FREEBIE time!

Since my birthday is in two weeks, I'm feeling a bit generous. :)

It's been over two years since I offered this template. So if you missed it when it was offered before you can get it now.

***This will be the LAST TIME it is ever offered.*** 

Sorry. This download has expired. This template has been retired.

IMPORTANT: While I offer these for free here on my site, please do not share the files with others. Please do not post the download links to other sites, etc. If you want to share with others please direct them back to this blog so they can download the files themselves. I've been very generous in sharing my creations and offering them as freebies and would like to do so, but if people take advantage of this generosity I may have to reconsider it.

This is your last chance to get this template. Please remember that the download is only available until 11:59 PM ET on April 29, 2016. 

If you already have this template be sure to come back on April 30th for a brand new template freebie. :)

Enjoy!
-Melissa

Disneyland Trip Report - Days 6-8

Disneyland - A Day of Frustration

Of all the days of our trip, Friday was probably the worst. Up until this point the crowds weren't too bad. The bigger rides had some longer wait times, but most of the rides weren't too bad. We had no definite plans for breakfast on Friday so we were taking our time getting ready and getting to the park. We figured to stop by the bakery on Main Street to get something for breakfast. I had neglected to look at the agenda before we left to see that instead of opening at 10:00 am as it had the previous days, the park was actually opening at 9:00 am.

So we got to the park a few minutes before 9:00 and were shocked by the crowds of people. There were TONS of people there. I then recalled something I had read in the guidebook that the weekends are when the locals tend to go to the parks. It also seems to be the day when large groups go.

Our plan now that we saw the park was open was to take the train over to Toon Town to go see the Princesses at the Royal Walk and maybe get into Toon Town before it opens like you can do at WDW. So we arrived in Toon Town and went over to the area where you normally line up for the Princess Royal Walk. No one else was standing there, so we waited. After a few minutes we noticed that there were people lined up on the other side. Since we only wanted to see Mulan we flagged down a cast member and asked them if Mulan was going to be one of the princesses. They told us they can't tell us that information. Surely they know which characters are going to coming out in 5 minutes. At WDW in Toon Town they have the Toon Town Hall of Fame where you can meet 3 characters and above each line is a sign with the faces of which character is at the end and they will change them as the characters change so you know who you are in line to meet. This doesn't happen at DL and no one can tell you who you are standing in line for. This was very frustrating since I only wanted to find Mulan since she is my favorite character. She is easy to find at WDW since her and Mushu hang out in the China pavilion at EPCOT.

So after we left the Royal Walk frustrated and annoyed we wanted to see if we could go to Toon Town, but it wasn‘t open. At WDW the train station is located inside Toon Town so you can get into it before its officially open, but this trick doesn’t work at DL.

To burn off some of the frustration we headed for Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. The other time we rode it there was no wait, today there was a 15 minute wait and the park had only been open for about 20 minutes. I totally kicked my sister's butt. I had over 60,000 points and she had like 25,000 points. Woo-hoo! Of course earlier she beat me, but my margin of victory was by a much wider margin.

After that we were still annoyed, but slightly less. We decided then to head for Adventureland since we hadn't gone on the Jungle Cruise yet. The other days the castmembers were at the entrance trying get people to go on it, on Friday there was a 15 minute wait. It was insane. While I waited in line for the Jungle Cruise my sister went to get a fast pass for Indiana Jones since that was one ride I didn't want to go on. She then joined me in line. The jungle cruise was fun, though the bad one-line jokes were really bad! Our boat driver was funny though.

Since it wasn't time yet for my sister's fast pass we wanted to check out Tarzan's Treehouse. It was much bigger than I thought it would be. My sister urged me to try to go up and I made it as far as the one bridge before my fear of heights took over and stopped me from going any higher. I handed my sister the camera and she continued climbing while I went back down to wait for her at the exit. Eventually she came back down and I was sort of hungry since we hadn't stopped to get anything to eat yet.

Everyone on the DISboards always raves about the Dole Whips and the Dole Whip Floats, but I had never had one. The stand that sells them is right there in adventureland so I headed over there to get one. A Dole Whip is pretty much pineapple soft serve ice cream. The float is a portion of the ice cream in pineapple juice. Since I thought the float would be too much pineapple I opted for just the Dole Whip. It was good, but I couldn't finish it. My sister didn't want to eat much since it was getting time for her to ride Indiana Jones, but she really liked it and finished it off.

By this time it was time for her to use her fast pass. So she went to ride that while I found a table near the Bengal Barbecue to sit and wait for her. The Bengal Barbecue wasn’t open yet, but the food smelled so good! About a half hour later my sister came out the exit with a smile on her face, which was a good sign. She really liked it and had fun. She got to be the “driver.”

By this point the park was getting really crowded. Since we had finished everything we wanted to do in Adventureland we headed for Haunted Mansion. Fun as always. I love the attic scene and graveyard scene. Though we kept getting the same hitchhiking ghost, which was a strange coincidence.

After this we wanted to take a trip on the Riverboat, Mark Twain, but we had just missed the previous sailing and it would be a half hour until the next one. Since we still really hadn't had much to eat we stopped by the Stage Door Cafe to split an order of mozzarella sticks since those would be quicker to eat than Chicken tenders. So far we haven't eaten very healthy! The mozzarella sticks were good, but nothing special. By the time we were done the Mark Twain was back and getting ready for the next group to board. We headed up to the third deck so that we could get pictures of the park from up there. The tour around the Rivers of America was fun. I actually enjoyed the boat ride and I think my sister did as well though I doubt she would admit that. She turned only the slightest shade of green!

After this it was time for her to use the fast pass she had gotten for Big Thunder Mountain. This was the only other ride that I most definitely was not going to ride. I *HATED* this ride at WDW in Jan. 2007. I spent the entire ride screaming that I wanted off. I hate coasters so there was no way I was going to ride it again. And she didn't want to ride it with me either. So it all worked out. I went to a nearby restaurant where I was able to see her board the train. This was good because I was able to see which number train she was on so that I could get a picture of her on the ride as the train was coming back. I got a really good shot of her in the train at the end of the ride. She enjoyed it, but her favorite part from the ride at WDW wasn't there at DL.

We then worked our way back towards Fantasyland to see how ungodly long the lines there were. Since it almost never had a wait, we went on Snow White, which actually seemed to go slower, only warp 4 that time.

By this point we were getting really annoyed with the large group of people. It was difficult to walk and get places. People kept running into my sister as if she was invisible. Plus we wanted to do some more shopping in Downtown Disney. We had promised our oldest brother $60 of Legos in exchange for him driving us to Detroit. So we headed for Main Street before leaving since we still had to get our Mickey ears. I got the plain Mickey ears to match the ones I got from WDW and my sister got Minnie ears. I was sad to see that they do the names on them by machine. At WDW this really talented elderly woman put the name on mine by hand in like 3 seconds. It was so cool to see them put the name on by hand. It wasn't as fun watching the machines.

Since the Mad Hatter store is next door to the Disney Opera House where the 50 First Magical Years was playing we decided to go see the movie after our hats were done. There was lots of really cool artifacts in the lobby. The movie was interesting. And its a nice place to go if you want to dodge the heat and take a break from walking around the park.

After this we stopped by the bakery on Main Street to purchase something for breakfast for Saturday. We ended up selecting blueberry muffins. After this we left the park and headed for Downtown Disney. We went to the Lego store first and found what our brother wanted. Then we went to Build A Bear and bought some cute items for our bears. Then we did some additional shopping at World of Disney. Once we had spent lots and lots of money we headed back to the hotel with our goods.

We wanted to rest a bit since we knew it was going to be a long night with Fantasmic and the Remember When fireworks. Once we got back to the hotel I took the opportunity to start packing since we were planning to stay pretty late at the park and our shuttle was supposed to be there to pick us up at 8:55ish.

About 6:00ish we decided to head back to the park, but stopped at McDonalds first to get some food. We just didn't want anymore park food and wanted something a bit cheaper. After dinner we walked back across to the park. Large groups of people were heading towards California Adventure for the Electrical Parade. I was hoping that meant there would be less people in Disneyland.

Once we were inside the park we headed to Toon Town to ride Roger Rabbit once more, but it was broken or something. We then decided to take the train from Toon Town to Liberty Square so we could ride Haunted Mansion once more. Again we got the same hitchhiking ghost. This was getting to be some strange conspiracy. After this we went to Critter Country to ride the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh again. This time we had the car all to ourselves which was nice since we were free to vent our disgust over their abuse of Eeyore. They really do not treat Eeyore very well.

After this we noticed that lots of people were already staking out places for Fantasmic, which I think was supposed to be at 9:00 PM. I don't have my times guide handy to verify that. The fireworks were supposed to start at 9:25 PM. Our guidebook said that the second showing of Fantasmic is better since there is generally less people, so our plan was to watch the fireworks then stick around to watch the second Fantasmic. So since most people were heading towards Frontierland and New Orleans Square we decided to go towards Fantasyland.

The wait for Dumbo was mega long, so we opted to ride the tea cups once more. This time we rode in one tea cup and my sister actually assisted me in spinning it fast! This was awesome. Normally if we ride together she refuses to help spin it since she doesn't like spinning. Once we stumbled out of the tea cup quite dizzy we wanted to ride Alice in Wonderland, but they had closed the line since it is one of the rides that closes during the fireworks.

At this point they were beginning to close off certain areas in preparation for the fireworks. I remembered that the guidebook suggested watching the fireworks from halfway down Main Street or by Its a Small World. Since we were not far from the area near Its a Small World we opted for that vantage point. It was still about 40 minutes before the show was to start, so we found a place to sit and wait. My sister found a stand selling hot chocolate so we drank that while we waited. Most of the other stands were closing down or had already closed.

At about 9:10 they announced that the fireworks were going to start soon. There was a message every 5 minutes then until the start of the show. At Disneyland the fireworks display is called "Remember When," and there are different sections of the show about each of the different "lands." The fireworks were timed to music from the various rides. It was a good show, but we both thought "Wishes" at WDW was better. The ending was really cool. It was nearly as bright as day.

After the fireworks were over we decided to leave. My sister was extremely frustrated with the crowds and no longer wanted to stick around for Fantasmic. So we headed towards Fantasyland to leave. They still had the exits roped off. They opened up Dumbo and you could get to it, so we went for one last ride on Dumbo while they opened up the exits. Riding Dumbo at night is lots of fun. Its a totally different ride than during the day. Though the breeze was quite chilly. While we were on Dumbo they had unroped off the paths to leave.

As we were leaving we noticed that there was no line for Snow White so for fun we rode it once more, again only at warp 4. This was our last ride at Disneyland.

We then walked back to the hotel where we still had cake to eat and things to pack. This was the only time that we stayed up late. We watched a DVD while we packed. After the sugar rush from the cake wore off we went to bed.

"I wanna go home . . . "

We got up early on Saturday so that we could finish the last minute packing and be down at the office before the scheduled time for the shuttle. We ate our muffins from the bakery at Main Street which were very good. We double checked everything to make sure we had left nothing behind then headed down to towards the office at 8:35.

As we were walking towards the office we noticed a shuttle waiting there. It turns out our driver was early. We checked out then climbed aboard the shuttle. We had to pick up several other passengers from another hotel before heading towards LAX.

There wasn't much traffic and we made excellent time. Of course I noticed at one point the driver was going over 80 mph when the speed limit was 65 mph. Once we got to LAX the terminal the other passengers needed was first so we dropped them off. Then we were dropped off at the terminal for Northwest. We had checked in for our flight the day before online, but needed to check our bags and print our boarding passes. There were several people who didn't understand how the self check things work and weren't using them because no one was standing there. There is almost never anyone standing there until something prints. So as we were printing off our boarding passes I noticed that it said our flight was delayed, but didn't say by how long. Since we got to the airport about 9:30 am and our flight wasn't scheduled to leave until 12:30 a delay was not a good thing. We had booked the earliest shuttle to make sure that we had plenty of time to get to the airport and to get through security. Security didn't take long and we soon found our gate. It was by this point we found out that our flight wasn't going to leave now until 1:10. Oy. That meant we wouldn't get home until almost 9:00 PM and our brother's house is about an hour from the airport. So we sat and waited, at times impatiently, to leave. Once the plane finally arrived I heard one of the pilots talking about how there had been a problem with one of the toilets before they left Detroit, which was the cause of the delay. While we were waiting we got some lunch from Burger King. They had this sandwich from the Wolf Gang Puck Express place that looked really good but it had some strange sauce on it and I didn’t want to chance trying it with a 4.5 hour flight ahead of me. So we stuck with Burger King since that was something I knew wouldn’t upset my stomach on the plane.

Soon it was time to board the plane. The woman making the announcements was very difficult to understand over the loud speaker. Most of the passengers were confused. As we were walking down the gangway to the plane there was one woman off to the side vomiting. I had to turn away before I got sick. We found our seats and put our luggage in the overhead compartment. Unlike the way to LA, the ride back was not sold out and the gentlemen who was supposed to sit next to us moved to the row ahead of us, which meant that my sister could move over to the aisle seat. This was really nice since I could put the laptop under the other seat and have more legroom.

The flight back to Detroit was fine. It was shorter than on the way to LA, but the landing was sort of rough. There were some pretty strong winds and at one point while we were landing the wind caused the plane to sort of buck. That was a bit freaky and kind of upset my sister. That was the only problem though. Once we landed several passengers had to make a mad dash through the terminal to catch their connecting flights, it was like that scene in Home Alone 2. Our brother was waiting for us by the baggage claim. We collected our luggage then headed for his house. Along the way we stopped and got some dinner.

Once we got back to his house we ate dinner then unpacked the presents we brought. We stayed up a bit longer then went to bed since we weren't going back to our house until Sunday.

We got up about 11:00 on Sunday. It was nice to be able to sleep in a bit. Our other brother wasn't going to get there until about 3:00. So we ordered pizza for lunch and waited. My brother and his wife showed up pretty much at 3:00 which is rare for them since they are almost always late. His wife wanted to stop at the one scrapbook store, so we stopped there, then headed home. It was great to be back among familiar things.

We got back to our house about 6:00ish. Our kittens were quite pleased to see us. My mom who had taken care of them while we were gone said they missed us. Of course after we unpacked the car we had to unpack our suitcases. Yuck. The best part about being home: sleeping in my own bed in my own room. I love to travel and see this vast, wide world, but there is nothing that makes you appreciate home like being away.

We had a really great time at Disneyland. At first it was really strange to be that far away from home. It was the furthest we had ever been before, but it wasn’t so bad. Before we left quite a few people told us we were going to be disappointed with DL, and there were some parts that were a bit disappointing, but overall it was fun. I would go again. I think if I did go again I would want to see some of the other things in that area. And definitely wouldn’t go to the park on Friday or Saturday. I’m glad that I’ve had the opportunity to see Walt’s park. Disneyland is different than WDW, but each are special and unique.

Our next Disney trip might be in January 2009, but we haven’t made any definite decisions yet. We will definitely be going back to WDW in 2010 for my birthday as well as taking a Disney Cruise. We’ve never been on a cruise so that would be a new experience, but I’m looking forward to it.

Thus concludes my Disneyland trip report! It has been fun! I hope you enjoyed it!

Disneyland Trip Report - Day 5

California Adventure - Take 2

On Thursday we had another early 7:00 AM breakfast at the PCH Grill at Paradise Pier Hotel with Lilo and Stitch. We left our hotel a bit earlier than we had the previous day because we knew that Paradise Pier was a bit further away. We arrived at the restaurant with about 10-15 minutes to spare. They weren't open yet, so we just sat and waited. As it approached 7:00 a few other people arrived, but there weren't that many. The minutes seemed to pass fairly quickly.

When we were let into the dining room we posed for a photo with Daisy. I was happy to see Daisy because I was told the day before that she is pretty rare at DL. After our photo with Daisy we were seated at the table. My sister and I both opted for the buffet. And it was a strange buffet. There was salmon, and steamed rice, I think some kind of pasta, flantas (I think I spelled that right), and several other foods that didn't seem like "breakfast" foods to me. They did have the traditional breakfast foods like waffles, pancakes, fruit, muffins, etc. The fruit was VERY good. I also really liked the muffin thing. The pancakes were OK. Overall the food was OK, not great, but not horrible.

The first character to come visit us was Stitch. I love Stitch. He had fun messing with our lanyards and our pins. He was upset when he noticed that we didn't have a pin with him, but that was only because I couldn't decide which one I liked. We promised him we would go right after we left and get a Stitch pin. Next we met Lilo who was very nice. After that we had to wait a while before Pluto came out and stopped by our table. At one point during breakfast Minnie replaced Daisy at the place for the photos.

Before we left they brought out a Mickey shaped brownie with some kind of jelly-like goo on top. The brownie like part was kind of good, but I'm not sure what the goo was so I didn't eat that.

After breakfast we walked through Downtown Disney to the park plaza and waited in line for the security bag check. There was a large group of people with different bandanas who were doing some sort of strange scavenger hunt. We didn't fully understand what they were doing. Once we were let into the plaza we went over to the gates for California Adventure thinking we could use our magic morning, but when the lady explained it to us she didn't tell us that the magic mornings were for Disneyland only. So we were at the gate over an hour and half early. I had thought it was odd that no one else was lining up over there. So we just waited for 9:30 when they would let us into the park.

Once again when we got into the park we headed straight for Soarin. I wanted to ride it again since it is nearly impossible to ride at WDW. Again we asked for the back row and our request was granted. It was fine until I made the mistake of looking over to my right which meant I could see the ground once we were in the air. That sort of freaked me out. I still don't really like the fact that your feet are dangling in the air. I kept thinking about falling, which I know is stupid since my seatbelt was as tight as it could go, but I think seeing the ground really freaked my mind out.

After this we headed over for the Hollywood Studios backlot to ride Monsters Inc again. Since it wasn't 10:00 yet, we had to wait for them to drop the rope. Almost everyone was waiting to go on the Tower of Terror. Several others headed for Monsters Inc. Once we got there we had to wait for the cast members to find the "Screamer of the Day" by having all the little kids scream as loud as they could. That was kind of annoying. After this was done we were allowed on the ride. Again it was lots of fun and thoroughly enjoyable.

Since we didn't want to see Muppet 3D again we went to Bug's Land to ride Flik's Flyers again. There weren't too many people in line, which was nice. My sister only turned a slight shade of green. After this I managed to twist her arm and agree to go on Francis' Ladybug Boogie which is like the Tea Cups, but you don't control any of the spinning, it does it all for you. This was WAY fun. It spun quite fast. She turned a slightly different shade of green, but was a good sport about it. I couldn't convince her to ride again. Sigh.

After this we rode Heimlich's Chew Chew Train, which was quite pointless and very short. I guess for little kids it might be interesting, but it is really short.

By the time we were done with our train ride it was almost time to meet Flik and Atta from "A Bug's Life." While we waited we went to the pin trading store in Bug's Land. We then found a bench and waited for Flik and Atta. Poor Flik was trying to get to the location where they have the character greetings, but was mobbed by small children and their parents who weren't listening to the handler who was trying to keep Flik moving. He eventually worked his way to the spot and the children still tried to mob him. I felt so bad for him. The handler instructed everyone to form a line.

This is probably a good time for a rant about character greetings. At WDW the handlers seem to keep a better handle on guests and keeping things orderly. This wasn't the first time we saw one of the characters at DL mobbed. There were quite a few characters we saw that didn't even have handlers. And the ones who did no one seemed to listen to. And no one respected lines. They would just go up and push their child at the character no matter that others had been waiting patiently in line. It was very disorderly and I felt so bad for the characters.

So after we met Flik, not sure where Atta was, we headed for Hollywood Studios to ride Monsters Inc once more since this was to be our last day at CA and they don't have it back at WDW. This is one ride I wish they would bring to WDW.

After our last ride on Monsters Inc we headed for the Hyperion theater. My sister wanted to be in line by 11:30 for the 12:20 show. When we were at WDW in 2007 we wanted to see the new Finding Nemo musical, but the 12:30 show was "sold out" and there was already a long line for the show time after that. Needless to say we didn't get to see the Finding Nemo musical. This experience was in the back of my sister's mind when she told me that we had to line up at 11:30. We went by the theater, but they weren't going to let anyone line up for another 10-15 minutes so we headed over for the Tower of Terror gift shop. Neither of us had any intention of riding the TOT, but its always fun looking in the gift shop. We got some Photopass pictures taken in front of it. When we left the gift shop Mickey and Goofy were just standing there. No handlers anywhere in sight and no line of people. We asked if they would pose for some pictures, which they agreed to. We took several photos then left. A few other people stopped, but it was such a random meeting. Normally there was always a long line to see them.

By this point more people had shown up for the Aladdin musical. Of course my sister by this point tries to tell me she was right, but the theater was not anywhere near full. We waited and waited and waited in line for what seemed like forever. Finally we were allowed into the theater. We sat on the right side behind the railing where one of the cast members suggested. Then we had to wait for everyone else to get in and be seated. Normally I'm not a huge fan of musicals. In fact I fell asleep during Beauty and the Beast, which my sister always reminds me. The only musical I like is Wicked. So I wasn't too excited about this, but my sister was. The show was very good. The genie, though, was annoying. And the other complaint is that it was sooooo obvious when they were using the stunt doubles. Overall I enjoyed it. My job was to get photos, which was hard since you weren't supposed to use the flash and they were moving quickly around the stage, but if you look at the ones I posted, I managed to get a few good ones.

After Aladdin we hauled butt over to Golden State for the Magic of Brother Bear totem ceremony. We were both sort of hungry, but it was either skip lunch and go to Brother Bear at 1:30 or try to find something to do until 3:00 when the next showing was. We got there in time and found seats. The show is quite cute. Koda and Kenai are very funny. Afterwards you can meet Koda and Kenai, which means its a complete madhouse with all the children running up to them. We waited until it was clear and then got pictures with them.

After this we headed back towards Hollywood Studios to find some lunch. We saw characters from the Incredibles by the animation studio. First we met Frozone since we have never seen him at WDW and he is one of our favorite characters. Next we got in line for Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, but they were getting ready to go inside, but the handler allowed us to be the last ones to meet them when she saw my birthday button. We quickly got pictures with Mr. and Mrs. Incredible then went across the street to get lunch at Award Weiners. The hotdogs were OK as far as hot dogs go. Not as good as at the ballpark, but nothing is. Though I would say they were better than the ones we had in Salem, MA in October. They were cheaper than most of the other places at CA and quick.

After lunch we left and headed for Downtown Disney where we did some pretty serious shopping at World of Disney. We were in there for over an hour and a half and spent lots of money. We then had to haul our booty back to the hotel. We then rested, watched a DVD. For dinner we were sort of lazy and walked to the Subway down the street and took it back to the hotel to eat.

Up next: A crazy day at Disneyland!

Disneyland Trip Report: Day 3 - 4

I keep forgetting to post the next part. Ooops. Now you get two days in one post! YAY!

California Adventure

On Tuesday we got up early and went to breakfast at IHOP. There aren't any IHOPs near us, but there are always commercials on TV and the current promotion, Tour de French Toast, looked really good. It is basically all different kinds of French toast. I ordered the banana caramel stuffed French toast. It was good, but the banana cream got to be a bit too much. My sister ordered the Cinnamon swirl French toast. She said it was OK. The only problem with breakfast was that you had to order them as a combination, which included eggs, meat, and hash browns, which neither of us wanted. Overall breakfast was OK.

After we finished breakfast we walked across the street to the park. Most of the people were going to Disneyland. When we were let into the park we found a Photopass photographer and had some pictures taken with the "Greetings from California" sign. After that we headed to Soarin. When we went to WDW last year there was ALWAYS a HUGE wait for Soarin. The one time it was over 90 minutes and there were no fast passes available. Needless to say, we didn't get to ride Soarin at WDW so we made it a priority for this trip. The way they rope off California Adventure is sort of strange. The paths that lead to Hollywood Backlot and Golden State are roped off, but the path that leads to Soarin is open. Everyone seemed to go line up by the rope for the Hollywood Backlot since that is how you get to the Tower of Terror. We decided to head for Soarin. We were surprised to find that they were actually letting people onto Soarin despite the fact that the park wasn't even officially open yet.

We were among the first group to ride it. The queue line is really neat with all the photos of famous Californian aviators and planes. I was kind of nervous because I am afraid of heights, but my sister said it wasn't too bad. We were lucky that we got a nice cast member who put us in the back row, which doesn't go as high as the others. We buckled in and took off. I had to shut my eyes for a couple of parts because you really feel like you are hang gliding. It's cool how they incorporated scents into the ride like the oranges in the orange grove. The best part was when the fighter jets fly by. The one part I didn't like was the ending when you fly into the fireworks. That sort of freaked me out for some reason. That was one of the places I had to shut my eyes. I enjoyed it, though I didn't like being up that high. I was holding on to the handles quite tightly.

After we got off of Soarin the rest of the park was open and we went to ride, Mike and Sulley to the Rescue, since it is unique to Disneyland. I LOVED this ride. It was lots of fun. I managed to get some really good pictures. It followed the movie nicely, which is good because some of the rides don't. I wish they would bring this one to WDW.

Next we walked over to Muppet Vision 3D vision, which we saw at WDW last year. My sister likes the Muppets whereas I really don't. I tolerate it since she goes on some of the rides I like that she doesn't. The waiting room is full of interesting props and there are TVs around the room with an entertaining pre-show. My sister took pictures of all the props while we were waiting for the next show. The show itself is cute. The best part is the guys who sit in the balcony and critique it. The one thing that I don't like is that 3D movies hurt my eyes after a while, but that day it wasn't too bad.

Since there was really nothing else we wanted to do in that part of the park we worked our way to A Bug's Land where we went to see "Its Tough to be Bug" which is another 3D movie. I like the queue for this one at WDW better because it wraps around the Tree of Life and the theater is actually inside the Tree of Life, but the ant hill at CA is cute. The movie posters they have hanging up on the walls are funny. The show was good as usual.

Next I convinced my sister to ride Flik's Flyers with me. They have a ride similar to it at the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo and she liked that one so I figured it wouldn't be too bad. It was totally fun. I enjoyed it immensely while my sister turned a slight shade of green. LOL

After this it was getting closer to time for our lunch reservations at Ariel's Grotto so we decided to head that direction. Since we still had time before our reservation we rode King Triton's carousel. I liked how colorful and vibrant the carrousel is. My sister got to ride on one of the otters. Otters are soooooo cute! I think I had a sea horse. We still had more time so we decided to visit a couple of the stores near there. We purchased some items then headed back towards Ariel's Grotto.

We checked in for our lunch and waited with the other people who had reservations for the same seating time. After about 10 minutes we were led down to the restaurant where each family got to pose for a photo with Ariel. We then paid and were led to our table. Lunch at Ariel's Grotto is one set price and you get an appetizer, entree, and dessert and there is a selection for each. For the appetizer I actually decided to try something new: cheesy onion soup. It was okay. The cheese was really good. My sister had chicken noodle soup. I wish they would have a couple other options because after walking around the park for several hours in the head, soup was really the last thing I wanted. For the entree I ordered the cheeseburger since there really wasn't anything else on the menu that appealed to my picky tastes. My sister also had a cheeseburger, but without cheese. The burgers were VERY good, though VERY large. I was full after this and there was still the dessert course. I had the cinnamon-apple desert, which was good, but I was too full to eat much of it. My sister had the yogurt parfait, which she said was the best part of the meal.

During the course of lunch the Princesses came around to sign autographs and take pictures. First to visit our table was Aurora who is my sister's favorite princess. I got a really cute picture of them together. Next was Snow White, then Belle, and last was Cinderella. All of them were really nice and very sweet.

After we finished lunch we left with full tummies and didn't really want to ride anything so we left CA and went to World of Disney in Downtown Disney. Not nearly as large as Orlando, but there was still lots of stuff that caught my eye and wanted to come home with me. We made a few purchases then headed back to the hotel. We rested for a bit then later went to dinner at Denny's since we didn't feel like going back to the park. It was nothing special, but it was OK.

We also wanted to go to bed early since we had a 7:00 am breakfast the next morning, which was my birthday.

Happy Birthday to me!

Wednesday was my birthday and we had reservations at the Storyteller's Cafe at the Grand Californian at 7:00 am. My sister was in charge of making the reservations and she figured that since 7:00 am is 10:00 am back home that it would be around the same time we normally eat breakfast. I was a little worried that it was so early, but we never actually adjusted to Pacific time. We stuck to going to bed at the same time we normally do back East so getting up at 5:30 on my birthday wasn't a problem. For probably the only time in my life I was up, awake, and alert at 5:30 am. Pretty scary. LOL

We arrived at the hotel after only getting slightly lost while trying to find the restaurant. Since they were just opening we didn't have to wait long for a table. The first character to visit our table was Koda. My sister and I *LOVE* the Brother Bear movies so this was very exciting. We tried to get his autograph, but didn't understand what he was trying to say, so eventually Kenai came over and was able to convey that they don't sign autographs because of their paws. We then got pictures with both Kenai and Koda. During the course of breakfast we also met Chip, Meeko, Terk, and Dale. Meeko was really funny when he came into the room, peeking around the corner. The food was good. I had banana French toast, which was good. The fruit that came with it was excellent. My sister had the buffet and enjoyed it. We ate slowly since the park wasn't going to be opened until 10:00 AM, plus we wanted to meet all the characters. Since it was my birthday they brought me this weird chocolate mousse thing and sang to me. I didn't really care for the mousse dish, but managed to eat a bit of it.

After breakfast we walked to Disneyland. We were there early and at the front of the line, but would still have to wait or the rope drop. Unlike everyone else who races through Main Street until they realize that they can only go so far, we took our time. I took a bunch of pictures of Main Street then waited at the rope. Our plan was to go ride Finding Nemo. Once they dropped the rope everyone was heading towards Finding Nemo. We quickly changed course and headed to Fantasyland since the rides there tend to have longer lines later in the day.

The first ride we went on was Peter Pan's flight. Then since Dumbo's line wasn't too long we rode that. By this time Fantasyland was starting to get more crowded so we headed to New Orleans Square. We decided to give Pirates of the Caribbean another chance. This time we asked not to sit in the front of the boat to see if that made a difference. It really didn't. I still didn't like it as much as at WDW. There is just too much time where there isn’t anything to see.

After we got off Pirates we noticed a Photopass photographer. He was one of the photographers that do a special photo where you pretend to fight Captain Hook and they add him in later. This was lots of fun. I kept making my sister laugh while she was fighting Hook so her photos are funny. After we were done, the photographer told us that the one who does the Haunted Mansion ones was up there taking pictures. Excited by this news, we raced over to Haunted Mansion. With these photos they add some hitchhiking ghosts. Since we were standing in front of the Haunted Mansion we decided to ride it. As usual it was fun. I don’t think I could ever get tired of riding it.

Next we decided to take the raft over to Pirate's Lair to find Captain Jack Sparrow. We asked the boat driver where we could find him on the island so we wouldn't have to waste time. We walked to where they said he was and we nearly walked into him. I had expected more people to be there to see him, but there was no one. We got pictures taken with him then decided to go back since there really isn't a whole lot on the island that interested us.

Since we were in the area we decided to find the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The ride is similar to the one at WDW, but it seems a bit longer. My sister was peeved by the ending since it should be a birthday party for Eeyore, but DL changed it to a birthday party for Pooh. After we got off the ride we were walking through the exit when a young child ran into me. His mother then yelled that I should watch out for her child, never mind that she wasn't watching him or the fact that he ran into me. That annoyed me. I spent the next few minutes venting to my sister while we looked around the Pooh store. Once I had vented we went to go greet Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore. They were going to close the line because the characters were going to take a short break, but since we had met them all previously and just wanted photos, we were allowed to meet them at that time.

By this time we were hungry and the Hungry Bear restaurant was in the area and wasn't very crowded. So it was as good of time as any. My sister had a chicken sandwich and I had a cheeseburger. Both were OK, but nothing special. There was a nice breeze and we had view of the rivers of America. It was a pleasant lunch.

After lunch we rode Haunted Mansion again while we were still on that side of the park. After this we took the train to Toon Town to ride Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin. It has been enos since I’ve seen the movie, but the queue line was interesting. The ride was tons of spinning fun. Surprisingly even my sister enjoyed it and she normally doesn't like spinning rides.

Next we went to explore the rest of Toon Town. First up we toured Mickey's house and went out to the movie barn to meet Mickey. It is tradition whenever we go to Disney to meet Mickey at least once. There was a bit of a wait, but it was worth it to meet the mouse. After Mickey's house we went to Minnie's house. We didn't go through Donald's or Goofy's but got pictures of them.

Deciding we had had enough of Toon Town and the herds of small children there, we headed back towards Fantasyland. There wasn't too long of a wait for Alice in Wonderland so we decided to ride it since it is unique to DL. It was fun. I was kind of sad that there was only one part with the "unbirthday" party.

Walking back towards Main Street we noticed there was almost no wait for Mr. Toad's so we decided to ride it again since we were no longer afraid of it. This time I let my sister "drive." It was actually kind of fun the second time. Of course I was having fun making jokes about her "driving."

We then took pictures trying to pull the Sword from the Stone. Darn it, neither of us were able to pull it out. LOL We then walked through the castle and decided to get some photos of Snow White's fountain.

Since we had arrived in CA it had been so hot and ice cream sounded good, but we kept forgetting to stop and get some. So we headed for the Gibson Girl ice cream parlor on Main Street. We got the hot fudge cookie sundae to split between us. It was good. The cookies were probably my least favorite part though. I've had better chocolate chip cookies. But it was a nice treat.

After this we headed back to the hotel to rest and change for dinner. We had reservations at 6:00 at Goofy's Kitchen at the Disneyland Hotel. We vaguely knew how to get there, we didn't really know how far it truly was. Its was quite a hike. We ended up getting there within 1 minute of our reservation time. When we got there we posed for a picture with Pluto. After that we were seated. The first character to come to our total was Brier Fox, then Princess Jasmine, then Alice who was the same Alice we saw on Monday. She actually remembered seeing us. Very weird. Then it was Goofy who put our autograph books on our heads to sign them. He was lots of fun. Then Chip stopped by our table. Finally when our waiter was bringing out my birthday cake Dale stopped by. He was clapping and very cute. My sister got a bunch of cute photos. The food there was good, but there wasn't a lot that appealed to my picky tastebuds. The prime rib was very good though. They had lots of yummy looking desserts, but since we had a cake coming, I didn't try any. I wish I would have tried at least one. My birthday cake was so pretty. It was *VERY* sweet though. It was a white cake with white chocolate mousse and butter cream icing. It was almost too pretty to cut and eat. We each ate only a small slice since it was so sweet. Our waiter boxed it up and we went back to the hotel. Luckily our sugar buzz didn't last too long and we went to bed early since we had another early morning.

Before we went to dinner my sister gave me my presents that I already knew what they were since I had picked them out. LOL She gave me a t-shirt, a Mulan pin, and a stuffed Boo from Monster's Inc. My mom had given me a card before we left with some money in it that I put towards some other pins. Pins are so very addictive. By the time we left I had purchased 8 and I think my sister had 12. I probably would have bought more if I hadn’t stopped myself.

It was a good birthday. The weather was cooler than previous days and there weren't all that many people in the park.

Up next: Breakfast with Lilo and Stitch, California Adventure, and lots of shopping!

Disneyland Trip Report: Days 1 & 2

The Beginning of the Journey
Our journey began on Saturday, April 26th. My sister and I were supposed to be at our brother's old house by noon so that we could go with him to pick up the moving truck since he was in the process of moving. Our other brother was going to drive us down to Detroit so that we wouldn't be leaving a car down there since brother #2 was in the middle of moving. We were trying to make things less complicated. Well brother #1 showed up late, as we figured he would since he almost never shows up anywhere on time. He brought his best friend with him for some reason. We packed the car and were finally off. Though we would be lucky to make it down to Detroit by noon. Oy. On the way we stopped at the one scrapbook store since my brother had to pick up a few things for his wife and wanted us to help him pick it out. Grrrrr Then my brother made another stop. We tried to tell him to just take us to brother #2's but no one was listening to us. Well brother #2 was quite peeved. The movers had gone to the wrong place and he had to go pick up the truck by himself, leaving his car at the place, which is why he wanted us there at noon. And for once it wasn't our fault. We finally got to his place. We had brother #1 take us to the place where brother #2 had left his car, picked it up and went back to his old place while his few belongings were packed up in the truck. My brother has a very minimalist approach to furnishing his house.

After we got him moved into his new place we got some lunch and did a bit of last minute shopping for our trip. Surprisingly we remembered almost everything, unlike our trip to Gettysburg last year when we forgot almost everything! After that we spent the remainder of the night at his place watching TV and DVDs. My sister and I were both quite excited for our trip. We went to bed early since our flight was scheduled for 9:30, which meant we had to be at the airport by 7:30 am.

Leaving for LA!!!
I didn't sleep well the night before. I was nervous for the flight. This was going to by the longest flight I've done and since I just recently overcame my fear of flying, I was a bit nervous. We had no problems getting to the airport, checking our baggage or getting through security. Even our gate was right by where you enter the terminal, which meant we didn't have to walk all the way to the other end like we normally do. We waited impatiently at the gate. We were both excited and kind of hyper, despite the early hour.

Before long it was time to board the plane. It was going to be a full flight from Detroit to LA. Boarding didn't take long, but we noticed that quite a few seats were unoccupied. Soon it was almost time for departure and there was no sign of leaving. A few minutes after the time we were supposed to leave the Captain announced that there was a large group flying, and 8 of them were missing due to problems with security and we would wait for them. When they were finally found, most of the missing passengers were children, which is probably why they held the plane. We left about 40 minutes late.

There were no problems with take off, but there was quite a bit of turbulence when we were flying over Lake Michigan. My sister had the middle seat, while I had the window seat. For the first part of the flight you really couldn't see much out the window due to the cloud cover. I slept part of the way while my sister read. The best part of the flight was seeing the mountains and what I think was the Grand Canyon. I took quite a few pictures out of the window.

Welcome to CA!!!
It took about 5 hours to get from Detroit to LAX. When we landed in LA it was like 88 degrees!!! A vast difference from back home in MI. We got our luggage and found where the shuttles were. The traffic surrounding LAX is INSANE!!! I was glad that I had chosen not to try driving. Once we got in the shuttle we picked up several more passengers before finally leaving the airport. I'm not sure how long it took to get from the airport to our hotel in Anaheim, but it wasn't too long. There wasn't too much traffic, which was good.

We eventually got to the hotel, checked in and went up to the room. We decided to stay at the Castle Inn. This was my sister's choice. It was OK, nothing too special. We unpacked a bit then called home to assure our family we arrived safely and in one piece. We then passed out from exhaustion and each took a nice long nap. When we woke up from our naps we were hungry since we didn't have much to eat all day, so we decided to seek out some food. On the drive from the airport we noticed an IHOP just down from the hotel, so we headed in that direction.

My sister ordered a steak and I had pot roast. It was OK, but it was at least real food. We then stopped at subway to buy a sub for later so we wouldn't have to go out again. We returned to the hotel then and finished unpacking then rested some more. We watched some TV and a DVD on the laptop, but we both fell asleep while watching it. We went to bed early according to Pacific time, but late for Eastern time. We wanted to be well rested for our first day at Disneyland.

DISNEYLAND!!!

It was supposed to be another scorcher, which I really wasn't looking forward to, but we got up early and got ready to head to the parks, full of enthusiasm. We walked to the main gate and arrived before the park was opened. They weren't letting people in the plaza yet so we waited with a group of other people like ourselves who were waiting to get in so we could make our breakfast reservations. We had reservations that morning at the Plaza Inn with Minnie and friends. We were kind of concerned about making it on time, but were reassured that it wouldn't be a problem. Once we got through the security bag check we went to the gates where others with breakfast reservations were waiting. They checked our names off the list and gave us a button to wear so that we could get passed the rope to make it to our reservations. At 9:30 we finally got to enter Main Street, USA. We quickly walked to the rope and found how to get to the Plaza Inn.

We waited in line with the others who had reservations and eventually got seated. When we got to the table Minnie was there and we got pictures and her autograph in our newly purchased autograph books. During the course of breakfast we also met Eeyore, Tigger, Gepetto, Chip and Pooh at the same time who got into a bit of a fight, Captain Hook, the Fairy Godmother, and Rafiki. The food was quite good, especially the fruit.

After breakfast it was time to go ride some rides. We started off with Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. My sister totally kicked my butt, which isn't unusual. She usually beats me. I always have trouble seeing where the heck my dot is.

After that we went to take pictures of Sleeping Beauty castle, which is what my sister really wanted to see since Sleeping Beauty is her favorite princess and she has always wanted to see the castle at Disneyland. We found several Photopass photographers in front of the castle and got our pictures taken with it in the background.

Once we had taken a million pictures of the castle from several angles we went to ride Snow White's Scary Adventures. We've gone on this ride at WDW before, but the DL version seems to go a LOT faster. There didn't seem to be much of a story as you whipped around through the ride.

Next we rode Pinocchio's Daring Journey. I really don't like Pinocchio, but there wasn't much of a line and since it is unique to DL, we thought we should ride it at least once. I had to shut my eyes for the one part that I hate in the movie, but it was an OK ride.

After that we rode King Arthur's Carrousel. My sister loves carousels, but they aren't my favorite rides. It was OK as far as carousels go, at least it didn't seem to go on forever unlike the one at Greenfield Village.

Next it was time to conquer a childhood fear: Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. When we went to WDW when I was 7 that ride totally scared me. I couldn't remember why I hated it so much, but decided to brave it at DL to see what was so scary. It wasn't as scary as an adult, but I think the part where we were hit by a train and then took a trip to Hell was what scared me as a child.

After we conquered our childhood fear we rode one of my favorite rides, the Mad Tea Cups. My sister hates to spin fast, whereas I love to spin fast. This time we decided to ride in our own teacups so I could spin as fast as I wanted. It was fun, but it seemed smaller than the one at WDW. And it was strange being outside, but I liked the colorful lanterns overhead.

Once we were sufficiently dizzy we found the Mad Hatter, Alice and Queen of Hearts signing autographs and posing for pictures near the teacups. After getting pictures and autographs we decided to leave Fantasyland and head towards Frontierland.

While walking on the one path near Big Thunder Mountain there were two members of the Dream Team handing out Dream passes. The passes would allow you to stay an hour after the park closes. The passes are limited and I think one of the men handing them out said there were only 2,000 giving out that day.

After we got our dream passes we decided to head for our favorite ride, Haunted Mansion. The DL facade is so cool looking. We quickly learned the secrets to getting on the ride first, which was slightly different than at WDW. The hall with the changing pictures on the way to the Doombuggies was really cool. I just love this ride. I really liked the attic scene with the Bride at DL. I haven't gone to WDW since Jan. 2007 so I haven't seen the changes they made there to compare, but we were not disappointed with Haunted Mansino.

Once we picked up our hitchhiking ghost we decided to get some lunch. We ate at the Village Haus, since it had some indoor seating, though it was hard to come by. By this time it was getting really hot out so we wanted to get out of the sun a bit. My sister had pizza with a weird vegetable side dish that she didn’t care much for. I had a turkey, bacon sandwich that was really good, though quite large.

After eating and resting in the air conditioning for a bit we did a little shopping then walked back to the hotel to try to avoid the hottest part of the day. Back at the hotel we took short naps to reenergize so we could go back to use our Dream passes.

When we went back to the park later in the evening the first ride we went on was Pirates of the Caribbean, which is one of our favorites at WDW. I knew going in that DL's was different, but quickly decided that I didn't care much for it. The bayou portion seems sort of boring and pointless. Then there are stretches of darkness where you can't see anything. And I didn't like that it was quite a bit longer than at WDW. It was OK, but I definitely prefer the shorter version at WDW, which also has less drops.

After the disappointment that was Pirates we got some food at the Golden Horseshoe. It took forever to get our Chicken fingers. I knew before we left that the food wasn't going to be as good at DL as at WDW, but it was disappointing that most of the restaurants had the same food. There didn't seem to be as much variety, especially for us since we tend to be a bit picky.

Once we finally go our chicken fingers and consumed them we worked our way to Fantasyland to stand in line for Peter Pan, which always seems to have a long wait. It was very similar to WDW and lots of fun. Though I think DL's figures look better than at WDW. It definitely seemed more up to date than WDW's which just looks old and faded.

After this we rode the Storybook Land boats. This was fun, though it was starting to get dark so I couldn't really get any pictures. Though I have no idea why this ride always seemed to have a really long line.

When our boat ride around Storybook Land was over we went to the area on the back of our Dream passes where we were suppose to gather. There was a very LONG line of people already waiting. It was quite a challenge finding the end of the long, but we eventually found it. We stood around for a while then were herded into an area where a bad wedding reception was in progress. They were playing a bad Disneyfied version of the Macarena. Ewwww. Then they did the Cha-Cha Slide. Yuck. Then they played High School Musical. Double Yuck. And followed that up with Grease. Ewwww. My sister and I worked our way towards the exit so we could make a quick escape once they let us go.

When we were finally released from the bad wedding reception we went straight for Dumbo which is one of my other favorite rides that unfortunately usually has a long wait time unless you get there early. It was fun as always. It was really cool seeing the park from the top of Dumbo all lit up at night. My only wish is that Dumbo was longer. The ride is much too short, but then if they lengthened it at all the lines would be even worse. Sigh.

After our flight on Dumbo we went back to ride Peter Pan again since most of the people who got the Dream passes went for the roller coasters. When we got off Peter Pan there was absolutely no line for Snow White so we went for a quick warp 5 ride on Snow White. Since we still had time we worked our way to New Orleans Square to ride Haunted Mansion again. There was really no one else at Haunted Mansion. We rode it twice in a row, which was lots of fun, though we had to exit and go back through, but that was just part of the insane fun. We thought about going for a 4th time, but decided since it was getting close to 9:30 and we were still on Eastern time we decided to go back to the hotel to sleep.

Thus ends our first day at Disneyland. Up next would be our first trip to California Adventure.

"I think I'm going to Boston . . . " Trip Report

Well we made it to Massachusetts and back though the trip literally almost didn’t get off the ground. Our flight was suppose to leave Detroit Sunday morning at 9:40 am, but just as we were going to lift up, the pilot put on the brakes and we came to a stop on the runway, which we knew wasn't a good sign. The pilots aborted the takeoff due to a mechanical issue. We sat on the runway for a bit before getting the OK to come back to the gate. After conversing with the mechanics they decided to deboard us and get us a new plane. We finally took off about noon. It was a good flight after we made it into the air! And all of our luggage made it with us, which was something we were worried about when we had to get a new plane.

Once we landed in New Hampshire we got the rental car without any hassles and headed for Danvers, MA. We were exhausted and hungry. We stopped for lunch at a Crackle Barrel, not thinking that it was a Sunday and they would be busy. The wait wasn’t too bad. The food was OK. After that we hit the road once more. We were getting really drowsy from the Dramamine by this point. We made it to the hotel and checked it. We unpacked the car then took a nice long nap. We were suppose to go to Salem, but found that napping was better. We got dinner from Burger King before going back to relax some more.

On Monday we woke up refreshed and ready to go. We had breakfast at IHOP. We don’t have many of those where we live, so it was really good. I had Pumpkin Pancakes while my sister had Pigs in a Blanket. Everything was very good. Then we drove to Salem where are first stop was the Salem Wax Museum and Witch Village. Both of these were OK. They did allow photos, which was cool, but there needed to be more. After that we went to the House of Seven Gables, which inspired the Nathaniel Hawthorne book of the same name. It was fun and interesting. I don't like that you can't take any pictures inside of the building, but we did get lots of pictures of the outside. While we were waiting for our tour to start a pretty fluffy kitty wandered up to us. We were missing our kitties, so it was nice to play with him. After our tour of the house and getting lots of outdoor shots we got some candies from the candy story, Ye Olde Pepper Companie, across the street, which were really good. They claim to be the oldest candy company in the United States.

We also stopped by the Visitor Center that is run by the National Park Service. Our last stop in Salem for the day was the Salem Witch Musuem. This was really neat. They didn’t allow photography, but the “show” was really interesting and fun. Very nice gift shop. Overall we had accomplished everything we had planned for Sunday as well as Monday. So we were back on track.

On Tuesday we drove to Concord, MA. We went to the battleground there, Minute Man National Historical Park. The show at the visitor center was really cool. When we watched it, there was a tour bus full of British people, which made for some interesting jokes. They need to put in more monuments or something, because walking the trails was kind of boring after a while. We ended up skipping a few of the stops and just went to the North Bridge. We wanted to see Ralph Waldo Emerson's house, but it was closed. We did get some pictures of it from the outside though. We also stopped by Sleepy Hollow Cemetery where we saw Emerson's, Henry David Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott, and Nathaniel Hawthorne's graves. We told Thoreau what we really thought of Walden. We had lunch at the cafe at the North Bridge visitor center. It was OK. Strange set up though. I think this was the night we had dinner at Unos. I love Chicago style pizza. YUM! Though I like Gino's from Chicago better.

On Wednesday we went back to Salem and went to the Pirate Museum, Witch History Museum, and Witch Dungeon Museum. I enjoyed all three. Our tour guide for the Pirate one was really funny. I liked that I could take pictures inside. We ate at Boston Hot Dogs in Salem. They were good, but I think I like Koegels better. The buns were interesting. Ordering the hot dogs was a bit intimidating, with all the signs telling you how to order. I think we had Quiznos for dinner. We also did had pictures taken at the Salem Vintage photography store at the Museum Place Mall. They take your pictures dressed up as a witch or warlock. It was fun. There are some neat pictures.

On Thursday we drove up to York, ME. We went to a few of the historical buildings. Quite a few of them were closed or needed appointments, so we just skipped them. We did go to the Old Gaol where I thought for sure I was going to twist my ankle on those darn creepy stairs. After that we drove up Route 1A along the coast. We had lunch at a restaurant called the Lobster Cove. My sister got lobster tail. She said it was OK, but that shrimp is better. After that we continued driving along the coast. We finally found a spot where you could get down to the beach. We then went and frolicked in the ocean. That was fun. It was cold, but after a while I didn't even notice. We hadn't planned on playing in the ocean so we didn’t take a towel or anything with us. My sister had her Crocs on and I wished I had some instead of my tennis shoes and socks. It was awesome. We were surprised to find people surfing there. We drove along some more to the lighthouse, which is the hip place for all the elderly people to go. We got a bunch of pictures. I was hoping to get something there for our one brother who loves lighthouses, but the gift shop was closed. After that we headed back to MA. I forgot to get the directions back to MA. I remembered most of the steps, but missed the one fork. We ended up going a ways out of our way, but we eventually got back. Since I had gotten us "lost" I had to buy my sister an ice cream desert from Friendly's. We both got Friendzs, which are like Dairy Queen Blizzards. We then returned to the hotel. A little while later after freshening up and changing we went to Salem for the Happening Halloween parade. It was OK. We only stayed for a little while. We wanted to leave before traffic got too bad. We had dinner at Applebees, where our waitress didn't even give us silverware. She was gone most of the time. We heard her comment once about how she just wanted to hurry up and leave. It seemed she was more concerned with that than her customers. She didn't get a good tip!

On Friday we drove to Salem to use the Commuter rail to Boston. The parking lot was confusing. Then we couldn't figure out where you buy the tickets. We finally found someone who told us that you just get them on the train. Once on the train saw behind these two girls who talked like the people on the "The Hills" and spent the entire ride gossiping about people. It was quite irritating. After that we managed to find the Metro and took that to Park station to start the Freedom Trail. The Robert Shaw memorial for the 54th MA regiment was really cool. Though the sun was in a bad spot to get a good shot of it. It was really hot on Friday. The walk along the Freedom Trail was miserable in that heat. The sites were really cool, I just wish the temp had been cooler. We ate lunch at Cheers at Fanieul (sp?) Hall. We walked over to the bridge to see the USS Constitution, but didn't go see the Bunker Hill Memorial up close. We did a few shots of it from a distance. We took the water shuttle back. The ferry that came didn't look very sea worthy to me, I thought for sure we were going to sink. We made it though I don't know how. After that we made it back to the station to catch the commuter rail back to Salem. We were happy to find the rental car still in the parking lot. After that we did some last minute shopping before going back to Danvers. We had to pack so we ordered Dominos, which is never my favorite, but it was on our hotel keys. It was OK. It was something to eat while we packed.

On Saturday we got up at 8:00 and went to breakfast at IHOP again since we don't have many around where we live. The Pumpkin pancakes are so good. It was quite busy on Saturday. I used up all the change I had for the tip so I wouldn't have to worry about it at the airport. We then went back to the hotel and watched American Gladiators on ESPN Classic. I remember watching it as a child, and we don't have ESPN Classic at home, so we watched that until 11:00 when we had to check out. Since it was suppose to be an hour drive up to Manchester, we decided to go find the Witch Trial memorial in Danvers. After that we went to Best Buy to kill some more time. It was noon then so we decided to just start heading up to Manchester and maybe have enough time to grab lunch on the way. We had to be at the airport by 2:00. It took nearly 2 hours to get to Manchester. We were averaging 20 MPH on the highway. There was no construction, no accidents, nothing to warrant such a traffic jam. I've been in worse traffic on I-75 heading "Up North" during the summer that moved faster. It was very irriating. We ended up stopping at McDonalds and had to eat quickly so that we could get the rental car back on time. Getting through security was easy. We were the only two people. The one TSA officer was impressed how fast we went through. We're used to going through Detroit Metro where you have to be fast. After that we sat by the gate and waited for the plane to arrive. And we prayed we got a pilot who knew how to take off! There were no problems with take off out of Manchester other than we had to sit on the runway for about 10 minutes because of lots of traffic in Detroit. It was a good flight back. I love looking out the window and seeing the clouds below. There were some cool cloud mounds. Our brother was waiting at baggage claim for us. He then bought us dinner from KFC and had a bottle of Pepsi in his fridge waiting for us. He's such a nice brother.

On Sunday we drove home from our brother's house. We got stuck in traffic on I-75 just south of Grand Blanc. They had to close the entire northbound section due to an accident. We were routed onto Dixie Hwy, which sort of freaked my sister out because she thought we were lost, but I knew where we were. After that it was a smooth ride home. It was nice to sleep in our own beds again and to play with our kitties who seemed to have missed us. It was a fun trip. Glad to be home.

June 2007 Chicago Mini Trip Report

It occured to me yesterday, that I never posted my small trip report on our recent Chicago weekend trip.

My sister and I spent Father's day weekend visiting the Windy City!!! Woo-hoo!!! This has got to be one of our favorite places to go. We went to Navy Pier and had lunch at Bubba Gump's, which was excellent as always. After that we did some shopping stopping by Build A Bear and Ryba's Mackinac Island Fudge. Two places we always stop when we are in Chicago. After that we went and checked into our favorite hotel: Best Western River North. After some swimming and relaxing we went shopping!!! Another favorite destination is American Girl Place. After shopping we went back to relax for a bit before going to Gino's East Pizzeria for some Chicago-style deep dish pizza. YUM! We brought some of it home with us. On Saturday we went to the Museum of Science and Industry. The CSI: Experience was a lot of fun. I love seeing the U-505 submarine. My sister had fun gazing at the Fairy Tale Castle doll house which she wishes could be hers. After that we headed back to Michigan. On Sunday we went to the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, MI. It was fun, but the website and brochures made it seem like it was bigger than it was. The balloon ride was my favorite part! My sister had fun in the simulator ride where you can actually go upside. After that we came home. Overall it was fun. The only really downside to the trip was that I lost my case of CDs that had probably 50-60 of my CDs. We have no idea where it fell out of the car at. We called our hotel and Navy Pier and no one turned in anything. Oh well. Some of them needed replaced anyways. And they can be replaced, but it still has me a bit bummed out.

I will try to upload some of the photos later.

Gettysburg Trip Report

For my birthday this year I decided I wanted to go back to Gettysburg, PA because I wasn’t happy that we only photographed 28% of the monuments and only 3 Michigan monuments when we went in June 2006. That just seemed unacceptable. So the plans were made. We decided to go Saturday – Tuesday, but would leave our house on Friday afternoon to go down to our brother’s house in Detroit so that we could leave from there on Saturday morning.

The Buick
On Friday morning we were to go pick up the rental car from our local airport. I got a really great deal from National. Since my sister is now 25 years old we were going to add her to the rental agreement. Before our Orlando trip I signed up for the Emerald Club with national that one of the benefits of being a member is that any immediate family member who resides within the same household can be added to the agreement for free. This is perfect since we live together and she is an immediate family member. I called national and emailed them before we got there to confirm this because I wanted to make sure I understood everything correctly. We get to the rental location and they say that only spouses are allowed. Though I have in writing from National that she can be added as per the rules of the Emerald Club. They continue to get us grief over this. We decide that we won’t add her and are thinking we can finally be on our way.

We go out to find the car they had given us and it’s some Suzuki small SUV. I have no idea what it is. Well that won’t work. First of all we’re going to Pennsylvania and through the mountains and second of all I have never, ever driven an SUV, small or large. I don’t like driving in the mountains to begin with and definitely not in something I’m completely unfamiliar with. So we go back inside to see if they have anything else since we had reserved an intermediate CAR. The person working the counter thinks she has a Malibu out there, but it will need to be cleaned. That’s fine by me; I can wait while they clean it. She comes back in 10 minutes. The person who turned the car in didn’t tell them that there was a dent and a small crack in the windshield. So it’s back to the Suzuki. At this point I’m pleading with her to see what else she has. I’ll wait for however long it takes because the last thing I want is that Suzuki. I know. I’m a picky customer. She looks around and says that they have a Buick LaSabre, but that is a “premium” which would cost extra, but she manages to give it to us at the same rate as the SUV. Yeah! We now have something that I’m familiar with and comfortable driving. Though it is a Buick. ;)

Heading to Detroit
So I finally get on the road and go to work until 2:00. My mom was nice enough to pick up my sister and drop her off where I work so that I wouldn’t have to run all the way home to get her. So we’re off in the Buick! Woo-hoo! We stop for lunch at A&W’s. My sister had corn dog nuggets. A very strange and unusual food if you ask me. I had just a cheeseburger. And sadly this trip we were really bad about taking pictures of our food. After that we were back on our way heading to Detroit. Surprisingly enough there wasn’t much traffic heading south.

The first place we stayed was Great Lakes Crossing. We wanted to take some small Michigan flags with us to put at the Michigan monuments and there was supposed to be an Alamo flag store in Great Lakes Crossing. Well there was a jewelry store where the flag store had been located the last time I was there, which had probably been a year or so. You don’t go somewhere for a while and they change it all around! So we are walking down the one wing looking for a map of the mall when my sister sees a store with Michigan products in it. Its called something like “Love from Michigan” or something. So we go in to see if maybe they have some small, Michigan flags. We found them at the back of the store, but they were $4 each! That’s a tad expensive IMO. We decided to buy just 3-one for a monument of her choice, one for my choice, and one we would agree together on and the rest would get USA flags.

So with our mission somewhat complete we head to Barnes and Nobles in Rochester Hills! This is probably my favorite B&N on the planet since they have a large selection of used books for reasonable prices, sometimes-even $1!!! We hadn’t been there in a while so we found lots of good stuff. I ended up with 8 paperback books for $23, but used a $10 gift card my brother gave me and only actually spent $13. Not a bad deal. I think my sister got 4 or 5. After that we went to a dollar store where we found some USA flags. There were 6 in a package for $1 so we got 2 packages to make sure we had enough flags for all the MI monuments.

After that we went to Wal-Mart to get some last minute supplies and a couple of the things that we had left at home. Once we were done shopping it was time to go to our brother’s house. The only traffic we encountered on our journey so far was getting to his house since it was now after 5:00 pm and people were out of work. We make it to our brother’s house without being too late and the three of us go to dinner. We told him to pick where he wanted to and we went to National Coney Island. I’ve never been there and was a bit concerned since I do not eat Coney dogs, but he said they have other things besides Coney dogs. He ordered chicken quesadillas, my sister had her usual chicken tenders, and I had a chicken pita like sandwich that was surprisingly quite good. Our brother who is known as “the good brother,” paid for our dinners. Then we went to Dairy Queen to get some desert since we don’t have a Dairy Queen where we live anymore. We each got a blizzard. I can’t remember what they each got but I got Oreo Cheesecake, which was strange. It was Oreo cookies with cheesecake bits. When we get back to our brother’s house we all relax and start watching Simpson DVDs until its time for bed since we have to be up early the next morning to leave for Gettysburg.

We’re On Our Way
We got up early the next morning and managed to repack the car quite quickly. Normally I tell my sister one time and she is ready about a half hour after that. We leave pretty much on time. We stop for gas, ice, and breakfast before getting on I-94. Normally for every other trip we’ve taken we get stuck in traffic on I-94 heading to Detroit, but by some miracle there was almost nobody on the highway! And it was Saturday! In fact we didn’t encounter much traffic anywhere along the way.

It’s a pretty uneventful trip. We stopped for lunch along the Pennsylvania turnpike. We ended up making it to Gettysburg in 8.5 hours. We kind of took a different route than the first time we went. We stayed on the turnpike longer and got off near Shippensburg then took a series of other roads to I-81 then to Chambersburg Road (30).

Arriving in Gettysburg
Once we reached Chambersburg Road we knew the way to our hotel, The Quality Inn at General Lee’s Headquarters, since we had stayed there before. We checked in without any problems. The person at the front desk was very friendly and helpful. She gave us quite a few brochures and maps. In our room all of towels in the bathroom were knocked over onto the sink! That was kind of odd. Everything else looked nice and to be in order. We unpacked the car and rested for a few minutes before we decided to go explore the town a little. One of the things that we wanted to do while in Gettysburg was a Ghost Tour. We had decided that we wanted to go with Mark Nesbit’s Ghosts of Gettysburg Tours since it was seen on Unsolved Mysteries, The History Channel, A&E, and many others, which means it has to be good, right? We wanted to go get our tickets then go get something to eat for dinner. Using one of the maps that we got from the front desk we are trying to navigate the streets of Gettysburg. We eventually come up to Lincoln Square, which involves a confusing circle. Luckily we didn’t end up going around and around. We found the street we needed, but I couldn’t remember the exact address for the building, so we drove up and down the road at least twice before finding it. I found it all quite funny for some reason. We go in and get our tickets for the Seminary Ridge tour since that is pretty much across the street from our hotel. On our way back to the hotel we stop at Pizza Hut for dinner since we knew how to get back to our hotel then. We had a medium cheese only pizza and breadsticks. It was OK. Probably should have stayed in the oven a minute or so longer. After that we went back to our hotel for a little while, made some phone calls to let everyone back home know we made it safely to our destination.

Ghosts of Gettysburg
About 8:00 pm we walked over to the point where our ghost tour was going to leave from. Our tour was suppose to leave at 8:15, but we see another group of people leave and are concerned that our group is leaving us behind, but it was just another group. We took a few pictures before the tour started. There is one that is very strange. There is a strange yellow orb by my feet that wasn’t there and isn’t in the other photos. We didn’t see this until we downloaded them when we got back. Very spooky! There were quite a few people in our group and we start our tour! Its pretty clear that our tour guide has a thing for General Reynolds. She kept referring to him as “tall, dark, and handsome.” Some of the stories are interesting, but I question a few of the “facts” she gave. I randomly snap some pictures at the one building, which was used, as a hospital. There again are some strange spots in the photos that aren’t in all of them and not always in the same place. Very weird. After the tour is over we head back over to our hotel to rest up for tomorrow’s battlefield tour.

A Three-Hour Tour
We Got up early on Sunday, ate breakfast in our hotel room, then headed out to begin our “Three Hour Tour” of the battlefield. And the singing/humming of the Gilligan’s Theme starts pretty much from the beginning. Our first stop was the Visitor center. We were a little worried at first when we saw several busses full of school kids. We go in to pick up a map and ask one of the Rangers if they can show us on the map where the Michigan monuments were. We had found 4 last time and I knew where to find 3 more, but there were 3 that we had no idea where they were. The Ranger pulls out this nifty little manual that has all the monuments with maps that shows where each one is positioned. He shows us where all the Michigan ones are and puts little marks on our map so that we can find them. The entire time he was looking at the book I was thinking that it would be a great tool to have and wondering how could I get one.

We then walk across the street to the National Cemetery. This is actual the last tour stop on the route, but I find it easiest to go first since it is directly across from the Visitor’s Center. So with our binder of information in tow we set out to photograph all the monuments at Gettysburg. We entire a problem with the list right away. I had put them in order of street names so it was a little confusing. I was going to put them back in order by state name, but forgot to do it. This was definitely the theme for the trip. I swear we would have forgot our heads if they weren’t attached. So I’m taking the pictures and my sister is walking behind me trying to mark in the book which ones I just took pictures of. I told her not to worry because I could look them up when we got home, again thinking that a book like the Ranger had would be so helpful in our quest. After getting the monuments on the perimeter I seek out to find the Michigan men who are buried there. I sort of remembered where they were, but wasn’t that close! :) We placed a USA flag at the stone for the Michigan men. One of the things that people do at the cemetery is laying pennies on the markers, especially the Kentucky marker which is to mark the spot of the Gettysburg Address. We finished photographing all the monuments in the cemetery. I made sure to get all the sides of the Soldier’s National Monument this time. I was disappointed because they were cleaning the New York monument so I couldn’t get that great of a shot.

We see some more monuments along the road by the cemetery and near the Visitor Center parking. So we photograph those. We then see some more on a hill by the Eisenhower building so we go and photograph those. We eventually make it back to the car. We climb in, roll down the windows, and crank up the Civil War music we had brought with us. We are off! We make our ways without being hit this time to the start of the tour and begin the slow tour of the field. We in our quest to photograph all monuments find ourselves stopping pretty much every 10 feet or so. Good thing we have perfected our drive-by photography. This is an important skill to have for battlefields. And something both driver and passenger should be familiar with! LOL

We finally make our way up to the Eternal Light Peace Memorial, which is empty! Yeah! No one is really there. The last time we were there it was hard to get a photograph of it without anyone in the way. I was quite excited. We pose for pictures and walk around a bit just admiring the beauty of it. Shortly after this is the juncture where you can decide if you are doing the two-hour or three-hour tour. We decided we would do the two-hour parts this day and the three-hour parts the next day. Right before the turn for the three-hour part is a small observation tower. Its probably only 3 stories or so tall. Not very big. My sister climbed it last time no problem. Me. I didn’t even try last time. I’ve decided I’m going to be brave. I’m extremely scared of any stairs where I can see the ground, but I’ve decided I’m going to be brave. I made it up to the first landing before my fear of heights stopped me. My sister tried to get me to go up the last flight, but my feet wouldn’t move. So she climbed the rest of the way and I stood where I was. When she was done taking pictures from each side she handed me back the camera and I took a few from where I stood.

After the Observation Tower we continued with our tour. By the time we were done with the first part it was after noon! We had wanted to save lunch for the picnic area, but that was quite a ways off. So since the tour route would take us past our hotel, we decided to stop there go to the bathroom, freshen up a bit, eat lunch then head back. The Quality Inn at General Lee’s Headquarters is kind of cool because each room has windows that you can open. We opened the windows and sat at the table in front and enjoyed a nice lunch of PB&J sandwiches with the breeze drifting in the windows. Overall it was really nice. And the best part was . . . no bugs!!! That’s the worst part of a picnic lunch. So after we finished lunch we made sure we each went to the bathroom because we would be heading for Little Round Top where there really aren’t any bathrooms. And back we go. In case you haven’t figured out yet, our three-hour tour is taking longer than expected! LOL

We head out to see Seminary Ridge. Along south Confederate Avenue are the North Carolina, Virginia, Louisiana, and Mississippi monuments among others. In fact this is where you will find most of the Confederate monuments. Some interesting information: Gutzon Borglum created North Carolina’s monument in 1929. He is the sculptor of Mt. Rushmore. The Virginia monument was the first monument at Gettysburg from one of the former Confederate states. It was designed by F. William Sievers. At the top is General Lee on Traveler and the men at the bottom represent the various types of men who left behind civil occupations to join the Confederate army. There is a professional man, a mechanic, an artist, a boy, a businessman, a farmer, and a youth. This is one of the most beautiful monuments. It was from this area that Pickett’s now infamous charge was launched

The tour begins to wind its way towards the Round Tops. It is also getting to be mid-afternoon. We continue taking photos of all the monuments we see. I’m feeling pretty good at this point that we should get at least 50% of the monuments. Near Big Round top we stopped and hike up to get photos from two cavalry monuments and nearly fall in the mud while doing so. Further down the road we see some more on the slopes of Big Round top. This time just my sister gets out to hike up there. At the end of this road between the two round tops we see the 20th Maine monument. If you’ve seen the movie Gettysburg you will know who the 20th Maine is. It’s a beautiful monument. There are several ways to get to it. We hike up from this one road. After getting pictures of the front and one of the sides, my sister gets the idea to photograph all the sides, while standing precariously on the edge of Little Round Top. I thought for sure she was going to fall, but luckily she didn’t. We made our way back down the steep embankment.

We know that the 16th Michigan monument isn’t far away, sort of on a ledge on the one side of Little Round top. Last time we had no idea how to get up to it. While walking along the path back towards the 20th Maine after parking at Little Round top we were looking for the monument for Strong Vincent who was wounded at Gettysburg then later died. I spotted it and found a path through the woods to it. We were both very excited to find it. After that my sister thought to see if she could find a path to the 16th Michigan monument. Jackpot! We were able to get to the 16th Michigan and leave one of our USA flags. Yeah! After that we wound our way back to the main road and climbed the slight incline to the summit of Little Round Top. I will add here that it was VERY, VERY windy that day. It felt like you were going to be blown off the mountain. The wind kept blowing my hat off.

On top of Little Round top is this one New York monument that is really neat. Its called the Castle. You can climb up it and get an even better view of the land surrounding Little Round Top. My sister was the only one brave enough to climb it. Again – I’m too chicken! She said she felt that she was going to be blown away from up there. She said that the wind up there was super scary. We both made sure to rub O’Rourke’s nose for good luck. If you go to visit Gettysburg, it is said that rubbing his nose is good luck. It’s also the reason why his nose is shinier than the rest of the monument.

After climbing all over Little Round top and enjoying the views we start to head back to the car. While walking near one of the rock configurations a park Ranger was showing a group of kids a snake in the rocks! EWWW! I quickly walked the other direction. After Little Round Top is where the tour gets confusing. There are roads with monuments on them that aren’t considered part of the tour, lots of one-way roads and forks, and several forks that will take you in different directions. Using the map we had the Ranger mark on, we knew we had to leave the marked tour to find two of the Michigan monuments.

First though was Devil’s Den. We had fun climbing all over the rocks. Some people had climbed the huge rocks and were jumping down from them. That didn’t seem very safe to me.

Back on the road we were able to figure out the road we needed to find the 4th Michigan monument near the Wheatfield. We missed some in the Wheatfield, but I knew we had photographed them last time. After the 4th Michigan we found the 5th Michigan, which was the first one we had found last time. This one got a special Michigan flag. Right across from it is the Irish Brigade monument, which is such a unique and beautiful monument.

We eventually found our way to the Peach Orchard where we found the 3rd Michigan. We ended up finding a whole bunch on these roads that we had missed the first time. They are working to replant the Peach Orchard, so right now there are only baby Peach trees here.

After this we work our way towards the Pennsylvania State Monument, which is huge. Its gorgeous. You can see it from several spots around the battlefield it is so large. It’s a work of art. I was able to get some good photos, without too many people in them. You can climb up to top, which my sister did while I stayed on the ground reading about the monument. I am just amazed at it. Not far from it is 9th Battery-Light Artillery Michigan monument. And again a place where you have to decide if you are doing the two or three hour tour. Since it is getting to be late afternoon and there is still a lot to see we decide to continue with just the two-hour part.

One of the most interesting monuments at Gettysburg is called the High Water Mark monument. It is an open book supported by a stack of cannon balls. This is to mark the “high water mark” of the Confederacy war effort and is near the spot where the furthest point the Confederate army got with Pickett’s charge.

By this point it was getting close to 7:00 pm. The sun was starting to set. And the Amazing Race was on at 8:00. We finished up photographing all the monuments. Though some of the photographs aren’t that great since they were facing east and the sun was directly behind them. We did the best we could though. We have now come to the end of our two hour tour, which in reality was closer to 8.5 hours!!! I have no clue how you are suppose to do it in two hours.

We’re hungry by this point, but we have to be back to the hotel by 8:00 to watch the Amazing Race. This is one of the only shows that we HAVE to watch. We decided that it was only 7:00; we had time for a sit down meal. My brother had gone to a Friendly’s restaurant before and said it was good, so we decided to try it. We got seated right away, but couldn’t decide what we wanted. Our waitress was kind of slow. Didn’t she know that Phil was on!!!! It was very important that we not miss the Amazing Race. I ordered the Turkey Club SuperMelt, which is described as “The classic club taken to a whole new level. Sliced turkey breast, crisp bacon, melted American cheese, tomato and creamy Thousand Island dressing on grilled sourdough bread. “ It was very tasty! My sister ordered the Honey Mustard Chicken Sandwich, minus the cheese, which is described as “crispy strips of chicken breast, melted Cheddar cheese, tomato, shredded lettuce and honey mustard dressing.” She liked it. We both ate pretty quickly because we kept checking the time to make sure we would make it back in time for the Amazing Race. We both ordered a Reese Peanut Butter Cup FRIEND-Z, which is similar to a Dairy Queen Blizzard, though not as good as a Blizzard. We got our FRIEND-Z’s to go though since it was getting close to 8:00. I think we ended up getting back to the hotel by 7:50 pm. Phew! Just in time for the Amazing Race.

After the Amazing Race was over we both relaxed in the room. At some point the one channel was showing the movie A Knights Tale. This is the one movie on the planet that ALWAYS puts me to sleep. My friends and family like to joke about it. I’ve never seen the entire movie. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen the end. The record is 5 minutes in. My sister claims that I was asleep this time before the credits even started. I have no recollection of it even being on! :lol I guess it did the trick again! :)

Thus ends day 2 of our Gettysburg adventure.

Happy Birthday!
We wake up early on Monday, which is my birthday! And another year goes by where my sister has failed to wake me up at 3:00 am, which is the time I was born. She has been threatening to do for years, but always forgets to set the alarm. LOL We got up earlier on Monday that we had on Sunday because we had a ton of places we wanted to see and things to do. We walked over to the main building of the hotel for breakfast. As far as free continental breakfasts goes, this was nothing too special: bagels, English muffins, donuts, cereal, juice, milk, etc. Everything tasted really good though. After finishing breakfast we set out to finish our “three-hour” tour.

We have no trouble with the part by Barlow’s Knoll. Then we headed towards Culp’s Hill. In order to get all the monuments here we ended up going in circles and driving past some of them like 3 times because of all the forks in the roads and one ways. There was one road that went past the Indiana Monument near Spangler’s spring that we never did figure out how to get to since it was a one way and was the opposite direction from where we were. It was kind of fun driving in circles though! I think we got most of the monuments. We didn’t climb the very large observation tower there because it was kind of scary looking. I couldn’t even climb up the little one, there was no way I was going to make it to the top.

So after we are pretty sure that we got all the monuments we could find on Culp’s Hill, we finish the three-hour portion near the Pennsylvania Monument. This morning there is almost no body out touring the battlefield. I was so happy because I was able to get some photos of it without many people. I was also able to get some really nice pictures of the High Water Mark, because the day before there was a group of people with one of the park Rangers that just kept getting in my pictures.

Before we finish our tour we stop in the Visitor Center again to ask for the best way to get to the East Cavalry battlefield, which is about 3 miles east of the main battlefield. The Ranger gives us the direction and we decide to actually stop in the gift shop this time. The day before we didn’t want to spend valuable time in there. Its funny because the previous day I kept thinking that one of those books like the Ranger had would be so helpful in finding all the monuments. And what do you know? We go into the bookstore and there on the shelf is one of the books like the Ranger used to look up the Michigan monuments for us! AHHH. If only I would have gone in there the day before! So we both had a pretty good chuckle over that. We buy a few more items then go back to the car to head to the Cavalry battlefield.

We almost drove past the Cavalry battlefield, but luckily we didn’t. It seems that very few people go out to that part of the park. I think I know why. There is a strong smell of horse droppings out there from some horse farms in the area. And since there was no one else out there it was kind of strange to be the only people. Finding Michigan’s monument was easy. It’s the largest one. It is for the Michigan Cavalry that participated in the fight. Even though Custer is on the top, it’s a pretty cool monument. We took lots of pictures before we couldn’t take much more of the horse smell.

Thus concludes the tour of the battlefield, but not of our adventures.

Exploring Gettysburg
After we finished the battlefield tour we wanted to find the scrapbook store I had located on the Internet. The name of it is Forevermore Scrapbook (http://www.forevermorescrapbooks.com/) We had a vague idea of where it was. We knew it was somewhere on Baltimore Street! LOL We eventually found it and found a place to park along the street. What a neat store! They had so much cool stuff relating to Gettysburg and Washington DC. We spent probably 20 minutes in there looking at all the neat merchandise.

After our short little Scrapbooking shopping spree we had to go pick up the birthday cake my sister ordered from Dunlap’s Restaurant and Bakery. The place was packed with the lunch crowd, but my sister was able to cut to the front of the line and get out of there quickly. The cake was beautiful! It was at this point that we realized we had forgot to bring the candles we bought and the lighter thing to light the candles with. This happened last year too. I told you that forgetting things was the theme of this trip. We then took the cake back to the hotel since we didn’t want it to get ruined. After dropping off the cake we decided to go get lunch before going to the wax museum my sister wanted to go to.

So we decide since we still have a lot to do in not much time that we should stop by one of the fast food restaurants since that would be quicker than a sit down restaurant. We first try KFC. The line is out the door! There apparently is a bus tour group there. OK. We then go down to McDonalds. Again the line is out the door! Unbelievable. We were starting to get a bit discouraged and finally decide General Pickett’s All You Can Eat Buffet. We ate there the last time we were in Gettysburg. It was OK, nothing too great. But we had wanted to go somewhere else, but since all the other restaurants were lined up out the door and it was right there, we decided to give it another try. There was nobody there! Okay, maybe there were a few people, but it was practically empty. The food was OK. I think the salad bar was the best part. For the price it wasn’t bad. And it was quick. The cornbread and carrot cake were both really good.

So now that we have had lunch its time to go to the National Civil War Wax Museum. Its an interesting place. It has 30 different scenes, which help depict the war from the beginning to end. Once you are done with that part you go into this other room where it goes through the entire battle of Gettysburg. I think the most amusing part was at the end when President Abraham Lincoln appears from below and is able to give the Gettysburg Address without moving his mouth! Pretty impressive. :) I was surprised when they sad that photography was allowed since a lot of those kind of museums don’t allow photography at all. So I got pictures of the whole thing. The ones of Lincoln didn’t turn out that great though because of the lighting.

After we were finished here we still wanted to go visit the Boyd’s Bears store that is about 6 miles away because we both love bears! ;) Along the way we see more monuments! We manage to get pictures of a few of them, but will have to get the rest on our way back. The Boyd’s Bear store is HUGE! It’s a giant red barn that is 3 stories tall, plus there is a lower level! There weren’t many people there. The parking lot was kind of empty, but the store was so cute. I loved looking at all the little scenes they had set up with the bears. They are quite expensive though. My sister and I each got a pair of tiny animals from the Noah’s Ark set. I got pandas and she got kangaroos. These were only $5 for the pair. She bought a small Christmas bear and cute little bear ears to wear.

After we were done looking at all the cute little teddy bears and wishing we could bring them all home with us, we headed back to our hotel, stopping along the way to photograph the monuments we saw. I think we annoyed a couple people while doing this, but oh well.

Back at the hotel we decided to relax a little before going to dinner. I took a nice, relaxing bubble bath. Ahh, that was so relaxing and pleasant. After that we both changed for dinner. We ended up going to Dunlap’s Restaurant and Bakery where we got my cake from. We each ordered a steak, fries, and coleslaw. It was really good. The only bad part was halfway through our meal a tour bus stopped in and I don’t think we really saw our waitress after that. After dinner we walked down the street a little ways to photograph a monument we had been trying to get for the last two days because it is between two streets. After successfully photographing it, we saw a dollar store across the street thinking we could get candles there. We get there like 5 minutes before they are going to close. We split up in search of candles and something to light them with. We find both items right as they start turning off the lights. Its only 8:00 pm. Even the restaurant where we ate dinner was going to stop serving food at 8:00. That is so weird to us because where we live most stores and restaurants are open until at least 9:00 or 10:00 on Monday.

We walk back with our purchases to the restaurant where we had left the car. Instead of going right back to the hotel, I decide to drive past the hotel down to this little building along the tour near some monuments to get some pictures of them as the sun is starting to set. The sunsets were so pretty, but hard to photograph, though I did get some photos I was happy with.

After that we went back to the hotel to unwind from our busy day and to pack up everything to leave the next day. About 9:30 we finally decide to have cake. It was really good. It tasted a lot like my mom’s cakes, which were always my favorite growing up. The only downside to this plan is that we just had a ton of sugar right before bed! Needless to say I couldn’t sleep. Where was a Knight’s Tale when you needed it! ;) For some reason I kept thinking about ghosts in our room and kept expecting to see one by my bed. It was strange.

On the Road Again
We got up early again and loaded the car. We ate breakfast in our room. We ended up on the road towards home about 8:00 am. We decided to take the Chambersburg Road (30) all the way to the Turnpike. We were surprised to see so many rundown homes and business along the way. My sister got pictures of some of them. We had no problems getting to the turnpike. At one point we stopped at a toll plaza along the turnpike to use the restrooms. As we were going to leave to get back on there is a construction worker blocking traffic not letting anyone back on the turnpike because there is a slow moving paint crew going past. We ended up sitting there for 15 minutes while all paint crew drove past. It was very irritating. We had no other problems with the Pennsylvania turnpike. We stopped for lunch at a toll plaza in Ohio.

A little ways down the road, my sister looks for the toll ticket because she wants to see something on it. She opens this little drawer in the dash of the car, but the ticket isn’t there! She had put the Pennsylvania turnpike in there without any problems. There was a small gap between the drawer and the rest of the car that it somehow got sucked in. We are now a little panicked because there is no way to get the ticket out without really ripping the drawer off, which we can’t do because it’s a rental car. We stop at the next toll plaza to have a closer look at it to see if there is a way to get it out. I went inside and spoke to one of the employees who contacted one of the booth operators or something who said we would have to pay from the Pennsylvania border to where we got off, which is what we would be charged with the ticket anyways. So that sort of made me a little less nervous and upset. And even if they charged us for the entire length of the turnpike it would have only been $11.

So we get back on the road, feeling a little better, but still a bit worried about when we get off. About 20 miles from the I-75 exit it is pouring rain! It started out as sprinkles, but it got so bad I couldn’t see anything ahead of me. Luckily we were close to a service plaza, so I decided to exit and wait until it let up a little because I didn’t feel safe continuing on the turnpike. Pretty much as soon as we parked it started hailing!!! And its not small hail, its probably the size of a dime or bigger. Luckily this doesn’t last very long. Once the rain starts to let up we ran inside to use the restrooms since we had already stopped. It was still raining once got back on the turnpike, but no nearly as bad as it was. Surprisingly enough there was not one accident after the service plaza that we saw. There were a few cars stopped beneath an overpass.

I was a bit nervous as we approached the tollbooth at the exit for I-75, but we explained what happened to the lady and she was really nice. We only were charged from the PA border to that point, which is what it would have been with the ticket. So by this point we are both feeling a lot better.

It felt good to be back on I-75! Especially crossing the border back into Michigan! Woo-hoo!!! It didn’t take us too long to get to Detroit, though we encountered a lot of traffic near the I-94 interchange because it was about 5:30 now. It took a while to get onto I-94 with the traffic, but not too bad for that time of day. There were some huge puddles of water on the road at certain spots. We finally made it back to our brother’s house about 6:30ish I think. He had already had dinner, so after telling him all about our trip we decide to leave and head for our house.

For some reason my sister opens up the drawer were the turnpike ticket was and out falls a piece of paper that she had used to see if she could get the turnpike ticket. Amazed she closed and opened the drawer probably three more times. And wouldn’t you know that out comes the turnpike ticket! We both turned to each other and laughed hysterically. I had told her when we lost it that it would probably come out when we didn’t need it anymore. We had probably opened and closed it 100 times trying to get it to come out, but it wouldn’t.

We stopped for dinner at Cici’s Pizza, which is a pizza buffet restaurant with a lot of strange pizza combinations. They have lots of advertisements on the TV for it, but there aren’t any in our area. It was OK. The macaroni and cheese pizza was vile and disgusting. Yuck! My sister wanted to try it and for some reason I agreed. I wish I wouldn’t have. Yucky! Yucky! Yucky!

After dinner we finally started north towards home. We finally made it home to our house about 10:00 pm. We were both so happy to be home. Overall it was a fun trip, with plenty of memorable moments that still make us laugh.