Mike and I had mutually decided last year that the Grand Canyon would be a perfect vacation for us this year.  Neither one of us had ever been before and it was high on our list of “places to see before you die”.

Days 3 and 4 of the Southwest Spendors trip with Disney granted us our dream of finally seeing this breathtaking creation.  Photos do not do it justice. The awe of the size, colors, depth, landscape, sounds and heat are too much to capture with any kind of camera. But I tried —

Look closely – that little blue speck in the center is Mike!  I refused to climb out there.

Went out at 5:30am to take this shot.

Another morning shot.

We had a choice of activities in the afternoon – I chose mule riding which was fun except the guy you see riding in front of me kept whipping his mule for no reason. I was so angry with him for doing that.

A little deceiving – this wasn’t “my” mule ride. I happened to be walking along the Bright Angel trail on the South Rim when I heard “clumpity clump” behind me. Lo and behold a wrangler was leading this pack of mules down into the Canyon.

My mule’s name was “Algebra”.  She was the best mule in the bunch.  I was surprised at how big mules are.  These guys were as big as horses.  Even though it was 105-degrees out this day, we were required to completely cover up from head-to-toe including wearing wide-brimmed hats.

While I was muling – Mike opted for the faster paced helicopter tour of the canyon. He had a blast!  It was a 45-minute flight and he got to sit in the front seat!

This was the view from our hotel, the Thunderbird Hotel, located in the Grand Canyon National Park.  Although it was more like a Motel 6 accommodation, the stellar view makes it worth the missing in-room luxuries.

Our tour included a stop at the Desert View Watch Tower built in the 1930’s to provide the widest possible view of the Canyon.  Mike is looking out from the top floor of the tower – which is about 5-stories tall.  I have no exterior shots because there were two huge construction cranes flanking it doing maintenance work.

A final photo before heading up to Utah for our next adventure.

Our trip started in Phoenix where we met up with our future travel companions in our group.  There were 25 in this group for the week, 19 adults and 6 kids – the youngest was 5 years old.  Interesting there were quite a few women traveling alone with their children.  Most everyone had some experience with a Disney vacation whether regulars to Disneyland or Disney World and several were DVC members.  About half the group were Adventure repeaters.

We loaded a luxury motor coach and started our 2-hour drive to Sedona where we would spend the first two nights.

The scenery in every location we went to was just incredible.

Sedona, AZ

Sedona, AZ

Me, Mike in Sedona

The Amara Resort where we stayed in Sedona. A beautiful boutique hotel.

Was this Walt’s inspiration for Disney’s Big Thunder Mountain? We were told it was.

Our last stop in Sedona was to a Vortex where we saw this stunning view of what legend has was Walt Disney’s inspiration for Disney’s Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction in the Magic Kingdom.  Could be!

Funny thing at the Vortex, when we arrived around 9:00am there were three women already there circled together and chanting. I’m sure they weren’t too happy to see a big tour bus show up on their quiet ritual.  We weren’t there long and we weren’t intrusive. They just kept on chanting.

Our next stop – the Grand Canyon!

DISCLOSURE:   Nothing to disclose!  I work for Disney but paid for this trip completely on my own for my summer vacation.  If I hadn’t had a good time, I would say so.

I watched every single episode of this year’s show and was really torn between who should win – Crystal Bowersox or Lee.  They both were fabulous singers but with completely different styles.  Lee really started coming out of his shell the last few weeks and won the audience over with his shy personality and his great vocals.  After seeing him today work the crowds, he really does seem like a genuinely nice guy. I’m happy for him that he won, and I have no worries for Crystal whatsoever.  She’ll go on to also have a stellar career as well.

Lee signs autographs for the fans at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on Memorial Day (May 31, 2010)

The finale moment of the American Idol Experience where Lee DeWyze congratulated the shows winner.

Lee DeWyze on stage giving good luck wishes to the performers.

Brody – the man in the middle – was the winner of the day’s first show at American Idol Experience.  He’ll go on to compete in the finale show.

And finally, I became a photo-journalist of sorts today – when WESH picked up my TwitPic from the parade.  Pretty cool!

]]> http://leanneslife.com/2010/05/31/american-idol-lee-dewyze/feed/ 1 http://leanneslife.com/2010/03/15/happy-5th-anniversary-to-me/ http://leanneslife.com/2010/03/15/happy-5th-anniversary-to-me/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:08:57 +0000 Leanne http://leanneslife.com/?p=988 Five years ago I started this blog to share my stories and adventures of my life in Hong Kong. I was headed overseas for a 4-month assignment and thought a blog would be a cool, inexpensive way to stay in touch with my family and friends. The blog was originally named “The Life of Leanne”.

me, Mike Hyland at Hong Kong Disneyland, 5 months before Grand Opening

I can’t believe 5 years have passed. Since then I’ve been back to Hong Kong for another 2-month stint in 2006, spent 6-weeks in Paris in 2007, toured Madrid and Barcelona in 2007, been to 4 Super Bowls (7 total) and so much more (WDW Moms Panel, Disney Parks Blog, Twitter, Facebook, and so much more.)

Super Bowl XL in Detroit  and trying to look deep in thought in Paris 2007.

What kind of a mom would I be if I didn’t bring out the baby photos!?! (Please don’t click away – these are worth seeing and there’s not very many of them.)

This is one of my favorite pictures of Jefferson. Total action shot!!

Here’s a photo of Ashley- my very first dog. She lived to be 14 years old and was quite a girl! She was an awesome dog.

And then came Mikita in December 2007.

And following Mikita’s arrival was the re-friendship with Mike.

I’ve had some really wonderful life moments shared with you here on the blog. I’ve been struggling lately trying to figure out where it goes from here. I have to be honest, I’m confused with all the advice I read on blogging and the “rules” they establish for bloggers and realize I don’t fit into this realm, based of what they consider the “right” way to blog. I blog about everything in my life – my dogs, my man, my friends, my work life, my home life… everything. Yet the “experts” say I should have a niche and focus. This thinking has me all confused and wondering if I should even continue on.
But I will. I enjoy this, even if it’s not what a blog expert says it should be. I hope you continue to read my blog. It will be what it has been for the past 5 years – a blog about my life. A blog about what I do, who I am, what makes me happy. I don’t write this for advertisements so I have no guiding light other than my heart. I hope you continue to stop by once in awhile and enjoy what you see.

I still need some time to gather my thoughts for a coherent blog post on the entire event. I’ve been visiting some of the site from the bloggers who attended and I am so impressed with their writing talents and amount of content they publish.  Janice and Susan from 5 Minutes For Mom are simply amazing!  Their energy levels are through the roof and it shows in their website.

While I gather my thoughts, here are some photos from the event. These are a compilation of my pictures, plus photos from Preston Mack – the official Disney photographer on Friday, and Josh Hallet of hyku.com who attended Thursday’s breakfast with Guy Kawasaki.

Kathy Ireland captivated the audience with her eloquent presentation.

Backstage with Kathy Ireland. What a beautiful person she is!

Walt Disney World Resort President Meg Crofton welcomed the moms to the first ever Social Media Moms Celebration.

Maxine Clark, founder and Chief Executive Bear of Build-A-Bear Workshop delivered the opening presentation that set the tone for the rest of the day.

Cool shot of the American Adventure rotunda where Guy Kawasaki presented. Photo compliments of Josh Hallett, hyku.com

Marissa Jaret Winokur had the crowd laughing with her creative presentation on how she uses social media.

Chris Brogan and moms from the conference at Epcot on Thursday nights.

Chris Brogan and me at the end of the day’s events on Friday. Oh yeah – the Muppets showed up for the festivities, too!

ABC’s Extreme Home Makeover star Ty Pennington at Thursday’s Volunteer Family Celebration event at Epcot.

The new Guinness World Record for structure made out of canned food. The food was all packaged up and distributed to local food banks in Florida and Georgia, enough to feed 70,000 meals!

I spent part of the day yesterday (New Year’s Eve) at the Magic Kingdom working a Cross-U shift. For those not familiar with this every so often, usually during peak periods, salaried cast members will be asked to work a shift in the parks to help out.  The exciting and sometimes intimidating part of this is that we have no idea what job we’ll be assigned until we show up for our shift. My assignment this year:  Popcorn stand at the Castle hub in the Magic Kingdom. I was in charge of filling the popcorn orders as they came in. It was pretty easy because there were only two size options – a small box or a souvenir bucket. Once our team got a flow going we were rockin!  I’m positive we were the best and most efficient popcorn stand in all the parks yesterday.

It was so much fun to see everyone at the parks having such a good time. At 4pm the cast started handing out the New Year’s Eve hats and horn blowers which quickly added to the buzz along Main Street.  If I had anyone to hang out with I might have just stayed at the park for the rest of the night to ring in the year. It seemed everyone was having a great time.

I feel very blessed going into 2010.  While I have few tight personal friendships, those that I have I cherish.  I am also grateful for the many wonderful people I work with and for those amazing people that I met through work (read: Moms Panelists and bloggers). Your support and encouragement means so much to me.  I appreciate everyone so much and wish you all the very best in the coming year.

For those that have asked – Jefferson is doing fine.  He cooperated so quickly I am actually stunned.  The boxer shorts lasted less than 24-hours.

Here’s where the lump was removed from his right hind leg.

Happy New Year to all!

I’ve got so many photos to upload and so many different posts to share stories with you coming up.  But for now, because I’ve just arrived back home and am trying to get caught up on unpacking, laundry, etc… plus dealing with a house construction mess (more to come on that, too) – I’ve got my hands full for the next few days.   Here are some pics to share tonight – and know there are many more to come.

Oh – and did I mention that I had NO cell phone service or email availability during 90% of the cruise?  No checking email, no looking at messages,  - just old fashioned enjoyment.

I flew in late Wednesday night and came home Friday afternoon.  One of the benefits of working for a large corporation (The Walt Disney Company) with multiple sites around the world is the ability to travel to some of those locations and visit with colleagues I don’t get to see very frequently.

After we got through our mandatory work stuff (you know, meetings etc…)  my colleague Tom and I snuck out for a little Disney fun.  Tom had never been to the Disneyland before so it was all brand new to him. This was my 3^rd time in the park so I led him to my favorite attractions first.  I knew he had to experience Pirates of the Caribbean – Disneyland style.  Their version of the attraction has some awesome differences from the one at Walt Disney World – like 2 waterfall drops, air blast effects and a longer ride through the storyline. It’s a must do if you get a chance to go there.  I love it

We then made our way over to the Haunted Mansion.

Again the exterior of their Mansion looks very different from the one in Florida. I have to say – this attraction blew me away!  The Haunted Mansion Holiday is inspired by Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.  The holiday overlay starts from the moment you walk into the first room and then continues throughout the entire ride. It is amazing and so much fun.  I have to admit, I was not expecting such a fun experience and was taken aback by all the attention to detail the Disney Imagineers put into this attraction. I know, I should never be shocked at how they always think of everything, but it was inspiring to see such creativity.

With just a limited time for fun over, we had to boogie on back to the hotel and head home.  Side note:  The lack of direct flights from LAX to Orlando is frustrating.  Our choices were either to leave at 7am or the red-eye at 10:45pm.  We opted for the 2:30pm flight that stops in Atlanta and got us back in Orlando at 1:00am Saturday morning.  LONG DAY!

View from take-off at LAX.

]]> http://leanneslife.com/2009/12/08/40-quick-hours-at-disneyland/feed/ 1 http://leanneslife.com/2009/10/25/my-time-blogworld-expo/ http://leanneslife.com/2009/10/25/my-time-blogworld-expo/#comments Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:13:46 +0000 Leanne http://leanneslife.com/?p=831 I attended what’s billed as the ultimate blogging conference of the year in Las Vegas last weekend – BlogWorld Expo 2009.  I was there to speak on a travel panel about how companies like and choose to work with bloggers. This was the first ever track of travel sessions held at this conference. 
I was very fortunate to have fellow panelists at our session who really knew their stuff.  Mike Taylor from Fairmont Hotels and Tom Martin, blogger with Helpmybrand.com were not only super nice guys but great with their information and knowledge that the audience appreciated.  Another great connection was Doug Anweiler from Authentic Seacoast who moderated our session. 

This was probably my quickest ever trip to Vegas.  I arrived on Friday around noon and left Saturday night on the red-eye.  I took an hour Friday afternoon to walk down “the strip”.  No offense to anyone out there and again, this is just my opinion, but I’m fairly sure that Vegas ain’t my kinda town.   I don’t gamble, don’t smoke, not into sequinned clothes and can’t afford the shows. But the town was certainly hopping!

While I was in Vegas I had the pleasure of running into two of the more prominent social media gurus, Steve Rubel and Guy Kawasaki.  Not only did I run into them, but I was extremely fortunate enough to sit down to breakfast with them for nearly 2 hours.  What a morning that was!  Their knowledge and insights were fascinating.  They talked Twitter, LifeStream, and a lot of conversation around the best iPhone apps. 

If I had been smart I would have grabbed my notebook and written down everything they said.  The funniest moment was when Steve dragged out his tool box for all his electronic gear he travels with – which he’s downsized to pretty much just the iPhone lately.  The coolest item was a battery charger he picked up at Walmart for about $30 that will charge your phone when you’re not near an outlet.  That’s pretty cool.

It was a great morning to be able to spend such quality time with them.  If you want to learn more about them just click on their names above and I”ve linked to their websites.  You should also follow them on Twitter.

I want you to know how much you meant to all of us. You were sweet, innocent and the nicest person I’ve ever met. I sit here with tears streaming down my face because I can’t believe you are gone. I didn’t even get to say good-bye to you. I think our last hallway conversation was a joke about our unexpected “couples massage” in Beijing .  You and I always had that to laugh about. 

I sit here and think back about all the great times we shared and the occassional ”year-long” meetings we had to attend. Remember the 12-hour Day in the Life in Hong Kong? Holy Cow! 

You were such a bright spot in all our lives.  Your glowing spirit and sweet personality made you a friend to everyone.  No-one could ever say a bad word about you.

It’s just not fair that God took you away from us so early in your life.  Why can’t he take the evil people?  Why does he take you at such a young age?  I guess if there’s any consolation, your illness happened quickly so you didn’t have to suffer for a long time. Still, it hurts.

I’m glad I wasn’t in the office today when word spread about your passing.  I just couldn’t have handled all of the emotions and tears that I’m sure were present. Everyone loved you – everyone adored you – everyone respected you.

I think about all the wonderful things you have given us.  My life is better because you were a part of it. I will miss you dearly. I will miss walking by your desk and shooting you a quick smile – just to say hi.   I will miss you smiling back. 

Rest in peace Derek. 

Derek at the Great Wall of China – 2005

Our tour group in Beijing in 2005.  Derek is bottom row, far right.

Rick, Derek and me at the Great Wall of China

Derek and I shared a wonderful post-event dinner at Disneyland Paris at the 15th Anniversary celebration

One of my most favorite pictures of Derek – watching fireworks in Hong Kong with Angie.