View Full Version : Road Trip Pics and Blog
Hi everyone.
The wife (halfangel/Dev) and I will be taking an extended road trip this Summer/Fall. We hope to hit as many of the 48 states as we can during this time and I wanted to have a place to post pics and info on our adventure. Please do not roll your eyes too much you do not have to look ;).
Dev is taking a sabbatical from working and I am already medically retired so it is a perfect time for us to do something we will probably never have the chance to do again. We are also hoping to get to Ireland at some point for an overdue honeymoon. We were supposed to do that last year but were not able to.
As we travel we hope to meet up with a few MOFOs if we can so if we are in your area and would like to meet for lunch or just say hi hit me up and let me know. I will post our tentative itinerary as we make our rounds and will update as dates/times become more set.
We will be departing Pensacola on May 28th to head to Key West via Orlando and then around the 2nd of June we will be heading back north through Bradenton and then Universal. After that we will be going to Tennessee, North Carolina, D.C. Virginia, then New York, Maine, Vermont, Pennsylvania and then Indiana. These areas are our stopping points but as we travel we will be making quick stops all over the place.
As we make our way around the country we will be stopping at all 4 extreme points on the compass in the lower 48.
North: Angel Inlet , MN
South: Key West, Fl
East: West Quoddy Head Maine
West: Cape Alava, Washington
We definitely welcome ideas on things to do and places to eat so if you have any please send them our way.
A few other well known places we will be visiting at some point:
Mt Rushmore
Yellowstone National Park
Hollywood Sign
Hollywood Walk of Fame
Lake Tahoe
Niagara Falls
The Stanley Hotel in Colorado
Tombstone
4 Corners ( I wonder if Ed Helms and Christina Applegate will be there?)
Redwood National Forest
Golden Gate Bridge
Space Needle
I am also going to try and take some photo ops with my MOFO shirt on in key areas so it should be a lot of fun.
This is a map of our route outline, but keep in mind we are playing things by ear as we travel.
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We are very excited to see places we have never been and to visit places we saw growing up once again.
Thanks.
So cool. I've always wanted to do something like this. I find it inspiring. Can't wait to see the pictures! :)
gbgoodies
05-25-19, 12:12 AM
This sounds like an amazing trip. I always wanted to do something like this, but I just don't have the time or the money.
Have a wonderful time, and post lots of pictures.
Alright we are ready (I think) and are departing on the first leg of our trip in the morning - May 28th.
We are heading out at 7:00 am for Key West. We will be taking our time getting there so we are stopping our first night in Orlando near the Florida Mall. I am a big Food Network lover and there is a place I saw on Diners, Drive-Inns and Dives that I want to try out. Fat One;s Hot Dogs. Not only does it have an awesome name it looks to have some great dogs.
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The next day it is off to Coral Springs and there we will visit Butterfly World.
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After a night there we will head all the way to Key West. We will be staying right in Key West for 3 days then heading back north through the everglades where we will be doing an air-boat tour. After that we head to Bradenton to visit my oldest sister and then to Universal Studios for two days in a resort at the park.
We will also be stopping at random places along the way if something catches our eye.
Guess I better get some sleep. Will post pictures soon as I can. My MOFO shirt is fresh out of the wash.
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We are off , only about an hour late leaving. Not bad for us.
Leaving an hour late is ahead of schedule, as far as I'm concerned.
Leaving an hour late is ahead of schedule, as far as I'm concerned.
I totally agree.
Well we just got to Orlando, not a bad ride. I tried going into wrong room because i read the key wrong, but hey we made it.
;)Well Fat Ones was a bust. They are only a food truck now and not near us. But alas we get to go to Mrs Potato instead.
Empanada heaven baby!!!54541
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Update: Ooohhh the regret, so good but so filling.
gbgoodies
05-29-19, 01:00 AM
;)Well Fat Ones was a bust. They are only a food truck now and not near us. But alas we get to go to Mrs Potato instead.
We had a similar problem a few years ago with a restaurant in Connecticut. We heard about it from a food TV show, and it sounded great, but when we got there it was just a food truck on the side of the road. :(
I would have been okay with a food truck, but they werent rven near area they mentioned.
I know things chane but i double checked same day we left.
Oh well we enjoyed the other place.
Made it to Butterfly World in Coral Springs. Cool place, going to post some pics later.54561
Stirchley
05-29-19, 03:21 PM
So cool. I've always wanted to do something like this. I find it inspiring. Can't wait to see the pictures! :)
Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. :)
I really really enjoyed this place more than i expected. Very tranquil and lots to see.
545635456454565Dev realy doesn't like spiders deas or alive.
Blue butterly liked either my beard or my glasses not sure which.
Very fun place.
Sry for sideways pics doing this from phone.
gbgoodies
05-29-19, 11:39 PM
I would have been okay with a food truck, but they werent rven near area they mentioned.
I know things chane but i double checked same day we left.
Oh well we enjoyed the other place.
We had the same problem a few years ago with a Golden Corral in PA. We called the night before to find out how late they would be open the next night, but when we got there the next night, they were out of business. Apparently corporate didn't even tell the workers that they were closing that location until it was actually closed. :(
Had dinner at Fat Boyz BBQ.
Best damn BBQ ive had in awhile.
I got a "whoze yo daddy" sandwhich.
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So it was a very busy day, but we made it to Key West.
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Got to see the southernmost point in the lower 48. I guess there is a debate about that and is a sore point with some locals. There is a house here that says southernmost house in U.S. and then one right next to it that says southernmost southernmost house. Then there is a private island that is 1/4 mile further south so they say. Doesn't matter to me it is all symbolic and we have reached the furthest we can go so I am cool with that :).
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Dev and I both ate conch for the first time ever today. She had fritters and I had fried, the flavor was really good but the texture was too weird for me, kinda like clam but too chewy. I was told it was prepared properly and that it was supposed to be this way. I believe them because there were so many people eating it and the place was rated the best for conch in the area. Well I can cross that off my list, but I a cool with passing on it next time.
We walked two miles to the southern buoy today and on the way our 10 year old son said we were going to "die at the end of the world because it was so hot. Haha, we wound up taking a taxi back instead of walking, I talked the guy into doing it for $15 instead of $40. Hey I am not cheap but if I can save a buck... I gave him a good tip though.
The sunsets here are about the most amazing I have seen. The only thing that comes close are the ones I saw in Kuwait. They also last forever. We took pictures and then went inside and came out 45 minutes later and still the sun was hanging on the horizon, very cool.
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We are taking a sunset dinner cruise tomorrow and the next day we are going snorkeling.
The waters her are crystal blue/turquoise in places. The beaches are not white like Pensacola, but the water is very clear and beautiful.
US 1 was a fun ride and so far we are really loving this area.
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Some cool 57s parked out in front of the resort we are at. One of my fav cars, I di dnot even know they had them here.
Stirchley
05-31-19, 02:51 PM
I love Key West and, as you say, the drive there is great. Did you not go to Ernest Hemingway’s house (plus cats)? Cool place to visit.
I love Key West and, as you say, the drive there is great. Did you not go to Ernest Hemingway’s house (plus cats)? Cool place to visit.
Funny you ask, just got on to post some pics . We certainly did, it was really cool place. 50 cats total so I was told, all descendants of their original cat. I wont go into a history lesson, but Hemingway had some really amazing times in his life. Definitely played a part indirectly and directly in cinema. I am going to have to give a re watch to many of the films he was a part of in any way.
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One more day in the keys, did a sunset dinner cruise last night and today its dolphins and snorkling.
Will post some pics after all the fun .
A couple days behind on updating but we have been in the Everglades and signal is pretty bad here. Did an awesome airboat tour yesterday and hung out with some locals at a cafe.
Should be in our hotel in Orlando/universal tonight and hope to catch up posting pics and activities.
GulfportDoc
06-03-19, 10:23 AM
...
We are very excited to see places we have never been and to visit places we saw growing up once again.
7thson, I'm knocked out by the scope of your journey! Sounds like y'all are taking a well deserved trip. I sure wish I had that kind of energy!
Wishing you a great time, and will look forward to the photos.
~Doc
Stirchley
06-03-19, 02:38 PM
50 cats total so I was told, all descendants of their original cat.
Wow, a lot more since we were there. Yes, they’re all descended from EH’s cat. Something distinctive about their paws, IIRC.
Never seen a movie made from EH’s books, but my fave book of his is The Sun Also Rises.
Did an awesome airboat tour
What is an air boat?
At Universal today.
Throwing random pics up, will add descriptions later. Great day so far. Short wait on rides.
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Part of the waiting area for The Fast and furious ride. Was a pretty cool simulation Bus ride.
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Damain in Springfield deciding on where to go for lunch, we decided on Krusty Burgers.
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You can ask Dev if they were any good :).
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On the way out of the F&F ride.
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Butterbeer 'stach.
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View from 16th floor in the hotel room
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Visiting Ollivanders in Diagon Alley.
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Damian in front of Minion merchandise.
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This was on the Tiger and the alligator cages in animal park in the Everglades - probably good advice.
gbgoodies
06-04-19, 01:01 PM
At Universal today.
I loved Universal when I was there a few years ago. My favorite ride was the Spiderman ride.
gbgoodies
06-04-19, 01:03 PM
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Minions! I wish they had the Minions store when I was there, but it's probably for the best that they didn't. I could have easily spent my whole paycheck there.
7thson, I'm knocked out by the scope of your journey! Sounds like y'all are taking a well deserved trip. I sure wish I had that kind of energy!
Wishing you a great time, and will look forward to the photos.
~Doc
Thanks, it really is a big undertaking and one that was fairly sudden for us, as far as the decision goes. We went back and forth many times on whether we should do it or not. Things kind of fell all into place for us with finances, time, Damian's schooling, etc... We figured we would probably not have a chance like this again with factors like health, age, retirement, our son's age and more. So we just went for it. I have spent much of my life traveling and I am grateful to have seen so many things already, but rarely through my travels have I been able to enjoy things without either being rushed or it being work related. So we are taking our time and just enjoying everything the best we can. I feel really fortunate and I am happy to have my best friend along with me (my wife :) ).
As far as energy goes, I am limited, but that is why we are taking our time. we have it planned where neither one of us drives for more than 3 hours a day, with a few rare exceptions.
We are just finishing up our Florida leg of the trip and heading home for a few days to get our dogs and they are coming with us for the next leg heading north.
We are a little over budget because Universal is just so much and we wanted a few souvenirs,but we will be camping and staying at a few family locations coming up so we can make up for it.
What is an air boat?
I always called them fan boats but down here everyone called them air boats. They are made for marshy areas and swampland, but also rivers and such. I actually worked (never drove) on one for a few months doing survey work in Indiana after they had an oil spill on a river up that way. It was pretty cool at that time to ride on one, but never got to have fun on it.
The tour we did in the Everglades was amazing. The Captain was cool and we talked him into going pretty fast and doing some spins. ($20 tip helped).
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Stirchley
06-05-19, 03:29 PM
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Yikes, is that real? Tell me that it’s not cruel to muzzle its mouth like that.
Yikes, is that real? Tell me that it’s not cruel to muzzle its mouth like that.
Lol, its a hair tie and they only did it because our son wouldnt hold it otherwise. It was on for like 1 min. She whispered to me that it could break it easily if it wanted to.
Stirchley
06-05-19, 04:07 PM
Lol, its a hair tie and they only did it because our son wouldnt hold it otherwise. It was on for like 1 min. She whispered to me that it could break it easily if it wanted to.
Got it. Thanks!
gbgoodies
06-06-19, 12:54 AM
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I hope that's not your son's souvenir from The Everglades part of your trip! :eek:
I hope that's not your son's souvenir from The Everglades part of your trip! :eek:
Haha, he wishes. He got a stuffed Gator toy.
We are heading out in the morning for the next portion of our trip. We are taking our two Saint Bernards with us this time around.
Current plans are:
Leaving Pensacola on morning of the 11th.
Staying 3 nights in Falls Creek Falls Tennessee camping out.
Then off to see The Biltmore Mansion (https://www.biltmore.com/)in Asheville, N.C. Also visiting some of Dev's friends in that area.
After that on to Virginia to stay at her Grandparents vacation home there and we will be there a week or so and during that time will hit D.C.
Then to New York to visit her family and send our son to YouTube Production Camp - he is really excited about that part. Its a week long so while he is doing that the wife and I are going up to Maine and hitting the west most point in the US and then going to Niagara Falls with a few stops in between.
When we are done there it is back to NY to pick up our son and stay a few more days.
After that we head to Indianapolis by way of Pittsburgh where I hope to get some local Steeler stuff and maybe do lunch with Yoda if timing works out.
From there we are heading to Coldwater MI. to the Capri Drive-in Theater (http://www.capridrive-in.com/Default.aspx)(it was voted into the top 10 drive-ins in the U.S.) I cannot remember the last time I saw a first run movie at a drive in.
In Indy we are doing the largest children's museum. (https://www.childrensmuseum.org/) in the world.
From there we will head home and hit Nashville for a night and see what is happening there.
We should be back home sometime in late July to stay a few days then we head up to Minnesota and then out West.
I will post pics and stuff as I can - we are all really excited. Hopefully the doggies will do okay that long away from home.
20 mins into trip the dogs already had to pee. Sigh.54862
At our camp site, actually get a signal out here. Saw fireflies at dusk, first time I have seen them in many years, was really cool. Was tough getting a fire started cause everything is damp, but we got it finally.54879
Stirchley
06-12-19, 02:23 PM
“Then off to see The Biltmore Mansion in Asheville, N.C.”
IIRC, that is where Yoda’s wife hails from. He may also have told us their 1st date was at the Biltmore, but I may be imagining this.
You remember right on her being from Asheville, though I've yet to visit the Biltmore. That's an interesting thought, though: a first date there! I'll have to tell her about that. Maybe we'll have a date there yet, next time we go back to visit.
What a crazy and fun day. Definitely will be posting more when I can but we hiked 7 mountainous miles to the top and the bottom of Falls creek Falls waterfall.
Very tough for this overweight 52 year old, but we all did it including the dogs.
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Sry for sideways pics again, will fix at some point.5489254893
Okay so my wife told me it was 5 miles, my phone said 7. I dont care if it was 2, it was freaking hard :).54902
Stirchley
06-14-19, 02:52 PM
That’s a long hike over that terrain whether it be 7 or 2 miles.
Not much signal here in Machipongo, VA. Here for a week or so, will catch up when I can.
Trip to gas station an grabbed a signal.55006
That sideways photo thing makes that rock climbing photo look insane. :laugh: I'm like, why are they letting him do that?!
How are the dogs liking the trip?
So I am able to tether to my wifes phone which gets 1 bar. Ill take it lol.
The dogs are loving it, about to take them crabbing with us on the Chesapeake.
Not sure why pics are sideways sometimes , not sure how to fix until i am in front of PCyeah that pic does look crazy that way.
Stirchley
06-19-19, 03:38 PM
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Great photo.
Great photo.
Thanks, it is really amazing how far you can go out and still be in water below your knees. I stopped going at what i would guess is about half a mile.55079
Getting behind a bit on my posts here, but I will make up for it when I can.
Here are a few pics from the Biltmore visit.
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We really enjoyed it there and I will put up some pics of the inside at some point. It is really an fun place and the square footage is crazy, I think they said 175,000+ sq ft.
No way we could see everything. It has two basements, one which has a swimming pool and 2 lane bowling area.
I would definitely recommend it, plan on a lot of walking if you want to see most of it.
There was also an area in the gardens that had a model train running around the whole thing, that was one of my favorite part, lots of great replica models of the whole estate in there.
Stirchley
06-21-19, 02:09 PM
Wow, I love model trains. Definitely looks like a great place to visit.
You’re having great weather by the looks of it. First day of summer here in Connecticut is a washout. :(
A few evening storms but overall yeah weather is great.
2 more days here then a day in D.C. before hitting N.Y.
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Sunset on the Chesapeake.
Started running low on DVD options here in nowhere land so we found an old stash of VHS stuff AND a player. Getting ready to watch these bad boys, our son has never seen them.
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So focusing on the movie/cinema aspect of our trip thus far we have watched quite a few films during the times of the day when we were just hanging around the house. So far we have watched:
Nightmare on Elm Street 1 thru 4 (My wife has always avoided watching these because she thinks she would be too scared. The vacation home (it is her grandparents) here in Virginia had the whole collection of Freddy stuff so we made it through the first 4 flicks. She was more grossed out than scared lol, but wants to watch the rest.
Shrek, Lilo and Stitch, Garfield, Harry Potter 1 thru 4, (Our son's picks over the last 10 days or so).
TAPS, Cadillac Man, Matrix trilogy, Outsiders (one of my fav movies) Finding Nemo (we all wanted to see that one). Saw a bunch of westerns on the Grit channel they get here, Very few channels on the antenna here, mostly religious and Spanish stuff.
Might have saw a few more I cant recall atm, but all in all it was fun sitting around watching old flicks with the family. I had never seen Cadillac Man before myself, or if I had I do not remember it. That damn yippy dog drove me crazy, the best parts were when Williams broke the 4th wall, loved that.
Packing up to head out to D.C. in the morning, it has been great being mostly off the grid, but will be nice to experience high speed internet again.
Limited time in D/C. but I really want to get by Arlington and Lincoln Memorial.
So much to see in DC, saw monument, Capitol, and Lincoln and WWII memorials yesterday. Today we went to Arlington and later the Smithsonian, phewwwww miles of walking but well worth it. I keep having "Designated Survivor" visions.
Dogs not allowed in a lot if places so we take turns going . Love it here.
Pics won't upload right now, but hope to post some soon.
Stirchley
06-26-19, 03:35 PM
Did you see the Vietnam memorial? Planning a White House tour? One thing that’s great about DC (if it’s still the same) is that all the “sights” are free admission.
Did you see the Vietnam memorial? Planning a White House tour? One thing that’s great about DC (if it’s still the same) is that all the “sights” are free admission.
We had to choose because of time constraints, but happy with what we saw. Our next visit we want to do White House, Vietnam memorial and the holocaust museum. Over 12 miles of walking in two days with two dogs, so much enjoyment though. Yeah the free part was great. Just parking which wasn't too expensive.
Some Arlington pics:
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Posting stuff out of order at times, but hey who cares its all the same vacation ;).
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Just got to DC, found a parking spot fairly close to the National Mall (a very difficult feat I might add) and Dev found a vendor truck that matches her hair.
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A very neat place for pictures, We walked from the Capitol to the Lincoln Monument and back. Also lots of squirrels which made walking to large dogs a bit difficult but entertaining.
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Smithsonian Castle, Dev also took Damian into the Smithsonian National History Museum, I dog sat in the van with the AC on full blast.
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So I also posted this pic on FB and my in laws found it funny to make fun of the phallic symbol between us and said it is a sign of something to come. Shheshhh the mouth on those New Yorkers. ;)
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WWII Memorial. I really loved this area, so peaceful yet powerful. Definitely made me feel grateful for our country.
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Cool to finally see this in person, it was so crowded though. The doggies weren't allowed at the top of stairs - the guard said sorry you cannot bring the dogs up here in a very serious voice and then proceeded to say how cute they were.
So we are in NY now at my wife's grandparents house. We are roughing it a bit as there is no water here and a lot of remodeling going on but they let us stay here anyway. Her Mom's house is just down the block where we can use bathrooms and stuff but not enough room there to sleep and the two dogs. I will not lie and say I didn't utilize the bushes at 5:30 this morning though.
We are here for about 3 week and taking one of those weeks to go north to Maine/Niagra while our son goes to YouTube camp here. I love him, but it will be nice to have just adult time :).
I have been trying to wear my MOFO shirt in the pics more often, I should have bought a 2nd one, its hard to keep clean in the hot weather.
I am trying to swing some Hamilton tickets while we are here too, I am hoping to surprise Damian, he really loves the songs from the play and sings them all the time.
Stirchley
06-28-19, 03:41 PM
7thson, great photos. Great blog. Enjoy!
Well im am in the thick of in law visiting time. Help......
...
...
STAY STRONG. YOU CAN DO THIS
lenslady
06-30-19, 06:22 PM
Maybe this will help
WARNING - Do not play this song out loud in a public place- hide in the closet and listen to it on earphones
( not p c but sure is funny)
https://youtu.be/6EN5eJf5h_k
Alright so we are having a great time on vacation and although there have been times when things did not go as planned or the schedule got messed up or whatever, it has been - all in all a great vacation thus far.
But,
In-laws are rough at least mine are. Not all mind you and not always, but yesterday kinda of annoyed the hell out of me. Since it happened during vacation I am going to go ahead and add it here to help keep things in perspective and remind me to be grateful of all the good days we are having.
So the short version of what happened:
We are staying at my wife's grandparents house on Long Island (yes same grandparents that owned the vacation home in Virginia, they have more houses than I do pairs of underwear) This house is being redone/remodeled whatever you want to call it. Mind you this has been the case for 15 years from what I am told. Anyway there is no running water due to a leak and a main drain line issue. Still appreciate being able to stay here beats the $2000+ hotel bill we would have had for the whole time we are here. My problem is with some of Dev's cousins and others but mostly them. One is a 21 year old enabled brat that always bothered me but it is cool I have some family members I am not proud of myself believe me. To set the scenario up - I needed to run to the store to get some minor things so I left to do so. While I was gone Three things happened: 1. My wife's ex was dropping off our son (his biological son) after spending time with him. 2. My sister in-law arrived, she was spending the night with all of us to hang out and play cards. 3. The 21 year old brat (name withheld to protect the guilty)also arrived to drop off one of his many cars in the driveway because he does not like keeping them at his house because all of the are illegal (not registered properly) and he likes to switch tags or whatever. Mind you that he already has 3 or 4 cars here and the grandfather has a boat and other vehicles here, which is of course is his right. Then I show back up with no place to park. There is a party going on next door and the street has filled up, at least in the immediate area. I pull up with stuff to unload and ask if someone is moving soon or if the person (brat) can move at least long enough for me to unload my stuff. He looks at me like I am crazy. Keep in mind he is also parked like an Ahole, sideways in the driveway blocking where I could at least park on the grass which I had permission to do so if needed. He says where do I want him to move too. I said anywhere long enough for me to unload my stuff. I can park further down the road when I am done and move later. He turns his back on me and continues to talk to my wife's ex about god knows what, blowing me off. So I park behind him partly hanging in the road, but I don't care at that point and start unloading. His remedy (instead of waiting 3 mins)- he goes into the back yard and gets one of his other cars he has there, leaves the gate open and leaves in a huff talking about getting a baseball or something. He knows our dogs are back there and they get out and we have to run after them. Thank god they listen to us and come back right away as it is a busy street. Nothing else happened (yet) and I am not going to instigate anything because I just want to have a good vacation and also not put my wife in a weird position. My sister in-law told me plenty about how he thinks he is gods gift to everything and doesn't even know when he is being rude. I mean we re living here for three weeks and he can have some courtesy to his cousin if not to me.
Oh well, wanted to vent a little and I am not even sure if what I wrote is coherent. I am totally over it now and will see him again in a week or so at a family BBQ/poker night thing. It only really got me angry later when I found out my wife initially told him not to park there because I was coming back, so he even knew that. I wont even go into today and hanging out at my mother in-laws house and how uncomfortable that was, but I was very civil and cool headed :).
gbgoodies
07-01-19, 01:16 AM
Sorry to hear about the problems with your relatives. I know how you feel. Hubby's parents live on a round court at the end of a dead end street, and they have problems with their neighbors parking in front of their house all the time. There's plenty of room for them to park, but the street is curved because of the court, so they park at a weird angle and block my in-laws driveway so they can't pull out of their driveway without hitting the neighbors car unless they drive on their lawn. They've asked the neighbors to park closer to their own house, but they just keep blocking my in-laws driveway.
Unfortunately some people only care about themselves, and they don't care how the things they do affect other people. You just have to learn to let it go, or you'll spend the whole time fighting with them.
On a different note, where on Long Island are you staying? Hubby and I got drenched in the downpour yesterday, and just missed getting drenched again today. The weather here recently has been crazy. It's too hot most of the day, and then the skies open late in the afternoon. Fortunately there's a 7-11 on just about every corner around here for cold drinks, and they've been running a great promotion in their app to get 5000 points towards free food and drinks.
gbgoodies
07-01-19, 01:18 AM
I am trying to swing some Hamilton tickets while we are here too, I am hoping to surprise Damian, he really loves the songs from the play and sings them all the time.
BTW, were you able to get Hamilton tickets? I haven't seen it, but it's supposed to be great.
We are in Medford, rained pretty heavy here as well, but not for long. Been pretty hot and most of the residences we visit dont have AC, or they do and dont use it.
No tickets yet, none I can afford anyway.
doubledenim
07-01-19, 06:11 AM
Sounds like a great trip 7, attraction-wise :D Biltmore is truly one of the wonders of the U.S. , it is a standard trip for 6th graders here. I went to D.C. the summer of the Seoul Olympics and it is one of my fondest memories. I would love to go back for the Smithsonian run alone.
Stirchley
07-01-19, 03:56 PM
Well im am in the thick of in law visiting time. Help.
My late in-laws were the very best. They lived 3,000 miles away & couldn’t speak a word of English. Perfect. :)
gbgoodies
07-01-19, 10:39 PM
We are in Medford, rained pretty heavy here as well, but not for long. Been pretty hot and most of the residences we visit dont have AC, or they do and dont use it.
If you like animals, you're not far from the Long Island Game Farm (http://www.longislandgamefarm.com/) Wildlife Park and Children's Zoo. I haven't been there in many years, but I used to love going there when I was younger.
No tickets yet, none I can afford anyway.
Unfortunately that's why I don't go to many Broadway shows either. I recently read that Hugh Jackman is appearing at the Nassau Coliseum in October, but the ticket prices are so high that I decided not to go. Some of the nosebleed seats are reasonably priced at around $40 - $50, but if you want any lower level seats, tickets start at around $400 each, and go over $1000 each. :(
A pretty laid back day today. Went and saw the TWA flight 800 memorial site. It has to be maddening for those families even after so long.
We got some tickets for the new Spiderman movie and are going to see it tommorow. I always like visiting theaters I have never been to.
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Heading out in the morning for the part of our vacation sans 10 year old demon/kid ;).
We will be gone for 7 days and returning in time to see his presentation after attending You Tube Camp (https://www.lavnercampsandprograms.com/youtube-camp-video-production-and-vlogs-philadelphia-pa-main-line-pa-nyc-manhattan-ny-nj-liny-dc-md-st-louis-los-angeles/)
He is very excited, probably more than we are at having some adult time.
Our Northern travels will take us to:
Mystic, CN
West Quoddy, ME
The White House Inn, VT (https://www.reformer.com/stories/do-you-believe-in-ghosts,115954) it is supposed to be haunted, would love to see a ghost. Maybe...
(oh and my wife's maiden name is Brown, if you read the story in the link you will see why that matters lol).
then back to Long Island.
should be a lot of fun, will definitely get some pics.
gbgoodies
07-04-19, 11:10 PM
Our Northern travels will take us to:
The White House Inn, VT (https://www.reformer.com/stories/do-you-believe-in-ghosts,115954) it is supposed to be haunted, would love to see a ghost. Maybe...
(oh and my wife's maiden name is Brown, if you read the story in the link you will see why that matters lol).
then back to Long Island.
If you like haunted places, then you might want to check out Mount Misery Road (http://weirdus.com/states/new_york/road_less_traveled/mount_misery_road/index.php) in Huntington before you leave Long Island. I've always avoided it, but I know people who drove there, and they had such bad experiences that they swore they would never go back there again. :eek:
There was even a movie made about it, but I've never seen it, (and I read that it's terrible, so you might want to skip the movie). BTW, the road is NOT in Amityville. It's in Huntington. I assume they called it "Amityville" to get the "Amityville Horror" fans to watch it.
Here's the trailer for the movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vcxge1tQ60
That is pretty creepy. I love haunted places and think I may get the wife to take me to Hunington when we get back from Niagara. Thanks for the info.
gbgoodies
07-04-19, 11:53 PM
That is pretty creepy. I love haunted places and think I may get the wife to take me to Hunington when we get back from Niagara. Thanks for the info.
If you decide to drive on Mount Misery Road, let us know if anything strange happens. I've heard a lot of very weird stuff that happened to my friends on that road.
Definitely , maybe I will try to get some video too.
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Passing Rikers Island and about to get on Throgs Neck bridge ...on the road again ...
I cant stop laughing at the bridge name.
Stirchley
07-05-19, 02:17 PM
about to get on Throgs Neck bridge ...I cant stop laughing at the bridge name.
Named for the Throggs (two gees) Neck section of the Bronx, which was named for the 1st settler there - a British man named John Throckmorton.
a British man named John Throckmorton.
Hahahaha... even better.
Behind a bunch so just going to post random pics :).
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Marker near the end of an old stone pier, used to be correct border marker for Canada and US in Lubec Maine out on the water. The new boundry is further out, about 200 yards or so and is a bouy in the water.
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My feet in the US and Canada (old Canada I guess)
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Our dog Domino in the motel watching DuckTales,she is upset that we do not get Animal Planet here.
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Sign you see here when you arrive on boat.
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The lighthouse behind us is on the Canadian side.
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Storm coming in from the North
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Low tide. The difference here between tide lines can be as much as 25 feet deep.
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View from hotel room.
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In Mystic, CT
MovieGal
07-07-19, 10:01 PM
Dev and I both ate conch for the first time ever today. She had fritters and I had fried, the flavor was really good but the texture was too weird for me, kinda like clam but too chewy. I was told it was prepared properly and that it was supposed to be this way. I believe them because there were so many people eating it and the place was rated the best for conch in the area. Well I can cross that off my list, but I a cool with passing on it next time.
My daughter went to Venice, FL last January with her boyfriend to see his mother. While she was there, she tried many seafood dishes that we don't get in the Midwest. She tried Conch soup and said it was really good. There were other things as well but I really don't remember them much.
gbgoodies
07-07-19, 10:46 PM
Definitely , maybe I will try to get some video too.
If you want an easy way to take videos of your roadtrip, you can get a dash cam for your car. We recently bought a BlackWeb Dash Cam from Walmart for about $20. It came with an 8 GB memory card, but we bought a 32 GB card for it for a few dollars more.
And it has the added bonus of being a great addition to your car too. Less than a week after we bought the dash cam, the car in front of us was in a minor traffic accident, and we got the whole accident on video. The driver next to him went straight from a Right Turn Only lane, and caused the accident. (We emailed the video to guy in front of us for his insurance company.)
gbgoodies
07-07-19, 10:49 PM
55547
Passing Rikers Island and about to get on Throgs Neck bridge ...on the road again ...
I cant stop laughing at the bridge name.
When you took this picture, you were only a few miles from here. :)
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/FrenchUniqueAllosaurus-size_restricted.gif
When you took this picture, you were only a few miles from here. :)
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/FrenchUniqueAllosaurus-size_restricted.gif
Cool, hi.
Was thinking of getting dash cam, will look more into it.
gbgoodies
07-07-19, 11:27 PM
Cool, hi.
Was thinking of getting dash cam, will look more into it.
I think this is the dash cam we bought from Walmart. It doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles, and I'm sure there are better dash cams on the market, but this one does a nice job for around $20.
Blackweb Digital Dash cam With 1080P Camera And Sd Card (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Blackweb-Digital-Dash-cam-With-1080P-Camera-And-Sd-Card/612706432?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=3795&adid=22222222227132213285&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=239134205011&wl4=pla-391424198096&wl5=9004421&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=612706432&veh=sem&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkLjpvqKk4wIVCcDICh3tFgH9EAQYASABEgIkb_D_BwE)
We loved staying in Lubec.
A very interesting and welcoming place.
I keep wanting to pronounce it like the place in Texas. It is more like Loo beck.
On our way to Niagra this morning with a stop over at the haunted place in VT.
Made it to The White House Inn. Interesting developement - 3 other guests cancled their reservation and we are only ones here. Innkeep gave me key, left and said enjoy. Not even any staff in the big place. I think its cool having it all to ourselves.
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Creepy old lady walking around the place outside. Not going to see what she is doing lol. I know its sideways pic, but shes there :). Wife is not amused, but im sure its someine just looking around.
Stirchley
07-08-19, 05:41 PM
Where is this place? How weird to leave you there alone. They sound super-trusting. Or just nuts!
Where is this place? How weird to leave you there alone. They sound super-trusting. Or just nuts!
I thought the same. I mean they do have my credit card info and license plate info. But still.
It is in Vermont and the place is actually very nice, real fireplace in room and awesome views. I guess they are just trusting or maybe feel confident the other "guests" will watch us ;).
Ok there are bear cubs outside. Wife thinks they are cute and is out there looking for them now.
I said havent you seen The Revenant!!!!!
See if I can upload a picture, I was far away lol.
Ok there are bear cubs outside. Wife thinks they are cute and is out there looking for them now.
I said havent you seen The Revenant!!!!!
:laugh:
MovieGal
07-08-19, 09:20 PM
I thought the same. I mean they do have my credit card info and license plate info. But still.
It is in Vermont and the place is actually very nice, real fireplace in room and awesome views. I guess they are just trusting or maybe feel confident the other "guests" will watch us ;).
"other guests".. perhaps the supernatural kind :eek::lol:
Stirchley
07-08-19, 09:23 PM
Ok there are bear cubs outside. Wife thinks they are cute and is out there looking for them now.
Yikes, that’s dangerous. Mama bear will go mental!
Been exploring the restvof the house. Really cool home and only thing a bit scary was a flickering light in basement and cold spots, but its a basement so no biggie. Creepy old pictures everywhere too. A lot of fun.
Yikes, that’s dangerous. Mama bear will go mental!
I was hiding in room looking out window with a firepoker in hand. Id like to think I would try to save her if mama came, but I cant promise what would have hapoened.
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Easternmost point in lower 48, got the South and the East, two more to go.
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Lots of old pictures around here, this one creeped me out. Something over that babies shoulder I swear.
lenslady
07-09-19, 01:02 AM
Jeepers Creepers - this part of the trip is haunted!!!
Alooonnnneeee in a big empty house with a strange old lady creeping around in the bushes !!! Lights flickering in the basement and cold spots in the floor!!!! Ghosts d ya hear me !!!! Haunted spirits !!!! What ' s that creaking sound ya hear???
And then - bears!!!!! And no kidding; a mama bear defending her cubs is more scary than that Bates motel you were staying in. Brrrrrrrrrr.
I guess ya got two big old dogs to defend y'all . But if the next place you stay in has a caretaker who bears an uncanny resemblance to Jack Nicholson, sitting in an armchair with an ax and watching Johnny Carson reruns- I say:
Get out!!!!!! Get out while you can!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!
( ;) )
gbgoodies
07-09-19, 01:13 AM
So you were left alone in a haunted inn with nobody around except a mysterious old lady walking around outside, bear cubs, creepy pictures, and things that go bump in the night?
I give you a lot of credit for staying there. I probably would have left before the staff did. :eek:
MijaFrost
07-09-19, 02:11 AM
Do you see any cameras in the inn? It would explain why they are fine just leaving you there alone.
Did you have to pay a large security deposit?
Do you see any cameras in the inn? It would explain why they are fine just leaving you there alone.
Did you have to pay a large security deposit?
No cameras that we saw, but those things can be hidden easily.
Nothing really happened overnight, we all actually slept really well. If anything is lurking around here they must have liked us.
We got a little scare this morning when we heard footsteps upstairs. But it was someone doing an early check in.
https://youtu.be/fQ1fcdt0KRg
Made a video, nothing too exciting. The talking in background is my wife on speakerphone.
MijaFrost
07-09-19, 09:54 PM
It was interesting to see what the basement looks like. If nothing else, it sounds like a fun experience to stay there. It makes it exciting when it seems like it's kinda haunted, lol. I've stayed at hotels like that before too...
A fun video of my dogs outside the hotel in VT.
I call it "The Standoff".
https://youtu.be/tdCupa5GmOU
Niagra Falls are awesome, spent most of the day there and doggies were in day care. After the Falls we went to the casino and had a great buffet and gambled a little. I won some at craps and Dev lost some at slots, overall we broke even, but it was a lot of fun just chilling.
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rauldc14
07-10-19, 09:44 PM
This seems like an insane vacation to go on. But it's cool that you got the time to do this, truly not many people will be able to do something like this.
I've said before, but it's certainly a goal for me to hit all 50. I'm 31 years old and I'm up to 23. Once I make my way to that New England area that will help knock quite a few out. I really haven't been east much minus a Florida road trip and Ohio if that counts.
This seems like an insane vacation to go on. But it's cool that you got the time to do this, truly not many people will be able to do something like this.
I've said before, but it's certainly a goal for me to hit all 50. I'm 31 years old and I'm up to 23. Once I make my way to that New England area that will help knock quite a few out. I really haven't been east much minus a Florida road trip and Ohio if that counts.
It really is crazy, I wont lie, but crazy in totally a good way. I went back and forth on saving money or doing the vacation. I settled for saving some and doing the vacation anyway. It took a lot of planning and family helping out with places to stay or us camping in places. Also scoured and researched different rewards plans, military discounts, etc... we got a mini fridge that works in the van so on the longer driving trips we save on food.
Its been an exciting and fun adventure so far with people I love, cant ask for anything better in life, and we still have so many places left.
Plus I got to meet Batman and some guy in red and blue tights.
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You have a really good start and yeah the East coast is easy for less driving and getting to places quicker. I had no idea how beautiful Maine was going to be, definitely want to return one day. As far as "counting" I think it depends on how you look at it. One can drive through a state without really experiencing what it has to offer. I am fortunate to have the time to take things slow.
rauldc14
07-10-19, 10:30 PM
My 23 doesn't really include too many drive bys. I guess the only drive thrus for me would be Wyoming and Nebraska.
Maine is high on my list for Acadia National Park. Hopefully within 10 years.
Was just told my last pic was flipped. Damn that's new, maybe it is Bizarro world.
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I think I will leave it lol, thanks again GB.
Until I can get in front of a regular computer I am going to have to deal with the flipped,sideways, upside down pics. I know what is causing it and cant do much (easily) on my phone to fix it. Sry :(
My 23 doesn't really include too many drive bys. I guess the only drive thrus for me would be Wyoming and Nebraska.
Maine is high on my list for Acadia National Park. Hopefully within 10 years.
I really waned to go there as well, it was originally on my list but was not able to include it due to one of the few time constraints we have on the vacation. Hope you get to see it in the near future.
gbgoodies
07-10-19, 10:56 PM
Niagra Falls are awesome, spent most of the day there and doggies were in day care. After the Falls we went to the casino and had a great buffet and gambled a little. I won some at craps and Dev lost some at slots, overall we broke even, but it was a lot of fun just chilling.
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I see you braved the Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls. I've watched the boat a few times, but I was never brave enough to go on it. How badly drenched did you get?
rauldc14
07-10-19, 11:05 PM
Are any national parks on your radar for later 7thson?
I see you braved the Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls. I've watched the boat a few times, but I was never brave enough to go on it. How badly drenched did you get?
It was not too bad really had to be careful with the phone, but the poncho kept us dry pretty much. The Cave of the winds however...
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gbgoodies
07-10-19, 11:16 PM
It was not too bad really had to be careful with the phone, but the poncho kept us dry pretty much. The Cave of the winds however...
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I'm not brave enough to go that close to the falls, but that looks amazing, especially on a very hot day.
Are any national parks on your radar for later 7thson?
Quite a few:
Yellowstone
Yosemite
Grand Canyon
Great Smokey Mountains
Death Valley
Everglades (already been there)
Redwood
and Gila national Forest
We may try to hit a few more depending on how traveling and timing goes, but these are definitely on the list.
On our way back to Long Island this morning. Going to stop at Watkins Glen State park to break up the long drive and then spend a few more days with the in laws (yay).
They are having a poker game Saturday night after a bbq so maybe I can take some of their money at least.
GulfportDoc
07-11-19, 10:01 AM
Niagra Falls are awesome, spent most of the day there and doggies were in day care. After the Falls we went to the casino and had a great buffet and gambled a little. I won some at craps and Dev lost some at slots, overall we broke even, but it was a lot of fun just chilling. ...
I'm sure you heard about the guy who went over the Falls the other day, and survived relatively unharmed! Having been there, you could certainly appreciate how unlikely that would be...:(
https://buffalonews.com/2019/07/09/man-apparently-goes-over-niagara-falls-survives/
~Doc
I'm sure you heard about the guy who went over the Falls the other day, and survived relatively unharmed! Having been there, you could certainly appreciate how unlikely that would be...:(
https://buffalonews.com/2019/07/09/man-apparently-goes-over-niagara-falls-survives/
~Doc
We did, everone was talking about it, pretty wild.
gbgoodies
07-11-19, 10:59 PM
7thson, Are you going to be anywhere near the area of Lancaster, PA? If so, there are a couple of restaurants that I highly recommend. They're not cheap, but they're worth every penny.
Yoder’s Restaurant & Buffet (http://www.yoderscountrymarket.com/restaurant/restaurant-information/) has the best breakfast buffet ever. In addition to a normal buffet where you take your food from the buffet bar, they also have a grill where they make fresh eggs, pancakes, crepes, etc. (I had a Nutella crepe on top of a banana pancake, and it was the most amazing breakfast I've ever eaten!)
Shady Maple Smorgasbord (https://www.shady-maple.com/smorgasbord) is easily the largest buffet I've ever seen. They have a full buffet bar, plus 5 or 6 grills with fresh-made burgers, hot dogs, steak, fish, etc. They have a variety of fresh-baked breads, plus a full drink bar, (with sodas, juices, milks, teas, and even slushes), a second smaller drink bar in the center of the dining room, (which is HUGE), and a full dessert bar.
Both of these restaurants offer a free meal on your birthday. (Just show them your driver's license.) Make sure you check their web sites for hours because as I recall, they both keep short hours, and I think Shady Maple is closed on Sundays.
Those both sound incredible, I know we are driving through Harrisburg so we kight be able to swing by that way. Thanks for the suggestions I will let you know if we are able to go.
rauldc14
07-12-19, 09:59 AM
Are you going to Wisconsin on this trip 7thson?
Stirchley
07-12-19, 02:26 PM
https://buffalonews.com/2019/07/09/man-apparently-goes-over-niagara-falls-survives/
Quoting from the article: He said some people have suggested his city should build fences and walls around the falls to prevent suicide attempts there.
Ssssh, don’t tell Donald Trump.
Austruck
07-12-19, 05:38 PM
Great that you're wearing not only the MoFo shirt but a Steelers hat as well. Are you headed through/toward Pittsburgh at all, or did I miss that portion of our regularly scheduled program already in progress?
Obviously Yoda would love to meet you... and I wouldn't mind tagging along to say howdy too. :)
Great that you're wearing not only the MoFo shirt but a Steelers hat as well. Are you headed through/toward Pittsburgh at all, or did I miss that portion of our regularly scheduled program already in progress?
Obviously Yoda would love to meet you... and I wouldn't mind tagging along to say howdy too. :)
Yeah we definitely are. Trying to get to the Heinz Museum while we are there. Looks like it we will be there all day on the 17th of this month and already talked to him about getting together so hopefully we can make it work. The wife and I would love to meet you guys.
Just secured a hotel in the downtown area, or at least that's what it tells us :).
Trying to get a doggy day care to take the dogs for us when we go to museum, any recommendations or do you know anyone that can give suggestions?
Thanks either way :).
Quoting from the article: He said some people have suggested his city should build fences and walls around the falls to prevent suicide attempts there.
Ssssh, don’t tell Donald Trump.
Doubt that would prevent it, there are so many areas to go over the falls,you can jump in upstream and just flow your way over.
Are you going to Wisconsin on this trip 7thson?
Funny you ask we were just looking at what to do there after we visit Minnesota for some fishing way up at the Northern most point of lower 48.
Would love to do a drive in theater, and a cheese factory but definitely open to suggestions.
Stirchley
07-12-19, 07:11 PM
Doubt that would prevent it, there are so many areas to go over the falls,you can jump in upstream and just flow your way over.
I was just being facetious. :)
GulfportDoc
07-12-19, 08:41 PM
Great that you're wearing not only the MoFo shirt but a Steelers hat as well. Are you headed through/toward Pittsburgh at all, or did I miss that portion of our regularly scheduled program already in progress?
Obviously Yoda would love to meet you... and I wouldn't mind tagging along to say howdy too. :)
I'm an old Pittsburgher myself. Yins goin' dahntahn??? Haven't been back to the burgh since 1991. It's probably the friendliest big city in the U.S...:) Go Bucs!!
~Doc
Austruck
07-12-19, 08:51 PM
Yeah we definitely are. Trying to get to the Heinz Museum while we are there. Looks like it we will be there all day on the 17th of this month and already talked to him about getting together so hopefully we can make it work. The wife and I would love to meet you guys.
Just secured a hotel in the downtown area, or at least that's what it tells us :).
Trying to get a doggy day care to take the dogs for us when we go to museum, any recommendations or do you know anyone that can give suggestions?
Thanks either way :).
I can ask. Give me a zip code for your hotel. That'll help when I ask dog-owning friends what they recommend.
Austruck
07-12-19, 08:52 PM
I'm an old Pittsburgher myself. Yins goin' dahntahn??? Haven't been back to the burgh since 1991. It's probably the friendliest big city in the U.S...:) Go Bucs!!
~Doc
It's definitely known for its hometown feel. I heard it referred to once as the city of neighborhoods. Considering Mister Rogers is a Pittsburgh guy, that totally makes sense. And the sports team song that's been popular since I first moved here in the early '80s is "We Are Family." <3 Love the 'Burgh!
rauldc14
07-12-19, 09:31 PM
Funny you ask we were just looking at what to do there after we visit Minnesota for some fishing way up at the Northern most point of lower 48.
Would love to do a drive in theater, and a cheese factory but definitely open to suggestions.
If you want a little something to do maybe hit up Wisconsin Dells, depending on when you would make it there. I'd say Apostle Islands but that's way up there and probably wouldn't make sense to drive all that way.
My state is good as far as living day to day but a pretty boring vacation state.
I can ask. Give me a zip code for your hotel. That'll help when I ask dog-owning friends what they recommend.
So it looks like 15222 is zip. But anything relatively close works. If we cant find one we we will just take turns going in to museum, we are used to it. TY.
:eek:If you want a little something to do maybe hit up Wisconsin Dells, depending on when you would make it there. I'd say Apostle Islands but that's way up there and probably wouldn't make sense to drive all that way.
My state is good as far as living day to day but a pretty boring vacation state.
Just looked up Apostle Islands, they look cool. Going to look closer at going there.
TY.
Austruck
07-13-19, 03:03 AM
So it looks like 15222 is zip. But anything relatively close works. If we cant find one we we will just take turns going in to museum, we are used to it. TY.
Yup, that's downtown ("dahntahn"). I asked my local friends on Facebook if they have any reliable, reasonable recommendations. Will report back when I get responses...
Yup, that's downtown ("dahntahn"). I asked my local friends on Facebook if they have any reliable, reasonable recommendations. Will report back when I get responses...
Thanks much.
So Watkins Glen turned out to be a beautiful place. There are so many astonishing places our country has thst I have never even heard of before. My wife picked out this spot on a whim to help break up the long drive from Niagra to Long Island. It has a gourge that has many different waterfalls along it and the hike takes you right next to and across some spectacular views. As far as size and popularity goes comparing it to Niagra its not much, but as far as beauty and having the ability to connect one with nature it is right ip there with any place we have been.
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So tonight we head out to Mt. Misery Road. Should be a lot of "fun".
gbgoodies
07-14-19, 10:16 PM
So tonight we head out to Mt. Misery Road. Should be a lot of "fun".
I've heard so many stories about Mt. Misery Road over the years that I'm not sure whether hoping you "have fun" there is good or bad. Let us know if anything strange happens while you're there, (or maybe even shortly after you leave there). :eek:
Heading back now, couple of creepy things happened but nothing too alarming. Well my son was scared pretty bad and our puppy acted very weird. Will post about it all when I am back to house.55835
Alright so tonight we went to Mt Misery Road and Sweet Hollow Road in Huntington,i n Long Island, NY.
It was mentioned by gbgoodies (thank you) and I read up on it and even though my wife is from Long Island she never really heard about it other than the car rolling uphill in neutral thing.
We got a late start. I wanted to get there around dusk, but it was already dark. It was actually hard to find and the GPS was all screwed up about where we had to go, but we made it finally at around 9:00 pm. I have to say the whole area felt a little weird to me and I do not mean in a creepy way, but in a way that is hard to explain. You can definitely feel and see the history. The two roads (and many others in that area) were very narrow and winding as well as dark, in most places there were no street lamps.
We drove the area first then stopped at a dead end on Misery Road and got out and walked the trail there. Right off the bat things were a bit scary do to it being pitch black and us only having our phones for light. We had to climb over a fallen tree to access the trail there and we had our dogs with us so that was not too easy. The ground was mucky and smelled a bit. I do have to be honest, I was not really that scared. Not because I am a bad ass or anything, but I did not get an uneasy feeling, and I have had those type of feelings in other places. Anyway when we first started it felt like any other trail one would walk at night. Then our puppy began to make weird noises that he has never made before. Whines and yelps and I initially though he had hurt himself. He would look into the forest and whine, sensing or seeing something we could not see. He was definitely scared or at least uneasy. This made my wife and I uneasy as well as my son who got pretty scared. Not one to torture our kids or animals we only went a little further then turned around and headed back to the van.
I had taken quite a few pictures and a couple videos of the area and on the way home I was looking at them. There is one I do not remember taking, but I m absent minded so no big deal, but the picture is weird and I have no idea what it is.
So yeah a little disconcerting, but nothing that cant be explained. maybe there was a raccoon or other animal in the woods that got the dogs attention, maybe I accidentally clicked my camera button while climbing over the log.
All in all I had a lot of fun though, I would recommend anyone that likes this sort of thing to go here if they have the chance. I definitely understand why it is a well known supposedly haunted area.
We did try putting out van in neutral when parked at the "hill" it dint move up or down, but the hill is not steep. We also did the part where you face a bridge with your car and turn out the headlights, then turn them back on and you are supposed to see teenagers hanging there. They were a group that committed suicide there by hanging themselves. We did not see anything, but let me tell you those seconds when the lights are off and that moment when you turn them on to look will raise a few goosebumps.
I would love to go back during the day one time and go searching for the old asylum that is supposed to be out in the wood there somewhere. Maybe next time we make it up this way we can do that.
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Our son Damian and our puppy D'Artangan did not like being on the trail at the end of the road.
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Driving slowly down Misery Rd.
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Weird picture I do not remember taking. If I had to guess it is my wife walking in front of me , the only weird thing is that the picture before and after this on in my camera were not when we were walking on the trail and we never got out other than that...
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Just me taking a selfie when the break lights were on.
__
So here is a video I took while walking the trail. My wife mentions there being no bird sounds, right before we got on the trail you could hear birds. I am thinking maybe we just scared them, but it was eerily quiet for a forest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OfggnjozT8
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They were glad to be back in the van and the puppy snuggled with Damian the whole ride home, he never does that.
gbgoodies
07-15-19, 01:45 AM
I'm glad that you enjoyed Mt. Misery Rd, and that you made it back okay, but it sounds like your dog sensed something strange might have been going on while you were there.
The picture that you don't remember taking looks like something out of a found footage horror movie. It's so dark and creepy. :eek:
Most people can think up logical explanations for weird things that happen there, but just the fact that so many strange things happen there that have to be explained is enough to keep me away from that road forever.
Off to Lancaster, PA in the morning to stop over for lunch at Shady Maple Smorgasbord that was recommended by gbgoodies (tyvm) and the on to Pittburgh to visit the Heinz History Center and do a late lunch with Yoda. Should be a fun time.
We may try to squeeze in a visit to the Mutter Museum (http://muttermuseum.org/) in Philly on the way to Kalamazoo.
We were going to do a drive in theater in Mich. But are visiting one of Devs cousins instead and go fishing on Lake Mich. We are going to hit up a drive in out west later in the trip instead.
gbgoodies
07-16-19, 12:21 AM
Off to Lancaster, PA in the morning to stop over for lunch at Shady Maple Smorgasbord that was recommended by gbgoodies (tyvm) and the on to Pittburgh to visit the Heinz History Center and do a late lunch with Yoda. Should be a fun time.
We may try to squeeze in a visit to the Mutter Museum (http://muttermuseum.org/) in Philly on the way to Kalamazoo.
We were going to do a drive in theater in Mich. But are visiting one of Devs cousins instead and go fishing on Lake Mich. We are going to hit up a drive in out west later in the trip instead.
Enjoy your lunch at Shady Maple. :)
I haven't been to a drive-in theater in years. The last one I went to was in PA. It was in The Poconos, and we saw a double-feature of Hellboy and Van Helsing during a lightning storm. (The lightning storm was a nice addition to those two movies. :))
At Shady Maple, its flipping huge. Have to leave van running with ac for doggues and we are taking turns checking on them. Food is really good too.55904
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So good it turned me sideways ;).
gbgoodies
07-16-19, 10:13 PM
At Shady Maple, its flipping huge. Have to leave van running with ac for doggues and we are taking turns checking on them. Food is really good too.
So good it turned me sideways ;).
Glad to hear you enjoyed Shady Maple. Have you ever seen such a big buffet?
I hope you snuck some food out for the dogs. :lol:
Glad to hear you enjoyed Shady Maple. Have you ever seen such a big buffet?
I hope you snuck some food out for the dogs. :lol:
Yeah, there are a couple casinos that come close, but it beats them out in size. The parking lot is like Walmarts. Im glad they numbered the tables I might not have found it otherwise.
We thought about sneaking some for dogs but the sign that warned doing so is shoplifting worked :).
Made it to Pittsburg, or Delmont really, but we are in for the night and looking forward to tomorrow.
gbgoodies
07-16-19, 10:37 PM
Yeah, there are a couple casinos that come close, but it beats them out in size. The parking lot is like Walmarts. Im glad they numbered the tables I might not have found it otherwise.
We thought about sneaking some for dogs but the sign that warned doing so is shoplifting worked :).
Made it to Pittsburg, or Delmont really, but we are in for the night and looking forward to tomorrow.
Yeah, there are several places to enter and leave the buffet area, so we kind of "lost" our table a few times too, but luckily we weren't too far from the buffet, so we were able to locate it pretty fast. :lol:
Hubby and I drove from NY to Florida a few years ago, and we had two rabbits at the time that had to stay in the car whenever we stopped to eat, so I understand what you're going through with the dogs. Fortunately it's a little bit easier with rabbits because they don't eat much, so we just asked permission to bring a little bit of veggies out to them, and most managers just let us do that, (in some cases under the condition that we let them see the bunnies).
I had rabbits as a kid but never traveled with them, that must have been fun
Yeah we planned this part of the trip to be with the dogs. For the most part it has been great and the stuff we did in many areas is dog friendly. We stop back home in about a week and they will be staying there with my sister when we head out again.55924
The price of gas in PA is too high, that is all.
;)
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Austruck
07-17-19, 12:12 PM
Sorry you're getting our crappy, rainy weather today, 7thson. Honestly, the past few days have been gorgeous up here where I am, so to see the deluge out my office window this morning is a bit disheartening (except I don't have to mow the grass). :)
Take lots of pictures with Yoda!!
Yeah, we'll be walking a bit this afternoon, but there should be places to duck into. Might bring an umbrella just to be safe. Looks like the worst of it'll be a little later, thankfully. Nothing here yet though.
Sorry you're getting our crappy, rainy weather today, 7thson. Honestly, the past few days have been gorgeous up here where I am, so to see the deluge out my office window this morning is a bit disheartening (except I don't have to mow the grass). :)
Take lots of pictures with Yoda!!
At least its cooler, and we will thank you!!!
Stirchley
07-17-19, 03:33 PM
I haven't been to a drive-in theater in years.
This is one American thing I have never done.
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We had a great time meeting you today Chris. Thanks so much for lunch.
We both had the Roethlisberger at Peppi's, it was delicious.
Ah, he beat me to it! And it's not even sideways! Killin' it today.
Was so great to meet you guys, glad you dug the place, hope you didn't get rained on too bad afterwards! Always great to meet another MoFo, and this was our first multi-shirt out of town meetup, too.
Ah, he beat me to it! And it's not even sideways! Killin' it today.
Was so great to meet you guys, glad you dug the place, hope you didn't get rained on too bad afterwards! Always great to meet another MoFo, and this was our first multi-shirt out of town meetup, too.
Haha, I didnt post anything in the personal pic thread yet ;).
The rain wasnt bad at all, thanks again.
The History Center was really fun, and the sports exhibit has so much I could have spent the whole day just there. Also saw a few other exhibits: Vietnam War, Mister Rodger's, Heinz Ketchup, and the Discovery Center.
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Otw to Kalamazoo, enjoyed Pittsburgh a lot. I even got a new cap.55966
Austruck
07-17-19, 07:19 PM
Oh, you took them to Peppi's! Is this the one on the North Side that we went to the day we delivered the kittens to their temporary location a few years ago? Such a great choice!!
Oh, you took them to Peppi's! Is this the one on the North Side that we went to the day we delivered the kittens to their temporary location a few years ago? Such a great choice!!
Wish you coukd have joined, but yes it was really good. I
have to try other menu items next visit.
Oh, you took them to Peppi's! Is this the one on the North Side that we went to the day we delivered the kittens to their temporary location a few years ago? Such a great choice!!
Nah, this was a third one, on Penn, that I actually didn't even know existed. I told Courtney where I was meeting them and she mentioned there was one there. So this is the third I've been to (the sandwich tastes exactly as good at all of them).
Austruck
07-17-19, 09:07 PM
Three? We are truly blessed in the 'Burgh. :D
The angel half of halfangel ;).55974
Or is it...
So this is the third I've been to (the sandwich tastes exactly as good at all of them).
I need the recipe for that sandwhich, you might have to eat more to help me figure it out.
lenslady
07-17-19, 11:02 PM
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We had a great time meeting you today Chris. Thanks so much for lunch.
We both had the Roethlisberger at Peppi's, it was delicious.
I just LOVE that you guys met! I can't even find he words to say how much it gladdens my heart - well, the picture says it all.
How many forums have this kind of camaraderie ?
( And a free lunch too.:) )
Things like this just make me happy to be here.
( And even tho I wasn't there in person, I DID get rained on today - are we mofos a team or what?)
I just LOVE that you guys met! I can't even find he words to say how much it gladdens my heart - well, the picture says it all.
How many forums have this kind of camaraderie ?
( And a free lunch too.:) )
Things like this just make me happy to be here.
( And even tho I wasn't there in person, I DID get rained on today - are we mofos a team or what?)
I agree, so happy to be a part of this place. The free lunch was great, its funny because I kept telling my wife that we were going to buy him lunch, but he mentioned the outstanding offer hes had for so long so I couldn't mess that up.
GulfportDoc
07-18-19, 11:19 AM
We had a great time meeting you today Chris. Thanks so much for lunch.
...
We both had the Roethlisberger at Peppi's, it was delicious.
Wonderful picture of you and Yoda, and also of Yoda and Mrs. 7thson! She looks a lot like my daughter!
It's the first time I've seen a picture of Yoda not wearing a suit!..:D
Your pics of Pittsburgh sure made me nostalgic. The one of the banner with "The Terrible Towel" in the center reminded me of Myron Cope, the radio sportscaster for the Pirates who invented the towel waving and its popular name. With his heavy South Side accent, he pronounced it "ter-wah-bu tah-ooh"-- always spoken in a theatrically threatening affectation..:D He was a memorable as was Bob Prince before him.
~Doc
Austruck
07-18-19, 12:11 PM
Wonderful picture of you and Yoda, and also of Yoda and Mrs. 7thson! She looks a lot like my daughter!
It's the first time I've seen a picture of Yoda not wearing a suit!..:D
Your pics of Pittsburgh sure made me nostalgic. The one of the banner with "The Terrible Towel" in the center reminded me of Myron Cope, the radio sportscaster for the Pirates who invented the towel waving and its popular name. With his heavy South Side accent, he pronounced it "ter-wah-bu tah-ooh"-- always spoken in a theatrically threatening affectation..:D He was a memorable as was Bob Prince before him.
~Doc
Double Yoi!
We miss Myron in the 'Burgh.
Austruck
07-18-19, 12:17 PM
I just LOVE that you guys met! I can't even find he words to say how much it gladdens my heart - well, the picture says it all.
How many forums have this kind of camaraderie ?
( And a free lunch too.:) )
Things like this just make me happy to be here.
( And even tho I wasn't there in person, I DID get rained on today - are we mofos a team or what?)
I think Yoda's met a few other MoFos in person. I even got to meet one (who was a Pitt student, I think) when he accompanied Yoda and my other kids to a combination birthday/Mother's Day lunch outing at a local Eat'n Park one year. :D
Side note: the Roethlisburger sandwich is amazing. I think that's the one that's got a hot sausage patty and a burger together, with various condiments and a gooey fried egg on the top. OH MY GOODNESS.
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In Indianapolis and near hotel is a place called Xtraordinary Pizza, oh lord am I full...
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Tommorow we go to the world's largest children's museum
https://www.childrensmuseum.org/
We are all excited for this one.
gbgoodies
07-18-19, 11:49 PM
In Indianapolis and near hotel is a place called Xtraordinary Pizza, oh lord am I full...
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Am I seeing right? Are the pizza toppings actually under the cheese? I don't usually get toppings on pizza, but that looks good. :)
We have a pizzeria near here that makes a Baked Ziti Pizza and a Ravioli a la Vodka Pizza. They're not cheap, but they're sooo good!
gbgoodies
07-18-19, 11:53 PM
Tomorrow we go to the world's largest children's museum
https://www.childrensmuseum.org/
We are all excited for this one.
That looks interesting. Hubby and I went to a science museum somewhere, (I don't remember where it was because it was many years ago), and Hubby loved it because it was a "touch" museum. They had all kinds of stuff that they encouraged you to touch, and a lot of them were things like buttons and knobs that did stuff. It was supposed to be more for kids, but Hubby loves pushing buttons on toys in stores, so he had a lot of fun there. :lol:
Am I seeing right? Are the pizza toppings actually under the cheese? I don't usually get toppings on pizza, but that looks good. :)
We have a pizzeria near here that makes a Baked Ziti Pizza and a Ravioli a la Vodka Pizza. They're not cheap, but they're sooo good!
Yeah it is definitely different and pizza snobs might not care for it, but if you can look past the order of things the taste is really quite wonderful. I am an "it all winds up in the same place" kind of guy with certain foods.
That looks interesting. Hubby and I went to a science museum somewhere, (I don't remember where it was because it was many years ago), and Hubby loved it because it was a "touch" museum. They had all kinds of stuff that they encouraged you to touch, and a lot of them were things like buttons and knobs that did stuff. It was supposed to be more for kids, but Hubby loves pushing buttons on toys in stores, so he had a lot of fun there. :lol:
There is supposed to be a lot of interactive stuff. I think we might even get a chance to be Greeks for a day and wear togas, or something like that lol.
gbgoodies
07-19-19, 12:12 AM
Yeah it is definitely different and pizza snobs might not care for it, but if you can look past the order of things the taste is really quite wonderful. I am an "it all winds up in the same place" kind of guy with certain foods.
I guess I'm not a pizza snob because I thought the toppings under the cheese was a great idea. It's kind of like a new version of a calzone, only better.
The pizzeria here is very good about making special orders, so I might even ask him to make it that way the next time I go there. :)
gbgoodies
07-19-19, 12:14 AM
There is supposed to be a lot of interactive stuff. I think we might even get a chance to be Greeks for a day and wear togas, or something like that lol.
That sounds like fun. Don't forget to post pictures.
I got up a little early this morning to pull out my laptop and go online to catch up on finances and to see how our vacation budget looked. We have been very careful on our daily spending and even had quite a few days where we spent way under allowance. We take our total allotted budget then we divide the number of days left on the trip and make a daily allowance. It has worked out really well so far. Unfortunately as I look over all the charges I am seeing a pattern.
Every time we check out of a motel I go and get a physical receipt. Most places don't offer it unless asked and then they email unless you ask for a hard copy which I do. The emailed invoices seem to be less detailed. So what I am seeing is that over 70%(that is a ball park number, but pretty close I am sure) of the hotels we stay at charge incorrectly and never in my favor. Double charge on pet fees, over charge on pet fees, wrong room rate, 2 times I was charge for room twice, and on and on. Some charges like taxes I know are incorrect. One place tried to charge me $100 pet fee for a room that was $59.00. Do not get me wrong I do not mind paying pet fees, but I will usually book the
places with the lower rates and I always ask. What makes all of this worse is they will argue with you saying the CSR that helped me quoted me wrong. Well I am sorry but I booked a room there because of that quote so make good on it please. I always book through a booking site and then I verify and call the local property so everyone is one same page. They never are at first but every time I tell them I want to book somewhere else they "fix" the problem. They rarely do what they say unfortunately.
So the pattern I am seeing other than the ongoing purposeful overcharges is that the refunds are very very slow. I have yet to actually get one back since we started having issues. They also always argue with you telling you that you are wrong. I always get names so that never works on me. For some reason none of the hotels we stayed at in Florida had these issues. So maybe they aren't just slow, maybe they are not going to issue them. I sure hope not, it adds up to quite a bit, easily over $500. They are different motels and although some are owned by the same company (ie. Days Inn, LA Quinta, Comfort Inn all fall under Wyndam) there are plenty others as well as a couple mom and pop places. I am pretty sure I will eventually get my refunds even if I have to call my C.C. company, but that money gets tied up. We are not running short by any means as I put in a buffer for our expenses, but I did not put it there for BS like this.
The thing is I am always careful on what I am being charged for and this is beforehand, when I check in I make sure of charges and what they are for, the problem is when I go to check out everything has changed and then I cannot get a refund until 7 to 10 business days later. Unacceptable I tell you!!!
Even with all this it has really been a great vacation so far and if this is the worst of it I will count my blessing if not my money ;).
Be careful when renting rooms out there, this issue appears to be of epidemic proportions.
Oh I wanted to mention that that the rooms also sometimes put a deposit hold on my card for a security deposit. I am not talking about this and those are always refunded in a timely many, at least so far. I also wanted to say that the regular staff at most places have been great, and friendly and I thank them for the hard work as I know this industry can be very stressful to be in. It is the admin or the front office that is always the issue.
Good advice, that must be frustrating!
GulfportDoc
07-19-19, 10:07 AM
Geez, I had no idea that the problem of hotels and chains overcharging and fraud was so ubiquitous and common! My assumption has usually been that since there is so much fierce competition in the hotel/motel biz, that they're careful to be squeaky clean in order to be desirable.
I don't travel often, and when I do it's usually to a single place, then back. I usually book directly with the hotel, because using a booking site puts too many layers between me and the merchant.
But you can be sure I'll be even more careful from now on. Thanks for the heads-up; and I hope y'all get your dough back!
~Doc
Austruck
07-19-19, 01:26 PM
If you booked through a travel site (something like Booking.com or whatever?), can't you hassle them to go to bat for you? I've been using Booking.com lately and I've never had a difference in charges from what I was promised in the early emails from them once I booked. (I don't add on pet fees or anything, but everything's been down-to-the-penny identical.)
If a booking/travel site is taking a cut (and they are, somehow), then make them work for it. :)
56016
Wearing an Under Armour shirt, literally standing under armor.
If you booked through a travel site (something like Booking.com or whatever?), can't you hassle them to go to bat for you? I've been using Booking.com lately and I've never had a difference in charges from what I was promised in the early emails from them once I booked. (I don't add on pet fees or anything, but everything's been down-to-the-penny identical.)
If a booking/travel site is taking a cut (and they are, somehow), then make them work for it. :)
Mostly we use Wyndham, but have used booking and Expedia. Yes they will try to help that's why I use them , well that along with the rewards programs. They have helped solve some issues but ultimately the actual refunds have not occured. I made a few calls today and have been assured I would get the refunds, just bugs me that my money is tied up, what if I needed it?
Oh well not going to let it ruin vacation, we had a great time at museum today. They had some amazing exhibits.
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56034
GulfportDoc
07-19-19, 08:02 PM
Wearing an Under Armour shirt, literally standing under armor.
Go to your room!....:D
gbgoodies
07-19-19, 11:22 PM
I got up a little early this morning to pull out my laptop and go online to catch up on finances and to see how our vacation budget looked. We have been very careful on our daily spending and even had quite a few days where we spent way under allowance. We take our total allotted budget then we divide the number of days left on the trip and make a daily allowance. It has worked out really well so far. Unfortunately as I look over all the charges I am seeing a pattern.
Every time we check out of a motel I go and get a physical receipt. Most places don't offer it unless asked and then they email unless you ask for a hard copy which I do. The emailed invoices seem to be less detailed. So what I am seeing is that over 70%(that is a ball park number, but pretty close I am sure) of the hotels we stay at charge incorrectly and never in my favor. Double charge on pet fees, over charge on pet fees, wrong room rate, 2 times I was charge for room twice, and on and on. Some charges like taxes I know are incorrect. One place tried to charge me $100 pet fee for a room that was $59.00. Do not get me wrong I do not mind paying pet fees, but I will usually book the
places with the lower rates and I always ask. What makes all of this worse is they will argue with you saying the CSR that helped me quoted me wrong. Well I am sorry but I booked a room there because of that quote so make good on it please. I always book through a booking site and then I verify and call the local property so everyone is one same page. They never are at first but every time I tell them I want to book somewhere else they "fix" the problem. They rarely do what they say unfortunately.
So the pattern I am seeing other than the ongoing purposeful overcharges is that the refunds are very very slow. I have yet to actually get one back since we started having issues. They also always argue with you telling you that you are wrong. I always get names so that never works on me. For some reason none of the hotels we stayed at in Florida had these issues. So maybe they aren't just slow, maybe they are not going to issue them. I sure hope not, it adds up to quite a bit, easily over $500. They are different motels and although some are owned by the same company (ie. Days Inn, LA Quinta, Comfort Inn all fall under Wyndam) there are plenty others as well as a couple mom and pop places. I am pretty sure I will eventually get my refunds even if I have to call my C.C. company, but that money gets tied up. We are not running short by any means as I put in a buffer for our expenses, but I did not put it there for BS like this.
The thing is I am always careful on what I am being charged for and this is beforehand, when I check in I make sure of charges and what they are for, the problem is when I go to check out everything has changed and then I cannot get a refund until 7 to 10 business days later. Unacceptable I tell you!!!
Even with all this it has really been a great vacation so far and if this is the worst of it I will count my blessing if not my money ;).
Be careful when renting rooms out there, this issue appears to be of epidemic proportions.
Oh I wanted to mention that that the rooms also sometimes put a deposit hold on my card for a security deposit. I am not talking about this and those are always refunded in a timely many, at least so far. I also wanted to say that the regular staff at most places have been great, and friendly and I thank them for the hard work as I know this industry can be very stressful to be in. It is the admin or the front office that is always the issue.
Hubby and I don't trust the websites that claim to get lower prices for hotels, airfare, etc. We always go directly to the hotel's website, and we book the room from there. (Some of the websites offer you a discount if you check the prices, but don't book the room. When you try to close the website's window or tab, they offer anywhere from 10% to 25% off the price.)
They always require a credit card to hold the room, but you don't have to pay by credit card when you check in to the hotel. When we get to the hotel, we pay by cash, and we always get a printed receipt when we check out of the hotel. That means that we never see a charge on our credit card bill for the hotel. (If we ever do, we have proof that we paid by cash, so we can just dispute the charge with the credit card company.)
gbgoodies
07-19-19, 11:25 PM
56016
This is an interactive museum, right? So where's the button that changes him into a car? :lol:
Hubby and I don't trust the websites that claim to get lower prices for hotels, airfare, etc. We always go directly to the hotel's website, and we book the room from there. (Some of the websites offer you a discount if you check the prices, but don't book the room. When you try to close the website's window or tab, they offer anywhere from 10% to 25% off the price.)
They always require a credit card to hold the room, but you don't have to pay by credit card when you check in to the hotel. When we get to the hotel, we pay by cash, and we always get a printed receipt when we check out of the hotel. That means that we never see a charge on our credit card bill for the hotel. (If we ever do, we have proof that we paid by cash, so we can just dispute the charge with the credit card company.)
I had thought about going this route but because of the long timframe for the vacation the discounts really add up and we already have 3 free nights saved up. I think on shorter trips I may go the cash route and save the headaches. My refunds finally started coming in, well beyond the 7 to 10 buisness days, but at this point Im just glad to get to them at all.
So we are almost home, about an hour out fighting Alabama traffic on I65. Will be nice to sleep in our own bed. The dogs can sense us getting close too and are excited.
This is an interactive museum, right? So where's the button that changes him into a car? :lol:
I wish it had a button.
More random pics from vacation:
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Damian visiting with his sister, who is taller?
56132
Watkins Glen in NY
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Waiting for pizza at Tony's in NY
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Putting Dev to work at an old printing press in Mastic, CN
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Maids of the Mist Niagra Falls
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Playing ball in Vermont at the Haunted hotel
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The dogs being impatient while we try to figure out what trail to take.
rauldc14
07-22-19, 07:55 PM
I had thought about going this route but because of the long timframe for the vacation the discounts really add up and we already have 3 free nights saved up. I think on shorter trips I may go the cash route and save the headaches. My refunds finally started coming in, well beyond the 7 to 10 buisness days, but at this point Im just glad to get to them at all.
So we are almost home, about an hour out fighting Alabama traffic on I65. Will be nice to sleep in our own bed. The dogs can sense us getting close too and are excited.
Wait I thought you were going West Coast too
Wait I thought you were going West Coast too
Oh just a quick break to drop off doggies and then we have a lot more traveling to do :).
MijaFrost
07-23-19, 05:31 AM
Definitely sounds like an awesome trip so far!
Halfangel337
07-25-19, 07:11 PM
More random pics from vacation:
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Damian visiting with his sister, who is taller?
You forgot to mention she is almost 17.
You forgot to mention she is almost 17.
She is almost 17.
Packing up to leave out again in the morning. Spending my birthday in a cabin in Tennessee.
Stirchley
07-26-19, 05:23 PM
Happy Leo Birthday whenever that may be. :)
Yoda is also a Leo.
Happy Leo Birthday whenever that may be. :)
Yoda is also a Leo.
HI there,
July 30th here
rauldc14
07-30-19, 01:02 PM
What are the next couple states 7thson?
Halfangel337
07-31-19, 09:20 PM
What are the next couple states 7thson?
We are in Kentucky now, followed by Missouri, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. We have to stop somewhere in between MO and WI, but haven't decided where. Maybe Iowa, just to say we did.
Hitting drive in theater tonight. Havent paid these prices for first run in a long time.
$16 for 3 of us. Plus concession prices decent too.56340
gbgoodies
08-01-19, 11:00 PM
Hitting drive in theater tonight. Haven't paid these prices for first run in a long time.
$16 for 3 of us. Plus concession prices decent too.
We stopped going to the movies when the prices went up to over $15 for ONE person, so $16 for 3 people is amazing!
Plus at the drive-in, you have the added bonus of nobody playing with their cell phone in the dark theater, or kicking the back of your seat, or any of the other annoying things that rude people do at the movies.
We had a great evening, it was both my wife and son's first time. Unfortunately rude people go to drive ins too. Guy next to us throwing lit cigarette butts all over and constantly in and out of vehicle for some reason which caused his obnoxious break and running lights to come on. Still it was a fun and made me wish we had one near us.56344
GulfportDoc
08-02-19, 10:00 AM
I used to love going to the drive-ins on dates. Once in awhile we even watched a little bit of the movies...:cool:
I know I am way behind on posting have not had good wifi until now. I can usually use my data to post well enough to FB but it bogs down on here for some reason. Anyway if anyone is interested in viewing my FB let me know I would be happy to friend you. I do not use it much but for the vacation I am posting a lot of pics there too.
But for now here are some pictures of our visit with my daughter in Springfield , MO. We went to the large Bass pro shop here and then went for a hike at a place called Watershed.
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World's biggest fork
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Hydrate!!!
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Break time
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Big Gar
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Bridge over the pond/lake.
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Bass Pro Shop
This place was crazy big, couldn't even finish seeing it all.
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Americana at it's best.
Very cool place.
gbgoodies
08-06-19, 10:36 PM
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Americana at it's best.
Very cool place.
Where was this picture taken?
Where was this picture taken?
This was in Eldon Iowa, the actual place where the house in the painting is located. The house in this picture is the same one. It is a really cool place and there is a small museum there that has a lot of history on the town and the artist Grant Wood.
It is really off the beaten path so to speak and we did not even know it was so close to where we are currently staying until we looked up things near us to do.
Stirchley
08-07-19, 02:21 PM
7thson, did you know that the original characters in Wood’s American Gothic were his sister & his dentist?
I'm sure he does, especially since he was there and they posed as them.
Halfangel337
08-07-19, 05:14 PM
7thson, did you know that the original characters in Wood’s American Gothic were his sister & his dentist?
They mentioned that in the museum, and had a very large portrait of the two of them standing next to the original. Also some news clippings, as his sister occasionally comes back to the area for anniversaries of the portrait and still refuses to smile, much to the delight of the locals, who call her 'Dour Nan'.
Pretty sure I need a recap of our latest adventures, things are starting to blur together when i try to access my brain's memory files. :).
So a quick rundown of our recent stops:
Sevierville, TN
We stayed in a cabin, also celebrated my birthday there. Visited wax museum and ran from zombies in a zombie run exhibit. Got lost multiple times in the mountains, went white water rafting on Pigeon River. Ate at Alamo Steak house.
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Grand Rivers, KY.
Stayed at a bed and breakfast for 3 days, it was called Rose of the Lake. Went to a planetarium, Dev fed a wild raccoon, saw some buffalo on a reserve. Went to Calvert drive in movie theater and saw Toy Story 4, they had really good burgers. Visited a really cool roadside attraction called Apple Valley Hillbilly Garden and Toyland, it was creepy and quite amazing all at once.
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Springfield, MO.
Stayed with my daughter and grand kids for 3 days. Had Hibachi with the family, visited the large Bass pro shop they had there. Went for a hike at the Watershed with the family as well. It was great hanging out, it has been awhile since we last saw them all.
St Joseph, MO
Stopped at the Glore Psychiatric Museum on the way to Iowa. It as a very interesting and disturbing place, I enjoyed it a lot.
Bentonsport, IA.
Stayed 2 days at a haunted B&B. We stayed in the "general store" room which used to be an old store and it had some original decorations in it - very cool. Nothing scary happened but the view on the Des Moines River was beautiful. A very friendly cat kept sneaking into our room. Saw the actual spot the American Gothic painting was created and did a recreation of it.
Spring Green, Wi. This is where we are now. Went to the House on the Rock today. Damn cool place. spent all day exploring it and seeing some amazing and crazy things. Never even heard of this place until we were looking for a place to stay on our way to Minnesota.
Ate at a little place called Rock 'N Roll Drive in, great diner food and atmosphere.
Tomorrow we head out towards MN, but we have three days to get there and our just winging it for places to go on the way.
Got lots more pics to post too, will try to get them up soon.
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Stirchley
08-09-19, 03:04 PM
Dev fed a wild raccoon
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Yikes. I would never go near a raccoon. Nice creatures, but it could have been rabid.
Yikes. I would never go near a raccoon. Nice creatures, but it could have been rabid.
I said same thing lol, but she also follows bear cubs.
gbgoodies
08-10-19, 12:16 AM
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I thought I was the only one who had a house that looked like this. :lol:
I thought I was the only one who had a house that looked like this. :lol:
It reminded me of my bedroom when I was 10, but on a much larger scale.
Now give someone like this millions of dollars and you have The House on the Rock in WI.
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Full sized giant whale eating a rowboat and being attacked by giant octopus.
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Awesome room that hangs way out over cliffside, it is counterbalanced and has no actual support at the end. You can feel it wobble slightly as you walk out
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Awesome indoor carousel.
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A chandelier made of hundres of chandeliers.
So much more to this place, it was whimsical, crazy, creepy, and hella fun.
Made our way to Baudette MN. today. Taking a boat in the morning to go spend 3 days in a lodge on an island in Lake Superior. On the way we stopped at the location of the origin of the Mississippi river. Such a small width, we all walked across the Mississippi river :).
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Made it to the northernmost point in the U.S. today. We only have the western point left to hit all 4.
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Spent a couple days camping at Custer st Park in S.D.
Froze my butt off at night but stiil a great time. Saw tons of wildlife and cooked up the rest of the fish we caught in Minnesotaand Canada.
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__________
Just made it to Deadwood, here for a couple of days.
rauldc14
08-19-19, 10:42 AM
Great pics. I need to get to House on the Rock someday
Stirchley
08-19-19, 03:16 PM
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Please tell me your wife didn’t try to feed this bear. :)
Please tell me your wife didn’t try to feed this bear. :)
No, but she wanted to try and get a piece of fur...
Was at Devil's Tower the other day, now I need to watch Close Encounters.
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TheUsualSuspect
08-23-19, 02:18 AM
Ah, shame I'm just seeing this thread now as I might have met up with you in Niagara Falls. It's about a 40 minute drive for me and have gone up twice this summer. Granted, you'd have to come over to the better side. :p
More Devil's Tower pics. I couldnt get enough of this place, wish we had planned more time there but I am very glad we were able to see it. Mashed potatoes were never the same (they were better) after seeing it the first time on film.
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For all you Twilight fans.
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rauldc14
08-28-19, 07:45 AM
I was in Forks in May. I loved Washington.
Currently we are in Tombstone, AZ and will be here until Friday. It is a lot of fun here and we watched the Tombstone movie last night for posterity sake. It is cool to see the landmarks in person and compare them to the film set. I do need to catch up (again) on some older stuff though.
Here are some pictures from the Redwoods:
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Roasting marshmallows in fire pit
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Our YURT, was really fun and comfortable.
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Amazing "cathedral" of tress near our YURT, so many stunning areas around us there.
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This is one of the spots you can drive a vehicle through. Our van has storage container on top of it so it was too tall to drive though so we walked it :).
The Redwoods was one of my favorite places to visit on our trip so far. I definitely want to return again and do some more exploring and hiking. I think it would be neat to camp out there for a few days in a regular tent or even under the stars.
A map of our trip from start to finish. Everything up to tombstone is correct, after that we may deviate a little, but pretty much this is our course. This puts us home on or around October 17th. If you look at the picture it shows the total miles. It does not take into account local driving. We drove over 200 miles around Yellowstone alone. I figure when all is said and done we will be at around 20,000 miles. I have my "trip" odometer keeping track as well so we will see how it all plays out. Still a lot to see, about a month left, it has been a wild ride thus far and I hope to get some more pics and info on our stops up when I can.
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Stirchley
10-16-19, 02:16 PM
7thson, everything ok? Haven’t heard from you for 3 weeks.
He's been posting in other threads. My guess is not traveling at the moment?
Stirchley
10-16-19, 02:51 PM
He's been posting in other threads. My guess is not traveling at the moment?
I should have checked other threads 1st.
7thson, everything ok? Haven’t heard from you for 3 weeks.
Sorry guys my laptop bit the dust and very difficult to post pics and large dialog here on my phone. I have posted a few things on my FB page for those I am friends with on there.
We actually just got home about 4 days ago, we cut the last week of the trip short because we are proud new grandparents and we wanted to be home to welcome him into the world. I promise to get some pics and catch up on the whole trip. A lot of interesting things to share. thanks for checking.
Sorry to hear about the laptop, but glad to hear things have gone well.
This is very much one of those "I'd love to do that someday..." things that almost everybody has on their list, but you actually did it! So cool.
Sorry to hear about the laptop, but glad to hear things have gone well.
This is very much one of those "I'd love to do that someday..." things that almost everybody has on their list, but you actually did it! So cool.
Thanks, I think the laptop was victim to a windows upgrade it didn't like. Probably just going to wipe it after I save some data off of it.
Yeah the trip was quite amazing and something I will always remember, I would highly recommend doing it to anyone thinking about it, but putting it off. I have done so much traveling in my life and many of the places we visited I have been to before, but the difference is that before it was for work or relocating, this time I got to stop and enjoy what each place had to offer. This is an amazing country we live in (us Americans) and the cultures, history and people are insanely varied and wonderful to experience. I honestly did not see much of the division that we see on the news. I am not saying it isn't there, but I do not think it is the norm in most places. Just don't talk about politics and everything runs smooth. ;)
In no particular order - here are some pics from our trip:
At the Grand Canyon
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We did not even know it was the Canyon's 100th anniversary. That is Damian being Damian.
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Obligatory selfie, I refused to stand at the edge, yeah wuss I know, but I will not be a stat on dumb ways to die, js.
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Where we started our day at the canyon. No idea who the two guys are, but they never moved so they made it into my pic.
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One of the many views of the canyon
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We stayed in a really old 50's themed air-stream during our visit. It was fun and the sunsets were awesome, but I am cool with not staying in one of these sardine cans again. Not the best for larger people.
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One of the aforementioned sunsets.
My take on the Grand Canyon:
The good
First of all, it had some of the most amazing views I have ever seen. Definitely breathtaking and it made me feel small in the big scheme of things. Some of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever witnesses. We did the southern rim so I cannot say what the northern side had to offer but I have heard the views on the south side are better, however I have no first hand knowledge of this. I imagine the views are spectacular at any point where one can over look the bottom or the edge. The nighttime sky was full of so many stars you could sit outside for hours and just gaze. If you like hiking this has got to be one of the best places on Earth to explore. We hiked quite a bit and loved the free buses that took you to different areas along a set route. They come often so you are never waiting very long. Some were overly crowded, but with the short wait it wasn't that big of a deal.
The bad and the ugly:
We did not hike down or take donkeys to the bottom. The donkeys had a weight limit and even though there were a couple places that had larger mules that we probably could have rode we decided against it due to the very high prices. I do not remember how much it would have been, but it was ore than we were willing to pay. If we had more time there we would have probably hiked down and camped at the bottom. It is on my future things to do list. The worst part of visiting the Grand Canyon was the other tourists and some of the customer service reps in the local shops. One of the bus drivers was pretty rude to someone that spoke broken English. She asked if the bus was going to a certain point and he told her to read the sign on the front of the bus. His exact words after she asked were: "What does it say on the front of the bus?" She did not even get on even though I think it was the bus she needed. I would have helped her if I had the opportunity but she left too quickly and I was a few seats back.
The one or two times that a bus was very crowded (we rode the buses probably around a dozen times overall) there were people that sat on an aisle seat and did not move to allow someone else to sit down. Even if someone asked them to move. This happened a few times and not sure why, it was not a language barrier, from what I could tell, and even then it was obvious that people wanted to sit instead of stand. The rides were not long thank god, but they could be a little bumpy making it difficult to stand.
The prices - One expects high prices at big tourist areas, but many things were just over the top and felt like price gouging.
Overall:
We loved it and plan to visit again. We loved the place and did not care for many of the rude people, but there were nice people too. We meet a few others and made small talk and shared travelling stories, it was a lot of fun.
Basic Info:
The Grand Canyon is one of those places that you can visit for one day or for a week and still enjoy it either way. They even have a half day route. We only did one day at the actual Park and spent the other day exploring the surrounding desert where we stayed in the air-stream. It was about a 30 to 45 minute drive away from the park, but the prices were about half the amount and the privacy was wonderful.
It was one of the more expensive parks to visit at $35 a vehicle. Fortunately I have the access pass so national parks are free for us, but it is one thing to take into account.
Just a taste for now, but I wanted to start posting again about the trip.
Stirchley
10-21-19, 03:26 PM
“Donkeys to the bottom”. Hope they were treated well. So many horror stories around the world of donkeys being worked to death, poor things.
gbgoodies
10-22-19, 01:22 AM
In no particular order - here are some pics from our trip:
At the Grand Canyon
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We did not even know it was the Canyon's 100th anniversary. That is Damian being Damian.
It's cool that you were there for their 100th Anniversary. Were they doing anything special for their 100th Anniversary celebration?
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Obligatory selfie, I refused to stand at the edge, yeah wuss I know, but I will not be a stat on dumb ways to die, js.
I don't think refusing to stand at the edge makes you a wuss. I think it shows you're an intelligent person. I've read that 2 or 3 people die every year from falling off the edge at the Grand Canyon, sometimes because they just wanted to take a selfie picture.
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Where we started our day at the canyon. No idea who the two guys are, but they never moved so they made it into my pic.
Did you ask them to move so you could take the picture?
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We stayed in a really old 50's themed air-stream during our visit. It was fun and the sunsets were awesome, but I am cool with not staying in one of these sardine cans again. Not the best for larger people.
This looks pretty cool, but also kind of claustrophobic. It might be nice to visit for a little while, but it doesn't look big enough to stay there for any length of time.
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One of the aforementioned sunsets.
My take on the Grand Canyon:
The good
First of all, it had some of the most amazing views I have ever seen. Definitely breathtaking and it made me feel small in the big scheme of things. Some of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever witnesses. We did the southern rim so I cannot say what the northern side had to offer but I have heard the views on the south side are better, however I have no first hand knowledge of this. I imagine the views are spectacular at any point where one can over look the bottom or the edge. The nighttime sky was full of so many stars you could sit outside for hours and just gaze. If you like hiking this has got to be one of the best places on Earth to explore. We hiked quite a bit and loved the free buses that took you to different areas along a set route. They come often so you are never waiting very long. Some were overly crowded, but with the short wait it wasn't that big of a deal.
The bad and the ugly:
We did not hike down or take donkeys to the bottom. The donkeys had a weight limit and even though there were a couple places that had larger mules that we probably could have rode we decided against it due to the very high prices. I do not remember how much it would have been, but it was ore than we were willing to pay. If we had more time there we would have probably hiked down and camped at the bottom. It is on my future things to do list. The worst part of visiting the Grand Canyon was the other tourists and some of the customer service reps in the local shops. One of the bus drivers was pretty rude to someone that spoke broken English. She asked if the bus was going to a certain point and he told her to read the sign on the front of the bus. His exact words after she asked were: "What does it say on the front of the bus?" She did not even get on even though I think it was the bus she needed. I would have helped her if I had the opportunity but she left too quickly and I was a few seats back.
The one or two times that a bus was very crowded (we rode the buses probably around a dozen times overall) there were people that sat on an aisle seat and did not move to allow someone else to sit down. Even if someone asked them to move. This happened a few times and not sure why, it was not a language barrier, from what I could tell, and even then it was obvious that people wanted to sit instead of stand. The rides were not long thank god, but they could be a little bumpy making it difficult to stand.
The prices - One expects high prices at big tourist areas, but many things were just over the top and felt like price gouging.
Overall:
We loved it and plan to visit again. We loved the place and did not care for many of the rude people, but there were nice people too. We meet a few others and made small talk and shared travelling stories, it was a lot of fun.
Basic Info:
The Grand Canyon is one of those places that you can visit for one day or for a week and still enjoy it either way. They even have a half day route. We only did one day at the actual Park and spent the other day exploring the surrounding desert where we stayed in the air-stream. It was about a 30 to 45 minute drive away from the park, but the prices were about half the amount and the privacy was wonderful.
It was one of the more expensive parks to visit at $35 a vehicle. Fortunately I have the access pass so national parks are free for us, but it is one thing to take into account.
Just a taste for now, but I wanted to start posting again about the trip.
Those pictures of the Grand Canyon are beautiful. I've always wanted to visit the Grand Canyon, but I have a terrible fear of heights, so I'll probably never go there. I'll just have to appreciate its beauty in the pictures.
BTW, what's an access pass?
It's cool that you were there for their 100th Anniversary. Were they doing anything special for their 100th Anniversary celebration?
I don't think refusing to stand at the edge makes you a wuss. I think it shows you're an intelligent person. I've read that 2 or 3 people die every year from falling off the edge at the Grand Canyon, sometimes because they just wanted to take a selfie picture.
Did you ask them to move so you could take the picture?
This looks pretty cool, but also kind of claustrophobic. It might be nice to visit for a little while, but it doesn't look big enough to stay there for any length of time.
Those pictures of the Grand Canyon are beautiful. I've always wanted to visit the Grand Canyon, but I have a terrible fear of heights, so I'll probably never go there. I'll just have to appreciate its beauty in the pictures.
BTW, what's an access pass?
They had some special tours I think and a bunch of decorations. other than that I did not see much, but we did not ask.
I did not ask the guys to move for the picture, they were intently discussing something and I could see the map anyway so no biggie, just didn't want anyone to think they were with us or family or anything.
An access pass is for disabled VETS, but if you are going to visit multiple national parks you can purchase a pass as well and save money. There are quite a few out that way.
Here are a few more pics:
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The Airstream we stayed in, the yurt in the background was already reserved or we would have stayed there.
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The one where my wife is near the edge is not as dangerous as it looks, there is a large ledge about 6 feet down, but still nope for me.
gbgoodies
10-22-19, 02:22 AM
They had some special tours I think and a bunch of decorations. other than that I did not see much, but we did not ask.
I did not ask the guys to move for the picture, they were intently discussing something and I could see the map anyway so no biggie, just didn't want anyone to think they were with us or family or anything.
An access pass is for disabled VETS, but if you are going to visit multiple national parks you can purchase a pass as well and save money. There are quite a few out that way.
Unfortunately, I don't think there are many national parks in my area, so it probably wouldn't be worth it for me to buy an access pass unless I ever get a chance to take a trip like you guys took. (That would be awesome, but it's not likely.)
Here are a few more pics:
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The Airstream we stayed in, the yurt in the background was already reserved or we would have stayed there.
An Airstream is like a trailer? I didn't know what it was when you mentioned it, but thought it was like a B&B.
What's a yurt? That white tent in the grassy area in the background?
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The one where my wife is near the edge is not as dangerous as it looks, there is a large ledge about 6 feet down, but still nope for me.
Those pictures are beautiful, but your wife is still too close to the edge for my comfort. :eek:
Stirchley
10-23-19, 03:07 PM
An Airstream is like a trailer? What's a yurt? That white tent in the grassy area in the background?
Those pictures are beautiful, but your wife is still too close to the edge for my comfort. :eek:
An Airstream (made in America) is a luxury trailer. Never stepped foot in one, but I’ve seen them parked & they’re beautiful IMO.
A yurt is a portable tent used by nomads. (In Mongolia, e.g.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airstream
His wife feeds bear cubs (even if the mother is around). Or she goes near them, at least. Can’t remember. She did a lot of things on their trip that I’d be too scared to do.
At Shakespeare (https://www.shakespeareghostown.com/) - a ghost town in New Mexico.
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Off the beaten path. It took us a few times to find the turn off for the ghost town, but we finally found it.
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This is the first building you see when you get there. The only way to see the town is with a private tour, but someone seems to be there most of the time, you just have to call the posted number and they will come out to greet you and let you in. It is pretty inexpensive as well, I think we paid like $15 all together for the 3 of us.
This building was actually moved as a whole from a neighboring town from quite awhile back. It was moved there because it was scheduled to be demolished and they saved it and moved it to Shakespeare.
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Dining room of a business there. Doc holiday worked a short time there at some point as a server/dishwasher.
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This was an old post office. It was too small as the town grew and became a place where different people would stay when they got there until they settled in permanently. Supposedly a union soldier was tortured here and if you visit at night you can hear his screams. The tour guide said he has never heard them but the owners told him that they have.
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So they used to hang criminals in the dining area of a saloon there. I was told it did not happen often, but there was no jail and no law so they kind of took care of their own so to speak.
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The blacksmith area. This was my favorite building. So many authentic tools from that era. The owners are wanting to fix it up so it is operational and they can have an actual blacksmith showing how things were done. I guess at one point years ago they had one there. The original owner recently passed away and it is now being ran by his daughter and her husband. They seem to be struggling and I wish then the best.
The good:
Very authentic and not touristy at all. When we went the tour before us had just ended and we were the only ones on our tour so it was very cool. The tour guide was the husband of the new owner and he was very knowledgeable and attentive. He did not rush us and he was very patient with our son's millions of questions. This place has a lot of potential if they can get it up and going. We had a lot of fun here.
The bad and the ugly:
It is quite run down, not in a cool authentic way. Many of the buildings were just not safe to go into and needed some restoration. It is a part of the historical society so in order to restore it they have to build/repair it like they would have done in the past which takes a lot of work. A little difficult to find and if you do not have a 4 wheel drive it can be a little tough, but we managed.
The price was definitely worth everything we did.
Overall:
We loved it and if you are ever near this area of New Mexico and if you like ghost towns this is a really neat place. So much history there and the sacrifices that were made by any over the years to keep the town going are amazing.
Basic Info:
Check out their website if you just want to read about the history of the place and how they are progressing with restoration. they also have a FB page which has a lot of cool info and updates.
I was told a documentary on Doc Holiday was done here, anyone know the name of it? I failed to ask.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ShakespeareGhostTown/
Stirchley
11-04-19, 04:29 PM
⬆️ Strange that the town was given the name of Shakespeare. Wonder who dreamed up this?
⬆️ Strange that the town was given the name of Shakespeare. Wonder who dreamed up this?
Yeah that is a cool part of the history there.
From Wikipedia:
Founded as a rest stop called Mexican Springs along a stagecoach route, it was renamed Grant after the Civil War, after General U. S. Grant. When silver was discovered nearby it became a mining town called Ralston City, named after financier William Chapman Ralston. It was finally renamed Shakespeare, and was abandoned when the mines closed in 1929.
We were told that due to a fake gold rush that the place got bad rep and the new name was because of the popularity of the playwright .
Stirchley
11-06-19, 03:31 PM
⬆️ Cheers
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