The long way home...

Recently someone asked me if I enjoyed roller coasters and I most certainly do!

While thinking about fun times on screaming at the top of my lungs with my arms waving overhead, I wistfully and fondly remembered the Matterhorn Bobsled and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coasters in Disneyland, Anaheim, California.

My Uncle Johnny (my mom's brother) lived in Culver City (northwestern metropolitan Los Angeles) and delighted in taking me and my brothers to Disneyland. My Great-aunt Eleanor (my dad's mom's sister) lived in Chula Vista, CA, and my honorary Aunt Bea who lived in Carlsbad, CA made for many reasons to head to the west coast when I was growing up. And even better to a youngster, all the relatives on the west coast took turns taking my brothers and I to Disneyland!

My last trip to Disneyland wasn't a typical one though.

Sometime around 1996 I had a job interview at a pharmaceutical company called Synergen Pharma Inc. (later bought by Amgen, Inc.), in Boulder, Colorado. I remember the flight to Denver and renting a car to drive to Boulder where along the way, it began to snow. The next day, I had my interviews while the snow continued to fall, and when done, I drove back to Denver and returned the rental car. I don't remember the exact details, but my flight home to Philadelphia had been canceled. I think the airport in Philadelphia was closed because of snow.

The next flight I could get into Philadelphia, on whatever airline I was flying, was via Los Angeles a couple days later. If I hurried, I could fly that day from Denver to Los Angeles that evening, spend the night with my Uncle Johnny and Aunt Ilene, and have the next day at my leisure while waiting for the flight home the following day.

So it was, I flew from Denver to LA and ended up in Disneyland on a TUESDAY!

The park was virtually deserted! I think the longest line might of been about two... no not two minutes, or two cycles of rides, but two people!!!

I know I rode the Matterhorn Bobsleds and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coasters until I was slap happy and ready to fall over.

But the thing that I remember more - vividly - and with great fondness - besides the feeling like a young carefree kid, was the smell of burning "coal" and hot steam while riding on the Disneyland Railroad.

The live-steam Disneyland Railroad, was inaugurated on the park's opening day, July 17, 1955. Riders use it as transportation to other areas of the park or simply for the experience of the "Grand Circle Tour". The Main Street railroad station is seen entering Disneyland.


My Uncle loved this station. When he died, I got a shoebox in the mail filled with his slides, photographs, and postcards from the park. I think 1 in 5 of the pictures in the box are of Main Street Station.

A sign on the roof of the station shows an elevation of 138 feet above sea level and a population number that roughly corresponds with the number of visitors to the park over the past six decades. The number is currently about 575 million.


"To all who come to this happy place, welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideas, dreams and the hard facts that have created America, with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world." — Walt Disney, July 17, 1955

I spent the day alone - but so wrapped up in memories of times past - it made no difference.

...and in case you are wondering, I didn't get the job at Synergen. My only regret about that was never meeting Mindy (or Mork for that matter.)