4/14/2008
Our Hotel, the Desert Sands Hotel and Suites in Anaheim is literally in the back yard of Disneyland. From the balcony of our suite we could see some of Mickey’s best attractions. And each night we had a perfect view of the fireworks and laser show they present at closing time.

Kristie’s classes were being held at the convention center site which was just across the street and down maybe 100 yards. There was a shuttle but walking was faster, the weather was perfect and being right front of Disney on streets filled with moms and children it was safe.

That left me the entire nine hours to fill. Luckily I had the car. My first day was spent where else. The Chino Air Museum which was about 25 minutes northeast. The Planes of Fame is one of the best in the world and is made extra special in that so many of their vintage and rare planes are flyable. And they are flown on a regular basis. Their collection is above 150 aircraft now not to mention the countless other exhibits works of aviation art and thousands of scale models. I visited there several times as a teen and my patient wife and I spent 5 hours there in 2003. But today I was a free agent. Having the whole day and no clocks to watch, I spent the day. I was there when the doors opened at 9 am and they had to kick me out when they closed at 5 pm. It’s the 50th anniversary of their founding so they had several events going on as well. The visit was made extra special because I had a chance to talk with famed pilot Steve Hinton. He is the president of the museum now and arrived in a sparkling new LearJet 45 directly to the museum grounds while I was there