Climbing Disneyland's Matterhorn Gets Me Melancholy About San Clemente Body Surfing

That which you see here arrived in my email inbox this morning at 12:55 am, sent by my Favorite Nephew Jason, aka FNJ.

The email contained no explanatory text.

The subject line of the email was: Disneyland Park Video jpg.

There was no video included, despite what the subject line said. There also was no photo in the jpg format. The photo that was included is in the png format.

I knew not what to make of this.

I thought that since this was sent about an hour after midnight that FNJ was tired and not thinking clearly.

A few minutes after thinking FNJ was not thinking clearly I was on Facebook where the mystery was cleared up with this...

Jason Jones FUD---We actually were privileged to hike up the Anaheim Matterhorn. Most guests reach such heights using a bobsled. It was a disastrous attempt. I was surprised as anyone might be that we were allowed this opportunity. Nonetheless, to make a short story.... Disney has pictures logged of this. I will contact those folks in Anaheim and see if I can provide you with photo documentation of our journey up one of Disneyland's four mountains.

The photo documentation to which FNJ refers is the photo you see above. At least I am assuming such.

When I read "one of Disneyland's four mountains" I could only think of one, at first, that being the Matterhorn. Then I remembered Space Mountain. After that I remembered Thunder Mountain. But, currently I can not think of a fourth Disneyland mountain.

Disneyland exists in my memory as far back as my memory goes. When mom and dad took me and my siblings to Disneyland for the first time I was 13. That trip was the best, funnest family vacation we ever took. And that covers a lot of fun family vacations.

Recently my little brother wrote a rather well written story of his memories of that trip. The first trip to Southern California was so much fun the following summer we did Disneyland and Southern California again. My little brother and I have been trying to differentiate those two trips, finding doing so difficult. Like I realized it was on the second trip we took that twisty ride down Lombard Street in San Francisco, because we did not know of Lombard Street til we saw it on the Circlevision attraction  in Disneyland the year before.

So, in my 13th year on the planet I had my first visit to Disneyland. My last visit to Disneyland was on Christmas Day of 1994.

21 years ago.

For some reason realizing this particular passage of time is making me feel melancholy.

I remember another Disneyland related time I felt melancholy. I was 21, seven years after my first visit to Disneyland. I was back in Southern California, camping at San Clemente State Park, near the Nixon abode. I was standing on the San Clemente bluff, looking out across the Pacific. The plan was to go to Disneyland the next day. I remember standing there and thinking it seemed such a long time ago, when it was only seven years, that I was there for the first time, with my siblings, and now I was back, without my parental units or siblings. I remember that first day at San Clemente, me and my little brother being so excited to hurry up and find our way down to the ocean. We all had our chores we did to set up camp. We hurried through those chores. Mom and dad knew how anxious we were to get to the ocean. They let us go ahead of them, which was not the norm in a new place, protective mom that we had.

To get to the San Clemente beach you take a trail that cuts through the tall bluffs,  goes under railroad tracks and then opens up on the beach. A beautiful beach with big waves crashing. We were quickly in the water and soon were trying to master the art of body surfing.

I can not remember the last time I went body surfing.

I think I have now gone from feeling melancholy to being depressed.  An ocean breeze and the sound of crashing waves would be a real good thing right about now.....