I had slept in stops and starts. I did manage to sleep until 5:30, which is more impressive than it sounds as the clocks had gone back an hour during the night. Graham was still asleep. I had a shower and then checked in on Facebook and also did some research about breakfast options. Around 6:30, I decided to get some stuff out of my suitcase. The suitcase has a squeaky wheel, and this woke up Graham. He got showered, too. Then we headed to get some breakfast. I had hoped that we would be up early enough to have breakfast at IHOP, but as we had slept longer than expected and were on quite a tight schedule, this was not an option. It turned out that the breakfast at the hotel was actually cheaper. We had breakfast at Tangaroa Terrace, which is the quick service restaurant at the Disneyland Hotel. Graham had a short rib steak with scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes and pineapple. I had the Loco Moco burrito, which was a twist of the famous Hawaii breakfast dish. This consisted of rice, pieces of hamburger, gravy and fried garlic stuffed into a tortilla. It also came with a side of pineapple. This was absolutely delicious. I wish the same could be said about the coffee. Up to that point, this was the worst coffee I ever had. Spoiler alert – it did not keep that record for long.
Our friends Ken and Sue were picking us up from the hotel at 08:00. In the run up to this trip, I had looked into going to church on the Sunday. Back in 2006, I went to a Sunday service at Crystal Cathedral. I have had a special bond with that ministry ever since. This culminated in us renewing our wedding vows in a chapel on top of the Tower of Hope a matter of months before the church was sold. Unfortunately, the ministry had got itself into financial trouble that resulted in bankruptcy. What followed then was a very dark period with infighting and family feuds. Fortunately, after a couple of attempts to reinvent itself, a move that did not really work out and some leadership changes, the ministry went back to its roots. They moved again from Garden Grove to Irvine and the ministry is now called Shepherd‘s Grove. The senior pastor is the grandson of the founder of the original ministry. I do watch their televised services online regularly, but I know that this is a different proposition from actually being there. As much as I wanted to go to church there, we had plans with our friends on the Sunday and Irvine is a good 30 minutes from Disneyland.
There is a second link that connects me with the ministry. In summer of 2018, somebody on one of my Disney groups had posted a video of a children‘s choir singing How Far I‘ll Go from Moana on America Got Talent. I was absolutely blown away by this. I found the video from their audition, which was also amazing and then followed their progress through the competition. During this period of time, I only knew that they are called Voices of Hope Children’s Choir and that they were from Orange County, California. It was only after the competition when I tried to find more videos that I realised that they are actually part of the Shepherd‘s Grove Ministry. It had been my dream ever since to see them perform, but I knew the chances of this ever happening were slim. At the time, we had no concrete plans to return to California and even if we did, they only sing during the Sunday service maybe a handful of times each year. A few days before we were due to fly to Los Angeles, I checked the church diary. I could not believe my eyes when I realised that Voices of Hope Children’s Choir was going to sing during both Sunday services on the Sunday we would be there. That sealed the deal.
Because we were going to spend the day with friends, I messaged them about my updated plans. A few hours later, I got a message back that they would like to come to church with me. I was very happy about this turn of events, but Graham was not thrilled. He does not do church and was going to stay behind. I asked him to at least come to say “hi” to our friends. He agreed to this.
We had finished breakfast quicker than anticipated and headed outside to sit in front of the hotel. I decided to quickly check out the gift shop. I was blown away by the huge choice of Spirit Jerseys. I have always liked them. One that particularly caught my eye was a DVC member Spirit Jersey. I loved the design, but red really is not my colour. I decided to mull this over. Other than this, there was nothing that really caught my eye. I went back to where Graham was sitting. I got a message from our friend Sue shortly afterwards that they were nearby. They arrived about 5 minutes later.
When I saw them, I called Graham over. We all said „hi“ to each other. Sue told Graham that she had done some research and that there was a lake near the church. She advised that we would drop him off on the way to church and then pick him up again after church. He was sold.
We were chatting up a storm during the 30-minute drive. Graham had not been in California for 9 years and for me it had been 8 years, but felt like we had only seen each other a few weeks ago. The same was true with our other friends in California. I suppose this is the sign of true friendship. Even if you have not seen each other in years, you can pick up like you have only seen each other yesterday. We dropped off Graham and then we continued on the short distance to the church.
There is a high school with a big car park right opposite the church. There was no signage, but there was a large number of cars for a Sunday. There was somebody walking towards the church and Ken asks if we were OK to park there. We were advised that we could park in any visitor slot. We got parked and then headed across the road.
We stopped by the Shepherd’s Grove sign to take some photos. Then we headed towards the church. On the way, I spotted something familiar- the Good Shepherd statue from Crystal Cathedral. Crystal Cathedral always had amazing artwork dotted all around campus, but this has always been my favourite. I was not sure if this was the same statue, but I have since learned that it is and it followed the ministry on both moves. Apparently, this was the first piece of art that was purchased for Crystal Cathedral and therefore has special significance. I am glad that this piece of art moved with the ministry not only because of the historical significance, but because it is very fitting considering the name of the ministry.
It did not take long until it hit home that Shepherd’s Grove is a very different proposition from Crystal Cathedral. Not only was Crystal Cathedral set inside huge grounds, but it had multiple buildings including a sizeable visitor centre. This is where people tended to congregate before and after the service. Shepherd’s Grove does not have that luxury. There is a nice courtyard area in front of the church with picnic tables and there were some tables set up on either side of the courtyard. One was a bookstall and the other had some donuts and refreshments. Ken and Sue had a donut each, but I was still full from breakfast and I passed. Once they had finished their donuts, we went inside.
There was a communion service going on and we had to wait a few minutes for this to finish. Ken was taking to one of the greeters. He found out that there was a segment welcoming international visitors in the service. I definitely fulfilled this criterion. Shortly afterwards, we were allowed in and found seats quite close to the front. I was excited and nervous in equal measurements. This was a bit of a recurrent theme of this holiday. I have so many treasured memories from trips to California and the Mexican Riviera and I had wondered more than once before the trip if I would be better off just keeping the memories intact. In terms of Shepherd’s Grove, there was of course the change of venue. I have got used to the new church when watching online. However, screens do change the perspective a little and actually being there, I was still surprised how small the church felt. Even with the small venue, it was nowhere near full. We went to the first of two morning services, and this may have had something to do with it. What I was nervous about is that since I last went to Crystal Cathedral, the ministry has changed denomination. Crystal Cathedral/ Shepherd’s Grove used to be an American Reformed Church. When they moved to Irvine, they became part of the Presbyterian Church. This is not really a denomination I am familiar with, and I had been able to find very little information online. Historically, the main ministry and the Hour of Power were separate concerns even though they were linked. The televised service was filmed on a Saturday. There were times where the senior pastor for Hour of Power and the senior pastor of the main ministry were two different people. The televised services had not changed significantly, but I was not sure what to expect of the Sunday services. It was only when I got home from this trip and watched the televised service online for that week that I got a distinct sense of Deja Vue. It turns out that the Hour of Power broadcast is now the earlier of the two Sunday services with a two-week time lag. It was nice to have the opportunity to watch the service I actually attended again when I got home.
I did not have the benefit of that knowledge at the time, but I was very relieved that the Sunday service followed the familiar structure that has always been used at Crystal Cathedral and also for the Hour of Power. Every service that I have attended and watched online has always started with the opening hymn Joyful, Joyful, which is a hymn that I have always liked, but that is now forever linked in my mind with this ministry. This was followed by the greeting by the people around you with the catchphrase of the ministry “God loves you and so do I”. I have always found this incredibly powerful. The scripture reading near the beginning of the service, a performance of guest musicians, which in this case was Voices of Hope Children’s Choir, an interview with a special guest, beautiful music by the choir and orchestra and a powerful message were all present. Some things were new for me like a special welcome to first time visitors and the part where they asked international visitors to share where they are from. I figured out afterwards that in the broadcast, the transmit an invitation to support the ministry during those parts of the service. A nice touch was that they were giving out a gift bag to the first-time visitors. Ken and Sue wanted me to have this. This included a signed book by senior pastor Bobby Schuller, a guide with weekly devotions and a bar of Lindt chocolate. I have not read the book yet, but I made a New Year’s resolution to read one book a week this year and I will definitely read the book as part of this in the near future.
The big highlight for me was getting to see Voices of Hope Children’s Choir live. They were every bit as good as they are on video. The first song they sang was familiar as they had sung this in church before. It is a beautiful song called You Say by Christian singer and songwriter Lauren Daigle. The second song was a bit to modern for me, but I still was glad to get to hear it.
There have definitely some changes, but I either considered them an improvement or felt neutral about them. Some things I had always picked up on while watching the televised service, but some of them came across much stronger when attempting in person. The ministry at Crystal Cathedral was always driven by men. Once Bobby Schuller became the senior pastor, his wife Hannah has usually read the scripture. The service was definitely more of a family affair with Hannah also interviewing the special guest and their daughter Haven introducing the greeting and doing the closing prayer. It was nice to see that Shepherd’s Grove is embracing equality. One of the main differences was that the interview with the special guest had been pre-recorded and was shown on the screen. I am not sure if this is the norm now or if this is a one off. In the televised version of the service, it was not obvious that this was a recording. The speaker was Lee Strobel, a former investigative journalist turned Christian author and pastor. He was both interesting and inspirational.
The biggest change however was the message. Bobby Schuller is not the polished public speaker that his grandfather and his father were. Instead, he says it as it is and speaks straight from the heart. The teaching at Crystal cathedral has always been solid and remains so. However, I much prefer Bobby’s no-nonsense approach. Both of the elder Schullers had a certain air of celebrity about them. This is not the case with Bobby, and this is definitely a breath of fresh air.
After the service, we headed out into the courtyard. Flags of the countries from which people were visiting had been hung above the entrance and the national anthem for each of those countries was played by a brass orchestra. I got two national anthems. There were international visitors from Canada and Germany and as I have dual nationality, it was nice to hear both the British and German national anthems. I would have loved to stay a little longer, but we had to head back to pick up Graham. However, I was grateful that I was able to go at all and precious memories were definitely made.
Graham was already waiting for us. He had a great time wandering around the lake and he had seen all kinds of interesting wildlife. Once we were all reunited, our friends asked us if there was anything we wanted to see. Graham mentioned that he always wanted to visit the Japanese garden in Long Beach. Opening times are somewhat limited. However, we were in luck and not only was the garden open for visitors that day, but complimentary reservations were available, too. The Japanese garden still requires reservations. The available reservations were a bit earlier than what we had been hoping for, but Ken advised that if we headed straight there, we would make it. This was fine by us. Sue made the reservations on her phone, and we headed in that direction. The official name of the Japanese garden is Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden, and this is part of California State University Long Beach. I had not realised that this was the university Ken went to for his undergraduate degree. The advantage of this was that he was familiar with the lay of the land, which saved us some time. He found us parking spot right opposite the entrance, and we made our reservation time comfortably.
The garden is quite small, but it is beautiful and tranquil. The centrepiece is the koi pond. Separate reservations are available to feed the koi. Rather surprisingly, those reservations are also free, but they book out quickly and there were none left for that day. Considering that the Japanese garden heavily relies on donations, I think they are missing a trick there. I am sure most people would be happy to pay a small fee to feed the Koi. I was not bothered about feeding the Koi as we had done this before at Aulani. We took our time to walk around the pond. We also came past a Japanese tea house and a small zen garden. The Japanese tea house is not used as such, but is used as a mini museum showcasing Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging as well as kimonos.
When we had completed our loop around the garden, we had a special treat. In a tall tree opposite the koi pond was an osprey. I am sure the osprey was not so patiently waiting for the people to disappear so that he could catch himself some dinner. A volunteer that we spoke to was not too keen on his presence, but for us it was a real treat to see a majestic bird like this at relatively close quarters. Apparently, the osprey comes by about once a month. Although the osprey is not a well-liked visitor, he also does not cause a lot of damage. However, a few months back, a cormorant decided to come for a fishing expedition, and they lost a lot of the older koi due to the stress this caused. I can understand why they are not keen to have birds of prey around.
Once we had seen enough, we headed back to the car and drove the short distance to Ken’s and Sue’s house. They had remodelled their garden since we had last seen them, and this is really nice. Earlier in the day, Sue mentioned that we could stop at a supermarket. Both Graham and I like to sound of this. Graham wanted to get some fruit for breakfast, and I had noticed that we did not have enough toothpaste and I am also quite partial to American orange soda. I also wanted to pick up some laundry supplies as I wanted to do a load of laundry before we got on the shift. Before we left Ken’s and Sue’s house, we were equipped with laundry detergent capsules, dryer sheets, toothpaste, and some gourmet orange soda.
Seal Beach has a beautiful seafront with a pier. It also has a historical old town. We decided to have a walk down the pier. Normally Graham is always ahead of me as he has longer legs than I have. However, on this occasion, Sue and I were at the end of the pier and Ken and Graham were only about halfway. We enjoyed the view while the gentlemen caught up with us. Graham suddenly pointed off into the distance. I had no idea what we were looking at. Suddenly I saw a pod of bottlenose dolphins performing right in front of us. I was so spellbound that I did not even think to get my phone out. By the time it dawned on me that I should take some photos, the dolphins had moved on.
We stayed behind a little longer to see if the dolphins would resurface, but we were out of luck. We then decided to get back to the car and get some lunch. Ken suggested places serving all kinds of international cuisines, but we can get just about every international cuisine in Manchester. We fancied some American food. It was decided that we would go to a brew pub with its own craft brewery. There were two options nearby. The first one was just on the outskirts of Seal Beach, we headed there, and Sue went inside to check if they were able to accommodate us. The rest of us stayed in the car. There was about a 20-minute wait, which would not have been an issue, but Sue also reported back that it was very noisy. Neither of us fancied this much. Sue came back and we headed further south to Huntington Beach.
The area we were heading to is called Peter’s Landing Marina. Although the car park looked pretty busy, too, there were some spaces available. This was encouraging. The report from Sue also sounded good. They could seat us straightaway and although all the outdoor seating was taken, there was plenty of room inside and it was quiet. We headed inside. The brew pub is called Golden Road. If you are looking for ambience, you are in the wrong place. Essentially this is a big warehouse. We did get a table near the window though and had a nice view over the marina. I am not a huge beer drinker, but I do like the odd craft beer. They still had a pumpkin spice ale on the menu, and this was too good to pass up. This was really nice. Graham had an IPA and he liked this, too. For food, we ordered a good variety which we all just shared. The standout dish for me were the Avocado Tacos. I love anything avocado anyway, but it never occurred to me that you could fry avocado. The dish consisted of beer battered avocado, corn slaw, black beans, shaved cabbage, tomatillo salsa and chipotle cream. There were so many textures and flavours. It was absolutely amazing. The rest of the food was very nice, too. We shared a pub pretzel with beer cheese dip; a classic burger, which consisted of a prime Angus patty, aged white cheddar, red onion, lettuce, tomato, remoulade sauce on brioche bun and a side of a pickle spear and fries; and an Italian Sausage pizza with house made pork sausage, shaved fennel, Kalamata olives, mozzarella cheese and marinara sauce. I had hoped that we may have room for dessert as they had some nice options, but we could not quite finish all the food and we were absolutely stuffed.
After lunch, we continued our trip south. Initially things were familiar as we drove through Huntington Beach and Newport Beach, and we had visited both on our first trip to California. Graham had been further south on his wanders, but for me it was uncharted territory once we left Newport Beach. Ken suggested that we could check out the Sherman Library and Gardens in Corona del Mar. Ken and Sue had never been, but Ken’s mother had recommended this. Sherman Gardens is a botanical garden featuring over 100 species of palms from around the world, 130 varieties of begonias, tropical conservatory with a koi pond, carnivorous plants and an extensive orchid collection, a succulent garden, a formal garden, and a tea garden with numerous hanging baskets of fuchsia, begonias, and seasonal flowers. The gardens are not particularly big, but they are very nicely done. We could not visit the tea garden as they were setting up for a wedding. The rest however was very nice. I was particularly fascinated by the succulent garden that features the largest cactus I have ever seen. They also used sea glass in the beds with the smaller succulents, which I always have loved.
The Sherman Library is a historical research library specializing in the history of the Pacific Southwest including southern California, Arizona, northern Mexico, and adjoining areas. Apart from around 15000 books including large collection of California city directories, it also is home to about 30000 photos concentrating on the history of Newport Beach, Los Angeles, and Southern California. The Sherman Library is also home to a collection of California Impressionist art. Because of the photos and the art, I would have loved to have a look at the library, but unfortunately as it was a Sunday when we visited, it was close. This may deserve a repeat visit on a weekday when the library is open.
Once we had seen everything that there was to see, we headed back to the car and went a bit further south to Laguna Beach. There is a beautiful park on top of a cliff called Crescent Bay Point Park, which is overlooking Crescent Bay beach and the ocean. There are some interesting bylaws. Apart from the usual restrictions regarding bikes, roller skates, skateboards and ball games, there are also bylaws prohibiting elaborate picnics and proposals. I wonder what had gone on there to trigger such bylaws. When we were there, all was quiet. There were a few people sitting on the grass and there were people coming and going at the overlook. We stayed there for a while. Unfortunately, it was still too early for a sunset. After about 45 minutes, we headed back to the car.
There was one last thing we had to take care of. We were introduced to the brave new world of Tesla that day. Hybrid cars are becoming increasingly common in the UK, but fully electric cars are still very rare. Ken is driving a Tesla. During the day we had covered a considerable distance, and the car was running low on power. Before we could head back to Disneyland, the car needed charging. There are no charging points near the coast. We headed back towards Irvine where there are Tesla Superchargers in the parking structure of a shopping mall. Sue asked us what we wanted to do while the car was charging. Nobody was hungry, and Graham and I had hit the proverbial wall at that stage. We were happy to just sit. Ken and Sue were happy with that, too.
We spent the time making some plans. We had originally planned to book an excursion through Royal Caribbean on debarkation day that included a city tour of Los Angeles before dropping off at the airport. By the time our on-board credit was sorted out, the tour that we wanted was fully booked. We were hoping that they were holding back some spots and that we could book this on the ship. We had talked about this earlier in the day and Sue asked us if we were particularly attached to the idea of doing this tour, which we were not. They had offered to pick us up from the port and spend the day with us. While we were waiting for the car to charge, we bounced some ideas around. Back in 2011, the day after our vow renewal, Ken and Sue had taken us to Griffith Park. Unfortunately, the observatory was closed that day. We always had intended to go back, but for one reason or the other, it had never happened. Ken suggested that this could be combined with the Getty museum, and we were all for this. It was nice to have something to look forward to at the end of the cruise.
Once the car had charged enough, we set off again. On the way back to the Disneyland Hotel, we saw what used to be Crystal Cathedral all lit up. When we got back to the hotel, we said goodbye to Ken and Sue. We headed straight to our room. We got ready for bed and were asleep within minutes of getting back to the hotel.
Dolphingirl’s Travels 
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