, they are the largest living thing on earth. So we skipped Oceanworld in order to get to the Trees of Mystery just outside of Crescent City, before it closed. It just sounded too cool to miss- something Clark Griswold would be proud to visit. A jolly Paul Bunyan greeted and joked with visitors at the entrance and for $15/pp we strolled through a forest, road a “Sky Tram” to an incredible vista, hiked a steep trail back to the base and roamed around the Trail of Tall Tales where we heard the story of Paul Bunyan and his friends.

It wasn’t at all cheesy if you do the hike and appreciate your scenery.

The mile decline through a moist dirt path, shaded over by those thousand-year-old redwoods was certainly more fun than walking the asphalt trail at Zion NP. It was also one of the few times we got some real exercise. At this point I would have given anything to get my ass out of the passenger seat.

Not for your average RVer, the hike was downright treacherous in spots. For the less adventurous you could opt to ride the Sky Tram back down but then, yeah, kinda cheesy.

Sage whined a bit and wanted us to carry her (no way) but the exercise tuckered the pup and her in a good way.

We finished by sundown, famished. Ryan was ready for a more substantial meal after our night of quesadillas so we stumbled into the Sea Grill in Eureka. Quite the find! The prices were reasonable, the plate large and the food, which comes with the salad bar, especially yummy. The only thing that wasn’t the bomb was the dessert. The bourbon pecan torte was like a plain brick of dark chocolate.

We thought about spending the night in Eureka but moved on to nearby Fortuna for fear of our lives. Eureka is not the cleanest or most livable city in Northern Cali. Not sure why but we felt like we were driving through a depressed inner city instead of this gateway to majestic redwoods.

In the morning we packed it up and made out for the Avenue of the Giants. More redwoods. It seems the Trees of Mystery were just a warm up. The scenic byway (SR 254) is the actual old route for US 101 until it was realigned. It runs through Humboldt Redwoods State Park for about 30 miles with numerous spots to pull out for minihikes (one to three miles). The place is so magical. It’s even included in the book, “1,000 Places To See Before You Die”. And George Lucas used it as the backdrop for the Endor scenes in Return of the Jedi. They shot from the back of a truck to get the side views of the speeder bikes racing through the trees.

There are visitor centers, kitschy shops selling Bigfoot “artifacts”, a couple of cafes and two chances to drive through your own tree. The Immortal Tree was a testament in fortitude. Lightening, floods and chopping have failed to bring it down. But, for the most part, you get miles and miles of nothing but massive mounds of bark and branches, and campers pulling to one side or other to take photos posing next to mossy tree roots the size of my house.

The locals recommended the Avenue Café for lunch and without breakfast we were ready for a stellar meal….after we drove through a redwood tree. Up until now we were driving through redwoods. Now, we were going to drive through a redwood tree. Even Ryan was getting into our summer vacation. We did two laps through the Shrine Tree! Talk about stretching our $6.

The Shrine Tree. The white mark above the opening is where the flood waters came up to in 1964. The flood basically wiped out anything that the flood of 1955 didn’t take care of. Today the Eel River was far from flooding. In fact, it looked like half of it had dried up.

Lunch hit the spot but the service was excruciatingly slow- especially when you’re anxious to get back on the road and out of the forest. Redwoods are definitely impressive but after hours of nothing but these towering towers of timber even a state treasure gets old. Next up, the California Coast!

 

I was apprehensive at first. As much as I love Disney, I had read that Disney Paris – with separate owners and operations (Euro Disney S.C.A. is a publicly traded company. The Walt Disney Company has only a minority stake in the business) -was more of a cheap imitation of the real thing than an addition. Built in the beet fields outside Paris in 1992, Euro Disney took Europe by storm. And by storm I mean controversy; to the point that the EDSCA worried of financial ruin. There were strikes, railroad shutdowns, injuries from the new Indiana Jones ride after the emergency brakes malfunctioned, low attendance. It was tagged a “cultural Chernobyl” by the French.

Attendance in 1992 was about half of their expectations. It took some time to get the recipe right but EuroDisney restructured their finances and opened Space Mountain in 1995. Finally, they turned a profit.

Oh the irony on this most recent day in May, 2015. The crowds were huge and Space Mountain was closed until July for renovations. Drat.

These were some the longest lines I’ve ever waited in at a Disney Park and I couldn’t even ride the main attraction. Granted, I go to Disney on a non-holiday weekday while school is still in session and apparently last Friday was a French holiday. In France it also depends on the time of day you hit the rides. I did hear the long lines all but disappear by dusk.

We got to Disneyland Park (the other park at Disney Paris is Hollywood Studios) an hour after opening and chose Star Tours as our first event. Big mistake without a fastpass. The two-hour wait was enough to send my parents back to their hotel room.

 

Unlike the rides in the U.S. there is absolutely nothing to keep you entertained while you wait. No dioramas, faux villages, or TVs, or decent music. Just standing in long mazes feeling your energy drain to your toes. If only they offered park-wide WiFi. That would have helped kill the time. I downloaded the official Disney Paris app but little good it did without a connection.

 

Ryan gave me grief that I would travel all the way to France ‘just to go to Disney’ but the lines for the tourist attractions in the city are about the same and I’d much rather be walking through Fantasyland than the Louvre. Sure, some of the rides and themes are the same as you’ll find stateside- Sleeping Beauty Castle, Dumbo, Autopia, Phantom Manor (aka Haunted Mansion) – but their reinterpretation is the draw. Slight twists on the architecture, the attitude, the storytelling. That’s what I was anxious to discover and that’s what made the day exciting and fun.

Notably missing here are the Enchanted Tiki Room, Innovations, Little Mermaid Ride, Nemo, Jungle Cruise, anything Frozen, the Matterhorn.

We spent most of our time on the Frontierland side as there wasn’t much going on at Discoveryland (aka Tomorrowland) with Space Mountain closed. The submarine ride was also under renovation. That left Star Tours and the Buzz Lightyear laser ride/game. With fastpasses, we were in and out of that one pretty quickly. 

Lots of areas were walled off for renovations. IMHO, Disney Paris needs more and unique attractions like Ratatouille on the Hollywood Studios side if they want to draw a universal Disney crowd all the way to this little French countryside of Bailly-Romainvilliers. Not to mention spreading the traffic away from the few star attractions.

There isn’t a single, Single Rider line in all of Disneyland Park and it’s sorely needed. There are fastpasses but the kiosks were shut down by lunch. And then there are the rides that kept stopping. We waited in the Phantom Manor line for 45 minutes only to be told the ride was down and they were not sure when it would be working again. So we ate and waited.

The park food was as-to-be-expected. Here’s where all of Disney could take lessons from Deer Valley Resort. Just because you serve cafeteria food doesn’t mean it should taste like cafeteria food. If ever there was a reason to pack your own lunch it’s Disneyland. That said, we were starving so ducked into Hakuna Matata café for a curry chicken salad, pita sandwich and an ice cream bar (about $14). The best thing I can say is that I didn’t leave feeling gross like I do at the fried places in California’s Disneyland. However, in the states you go to Disney as much for the infamous snacks as for the rides- Dolewhips, Mickey bars, beignets, Mickey pretzels, Cheshire Cake Cup, but it’s not the same in DP. In other words, no carrot cake cookies. DP does, however, have delicious chocolate waffles with whipped cream- ‘guafres’ – all over the place. 

Europeans must need a lot of places for their kids to roam. All over Disneyland Paris there are play areas. All I can remember in the states was Swiss Family Treehouse and Tom Sawyer Island. Here there’s Pirates Beach, Adventure Isle, Alice’s Curious Labyrinth, Pocahontas Indian Village, and this large area with suspension bridges and caves. It’s probably good to have places to run around after standing in lines for hours. We did like the French and played hide and seek in the caves and fake waterfalls between Fantasyland and Frontierland; and chased each other through the maze of Alice’s Labyrinth.

.

It’s A Small World felt even smaller in France. Usually you can’t possibly take in all of the animatronics in one float; here, there seemed to be too much open space. It was cute, however, to see the homage paid to the U.S. with old west scenes and Hollywood.

Yes, everything recorded was in French including the overhead pirate but by now any Disney fan knows the spiel. By the way, the Pirates ride is awesome. My favorite part is when you plunge into the ‘sea’ right at the beginning and in France you get TWO drops.

Indiana Jones is a kind of a baby rollercoaster when compared with Everest at Animal Kingdom and nothing like the Indy ‘dark’ ride at Disneyland. You’ll be a bit confused why a crowd would cue for 90 minutes or more to ride it. They do offer a Fastpass but the machines were closed for us. Big Thunder Mountain, however, was the best ride in the whole park. It’s still not worth standing in line for 90 minutes (nothing rarely is) but thrillseekers will love the completely dark sections of track and a coaster that lasts longer than a thought.

The biggest difference between DP and Disney U.S. is they allow smoking everywhere in this place. Or maybe they don’t and the French don’t care about rules. I love the magic of Disney- the Happiest Place on Earth- but I’d be a lot happier if people would put out their f*&king cigarettes. Kids don’t need to be exposed to that and neither do I.

The parks smell like an ashtray and smashed cigarette butts fill the cobbled streets. Random trash does as well. You would think DP would have the same trash system with cans every 30 steps as per ol’ Walt’s rule. He observed that guests in other parks would walk no more than 30 steps with trash in hand before dropping it. I felt like dropping trash too as I couldn’t find a single can in sight.

 

Disney is Disney anywhere in the world so I quite enjoyed myself despite the pollution. If you have never been to Disneyland Paris it’s definitely worth a visit for the cultural Chernobyl alone and it’s great that Europeans have this kind of themepark. But if you live in the states and have access to California or Florida you’ll realize you only really need to visit DP once. There are so many unique places and experiences to be had in this romantic region that DP is just one of them. Like the Catacombs…..

 

And if you can’t get to France, get to California for Disneyland’s Diamond Celebration. The house of Mickey is celebrating 60 years as the Happiest Place on Earth. Yep, for six decades, the Disneyland Resort has been bringing charming attractions and inventive entertainment to kids of all ages. If you’re looking to book a Disney vacation, check out GetAwayToday. The Utah travel agency is known countrywide as the place to do Disney up right. 

We were Parisians today; languishing in the morning bustle of the hotel pre-checkout with a buffet breakfast of omelettes, croissants and café.

When we did check out we headed straight for the Metro and over to the Tuileries for a stroll.

It struck me as odd that there were people seated around the central fountain just staring in; watching ducks skim the green water. We Americans usually stand a bit, toss a coin and move on.

   

The standing must happen on the bridges over the Seine where lovers snap on locks and toss the key overboard. Judging from the number of passersby compared to the number of locks on the metal grates, I seriously doubt they leave those locks up “forever” anymore. Part of the Pont de Arts bridge near the Louvre Museum actually collapsed last year. Reports say something like 700,000 locks were placed along the Seine bridges last summer.

The trend started around 2007 in Rome when a couple mimicked a practice they read in a book called I Want You by Federico Moccia. When Italy banned the locks, tourists scooted over to Paris and the Seine. Locals apparently think it’s graffiti at its worst and have been protesting to get them removed before it does some serious damage.

Needless to say, Ryan and I skipped the locks. We also skipped the famous Louvre. We ignored the HUGE line, crossed the Bridge to the Musee d’Orsay for a quick tour. Like a cathedral, this museum’s structure is really the centerpiece. It’s hard to believe it was a railway station in the late 1800s and later housing for released prisoners during WWII but was rescued from the demolition block in 1978 and turned into a museum.

The amount of original impressionist and neo-impressionist paintings and sculptures is mesmerizing.

 

Oh, gee, look at the time! We hustled back to the hotel to meet Mom and Dad for our 30 minute drive to Disneyland Paris.

As we pulled into the reception for the Marriott’s Village d’lle-de-France our driver chuckled. It had the façade of a little French village. Our “cottage” was in Giverny. The place is actually great. Like any solid Marriott timeshare, it is a full-townhouse with kitchen, washer/dryer, two bathrooms and two bedrooms, a kids club, pool, market and surprisingly decent restaurant. We chilled some more. Tomorrow, it’s an early start for Disneyland Park, aka Euro Disney.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s a good thing a picture’s worth a thousand words because I can barely type tonight. My computer says 3:45 p.m. but it’s more like 1 a.m. in Paris, France.

We left Salt Lake at 5 p.m. on May 5 for a 10-hour, uneventful, direct flight to Paris. No one smelled bad, the food was decent, I had one cocktail and there were soooo many great things to watch on the behind-the-seat TV.

The only issue was that I flew coach and felt like a moth in a hard-shell cocoon. None of us got any sleep. Everything aches now and I’m desperate for zzzzzs. So here are my “words” from our first (short) day in the City of Lights.

 

Photo by Alexa Miller

We didn’t have to wait all ski season long for those 30 -degree days to warm to 40 and 50 but there’s just a different vibe when it’s April versus February. “Spring is in the air!” I started skiing in California when I was six. My parents forced me out in the worst possible conditions- and I hated them for it- and I thought I hated skiing. Here I was, being practically blown off the lift with crystals forming in my runny nose, and my folks sat all cozy in the warm daylodge waiting for my ski lesson to end. Grrrrrr. Then came spring and I nearly forgot the previous months of torture. Less layers, sunglasses, juice instead of hot cocoa, sunshine instead of frostbite, smiles instead of tears. If it weren’t for spring skiing, I may have turned out differently.

Decades later, I have the luxury my parents didn’t. Living along the Wasatch Front, I can pick and choose the days I want to ski. Despite my hardcore ski attitude being crushed by a less-than stellar winter, I’m not about to take my kid rock climbing when there’s still snow on the ground. At 8, I drag her out every chance I get and she happily follows. Spring skiing with kids is the only way to go.

Photo by Alexa Miller

Start Spring Skiing With Kids When They’re Young

The love affair began at 3 for her. I didn’t want her to have my childhood experience. I wanted Sage to love me, love skiing. Here in Utah, Sage could have the ultimate first experience(s) that I didn’t get. She’d be hooked. Because if she wasn’t, well, I would miss her on those powder days. If she didn’t love skiing, not only would I be disappointed that she didn’t share my passion but I’d be destined to pay hundreds of dollars over the years for babysitters. Not only does late spring offer stellar weather and incredible resort deals on everything from lodging and lifts to meals and shopping but what better time to drag the kids onto the hill? No crowds, no traffic to interrupt your beginner flow, cheap lessons, cheap rentals, warm soft snow in which to crash-land, and no chill to freeze tiny fingers and toes. Plus, we have all of those funky names for the snow in the spring- mashed potatoes, creamed corn, sugar, death cookies (globs of snow that refreeze over night), slushy, mush, slop- and wild spring events like pond skimming, dummy downhills, skiing in costumes, outdoor concerts at the base, and tailgating barbecues in the parking lot. What’s not to love about skiing? I calculated. Sage’s first season would be only sunny days and toasty temps.

Sure you can whine in March that you need a beach but live here through two winter seasons and you know that you can pretty much count on white stuff in the mountains. You have months to learn to surf, ride a bike, hike or rock climb. By mid-March, however, you’ll have mere weeks to form a love of snowsports in your kids. Here’s another thought. When it’s warm and sunny, your kids will want to stay out longer. By the coming December they’ll be intermediates and you won’t have to waste a powder day on the bunny slope. Not to mention when the snow turns to mush by 2 p.m., they’re ready for a nap and you can get in a round of golf or a bike ride.

Be Prepared

I dressed Sage in layers (it was warm at the base but cold up top) and made it to Snowbird by 10:30 a.m., April 3. About two hours post sunrise, the sun slowly turns that top icy layer into “corn” – when the frozen snow melts into soft crystals but the base is still frozen. It’s “pool table smooth” and akin to skiing a February groomer. Try to ski any earlier and you’re skidding on ice. Sage would cry and we’d leave. Timing is everything. Up we went on the Chickadee lift, the bright orange Edgy Wedgy clinging to her Sponge Bob skis. No tears. Only laughter and the “ABC song”. Halfway down the run, she threw me her coat and told me to let go of her ski tips. By the next lap, she had spied the Tram and begged for a ride. My plan was working.

Photo by Alexa Miller

If your kids are beginners and you don’t feel comfortable teaching them yourself, the resort ski schools will love your business and there’s a sweet chance she’ll have the lesson all to herself. But spring is also a time for families to connect and play together. Once your kids get the basics down, help them explore the mountain. After a few hours, Sage and I were done and shared a hotdog on the plaza while the afternoon band jammed to “Born to Be Wild”. Sage asked me if we could “ski again tomorrow” as we rode the lift back to the car (the empty Chickadee Lot is the best spot to park when you have kids in tow and don’t feel like shuttling back and forth for gear). I replied, “Wouldn’t you like to go swimming tomorrow?” “Not tomorrow,” she said. “In a couple weeks. Tomorrow we ski.” Yep, score one for the next generation of skiers. It’s spring. The beach can wait.

Photo by Alexa Miller

FYI- Park City, Deer Valley, The Canyons, Snowbasin, Alta, Sundance, Powder Mountain, Wolf Creek, and Solitude close mid-April, followed by Brighton at the end of the month. Snowbird, which has the longest season of most resorts in the west, has been known to stay open until June although that is unlikely for 2020.

What I Brought

Ski Pal – No sore back, no crossed skis; you keep your distance while they learn to ski on their own two feet. The Pal is your best friend. Solid in your hands, adjustable, ergonomic and breaks down for easy storage.

Giro Slingshot Helmet – Kids will beg to wear a helmet when it looks and feels like the Slingshot.

Thinkbaby Safe Sunscreen Stick– The water-resistant SPF 30 is free of biologically harmful chemicals and protects tender skin without getting goo all over those cute duds, in their eyes and your hands.

My First Shades– Your grom will be too cool for (ski)school in these shades. Shatterproof, foam-backed for comfort and 100 percent UVA/UVB protection (Kids don’t care but you might). The adjustable neoprene headband fits under a helmet or over a hat. $12.

Roces IDEA 6-in-1 adjustable ski boot – Save money and the headache of finding good-fitting boots every season. These ones grow with your child – through six sizes! No complaints about comfort either.

Jammy Sammy & Mashups – Organic snacks for when the tummy rumbles. Beats graham cracker crumbs in your pocket. $3.99 for 5 Sammies or $4.99 for 4 squeezable fruit Mashups.

Spyder pants and insulator jacket

Gordini kids spring gloves

What I Wish I Brought

Small hydration pack filled with enough water for both of us. You’ll sweat more in the spring and even more chasing kids.

Lucky Bums Grip and Guide- It’s a workout steering your child, hoisting them off the snow, or onto a chairlift. A handle would have helped. $20, http://luckybums.com.

GoPro or other POV video Camera- Catching those warm grins in the spring sun: priceless.

Highlight of Spring Skiing with Kids

Watching Sage stick her head into the wind from the open Tram window; a giant smile on her face. That’s my girl!