Florida - Day 2

Yesterday's blog... written by B, posted today with photos...

From Animal Kingdom

Off to Animal Kingdom we went, bright and early this morning. We arrived at AK at 8:15 am and weren’t surprised to see the parking lot starting to fill up and buses by the dozens dropping off the days’ guests. Getting through the gates was a quick and painless effort even with the large crowds because we subscribe to what we call “Disney Syndrome”. That’s when people follow the person in front of them because they’re too afraid or lazy to walk a little further to the next line. Thus creating a logjam of people. Try it out the next time you find yourself faced with a decision of which line to go in either at the movies or to cash out at a store. It works.

From Animal Kingdom

The first area in the park you walk through is called the Oasis. It’s a group of trails that leads you into the main park and offers views of a bunch of smaller animals along the way. Once we finished up there, we walked rather briskly to AK’s newest attraction, Expedition Everest, to grab a Fast Pass. We couldn’t wait to get back there later in the morning so we could have our chance to see the Yeti. With Fast Pass in hand we made our way to the Kilimanjaro Safari in Africa. Aside from a group of annoying high school kids behind us in line it was great fun. I took a ton of pictures even though the ride was incredibly bumpy. We saw a good mix of animals and even got up close and personal with M’s favorite animals, giraffes.

The safari came to an end so we continued to follow the plan that was laid out so expertly by Passporter and later adapted by me. After the safari we still had some time before we needed to get back to Everest so we hit up the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail followed by the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Both were very cool and offered lots of hidden treasures in the form of giant fruit bats, tigers, komodo dragons and a few humongous silver back gorillas. All I can say is wow! Disney puts you right in the middle of it all, to the point were you start to wonder if one of the bigger animals could just snatch you up if it really wanted to.

From Animal Kingdom

It was finally time to head back to Expedition Everest. We were so pumped for this ride. We’d watched a bunch of videos on YouTube and shows on the Travel Channel about what to expect. All I can tell you is that no matter how much you prepare and research you’re still going to be surprised and amazed at how incredible this ride is! I’ll leave it at that. Go to AK and check this out for yourself. It’s worth the price of admission.

From Animal Kingdom

The rest of the day found us battling crowds and standing in long lines. Not fun but the pay off was great. Dinosaur was super exciting and scary so much so that M almost tore my arm out of the socket at one point. The Festival of the Lion King and It’s Tough to Be a Bug shows are always crowd pleasers and they didn’t disappoint us either. Both shows came at a time of day when we needed a rest.

From Animal Kingdom

The only thing we didn’t get to see today was the brand new show Finding Nemo – The Musical but we’ve decided to hit it up on Monday morning before we leave. If you know me, you know I can’t miss out on anything. I’d say the day was a huge success overall and it served as a nice start to what promises to be a great vacation.

I’ve got to run, I have a 7 am tee time with M’s dad and we’re meeting him at his restaurant at 6 am. Good night.

From Animal Kingdom

Florida - Day 1

From Disney 2008

M here… B’s reading the PassPorter and planning our day at the Animal Kingdom tomorrow. We just had some dinner with my Dad, brothers and my nephew Vinny. Considering the way our day started, I think it ended really well.

How did you start it, you ask? We started it sleeping in the car. That’s right. In the car.

After our 15-hour drive from DC to Orlando (2 extra hours due to holiday weekend traffic and construction), we arrived in Orlando at around 1 am. Excited to check into the hotel and get a good nights’ sleep, we headed over to the “Metropolitan Hotel”, stopping at Walgreens on the way to get some Advil PM for me – I had a headache and hadn’t been sleeping well, so I wanted to be sure to get a good nights’ sleep.

After spending way too much time looking for a parking spot and then checking in, we headed up to room 1304. It was disgusting. Old, musty… the sheets looked like they hadn’t been washed in ages. It was just gross and we left. B said he’d rather sleep in the car than in this place. Funny… that’s exactly what we ended up doing.

We checked several different places (at this point, it’s about 2am and I’ve taken 2 Advil PM), and nobody had any vacancies. We headed over to the place we booked for the remainder of the week to see if they would let us check in a day early. Nobody at the front desk till 7am. So yup… we slept in the car. Till 7am. Well, I did. There was no way B was falling asleep. He was on the lookout for bad guys.

From Disney 2008

Luckily, we were able to check into the other place at 7am, and proceeded to sleep for the next 6 hours.

We decided to head over to Downtown Disney and spent the afternoon there. I hadn’t been there in years, and so much has changed. As I was looking around, I was thinking about how much fun Vinny’s going to have at the Magic Kingdom on Friday. We had lunch at Wolfgang Puck’s Café, where a woman fell on me as B and I were talking about how happy we were to finally be here. Like… on me. Turns out she tripped over a broom. It was pretty bad – I mean, you could see the bruise growing bigger before your eyes. I hope they got their lunch for free.

From Disney 2008

We spent some time in the World of Disney store, where B found a cool (organic cotton ;-)) t-shirt. I like that Downtown Disney isn’t just filled with stores selling cheap trinkets (though there are plenty of those too), but it actually offers some cool art – blown glass, paintings, etc.

Claudia told me that we had to go to the Ghirardelli Soda Shop for a milkshake while we were there, so of course we did. I got a dark chocolate mint Quake Shake and B went with the chocolate peanut butter. Both delicious – mine was better.

Once Upon a Toy was really cool, and they had a spot where you could make your own Light Saber. Guess who made his own Light Saber?

From Disney 2008

We of course spent time trying on all the hats, because that’s what we do. We like hats.

From Disney 2008

From Disney 2008

My brother Eric flew in from Iraq tonight, so after my father and other brother Nick and my nephew Vinny picked him up and met us for a bite to eat (Tu Tu Tango was the restaurant – if you’re in Orlando, check it out). It was so great to see them all. Everyone seemed really happy and we had a lot of fun. B met Dad for the first time :)

From Dinner with the Fam

From Dinner with the Fam

We’re off to bed… early day tomorrow. B wants to start at 8 at Animal Kingdom…

PS – PriceLine Sucks.

Listening to: Seinfeld

Driving Part 2

From Road Trip

Melissa here...

On the way out of DC today, we got to see the Pentagon for a brief moment as we sped by. Thanks to a gift card, we were able to get our coffee and bagels for free this morning. Thanks Mom ;-)

Pretty uneventful photo day... we're really trying to focus on getting to FL, so we're not stopping too often. The traffic monster seems to be following us... we're only in South Carolina and we've been on the road from DC for 8 hours. The GPS tells us we have about another 7 hours.

Here's what we've learned:

• While traveling by car IS better in some ways during the holidays, maybe the weekend after Christmas isn't the best time to be on the road.
• People from Virginia and beyond like to drive in the high speed lane instead of using it to pass like we were all taught in Drivers' Ed.
• According to the billboards, Southerners very much enjoy their NASCAR, porcelein dolls, fireworks, and tobacco products.
• It's smart to stock up on healthy foods that won't make you tired, though they may be hard to find. A treasure hunt at a Food Lion in NC produced enough healthy snacks to keep us going to Orlando. After wading through the jerky, chicken and waffles, biscuits and gravy with a side of grits, of course.
• Don't eat delicious salty food from Ben's Chili Bowl without drinking plenty of water. We have the dry skin and chapped lips to prove it.
• South of the Border REALLY wants you to stop by. Word of Advice: Don't.

From Road Trip

We just watched a beautiful sunset, which we failed to get a really good picture of. Here's our poor attempt:

From Road Trip

The big guy is hungry so I'm going to dig out some of that delicious food so we can enjoy dinner by the dashboard lights...

Listening to: "Juicy" by The Notorious B.I.G.

Our Day in DC

Bob wrote this last night... posting with pictures now:

Hey everyone, Bob here…Melissa is watching yet another Matthew McConaughey movie.

This morning started early for us - around 5am. I guess we just couldn’t sleep because of the anticipation of the day ahead. No just kidding… although we loved DC, we were up because our room was like a hot box. Once I took care of the temp situation we were awake so we decided to get the day started. Anyone who knows us will get the importance of this next sentence. When we got to the lobby, "Dreamgirl" by DMB was playing on the hotel radio.

From Washington DC and Florida Road Trip

We headed over to Brueggers Bagels for a little wake up and to plan our day. Next time we’ll grab a cab because we walked to the rail station and it was about 40 degrees to start the morning. With breakfast in us and the planning done, we headed toward the White House. We may fancy ourselves worldly, but we ended up in a tourist trap of a store to buy M a sweatshirt because of the cool temp. A happy M makes for a happy B.

From Washington DC and Florida Road Trip

With M finally warm we continued on to the White House. We made a brief stop in Freedom Plaza to check out the grandstand on the planned Inauguration Parade route and to take a few pics so we can look back and say, “we were there”, but I guess all of DC is like that. I couldn’t help but notice the incredible architecture that surrounded us around every corner. And the White House is no exception. There’s a sense of awe when you look at a building of this grandeur. M and I wanted to take the tour but you have to sign up for that like a year in advance. Maybe we’ll get there someday.

From Washington DC and Florida Road Trip

One of the amazing things about this town is the never-ending list of photo ops. The White House, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and all of the museums, just to name a few. And believe - me we took pictures of everything. After the White House, we jumped a cab and headed to the Lincoln Memorial for a little reflection. Lincoln’s statue is enormous and beautiful… but fragile and stoic at the same time. We really loved this part of the day.

From Washington DC and Florida Road Trip

The Vietnam War Memorial was more powerful than either of us could have ever imagined. To say it affected us would be an understatement - and seeing all of the soldiers’ names put a chill into us both. This was a sobering moment that I think will stay with us forever. Another cab ride and we made our way to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Apparently we hit the line at the right time because by the time we decided to leave, the sheer volume of the crowd was massive. This museum was just reopened this year and it didn’t disappoint - but next time we’ll hit it early in the morning so we can avoid the crowds.

From Washington DC and Florida Road Trip

By this point in the day we needed to eat something or M was going to smash me in the face with a rock. So it was back to the hotel to gather our thoughts. In our pre-trip planning we saw a TV show that did a story about this place called Ben’s Chili Bowl. It’s a small family owned restaurant that’s been around since 1958 and is located in DC’s U Street District. For me this was the highlight of the trip. I know I should say it was the White House or the Vietnam Wall… and yes they’re great, but Ben’s is THE place. The food is incredible. It’s not what the doctor ordered but I could eat it everyday. I had the “half smoke” with chili cheese fries and a Sprite. They give you more food than any single man, woman or child should eat in one sitting. M had the veggie burger and veggie chili cheese fries with a banana shake. When she took the first sip of the shake she almost fell off of her stool, which we were lucky to get because this place was mobbed. I mean -people everywhere but because of the amazing atmosphere, we didn’t mind having strangers bumping us as we soaked in the entertainment of the dancing wait staff and waited for our food. Ben’s wait staff is unlike any we’ve ever seen before. As soon as we muscled our way through the door, we could see why it’s been around so long. Singing, dancing, smiling… they all seemed happy to be there. I may have said this already but I could eat at Ben’s Chili Bowl everyday and twice on Saturday.

From Washington DC and Florida Road Trip

After lunch it was off to the International Spy Museum, which turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. We actually intended on going there early in the morning, but found out at breakfast that it didn’t open until 10am, as does most of DC on a Saturday morning. Yes, it was somewhat interesting but the lines and crowds made this a very anti-climactic way to end the day. By this point we’d had enough of lines and waiting so we headed back to the room for a little nap.

Our original plan was to nap for about an hour or two then shower and head out for dinner. We even had a reservation. Well as you might imagine, the day finally caught up with us. Our nap turned into us staying in and getting room service, which was definitely the best thing we could have done.

DC did not let us down. The food, the sights, the people all made for an amazing start to this trip. Tomorrow, Florida here we come. Good night.

From Washington DC and Florida Road Trip

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Washington DC and Florida Road Trip

Listening to: "Here Comes My Girl" by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers

Providence to Washington, D.C.

From Washington DC and Florida Road Trip

Melissa here... Bob's driving :)

We started out at around 1:00pm and it's now 8:10 and we're in Delaware. We got stuck in major traffic in New York and New Jersey due to holiday travelers and Day after Christmas shoppers. We seem to be in the clear now, and hopefully we'll make it to D.C. in the next hour.

We've had fun driving together, listening to our Road Trip Playlist on the iPod and playing Jeopardy on my cell phone.

We're excited to see what tomorrow holds and promise to take lots of pictures.

Listening to: "Flashlight" by Adrianne