Jumping, Dancing & Jamming Our Way Through Walt Disney World! I'm With the Band Now!

[jenseib]

Wow,she really made out at the shower. I bet she was so excited!

 

[3LittlePirates]

I will have to go to the website and vote for your nephews car! Yes, there is a fudruckers at the Louisiana Boardwalk...near the Bass Pro Shop...I know with your hubby you have to know where that is!

 

[GrammyJudy]

Sounds like Lacey and Jesse racked up at the shower! That is wonderful for them!

I also voted for your nephew's car. I hope he wins!

Not to hijack your thread, but I need to vent to my DIS friends. We are leaving for WDW on Friday after work and I had planned to spend each night this week packing and making sure everything was ready. Monday night a few things came up and the time got away from me so Monday night ended up being a wash. Last night was filled with critter drama. I got home from work and let the dogs out. I didn't see the mama and baby deer coming up the bushes in our back yard. I don't think she was expecting to see the dogs either. I know she was trying to protect her baby, but she charged after one of our dogs and chased him into the front yard. I ran out the garage and saw the deer pouncing up and down. Luckily she wasn't pouncing on him, but I didn't know if she had already got him since he was laying still on the ground. I chased the mama off and the dog must have saw his break to get out of the situation and he ran down the street. I chased after him in bare feet (and still in my dress from work) calling his name. I finally got to him and he growled at me and tried to bite me (I know he was scared as he has never tried to bite any of us before). When he realized it was me he rolled on his back and that's when I saw that his mouth was filled with blood. I picked him up and carried him home. He seemed dazed (understandably but I couldn't tell if he was seriously injured other than the bloody mouth), I got some flip flops on and my husband called the vet (he had been on a work conference call). They said they would stay open til they got there. We got in the truck and I sat in the back with my DD (who had been crying the entire time and cried all the way to the vet) and my husband drove. DD and I were holding hands and I prayed out loud the whole way there. I didn't verbalize it but I wondered if we were going to have to cancel our trip not knowing how much the vet bill was going to be, or if the dog was seriously injured. So we get to the vet and he checks him out thoroughly and said it didn't seem there was any internal damage and that it seemed that he only got kicked in the mouth and the deer's hoof had sliced his gum (thus the blood in his mouth). So I said silent thank you prayers in the vet's office that there was no serious injury. We then went to the receptionist desk to check out and pay, but the vet said 'no charge'. I wanted to hug his neck and cry at the same time. So back in the truck we go and this time DD and I held hands and prayed thank you prayers on the way back. After all that fiasco I had to take DD to her piano lesson and then we had to go to the store to buy dog food. We ate supper around 8:30 and then I gave the poor dog a bath, took a shower myself and tried to go to sleep (which was futile because the events of the day kept replaying in my head).

I hope the rest of the week is non-eventful so I can get ready. Right about now, I could use some Disney magic.

OK, vent over (I feel much better) and again I am sorry for hi-jacking and thank you for listening! As usual I am looking forward to reading more of your TR. [/QUOT

I hope today is better for you. Have a great time at POFQ and let me know how it is as we are staying there in Jan.

 

[deedeew80]

Sounds like Lacey and Jesse racked up at the shower! That is wonderful for them!

I also voted for your nephew's car. I hope he wins!

Not to hijack your thread, but I need to vent to my DIS friends. We are leaving for WDW on Friday after work and I had planned to spend each night this week packing and making sure everything was ready. Monday night a few things came up and the time got away from me so Monday night ended up being a wash. Last night was filled with critter drama. I got home from work and let the dogs out. I didn't see the mama and baby deer coming up the bushes in our back yard. I don't think she was expecting to see the dogs either. I know she was trying to protect her baby, but she charged after one of our dogs and chased him into the front yard. I ran out the garage and saw the deer pouncing up and down. Luckily she wasn't pouncing on him, but I didn't know if she had already got him since he was laying still on the ground. I chased the mama off and the dog must have saw his break to get out of the situation and he ran down the street. I chased after him in bare feet (and still in my dress from work) calling his name. I finally got to him and he growled at me and tried to bite me (I know he was scared as he has never tried to bite any of us before). When he realized it was me he rolled on his back and that's when I saw that his mouth was filled with blood. I picked him up and carried him home. He seemed dazed (understandably but I couldn't tell if he was seriously injured other than the bloody mouth), I got some flip flops on and my husband called the vet (he had been on a work conference call). They said they would stay open til they got there. We got in the truck and I sat in the back with my DD (who had been crying the entire time and cried all the way to the vet) and my husband drove. DD and I were holding hands and I prayed out loud the whole way there. I didn't verbalize it but I wondered if we were going to have to cancel our trip not knowing how much the vet bill was going to be, or if the dog was seriously injured. So we get to the vet and he checks him out thoroughly and said it didn't seem there was any internal damage and that it seemed that he only got kicked in the mouth and the deer's hoof had sliced his gum (thus the blood in his mouth). So I said silent thank you prayers in the vet's office that there was no serious injury. We then went to the receptionist desk to check out and pay, but the vet said 'no charge'. I wanted to hug his neck and cry at the same time. So back in the truck we go and this time DD and I held hands and prayed thank you prayers on the way back. After all that fiasco I had to take DD to her piano lesson and then we had to go to the store to buy dog food. We ate supper around 8:30 and then I gave the poor dog a bath, took a shower myself and tried to go to sleep (which was futile because the events of the day kept replaying in my head).

I hope the rest of the week is non-eventful so I can get ready. Right about now, I could use some Disney magic.

OK, vent over (I feel much better) and again I am sorry for hi-jacking and thank you for listening! As usual I am looking forward to reading more of your TR.

So sorry that you had to go through something like that! So glad that it wasn't anything serious and your dog is ok! Now think happy thoughts because you will be at WDW VERY soon!!!!

 

[aprilisis]

Sounds like Lacey and Jesse racked up at the shower! That is wonderful for them!

I also voted for your nephew's car. I hope he wins!

Not to hijack your thread, but I need to vent to my DIS friends. We are leaving for WDW on Friday after work and I had planned to spend each night this week packing and making sure everything was ready. Monday night a few things came up and the time got away from me so Monday night ended up being a wash. Last night was filled with critter drama. I got home from work and let the dogs out. I didn't see the mama and baby deer coming up the bushes in our back yard. I don't think she was expecting to see the dogs either. I know she was trying to protect her baby, but she charged after one of our dogs and chased him into the front yard. I ran out the garage and saw the deer pouncing up and down. Luckily she wasn't pouncing on him, but I didn't know if she had already got him since he was laying still on the ground. I chased the mama off and the dog must have saw his break to get out of the situation and he ran down the street. I chased after him in bare feet (and still in my dress from work) calling his name. I finally got to him and he growled at me and tried to bite me (I know he was scared as he has never tried to bite any of us before). When he realized it was me he rolled on his back and that's when I saw that his mouth was filled with blood. I picked him up and carried him home. He seemed dazed (understandably but I couldn't tell if he was seriously injured other than the bloody mouth), I got some flip flops on and my husband called the vet (he had been on a work conference call). They said they would stay open til they got there. We got in the truck and I sat in the back with my DD (who had been crying the entire time and cried all the way to the vet) and my husband drove. DD and I were holding hands and I prayed out loud the whole way there. I didn't verbalize it but I wondered if we were going to have to cancel our trip not knowing how much the vet bill was going to be, or if the dog was seriously injured. So we get to the vet and he checks him out thoroughly and said it didn't seem there was any internal damage and that it seemed that he only got kicked in the mouth and the deer's hoof had sliced his gum (thus the blood in his mouth). So I said silent thank you prayers in the vet's office that there was no serious injury. We then went to the receptionist desk to check out and pay, but the vet said 'no charge'. I wanted to hug his neck and cry at the same time. So back in the truck we go and this time DD and I held hands and prayed thank you prayers on the way back. After all that fiasco I had to take DD to her piano lesson and then we had to go to the store to buy dog food. We ate supper around 8:30 and then I gave the poor dog a bath, took a shower myself and tried to go to sleep (which was futile because the events of the day kept replaying in my head).

I hope the rest of the week is non-eventful so I can get ready. Right about now, I could use some Disney magic.

OK, vent over (I feel much better) and again I am sorry for hi-jacking and thank you for listening! As usual I am looking forward to reading more of your TR.

I would have completely freaked out in that situation. Thank goodness your dog was ok! It was really nice of the vet to not charge you.


Lisa- I voted!

 

[JessietheNCCowgirl]

Thank you everyone that replied to my post. I want to thank you for your warm thoughts and kind words. One of the many reasons I love reading Lisa's trip reports so much is for all the friendly, caring people that post.

I called my husband (who works from home) and he said the dog seems fine today, so I am truly thankful the incident wasn't more serious. Hopefully I can get serious tonight with the trip preparations and house cleaning. I am excited to get back to "where magic lives"!

And GrammyJudy, I will definitely let you know how POFQ is - I am anxious to see it with the new refurbs myself!

 

[mickeystoontown]

That is a lot of towels We got lots too, and I set a bunch away to save for company, or when your other towels start to fade some.
Sounds like a very nice shower!

I'll go vote for your nephew, he will have to share his winnings with ya!

It was a lot of towels. She is going to put some of them back and save them just like you did (and I did too).

I hope that you do vote. If he wins anything, I may have to knock him down and take it from him.

thanks for the link to contact Disney...just wrote a rather long message asking for discounts to continue so we can continue to give them thousands $$$ each year!!

Voted for youer nephew...Boy Scouts is a great thing for kids..my son was a BS

DON'T FORGET WE ARE WAITING TO GET BACK TO YOUR TRIP REPORT.

I'm happy to hear that you wrote a message to Disney. As I said in my other replies, it may fall on deaf ears but at least we will feel good knowing we shared our thoughts with them.

Both of my nephews are in Boy Scouts. My niece and her husband are scout leaders and are trying to get a big trip together for the boys. I hooked them up with Group Services at WDW and they may get to go to Disney. Of course, they'd have to camp at Ft. Wilderness to save money but they'd still be in Disney.

The link to my PTR is in my signature now. Thanks!

I am looking forward to hearing all about your plans.

Sounds like a wonderful shower! They will have fun picking out nice things with those gift cards!

It was a very nice shower and we had so much fun visiting with our family. Put us all together in one room (actually it spilled over into two rooms) and you've got one very vocal silly bunches of folks.

Sounds like Lacey and Jesse racked up at the shower! That is wonderful for them!

I also voted for your nephew's car. I hope he wins!

Not to hijack your thread, but I need to vent to my DIS friends. We are leaving for WDW on Friday after work and I had planned to spend each night this week packing and making sure everything was ready. Monday night a few things came up and the time got away from me so Monday night ended up being a wash. Last night was filled with critter drama. I got home from work and let the dogs out. I didn't see the mama and baby deer coming up the bushes in our back yard. I don't think she was expecting to see the dogs either. I know she was trying to protect her baby, but she charged after one of our dogs and chased him into the front yard. I ran out the garage and saw the deer pouncing up and down. Luckily she wasn't pouncing on him, but I didn't know if she had already got him since he was laying still on the ground. I chased the mama off and the dog must have saw his break to get out of the situation and he ran down the street. I chased after him in bare feet (and still in my dress from work) calling his name. I finally got to him and he growled at me and tried to bite me (I know he was scared as he has never tried to bite any of us before). When he realized it was me he rolled on his back and that's when I saw that his mouth was filled with blood. I picked him up and carried him home. He seemed dazed (understandably but I couldn't tell if he was seriously injured other than the bloody mouth), I got some flip flops on and my husband called the vet (he had been on a work conference call). They said they would stay open til they got there. We got in the truck and I sat in the back with my DD (who had been crying the entire time and cried all the way to the vet) and my husband drove. DD and I were holding hands and I prayed out loud the whole way there. I didn't verbalize it but I wondered if we were going to have to cancel our trip not knowing how much the vet bill was going to be, or if the dog was seriously injured. So we get to the vet and he checks him out thoroughly and said it didn't seem there was any internal damage and that it seemed that he only got kicked in the mouth and the deer's hoof had sliced his gum (thus the blood in his mouth). So I said silent thank you prayers in the vet's office that there was no serious injury. We then went to the receptionist desk to check out and pay, but the vet said 'no charge'. I wanted to hug his neck and cry at the same time. So back in the truck we go and this time DD and I held hands and prayed thank you prayers on the way back. After all that fiasco I had to take DD to her piano lesson and then we had to go to the store to buy dog food. We ate supper around 8:30 and then I gave the poor dog a bath, took a shower myself and tried to go to sleep (which was futile because the events of the day kept replaying in my head).

I hope the rest of the week is non-eventful so I can get ready. Right about now, I could use some Disney magic.

OK, vent over (I feel much better) and again I am sorry for hi-jacking and thank you for listening! As usual I am looking forward to reading more of your TR.

Oh my gosh! What a story! Thank goodness you went outside when you did. The mama deer may have done more damage than she did if you didn't. What a wonderful vet to have taken care of your dog after hours and then not to charge you on top of that.

There is never ever a reason to apologize for hi-jacking or going off topic on my trip reports. I love hearing other people's stories and I consider us all friends. If you can't rant and rave to friends, who can you vent to?

Wow,she really made out at the shower. I bet she was so excited!

I will have to go to the website and vote for your nephews car! Yes, there is a fudruckers at the Louisiana Boardwalk...near the Bass Pro Shop...I know with your hubby you have to know where that is!

I can not believe that I haven't noticed Fudrucker's before. We've been to the Boardwalk many times. Guess I was too busy looking for bargains so I could save a Disney dollar or two.

Please do vote for my nephew!

Thank you everyone that replied to my post. I want to thank you for your warm thoughts and kind words. One of the many reasons I love reading Lisa's trip reports so much is for all the friendly, caring people that post.

I called my husband (who works from home) and he said the dog seems fine today, so I am truly thankful the incident wasn't more serious. Hopefully I can get serious tonight with the trip preparations and house cleaning. I am excited to get back to "where magic lives"!

And GrammyJudy, I will definitely let you know how POFQ is - I am anxious to see it with the new refurbs myself!

I totally agree with you about the readers of my trip report. Everybody is so kind and offer an ear when any one of us wants to chat or vent.

I'm so happy to hear that your dog is doing well. It looks like the dog is going to recover nicely.

 

[TinksThree]

Thank you everyone that replied to my post. I want to thank you for your warm thoughts and kind words. One of the many reasons I love reading Lisa's trip reports so much is for all the friendly, caring people that post.

I called my husband (who works from home) and he said the dog seems fine today, so I am truly thankful the incident wasn't more serious. Hopefully I can get serious tonight with the trip preparations and house cleaning. I am excited to get back to "where magic lives"!

And GrammyJudy, I will definitely let you know how POFQ is - I am anxious to see it with the new refurbs myself!

Your story gave me chills! We have deer in our yard a lot and I am always so afraid my dog will go after them. She weighs 20 lbs but thinks she weighs 200lbs!!

We were at POFQ in June and it was awesome!! I hope you find it as nice as we did!! The renovations are really nice!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I pinky promised that I'd get replies done and an update. I need to get a move on with the Tennessee report so I can get back to my Disney trip. For some reason, I am having major Disney withdrawals right now. I want to go back so badly but know it's not in the cards right now.

When I last left off, we had spent a nice evening with Jesse and his family. I forgot to mention that his oldest brother was unable to come to the dinner. He works alongside his father's ministry and runs a sort of, for lack of a better word, halfway house, although that's not quite what it is. Anyway, he was working that evening and couldn't join us.

Sunday morning, Lacey and Jesse met his uncle to look over the pictures that he took of them the week before. They called us when they were done and said they were on their way to the Jameson Inn. We would decide what we wanted to do and then head out. As I said before, Jesse's dad had told us of a "back way" to get to Gatlinburg so, if that's where we decided to go, we could.

You'll remember that we had stopped in the vending machine room thingie and picked up quite a few brochures to add to the stack that I had picked up in Chatanooga. Mama came to our room and said that she had looked through a few of the brochures and the phone book under attractions while we were at dinner the night before. She had seen a cavern and wondered if that would be something we would like to do. We decided to ask Jesse if he knew where the cave was and if it was very far off the route his dad had given us to Gatlinburg.

Lacey and Jesse arrived and came up to our room to help decide. Jesse said the cave was, indeed on the way to Gatlinburg. He put the address into the GSP on his phone and we were off. Well, before we were "off", John checked the transmission fluid in Mama's van and it was fine. Then, we were off.

Back before I got married, I was on time for anything and everything. Somebody could call and say "you wanna go to...." and I was ready in less than 20 minutes. Once I got married and acquired the last name of "McBride" that timeliness flew right out the window.....time management suicide is what you could call it. I guess that's not quite the correct way to describe it because I can actually be on time. John, on the other hand, is King of Lateness. Hunter is the Prince. Lacey and I hold the title of Princess and Queen but not of Lateness because we hate being late for anything. I said all that just to tell ya'll that we didn't leave the hotel until about 10:30 a.m. I know! It was our one and only day to sightsee and we didn't leave the hotel until mid-morning.

Anyway, we were on the road and headed toward.....toward......I forget the name of the town.....I think it was Townsend, Tennessee which is the way Jesse's dad told us to go. Just before getting to Townsend, Jesse said that we should be approaching the road that we needed to turn on to get to the cave. TURN! Oops, came up on the turn off a bit quickly didn't we.

The road that we turned on was narrow and, in some places, I was praying that we wouldn't meet another car on the road because I had no idea how two cars would pass each other because of how narrow it was. Thankfully, we had just one car approach us and it was in one of the more wider parts of the road and we were able to squeeze by each other.

We wound our way down and up the mountain road and we were all laughing saying "watch this cave be in somebody's back yard" or "the cave is probably some little notch in the mountain". We turned this way and then we turned that way when we saw little signs that directed us toward the cave. Finally, there was the parking lot. Ummm....it actually did look like it was in somebody's yard. Wait, there was more parking lot to the left and it wasn't that small.

Lacey, Mama and I all said that we wished we had thought to bring a jacket with us because caverns are always cool/cold. I don't know where we thought we would have gotten a jacket from because we didn't even pack one.

As we entered into the little wooden building that was the store/entrance to Tuckaleechee Caverns and I handed John the money to buy all of our tickets. I was going in search of a bathroom as were Mama and Lacey. We had to go out a side door and I told Mama I wouldn't be surprised if the bathrooms were outhouses. They weren't thank goodness but they were housed in an outside building and there were just three stalls with wooden doors.

When we got back to the building, John was coming out to find us. The tour was about to start! We hurried down the ramp and to the entrance to the cave. The tour guide told us a bit about how long the cave had been open to the public, how far the first part of the walk would be (about 1 mile and a half...I think that was just one way), the temperature in the cave (50 something degrees), etc.

While we were waiting, we saw everybody else bundling up in jackets, long sleeve shirts and even towels. Great! I'm going to be freezing cold for a couple of hours! Oh well, I love love love going on cave tours so I was willing to suffer. I lengthened my Vera Bradley hipster straps so I could put it over my shoulder and around my body for easier carrying. I asked Mama if she wanted me to carry her purse because it just had short straps. She said no she would be okay. (Remember this later on.)

After a few minutes, the tour guide said we would now be descending into the cave, to watch our heads, that the ground would be wet and slippery in some spots and to hold on to the handrails....when there were any.

A picture of our group going down:

We reached a flat spot and had to wait for another tour group to pass us. The guide told us that we would go in and out of the cave the same way. We moved to the side and we took pictures.

Once the other group passed, we continued on even further into the cave:

Sorry for the picture quality. I was trying to find the right settings on the camera and was playing around with them. Some of the pictures turned out decent some did not.

See this set of stairs. This is the set we came down. They were super steep and took all of us a while to get down them.

The guide stopped us when we got to an underground spring and explained to us that the cave and it's formations were made by the flow of water. He told us to be on the lookout for small crayfish and lizards in the water. He also said there were bats in the cave and that we probably wouldn't see them because they were no larger than the size of a man's thumb.

I tried taking a picture of the shiny crystals in the rock:

These were called "flows" I believe:

These reminded me of elephant skin:

In the top left corner, you can see where a few of the stalagtites (Spelling?) had broken off:

There were a few places in the cave where the guy told us we could touch some of the formations:

Touch Jesse......not lick!

He seriously did not lick the cave. He was just kidding!

This picture is pretty crappy but I took it so you could see the hand rails. They weren't super sturdy and I didn't deal with that so well. Ya'll know I am terrified of heights.

Can you see the bottom? Yeah....I couldn't either! Do you see a handrail? Yeah...there wasn't one in this portion of the tour!

**Okay, so I need to stop here. I didn't break my pinky promise 'cause I did get an installment posted today. I'll be posting more tomorrow and who made the comment of "whose idea was this anyway?".

 

[micandminforever]

I am guessing your mother is the one who wants to know whose idea it was to go to the cave.

I love the cave pictures and know you got a workout with the climbing.

 

[Caretames1]

I've never been in a cave before! Looks, closed in Also, the second I heard BATS, is the second I would have snoozed in the van!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

That cave looks amazing! I would love to do a cave tour. I am about 2 hours from Luray Caverns in Virginia, and keep thinking that one day I'm going to go out and do the tour. I technically did it when I was a baby, but I don't remember it at all since I was under 2 years.

 

[relcx4]

Love your trip reports. Thanks for taking time to share your Disney memories. Can't wait to hear more!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

I don't know if anyone here saw this, but Mr. Osborne, who donated all the lights for the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights to WDW, passed away.

http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2011/07/27/jennings-osborne-dead-at-67

I'm sad to hear this, but glad he will live on through his beautiful light display each holiday season at DHS.

 

[KatMark]

We did one of those caves when Mark and I drove to Florida before we were married (way too many years ago), but I don't know that it is the same one. Not sure I could do it again as I HATE bats and won't even go look at them at the zoo or the Animal Kingdom.

 

[ronnmel]

Oh, I love caves! I haven't actually been in many so far, but I enjoy how mysterious it looks.

 

[TinksThree]

What fun!! We have talked about going to either that cave or Lost Sea in Sweetwater a few times. It's just that we have been to several caves in the past and really...once you have seen one you have seen most. Some are special like Carlsbad and we really liked Luray Caverns. But they can be so much fun regardless which is why we talk about going to one of these. Can't wait to see who didn't like their idea!!

 

[natebenma]

Very cool caves!

 

[MissLiz]

Oooh, that picture where you couldn't see the bottom made my stomach drop!!! I would have been hanging on to something, anything for dear life and praying for it to end!

 

[JessietheNCCowgirl]

Cool cave pictures! I don't think I'd be liking the stair/handrail situation much either, but I'd push through since it is fun to explore caves. I laughed at the the picture of Jesse acting like he's going to lick the rock. It appears that he's going to fit right in with the McBride clan and all the silly antics!

I'm also going to guess that Mamma is the one who said "who's idea was this anyway?"