In case people don't check the photo galleries often, I thought I would mention that I posted some new ones under Disneyland California. This past week, my girlfriend suprised with a trip to the Grand Canyon, before all the flooding and things that apparently hit this weekend. One of her best kept suprises in this whole amazing thing was that we had a seven hour layover in Los Angeles on the way back. Going yet more miles further, she got in touch with my friends from down there, who were then waiting for us at the airport! Unfortunately, seven hours isn't nearly long enough to get from LAX to Disneyland and back again (well, maybe it is if you don't actually go into Disneyland). However, it worked out to be long enough to go to Griffith Park in the Hollywood Hills. It is most famous for the Griffith Observatory, the Art Deco masterpiece that was the backdrop for numerous films including Rebel Without a Cause and The Rocketeer. It is also home to Walt's Barn, the switching house Walt built in his backyard for his miniature railway, the Carolwood Pacific. I gather that the original Lilly Belle engine is in the railway-themed lounge at Disney World, but there are still plenty of artifacts and things that are on display on the third Sunday of every month. Thankfully our layover coincided with one! Completely unbeknownst to me, Burbank is right across the Los Angeles "river" from Griffith Park. Driving around, we drove right past a very famous sorcerer's hat... Walt Disney Animation Studios. I've posted a few pics of Walt's Barn and the driveby of the studios in the aforementioned Disneyland California gallery. They're not from this trip, but since we're looking at Disney stuff outside of Disneyland, I also posted my 2006 photos of Disney's El Capitan theatre in Hollywood.
