Headin South for Some "Tooth" Whitening!! A Dizneydawn TR ACTUAL Update 7/14

[Whitleigh]

Chyeah!!!! You are back! And I just now found your food report?! Those pics are great, and I am loving the one liners!! Oh, and we have Krystals in KY!! The chicks are the BEST, my fav for sure. Their kid meals come with one chick, fries, the sweet things, and a pretty decent size drink (not one swallow like McDs!).. you should try that next time!!

 

[sue and co]

Hi, we are in NYC in September for six days - it is our first time that far north. we do hope to be back in Orlando for three weeks in 2012 though

 

[burly]

Im here!

 

[SoccerDogWithEars]

Well. I officially am just green with envy. My spring break was spent at home. The most exciting thing I did was give my dogs a bath.

Absolutely LOVED the pictures of Treyner (or Trey, but that's gonna confuse me because I have a very good friend Trey) and Taylor. Were they professionally done or is someone just extremely talented with a camera?

Can't wait to hear about the trip. My friend is trying to convince me to take a road trip with him to the very southern tip of Florida this summer, and while I would love to experience those crystal blue waters for myself, he wants to do it on a motorcycle, so uh, yeah. We'll see. Anxiously awaiting the next update!!!!

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

No more lurking on your TRs for me...I'M IN!!

 

[Dizneydawn]

Ahhh to be young again and able to travel with no worries. Great pictures of the kids. Can't wait to hear about the trip.

First update is on it's way!!!

Dawn -- we're going to Coco Plum in October. We'll be there for my 40th birthday. I am really looking forward to it, too!

I am so jealous!!!!

Chyeah!!!! You are back! And I just now found your food report?! Those pics are great, and I am loving the one liners!!

Hi you!!!!

Hi, we are in NYC in September for six days - it is our first time that far north. we do hope to be back in Orlando for three weeks in 2012 though

NYC will be lovely that time of year!!

Im here!

Thanks for joining again!!

Absolutely LOVED the pictures of Treyner (or Trey, but that's gonna confuse me because I have a very good friend Trey) and Taylor. Were they professionally done or is someone just extremely talented with a camera?
I found out that the resort had a photographer and it is like the photopass at Disney, no charge unless you buy and they may use some for advertising.

No more lurking on your TRs for me...I'M IN!!

Thanks for joining the fun!!

My goal is to catch up to the food TR and be at Day 2 by the end of today. If you all want detailed food porn then please head over there for the corresponding restaurant reviews to the days I post here. I am trying to keep it strictly food reviews but sometimes a piece needs to be explained in greater detail. Hard not to overlap!!!

 

[Dizneydawn]

Day 1

This was the starting price of gas for the trip. Not quite the $4 we budgeted for but not pesos either.

It was a bit after 5:00 a.m. and we had a long drive ahead of us. Two days until Baylor joined and hours of road time to talk and listen to Books on CD I got from the library. Mostly Anne Rule books and also Angela's Ashes because Dan had never read it and what is better than the Irish making light of tragedy?

We got a drink and hit the open road at exactly:

We were not running late and I was impressed with our skills at that early hour. I had said goodbye to the kids and wished Carsyn a safe and fun trip and asked her not to come back with any tattoos or stories of run in's with Jamaican police.

She gave me a thumbs up while still having face down in the pillow so I was not sure if she was affirming my concerns or giving me a "will get after it" thumbs up?

I had decided not to worry about it but as we sat at the intersection of two roads, one heading us south through Iowa and the other making our usual journey through Wisconsin, I asked Dan, navigating man, which was shorter, he said south.

Now we were trusting his GPS to lead the way on his phone. We had no back up like a Map or even a print-off from Mapquest because we are quite frankly, idiots.

What I did not ask though was exactly how much faster it was going through tumbleweed towns. Again, I was an idiot and as we bumped along at 60 mph in the 55 speed limits, I began to question my lack of questions.

30 minutes later, we got breakfast ala MCD's and finally got on an open road we could step up the speed. Dan was awake and I think I slept or at least nodded off a bit at this point. It was also here that I missed the Booger and her bed in the back. I was either strangling myself with the seat belt, trying to lay down or getting a krink in the back trying to sleep on my side with no support on the lower 1/2 of my torso. I am a side and stomach sleeper. Dan can pass out upright at a movie, restaurant or car. I want to smack him when he says he is going to take a nap in the car and he is gone in 16 seconds.

A few hours later and we were in Iowa. It was early and I saw a sign for the Little Brown Church in the Vale. It was our first pit stop and a total of twenty minutes in the opposite direction round trip but what is a road trip without distractions? It was only 8 a.m.!!!

This was our Day 1 photo and not to be followed by a Day 2 or 11!!!

This church means something to me because my Aunt was married here the second time around. I never had seen it but when I saw the sign for attractions, had a must see attitude. My Mom was in the hospital in labor with me so she had not attended and I am needing to ask my Aunt if any of her family actually went.

And...why Iowa?

Maybe cause it has my name on the church!

The church looks like almost every other small church I have ever attended and just down the road is an older church so I am not sure the draw here. It was completed in 1864. A little old man was busy vacuuming the place before the rush of people came and we read politely the history of the church and found out a popular hymn in the day was written for this church.

"The Church in the Wildwood" for you music buffs. Most recently released by AC/DC.

Here are some pics.

The biffy you need to go to via a separate building connected to the church. The entrance is outside of the church so everyone will know exactly how long it takes to do your bidness because they will hear you leave, then follow you through the church windows to the bathroom and back!

The bathroom is actually to the right of the little add on to the main building, down below.

Back on the road, we got only about another few hours south and saw a sign for the Amana Amish colonies and we knew we were never getting out of Iowa!

This little beauty had cheese and homemade wine to sample. I picked up 3 different salts from all over the world to cook with!!!

They really have preserved the German heritage of this town and everything makes you feel like you could see cobblestone streets at every turn. It was here we bought some fudge and I also got a small lace doily in a deep green and an Amish cookbook that did not only provide recipes for 100 people at a time!

We had forgot to mail a few things and wondered how long it would take to get where it was going from this post office. Dan bet me it was closed and can you tell how old that padlock is on the mailbox!!! He went in and found out I was right but when he did not come out for 20 minutes and he only needed 2 stamps, I got worried.

Turns out an older woman about 104.9 years of age was working a cash register that looked like an abacus and it moved faster than she did!

A few more miles down the road and it was 11:50 and time for our fist fill up since we left.

Iowa's best known convenience chain:

Was the prime spot in the town of:

and after our fuel tank was full, we headed on south again.

Missouri was the next gas fill and the cost was:

Honestly I could have cried because there was not a lot to see or do. Then, we got excited because we thought we were farther south than we were!

Only to be let down to find out someone who did not pass geography in HS was declared namer of towns and villages in Missouri.

I started to drive and Dan became Polly Polaroid in St Louis.

I was ready to get on a plane at this point but we were only at late afternoon and still had a huge drive to get to Smyrna, TN and our first hotel stop. It was over 1/2 of the drive but we had wanted to get the most out of the way originally and we had not figured in a few hours of sight seeing either!

We had bought some gift certificates from Restaurant.com for this night in Smyrna but alas, wee going to get there way to late to use. Taco Bell it was instead!

At 11:30 p.m. we arrived at our hotel. This pic is stolen from the web because it was too dark to take a pic when we got there!

New and very modern, I really did not care about the amenities. We crashed like it the bed was heaven itself and set the alarm clock for only 4 hours later!

 

[lovealldisney]

 

[MEK]

Kum and Go???? Are you kidding me??????

I am so from the midatlantic. We have nothing like that here. Well, in less you count Bird-In-Hand and Intercourse, PA in the Pennsylvania dutch country.

Oh Dawn - I love your road trips! They are so much fun! I am glad you made so many stops. I love it!

Now carry on!

and I love that little church. Seriously, I love old churches. Not sure why, but I think they are so comforting.

 

[GoofyWife]

Glad to see your new trip report - I need something to do during work! How is your knee?

 

[Dizneydawn]

My ex MIl never understood why I was aghast at 18 when I saw the first of these convenience stores. I mean seriously, how did that ever get passed the council of approved names for a convenience store?

There is a place in Iowa as well that is a bar/liquor store and in the back has a pool hall/gambling game room.

Sign out front advertising said place is:

"Liquor in the front/Poker in the rear"


I could not even make it up.


In Wisconsin there is a bar named Scabs. Above the door inside, when leaving, you will read a sign saying,

"Thanks for picking Scabs."

My cousins when they visited from West Point bought out the place in t-shirts with the same motto for their friends.

Kum and Go???? Are you kidding me??????

I am so from the midatlantic. We have nothing like that here. Well, in less you count Bird-In-Hand and Intercourse, PA in the Pennsylvania dutch country.

There is a town in Iowa called Fertile which is near Climax.

Again, Iowans will try and make you think they are all religious until they get their Freak on!

Oh Dawn - I love your road trips! They are so much fun! I am glad you made so many stops. I love it!

Now carry on!

and I love that little church. Seriously, I love old churches. Not sure why, but I think they are so comforting.

Me too actually. They are a reminder of simpler times and easy schedules when a church potluck was the highlight of the week.

Glad to see your new trip report - I need something to do during work! How is your knee?

Hey have you hit the food Report yet? I have a link on the first post on this TR.

My knee is fine walking but not with pressure. For example I cannot lie on my left side because then the outside knee is laid on and hurts so bad I want to cry. The warm weather was also better. When we got back to the Tundra here, it is still only 35 as a high and it totally hurt more. I am taking fish pills and see a knee doc next week. It clicks every time I bend it back and forth and sort of pops as it goes back in place on the outside. That does not hurt so I am hoping I can evade any surgery. Dan and I walked over a mile yesterday and it was okay still so I was happy.

 

[jane2073]

I am totally with you on loving road trips.
I love planning fun stops and finding interesting off the wall places. But it does make reaching your final destination that much longer.

 

[Dizneydawn]

I am totally with you on loving road trips.
I love planning fun stops and finding interesting off the wall places. But it does make reaching your final destination that much longer.

Howdy Jane!!! I agree. Fun stopping while you are stopped, then it makes you want to poke yourself in the eye at 10 p.m. because you are not in bed as planned!

 

[WannaBeADisMom]

There is a town in Iowa called Fertile which is near Climax.

Again, Iowans will try and make you think they are all religious until they get their Freak on!

Just quietly lurking until I read that.....Seriously, I MUST quit drinking coffee when I'm reading your TRs!!!!
Being originally from Iowa, there's always something to comment on in your reports

I also love the Little Brown Church (as well as the Grotto of Redemption in West Bend)....we made a detour to stop at both when driving back to NJ from IA a few years ago.....Just another former Iowan, trying to convince her husband that she's all religious and whatnot!

 

[curlybop]

OK, I nearly fell out of my chair with the names of these places. Seriously?!? Who ever thought those were good ideas? LOL!!!!!

 

[grumpyyoungguy]

Kum and Go???? Are you kidding me??????

I am so from the midatlantic. We have nothing like that here. Well, in less you count Intercourse, PA in the Pennsylvania dutch country.

Ok so I have to ask, What is the mascot for the Intercourse, Pa High School?

 

[grumpyyoungguy]

OK, I nearly fell out of my chair with the names of these places. Seriously?!? Who ever thought those were good ideas? LOL!!!!!

Ummmm...some freaky (drunk?) Iowegians?

 

[Iwant2BAprincess]

Your gas station reminds me of when DH and I were chased out of Myrtle Beach by hurricane Fran-whole town was on a mandatory evac so we thought the side roads on the map looked good Several hours into our journey we passed exactly enterprise-a hot dog stand in front of a trailer park-"the park and blow" kid. you. not.

 

[cafox85]

I came across a Kum and Go in Missouri on our way to Tablerock Lake/Branson last summer. I looked at the name and was like Really?!?! My sister's boyfriend was the one who chose to stop here so of course I asked him if he chose this gas station because of the name. We had a good laugh about it haha.

Enjoying the TR so far! I am a newbie to your reports but am excited to read some more!

 

[Jazzabelle508]

I'm in