Travel, Snow, and The Circus

I will admit that my blog has been less than stellar lately; actually, I was in Philadelphia for the last week, visiting family and getting a reminder of why I no longer live on the east coast or the midwest. SNOW! Yup...and a ton of it. As you can see from the first 3 shots, taken from my plane on an early sunny morning in San Diego, everything started out just ducky.





And then I landed in Dallas for my layover. Nothing but white for miles. It was a mess. Fortunately, I was on one of the last planes to leave Dallas before the airport shut down. It was a nailbiter as I felt the wheels skipping on the runway during takeoff, but I made it safely to Philadelphia, and got to watch the de-icing process to boot!



In Philly, I was pretty much on house arrest due to the weather, but still managed to snap a few photos.







You folks aren't here for my travel shots though, so let's get back to the show...or more specifically, the circus. Recently, I bid on a number of negatives that were labeled 1955 Gil Gray Disneyland Circus. I’ve read that Gil Gray’s Circus was involved at Disneyland, but whether it was during the Mickey Mouse Club era or after is unknown to me. Maybe one of the historians out there can fill in the gaps for us. My guess is that it must be during the MMC period since it appears by the bunting on the lightpoles that it could be Christmas time. Unfortunately, one of the better negatives got away from me, but here's a low-rez version of what was advertised. If I were a betting man, I'd guess that the man on the left in the dark uniform is Disneyland Band Conductor Vesey Walker.



And here are the 3 shots that I was able to acquire. Looks like this truck was about to unload its contents. Detail shot included for all the Gladys Kravitz's out there.







The clown on the truck looks similar to the clown featured in this color photo from December 26, 1955.



And a shot of the Calliope going through what is now the Tinker Bell meet-and-greet area.



Chances are the Gil Gray troupe handled the circus part and the Mickey Mouse Club was added for branding. That's my theory! See more Disneyland Mickey Mouse Club Circus photos at my regular website.

San Diego to Dallas to Philly, Pt. 1

Last Thursday I went to the San Diego airport at the crack of dawn, ready to fly home to Philly for my annual trip home to visit mom. Mother Nature had other ideas. A few early morning shots from the plane show the gorgeous sunrise over downtown San Diego and the perfectly picturesque cloud formations that I was able to capture through the window.







Flash forward a few hours later and you have these horrible shots of Dallas Forth Worth’s airport: talk about winter white! Fearing I might get stuck overnight in Dallas, it was a nailbiter as I sat on the plane for a few hours waiting for us to be cleared.



Once the plane got "de-iced" (which is a rather unsettling process!), I knew we’d be cleared for takeoff shortly. Feeling the wheels spin on the runway, I was saying my prayers!





Once I made it home, all was okay. The icicles and snow made for some beautiful photos, and the warm red of a male cardinal added some pizzazz!







See more Philadelphia photos at my website.