Disneyland/Yesterland

When I was a kid, my dad wasn't around much. My mom and dad divorced in 1970, when I was five years old and my dad escaped to remote and exotic locations... like Westminster... Garden Grove... Riverside...

When he was around, my dad would take us to Disneyland. This was not the Disneyland of today. It was the Disneyland of the 70's, with Submarines, Motor Boats, Adventures Through Inner Space, and Autopias. It was a time when the suspension of belief was not necessarily... necessary. By today's standards, these rides kind of sucked but they still hold a great deal of nostalgia for me as I wistfully remember my dad steering the motorboat as if he was actually stearing the motorboat.

Thanks to my friend Tim (from San Diego), I found a site where you can revisit the Disneyland of yesteryear - it is Yesterland! Go to yesterland.com (one of these days, I'll learn how to include hyperlinks) and be amazed.

My dad would also take us to Disney movies - and ONLY Disney movies. This, of course, led us to believe he had a real penchant for all things Disney. NOT SO!

It wasn't until years later that I realized my dad hated Disney - or that he loved Disney but wouldn't let anyone know about it.

My dad's a complicated man - a man I will never really know - but, regardless, I will cherish what memories I have of those times, when the world seemed a little bit more innocent.