Happy Easter!

Here's an odd little clip from the 1949 film, "My Dream is Yours," starring Doris Day and Jack Carson.   In this dream sequence, Doris and Jack dress up as Easter bunnies to sing a ditty based on the Hungarian Rhapsody #2.   Of course, they get help from another famous Warner Bros. star...

Saturday Morning Cartoon: Croissant de Triomphe

Yeah, I'm a little late with this one, but I think it's worth waiting for:  Croissant de Triomphe, a new Mickey Mouse cartoon from those fine folks at Disney.  Yesterday Bob Iger announced that this would be the first in a series of 19 new Mickey Mouse cartoons being made for the Disney Channel and Disney's website.  I think this first one is a great start...   it almost seems like a 1930's cartoon, but it also has a contemporary touch to it.  In addition, I like the characters all speaking French.  Click the link below the picture to watch the cartoon at the Disney website.  Aimer quelque chose!



Croissant de Triomphe on Disney Video

Blogging 101

For those of you who have been counting, my last post was my one hundredth post on this blog!   I will allow you a  moment to collect yourself, as I'm sure you are overwhelmed by sheer apathy.  But for me, this is a moment to reflect on the last 100 posts, and look back at what you, the readers, enjoyed most.   I assume that would be anything I stole from another blog, but we'll see.

Most bloggers judge their blog entries by the number of comments that a certain article generates.   Well,  my blog doesn't generate comments.   I don't even generate spam.   When your blog is so pathetic that even the spammers won't bother with it, well, that really says something.   On the bright side, I'm also not bothered by people wanting to advertise on my blog.   At least I won't be tempted to give a favorable review to a restaurant or product due to the offers of big money.   I have been offered money by some restaurants, but they offered me money NOT to write a review.   Snobs.

So, how can I possibly judge what people liked?   Well, fortunately Google tracks what articles have brought the most traffic to this blog.  so, in honor of my 100th entry, I am listing the top ten entries on my blog, listed by the number of hits.   Here they are:

1. Happy Birthday, Daffy Duck!                                      1194 hits
2. Restaurant Review #3:   The Bahooka                          314 hits
3. Magic Mountain Trip Review                                       222 hits
4. Restaurant Review #1: Chris 'n' Pitts                            149 hits
5. Recreating America Sings                                             118 hits
6. Restaurant Review #8:  Knott's Chicken Dinner             62 hits
7. Saturday Morning Cartoon:  Easter Yeggs                      61 hits
8. Saturday Morning Cartoon:  Porky Pig's Feat                 60 hits
9. Restaurant Review #4: Pie 'n' Burger                               55 hits
10. Fast Food restaurant Chains:  The Missing Links            38 hits

As you can see, my little tribute to Daffy Duck was the top-rated item on this blog by a wide margin.   I'm not sure what that means, but the fact that he beat out Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig cartoons (items 7 and 8) should give the defiled duck some bragging rights.  My original Bahooka review has recently jumped in the ratings, due to the recent announcement that the much-beloved restaurant is closing.  The rest of the items tell me I need to do more restaurant and amusement park reviews.  I have taken pictures at a few places and will post them soon.

Of course, I do want to take a moment to thank you, the readers, for popping in here every now and then and reading what I post.   And I'm sure I will one day.   But hey, this is my day.  Write 100 blog entries sometime and see if you don't get a little bitter.

Alaskan Cruise - Part Nein

In our last thrilling chapter, our heroes were left on the outskirts of Portland, Oregon.   Who knows what adventures await them as they make their return to Pomona, CA?   Let's tune in and see....

As I mentioned, our first stop the next day was Tillamook, to visit the Tillamook Cheese / Ice Cream factory.   (Warning!!!   Cheese puns ahead!)  Let me tell you, it was a Gouda thing we stopped.   I love a good factory tour, and this one was great.   At the end of the tour they had a line of cheese samples where you could help yourself, and I went back four times before I saw the sign reading "Please, only one visit to the sample bar."   I took that in stride and only went back three more times.   I was a regular Muenster!  Some of my favorite cheeses. such as the cheese curds, were only available there at the store, and were not available in Southern California.   This seemed pretty unfair - Cantal the cheeses be available everywhere?  Either way, it was a good place to Gruyere cheese cravings.   I Edam all until I was all feta up!   (okay, we're going out on a limb now...)   On the way out, I ran into Rick Moranis.  His handlers asked me if this was a good place to take Mr. Moranis, and I said, "Ricotta go right in."   I hope it wasn't out of his whey.

Anyone still reading?   Wow, that's remarkable.  Seriously, it was a great tour and the best part, beyond the cheese samples, was the fact that they had all the Tillamook ice cream flavors available for purchase.   I had blackberry and huckleberry....  yum.   Well worth the stop.

At that point, we began driving down the coast.   We were determined to visit as many tourist traps as we could find along the way, so the going was pretty slow.   Stop number one:   Sea Lion Caves, outside of Florence, Oregon.   This tourist stop has been in business since 1932, and despite the addition of an elevator in 1961, it hasn't changed too much in all those years.   In fact, one of the original familes still owns and runs the caves.  When we arrived is was very foggy and pretty late in the day, so I had my doubts that we'd see any sea lions.   The clerk in the gift shop, however, was very nice and promised us a full refund if we were unable to see any sea lions.   Well, with an offer like that, how could I refuse?   I put a blindfold over my eyes, paid the admission and down we went into the caves.  

Sea Lion Caves in the 1930's.  

Sea Lion Caves today.   As you can tell, the changes are minimal...

As it turned out, the fog lifted, I lost my blindfold and we did indeed see some sea lions on the beach below.   However, there were no lions in the main attraction, the caves themselves.   It was explained that the sea lions seek the refuge of the caves in the winter months, when the ocean is cold and stormy.  They stay through early spring, when the babies are born and raised, then head out of the cave at summer.   Below are some pictures I pulled from the internet of the caves when the sea lions have taken up occupancy.

We made it  to Florence and decided to spend the night there.   Three factors made us decide to spend the night in Florence:

1. They had a Kozy Kitchen there, which is one of my favorite small chains of diners,
2. There was a big scary bridge at the end of town that I didn't want to cross in the dark, and
3. BJ's Ice Cream.   Florence is the home of BJ's ice cream.   They had 48 different flavors to choose from, and even more flavors in salt-water taffy.  Despite the fact that I had just eaten a big meal at Kozy Kitchen, we made a stop at BJ's and tried a few different flavors.   The ice cream did not top the ice cream at Handels or Fosselmans (reviewed HERE) but it was still great ice cream and well worth a stop.

 

We stayed at a hotel with no air conditioning.   They said that no one needs air conditioning by the ocean.   They were wrong.   After an uncomfortable night of sleep, we began our journey anew.   NEXT:   We journey back in time and face off with prehistoric creatures!   Really!   You won't want to miss the next thrilling chapter in our drive down the west coast!   I cheddar to think about it!