Trip of New Phases, Friends & 40! Updated 8/31 - As If Goodbye Wasn't Enough! The End

[TyRy]

Originally Posted by PracPerfPatricia

It's always a comfort to know what you are dealing with...

I am very glad to know that you are funny, impish evil as opposed to grotesque, diabolical evil...that you are the diet coke of evil...as opposed I suppose to a 64 oz bottle of coke classic...

Exactly

Originally Posted by PracPerfPatricia

and the official travel plans are...

Coming, coming.....

Originally Posted by Flossbolna

I guess you are right about the cranky Donald! Here in Germany the best known Disney product are pocket books with Disney cartoons. I used to get one for long train journeys at the book store at the train station. They still sell them there. There are always Mickey and Donald stories alternating. Mickey usually works as a private detective, while Donald will get into some trouble and always is the unlucky one. The books are really funny and actually written for the German market. Donald is really the best liked Disney character in Germany. There even is a fan club for him which takes things pretty serious.

I'll have to show this to DH. It seems like it's always difficult to get "cranky" Donald stuff here. His Mom was a HUGE Donald fan as well.

Originally Posted by PracPerfPatricia

Hi...

Watcha Doing?

Oh, the usual, cleaning the house, running to the store, making a few plans

We did get the suitcases out and they have about four things in them


Plans will be coming later today

[TyRy]

Sorry this took so long, it’s only what…24 hours before we need to leave or less

Before I get back to the trip, I would like to indulge for just a second and ask all my friends to have good thoughts or say a prayer (your preference) for my dad. He was diagnosed on Friday with Prostate Cancer. We are hoping it’s in the early stages as he is tested every year, but after what happened with DH’s mom, we all tend to panic a bit even though this one is very curable unlike what DMIL had. My dad is very calm – he actually had colon cancer 32 years ago so he’s been through something like this before. We should know more on Friday when he meets with his new oncologist.

Ok – back to the trip. Our minds have been made up and bags are packed


And this is how we are getting to Disney










No – we are not cruising, but have now rented a “boat” for the DRIVE down. Yep, we are driving!!!!!

When we want last night to pick up the car, from Alamo, they had almost NO cars. I’d never seen it so empty. And the couple they did have on the full size, had the worst stench!!!! A porter came by and told us to tell them at the gate that they had no full sizes so we were forced to take a premium. So that’s what we did. Told them at the gate, they said no problem, saw the upgrade in the computer, and off we went in the GIANT car. I’m hoping this does not bite us in the butt when we return it, but I will fight it big time. As we did wait for almost 30 minutes for a full size that didn’t smell gross.

We also stood in line as we were using a Costco discount for the extra driver so I thought I’d have to sign for it. Erich, who was helping us, wanted to know why we stood in line…when I told him why, he said we didn’t have to. That when you rent in Illinois the spouse is automatically covered. Who knew!

As for the car, it’s a Grand Marquis or something like that, all I know is, is that it wouldn’t fit in my garage! It was too long!!!

So I won’t get to pack it until DH gets home and moves it to the alley, but hopefully that will go ok. We’re going to try to get on the road before the afternoon rush and get to Nashville tonight instead of pushing all the way through. We’ll be up early and will still (HOPEFULLY!) arrive tomorrow afternoon, but be a bit more rested.

AND we even get to stay the full time as if we were flying as DH ended up with an extra day off, so I get the full trip and get to drive!!

I’m very excited and we are both looking forward to this trip. OH – I’m eating Zicam chewables like crazy as my throat started that “I’m getting a cold” feeling. Doesn’t help half of my office is sick and so is my little sis. Who I sat next to all day on Sunday at her bridal shower and again on Monday at her house working on the wedding. So keep your fingers (and toes too!) crossed that we will have no emergency care visits this time.

Thanks for reading and we’ll see you when we get back (or maybe an update here and there, but with two BFF’s with me I’m not promising anything!)

[Flossbolna]

HAve a wonderful and magical trip!!

And a safe journey!!

But most of all: I hope your father will get well soon and without problems! I will send lots of thoughts and prayers!!! It's so unfair that this has to happen and then just before that trip that was about celebrating!!

[PracPerfPatricia]

I hope that you have a wonderful magical celebration at WDW and that is everything that you had hoped for...I will be sending you and lots of good wishes...

I'm very sorry to hear about your dad...I will send him prayers and he's in my thoughts...( I hope this helps but so many men as they get-well frankly-older-develop prostate cancer-it grows very slowly...so mostly when you are older and the catch it early you make a full recovery

[TyRy]

Originally Posted by Flossbolna

HAve a wonderful and magical trip!!

And a safe journey!!

But most of all: I hope your father will get well soon and without problems! I will send lots of thoughts and prayers!!! It's so unfair that this has to happen and then just before that trip that was about celebrating!!

Thank you on both accounts, and I'm actually glad he pulled out of the trip because of my sister's wedding. Otherwise, he'd be really disappointed having to do that last minute.

Originally Posted by PracPerfPatricia

I hope that you have a wonderful magical celebration at WDW and that is everything that you had hoped for...I will be sending you and lots of good wishes...


I'm very sorry to hear about your dad...I will send him prayers and he's in my thoughts...( I hope this helps but so many men as they get-well frankly-older-develop prostate cancer-it grows very slowly...so mostly when you are older and the catch it early you make a full recovery

Thank you as well for both things. I'm sticking with it was caught early (by a test and then biopsy) and he shows no symptoms, so it must not be too bad. And with us leaving, he's already trying to have us pick a date to go to WDW next year ...even though DH says we won't. Uh-huh...want to bet who will win that argument

[brookelizabeth]

I missed your send off - but I am thrilled to read your DH got the extra day AND you are driving!

When I read about our dad being diagnosed with cancer, my jaw dropped. Seriously, this is not right. You've already had quite the year! I am standing with you that this was caught early enough and he'll be JUST FINE. Many prayers and thoughts for your dad!!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE the Donald shirts.

Hope you are having a blast at WDW right now, can't wait to hear all about it when you get back!

[TyRy]

Originally Posted by brookelizabeth

I missed your send off - but I am thrilled to read your DH got the extra day AND you are driving!

When I read about our dad being diagnosed with cancer, my jaw dropped. Seriously, this is not right. You've already had quite the year! I am standing with you that this was caught early enough and he'll be JUST FINE. Many prayers and thoughts for your dad!!!

Thanks Brook - he should be just fine, it was just a shock!

Originally Posted by brookelizabeth

LOVE LOVE LOVE the Donald shirts.

Thank you!

[TyRy]

Hi all,

Just wanted to pop in and say, we're back. We have a TON of pictures to go through and need to get unpacked and then back to work tomorrow.

But a few things...trip was great. I think it was our longest trip, yet we didn't do much relaxing. Evil Twin and Red had a great time and I think we've converted Evil Twin from Disneyland to Disney World!

Had the BEST looking cake, and DH had a pretty nice one as well.

And yep - this happened along the way as well

OH -remember the boat that we took off in, somehow that boat turned into a minivan on the way home....what happened? I'll get to it, but everyone is ok and that was the important thing!

[PracPerfPatricia]

Hey Welcome Back...

I can't wait to hear all about your trip when you're ready!!!


I hope that......wasn't too bad.... and that everyone is ok-hope you didn't have an accident in the van...

[brookelizabeth]

Welcome back! Glad to hear you had a great trip!!!!

Sorry to hear about getting sick! I hope it didn't linger too long.

And uh-oh on the change in vehicles....glad to hear everyone is okay though. Never a trip without some major drama, right?

[heaven2dc]

Am so anxious to hear all about your trip! and someone got sick? oh no!!

Another WDW conversion - woohoo! Can't wait to hear Red's opinion of WDW vs DL.

[Flossbolna]

Looking forward to the boat story! And all the other stories from your trip! Sorry that you were sick, but it sounds like a good trip anyway! Hope you ar doing ok settling back into daily life!!

[TyRy]

Originally Posted by PracPerfPatricia

Hey Welcome Back...

I can't wait to hear all about your trip when you're ready!!!


I hope that......wasn't too bad.... and that everyone is ok-hope you didn't have an accident in the van...

Van was great...it was the boat that had a minor problem (well maybe not minor, but not HUGE, except HUGELY annoying!) I'm glad we got to switch as now we may try and buy that brand of minivan...maybe it was fate But much more on that later.

Originally Posted by brookelizabeth

Welcome back! Glad to hear you had a great trip!!!!

Sorry to hear about getting sick! I hope it didn't linger too long.

And uh-oh on the change in vehicles....glad to hear everyone is okay though. Never a trip without some major drama, right?

I think I should just expect that drama from now on, and maybe an illness as well!

Originally Posted by heaven2dc

Am so anxious to hear all about your trip! and someone got sick? oh no!!

Another WDW conversion - woohoo! Can't wait to hear Red's opinion of WDW vs DL.

heaven2dc and that was my thought too - we have converted Evil Twin, my evil plan worked And I'll give you guys one guess as to who got sick!

Originally Posted by Flossbolna

Looking forward to the boat story! And all the other stories from your trip! Sorry that you were sick, but it sounds like a good trip anyway! Hope you ar doing ok settling back into daily life!!

Lots of stories to come, I promise! Trying to get back into work, had a minor surgery a week ago to remove a scary mole on my head which I finally found out yesterday was benign (thank god!) and did I mention that we had two weeks in between us getting back and my sister getting married this Friday, for which I have been recruited as the wedding planner? Phew...no wonder I've been tired.!

First installment (although almost no pics) will be up in a minute...thanks for staying with me

[TyRy]

Our departure day finally arrive! We had picked up the “boat” (otherwise known as a Mercury Grand Marquis) the night before but I could not pre-pack it as planned, as it had to be parked on the street. Why was that, oh only because it wouldn’t fit in our garage! That’s how big this car was. We have a fairly standard garage, but this car happened to be looooooong.

My plan was to leave around 3pm – about an hour after DH was scheduled to get home. Thankfully, DH got off work at noon and was home a mere thirty minutes later. BUT, it then took us two hours to pack the car and finish getting the house ready. So at least part of the plan worked as we left home around 2:30pm. This also meant we were able to miss some of the rush hour traffic and that helped since our plan was to make it to Nashville.

All was going fine, and DH wanted Sonic for dinner since we really don’t have any that close to us. I should say he was determined to eat at Sonic. We were on the lookout for one the whole way down 57….we knew there was one in Marion, IL (near Carbondale where we went to school) so if all else failed we could stop there. Of course, all else failed and we ended up stopping in Marion. We had actually made pretty good time, I think we pulled in around 7ish. We figured we’d be back on the road in no time. Except (you knew there had to be an except ) we couldn’t find the Sonic. We went where we thought it should be, and didn’t see it. Went the other way, still didn’t see it. Tried my GPS and it found it…but it had us go a crazy way where we knew it wasn’t. We finally stopped for gas (first fill-up of the trip…car had great gas mileage) and asked where it was. Ok – I asked, you wouldn’t expect DH to do that would you? Turns out we had just been missing it…DH was so excited! BUT – (yep, here we go again!) it took them forever to get our food, brought DH the wrong thing and we ended up wasting/spending an hour in Marion. So that threw our making good time out the window.

One good thing (for me) was I talked DH into driving all the way to Nashville. I think my knee was bugging me and he was cool with doing all the driving that day. We had actually made a reservation just outside Nashville, a Super 8. We arrived around midnight and were given room 213. These are the only pictures we took that day!

Room from door:


Looking towards door:


I really wanted to be on the road at 5am, but since it was now so late, DH totally balked at the early hour. So I gave in and set the alarm for 5:45am. The Super 8 wasn’t too bad and it was only 60 bucks, but the hallways were actually nicer than the rooms. Oh, and one of the beds had torn sheets in a corner (found that checking for bed bugs.) But it worked for the night.

Tomorrow is a big driving day and I really really would like to make my 7:40pm Chef Mickey’s…after all, they have SPRINKLES for their soft serve ice cream…or do they?

[heaven2dc]

Yay!! Your trip has started! Never have eaten at Sonic - kept waiting for one to come to our area but closest one is 18 miles away and not on the way to anywhere (unless I head south on the interstate which I never do except to drive to work and it's still 5 miles away from work so I never think of driving further south when all I want to do is drive home!)

Hope you make your ADR!!