Disney Dreamer

The night before I waited till midnight to see if it was going to be released online on Shop Disney. I knew it was being released on that website but I just didn't know what time. I knew that was a long shot because it was also being released in the Parks, but I thought why not check and see. Of course it wasn't released online just yet so I went to sleep and woke up the next day at 6 am. That's my normal time to wake up for work so it was a natural wake up for me. I checked online and it's still have not been released. I figured I would give it some time and went back to bed. This was a mistake.

I truly underestimated the amount of people who were trying to get this release. I figured if I overslept it would be okay because there would still be plenty.

Well, I woke up at 8 a.m. and checked the website again. There was the collection! I put everything I wanted in my cart including the loungefly bag and tried to check out. A few seconds later I was greeted with that beautiful phrase from Disney that told me I was not the only one with great taste, and that the item was sold out.

I had waited way too long and the bag was sold out.

I kept trying every different way I could, I even thought maybe it was because I wasn't logged in and it wasn't letting me check out as a guest with it. That was not the case.

I pretty much accepted defeat on this one. I turned to my husband and just let him know that I was super sad. I had missed out on this limited release, and I was really bummed about it. Then he asked me something I did not expect. He asked me if I wanted to drive to the city 2 hours over to go to the Disney Store and check and see if it was there.

He hates spending money, and he does not like Disney anywhere near as much as I do. Also he told me he didn't want me to buy any more bags so the fact that he asked me that really shocked me.

At first I said no because I did not expect the collection to be released in stores. I'm sure somewhere it mentioned it would be in stores but I only remember them saying the parks and Shop Disney. I figured there was no point in driving 2 hours to be disappointed.

Then he mentioned we could also stop somewhere else that is only located in this city as well. And that's when I figured yeah we might as well go because why not?

We left our home around noon and arrived in the city 2 hours later around 2 pm. Our first stop was the Disney Store. We took her time because I fully expected them to not have what I wanted.

When I finally saw the store I was so happy because it's been years since I've been to the Disney Store. I've been to Disney World but not the Disney Store in a very long time. I wanted to take my time looking around, and because I truly believed that bag was not there I did not rush.

My husband on the other hand had walked off to look around the store. Almost a whole minute of being in the store he called me on my phone to tell me they have the bags! I was so happy I ran over there and grab one so that way I could make sure I held onto it and it was coming home with me.

Then I continue to look around the store some more.

It was amazing that this bag had sold out so fast online, but in the store there were still 3 total on a display, and a few more at the register. I did not expect them to be there at all.

I am very happy with the bag. I know it doesn't seem as good of quality as their normal bags, but I really love it and I think it is very pretty.

Next month already is showing some teaser pictures and I will be trying to get the next bag as well even though it is a fanny pack. While we were in the Disney Store my husband did overhear one of the store clerks say that it would be $90 as well which is how much the mini backpack is. I am hoping it is much cheaper than that, but I have yet to look up loungefly fanny packs to get a feel for their price.

Anyway, I did buy some more of the collection such as the pens and the mini plush. I really wish I could have gotten the ears but those were completely sold out even in the stores! Hopefully I can get the Pirates one it's very cute. Also, there are teasers for March’s release, and those ears look cute as well! I'm expecting every collection to have their ears sold out super fast.

I loaded my dog into the car, and headed down to the Secret Harbor parking lot at Lake Tahoe to check out Secret Cove Beach and Chimney Beach. These are two separate parts of one area of the lake that you follow a trail down to.

Now, planning this I knew there would be some walking involved.  On the map you can see the locations are a short distance away from the parking lot. Having gone to Sand Harbor up the road, I figured it would be a nice, simple walking trail. For the most part, it was:

But since I had gone there to specifically check out Chimney Beach, I had to break away from the trail and follow the route to the beach. I had no idea that this is how you got there. I did not really look up this area past the map and if parking was free. It is, by the way. 

It started out okay, but it started to get more steep and narrow. 

I did almost fall a couple times but never did fully fall. My dog, Koda, on the other had was doing amazingly. This surprised me a lot, since he is a winter dog, and his breed is known to be on the lazy side. He kept on going, having no trouble at all. He basically had the time of his life, which really isn’t surprising. What dog doesn’t like to go out for a walk? There were times I had trouble keeping up with him! 

It was also nice that there were steps that made going down a little easier. 

There were also nice wide parts as well. 

Of course, it was still wasn’t super easy. The lower you got, which is where you want to be, the path kept getting smaller.

We finally made it to the lower part of the mountain, but because I have such a great sense of directions, we ended up on the other side of where I wanted to be. It was such a tease that I could see the chimney from where I was. 

Had I been more prepared, I would have found a way down to the beach and walked over there through the water. There really was no other way to get there besides going back down the path. Unfortunately for me, that was my only option as I only had the clothes I wore. Had I brought a swimsuit I absolutely would have swam over! My phone is waterproof! I also didn’t feel that the rocks would be a safe walk for Koda, so the trail was the best option.

BUT, it was a nice walk! Very pretty for sure! Worse part was that Koda kept trying to go to the water, and the only way to get to it from the trail was a sharp drop down.

Having finally made it to where we needed to be, we ran into another unexpected part of the trail. Before you reach the actual beach, there is a creek that runs all the way down from a near by lake, Marlette Creek. To pass the creek there isn’t really a bridge, but a few long planks of wood that are little high from the water. 

If I had been alone it would not have been that big of an obstacle, but since I had a very large dog with me it was very stressful. He would NOT cross the bride. I tried and tried, but no matter what I did he would not go across. I was tempted to just walk back up to the parking lot, but since it was hot, Koda was panting, and we made it all the way there, I didn’t want to give up. I really wanted to make sure Koda got to swim and cool down. 

I took a big risk, and let him go down into the river on the right side of the bridge. It was risky because the water was flowing pretty fast and hard, and had Koda pulled me too hard, or been drag down the creek a little, I probably would have fallen in. The bridge was high so getting wet would be the least of my worries. Had he been pushed down the creek, it did slow down closer to the lake, so he would have been fine, but it wasn’t cross-able for me. 

Once you cross the bridge, you walk up some steps and have a decision to make. There are different paths that lead to separate areas of the beach. The furthest right path leads to the actual Chimney part of the beach. 

Since there were more people at the Chimney, I took Koda to the middle beach so that he could swim without getting distracted. It was empty so we had it to ourselves. 

But I was able to get a picture of the Chimney! 

And Koda got to swim!

I plan to go back again with Koda, but this time more prepared. I was so hot, wearing cotton leggings and a cotton Hanes jacket, no water bottle, and a dying phone battery. Since then I have bought a water bottle that also sprays you, a water proof hiking backpack, and a collapsible water dish.  I already own a portable charger, made sure it was fully charged the night before, AND brought it with me on the trip, but what I forgot was a cord to actually connect my phone to it.