Way back in November I saw on Facebook that Cal Expo was hosting an ongoing event in December with lots of lights and amusement rides. All of the lights looked really cool and I thought it would be neat to walk around and see a whole bunch of Christmas decorations in one place.
It reminded me of driving around to look at Christmas lights in different neighborhoods, except this time it was actually like walking from door to door.
I mentioned this to Lauren and got her on board too. We figured if the perfect moment popped up in our busy Sacramento schedules, then we'd give it a shot. It seemed really fun, but I didn't want to be stressed having to fit it in.
About a week later I received a text from my mom asking if we wanted to go to Global Winter Wonderland while we were in town with the rest of my family. Of course we responded, saying we would love to go. It's like it was meant to be. It took a while to find a date that worked with everyone's different schedules, but we were all able to free up time in the evening of the 26th.
We all happily agreed to skip the rides and simply enjoy the fanfare of the lights and scenery. As we entered the venue, I was pleased to learn that the attraction was actually a decorated representation of the world. Global Winter Wonderland highlighted many of the famous creations found throughout the globe. My favorite spectacles included the: pandas and dragon in China; huge peacock (I'm not sure which country that's from); gondola and gondolier in Italy; Big Ben in England; and the more locally recognized Golden Gate Bridge.
After walking around taking tons of pictures, we decided to sit down for a little bit and enjoy the Circus of Lights show featuring acts from different cultures. There were many performances by Chinese contortionists and plate spinners, Argentinian dancing gauchos, and Kenyan acrobats. The majority of the show was pretty good, although it did seem a little long and repetitive. Maybe it was just the fact that I was freezing sitting outside for over an hour, but I was happy to go inside and walk around the market.
I was expecting to see a lot of various "handmade" items from around the world, being that the theme of the overall attraction was "global". However, the most "diverse" items being sold were stun guns and tasers, and those don't really scream "diversity" to me, in a positive way.
Although I wasn't super impressed with the holiday market and I would've been happily content with watching just the first half of the show, I'm glad I did go to Global Winter Wonderland solely to admire the lit up wonders of the world. A good Friday was had not only by besties, but also by my family.
No comments:
Post a Comment