In December 2007, my brother & I excitedly visited Disneyland in Anaheim, California, USA. It really was the happiest place on earth! My brother and I had a 2-day park pass and we sure had ear to ear grins for the entire 2 days.

We had quite the grand entrance, because as we entered through the gates there was a band there to great us along with the Mad Hatter (see above).

As we went in December, the entire park was dressed in Christmas decorations which we absolutely LOVED. The atmosphere was so fantastic – it was so joyful and festive but it was still quite warm and sunny. We could not have picked a better time to go to Disneyland!

What better way to enjoy Disney but on a horse carriage?

I love Disneyland Main Street because of all the stores! There were parlours and boutique stores and this was my favourite – penny arcade!

In one of the many stores – we spent a lot of time marvelling at all the cute souvenirs. Too cute!

Here are one of the many Disney houses. They are so colourful and adorable!

We always had time for happy snaps of ourselves. :)

The famous teacup ride!

The Haunted House

I got splashed on Splash Mountain! It was so much fun.

I love Disneyland because you can dress up like a cartoon character for even just a minute as you pass by a store to try on these cute hats. Here’s my brother in a Goofy Hat! Hehe!

And here’s me in the wizards hat from Fantasia! Hehe!

I love this photo – here’s my brother in Pooh and me in Tigger :)

And of course there was Santa who graciously came to visit!

Disneyland was beautiful at night as all the buildings were lit up.

The Disney castle was so stunning at night!

At night, people filled Main Street to catch a glimpse of the Christmas fireworks. In December as it approaches the big day, Disneyland holds nightly Christmas fireworks to celebrate (see below video).

And afterwards, there was “snow” (some fake white flakes poured down from the lights). Regardless of the fakeness of the snow or not, it was so beautiful! It was my first time I ever experienced “snow” falling on me and it was a beautiful thing to experience in Disneyland.

HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH!

I am so so so ridiculously tired of people asking me if you can ski in Australia. OF COURSE YOU CAN SKI IN AUSTRALIA. It’s like me asking a Canadian if you can swim in Canada. Australia may have a warmer client, but we do have the four seasons! It does snow! You might have to drive higher up the mountain, but you can get decent snow and decent snow resorts and runs. I met some Canadians down in the land of Oz who loved skiing in Australia!

Alpine Resorts in Victoria, Australia

In Victoria alone, there are SEVEN alpine resorts: Mt Buller, Hotham, Mt Baw Baw, Lake Mountain, Mt Stirling and Falls Creek. In the late winter of 2008, my friends and I whipped on over to Falls Creek for the weekend. Now when I say whipped on over – I mean a cruisy four hour drive (350 kilometres) from the heart of Melbourne – but it was sure worth it.

Falls Creek: 1,780 Metres High

Falls Creek is known to have better runs than the very popular (and often very packed) Mt Buller. The Falls Creek resort lies between an altitude of 1,210 and 1,830 metres, with the highest lifted point at 1,780 metres high. It also has a wide range of runs for beginner/intermediate skiers and snowboarders alike, but best for proficient skiers as it has the wide open vistas and rolling hills unique to the High Plains in Victoria. This is great because it is much less crowded and there are very short chair lift queues even on the busiest of weekends.

When we went in mid September (late winter in Australia), we didn’t have the greatest conditions with fresh powdery snow which was a little bit of a bummer but the snow was much better conditions than I got when I went skiing in a late Canadian winter (was too icy). Also, the skies are clear and blue with no wind. It was so beautiful to sit and absorb the atmosphere.

You can also cross country ski, go tobogganning, snow tubing and there are many bars/cafes to hang out at. And if you’ve done all that, you can sit in your resort hot tubs and relax or just stare out into the beautiful mountain ranges.

Gorgeous, ain’t it? Now you need not wait for summertime in Australia to head on over – you can go in the winter and test out the runs yourself.

For more information:

Official Falls Creek Website: http://www.fallscreek.com.au/

Last Saturday I used my Groupon coupon for a 1 hour snowshoeing guided tour at High Park which I only paid $25 for and is normally $50. Pretty good! It was snowing all morning until about noon that day, so when I arrived at High Park at 12:30 for my lesson, we had beautiful fresh snow and it wasn’t that cold either maybe about -5C. It was a really nice day because it was sunny and not windy. Absolutely perfect!

This is what it was like outside my condo while waiting for the streetcar.

Snowshoeing at High Park Photos

And this is what it was like when I finally arrived at High Park! So pretty!

Then we put on our snowshoes! What are snowshoes, you say? They are footwear to help you walking over the snow. Snowshoes distribute the weight of your feet over a larger area so that your feet do not completely sink into the snow. Snowshoeing is easy to learn, and is a relatively safe and inexpensive recreational activity.

We put the snowshoes on, had a quick 5 minute lesson and then we were off! There’s not much to know about snowshoeing because you’re just walking but in long and wide strides. You need to pretty much pretend you have clown feet!

Sammylicious TV: Snowshoeing at High Park (Video)

httpvh://www.youtube.com/embed/TQnOEnQA8Sg

Watch out for the part I trip! We were going down a hill and the snow was so soft, I slipped! Hahaha. Quite funny..

We went up and down so many hills, we were so dizzy, sweaty and hot after the hour. It was SUCH an amazing workout!

In all, the tour was very enjoyable and a great way to enjoy winter in Toronto without going far at all!

It’s snowing. It’s supposedly spring but it’s snowing. And it will be for three days. I can’t believe how cold a Toronto “spring” is. The wind chill was especially ridiculous.

Here’s a quick video I took just outside where I live in Bayview, Toronto.