It's Like We Know What We Are Doing

It seems like a vacation isn't really in the works until the hotel has been booked. I've been putting off the hotel for longer than I wanted to. I'm not really sure why. I'm sure part of it was because there was a bit of concern about spending the entire time in Memphis. The other part was that I actually had to pay for this part. Yeah...paying for the trip is always the worst part. Last week Elias and I discussed the trip. "Do we want to just go to Memphis?? Or do we want to go to Nashville and Memphis??" The answer...Nashville and Memphis. This gives us not a lot of time in either place. But it also knocks out two places where we've never been. I think it also is a bit of a relief for the parents. Not that they're particularly worried. But it might give them some piece of mind. So now the real planning begins. The days have been laid out (leave here, stop here, hotel here, leave again, drive again, hotel again, home). The hotels h...

Orlando was a week ago. It feels like I was just there. It also feels like I've been home forever. It doesn't help that I've been sick. The Duffy Crud (as I've been calling it) has hit me harder than I expected. The throat is still sore, but the rest is over...I hope. The leg is still problematic, but the Chiropractor will be visited on Monday. That only means...it's time to plan the next trip. The next trip is happening sooner than I'd normally like. But apparently, Elias and I have a new tradition. Spring Break Trip. I'm not sure how this tradition started, but yay!! I think... This year, it's a road trip to Memphis!! Many people have tried to steer us away from Memphis. "It's not the best place to go." "There's a lot of poverty." "It's not suitable for kids." I'm not sure how I feel about this. I've never been to Memphis. There's a lot of history in Memphis. And it might no...

We Came. We Saw. We Conquered. Then we collapsed into a heap. That's what happens after a Disney Vacation. I may go once a year (or so), but I still believe I have to have every moment planned out. Which is great...on paper. In practice...it's just hard. Saturday, February 12th at Hollywood Studios - 8a-12n The day started the same as the last few. Up early, breakfast of champions, to the park. We had to get there early to go to Toy Story Mania. Cause the lines are crazy. We moved like gazelles and got in line for the ride. 15 minute wait and Fastpasses for later in the day and we were good to go. I'm happy to say I was victorious in both games!! Yes, pictures were taken. No, Scott didn't take the news well. We had decided to go to Lights, Motors, Action and then head out for lunch. It wasn't quite time for the show, so we went to see the Muppets. Bad idea. We were both so very exhausted, so a dark theatre was bad. We didn't completely ...

I was pretty sure we left Chicago to get warm. What happened to the warmth?? Friday, February 11th at Epcot (Center) - 8a-10p This is the day we've been waiting for. Foodageddon. There were just too many places we wanted to eat. We knew it would be hard to resist the lure of the food in World Showcase. But we also knew that sharing was the answer. Before the food orgy, we did have some Segwaying to do. Oh, Segway. I had done the Around the World Segway tour last year. We had both done a Segway Chicago tour last summer. And now it was time for us both to take the Around the World Segway tour. We arrived at Epcot early. We almost had the park to ourselves. Even better, we found out that there would only be five of us on the tour!! Yeah!! There was just one thing we didn't count on. How freaking cold it would be. There was no drizzle like we had yesterday. But man, I wished for the drizzle. This was just cold. And my coat and gloves...in the car. Argh!! ...

If you put a bird on something, it's art!! Thursday, February 10th at Magic Kingdom - 815a-830p I can sometimes be a moron. I know it's a hard thing to realize, but sometimes it happens. Like when a sign says "Location You Want to Go - Turn Right" and I look at it an think, "Here??" Nevermind that you're going to the Magic Kingdom and the road is labeled "World Drive" Nah...I'd much rather go past that exit, cause I'm sure there was another one. Nope. That was 15 minutes of my life I'm never going to get back now. So we hit MK a little later than expected. We still spent 12 hours at the park. Unfortunately, MK day was a little on the gray side. Scratch that. The rainy side. It would go from drizzly/spitty (ok to be outside) to downpour (need to take refuge in Haunted Mansion and The Hall of Presidents). But it was the first day at Disney!! No matter what, we would be happy!! We had done just about everything in ...

Even though I know I'm in the Hufflepuff house. A Weasley could be in Hufflepuff, right?? Wednesday, February 9th at Universal Studios - 830a-2p Harry Potter. Harry Freaking Potter!! We missed HP during last year's trip. By a day or two. And I was bitter then. But I shouldn't have been. I'd been seeing the coverage (blogs and podcasts) about HP. And it wasn't necessarily good news. Not that the section of the park was bad. Far from it. It was about the crowds. The Crowds!! Happily, we're going 10 months (or so) after the opening. And we're going during the off season. Hopefully that'll help us out. There was a bit of a snafu with the tickets, but once that got finalized, we were in line before the opening of the park. The plan was easy enough. We walk through the gates and we get to the Harry Potter section. We would shove kids...trip the elderly...whatever it took to get us to the ride earlier than everyone else. The only proble...

And it was awesome!! Tuesday, February 8th at Kennedy Space Center - 930a-3p We got to the hotel late last night. And as always, it was hard to sleep on the first night of the hotel stay. It also didn't help that Snorey McGee was in the next bed over. But I was the moron that didn't bring ear plugs. The morning started off a little later than expected due to the ticket situation. We were getting tickets from a station and I hadn't received them. But a quick stop at Starbucks started the morning off right. We got our tickets and we started the drive to Kennedy Space Center. KSC was everything I thought it would be. We took a tour that got us close (relatively speaking...we were 3.5 miles away) to the Space Shuttle that was on the Launch Pad. I've known for a while that I won't ever be able to watch a live shuttle launch. And for that, I'm profoundly disappointed. But I was able to see the shuttle on the launch pad. It wasn't a full on view (...

Monday Night - Feb 7th So very tired. I blame Glee. Or I guess I could blame the Super Bowl. Without the Super Bowl, it would have been a normal Sunday night. But because of the Super Bowl, Glee was on. Late. Apparently, FOX did not get the memo that I had to get up at 4a to get ready for the day. And I couldn't NOT watch Glee. That's almost un-American. So I did. I watched. I loved. Then I tried desperately to sleep. I don't know about other people, but when you try desperately to sleep, you never will. Ever. So I didn't. Or at least not well. My biggest concern was getting to the office in the morning. A big suitcase. A crowded train. Snowy streets. These aren't things that go well together. So I tried to take a super early train in the hopes it wouldn't be as crowded. And it wasn't!! Yay!! I also decided that walking the 1.5 miles to the office with rolling luggage was not the best choice. Cab Time!! The day itself was non-e...

The suitcase is out. Nothing's in the suitcase, but it's out. Well...there are piles around the house. There are the bunch of liquids in the Ziploc quart-sized bag. There are the clothes in the laundry. There are the piles of clothes that are ready to go. There are piles of electronics and their cords. All of these things have to eventually be put in the suitcase. They will be...it just might take a little bit of time. Clothing seems to be the biggest problem. The rest of the stuff...I can get past that. Everything's always the same. Shampoo, Conditioner, Saline Solution, Toothpaste. It's in the same place every time. All I have to do is pull out the baggie. But the clothing...that's the biggest issue. I'm leaving 20 degree weather. I understand 20 degree weather right now. But I'm going to weather that can be in the 70's during the day and the 40's during the evening. The problem is that I don't remember what 70 degrees feels...

I haven't been counting down. I normally count down to a vacation. But there was this little storm that came through the other day. Snowmageddon. It was memorable. Snowmageddon trapped people in their cars (not me) and their houses (me). 20+ inches came. And everyone had to deal with the result. It took a day, but things are starting to get back to normal. Sadly, today was mind-numbingly cold. -9, I think. It's the cold that makes me take the shuttle to the office. I don't take the shuttle to the office. But I did today. Because of Snowmageddon and the upcoming Florida trip, I keep obsessively checking Weather.com (and various other websites). How does Monday look in Chicago?? Will I get out of town?? What's the weather going to be when we're down there?? How warm?? How much sun?? Will it rain?? Please don't rain. One site says it's going to rain. The other says it won't. I asked one of my reps today to walk outside and shake hi...