Denali!

Was up at 5:45 this morning to catch our 7am shuttle to the train station. The train pulled out at 8:15 and we had to be there an hour prior. It’s a good thing the hotel was only about 5 miles from the station. Bob found Cari’s first set of cards (Alaska Railroad) in the gift shop. I’m sure there will be plenty more.

Meeting other travelers is always an exciting part of vacation for me.  Despite being complete strangers there is that common bond of sharing similar experiences, swapping stories of what you both have planned and done. It didn’t take long to start talking to fellow passengers and hear their experiences. Just having a camera in your hand is an easy opening for conversation. Thirty minutes into shooting off the viewing deck of our car and we were friends for the day.

It was drizzling when we boarded and the during the beginning of the trip. The sky was gray and covered with low hanging clouds. Still the scenery was beautiful. The further north we got, though, the more blue sky peeked through. Imagine our delight when we actually spotted Mount McKinley! I’m hoping this was only the beginning of lucky happenings throughout our trip. Only 30% of travelers to the park get to actually see Mount McKinley. The mountain stands over 20,000 feet into the sky and most of the time is covered in clouds. I heard someone say it hadn’t made an appearance in the last 10-11 days. Wow!!! And not only did we see it, there was a beautiful blue sky as the backdrop!

We checked into the Princess Wilderness Lodge (Denali) and had a couple of hours to explore before going to dinner at the King Salmon restaurant. We picked up a deck of Mt. McKinley cards and a beautiful pair of handmade glass earrings for Cari and a sweatshirt for me that has a photo of the Mountain with a “30% club” stamp on it. After a browsing some of the other tourist trap shops it was time for our “6:21” reservation – how’s that for being precise? We both decided on the Salmon Salad for dinner. It had spinach, tomatoes, egg, red onion and goat cheese topped with King Salmon and a vinaigrette dressing – it was delicious! Our server suggested a local Shiraz to compliment our choice and we loved it! We were so sad to learn you can’t buy it anywhere else – it really is a local thing. Blueberry ice cream made with local blueberries was the perfect ending to a perfect dinner!

Denali Princess Lodge – A beautiful lodge with lots of amenities, but the rooms (at least ours) left a little to be desired. It was ok, just sparse. No closet space, no dressers, no drawers, nowhere to put anything. So we lived out of our suitcases for a couple of days. Oh and no wifi in the room. We had to go to the lodge for internet. Which isn’t a big deal except I wanted to upload some of my pictures to Facebook. Not gonna happen tonight.

 It’s 9:30pm and while the sun is going down it’s still light outside. Bob’s been out for probably 20 minutes already. I’m thankful he isn’t snoring yet. I’ve looked through my 200+ photos taken today. They’re whittled down to about 170 after the first cut. I’m actually very happy with the results considering the circumstances – shooting from a moving train among more than a dozen others trying, just like you, to get that perfect shot.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be just as beautiful and Mount McKinley will grace us with its appearance for another day. Tomorrow is our Wilderness Tundra bus tour. It should be a good time of year to see lots of different animals too … crossing my fingers.

And we're off!!!

Our morning started early at 4:15am. We left the house at 5:00am for the airport. After checking our bags and going through security we grabbed a bagel sandwich for breakfast. Our first leg left for Miami at 7:30 and it went off without a hitch.  Once we got to Miami the next two legs were first class. Bob and I were really looking forward to that.  We left Miami right on time and had a 2-1/2 hr flight to Dallas. After topping off my phone and Nook batteries, the Bennigan’s Tavern looked mighty inviting for a cold, foamy, adult beverage. The flight from Dallas to Anchorage was a long 6-1/2 hr flight but it was much more bearable in big, soft, cushy seats. It’s been a long day but we’re checked in and ready for bed. I’m sitting here watching The Weather Channel to find out what’s going on back home with Irene. But that’s it for tonight. Turning out the light …

… tomorrow we take the train to Denali!

Vacation Prep

We were scheduled to leave Friday morning from Norfolk to Miami to Dallas to Anchorage. Ya gotta love those free miles. God forbid should you be able to schedule a more direct path. Anyway, I happened to have the weather channel on Sunday afternoon and happened to hear about this hurricane that could possibly be heading towards Miami - yup, Thursday to Friday time frame. Of course there were many factors driving the path of what would soon be named "Irene." On Monday it looked as if she would be right over top of Miami Friday morning, so Bob called American Airlines to see what the protocol is for changing flights in these kinds of cases. Basically he was told to wait and see. A day or so out is when they post travel advisories and at that point you can change your flight(s) without any additional charges.

So we waited - and we watched. Sure enough, Irene's path shifted and her speed increased. By Wednesday guess where she was predicted to go? Right over top of us over the weekend. Oh boy. Isn't life grand? It looked like we'd be fine getting out of town Friday morning, thank God. But now in addition to preparing for a two plus week vacation, we had to do some hurricane preparation. All the furniture and plants had to come off of the deck, the bird feeders and bird bath had to come down and in general everything that could be blown around needed to be put into the garage.

Leaving our home knowing bad weather was approaching was a very weird feeling. I've lived in Hampton Roads my entire life and we've been through some hurricanes. We have never left in anticipation of one. Thankfully, we've never had one bad enough we felt we needed to leave. I guess it's human nature to stay and protect what's yours, ya know? Not sure how we think we have enough power to do that but still, it's just what we do. And now this time, we had to leave. All our friends, family and neighbors were telling us they wish they were going with us. Knowing we'd have to rely on their kindness to check on things around here was comforting and frustrating at the same time.

(Note: In the end it all worked out just fine. The storm damage in our area was minimal for most people and our house and yard (except for normal storm debris) fared well. Maybe we should leave home for every storm, huh?)

Hollywood

Bob still wasn’t feeling good this morning but not as bad as yesterday so thought he could make it through the day with us. It’s funny, early in the week we were leaving the condo much earlier – we got a little later with each day. I guess that’s exhaustion talking. Cari and I were really excited about riding the “Rock’n Roller Coaster” again this time. I didn’t remember much about it except it was pretty much in the dark most of the way. That’s another ride where the lines fill up fast so we made a bee-line to get Fast Passes. Along the way we passed random acts in the street, Dorma Nesmond (she was a hoot) and Eva somebody with her director. Honestly, I think I could’ve made a day out of just walking the streets and watching those little random acts. They were very entertaining.

After getting our Fast Passes, we headed to the theater to wait for “Beauty and the Beast,” a 30-minute musical performance. As always, the talent was amazing, the costumes incredible and the whole show was wonderful. Surprisingly, I got some decent shots – the lighting was so bad I really wasn’t very hopeful. Once again it was time to eat so we found a little place and got some lunch.

We still had time before returning to ride the coaster so just walked around to see what jumped in front of us. The tribute to Walt Disney jumped. I remember going in there before but, again, there’s never enough time to see everything. It was fascinating to walk through and read the trivia about the man himself and how it all began and see the artifacts preserved from the beginning. Then we were ushered into a theater to watch a 30-minute documentary, narrated by Walt Disney, about his life.

Bob, Cari and I had been through building before (didn’t see the film though) and were still awe struck at the ingenuity and creativity of this man. To think about how he changed the world with his dream and his vision is mind-boggling. To see the beginnings of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy & Pluto – well, it just makes you smile. This was yet another spot we could’ve spent way more time in had we had it. There was so much to see and read, but the Rock’n Roller Coaster was calling our names …

I won't lie, I was a little - just a little - apprehensive about riding it. Not enough to not do it but I did have butterflies. Those butterflies multiplied as we got closer and saw the "limo" take off. OMG, it goes from 0-60 mph in 2.8 seconds. That's how the ride starts. Whew! Alrighty then. And that's also when they take your photo. Needless to say, I lived through it - and enjoyed it! Bob had gotten Fast Passes for all four of us knowing he and Mom wouldn't ride, so Cari and I took theirs and immediately went again! Since we knew when the photo was going to be taken we were ready ... and the result was priceless. One more thing we could cross off our list. :)

While Mom and Bob were waiting for Cari and I to ride … twice … they each struck up conversations with others waiting. Mom talked to this older lady beside her who had such a fascinating story. I don’t know how old she was but I’d suspect in her 70’s. She was there with her daughter and kids and visits Disney quite often. In fact she said she had ridden the “Tower of Terror” just three years ago. Good for her was all I could say. I won’t even ride it – neither will Cari. She said once was enough. LOL She spoke perfect English, not a trace of an accent, so we were surprised as she was telling us she only learned English as her children did. Her parents were Canadian and only spoke French. Said her mother was beautiful and lived to be 87 years old (I think). Said she was married at 15 years old, started having babies soon after and had one child a year for 22 years! Can you believe that? That woman gave birth 22 times! Um, ouch! I can’t even imagine! She still has eight siblings alive and they are all close. Oh and there are 57 grandchildren. I can’t even wrap my head around that.

The timing was just about right to catch the street show, “Disney Channel Rocks!” so we started walking in the direction of the big hat to, hopefully, get a good spot. I didn’t know many of the songs since I don’t watch the Disney Channel very often these days, but still enjoyed the performance. The main stars were paraded into the area on a rolling stage preceded by backup dancers/singers. Towards the end they asked the kids in the audience to join them and they had a ball.

The “Extreme Stunt Show” sounded interesting and fit into our schedule so we started walking in that direction. Thank goodness we got there as early as we did because the stadium filled up while we sat waiting for the show to start. I don’t know what I expected but it certainly wasn’t what was delivered. There was so much to see as the cars darted in and out from different directions, spinning around, burning rubber and squealing tires! I think my jaw dropped at the beginning and stayed dropped throughout the show. It was like watching a well-choreographed dance team, except instead of dancers it was drivers with cars – fast cars. And these drivers knew exactly how to execute their maneuvers, within inches of where they needed to be. I have never seen anything like it in my life. Ramps, fire, explosions, jet-skis and more were involved. At the end of the show they showed the clips of a real movie using the scenes we just saw. It gave us a new appreciation of what goes into filming these kinds of scenes. There are tons of cameras, people and equipment. They way they customize the cars was fascinating. They had the engines mounted in the back and taken all the fluff out so they were light in the front, which makes the car able to spin and maneuver easier. One of the cars went backwards at a high speed during the chase. We watched in amazement as this driver spun around, went up ramps, in between buildings and back out again. I’m telling you, it was unbelievable. Towards the end they showed us what made all of that more feasible – the engine was in the back and the driver was facing the back. Too cool!!

“Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!” would be the last thing we could cram into our day and it was located close to the exit, which worked for us. A “cold front” came through on Thursday and the high temps were in the 60’s. As the sun started to set this afternoon and the winds kicked in it was downright cold … at least for Florida. We just had our new hoodies on and we were freezing! The show was okay. I’d give it three stars out of five. I guess after the stunt show we just saw it would be hard to measure up. There were three different scenes involving stunts from the movie, “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” They picked quite a few members from the audience to play extras and they things they had them do were pretty funny. By the time it was over we were tired, hungry and freezing and we still had to ride the tram to the car, then find something to eat on the way home.

You wouldn’t think finding a decent restaurant to eat dinner in would be such a feat. Obviously it is. An hour after we left the park we pulled into Subway. It was the easiest, healthiest thing we could find. We still had to go back and pack since we’re leaving at 7am in the morning.

Top 3:

Mom - Walt Disney, Stunt Show, Beauty & the Beast

Cari - Rock'n Roller Coaster, Stunt Show, Walt Disney

Me - Rock'n Roller Coaster, Stunt Show, Walt Disney

Bob - Stunt Show, Walt Disney, Indiana Jones

Loot List:

Nada - we're all broke

Universal

Bob started feeling bad yesterday so it wasn't a surprise this morning when he told me he wasn't going with us today. After several attempts to be on our way, we finally made it and arrived at the park about 10:15. I know we've been doing this all week, but it still blows my mind that it costs $14/$15 to park your car for the day. WTH? In my simple logical mind I deduce that if you pay these exhorbitant prices for park tickets, said tickets should include parking ... because how can one attend the park without driving to it - and it you drive to it you have to park your car somewhere! It irks my nerve - my last nerve no less. AND, my point in sharing that was that by the 5th day of walking parks we are nearly walked out. So, ... we paid even more to park! Another $5 on top of the $15 parking fee (which brings it to a grand total of $20) for "Preferred Parking." You'd think that meant up close and personal wouldn't you? Me too. Let me just tell you how far away we still were from either entrance. Well, I guess I can't. I don't know exactly but I can tell you it was a long walk. You know those moving walk ways airports have? Well we had four of those on our journey from our parking space to the front gate. Islands of Adventure was first on our list because Harry Potter World is there. Even if we didn't get to anything else we knew we wanted to see that part of the park. None of us had eaten much breakfast because we had purchased the Dining Plan and were just going to eat in the park. By the time we got through the gate and anywhere to eat it was around 11:00 - so we decided to just find somewhere for lunch. I haven't talked about this but we've also been collecting pressed pennies throughout the park. When we saw this Suess Landing penny we immediately started pulling quarters and pennies out.

Seuss Landing was the first section in our path and we were simply delighted to see so many of the Dr. Suess characters sort of come to life before our eyes. It was just beautiful, cute, adorable and amazing. It seemed at every turn we saw something else better than before. Even knowing Harry Potter World was around the corner (and we were pretty damn excited about that) we just couldn't drag ourselves out of Suess Landing. It was, by far, one of our favorite places.

 We rode The Cat in the Hat, which is a ride through the pages of said book. I think we all could've done without the spinning but other than that it was delightful!

 After going through some of the other shops (and trying on various hats just for fun) we found the Trolley Train Ride. It was just plain cute.

See? Isn't it adorable?

 You know we had to ride it. Amazingly, there weren't that many people there. It was nothing like Magic Kingdom - you were packed like sardines in that place. I took this picture as we wound our way through the line - you can see us in the mirror:

 When we took our place in the "shoot" Mom noticed the following sign:

Fro? No photography? I'm sorry but I just don't understand. This ride didn't take you into a performance, or theater, or anywhere else we hadn't already seen - and photographed. This ride just took you high above the rides and attractions. So what, we can't take pictures of these same things just because we're 12' in the air? Makes no sense to me. And since my camera was attached to my hands at all times, my index finger must have had a muscle spasm or something because here are a few of the photographs I didn't take:

See the coaster in the background? That's The Incredible Hulk!

And look way back there - that's our first glimpse of Hogwarts!!!

All the rides wind you through their gift shop before leaving so you know we had to have a bit more fun shopping and looking at all the fun stuff. Sadly, we knew we had to move on even though we could've spent a lot more time in Suess Landing.

The Lost Continent was next and we walked right into Poseidon's Fury. The line for the show has you winding through the ruins of the Temple of Poseidon towards and under sea battlefield for a spectacular special effects display between Poseidon and the evil Lord Darkenon. The show begins in theater #1. To enter theater #2 you have to walk through a tunnel of swirling water. It was incredible! This particular feature was not an effect, it was real. You could feel the mist from the water. Of course Poseidon prevails and the prisoners (us) are released from the underworld. As much as we wanted to explore the other attractions, the clock was ticking and Harry Potter was just around the corner.

It was so worth the wait! All we could say is "Wow!" over and over again. It felt like you were in the middle of one of the movies in Hogsmeade. They did such an awesome job of reproducing the village. Unfortunately, unlike the rest of the places inside the park, Harry Potter World was elbow to elbow. We would've loved to go into more of the shops and just browse but it was way too crowded. So we just moseyed along and enjoyed it from the streets. We got in line to ride the Flight of the Hippogriff, a mild roller coaster. I think the longest we stood in line to do anything was this ride. I even took a few shots from the coaster. The ride inside of Hogwarts was a simulation and we didn't want to risk feeling sick the rest of the day so we didn't do that. But before leaving Hogsmeade we had to have a Butterbeer. It has the flavors of a shortbread cookie and butterscotch and was so yummy! The guy who poured them for us said that J. K. Rowling sampled over 75 different flavor combinations before approving this one. They still don't have a hot Butterbeer yet because she hasn't found any she likes. We walked through to Jurassic Park, found a bench and sat down to rest our aching feet (my neck and back) and enjoy our Butterbeer. That was definitely one of the highlights of my week.

Flight of the Hippogriff

Buckbeak (the Hippogriff)

View of Hogsmeade from the coaster

 There were a few things in Jurassic Park we may have checked out if it wasn't as cool as it was and we weren't getting tired. The river raft ride looked like lots of fun but people were wearing ponchos and getting wet. It was in the 60's and we just weren't up for that, so we moved on. From there we walked through Toon Town, saw some familiar characters and some unfamiliar. Broom Hilda was one of the characters milling about. She was so cute!! One of the funniest moments was when she sneaked up on this unsuspecting woman resting her eyes. A small crowd of passersby gathered waiting for her to realized Broom Hilda was there. It was priceless! I wish I had kept shooting to capture her expression. Thankfully, she was good-natured about it and laughed right along with the rest of us.

 The Incredible Hulk Coaster loomed in front of us as the last ride before leaving the park. Cari and I looked at each other and grinned. Mom said, "Go ahead, I'll watch your stuff." So we did. What fun! I timed it. It took us 14 minutes from the time we got in line to walking away from the ride. And it was awesome. Both Cari and I said it's the best coaster we've ever ridden. We found Mom chillin' with her iPod when we got back. She was enjoying her new Disney music. She's so cute. If we hadn't been leaving the park I'm sure we'd have ridden it again ... but we still had Universal Studios to try and cram in before heading back to the condo.

Off to start the trek to Universal Studios we left Suess and HP behind. Since we had eaten lunch early, an early dinner sounded good. We walked through the streets, found a little Italian place and got some spaghetti - not good spaghetti but it filled a void. Probably not the smartest idea, but we ended up getting in line to ride Twister. It lets you experience what it would be like to be a storm chaser, showing and reproducing clips from the movie, "Twister." It was quite interesting and informative. Thankfully, it was pretty mild too.

We had walked past Shrek 4-D on the way in but were too hungry to stop then. Since we knew for sure that was something we wanted to do, we started walking. It was worth it. In fact it was one of our favorite things of the day. The 3-D movie puts the you right in the middle of the story where you experience water, wind, moving seats and other special effects.

Mom with Dora

I'm sorry Bob missed Universal and the Islands of Adventure. I'll look forward to going there again and exploring both parks in more detail. There were so many things left we wanted to do and experience. But you can only do so much in a day.

On the way out we stopped here and there to do some more shopping - found a couple of good bargains and started the long haul back to the car - the car parked in preferred parking - the car parked in preferred parking that was still a L-O-N-G way away. Since "Pubix" is next to the condo we stopped and bought some fresh blueberries, strawberries, cheese and crackers. The food options this week had not been the healthiest and we wanted some good food. Bob was feeling some better and joined us at the table for our feast. Exhaustion was rampant. This was our fifth park in as many days and we could feel it. We all were in bed early.

Top 3:
Mom - Suess Landing, Harry Potter / Butterbeer, Shrek
Cari - The Hulk, Harry Potter / Butterbeer, Suess Landing
Me - Harry Potter / Butterbeer, The Hulk, Suess Landing

Loot List:
Mom - Dr. Suess t-shirt, Mug
Me - t-shirt, mug, photo album (Publix)
Cari - hat & Disney cards (Publix), Universal cards, Harry Potter cards