Disneyland

Both videos are major influences on this Disneyland trip!! RIP MJ aka Captain EO!! Batman couldn't be funnier. Hahaa.

This was seriously one of the best trips to Disneyland. We went after season peak time, weather was awesome, and went along with friends. The last time I went to Disneyland, Find Nemo was still being built. So coming back to Disneyland/California Adventures with Cars Land present was certainly a treat. Even though I strayed away from the group and did my photography thing, I'm happy with the results. The only thing that bothered me was carrying that 25 lb bag around with my tripod. If you're military, good for you, you're trained for that stuff, I'm not. Leave me alone. Hahaa.

We hit up Tomorrow land and first thing we did was Star Tours with R2D2 and CP3O, Space Mountain, saw Michael Jackson's Captain EO Tribute. Which is the first video above. Later we stopped by Toy Story 2 Astro Blaster which bottom 3 lowest score had to do a 5 minute beer, which included me. Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean then straight to California Adventures. There we ate an drank while they hit up Tower of Terror. We did a lot, I kinda don't want to list everything. Hahaa. But Cars Land and Radiator Springs was there. I also stopped by to see the Play Parade. A lot of things, I'm sure the pictures will remind me later.

My favorite part of the trip was Cars Land. Probably cause Cars is my favorite Disney movie, actually Toy Story 3. I was just so amazed with Cars Land, I felt like I was on Route 66. I saw everything I remember from the movie from Flo's Cafe, the lone street light, Cozy Cone, I saw Lightning McQueen and Mater. Even the road was freshly paved by McQueen. I wanted to drive Aimee through the streets and get some new tires from Luigi.

Highlight...churros there were amazing!! I had like four of them there. Churro bites with chocolate dip, original churros, can't mess with disney churros.

Photo Info: I flipped between 50mm and 28mm lens. Shot wide open indoor and f/5 outdoors usually. Tripod for the long exposrues after sunset. To check out the photos individually, look at this link for my Picasa album. Disneyland Album.

Like always, thanks for looking. Let's go to Disneyland again!!!
Revolution trip to Disneyland from Ryan Florido on Vimeo.

Oregon Again and Again!

I went to visit my Vietnamese family in Oregon late November til early December. I was just there in past April. Yeah I went again. So what. This time I was able to see a Pete and Steph in their own environment, uptown Portland. Everything was literally walking distance. When I say everything, I mean bars. Pete was introducing me to more scotches, filling me with knowledge. I enjoy blends but single malts are pretty fresh too. Keepin' it G even up in hipster Oregon.

What did I do up there? Ate, drank, played video games, drank some more, and just spent quality time with family and friends. I was able to see their new cars. Kiet got a badass Tacoma and Steph got her cool looking 4WD Subaru Outback. Yeah, we still saw Diego. It was great to see their new apartment. We were able to walk to the Holiday Ale Festival when Khiem got the evil eye from a chic cause he saw her trip. HAHAA! I think thats the only time I drank beer. Everything else was shots or scotch. Wait, I also watched the Chargers lose to the Bengals. That was depressing. After all the drinking, I fell asleep in the bar. It was alright, they had a couch and they let me. You can't do that in Cali.

Another thing you can't do in Cali is experience a true winter. The cold breeze and walking throughout the city is amazing. Architecture was fun to shoot with the seasons changing. I can shoot Portland all day if the weather would let me.

One of my favorite things doing in Oregon didn't even involve going out. It was hanging out in the apartment and talking about life with Pete and Steph. One question that still strikes me "Are you happy?" Such a simple question being so deep. I still talk to Pete on the regular, but in person is a whole different story. Thats why its important for me to visit them. Hanging out with their family was a lot of fun. Chillin' with Mother, mafia Dad, Partner in crime Kiet and Khiem, and it's always pleasant to hang out with Jessica. Like I said in a previous post, it's all about being present. I can't wait to visit Oregon again. Steph and Pete are great host. Thank you guys for everything!!! I miss you guys already.

Camera Info: Canon 20D with either 50mm 1.4 or the 28mm 2.8 and trusty 430ex during indoor flash use.
Since this trip was mostly for me, I doubt people will save these pictures besides Pete and Steph. Check out the photos individually on my Picasa page.


Oregon Trip AGAIN!!! from Ryan Florido on Vimeo.