2012 travels continued.. Tim Burton at Disneyland and not at Annie's Annuals

We rented a car and drove down to Disneyland.  We stayed at the Grand Californian Hotel, from which you can exit right into Downtown Disney and California Adventure.  Our stay took place just before Tim Burton's Frankenweenie was released and there was an exclusive sneak peek going on at California Adventure.  Being the Tim Burton fans that we are, we did that first thing and it was AMAZING!!!!!

Sure is sunny.

The eight minute preview was presented in the Muppet Vision 3D theatre, and was billed as being "4D"...  AND IT TOTALLY WAS!!!  The preview included simulations similar to the Soarin' Over California ride -- when it rained during the preview, it rained on us.  Fog filled the room, lightning flashed, thunder shook our seats, etc.  Maybe I'm just a simpleton from Iowa and this sort of thing is not such a big deal to the big city plebs, but as far as I'm concerned, it was SO COOL!!!

In addition to the movie preview, the Animation Building at California Adventure was hosting "The Art of Frankenweenie Exhibition", which included original sketches, props and sets used in the creation of the stop-motion animation film.  Some of the sets had been made interactive for the exhibit, which Tristan found really interesting.

Switches activated various lights and effects!

Tristan wishing I'd stop taking pictures already.

The detail in these sets was astounding.  I found the exhibit to be really profound in helping to illustrate just how much time, effort and imagination goes into a stop-motion production.  Behold the myriad miniscule minutia:

And while we are on the subject of Tim Burton, I will mention that we chose this specific time to visit Disneyland not only for the Frankenweenie business, but for their Halloween Time festivities.  Halloween at Disneyland involves a lot of themes from Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas, which happens to be one of our favorite films.  At the top of the list of Nightmare-related attractions was the opportunity to meet Jack Skellington!  And meet him we did.  After about two hours of waiting in line.

Happy Halloween!

I am glossing over many, many other interesting aspects of our stay at Disneyland, only because I am so much more interested in sharing my photos of Annie's Annuals in Richmond, CA.

This was our second trip to Annie's.  The first time, I had the privilege of seeing Amy Stewart speak about her then-new book, Wicked Plants.  Annie had several of the wicked plants described in Amy's book for sale and planted on the premises, which was fantastic.  Shortly thereafter the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park hosted the premier exhibit of Wicked Plants, which we unfortunately missed, although our relatively local Lauritzen Gardens in Omaha, NE hosted a similar exhibit last year, which was incredible.

As last time, we were escorted to Annie's by our pal Mike.

That's Mike on the right.

Annie's is just about the best nursery ever.  Do you need proof?  Here is your proof:

 

 

I just can't get enough of those little rusty goats.

Not only is Annie's nursery fabulous, but you can have Annie's plants shipped right to your door if you don't happen to live near beautiful Richmond, California.  I have placed at least a few orders from Annie's and the plants arrived, miraculously, even in the heat of July in Iowa, looking absolutely just as gorgeous as they do in the open air of their nursery.  They really did!!  The shipping expense is exorbitant, but the selection and quality of the plants is worth it.