Visiting the J.A. Cooley Museum

Dave and I drive by the J.A. Cooley Museum, located in North Park of San Diego, weekly and say "we need to check that place out".  A few weeks back we found ourselves in the neighborhood and stopped in.  It's local San Diegian's Jim and Carmen Cooley's massive collection of 100 year old cars as well as many antiques ranging from toy trains to early typewriters.

This is a music player that was once used at an ice skating rink.

This is also a music player.  Carmen was nice enough to give us a quick show and played the machine for us.  It played the song "Home on the Range".

They have several cars, carriages and even the very first Mercedes Benz concept car.  Carmen said that one of the cars was used in the movie "Titanic" during the love scene between Jack and Rose in the garage area of the ship. Remember the sweaty hand on the window scene.  Yep, that one.

This was my favorite car they had.  Just gorgeous.

This is a Ford Model T and was one of those released in their first year of their make.  It looked like it was in pristine condition.

I wish I had more pictures to share.  Unfortunately I didn't have a battery for my camera and was stuck using my camera on my phone.  Dave and I had a great time browsing through their collection and now don't feel too bad about the size of our private collection of vintage items versus theirs!  If you live in San Diego or are ever in the area please be sure to check this hidden gem of a museum out.  

Be sure to check out their website for more information at http://www.jacooleymuseum.org/.

Till' Next Time,

Suz

Tiki Day 2013

Tiki Day has come and gone.  It was such a great gathering this year!  The day went by way too quickly.  We had our first meet up in front of the castle for a group photo.  I was stunned at how many people showed up this year.  So humbled to say the least.

Dave and I stayed in Anaheim the night before as I had plans to finally meet up with Janey of Atomic Redhead.  We met up for dinner at the Jazz Kitchen which is located in downtown Disney.

After dinner we went to Trader Sam's for a drink and then wondered around the Disneyland hotel towers to oogle all their cool interiors including this awesome interactive Disneyland map from the 1960's.  Janey and her husband were so nice and what Dave and I call "good people".  This will not be our last meet up for sure.

We were at the park the next day bright and early.

The first thing we did was walk through the Enchanted Tiki Room art gallery exhibit.  There were so many wonderful paintings and other related items on display.

I was so happy that my grandparents were able to join us this year.  Here they are gazing at an model of the original park plans from the 1950's as they first remember it.

We made sure to visit the Court of Angels as this will soon be closed off to the public and will be used as the new entrance to the remodeled Club 33.

Love their Dia de los Muertos decorations.

Dave and I were second in line for the dole whip shop in order to buy us some of the new tiki thermos'.  Sorry I don't have a picture to share.

My favorite in the park; the Haunted Mansion in its Nightmare Before Christmas make over.  We were able to walk right on as we were in the park so early.

The benefit of coming to the park so early is you have a greater chance of getting tickets to ride the Lilly Belle.  My grandparents were able to sign us up and we were able to get ten tickets total.

Me and my grandma!

After the group photo we all headed to ride the Jungle Cruise.  This is the backed up line we all created.  People were definitely confused on why there was a wait for the Jungle Cruise.

Aloha shirts galore!  Check out those cute Mickey ear tiki hats!!

This couple was too cute!

The next meet up for the day was to all ride the Mark Twain.  We got the honor of "driving" the boat (it's on a track folks).

View from above.

My favorite part was pulling the lever for the horn!!

Janey and Patrick were able to join us as well.

Us with our official certificates to drive the Mark Twain.

The next meet up was the Enchanted Tiki Room (of course).  Here is a photo of our crowd waiting patiently to watch the show.

It was a packed house!

We ended the day at Trader Sam's for some dinner and drinks.  It was a fantastic day and I am so grateful for all the help I had in planning this day and of course am grateful for all those who attended.  

Till' Next Time,

Suz