Well, Grandma, I told you I'd post again when I had something interesting to write about.
Tonight we had our first tornado warning, and thankfully, the tornado missed us here in BG. Before dinner, Mark noticed on the news that our county had a severe thunderstorm warning. I had noticed some other counties had tornado watches earlier in the day. I said to Mark, "I guess if there's real danger of a tornado here, there will be sirens or something, right?" We weren't quite sure. Well, about half an hour later while we were just about to finish dinner we heard this weird noise--a siren. We wanted to make sure we knew what was going on, so Mark turned on the news (while I cleared the table). Sure enough, we were under a tornado warning. Mark looked it up online, too, and confirmed that this meant we were supposed to take shelter. Luckily, as some of you know, our apartment has a nice, roomy bathroom with no windows. We're also on the bottom floor of our building, which is halfway below ground level. I had joked before moving here that we'd have a pretty good spot in case of a tornado (as if I really knew anything about that :-). Well, I did feel better there than I would have up on the 3rd floor! So, we took our laptops in there and hung out for about 30 minutes while we waited for the warning to expire. Whew! We made it! (Although a tornado was sighted about 9 miles east of here). I guess we'll probably have a few more of these during our time here...
In other news, I made chicken spaghetti tonight--the same recipe Heidi made for us when we came through Oklahoma City. It was good. But I mention it because when I went to the website for the recipe, I noticed a cute pic of a basset hound on the side bar. It turns out that the same lady who wrote the recipe has a whole blog about her basset hound, starting from when he was a puppy. Since we had a basset hound, Penny, when I was growing up, I found it very entertaining. She has tons of pictures and funny stories about the dog. I started reading from the bottom of the page up, and I'm hooked. I thought some of you might also enjoy it (at least the pics!).
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Whew!
It was one week ago yesterday that we left Tucson. Four days ago we unloaded our truck here in Bowling Green, OH. Although we've still got some work to do, the apartment is starting to feel like home. The whole experience has been quite an adventure, but everything went pretty smoothly. We were thankful to have help from our friends and Mark's dad in Tucson, and from our families and Mark's new professor here in BG. Along the way, we were really happy to spend some time with Mark's sister and her family as well as his grandmother and uncle. If you have to make a cross-country move, it helps to have something to look forward to at the end of each leg, like a nice dinner with family. It didn't seem to take too long to unload here, and of course it was nice that it wasn't as hot as loading was in Tucson. Unpacking, though, has been a big project (along with organizing and shopping). Besides that, we were able to show our families a little of the town, and we really enjoyed sampling some more of the local restaurants. I hope to finish setting the apartment up in the next couple of days so I can post some pictures. We've got space for guests, so let us know if you ever find yourself in the area!
Friday, July 9, 2010
Farewell, Tucson
Moving day is almost here. Today, Mark's dad flew in and helped us finish up the packing. Tomorrow morning, we'll pick up the moving truck, load it, and start the first leg of the trip. We've got a bit of a journey ahead of us, but we're excited to be in Bowling Green soon, setting up our new place! Sometime after we get settled in, I'll post pictures of the whole adventure.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Family Trip
Note: I wrote this a couple of days ago and intended to add pictures before I posted it. But, since I still haven't downloaded the pics, I thought I'd better go ahead and get this up. I may or may not add a few pics later.
We got back in town on Sunday after our long trip to visit family. We were first in ABQ for a few days, then went with Mark's parent's and Katie to Arkansas to visit his dad's family, then up to Missouri for the annual reunion with his mom's side. They spend a few days each summer at a camp called Bunker Hill. It had been 5 years since Mark and I last went, so we were really glad to be able to do it this year. On the drive both going and coming we stayed with Mark's older sister and her family (we slept in our nephew's bunk beds, which was kind of fun). She and the kids also came to Bunker Hill, and we got to share a cabin with them. I think most of my readers are family who already know about our adventures on this trip, so I'll just mention a few highlights.
In ABQ, my mom hosted a nice open house for me to see friends from work and church. I really enjoyed having some time to catch up with people, some of whom I really hadn't seen since we moved out to Tucson. Mom's food was also great. I was also able to swim in Grandma's pool one afternoon, which was super nice (except that I got sunburned). On Sunday morning, Mark and I went to Mars Hill, where one of our good friends recently joined the staff.
On our trip with Mark's family, we enjoyed seeing Mark's grandparents again. They lived in ABQ for a couple of years and moved back to Arkansas the same summer we moved to Tucson. While we were there, we walked the mall with Grandpa in the mornings and went to see a couple movies. I really enjoyed the new Karate Kid with Jackie Chan (although Mark and Katie weren't impressed).
At Bunker Hill, we got to catch up with Mark's aunts and uncles on his mom's side and his grandmother. I met one of Mark's cousins that I hadn't met yet, too. We spent a lot of time playing cards in our air-conditioned cabin (the A/C was a first at Bunker Hill). I also joined in on a hike down to a cave on the property, and played in the river with our niece and nephew. It was really fun.
After all that, we started making our way back to ABQ, which meant two more days of driving. By that time, we were all ready to take a break from being in the car. So, Mark and I spent one more day in ABQ to break it up a little before heading home to Tucson. I also celebrated my birthday on the road, in Oklahoma City, and again in ABQ and Tucson. Mark and I ate at the Cheesecake Factory, which I'd never been to before. It was really good. I'll only turn 25 on the 25th once, so I tried to make the most of it. :- )
Now that we're home, we're really just getting ready for the move. We've picked up and packed some more boxes from the English department, and started making a plan to get the rest done. I hope to enjoy our last week and a half in Tucson, despite the crazy heat!
We got back in town on Sunday after our long trip to visit family. We were first in ABQ for a few days, then went with Mark's parent's and Katie to Arkansas to visit his dad's family, then up to Missouri for the annual reunion with his mom's side. They spend a few days each summer at a camp called Bunker Hill. It had been 5 years since Mark and I last went, so we were really glad to be able to do it this year. On the drive both going and coming we stayed with Mark's older sister and her family (we slept in our nephew's bunk beds, which was kind of fun). She and the kids also came to Bunker Hill, and we got to share a cabin with them. I think most of my readers are family who already know about our adventures on this trip, so I'll just mention a few highlights.
In ABQ, my mom hosted a nice open house for me to see friends from work and church. I really enjoyed having some time to catch up with people, some of whom I really hadn't seen since we moved out to Tucson. Mom's food was also great. I was also able to swim in Grandma's pool one afternoon, which was super nice (except that I got sunburned). On Sunday morning, Mark and I went to Mars Hill, where one of our good friends recently joined the staff.
On our trip with Mark's family, we enjoyed seeing Mark's grandparents again. They lived in ABQ for a couple of years and moved back to Arkansas the same summer we moved to Tucson. While we were there, we walked the mall with Grandpa in the mornings and went to see a couple movies. I really enjoyed the new Karate Kid with Jackie Chan (although Mark and Katie weren't impressed).
At Bunker Hill, we got to catch up with Mark's aunts and uncles on his mom's side and his grandmother. I met one of Mark's cousins that I hadn't met yet, too. We spent a lot of time playing cards in our air-conditioned cabin (the A/C was a first at Bunker Hill). I also joined in on a hike down to a cave on the property, and played in the river with our niece and nephew. It was really fun.
After all that, we started making our way back to ABQ, which meant two more days of driving. By that time, we were all ready to take a break from being in the car. So, Mark and I spent one more day in ABQ to break it up a little before heading home to Tucson. I also celebrated my birthday on the road, in Oklahoma City, and again in ABQ and Tucson. Mark and I ate at the Cheesecake Factory, which I'd never been to before. It was really good. I'll only turn 25 on the 25th once, so I tried to make the most of it. :- )
Now that we're home, we're really just getting ready for the move. We've picked up and packed some more boxes from the English department, and started making a plan to get the rest done. I hope to enjoy our last week and a half in Tucson, despite the crazy heat!
Monday, June 7, 2010
Hot, hot, hot!
Well, the AZ heat has arrived. We had such a lovely, cool spring this year compared to last, but the first major heat wave is upon us. We're looking forward to leaving town again for a bit to escape it! I don't have much exciting news to report, compared to the last two posts. We're mostly working on stuff around the house and relaxing. We did make a trip up to Phoenix last Wednesday afternoon to visit Aunt Linda and Uncle Chuck one last time. We had some yummy burgers and enjoyed spending time together. In terms of packing, we've got a good start on our books, and we've also gotten rid of some more stuff. The move is starting to feel real now! My next project is to replace the belt on our old vacuum to see if that gets it working well again...I probably should get to it!
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Apartment Hunting
Yesterday we got home from our trip to Bowling Green. We went to look for an apartment, and I also had a job interview. We had enough time to do a little bit of exploring on campus and around town, too. This is the apartment complex we decided on. There are some pictures posted on their website, but here are some we took. This is the front of one of the buildings.
The rest of the pics are from their "model" apartment, which is still a work in progress (that's why there are some things that look out of place). When you walk in the door, the kitchen and dining room are to the right:
Here's a closer look at the kitchen (notice the newish gas stove):
Here's the dining area:
And a look out the living room windows to the screened porch (our apartment will also be on the bottom floor like this one).
And here's the bathroom. I think we'll really enjoy the double sinks.
It appears that I didn't take any pics of the living room or the bedrooms, but there are some on the apartment's website, along with a floorplan. We both really like the layout, which is pretty different from what we have now. The only downside to the new place is that it doesn't have a washer/dryer (or hookups) in the apartment. There is a coin W/D in the hallway upstairs, though, and we also found a couple of nice laundromats in town. Ultimately, I decided that I only do laundry once a week, but we'll be in the apartment every day, so the condition (and cost) of the apartment were more important than having a W/D.
Besides looking at apartments, we walked around a bit on campus. It seems really nice.
Here's one side of their student union building:
Here's the music building:
Here's the lobby outside of the main recital hall:
Everything around the school and the town seemed so green! We really did like it, though. We weren't sure what to expect from such a small town (30,000-40,000 people live there, including all the students). But, we thought it was great. My interview went well, and I have a job substitute teaching for the moment. I hope to be hired for more (possibly even full-time teaching) depending on enrollment. We also got to spend some time with the professor Mark will be working with, so that was great, too.
I've already been feeling optimistic about moving to BG (if not about the actual process of moving), but it's even more exciting now that I know more about where we'll be, and now that we have a nice place to imagine ourselves living in. I'm sure the next month and a half will go by really fast, and despite not working at the moment, I expect to stay busy with all the preparations (plus more travel).
Here's a closer look at the kitchen (notice the newish gas stove):
Here's the dining area:
And a look out the living room windows to the screened porch (our apartment will also be on the bottom floor like this one).
And here's the bathroom. I think we'll really enjoy the double sinks.
It appears that I didn't take any pics of the living room or the bedrooms, but there are some on the apartment's website, along with a floorplan. We both really like the layout, which is pretty different from what we have now. The only downside to the new place is that it doesn't have a washer/dryer (or hookups) in the apartment. There is a coin W/D in the hallway upstairs, though, and we also found a couple of nice laundromats in town. Ultimately, I decided that I only do laundry once a week, but we'll be in the apartment every day, so the condition (and cost) of the apartment were more important than having a W/D.
Besides looking at apartments, we walked around a bit on campus. It seems really nice.
Here's the building where I had my interview (more on that in a moment):
Here's one side of their student union building:
Here's the music building:
Here's the lobby outside of the main recital hall:
Everything around the school and the town seemed so green! We really did like it, though. We weren't sure what to expect from such a small town (30,000-40,000 people live there, including all the students). But, we thought it was great. My interview went well, and I have a job substitute teaching for the moment. I hope to be hired for more (possibly even full-time teaching) depending on enrollment. We also got to spend some time with the professor Mark will be working with, so that was great, too.
I've already been feeling optimistic about moving to BG (if not about the actual process of moving), but it's even more exciting now that I know more about where we'll be, and now that we have a nice place to imagine ourselves living in. I'm sure the next month and a half will go by really fast, and despite not working at the moment, I expect to stay busy with all the preparations (plus more travel).
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Disney Details
Okay, here's the day-by-day recap of our vacation, with a few pics. I'll post more on Facebook.
Day 1
We had an early flight out, so we arrived in Orlando by 4pm. We then took the "Magical Express" Disney bus to our hotel, the Coronado Springs Resort, which was the first one on the route.
After a quick and easy check-in, we took a few minutes to rest in the room then headed out to the Magic Kingdom. For anyone who doesn't know, Disney provides buses to and from the hotels and the parks, which makes it really easy to get around. The line at the entrance to the Magic Kingdom was surprisingly long, but after a few minutes, we were in the park. We made a bee line for the Aloha Isle snack stand in Adventureland to get our first snack (included in our dining plan). I had a Dole Whip Float, which is on every best snacks at Disney list I looked at. Mark had a Coke Float since he's not a fan of pineapple. After that, we headed on over to the Hall of Presidents to see that animatronics show. Since we had dinner reservations at another hotel on property, we then made our way over to the monorail station to get us to dinner. This was our fanciest meal of the trip, at a signature dining restaurant (which takes two regular dining credits). We ate at Narcoossee's at the Grand Floridian, which is a beautiful (expensive) resort.
One of the reasons we wanted to eat there was because it has a view of the Magic Kingdom fireworks show, so we timed our reservation accordingly. The food was fantastic--by far the best of our whole trip, from appetizer to dessert.
While we ate, we also saw a light show on the lake (which we weren't expecting).
After our main course, our waiter invited us to go out on the restaurant balcony to watch the fireworks. It was an incredible view!
Then we came back in for dessert, including some cheesecake (bottom) that was to die for.
What a way to kick off our celebration!
Day 2
We got up early for breakfast at the Maya Grill restaurant at our hotel and made it to Disney Hollywood Studios as the park was opening.
We walked straight onto the tower of terror ride, then went around to other rides at the park. Unfortunately, the Aerosmith roller coaster (the best ride in the park and our favorite roller coaster) was closed for refurbishment. But, we were able to enjoy some other rides we liked last time (like the Great Movie Ride) and some we hadn't done (like the Studio Backlot Tour). We also made sure to catch the shows, including Beauty and the Beast, which we didn't have time to see on our last trip. It was fantastic--one of my favorites.
We also saw the first half of Indiana Jones, but the rest was canceled due to weather. Since we had seen that one before, we weren't overly upset. We had our lunch there at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater restaurant, where you are seated in little cars and eat while watching sci-fi clips on a big screen.
The onion rings were great.
We had dinner at the Toy Story Pizza Planet, which was pretty fun, too. By that time, though, we were exhausted. (We didn't sleep well, plus it's a 3 hour time difference). Despite that, we stayed for the Fantasmic show, which combines fireworks, lights, video, and stage performers.
We got there over an hour early to get a seat and hope that the weather would clear up so they could do the show. Thankfully, the weather got better, but a few minutes before show time, they announced a technical problem. It was fixed in less than 5 minutes, though! So, we got to see a really great show, then make our way back to the hotel.
Day 3
This day we got up early (again) to catch the extra magic hours at the Animal Kingdom. This park is kind of like a super-beautiful zoo, with rides.
Here, we went straight to the Expedition Everest roller coaster and rode it twice in a row with out a wait. Then we went on the safari ride, where we saw tons of animals. Perhaps the most exciting moments were seeing some young giraffes running across a plain, driving within a few feet of a big giraffe, and coming close enough to touch (although we didn't) a giant ostrich (he wasn't very happy about us being there!). We hadn't eaten yet, though, so after all that, we were feeling a bit out of it. We stopped at a bakery for a light breakfast and a little break and then we felt better. We went on to the Lion King show, which was excellent.
Then we had lunch at the Yak and Yeti restaurant, on the second floor, with a cool view.
The food was great, too, especially the fried green beans appetizer and the fried won tons with fruit and ice cream dessert.
By then, we were exhausted, so we went back to the hotel to rest. A couple hours later, we went to Epcot for our early dinner reservation at the Coral Reef. On our way to the restaurant, we stopped and rode Spaceship Earth, the ride in the big ball at the entrance (there was no wait!).
They had made some cool updates to the ride since our last trip. The food at the restaurant was only so-so, but the atmosphere was pretty awesome. The dining room looks out to a giant aquarium, and we were seated right up close to the glass. It was really fun (and a bit ironic) to watch the fish swimming around while we ate (fish, of course).
After dinner, we went on the Nemo ride right next door to the restaurant, then took the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom. By the time we got there, it was a little less crowded, and since we stayed till around 1am (thanks to extra magic hours), we were able to do all but two of the rides on our list (Space Mountain and Peter Pan's Flight). We used a fast pass for the Jungle Cruise, but hardly had to deal with any lines on the other rides (nothing longer than 20 minutes).
We also checked out a few things we hadn't done last time, including the Carousel of Progress, which is one of my new favorites. (It's an anamatronics show that takes place in a rotating theater). We also caught the Wishes fireworks show again, entirely by chance, as we walked out of the Philharmagic 3D movie (another one of our favorite attractions).
From there, we were basically in the middle of the fireworks action, with them going up on all sides of us. (There's no zoom on this picture!)
It was pretty cool.
Day 4
We spent this whole day at Epcot, which might be my favorite park. Before getting to the park, though, we went to the Kona Cafe at the Polynesian resort for a fantastic breakfast.
Mark had banana stuffed French toast and I had pineapple macadamia nut pancakes.
Wow. Then we took the monorail over to Epcot and went on the Journey to Imagination with Figment ride (one of my favorite kid rides). We made our way over to the world showcase, which was just opening, and waited in a short line for the Maelstrom in Norway. Then we walked right on to the little boat ride in Mexico. A little later, we went to Germany for lunch at Biergarten, a buffet-style restaurant with a live music show.
Although we probably won't go back on our next trip, it was certainly worth going once for the experience (and the tasty pretzel rolls). By this point, we were exhausted again, so we went back to the hotel for another nap. After that, we went back to Epcot and spent some more time walking around the world showcase until dinner. We ate at the Tokyo Dining restaurant in Japan, which was probably my second favorite meal. We both had the shrimp and scallops tempura, which was incredible.
The dessert (green tea pudding) was a bit strange, but the tempura is definitely worth going back for. After that, we walked around a bit more, saw the super cool 360 video in Canada, and found a place to watch the fireworks show. During the day, we took lots of pictures of the character topiaries (and other flowers) that were still around after the flower and garden festival.
Day 5
We left this day wide-open in our planning, expecting that there might be parks we wanted to go back to, and this turned out to be a really good choice. We started in the Animal Kingdom, specifically to see the Finding Nemo show we hadn't had time for previously. It was really great.
Then we went back to Epcot to see Ellen's Energy Adventure (which turned out to be more ride-like than we expected, and it had dinosaurs!). We also spent more time in the world showcase and had a nice lunch in Mexico. We originally thought we wouldn't be interested in eating Mexican food there, but by this time we were really craving some tortilla chips!
We made our way back to the hotel late in the afternoon, and decided to take it easy that evening, explore the hotel a bit, and rest up for our last day. Our hotel had tons of buildings all around a big lake in the middle.
On the far side of the lake was the "Dig Site" which included an impressive pool and a little playground.
We had dinner in the Pepper Market food court in the hotel's main building, then spent some time getting packed and ready to go for the last morning. We also went to bed a little earlier.
Day 6
On our last morning, we got up pretty early again to give us time to finish packing, get checked in for our flight, and leave our baggage at the hotel before heading out to the Magic Kingdom one more time. We also grabbed a quick breakfast on our way out. We arrived just after the park opened for extra magic hours, and went straight to Space Mountain. This 30 minute wait was probably the longest line we waited in during the whole trip (except for buses back to the hotel after fireworks). After that, we went to Peter Pan's Flight, which seems to have a long line all the time. But, it's pretty fun. By then, the park had opened to everyone, but it still wasn't too crowded. We walked right on to the Haunted Mansion ride on our way to Thunder Mountain Railroad, which we rode in the dark before, but wanted to do in the daytime also.
We were able to go on a lot of rides for the second time. We also had quite a few snacks left on our dining plan, so we stopped for funnel cakes and floats mid-morning. We explored Tom Sawyer's island for a bit, went back to the Hall of Presidents, and saw Philharmagic for the 3rd time (we really like it!). After lunch, we made our way back to Main Street and bought a few souvenirs on our way out of the park. We stayed until about 3pm before heading back to our hotel to pick up our luggage and catch the bus back to the airport. We had time to do a little more shopping at the hotel, too (although we didn't buy much). That's the end of the exciting part of the day. After that, we spent a lot of time waiting around in airports because both of our flights were delayed an hour. So, we got home pretty late, but it was certainly worth it to have almost a full day in the park before coming home. (And, since we didn't have anywhere to be right after getting home, we had time to recover). We really did have a great time. Except the flights home, everything went really smoothly. The parks seemed less crowded, and we seemed to have a plan that worked well. We'll definitely be going back someday!
Day 1
We had an early flight out, so we arrived in Orlando by 4pm. We then took the "Magical Express" Disney bus to our hotel, the Coronado Springs Resort, which was the first one on the route.
After a quick and easy check-in, we took a few minutes to rest in the room then headed out to the Magic Kingdom. For anyone who doesn't know, Disney provides buses to and from the hotels and the parks, which makes it really easy to get around. The line at the entrance to the Magic Kingdom was surprisingly long, but after a few minutes, we were in the park. We made a bee line for the Aloha Isle snack stand in Adventureland to get our first snack (included in our dining plan). I had a Dole Whip Float, which is on every best snacks at Disney list I looked at. Mark had a Coke Float since he's not a fan of pineapple. After that, we headed on over to the Hall of Presidents to see that animatronics show. Since we had dinner reservations at another hotel on property, we then made our way over to the monorail station to get us to dinner. This was our fanciest meal of the trip, at a signature dining restaurant (which takes two regular dining credits). We ate at Narcoossee's at the Grand Floridian, which is a beautiful (expensive) resort.
One of the reasons we wanted to eat there was because it has a view of the Magic Kingdom fireworks show, so we timed our reservation accordingly. The food was fantastic--by far the best of our whole trip, from appetizer to dessert.
While we ate, we also saw a light show on the lake (which we weren't expecting).
After our main course, our waiter invited us to go out on the restaurant balcony to watch the fireworks. It was an incredible view!
Then we came back in for dessert, including some cheesecake (bottom) that was to die for.
What a way to kick off our celebration!
Day 2
We got up early for breakfast at the Maya Grill restaurant at our hotel and made it to Disney Hollywood Studios as the park was opening.
We walked straight onto the tower of terror ride, then went around to other rides at the park. Unfortunately, the Aerosmith roller coaster (the best ride in the park and our favorite roller coaster) was closed for refurbishment. But, we were able to enjoy some other rides we liked last time (like the Great Movie Ride) and some we hadn't done (like the Studio Backlot Tour). We also made sure to catch the shows, including Beauty and the Beast, which we didn't have time to see on our last trip. It was fantastic--one of my favorites.
We also saw the first half of Indiana Jones, but the rest was canceled due to weather. Since we had seen that one before, we weren't overly upset. We had our lunch there at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater restaurant, where you are seated in little cars and eat while watching sci-fi clips on a big screen.
The onion rings were great.
We had dinner at the Toy Story Pizza Planet, which was pretty fun, too. By that time, though, we were exhausted. (We didn't sleep well, plus it's a 3 hour time difference). Despite that, we stayed for the Fantasmic show, which combines fireworks, lights, video, and stage performers.
We got there over an hour early to get a seat and hope that the weather would clear up so they could do the show. Thankfully, the weather got better, but a few minutes before show time, they announced a technical problem. It was fixed in less than 5 minutes, though! So, we got to see a really great show, then make our way back to the hotel.
Day 3
This day we got up early (again) to catch the extra magic hours at the Animal Kingdom. This park is kind of like a super-beautiful zoo, with rides.
Here, we went straight to the Expedition Everest roller coaster and rode it twice in a row with out a wait. Then we went on the safari ride, where we saw tons of animals. Perhaps the most exciting moments were seeing some young giraffes running across a plain, driving within a few feet of a big giraffe, and coming close enough to touch (although we didn't) a giant ostrich (he wasn't very happy about us being there!). We hadn't eaten yet, though, so after all that, we were feeling a bit out of it. We stopped at a bakery for a light breakfast and a little break and then we felt better. We went on to the Lion King show, which was excellent.
Then we had lunch at the Yak and Yeti restaurant, on the second floor, with a cool view.
The food was great, too, especially the fried green beans appetizer and the fried won tons with fruit and ice cream dessert.
By then, we were exhausted, so we went back to the hotel to rest. A couple hours later, we went to Epcot for our early dinner reservation at the Coral Reef. On our way to the restaurant, we stopped and rode Spaceship Earth, the ride in the big ball at the entrance (there was no wait!).
They had made some cool updates to the ride since our last trip. The food at the restaurant was only so-so, but the atmosphere was pretty awesome. The dining room looks out to a giant aquarium, and we were seated right up close to the glass. It was really fun (and a bit ironic) to watch the fish swimming around while we ate (fish, of course).
After dinner, we went on the Nemo ride right next door to the restaurant, then took the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom. By the time we got there, it was a little less crowded, and since we stayed till around 1am (thanks to extra magic hours), we were able to do all but two of the rides on our list (Space Mountain and Peter Pan's Flight). We used a fast pass for the Jungle Cruise, but hardly had to deal with any lines on the other rides (nothing longer than 20 minutes).
We also checked out a few things we hadn't done last time, including the Carousel of Progress, which is one of my new favorites. (It's an anamatronics show that takes place in a rotating theater). We also caught the Wishes fireworks show again, entirely by chance, as we walked out of the Philharmagic 3D movie (another one of our favorite attractions).
From there, we were basically in the middle of the fireworks action, with them going up on all sides of us. (There's no zoom on this picture!)
It was pretty cool.
Day 4
We spent this whole day at Epcot, which might be my favorite park. Before getting to the park, though, we went to the Kona Cafe at the Polynesian resort for a fantastic breakfast.
Mark had banana stuffed French toast and I had pineapple macadamia nut pancakes.
Wow. Then we took the monorail over to Epcot and went on the Journey to Imagination with Figment ride (one of my favorite kid rides). We made our way over to the world showcase, which was just opening, and waited in a short line for the Maelstrom in Norway. Then we walked right on to the little boat ride in Mexico. A little later, we went to Germany for lunch at Biergarten, a buffet-style restaurant with a live music show.
Although we probably won't go back on our next trip, it was certainly worth going once for the experience (and the tasty pretzel rolls). By this point, we were exhausted again, so we went back to the hotel for another nap. After that, we went back to Epcot and spent some more time walking around the world showcase until dinner. We ate at the Tokyo Dining restaurant in Japan, which was probably my second favorite meal. We both had the shrimp and scallops tempura, which was incredible.
The dessert (green tea pudding) was a bit strange, but the tempura is definitely worth going back for. After that, we walked around a bit more, saw the super cool 360 video in Canada, and found a place to watch the fireworks show. During the day, we took lots of pictures of the character topiaries (and other flowers) that were still around after the flower and garden festival.
Day 5
We left this day wide-open in our planning, expecting that there might be parks we wanted to go back to, and this turned out to be a really good choice. We started in the Animal Kingdom, specifically to see the Finding Nemo show we hadn't had time for previously. It was really great.
Then we went back to Epcot to see Ellen's Energy Adventure (which turned out to be more ride-like than we expected, and it had dinosaurs!). We also spent more time in the world showcase and had a nice lunch in Mexico. We originally thought we wouldn't be interested in eating Mexican food there, but by this time we were really craving some tortilla chips!
We made our way back to the hotel late in the afternoon, and decided to take it easy that evening, explore the hotel a bit, and rest up for our last day. Our hotel had tons of buildings all around a big lake in the middle.
On the far side of the lake was the "Dig Site" which included an impressive pool and a little playground.
We had dinner in the Pepper Market food court in the hotel's main building, then spent some time getting packed and ready to go for the last morning. We also went to bed a little earlier.
Day 6
On our last morning, we got up pretty early again to give us time to finish packing, get checked in for our flight, and leave our baggage at the hotel before heading out to the Magic Kingdom one more time. We also grabbed a quick breakfast on our way out. We arrived just after the park opened for extra magic hours, and went straight to Space Mountain. This 30 minute wait was probably the longest line we waited in during the whole trip (except for buses back to the hotel after fireworks). After that, we went to Peter Pan's Flight, which seems to have a long line all the time. But, it's pretty fun. By then, the park had opened to everyone, but it still wasn't too crowded. We walked right on to the Haunted Mansion ride on our way to Thunder Mountain Railroad, which we rode in the dark before, but wanted to do in the daytime also.
We were able to go on a lot of rides for the second time. We also had quite a few snacks left on our dining plan, so we stopped for funnel cakes and floats mid-morning. We explored Tom Sawyer's island for a bit, went back to the Hall of Presidents, and saw Philharmagic for the 3rd time (we really like it!). After lunch, we made our way back to Main Street and bought a few souvenirs on our way out of the park. We stayed until about 3pm before heading back to our hotel to pick up our luggage and catch the bus back to the airport. We had time to do a little more shopping at the hotel, too (although we didn't buy much). That's the end of the exciting part of the day. After that, we spent a lot of time waiting around in airports because both of our flights were delayed an hour. So, we got home pretty late, but it was certainly worth it to have almost a full day in the park before coming home. (And, since we didn't have anywhere to be right after getting home, we had time to recover). We really did have a great time. Except the flights home, everything went really smoothly. The parks seemed less crowded, and we seemed to have a plan that worked well. We'll definitely be going back someday!
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