The ABC's of Trip Planning, Pt 1- K is for Keeping Things Kooky- Drinks V-Z; pg. 197 + New Link

[Captain_Oblivious]

But tell me, do they really have clowns and other creepy stuff like that at resorts and other public places??

We used to have a clown face as the icon for the amusements in Rehoboth Beach, DE (Funland). But they wised up and got rid of Bozo The Serial Killer a few years ago.

Just aced my first practice math test.

Which will be yet another day's meals for the trip! Can you feel the excitment in my typing??

I THINK IT NEEDS TO BE IN ALL CAPS!!!!!!!

But on the math exam(s) I need an A+ to continue in the program- a perfect score or you're out.

Yikes! Tough standards.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

The start of school excitement, I am a nerd and always loved going back and getting into all my classes. That excitement lasted for about a week, haha.

I assume you have heard about "The View Nurse Scandal"? My Facebook feed seems to have blown up with it while on vacation. It is amazing how ignorant people are about such a common profession...

 

[pkondz]

Just aced my first practice math test. 2 more to go before Tuesday. Tomorrow is all-day in the lab reviewing last year's skills; Friday all-day mandatory Orientation to 2nd Year (I'm so giddy about getting my syllabus I could have an accident); Monday all-day lab learning NEW skills; Tuesday Math test and lab remediation if needed; Friday Clinical Orientation at the hospital; Monday official first day of lecture. Here we goooooooooo-we-ohhhh....

Oh, and I accepted a bid on one of my Regency Period costumes for $130. (I should sew more often.) Which will be yet another day's meals for the trip! Can you feel the excitment in my typing??

Way to go on acing the practice math test! Now go do the same to the next ones!

Nice job on the cash for the costume.
And yes... I sense some excitment... hold onto that thought... you'll need it when the going gets tough in the months ahead!

And you definitely should sew more often. I mean you've got more free time than you know what to do with, right?

I'm a pretty smart AND hawt chick.

Yes.

I also do catheters. Just sayin'.

 

[Steppesister]

All the best for your important math test and the whole second year of nursing school!! I am keeping my fingers crossed that you will be able to beat the 88%!!

Two trip planning comments (after all, that is the whole reason why we are on the DIS...)

Historical stats show a drop on scores by 10-12%... so an 88% will be pretty unlikely.

1) I don't think there is a bus from Boardwalk to the front of Epcot. There is one from DHS, but not sure it would run before rope drop. When we were staying there there were conflicting infos as to where people were being hold for rope drop (at IG or in FW). But since then the whole rope drop system changed quite a bit (some parks went to not opening the turnstiles until opening time, so really no rope being dropped) and then back to a real rope drop. I found the people on the Boardwalk Resort FAQ most helpful for finding out the best rope drop strategy!

Yeah, it makes sense that they'd not "waste" a bus to the front when you can take a boat to the back. I'll take a peek at the FAQ page.

2) I just noticed that indeed the Night Time Safaris (Kilimanjaro Safari open in the evening) are supposed to start in spring 2016 and so is the new AK night time show. You might want to keep that in mind with your itinerary planning. I could imagine that this means that AK will go back to evening EMH.

I haven't seen very good write-ups/anticipation of the nighttime safaris- Apparently they will be nothing different than the daytime ones at all, just a nighttime version with floodlights.

We used to have a clown face as the icon for the amusements in Rehoboth Beach, DE (Funland). But they wised up and got rid of Bozo The Serial Killer a few years ago.

Probably a good move!!

I THINK IT NEEDS TO BE IN ALL CAPS!!!!!!!

OK, I CAN DO THAT! ALTHOUGH IT ALWAYS FEELS LIKE YELLING!!

Yikes! Tough standards.

To be fair, you wouldn't want someone making a math error in your IV drip rate or med calculation, would you. 1 math mistake can equal one life lost.

The start of school excitement, I am a nerd and always loved going back and getting into all my classes. That excitement lasted for about a week, haha.

I assume you have heard about "The View Nurse Scandal"? My Facebook feed seems to have blown up with it while on vacation. It is amazing how ignorant people are about such a common profession...

I did see the blowback, but not the actual comments made on the show. I did see the Miss CO monologue and thought she did a phenomenal job, and to disrespect the perpetually high esteem our profession is held in is bad form to say the least. Shame on them.

Way to go on acing the practice math test! Now go do the same to the next ones!

Nice job on the cash for the costume.
And yes... I sense some excitment... hold onto that thought... you'll need it when the going gets tough in the months ahead!

I like the way you lead the pack in Team Liesa!

I'll hold on to that thought as I list more crap. The next thing to go is a Kitchenaid Mixer.

 

[Malia78]

Coming out of lurkdom to officially join in. A little bummed that my dates don't quite match up with yours because sounds like there's lots of fun stuff planned. We will be leaving on Oct 13th, just when you are settling in. AoA is awesome and for a super TLM fan like myself, The Little Mermaid rooms were perfect--stayed there at the end of April.

I can also relate to the name story--my legal birth certificate name is Karilyn but my grandmother said it looked better with 2 n's so that's the only way I've ever spelled it.

 

[Steppesister]

Coming out of lurkdom to officially join in. A little bummed that my dates don't quite match up with yours because sounds like there's lots of fun stuff planned. We will be leaving on Oct 13th, just when you are settling in. AoA is awesome and for a super TLM fan like myself, The Little Mermaid rooms were perfect--stayed there at the end of April.

I can also relate to the name story--my legal birth certificate name is Karilyn but my grandmother said it looked better with 2 n's so that's the only way I've ever spelled it.

I'm SOOOOOO glad you decided to jump in and be part of this craziness!! WELCOME!

Hey, that's plenty enough time to meet up for a little bit!! I'd absolutely LOVE to!! We're a bit flexible so just let me know where and when it would work out.

I just KEEP hearing great things about the AoA wherever I turn; I'm getting really excited to stay there! I adore the way your name is spelled even without the extra 'n'. How perfectly unique!!

 

[Malia78]

Hey, that's plenty enough time to meet up for a little bit!! I'd absolutely LOVE to!! We're a bit flexible so just let me know where and when it would work out.

Maybe it would work out---I do have the MNSSHP penciled in on the 11th. Either way, always fun watching plans come together

 

[pkondz]

I'll hold on to that thought as I list more crap. The next thing to go is a Kitchenaid Mixer.

You're getting rid of a Kitchenaid Mixer?!?!? Why? Those things are amazing!
(And yes... I have one.)

 

[Steppesister]

It's a story (but isn't everything?)

I was over at my neighbor's place (my high-class wino friend who may score us our last Park ticket and a comped Artist Point dinner) at pretty much drooled over a light blue one she had just sitting in her garage. I guess I ogled enough that she said "just take it". Apparently she snagged it from her mother when her mom passed away and it'd been sitting all lonely like in that garage for months. So, I have a nice NEW blue one in my kitchen now, and have an older white one ready for market. Should net me no less than $80 since it's in pristine condition.

 

[Steppesister]

Kentucky/Tennessee Mini TR: Of Pizza and Pools​

This will be the last installment of the Mini Kentucky/Tennesse TR. There are far fewer pictures to share than I'd thought, and honestly the latter part of the vacation was far less action-packed and exciting than the first. Either we ran out of touristy things to do, or we just wore ourselves out. Probably both.

After our LOVELY walkabout at the Grand Ole Opry Hotel, we were starved. But not starved enough to spend $30 a plate at the hotel. There are suckers (who buy $7 ice cream, and there are suckers who would actually fall for dining by a orchid-laced waterfall. Obviously, I need to hone my sucker status.)

We piled into my folks' car, and my sister and her kids piled into their SUV and decided to meet up at:

http://desanopizza.it/

It really isn't anything special in terms of decor or ambiance, but the pizza is quite another story!! If you like thin crust, homemade sauce, and slabs of mozz, not shredded, this is the place for you. Does this photo remind you of anything??



I thought so. I posted one a while back, but I"m sure you've all seen the ovens at Via.... which is on my list. Oopsie... a spoiler. Sorry about that. They serve them on huge baking sheets, and there is an olive oil, basalmic vinagar, parm cheese, crushed pepper bar for you to help yourself at as well.



I promised; I delivered.

No pizza is complete without some red wine. It's a classy place, so naturally they give out plastic cups for the wine. I went with what I know: a good pinot noir. Well, at least I had hoped it was good; wine in mini-bottles is always a dicey propostion, but this one worked out well and we all left full and happy.



The next day was a day to FINALLY, after 3 years of them being together, meet my son's girlfriend's family. They, we'd heard are a lot like us in many ways, which is always a good sign, but since we are expecting an engagement any time, we thought I should make the effort to meet them, and try to make a good impression.

At least I met them.

First off, they live in the freakin' middle of SW Nowhere, KY. But they have cool animals. So that's good. Sheep and horses are cool, right? It looks a lot like this:



It was a lovely dinner; the conversation was easy and not awkward at any point; and we generally had a great time. Their kids are almost exactly the same ages as ours (all 5! HAHA! How coincidental is THAT?!) and after dinner the older ones went outside to shoot the compound bow. You know that old joke about not being able to hit the side of a barn? Yeah, my almost DIL almost didn't. It was pretty funny. And, no. I'll probably never let her live it down. (I didn't try. See how smart I am?)

She and I got to take a walk up their lane and I got some pretty cool shots of a country road. I'm nice, so I'll share:





We said our good-byes, and I bit my tongue and stopped short of saying, "Hey the next time we see you might be at a wedding!". They aren't quiiiiiiite on board yet. But then again, what father really ever is? I like this parting shot with Emily:



See the joy in my double chin? Or is that too many lemon drops over the summer?

The next days were rather lazy and we spent a bit more time with my sister and her kids. Although, oddly, NariPoo really hit it off much better with Emily's sister than her own cousins. So we invited Therese over to hang out before the 4 of the girls went swimming at a friend of my sister's place. They chose to make Rice Krispy Treats to take to the pool. Because Rice Krispy Treats.



Now I'm wondering if that double chin is lemon drops or RKTs? Ahem... sorry, got side-tracked there.... where was I?? OH yes! Swimming. At an obviously wealthy Kentuckian's place. How 'bout this for a private pool/yard??


I should have been an orthopedic surgeon.







We kicked back, the weather was phemonmenal (ie. not 1,000% humidity and 100 degrees) and life was pretty good in that moment.

Continued in Next Post....

 

[englishrose47]

Couple of comments I remember from The Blankinstan days your saying you changed the spelling of your name , so I knew it had a different spelling. But for a minute I thought the real spelling was Le Sigh
I think I missed the set in stone dates as I need to know so Ican make sure the People and Places Trip is during that time !!!! That is if you want 10 of us to have a Dis meet with you !!!

 

[englishrose47]

Is that "My Ol' Kentucky Home" !!!! Still catching up

 

[englishrose47]

CHH is a favorite of Carol's and mine ! I love the shrimp dinner !! They have some great choices and the seating is almost like a sit down restaurant I like it a lot !! There that is my 2 cents for what it is worth.. I loved Sanaa too, but I am just not sure the individuals would . Plus with the loss of GAC cards it is harder to park hop or go to restaurants outside the park due to the time it takes. The GAC was soooo wonderful, we could tour the Park with ease and have time to park hop!!

 

[Steppesister]

Of (No) Oompah-pah and Opry​

The last highlight worth sharing, well there were 2, begins with food. This time we weren't so lucky in that department. And yes, I speak with some authority, but not nearly as much as @Flossbolna. But I can take some credit because she has had a hand in most of my self-proclaimed authority to which I'll get to now. A couple of nights before we left, we had the incredible privilege of having my folks treat us to tickets to the Grand Ole Opry. Not the hotel; the REAL DEAL. But we'll get to that momentarily.

First, we had to eat. Because that's what you do when you go to Nashville. Bowling Green has a few okay places to offer, but nothing like the cosmopolitan array Nashville does. Not even close. My folks had been wanting to try a particular German place for quite a while, so they took us here:

http://www.gersthaus.com/





Looks legit so far, no??

Even this is pretty tantalizing:



We walked in at 5:00, but the oompah-pah didn't start until 7:00, by then we both needed to leave and sadly wanted to leave.

The food was just... bad. Nothing AT ALL authentic about it, and I could have done far better in my own kitchen. I ordered the sauerbraten which was basically an extremely dry pot roast with some gravy with added vinagar, and the sausage plate was a HUGE plate of straight out of Johnsonville kielbasa. BLECH. To their credit, the spaetzel was fine, the red cabbage was ok, but the saurkraut was icky. NOTHING like the buckets of great stuff I ate in Nurmberg while visiting Magdalene. Maybe if we'd all had 15 beers it wouldn't been ok, but no one ordered any beer or wine, not even Riesling.

It wasn't a total lost; at least the meal wasn't completely devoid of "entertainment". The table next to us had a couple of mid-20's?? guys and a little girl sitting at it. It didn't take too long to realize that something was really "not quite right" with one of them. He'd visited the bathroom a couple of times, and when his meal came out, it was really apparent that he wasn't just "taking care of legit business". He literally could not get the fork to make the trip to his mouth, was falling asleep in his seat, drooling, and slurred his speech. A ton. Let's be clear, I've seen a lot of head injuries and congenital issues. This was not that. He was totally on something, probably either inhaled or shot up, and we were all wondering if his poor friend was going to have to carry his drunk/high/stoned butt out. It was sad. I felt REALLY badly for the little girl. In short, we were too early for the music, the food was gross, and there could likely be a scene at any moment; we couldn't wait to get out and get over to:



I'm not sure there's enough I can say about how amazing the show was. Even if you don't like country at all, you cannot dispute the raw talent of the musicians on stage. Period. They can pluck a mandolin or banjo faster than a teenage girl can roll her eyes and the voices are like heavenly angels. Yeah, there was twang, but it was pitch perfect harmony. You don't hear much of that anymore without autotuning. The end.



We had a great time, and loved every toe-tapping minute. I think I gave myself a jaw cramp from all the cheesy smiling I did during the show and I'd go back for another in a heartbeat. If you ever have the chance, DO IT!

We were in the front section with awesome seats, but not realizing I could have had my camera and taken photos, all I have are crappy phone pix to share.



Alas, our trip was over and it was time to head home. Of course it wasn't a story-less trek back!! We no sooner had checked in and made our way to the gate when this random guy offered to watch our stuff while I walked across the hall (I could still see my stuff, I'm not a total moron.) to buy some candy and gum. He told me I could trust him because he was "an original Blazer". Ummmm,... ok. "NO, really, wanna see my ID?"(He whips out his driver's license and proceeds to tell me his life story, which was actually rather impressive.

This random guy ends up being Jim Barnett, an original Blazer whom made the play that "RIP CITY!!!" (the Portland Trailblazer's slogan) sprung from. The story is here:

http://www.nba.com/blazers/pemco/origin-rip-city

So not only is he famous for that, he is now the Golden Warriors announcer and he adores his job, his fans, and most of all his family and grandkids, whom I saw dozens of photos of on his phone. We chatted for more than an hour about all kinds of stuff including my school and 2nd career, homeschooling, his faith, politics, etc... he is truly a remarkable person, and it was fun to just sit and chat it up with someone with so many rich experiences.



It was pretty funny though when it was just before boarding, he walked to the front of the A boarding section and asked someone if they'd sell their seat for $100. Becuase he can. To be fair, he has REALLY long legs, and needed the extra space. If I played NBA, I'd probably buy a front seat for $100 too.

The flight went as all flights go. Boring. Long. But I got a ton of planning done on my trip, and that was fun. We landed we taxied. And I saw this pull in right ahead of us:



And it reminded me once again, that I'd just been on yet another vacation that wasn't Disney. Don't get me wrong!! We had a WONDERFUL time, and I truly am grateful that I could see my family, meet Emily's family, was taken out to eat ad nauseum, saw and did things that were exceptionally fun, but I still have my Disney trip on the horizon and look forward to that in just over a year. And I really wanna be on THAT plane.

 

[Steppesister]

Couple of comments I remember from The Blankinstan days your saying you changed the spelling of your name , so I knew it had a different spelling. But for a minute I thought the real spelling was Le Sigh
I think I missed the set in stone dates as I need to know so Ican make sure the People and Places Trip is during that time !!!! That is if you want 10 of us to have a Dis meet with you !!!

I'd love to meet your group!! Our dates are Oct. 10th- 20th, 2016.

Is that "My Ol' Kentucky Home" !!!! Still catching up

Most definitely!!

CHH is a favorite of Carol's and mine ! I love the shrimp dinner !! They have some great choices and the seating is almost like a sit down restaurant I like it a lot !! There that is my 2 cents for what it is worth.. I loved Sanaa too, but I am just not sure the individuals would . Plus with the loss of GAC cards it is harder to park hop or go to restaurants outside the park due to the time it takes. The GAC was soooo wonderful, we could tour the Park with ease and have time to park hop!!

CHH is great! I love their tuna sammie and adore sitting upstairs where you can see outside! I can see how the GAC loss would impact a leisurely tour. Bummer!!!

 

[englishrose47]

Finally the dates .So now I have to figure which dates will fit the best as we do Thursdays thru Tues only 5 days but it is FREE no Special Disney Funds needed !!! Yahooey !!!!

 

[englishrose47]

Will you stop adding things I have to comment on We always make a point to go to The Heidelberg Inn in Queensbury NY when we stay at Lake George , I love the food there. Don't always go with the typical German but they have a mean Liver and onion dinner !!!! I had there Veal Alma one year and it was to die for , but just sooo much food !! It came with soup , salad and 2 sides . I literall y waddled out of there

 

[Steppesister]

Finally the dates .So now I have to figure which dates will fit the best as we do Thursdays thru Tues only 5 days but it is FREE no Special Disney Funds needed !!! Yahooey !!!!

Free is good; free with chocolate is better. And you can take that to the bank. I think Marv and Pat and some others are planning something with us over the weekend. Maybe we can shoot for something with them too?

Will you stop adding things I have to comment on We always make a point to go to The Heidelberg Inn in Queensbury NY when we stay at Lake George , I love the food there. Don't always go with the typical German but they have a mean Liver and onion dinner !!!! I had there Veal Alma one year and it was to die for , but just sooo much food !! It came with soup , salad and 2 sides . I literall y waddled out of there

LOL! Sorry, I was in the middle of updating when you popped on. Funny you should mention liver and onions! I just had some a few weeks back on our way home from Hel... erm, our camping trip. It was ok, but not great. There's nothing like fresh, though. Mmmm mmmm!

 

[pkondz]

It's a story (but isn't everything?)

I was over at my neighbor's place (my high-class wino friend who may score us our last Park ticket and a comped Artist Point dinner) at pretty much drooled over a light blue one she had just sitting in her garage. I guess I ogled enough that she said "just take it". Apparently she snagged it from her mother when her mom passed away and it'd been sitting all lonely like in that garage for months. So, I have a nice NEW blue one in my kitchen now, and have an older white one ready for market. Should net me no less than $80 since it's in pristine condition.

Ah. Well that would explain it. Mine's white... but I wish it was red to fit in with the new kitchen.
Ah, well. I sits tucked away most often anyways.

Either we ran out of touristy things to do, or we just wore ourselves out. Probably both.

I'm familiar with that.

If you like thin crust, homemade sauce, and slabs of mozz, not shredded, this is the place for you.

I prefer a thicker crust, but the rest sounds good!

Does this photo remind you of anything??

Nope! Not a thing!

Actually, that crust doesn't look thin at all.
Mmmm... Margharita pizza...

but since we are expecting an engagement any time, we thought I should make the effort to meet them, and try to make a good impression.

I saw that "try" part and thought, "Uh, oh."

At least I met them.

And then read that.... I knew... I knew! that things would not go well.

Glad I was wrong.

So that's good. Sheep and horses are cool, right?

To a city slicker like me?

Yep.

Their kids are almost exactly the same ages as ours (all 5! HAHA! How coincidental is THAT?!)

That's actually kinda spooky...
Maybe they spied on you before hand.

You know that old joke about not being able to hit the side of a barn? Yeah, my almost DIL almost didn't. It was pretty funny. And, no. I'll probably never let her live it down. (I didn't try. See how smart I am?)

Beautiful shots, Liesa!

We said our good-byes, and I bit my tongue and stopped short of saying, "Hey the next time we see you might be at a wedding!".

But then again, what father really ever is?

Will it get the little freeloaders out of my house?

I like this parting shot with Emily:

Two pretty ladies.

See the joy in my double chin? Or is that too many lemon drops over the summer?

Stop that.
I don't see a double chin. I see two very pretty young ladies who look very happy.

They chose to make Rice Krispy Treats to take to the pool. Because Rice Krispy Treats.

Well.... of course.

How 'bout this for a private pool/yard??

Wow. Beautiful!

we had the incredible privilege of having my folks treat us to tickets to the Grand Ole Opry. Not the hotel; the REAL DEAL.

Nice!

Looks legit so far, no??

You just know it's gonna be good!

Even this is pretty tantalizing:

Jager Schnitzle? Oh, ya.

by then we both needed to leave and sadly wanted to leave.

oh.

The food was just... bad.

Man! That sucks! I would've had such high hopes!

Nothing AT ALL authentic about it, and I could have done far better in my own kitchen.

Really? (I mean about the nothing authentic) Then advertise yourself as something else.
Like an American twist to Germany or something.


Or something.

I ordered the sauerbraten which was basically an extremely dry pot roast with some gravy with added vinagar, and the sausage plate was a HUGE plate of straight out of Johnsonville kielbasas. BLECH.

Johnsonville????? Johnsonville????? Are you freaking kidding me?????

He was totally on something, probably either inhaled or shot up, and we were all wondering if his poor friend was going to have to carry his drunk/high/stoned butt out. It was sad.

Agreed. That is sad.
Too many young people think getting hammered is "fun" or "funny" or "cool".
It's none of the above. It marks you as a loser, IMHO.

In short, we were too early for the music, the food was gross, and there could likely be a scene at any moment; we couldn't wait to get out

Lovely.
Not.

Even if you don't like country at all, you cannot dispute the raw talent of the musicians on stage. Period.

I will agree with you 100%.
There are several things I've seen in my life that I have not necesarily been into, but can appreciate the skill involved.

They can pluck a mandolin or banjo faster than a teenage girl can roll her eyes

Really? Holy cow! That's fast!!!!!

You don't hear much of that anymore without autotuning. The end.

Ladies and gents... I give you.... every boy band ever!!

Of course it wasn't a story-less trek back!!

Oh?

So not only is he famous for that, he is now the Golden Warriors announcer and he adores his job, his fans, and most of all his family and grandkids, whom I saw dozens of photos of on his phone. We chatted for more than an hour about all kinds of stuff including my school and 2nd career, homeschooling, his faith, politics, etc... he is truly a remarkable person, and it was fun to just sit and chat it up with someone with so many rich experiences.

Cool!

he walked to the front of the A boarding section and asked someone if they'd sell their seat for $100. Becuase he can. To be fair, he has REALLY long legs, and needed the extra space. If I played NBA, I'd probably buy a front seat for $100 too.

Well, I suppose that does make sense.
Did anyone take him up on his offer?

And I saw this pull in right ahead of us:

A fitting end.

 

[jedijill]

Glad you got along with the "future" in laws. Their place looks great!

Sorry you had schlechtes Essen. The Opry looked amazing! Fun celebrity meeting on the way home.

Jill in CO