Feeling Hot Hot Hot! The Rain Curse is Broken! Two Weeks of Fun in the Sun! COMPLETE

[JessicaFaye508]

I am impressed with your dedication to find a spot that early! It looks like it's gonna be a nice view, though!
at sneaking into the meet and greet. Your brothers are too funny.
And I love the wishing well pictures They're awesome.
Can't wait to hear about the fireworks and the parade!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I am impressed with your dedication to find a spot that early! It looks like it's gonna be a nice view, though!

Yeah, being super early is programmed into my DNA. I can't help it! It was worth it though to get a great spot. I hate having to fight through crowds and peering over shoulders to get a good view.

at sneaking into the meet and greet. Your brothers are too funny.
And I love the wishing well pictures They're awesome.
Can't wait to hear about the fireworks and the parade!

Those were fun pictures to take, if you can't be silly at Disney where can you?!

 

[jenbear123]

I absolutely died when I saw the picture of Erich with Ariel Hilarious! You really did stake out a spot early. I don't know how you managed to wait that long. My butt would've got sore. I'm going to guess you weren't thrilled about the MSEP....like mostly everyone else.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I absolutely died when I saw the picture of Erich with Ariel Hilarious! You really did stake out a spot early. I don't know how you managed to wait that long. My butt would've got sore. I'm going to guess you weren't thrilled about the MSEP....like mostly everyone else.

Well, we had Mario to pass the time! We could spend hours playing Mario, in fact, I have done just that with the Super Mario Wii Game, there are a few levels that are really tricky for me and I have to play through them about a trillion times before I can beat them. As for the sore butts, we did get up and move around from time to time but always leaving people to guard the spot!

 

[CandleontheWater]

The photo of "prince" Erich and Ariel was too funny! I also loved the "sleuthing" photos. Too bad you didn't get any good scoops, but I'm glad that the Mickey police didn't take you guys away!

The picture from under the water of the wishing well was so cool, what a neat perspective!

You guys did a great job of watching that spot! Glad you had Mario to keep you company. I have two brothers also, and we logged countless hours with Mario as kids. My mom would say it was the one time we would all work together without fighting. Board games, however, were a different story!

 

[okw19]

Love the sneaky construction pictures. Also the Ariel and Erich!
What a cute Prince Charming Dad!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

in an effort to be different i will say your lake pictures are terrible and i dont like the color of the water.



i wonder what part of 2012 the expansion will be done, we are wanting to go back in thefall of 2012 and hope it will be done for that.




you didnt have the family that had 4 kids come up as soon as the parade started and put there kids in front of you, because they have that right since they paid to get into the park to cut in front of you.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

The photo of "prince" Erich and Ariel was too funny! I also loved the "sleuthing" photos. Too bad you didn't get any good scoops, but I'm glad that the Mickey police didn't take you guys away!

If they had taken us away it certainly would have made for an interesting trip report story!

The picture from under the water of the wishing well was so cool, what a neat perspective!

I thought so, they turned out pretty neat.

You guys did a great job of watching that spot! Glad you had Mario to keep you company. I have two brothers also, and we logged countless hours with Mario as kids. My mom would say it was the one time we would all work together without fighting. Board games, however, were a different story!

With the new Super Mario for the Wii it is almost like they want kids to fight since multiple people can play the level at once. In my case Alek and Erich take great delight in killing my character.

Love the sneaky construction pictures. Also the Ariel and Erich!
What a cute Prince Charming Dad!

We thought we were pretty sneaky getting those photos only to end up with pictures of nothing.

in an effort to be different i will say your lake pictures are terrible and i dont like the color of the water.

i wonder what part of 2012 the expansion will be done, we are wanting to go back in thefall of 2012 and hope it will be done for that.

Hopefully it will be open by then. If Erich gets the Disney internship he will be there throughout the summer and Fall of 2012. Maybe you will run into him.

you didnt have the family that had 4 kids come up as soon as the parade started and put there kids in front of you, because they have that right since they paid to get into the park to cut in front of you.

I would have liked to see them try! I don't tolerate stuff like that!

 

[pinkxray]

I can't believe how early you must have picked out your spot. Do you remember how early it was? That was the night we tried to see the parade and it was so busy. We must have walked right behind you a few times. As much as I would have liked to see the parade I don't think I could get Caitlin to sit still that long to wait for it.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I can't believe how early you must have picked out your spot. Do you remember how early it was? That was the night we tried to see the parade and it was so busy. We must have walked right behind you a few times. As much as I would have liked to see the parade I don't think I could get Caitlin to sit still that long to wait for it.

The photo time stamp says 7:15 so we grabbed our spot almost two hours ahead of time. It was super busy that night. The hub was packed well before the parade started.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

The Crazy Stepmother Chronicles: August 2011

Day Seven: Banff National Park: Consolation Lakes Hike

After I finished taking a billion pictures of Moraine Lake we started off on our hike, we were hiking the Consolation Lakes Trail which starts off right next to the rockpile at Moraine Lake. I had picked this hike out as it was supposed to be relatively easy (very little elevation gain) and very scenic, what Dad would refer to as a "Lessa Hike". I knew that Dad would be working us pretty hard the next two days so I wanted to keep the hikes low key on this day.

By law you have to travel in groups of four on all the paths in the Moraine Lake area (due to bear activity). A young American couple asked if they could tag along as part of our group, naturally we agreed. Dad talked with the husband the whole way to the lakes about all sorts of subjects. The husband had just written his BAR exam and was waiting for the results and his wife worked for a major cereal company and was heading back to school to get her MBA. They were a very friendly couple and we enjoyed hiking with them.

For most of the hike the trail passed through the forest. First we passed by the Tower of Babel

The walk through the forest was pleasant but there was nothing spectacular to see during that part of the hike. It was very pretty but again it was just a forest. Towards the end of the path you come out into a meadow with a stream passing through and the lake is in the distance with a beautiful mountain backdrop.

We had our first encounter with a golden-mantled ground squirrel. They look like a cross between a squirrel and a chipmunk and are completely adorable!

Lower Consolation Lake

There is an Upper Consolation Lake and we attempted to make our way over to where it was but it was tricky as all around the lake were giant rocks that you had to scramble over. There was no defined path and I did not have my guide book that had the directions on how to get to it so we weren't sure if we were even going in the right direction.

Alek, Erich and Dad were all really far ahead of me and I was having a hard time climbing over some of the boulders due to my height and short legs. The husband of the couple that we were hiking with was a real gentleman and was helping his wife and I over the boulders. When I told Alek, Erich and Dad that he was more of a gentleman than the men in my own family (meaning them) as they would never even think of stopping to help me they laughed and Dad began referring to him in a mocking way as my "gentleman lawyer". Luckily the couple wasn't around to hear this. Alek and Erich also found that really funny as Dad had been the one chatting away with him for the two hour hike to the lake and now all of the sudden he was "my gentleman lawyer" rather than Dad's hiking buddy.

Anyways, we eventually gave up on the idea of reaching the Upper Lake as it was rather tough and slow going scrambling over all those rocks and we weren't even sure if we were going in the right direction.

Having given up on reaching the other lake we turned around and headed back the way we had come.

Consolation Lake was very pretty although not as pretty as Moraine Lake but if you are looking for an easy hike with pretty scenery I would recommend this trail. I daresay even Rosie could manage despite her not being a hiker.

Continued in next post

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

On our way back we came upon some fresh bear scat (poo) that we had not seen on the way to the lake. Dad and Maria are obsessed with examining any scat that they find on a trail, they will get down real close and look at it and poke it with their hiking sticks. This may seem a little weird but when you are hiking in bear country it is a good way of telling if there is bear activity in the near area. On a recent hike that Dad went on in Waterton Lakes National Park he took a picture of some bear scat he came upon that was full of berries! A sure sign of bears in the area. Dad warned the rest of the group to be a little more aware of the surroundings as the bear could still be in the area.

Marcus had to check it out too!

Back at Moraine Lake we said goodbye to our new friends and wished them well on the rest of their trip. They were good people and I enjoyed hiking with them, especially as they took the time to say goodbye to Marcus.

I told the family that I was going to run back up to the top of the rockpile to get a few more pictures of Moraine Lake as it was much sunnier than earlier and it was later in the day which meant better lighting.

Another golden-mantled ground squirrel!

This is the rockpile you can climb up to get great pictures of the lake. On the opposite side of what is pictured is where the staircase is located.

Here are a few pictures taken on the hike from Dad's camera.

We made our way back to the car but it wasn't time to go back to the campsite yet. I still had one more thing planned for the day, a stop at Lake Louise!

 

[englishrose47]

I will take your word that it was Rosie doableThe pix are again fantastic !!!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I will take your word that it was Rosie doableThe pix are again fantastic !!!

Aren't the English supposed to be great walkers?

 

[englishrose47]

Aren't the English supposed to be great walkers?

There is a difference between WALKING and HIKING up a sheer mountain

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

There is a difference between WALKING and HIKING up a sheer mountain

This was a level dirt path through a forest, hardly a sheer mountain.

 

[jenbear123]

Beautiful scenery.....minus the bear poop. That lake looked so crystal blue. Gorgeous. I cannot wait to see pictures of Lake Louise!!!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Beautiful scenery.....minus the bear poop. That lake looked so crystal blue. Gorgeous. I cannot wait to see pictures of Lake Louise!!!

What? You don't find bear poop beautiful?

Lake Louise was another breathtakingly beautiful lake.

 

[englishrose47]

This was a level dirt path through a forest, hardly a sheer mountain.

Oh yea sure !!The last time I went on one of those level path nature trails as a consumer asured me it was , like a fool ,I believed him and took a blind gal with us

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Oh yea sure !!The last time I went on one of those level path nature trails as a consumer asured me it was , like a fool ,I believed him and took a blind gal with us