Grumpy turned Happy for Christmas!
- Thread starter Monknmom
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Monknmom
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It's okay... thank you though! I feel a little better, it's just my throat is something else!
Monknmom
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The title sounds quit easy doesn't it? For those of you not familiar with NY let me tell you about NY before I start with what happened so you have a better idea! There are 3 parts of it- NY City which is the most popular, Long Island (which everyone just thinks of the Hamptons), and Upstate (which happens to be anything outside of Long Island and the 5 burrows)! So when I say that we had trouble getting out of NY I mean the city. I did learn that from now on we are going to take the Ferry to Conneticut and drive through upstate to get to NJ or PA or whereever we have to because it would be so much easier and quicker! And for the most part there are different rules for each part of NY. Like the rule that we recieved a ticket for! We never drive to or through the city, when we go upstate we get on the ferry and take that over and just drive up, really the furthest we go is to Queens for the Hong Kong supermarket and Burmese Buddhist Temple and then home. And even those times my father in law is usually driving! So driving through Manhatten we had no idea that when the light is yellow to stay at the white line! On the Island they have these traffic cams that take your picture when you cross on a red, but if your stuck on a yellow most of the cops (I have never gotten one at least) will not give you a ticket. BUT DH pulled up to the car in front of him on a yellow and we were stuck there causing what they call in the city a "grid lock" and when you find yourself in this so called "grid lock" your not given a break! As many times as you explain that you had NO idea about that and as many times as your 7 year old in the back seat rolls his window down to tell the lady cop where we are headed! The cops are standing on the corners and as soon as the light turns red they come and scan your registration and take your license and print you out a ticket quicker than the light can turn green! So yes you guessed it we got a ticket for "grid locking" fun so far right? I really kept thinking 'how much would they charge me to subtract 2 and add airfare?'. And of course we took 3 hours to get out of the city! We were so hungry and could have honeslty (by how slow the traffic was moving) opened the window to a hotdog vendor and ordered, gotten our food and only be a few feet away by the time that the food was done- no joke that's rush hour (between the times of 4pm-9pm) in "the city"! But sadly I refuse to eat from hot dog vendors in the city because I am grossed out by the whole thing!
Okay so why are we in the city at 4pm you ask if we had Damien all packed up and ready to leave by 1pm? And it only takes about an hour from my house to the city, so what was the holdup? WELL..... when I got home I asked K "are you ready?" and he did that silly shaking head thing while holding up his hand to me because he was playing guitar. To me since he's shaking his head yes I figured that means yes but just to make sure I ask again "K are you ready to jump in the car and leave" he replies "YES now go get ready" while he's playing guitar (you can kinda see him playing in the back of Damien's reveal photos). So I stick Damien in the shower, clean up the living room, finish packing up car trip stuff and print out everything I need then jump in the shower while Damien gets dressed and dries his hair. I come out and get ready and get Damien in the car and start it so it's "warm" and tell K okay let's hit the road.... he gets up and says "you have everything? Is everything locked and secure?" Yep on all accounts! And he goes into the bedroom for what I can only guess is to make sure that his gun safe is locked (oh yes did I tell you only 1 week after our house was robbed did that gun safe come that he ordered back in July)! Well instead I walk in on him getting ready for a shower folks! YEP he WAS NOT READY
!!! And told me to give him 10 minutes and he will be out.... 1 hour later we pulled out of the driveway
! This guy was never really taught time is all I can think!
But back to the first part, we were now going on 8:30pm and the only one that ate all day was Damien and it was only a bowl of cereal around 7:30am! We were starving but determined to get out of the city before we ate... so we did! But low and behold New Jersey is not all that better from NY city! In fact they are so alike that if you stuck me there without telling me where I am I would guess the city and look for 6th Ave since I THINK Penn station is around there somewhere! But in NJ you have to pay meter parking just like the city (of course not as expensive as NY- NY is $3/hour and NJ gives you 15 minutes free and I think K said $2/hour). So the only place we can park is infront of this high end restaurant and the others are quit a bit away and it was cold, we were hungry and honestly at 9:30pm (yes 1 hour from NY city line to find a parking space in NJ near a restaurant) at night Damien is pooped! So we just went in deciding we will share and let Damien have whatever he wants! The place was called "Winberie's" in Summit, New Jersey and Kaung and Damien really liked the food, I thought that it was too greasy though for me and the chicken pasta had too much tamerind (a thing I am used to, but don't like it in high doses). Kaung in fact would like to take his parents there next time we make a trip to the Burmese pagodoa in NJ! Here are a few pictures of the food that we ate.....
This is the calamari that we all shared together (the pictures are of 1/2 eaten food because we were so hungry)! That orange looking sauce was really good and it was spicy and I liked it a lot! The other sauce was sweet- almost like a cranberry sauce and I didn't like that it was so sweet.
We also ordered the crab cakes- I really like that salsa that they put with it! It was tangy and fresh! The sauce that came with it though I can't remember how that tasted and I didn't write about it so it was that memorable!
This is K and I's chicken pasta that we shared! Again I thought way too much tamarind was used! Kaung says that it tastes like this noodle dish that they used to eat in his country!
And last but not least Damien had grilled cheese! There really is no way to mess this up so of course he thought that it was good. The fruit that came along with it though was somewhat tasteless... so he only ate a little of that!
After that we thought about walking around a little to help digest the food, but we had a reservation at a hotel in Carlisle, PA and with being so off track with time already and not going to make the reservation we canceled it and drove on to our first rest area in PA and just slept in the car with it running. Unsafe, yes, but we made lots of precautions and were parked under a lamp post in the very front of the building!
On the way to PA we took photos of these things... Not that great of a picture, but it was fun to try to spot them while we were driving! Both were along the highway and fun to look for! From now on I am going to use the roadsideamerica.com website for traveling and looking for free/low cost things to break up the trips! On the way there we used it and it was fun, on the way home we didn't and Damien was a little bit disappointed!
Shippensburg, Pennsylvania - Tractor Trailer Sign -not a good picture, but a little cook to see this big truck up in the air! THIS is the URL for that also!
Shippensburg, Pennsylvania - Giant Paint Can if you want to read more about it you can at THIS website!
And that's how we ended our first day driving to Disney!
Next up.... Poatato chips and the statue of liberty!
Okay so why are we in the city at 4pm you ask if we had Damien all packed up and ready to leave by 1pm? And it only takes about an hour from my house to the city, so what was the holdup? WELL..... when I got home I asked K "are you ready?" and he did that silly shaking head thing while holding up his hand to me because he was playing guitar. To me since he's shaking his head yes I figured that means yes but just to make sure I ask again "K are you ready to jump in the car and leave" he replies "YES now go get ready" while he's playing guitar (you can kinda see him playing in the back of Damien's reveal photos). So I stick Damien in the shower, clean up the living room, finish packing up car trip stuff and print out everything I need then jump in the shower while Damien gets dressed and dries his hair. I come out and get ready and get Damien in the car and start it so it's "warm" and tell K okay let's hit the road.... he gets up and says "you have everything? Is everything locked and secure?" Yep on all accounts! And he goes into the bedroom for what I can only guess is to make sure that his gun safe is locked (oh yes did I tell you only 1 week after our house was robbed did that gun safe come that he ordered back in July)! Well instead I walk in on him getting ready for a shower folks! YEP he WAS NOT READY
!!! And told me to give him 10 minutes and he will be out.... 1 hour later we pulled out of the driveway! This guy was never really taught time is all I can think! But back to the first part, we were now going on 8:30pm and the only one that ate all day was Damien and it was only a bowl of cereal around 7:30am! We were starving but determined to get out of the city before we ate... so we did! But low and behold New Jersey is not all that better from NY city! In fact they are so alike that if you stuck me there without telling me where I am I would guess the city and look for 6th Ave since I THINK Penn station is around there somewhere! But in NJ you have to pay meter parking just like the city (of course not as expensive as NY- NY is $3/hour and NJ gives you 15 minutes free and I think K said $2/hour). So the only place we can park is infront of this high end restaurant and the others are quit a bit away and it was cold, we were hungry and honestly at 9:30pm (yes 1 hour from NY city line to find a parking space in NJ near a restaurant) at night Damien is pooped! So we just went in deciding we will share and let Damien have whatever he wants! The place was called "Winberie's" in Summit, New Jersey and Kaung and Damien really liked the food, I thought that it was too greasy though for me and the chicken pasta had too much tamerind (a thing I am used to, but don't like it in high doses). Kaung in fact would like to take his parents there next time we make a trip to the Burmese pagodoa in NJ! Here are a few pictures of the food that we ate.....
This is the calamari that we all shared together (the pictures are of 1/2 eaten food because we were so hungry)! That orange looking sauce was really good and it was spicy and I liked it a lot! The other sauce was sweet- almost like a cranberry sauce and I didn't like that it was so sweet.
We also ordered the crab cakes- I really like that salsa that they put with it! It was tangy and fresh! The sauce that came with it though I can't remember how that tasted and I didn't write about it so it was that memorable!
This is K and I's chicken pasta that we shared! Again I thought way too much tamarind was used! Kaung says that it tastes like this noodle dish that they used to eat in his country!
And last but not least Damien had grilled cheese! There really is no way to mess this up so of course he thought that it was good. The fruit that came along with it though was somewhat tasteless... so he only ate a little of that!
After that we thought about walking around a little to help digest the food, but we had a reservation at a hotel in Carlisle, PA and with being so off track with time already and not going to make the reservation we canceled it and drove on to our first rest area in PA and just slept in the car with it running. Unsafe, yes, but we made lots of precautions and were parked under a lamp post in the very front of the building!
On the way to PA we took photos of these things... Not that great of a picture, but it was fun to try to spot them while we were driving! Both were along the highway and fun to look for! From now on I am going to use the roadsideamerica.com website for traveling and looking for free/low cost things to break up the trips! On the way there we used it and it was fun, on the way home we didn't and Damien was a little bit disappointed!
Shippensburg, Pennsylvania - Tractor Trailer Sign -not a good picture, but a little cook to see this big truck up in the air! THIS is the URL for that also!
Shippensburg, Pennsylvania - Giant Paint Can if you want to read more about it you can at THIS website!
And that's how we ended our first day driving to Disney!
Next up.... Poatato chips and the statue of liberty!
annmarieda
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I am sorry you are not feeling well. I hope you feel better soon. I think you are right about kinda being tapped after all the planning and trip. Hopefully you recover soon!
I can't imagine getting through NY like that! I can drive into Seattle fine... but I really prefer not to if I don't have to. And another near by city has traffic cams that are problematic.... you definitely have to know where you are driving since things seem different everywhere.
Isn't it just like a guy to "be ready" and then hold you up? God forbid it was you holding him up though.
Even though you had to cancel your reservation... it sounds like the traveling went ok. (after getting out of the city.. good grief on the ticket!!!) We have slept at a rest stop before. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.
veggiemama
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Oh My! That is quite the first day of travel! I think I would have turned around and headed home.... though from what you are saying it would take HOURS to find home again! 
mommytominnie
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Oh my word!! I cannot even imagine being in that traffic. I am so glad you all were able to deal with it with great attitudes.
Monknmom
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I am sorry you are not feeling well. I hope you feel better soon. I think you are right about kinda being tapped after all the planning and trip. Hopefully you recover soon!
I can't imagine getting through NY like that! I can drive into Seattle fine... but I really prefer not to if I don't have to. And another near by city has traffic cams that are problematic.... you definitely have to know where you are driving since things seem different everywhere.
Isn't it just like a guy to "be ready" and then hold you up? God forbid it was you holding him up though.
Yeah I think that it is just my body recovering because Damien and K aren't catching it (although K is home today saying he's "sick")! I can't drive in NY city! I don't like it there are too many people just walking out in front of the car and they have the right away whether or not they have the ok or not. So I understand your preferring not to drive! I can, but like you I prefer not to!
That's why he says he waited because he knew we would take a long time... and really if you think about it I had myself and Damien ready plus the living room cleaned and everything in the car in about an hour and a half-- he got HIMSELF ready in one hour!?!?! I wonder sometimes Ann I really do! Yes after getting out of the city we were good! And have lots of fun and funny stories to come from the trip! And the rest area wasn't that bad and we ended up doing it the next night too!
Oh My! That is quite the first day of travel! I think I would have turned around and headed home.... though from what you are saying it would take HOURS to find home again!
No it would have been quicker to just turn around and go home because city traffic usually ends around 9pm and Island traffic is done by 7pm, but then we would have missed Disney because I doubt we could have found flights for 3 that late!
NO lol not great attitudes! K was yelling and I was yelling and saying bad things to other cars and Damien was in the back just begging for a hot dog because he saw the other cars in traffic getting them! But after this we have a smooth ride! So to me it was very worth it!
Monknmom
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I'm sorry in advance- this is a long update because all weekend I will be on and off and not able to make one! It's my in laws 30 year anniversary! Congratulations to them!
When we woke up at 4 am from a truck honking at another truck it was very hard to sleep again for K and I (Damien never woke up). So we decided that since the GPS says that we are an hour from Tiny World we will start to head over there... the GPS is always telling you that your going to get somewhere sooner than you really are anyway right? So we start driving and they take us into the middle of nowhere on our route and we only drove for about 45 minutes, we kept making jokes that if we get stuck hopefully the cats will have an automotive service to help us. You see Tiny World is a town that an elderly man built for all of these cats in his yard. He gave them lots of detail like chairs and tables in the windows and made them very easy for the cats to go in and out of. He doesn't charge you to go see it either, but according to THIS link he is sick and we were going to leave a dontaion for him of cash just because he was going to let us see his creation. But the GPS (only time it's right is when I want it to be wrong) got us there in about 50 minutes! So on that site it also asks that you please respect him and only come during daylight hours so at 4:50am the sun is up, but I don't think that those were the daylight hours that they were talking about so we left the envelope in the mailbox with some cash and told him that we were coming to see the world he made for the cats but didn't make it at a good time and we wanted to give him this money to help buy any medicine or something that he needs. We didn't leave the return address to our house though because quit honestly we had planned this moeny for him and didn't want it back! So after that we figure 'let's head to the potato chip factory' and after typing it into the GPS it's only a mear 2 hours away so off we went! This was not okay because we got there VERY early and they open at 9am so we went to find somewhere to eat. On our way to find a diner or something we saw a statue of this guy.....
This is him I guess?
Not really sure who he is, but we were along the highway and it was a civil war trail. K thought that he looks scary so I made sure to take lots of pictures of him to put in the scrap book! We would have walked the trail, but Damien was hungry and we agreed that this trip is for him! Now on to the diner right? NOPE WRONG!!! K found an antique shop and although this is "Damien's trip" he wanted to stop and said that if he hears anything against it we will skip the Potato chip Factory (I know this might not be a big deal to some kids because they are just chips, but my son's diet doesn't allow him to have this stuff at home so he was excited) and with that we kept our mouths shut and went inside! I had a nice conversation with the lady owner about her 2 kids- one's in college and one's at home still at 34 trying to figure out what he wants to do and she was not happy with this! Kaung looked around and came up to the counter with a basket full of stuff and Damien continued to play with the dog that they have tied up in the closet. Now in NY there is nothing in an antique shop that's cheap or on sale in fact one time K bought this old book with writing in it from the previous owner for $20 because he liked how old and tattered it looked and he likes to see what people write about in books! So he was thinking that this was going to be all of his spending money right here in one shot... well the grand total..... $14.60!!!! We were shocked and I said "What?" in shock and she started to defend her prices like I was going to argue with her about the price, but I told her that my dog's food is triple that amount and I was happy surprised it was so cheap for eveything that he bought! I can't tell you the stores name because the reciept doens't say it and I should have checked that out before we left, but didn't. So if your ever driving on the "main" road in New Market, VA and only see a store every 100-200 feet with that "creepy" guy you know that your in the right spot and he antique shop is right across the street from that statue!!!! So off we went to find a place to eat, she suggested "this cute little place in a white building with some dam good food"! So we tried it! We came to find out that it was this tiny little building that maybe had 10 tables in all and everyone knew eachother (other than us) because they were all going around to eachother's table and talking and saying hi and I guess that one table just had a baby because it was just a man and son and they were given a free breakfast because they were about to go see their "new kin"! It was really nice. I am not sure if I had mentioned this or not, but I had no voice for some reason. I had a voice when I went to Damien's school on Friday morning and when the reveal happened. We hopped in the car to leave and it was gone and no idea why because I didn't have a sore throat either! Weirdest thing! So the waitress heard I was having trouble ordering and just wanted water to drink, so she brought me water and a plain tea with lemon and honey "on the house"! She was really nice! We ordered and people would come over and talk to us... Damien ordered a blueberry pancake and it was the size of his plate!
K and I both ordered the country speical- which says 2 eggs and either 2 bacon or 2 sausage, we didn't read the whole thing because it also came with grits, toast and country hash browns! VERY YUMMY though! The place was called Southern Kitchen, INC (now I'm looking at the card and wondering what's with the INC? It was such a tiny place!)! We paid about the same amount that we did for the antiques for breakfast and left her a petty nice size tip! Again I know I keep saying this, but NY prices as WAY MORE MONEY but also people in NY are RUDE, she did something I have never heard before that day and wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it for myself, but she came to us while we were paying for the jams and such to give us the cash back- she thought that we mistook the 1 for a 7 and wanted to give us back the $6!!! She said that usually tips are just whatever eh change is- in NY you either double the tax or pay 20% of the bill for the tip and she was surprised now that we pay so much to be serviced! As I mentioned they also had jams and jellies and syrups there that we bought as gifts for people for Christmas and such! We bought ourselves something called Christmas Berry and have been eating that on toast and it's very good! Made right there in town!
When we got back in the car we found that Mickey and his friends left Damien some gifts to complete on the way to and from Disney!
This is the bag with the letter! It had little gifts for him to open in each state!
So filled up on breakfast and Damien excited to check out his new gifts we head back to route 11 potato chips and it's open, but we are the only people there "touring" the place. What they mean by touring is that you walk in and there are these big thick sheets of plexi glass that seperate you from the potato chip making process and you ask someone for help and they take you around the glass to show you what it looks like! And although it wasn't a "real tour" it was still pretty cool to see how fast that machine cuts those potatoes or when you go upstairs you can watch them flavor the chips- we watched BBQ being made! I need that cutter thing at home! You then get to taste EVERY kind of chip they have all of the way from the pickle flavored to the hottest that they have called "Mama Zuma's revenge" and when they say spicy they mean it's SPICY!!! K loved it so he picked up a bag of that and I got the sweet potato one and Damien picked up some BBQ! They were all really good and just to skip to the end really quick, we opened the bags on this day (the 10th) and didn't touch them again until the 17th when we left because we forgot about them. When we tasted them on the 17th they were still really crunchy and not stale or anything! They said that they sell them at wholefoods (a place I have to shop at often for Damien's diet) so I will have to check that out! If you ever get a chance to check this out it's worth the 1/2 hour or so! And the chips aren't that much we paid a total of $10.50 for 3 big bags of chips! Not that bad of a price for us! THIS is their webiste and THIS is the article about it on the web. You can't take pictures inside where they make the chips, but you can take it with their mascot so we did! This is Damien and his chips posing with the Route 11 Potato!
While pulling out we saw some big statues so we decided to stop and see what they were about! They were part of something called celebration America! They have a mueseum that you can go through of all the parade floats from Mardi Gras passed, but you have to pay $10/person- even kids there is no discount for them. So my cheap husband didn't want to go in so we just walked around and took pictures outside since they wouldn't let us take them of the stuff in the lobby without paying for the tour! They had things like.. a big frog..
a big Caterpillar...
And the funniest--- we drove all of the way to VA to see the statue of liberty! Something that we haven't done yet right here in our home town!
It was cute and pretty and nice, but I guess that now looking back I have to agree with K that $30 to look around at some parade floats wasn't worth it! Maybe next time when we have planned it into the budget!
Next we drove down the state of Virgina to find my husband... no sorry I mean the gorilla he was named after-- just kidding Kaung is a big name in Burma and not because of the gorilla! So we drove to Natural Bridge, VA and looked for the Natural Bridge that they named the town after, but could not find it and were a little hungry since we hadn't eaten anything but chips since around 7am. So we moved onto the King Kong statue that is sitting in the parking lot of the Pink Cadallac diner and we waited in line with other goofy tourists taking pictures! THIS is the web address for these next few things!
They have this humpty dumpty sitting on the railing to go inside and if you look close you can see the pink cadallac in the back (we didn't walk over to it because I can't remember if VA has snakes or not).
Since Humpty is an egg he was holding this sign that I thought was so cute!
While typing this out I looked at Damien's trip journal and his favorite part of this day was this restaurant and the thing he learned today (now this is competing with the civil war trails, potato chip factory and some of the stuff I will talk about later in the report) was who Elvis was and what he looked like and when he lived! The waitress had to answer questions about him every time she came to our table, but she didn't seem to mind she even taught him this hip move that Elvis did! K and I shared a chicken burger with fries and ordered onion rings on the side to share as well (those were really good too- very crunchy and not too oily), Damien had a grilled cheese and fruit side just like at the restaurant the night before- but according to him this fruit tasted better! At the end of our meal she asked if she could 'escort' Damien to the ice cream counter for some free ice cream on Elvis! And he was so happy so I let him go (I can still see him because it's just on the opposite wall and I'm closer to the door than they are)! He picked out some Elvis cadallac ice cream (cotton candy) and white as Marilyn (vanilla) it made him happy and when we were paying he asked if he could give the tip to the waitress himself! She gave him a kiss on the check and told him to come see her again when he's 18 (he of course didn't get the joke, but it made K and I laugh) all he heard was to come back and see her! we have learned on this trip that he is going to be all kinds of trouble as he gets older! I'm not sure of what happened to the picture we took of him with the waitress, but we took one and it's gone.... In fact I don't have any pictures other than the statue ones from there... I'm sorry! I was very bad with food pictures on this trip!
Next we made our way all of the way to.... Columbia, South Carolina! In this huge parking lot there are 2 of these works of art by one artist named Blue Sky! They are very good! In the picture you can see the sun, what you don't realize is that the sun really uses light from the building to light up! It looks so realistic it states on THIS website that "I have heard rumors that birds actually fly into the mural often, and I can believe it." and it's true! It looks really real. We spoke with some locals that were walking to their cars and they said that there are many accidents of drunk drivers hitting into the wall trying to outrun cops and such! Sad, but I can see that happening!
Then on the other side of the parking lot is a dog's dream!
It's HUGE!!! THIS place has better pictures of it, because ours stink! It's almost 40 feet tall and weighs about 5 tons! I think that this artist has more sculptures around town by the way the family that lives there was talking, but they didn't know where exactly so we just stuck to these 2 and figured that if we ever get back we will have to see what else they have! After this we were tired and we didn't want to make it to Georgia where we once again had hotel reservations so we called and cancelled and slept at the nearest rest area. Oh you may be asking what we had for dinner that night? None of us were really hungry so we shared some fruit we bought at a supermarket near the fire hydrant and tunnel vision mural!
Next up..... Are we there yet???
When we woke up at 4 am from a truck honking at another truck it was very hard to sleep again for K and I (Damien never woke up). So we decided that since the GPS says that we are an hour from Tiny World we will start to head over there... the GPS is always telling you that your going to get somewhere sooner than you really are anyway right? So we start driving and they take us into the middle of nowhere on our route and we only drove for about 45 minutes, we kept making jokes that if we get stuck hopefully the cats will have an automotive service to help us. You see Tiny World is a town that an elderly man built for all of these cats in his yard. He gave them lots of detail like chairs and tables in the windows and made them very easy for the cats to go in and out of. He doesn't charge you to go see it either, but according to THIS link he is sick and we were going to leave a dontaion for him of cash just because he was going to let us see his creation. But the GPS (only time it's right is when I want it to be wrong) got us there in about 50 minutes! So on that site it also asks that you please respect him and only come during daylight hours so at 4:50am the sun is up, but I don't think that those were the daylight hours that they were talking about so we left the envelope in the mailbox with some cash and told him that we were coming to see the world he made for the cats but didn't make it at a good time and we wanted to give him this money to help buy any medicine or something that he needs. We didn't leave the return address to our house though because quit honestly we had planned this moeny for him and didn't want it back! So after that we figure 'let's head to the potato chip factory' and after typing it into the GPS it's only a mear 2 hours away so off we went! This was not okay because we got there VERY early and they open at 9am so we went to find somewhere to eat. On our way to find a diner or something we saw a statue of this guy.....
This is him I guess?
Not really sure who he is, but we were along the highway and it was a civil war trail. K thought that he looks scary so I made sure to take lots of pictures of him to put in the scrap book! We would have walked the trail, but Damien was hungry and we agreed that this trip is for him! Now on to the diner right? NOPE WRONG!!! K found an antique shop and although this is "Damien's trip" he wanted to stop and said that if he hears anything against it we will skip the Potato chip Factory (I know this might not be a big deal to some kids because they are just chips, but my son's diet doesn't allow him to have this stuff at home so he was excited) and with that we kept our mouths shut and went inside! I had a nice conversation with the lady owner about her 2 kids- one's in college and one's at home still at 34 trying to figure out what he wants to do and she was not happy with this! Kaung looked around and came up to the counter with a basket full of stuff and Damien continued to play with the dog that they have tied up in the closet. Now in NY there is nothing in an antique shop that's cheap or on sale in fact one time K bought this old book with writing in it from the previous owner for $20 because he liked how old and tattered it looked and he likes to see what people write about in books! So he was thinking that this was going to be all of his spending money right here in one shot... well the grand total..... $14.60!!!! We were shocked and I said "What?" in shock and she started to defend her prices like I was going to argue with her about the price, but I told her that my dog's food is triple that amount and I was happy surprised it was so cheap for eveything that he bought! I can't tell you the stores name because the reciept doens't say it and I should have checked that out before we left, but didn't. So if your ever driving on the "main" road in New Market, VA and only see a store every 100-200 feet with that "creepy" guy you know that your in the right spot and he antique shop is right across the street from that statue!!!! So off we went to find a place to eat, she suggested "this cute little place in a white building with some dam good food"! So we tried it! We came to find out that it was this tiny little building that maybe had 10 tables in all and everyone knew eachother (other than us) because they were all going around to eachother's table and talking and saying hi and I guess that one table just had a baby because it was just a man and son and they were given a free breakfast because they were about to go see their "new kin"! It was really nice. I am not sure if I had mentioned this or not, but I had no voice for some reason. I had a voice when I went to Damien's school on Friday morning and when the reveal happened. We hopped in the car to leave and it was gone and no idea why because I didn't have a sore throat either! Weirdest thing! So the waitress heard I was having trouble ordering and just wanted water to drink, so she brought me water and a plain tea with lemon and honey "on the house"! She was really nice! We ordered and people would come over and talk to us... Damien ordered a blueberry pancake and it was the size of his plate!
K and I both ordered the country speical- which says 2 eggs and either 2 bacon or 2 sausage, we didn't read the whole thing because it also came with grits, toast and country hash browns! VERY YUMMY though! The place was called Southern Kitchen, INC (now I'm looking at the card and wondering what's with the INC? It was such a tiny place!)! We paid about the same amount that we did for the antiques for breakfast and left her a petty nice size tip! Again I know I keep saying this, but NY prices as WAY MORE MONEY but also people in NY are RUDE, she did something I have never heard before that day and wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it for myself, but she came to us while we were paying for the jams and such to give us the cash back- she thought that we mistook the 1 for a 7 and wanted to give us back the $6!!! She said that usually tips are just whatever eh change is- in NY you either double the tax or pay 20% of the bill for the tip and she was surprised now that we pay so much to be serviced! As I mentioned they also had jams and jellies and syrups there that we bought as gifts for people for Christmas and such! We bought ourselves something called Christmas Berry and have been eating that on toast and it's very good! Made right there in town!
When we got back in the car we found that Mickey and his friends left Damien some gifts to complete on the way to and from Disney!
This is the bag with the letter! It had little gifts for him to open in each state!
So filled up on breakfast and Damien excited to check out his new gifts we head back to route 11 potato chips and it's open, but we are the only people there "touring" the place. What they mean by touring is that you walk in and there are these big thick sheets of plexi glass that seperate you from the potato chip making process and you ask someone for help and they take you around the glass to show you what it looks like! And although it wasn't a "real tour" it was still pretty cool to see how fast that machine cuts those potatoes or when you go upstairs you can watch them flavor the chips- we watched BBQ being made! I need that cutter thing at home! You then get to taste EVERY kind of chip they have all of the way from the pickle flavored to the hottest that they have called "Mama Zuma's revenge" and when they say spicy they mean it's SPICY!!! K loved it so he picked up a bag of that and I got the sweet potato one and Damien picked up some BBQ! They were all really good and just to skip to the end really quick, we opened the bags on this day (the 10th) and didn't touch them again until the 17th when we left because we forgot about them. When we tasted them on the 17th they were still really crunchy and not stale or anything! They said that they sell them at wholefoods (a place I have to shop at often for Damien's diet) so I will have to check that out! If you ever get a chance to check this out it's worth the 1/2 hour or so! And the chips aren't that much we paid a total of $10.50 for 3 big bags of chips! Not that bad of a price for us! THIS is their webiste and THIS is the article about it on the web. You can't take pictures inside where they make the chips, but you can take it with their mascot so we did! This is Damien and his chips posing with the Route 11 Potato!
While pulling out we saw some big statues so we decided to stop and see what they were about! They were part of something called celebration America! They have a mueseum that you can go through of all the parade floats from Mardi Gras passed, but you have to pay $10/person- even kids there is no discount for them. So my cheap husband didn't want to go in so we just walked around and took pictures outside since they wouldn't let us take them of the stuff in the lobby without paying for the tour! They had things like.. a big frog..
a big Caterpillar...
And the funniest--- we drove all of the way to VA to see the statue of liberty! Something that we haven't done yet right here in our home town!
It was cute and pretty and nice, but I guess that now looking back I have to agree with K that $30 to look around at some parade floats wasn't worth it! Maybe next time when we have planned it into the budget!
Next we drove down the state of Virgina to find my husband... no sorry I mean the gorilla he was named after-- just kidding Kaung is a big name in Burma and not because of the gorilla! So we drove to Natural Bridge, VA and looked for the Natural Bridge that they named the town after, but could not find it and were a little hungry since we hadn't eaten anything but chips since around 7am. So we moved onto the King Kong statue that is sitting in the parking lot of the Pink Cadallac diner and we waited in line with other goofy tourists taking pictures! THIS is the web address for these next few things!
They have this humpty dumpty sitting on the railing to go inside and if you look close you can see the pink cadallac in the back (we didn't walk over to it because I can't remember if VA has snakes or not).
Since Humpty is an egg he was holding this sign that I thought was so cute!
While typing this out I looked at Damien's trip journal and his favorite part of this day was this restaurant and the thing he learned today (now this is competing with the civil war trails, potato chip factory and some of the stuff I will talk about later in the report) was who Elvis was and what he looked like and when he lived! The waitress had to answer questions about him every time she came to our table, but she didn't seem to mind she even taught him this hip move that Elvis did! K and I shared a chicken burger with fries and ordered onion rings on the side to share as well (those were really good too- very crunchy and not too oily), Damien had a grilled cheese and fruit side just like at the restaurant the night before- but according to him this fruit tasted better! At the end of our meal she asked if she could 'escort' Damien to the ice cream counter for some free ice cream on Elvis! And he was so happy so I let him go (I can still see him because it's just on the opposite wall and I'm closer to the door than they are)! He picked out some Elvis cadallac ice cream (cotton candy) and white as Marilyn (vanilla) it made him happy and when we were paying he asked if he could give the tip to the waitress himself! She gave him a kiss on the check and told him to come see her again when he's 18 (he of course didn't get the joke, but it made K and I laugh) all he heard was to come back and see her! we have learned on this trip that he is going to be all kinds of trouble as he gets older! I'm not sure of what happened to the picture we took of him with the waitress, but we took one and it's gone.... In fact I don't have any pictures other than the statue ones from there... I'm sorry! I was very bad with food pictures on this trip!
Next we made our way all of the way to.... Columbia, South Carolina! In this huge parking lot there are 2 of these works of art by one artist named Blue Sky! They are very good! In the picture you can see the sun, what you don't realize is that the sun really uses light from the building to light up! It looks so realistic it states on THIS website that "I have heard rumors that birds actually fly into the mural often, and I can believe it." and it's true! It looks really real. We spoke with some locals that were walking to their cars and they said that there are many accidents of drunk drivers hitting into the wall trying to outrun cops and such! Sad, but I can see that happening!
Then on the other side of the parking lot is a dog's dream!
It's HUGE!!! THIS place has better pictures of it, because ours stink! It's almost 40 feet tall and weighs about 5 tons! I think that this artist has more sculptures around town by the way the family that lives there was talking, but they didn't know where exactly so we just stuck to these 2 and figured that if we ever get back we will have to see what else they have! After this we were tired and we didn't want to make it to Georgia where we once again had hotel reservations so we called and cancelled and slept at the nearest rest area. Oh you may be asking what we had for dinner that night? None of us were really hungry so we shared some fruit we bought at a supermarket near the fire hydrant and tunnel vision mural!
Next up..... Are we there yet???
annmarieda
DIS Veteran
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I can't believe how much traveling you got done!!! All the "road side attractions" are so cool. It makes me want to consider a road trip. Can you believe we have never gone on one with the kids? Well, I guess if you count driving to family across the state we have... but we dont stop to do any tourist stuff along the way. You definitely did a great job making this fun for Damien!
veggiemama
Mouseketeer
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Very cool road trip so far! 
Sounds like you all had a lot of fun and got to see some very interesting things. 
Don't think I could do that with my kids anymore. They are much to 'cool' for that kind of stuff but my hubby and I would love to do these kind of things. We have a weird sense of humor and enjoy the different land marks that towns put up. We have some very interesting ones in Canada and we stop at almost all of them..... Best one is a picture of my dd B at 2 1/2 sitting under a statue on the side of the highway going potty.
Sounds like you all had a lot of fun and got to see some very interesting things. Don't think I could do that with my kids anymore. They are much to 'cool' for that kind of stuff but my hubby and I would love to do these kind of things. We have a weird sense of humor and enjoy the different land marks that towns put up. We have some very interesting ones in Canada and we stop at almost all of them..... Best one is a picture of my dd B at 2 1/2 sitting under a statue on the side of the highway going potty.
Monknmom
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I love the road trips that we took as kids! Most of the stuff that we stopped at were not even what we were looking for! Like in New Mexico on our way to Carlsbad Caverns we found "Bedrock" and it was just like the cartoon show! It was so neat and then we also found others things too! Like this ice cream tasting place and make your own flavors! I love that stuff more than planned trips sometimes--- EVERYONE has to be in a good mood for it though or it turns sore really quick! But thank you!
Very cool road trip so far!
Don't think I could do that with my kids anymore. They are much to 'cool' for that kind of stuff but my hubby and I would love to do these kind of things. We have a weird sense of humor and enjoy the different land marks that towns put up. We have some very interesting ones in Canada and we stop at almost all of them..... Best one is a picture of my dd B at 2 1/2 sitting under a statue on the side of the highway going potty.
K and I actually were talking about taking a trip up through Canada to camp this year instead of staying upstate-- but Damien and I have to get our passports and I have to find out how that works with K's passport since he's a citizen now and the one he has is from when he came here from Burma?
You would be surprised! I was like 15 when we went on a road trip and we had tons of fun with each other especially because we learned how to hook the Nintendo up to the car's TV! YEP the last kid vacation I went on was when we had the popular Nintendo machine with the box games that you have to blow air on to make sure that the dust wasn't in there! How funny the statue with your daughter going potty-- that's a bring home a date picture in our house
! 
lilpixiebabe101
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How did I miss you had started your TR as much as you have posted on mine!?!
I love all the little stops! We have a few places we always used to stop on the way down to WDW, but we passed most of them in the dark this time. OR we were just ready to be in WDW lol
Buddy and Lexa would have loved the chip factory!
I love all the little stops! We have a few places we always used to stop on the way down to WDW, but we passed most of them in the dark this time. OR we were just ready to be in WDW lol
Buddy and Lexa would have loved the chip factory!
ok, this is funny because I grew up very close to summit, nj! that's not right outside the city, you know, you must have driven 45 minutes? not every town in nj has meter parking either, but summit certainly does. I was excited that you stopped there!
momabaarjo
Rather Sail Away with Mickey than Run Now
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I am here finally...and caught up reading. I am so sorry that your trip got off to a rough start, but you handled it well! Had it been me I would have been in tears and throwing a temper tantrum resulting in a cancelled trip!
I love road trips, when I was growing up that was the only way we traveled and my mom & oma (grandmother) would always find the cool places like you found for Damien. I have taken a few road trips with the kids and my side of the family...Jeff is not so much of a sport of these side attractions! Don't worry about sleeping in a rest stop...the place I most remember stopping at to sleep on a family trip was a cow pasture...we had a camper on a pick up truck and pulled off there on night...woke surround by cows!
That policeman that gave you a ticket needs to go for some CM training!
I have found the best place to eat are the places the locals direct you to...sounds like the locals gave you a bit of magic treatment!
You live in NYC and have never seen the Statue of Liberty?! That does it I am visiting you and we will go together!
I love road trips, when I was growing up that was the only way we traveled and my mom & oma (grandmother) would always find the cool places like you found for Damien. I have taken a few road trips with the kids and my side of the family...Jeff is not so much of a sport of these side attractions! Don't worry about sleeping in a rest stop...the place I most remember stopping at to sleep on a family trip was a cow pasture...we had a camper on a pick up truck and pulled off there on night...woke surround by cows!
That policeman that gave you a ticket needs to go for some CM training!
I have found the best place to eat are the places the locals direct you to...sounds like the locals gave you a bit of magic treatment!
You live in NYC and have never seen the Statue of Liberty?! That does it I am visiting you and we will go together!
lilpixiebabe101
DIS Veteran
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I am here finally...and caught up reading. I am so sorry that your trip got off to a rough start, but you handled it well! Had it been me I would have been in tears and throwing a temper tantrum resulting in a cancelled trip!
I love road trips, when I was growing up that was the only way we traveled and my mom & oma (grandmother) would always find the cool places like you found for Damien. I have taken a few road trips with the kids and my side of the family...Jeff is not so much of a sport of these side attractions! Don't worry about sleeping in a rest stop...the place I most remember stopping at to sleep on a family trip was a cow pasture...we had a camper on a pick up truck and pulled off there on night...woke surround by cows!
That policeman that gave you a ticket needs to go for some CM training!
I have found the best place to eat are the places the locals direct you to...sounds like the locals gave you a bit of magic treatment!
Lol.. I can just see us throughout the years. Every other year Disney, the in between year spent in one of our hometowns doing all the local/touristy things!
Monknmom
DIS Veteran
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Thank you! I don't know.. I think that I started mine and have kinda been holding off on doing so many updates until we get the photopass...
I could not tell you where the city ended and Jersey began... we came out of the Holland tunnel and thought that meant we were in Jersey, but never saw a sign that welcomed us.... so we could have been driving in Jersey for 45 minutes and just never known it... Did you ever eat at that place? Maybe we came on a bad night? I just didn't like all of the grease...
I am here finally...and caught up reading. I am so sorry that your trip got off to a rough start, but you handled it well! Had it been me I would have been in tears and throwing a temper tantrum resulting in a cancelled trip!
I love road trips, when I was growing up that was the only way we traveled and my mom & oma (grandmother) would always find the cool places like you found for Damien. I have taken a few road trips with the kids and my side of the family...Jeff is not so much of a sport of these side attractions! Don't worry about sleeping in a rest stop...the place I most remember stopping at to sleep on a family trip was a cow pasture...we had a camper on a pick up truck and pulled off there on night...woke surround by cows!
That policeman that gave you a ticket needs to go for some CM training!
I have found the best place to eat are the places the locals direct you to...sounds like the locals gave you a bit of magic treatment!
Yeah but I had a feeling that he wouldn't be into the whole surprise thing- like K tells people I did most of the trip stuff for myself and just put a note that said to Damien on it!
Yeah I learned so much on this trip with K-- he likes driving, but not on road trips is one of them- and I love them! I think that it's nice when you can find the silly things to take pictures with! Some of those things are what Damien talks about most from our trip (well that and the lego store
)I don't like NY cops they don't like to listen to the reason that you disobeyed the law, just that you disobeyed it. We had no idea and it was not fun yesterday when I paid the ticket on the internet-- I was mumbling some bad wods about K the whole time
!Yes we found "pre-Disney" magic! That was great! Well Damien did! And it was really nice of her!
Yeah i went there I think in 4th grade or 3rd grade (right before I was given to my father) with my school class. Since then I haven't I think that it's about and hour and a half away and you have to find parking in the city and take the ferry to the island! If you ever come to NY I will take you there and some other places that are great!
LOL I would be up for that! I love to travel- anywhere! I like to see/learn/do new things!
The sign is actually in the middle of the tunnel. it says New York on one side of a line, and New Jersey on the other!
Nope I've never eaten there, haven't even heard of it!
Monknmom
DIS Veteran
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These are some pictures that we took when we went to the City (Times Square and Rockefeller Center) on December 30th! This is a quick update and then I am coming back tomorrow morning to get back to your TR's!
This is the group of us that went in order from left to right- Carols (my sister in law's husband), Khine (my sister in law), Amaygui (my mother in law), Damien and I! And we are standing in front of some pretty big lights!
The tree behind us here in both pictures is the Rockefeller tree
Behind Damien and Amaygui is a replica of the star on top of the Rockefeller tree
Some decorations you see as you walk from Rockefeller to Times Square
My sister in law's a goob...
This is right in front of where they drop the ball (from that building that looks like it's in the middle of the road)
Damien says that the dinosaur in Toys R Us looks just like the one that scared him on Dinosaur in Animal Kingdom!
Not sure how many of you know this, but at the Toys R Us in Times Square has a huge Ferris Wheel in it! They even had a Toy story and Mr. Potato head! That's why I'm showing you a picture of the married couple!
Nivea was doing a lot of promotions for New Years Eve and everything was set up while we were walking around... this is the kissing both!
He's all ready to go!
Damien wanted to get a portrait of himself for the first time so we let him!
Although it doesn't look too much like him it came out cute and we have it hanging up at home!
I really like this picture of monkey and I! K should have been there but had an emergency call to attend to!
And to end the night around 1 am (we were walking back to the car) he wanted to take a last picture with his favorite Auntie! He really loves her although you can't tell a lot of the time and is bugging her on when she's going to have some friends for him to boss around!
That night we ate at Sbarro's and I did not like it! I have some pasta thing with meatballs and Damien had a piece of pizza with everyone else! Nobody was really happy with it, but we ate it because we were hungry! Next time we were told to try Tad's a fast food steak place!
This is the group of us that went in order from left to right- Carols (my sister in law's husband), Khine (my sister in law), Amaygui (my mother in law), Damien and I! And we are standing in front of some pretty big lights!
The tree behind us here in both pictures is the Rockefeller tree
Behind Damien and Amaygui is a replica of the star on top of the Rockefeller tree
Some decorations you see as you walk from Rockefeller to Times Square
My sister in law's a goob...
This is right in front of where they drop the ball (from that building that looks like it's in the middle of the road)
Damien says that the dinosaur in Toys R Us looks just like the one that scared him on Dinosaur in Animal Kingdom!
Not sure how many of you know this, but at the Toys R Us in Times Square has a huge Ferris Wheel in it! They even had a Toy story and Mr. Potato head! That's why I'm showing you a picture of the married couple!
Nivea was doing a lot of promotions for New Years Eve and everything was set up while we were walking around... this is the kissing both!
He's all ready to go!
Damien wanted to get a portrait of himself for the first time so we let him!
Although it doesn't look too much like him it came out cute and we have it hanging up at home!
I really like this picture of monkey and I! K should have been there but had an emergency call to attend to!
And to end the night around 1 am (we were walking back to the car) he wanted to take a last picture with his favorite Auntie! He really loves her although you can't tell a lot of the time and is bugging her on when she's going to have some friends for him to boss around!
That night we ate at Sbarro's and I did not like it! I have some pasta thing with meatballs and Damien had a piece of pizza with everyone else! Nobody was really happy with it, but we ate it because we were hungry! Next time we were told to try Tad's a fast food steak place!
Monknmom
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Yeah I don't like driving through the tunnel so I focus on other things! That's probably why! From now on I am only going to eat where the locals send me!
annmarieda
DIS Veteran
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- Feb 10, 2010
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- 8,548
New Years Eve pics look like you had a lot of fun! Where was K? Taking the pics?
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