Alrighty, shall we get this party started? After all, we have 2+ weeks of vacation to cover
..if I dont get my buns moving on this report, I might still be posting updates at Christmas!
Saturday, August 16th
..the day had finally arrived
.
We set our alarm for 6 am so we could get up and get moving. With both of us having worked right up until the end of our respective shifts on Friday, we had some household tasks to take care of before we dashed out the door. After breakfast and showers, the first order of business was a thorough cleaning of the house and a final load of laundry so the house would be left fresh and tidy during our absence. Steve had thankfully cut the lawn after work on Friday night, a spur of the moment decision which turned out to be genius when the rain set in the following day. It also meant that I had an extra pair of hands to help with the cleaning (Steve is my vaccuumer
he considers it a power tool). I sent Jake, who had started to look extremely scruffy, to get a hair cut while we scrubbed, dusted and disinfected.
By late morning, the house was shining like a new penny and the laundry was washed and put away. The final items were added to the luggage, Jake had returned from the barber, and the boys loaded up the Journey. Sweeties mom dropped her off around 11:20 am, and we chatted for a bit before getting our departure photo:
Hugs were exchanged, last minute warnings were doled out (you be good for Gina, or else you have me to deal with when you get back!), and we all fulfilled the obligatory trip to the loo. And then
.we were off!
Stop #1 was to fill up with gas. Stop #2 was at one of the En Route locations on the 401 for a fast-food lunch. Spirits were high and everyone was in a bit of a silly mood
.
After a little slower-than-normal progress due to a motorcycle accident on the 401 and some spotty construction, we reached the toll bridge just before the border crossing.
Unfortunately, we knew we were in for another moderate delay when we saw this sign:
While we have faced a backlog at the border on multiple occasions, this was the first time we had seen them stopping traffic at the bridge. We were held about 10-15 minutes before they raised the gates and allowed us to proceed across the bridge, and the rest of the distance to the border.
Traffic at the border was heavy, but not crazy ridiculous (we have experienced the latter before
.so this line seemed manageable):
We wondered if we might be stopped again for additional scrutiny while travelling with an unrelated minor, but Sweeties mom had done a fabulous job at preparing her travel package with her passport, notarized letters of authorization from both sets of her parents,
travel insurance, etc. Quite honestly, the gate agent barely looked at any of it before allowing us to move through. Total time stopped at the border before we were on our way down the interstate was about 30 minutes. Not bad.
I always find the drive from Alex Bay to Syracuse way longer than the drive from home to the US/Canada border crossing. I dont know why
except for maybe that other than when passing through Watertown, there really isnt that much to look at. Alexandria Bay to Watertown is pretty short, but Watertown to SYR seems to drag on forever. Today was ever worse with construction, construction, construction. While we had hoped to reach our park and fly hotel by 3-ish or so, it was closer to 5 pm when we finally rolled into the parking lot. And the grey, drizzly skies had started to rain very steadily
.I can sense a change of plans in the near future.
We checked into our room at the Candlewood Suites Syracuse Airport. Weve stayed here before (multiple times), so the room style and the hotel are very familiar to us. Its a bit dated as far as the decor go, but its clean, affordable, the staff are wonderful, and its very close to the airport. It serves the purpose well and is dependable, so to speak.
Kitchen:
The living room:
At check-in, we arranged for a wake-up call and a shuttle to the airport the following morning, picked up all of our parcels which they were holding for us (items we had ordered online and had shipped to the hotel in advance), then retired to the room to have a chat about dinner. Original plans were to head to Steve and Jakes beloved Dinosaur Barbecue for a man-feast of meat, but it didnt seem like the best idea under the circumstances. The last time we visited on a summer Saturday night, the only available seating without a substantial wait was in their outdoor "Bone Yard". Considering the steady rain now beating down outside, it seemed unlikely we would be able to secure a parking space
and a table in the restaurant without a whole lot of luck being on our side. With that in mind, we then started formulating plan B.
Since the Candlewood Suites doesnt have a pool, the kids had requested a trip to the Carousel Mall to kill some time in the evening. When alternate dining options were discussed, we raised the possibility of hitting Cracker Barrel in nearby Cicero (a restaurant favourite that we never seem to get to) or keeping things simple (ie, cutting out a lot of extra driving) and going to a table service location right at the mall. A search of the mall directory noted a TGI Fridays (another family favourite!) so we made the executive decision to enjoy our evening meal at the mall.
With umbrellas engaged to help keep us somewhat dry we dashed to the Journey, plugged the co-ordinates for the mall into the GPS, and made the short trip to Syracuses "premier shopping destination".
.
I did buy mine within the 30 days. The first day we used it at Sea World the girl never scanned it. At Aquatica, the guy said it didn't work, but just said go. The second day at Sea World, I had to go up to the taxi parking and then go to the ticket area. They couldn't figure it out and just gave me a parking pass. I was really frustrated because it took forever to get through the line. 
I was dumb and didn't have a signature because the next time I had to explain to the parking person again and she was kind enough to believe me. If she didn't, I was just going to pull the paper from our windshield and park anyway! 
part, reality sucks!! But as they say, there's no place like home!!!
)
. Ours worked perfectly the day we went to Aquatica. No issues at all. When we tried to use it the first time at SeaWorld, it didnt appear to work but after a long while (and lots of questions) eventually the gate agent just gave us the OK to go through. The 2nd time we attempted to use it at SW (when Steve and I dropped by to purchase the photo CD from our VIP tour day, not to do an actual park visit) we were denied entry, and were told that the pass was expired. The gate agent made us go to the taxi parking like you had to, and Steve sat in the van while I went to guest services to argue it out. Guest Services ended up giving me a business card-style pass and said to use that instead of our printed pass. So back out we went, to the gate again, and the same gate agent told us that the card-style passes were old and not used anymore. Finally argued our way in and got the CD at Adventure Photo, then left. On our third visit to SW the gate agents seemed baffled by both styles of the passes and needed a long discussion before finally letting us through.
Or better staff training. Or something. I am so sorry to hear you had the same frustrations!! 
That is awesome!!! 
.
. And busy. And did I mention, loud? Probably the inclement weather outside contributed a lot to driving folks indoors but it was so chaotic that I thought my brains would start leaking out my ears.
.
. I know he'll join us on future trips (hopefully October 2015, on his reading week....and certainly when he's older and has a family of his own) but its still going to be a little hard to get used to the first time or two!
