Oldies but Goodies

Posted on May 4, 2015 by liv2rv

While staying at Ver-El RV park in Concord, NC we were parked across the street from Charlotte Motor Speedway, we noticed a lot of classic cars heading into the parking lot. Twice a year the racetrack hosts the Charlotte AutoFair, where owners can put their cars up for sale or trade. There are also vendors selling parts for every type of vehicle, and displays of some unique vehicles.

We enjoy looking at old cars, so we walked over to check it out. We were also able to wander around and check out the speedway. Here is a view from the infield of the bleachers. The cars were displayed around the 1.5 mile race track.

Charlotte Motor Speedway

With well over a thousand cars on display, it was hard to pick what photos to display. This blog is a bit photo heavy, but if you enjoy cars, we hope you enjoy this post!

This fabulous corvette was listed at $55,000 and did have a “sold” sign on it.

Sold!

This car is owned by NASCAR driver Kyle Busch.

1956 Chevy Bel Air

Before the mini van, families traveled in style!

classic station wagon

classic wagon

And remember the days when everyone had their own ash tray, even in the third row bench seat of the wagons?!

ashtrays for everyone!

The show had some very old and beautifully restored vehicles…

1931 Ford Model A

as well as this truck, which could easily tow just about any 5th wheel!

pimped up truck!

There were some muscle cars on display.

1967 Chevy Chevelle SS Convertible

classic muscle car

And some unique vehicles we have never seen before.

1945 COE

1948 GM Cabover racecar Hauler

1935 Ford 4 door Slantback

Engines were much simpler in the older cars.

Not much under the hood

One of my favorites was this 1964 Impala SS that came with “factory power steering”. This car is “my age” and was all decked out in purple, my favorite color.

1964 Impala SS

This 1956 Chevrolet Del Ray was getting a lot of inquiries, as it had been fully restored and was immaculate inside and out.

1956 Chevy Del Ray

super clean engine

inside look

I’m not really sure if these guys were planning on taking a spin around the track on their scooters!

going for a spin?!

They will have another auto fair in September, so if you are in the area, you may want to check it out.

Quote for the day: “Never lend your car to anyone to whom you have given birth.” – Erma Bombeck

Visiting friends in North Carolina

Posted on May 1, 2015 by liv2rv

(We are currently in Wisconsin, and realized that we did not publish our posts from North Carolina….sorry for the delay)

After our brief visit in South Carolina (a state we will definitely explore in more detail someday), we had a relatively easy drive up to Concord, North Carolina to visit with my friend Jodie and her family. Jodie and I worked together as CT Technologists back in Wisconsin. Jodie’s husband Chris has a “work from home” job. Since they could live anywhere, they wisely decided to move from the snow and cold of Wisconsin, to a very moderate climate in North Carolina to raise their two young boys.

We found a convenient “campground” at Ver-El Mobile Village in Concord. It is right across the street from Charlotte Motor Speedway, has full hookups and was only $25.00 per night. There are no other amenities, it is basically a large grass field, but it was close to Jodie’s home in Huntersville. After arriving, we met up with Jodie and her two boys, Cole and Austin, at the massive Concord Mills Mall. They came over to see our house, and meet Makena, and we had a nice time catching up. It always amazes me that no matter how long you have been apart from someone, it just seems like yesterday when you do get together!

Cole, Austin and Jodi

We talked about the big influence that NASCAR has in this area, and Jodie mentioned that Hendricks Motorsports was located about one mile from where we were staying, and Joe Gibbs Racing was very close to their house in Huntersville. We decided to add those items to our itinerary.

The next day we drove out to Jodie’s home, and were impressed by the many miles of paved bicycle paths all over the area. Jodie stated you can pretty much go anywhere on your bicycle. Makena came with us, and she and the boys had a great time playing football in their backyard. Cole decided to challenge Makena!

Just throw it!

Austin enjoyed bringing dishes of water for Makena to drink out of!

thanks for the water

Eventually the boys wore her out, and she needed a rest!

all pooped out

The adults also had fun too!

Patio beers!

Since we are in NASCAR country, we decided to visit the Hendricks Motorsports complex and toured the free museum, as well as the areas in the garage that are open to the public. The museum was very interesting, and had multiple cars on display.

Hendrick classic cars

There was a large display of colorful cars for Jeff Gordon, who is retiring this year from racing.

Jeff Gordon’s collection

Below are the actual winning race cars from the Daytona 500. On the left is Dale Earnhardt Jr’s car from 2014 and Jimmy Johnson’s car from 2013. Both cars remain covered with confetti from the winners circle.

Daytona 500 winners

This is Ken Schrader’s Budweiser car from the 1995 Talladega (AL) race. Despite the severity of the crash, he was not injured and walked away from the car. This is probably what my car would look like if I was driving 200 MPH!

ouch!

They even have an outdoor exercise facility for the pit crew members, and we happened to be around when one of the teams was working out.

Pit Crew workout

You can view inside the garage to watch the employees work on the cars. (Only the #24 and #5 car facility was open on this day. The #88 and #48 facility was closed for a private event).

working on the 24 car

Inside the garage

Since the Joe Gibbs Racing complex was near their house, we stopped in to check that out as well. The facility is in a newer office park, and really blends in with the surroundings. We were quite surprised by that, and it would be very easy to miss the facility. You can also see into the immaculate garage area, at the cars in various states of repair.

Joe Gibbs garage

Crispy M and M’s car

We met up with Jodie and Chris in town for a nice dinner on our last night.

Jodie, Chris, Dan and I

This is a growing area, with much to see and do. Dan and I discussed looking into a work camping job in NC for the future. North Carolina is a one day’s drive to many states. With a moderate climate and low cost of living (compared to Wisconsin), we can see why they chose this area. Thanks again Jodie and Chris! We will be back!

Quote for the day: “It’s all about quality of life and finding a happy balance between work and friends and family.” – Philip Green

Two days, two different experiences in Charleston, South Carolina

Posted on April 7, 2015 by liv2rv

We left Florida Monday morning and ventured up I-95 to Charleston, SC. Our trip was uneventful, other than seeing three different men peeing on the side of the road while going through Georgia. Perhaps the state should put up a rest area on that short 105 mile stretch through that state!! And if you have a four-door vehicle, open both doors and stand in the middle….just a thought!

After getting set up in our campground, we were excited to visit historic downtown Charleston. Unfortunately, we arrived the day after Easter, when many families were on Spring Break. It was a traffic nightmare! After driving around for over an hour, finding parking lot after parking lot, full, we just gave up. And then spent another hour in bumper to bumper traffic to go 15 miles to back to our campground. We were both very frazzled and disappointed!

After taking the dog for a long walk to calm our nerves, we turned on the news, and the lead story was coverage of a meeting going on in Charleston to try to improve visitors experiences to the city! We both laughed at the irony. They are trying to figure out what to do about the traffic jams and the lack of parking. Hopefully they will come up with a solution.

Today we got up early to beat the traffic and head over to Mount Pleasant, SC to see Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum. Unlike yesterday, today we had an awesome experience! If you are in the area, we would strongly recommend spending time visiting this place. Patriots Point is home of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CV-10), Destroyer Laffey (DD-724), Submarine Clamagore (SS-343), Medal of Honor Museum and The Vietnam Experience Exhibit. Admission is $20, and you can easily spend all day touring everything. We spent about 5 hours, and could easily have taken more time to read all the exhibit signs.

Here is a view of all three in the water.

Patriots Point

The USS Yorktown Aircraft Carrier was commissioned on April 15, 1943 and fought in many historic battles in World War II. She was converted to an antisubmarine carrier in the 1950’s and served in that capacity in the Vietnam War. In addition, the carrier recovered the Apollo 8 astronauts and their capsule after they returned to Earth. The carrier is very impressive in size at 888 feet in length.

USS Yorktown CV-10

Dan on flight deck

Bridge of carrier

view of flight deck from bridge

some big guns

more views of flight deck

The self-guided tour allows access to many areas of the carrier, giving you a good idea of what life was like on board. During WWII, 3,088 enlisted men along with 380 officers served on duty. They had 90 planes on board between the flight deck and the hangar, which is just below the deck.

long hallways

The tour provided access to all levels on the carrier. There is an extensive medical and dental area.

open wide!

operating room

Pilots Ready Room

The enlisted crew did not have much privacy, as they had a bunk and a small locker.

Crew’s Berthing

The carrier had their own bakery, and they had several recipes on display, including this one to make 10,000 chocolate chip cookies!

a bakers delight

The Destroyer Laffey seemed rather tiny next to the Yorktown Carrier, although it is still 376 feet long. The Laffey was involved in the D-Day landing of Allied troops in Normandy. Just four months later it was out fighting in the Pacific. On April 16, 1945, the Laffey was bombed by the Japanese and several kamikaze planes. 32 men were killed and the ship sustained heavy damage. Yet the crew of 336 continued fighting and shot down their attackers. The destroyer earned the nickname “The Ship that Would Not Die.” This is a view of the Laffey from the deck of the carrier.

Destroyer Laffey DD-724

The front gun mount on the Laffey was the area struck by the bombs. It was rebuilt and now they show a short, but sobering film about the attack and the men who were working inside the mount. As with the Yorktown, you can view many levels and rooms.

Laffey DD-724

The Laffey contained this very interesting US Navy QH-50D Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter (DASH) from 1966. Many people commented on this “old school” style drone. Drones have certainly come a long way in design and technology!

1966 style drone

The submarine Clamagore was commissioned in 1945, near the end of WWII. This diesel-powered sub remained in service until 1975.

Submarine Clamagore SS-343

The sub in not for someone afraid of confined spaces! There are a lot of small spaces to navigate through.

small openings

Torpedo room and bunks for the men assigned to this detail.

Torpedo and bunks underneath

Patriots Point also has an area on land entitled The Vietnam Experience, to show what life was like during the Tet Offensive on a US Navy Advanced Tactical Support Base and a US Marine Corps Artillery Firebase. It was a very moving exhibit.

Vietnam Experience

inside of helicopter

This was truly a wonderful display of military history. We want to thank everyone who has served our country in the military including some of our family and friends.

Quote of the day: “When I lost my rifle, the Army charged me 85 dollars. That is why in the Navy the Captain goes down with the ship.” – Dick Gregory

Taxes and future plans

Posted on April 2, 2015 by liv2rv

In 2014, we were legal residents of two states, and worked in three states. This may sound like a potential nightmare for filing taxes, but in reality it was not too difficult this year. And, we opted to try out H & R Block’s software, given all the issues with Turbo Tax this year, having stripped out some of their forms from the Deluxe version. We found Block’s software to be just as user friendly as Turbo Tax, and it was substantially cheaper (we found ours at Target, on sale for $34.99, verse Turbo Tax Premier which was $79.99).

We “resided” in South Dakota and Florida last year, both states that have no income tax, or tax on investments. So we did not have any forms to complete for these states. We received W-2’s for our work in South Dakota at Crazy Horse, and multiple W-2’s from Amazon for working in Kentucky and Indiana. We needed to file Federal and non-resident state forms in Indiana and Kentucky. We decided to use our “free” state download form on Indiana, since Kentucky’s non-resident tax form is very easy to complete by hand. We made a wise choice, as we found Indiana’s form a bit confusing, so we were glad to have the software assist us.

While everyone’s tax situation is different, we always declare “0” dependents on the Federal W-4 withholding tax forms, and “2” dependents for the state tax forms. By declaring “2” dependents, we have the least amount of money withheld for state taxes, and that works out well for us. We do not want to receive a large refund from the states. That is just our preference. This year worked out pretty well, as we will be getting less than $250 combined back from both KY and IN.

We may have to rethink our deductions for the Federal form though, as we ended up with a pretty large refund. Last year we funded, for the first time, a Health Savings Account. We were not sure how that would impact our taxes, and discovered the HSA saved us money as it is a credit right off the top of your income. And the HSA is available for anyone who has a high deductible health plan. We are not experts at taxes, so please don’t rely on us for advice! I’m just trying to give you an overview on our taxes with work camping in several different states.

FUTURE PLANS

We will be leaving warm and sunny (and humid) Florida next Monday, April 6th. Originally we wanted to stay one more week, and head back over to the Gulf side of Florida. But our neighbor here at the campground noticed that one of our hydraulic leveling jacks was leaking fluid on the very hot and humid days. Since our 5th wheel is still under warranty, we contacted Heatland and they recommended a place in Elkhart, Indiana for warranty work. (we had told them we would be coming up that way). So we will be leaving a week earlier. After looking at Google Maps and discussing various routes with our neighbors, we decided to take a new route and go through South Carolina and North Carolina on our way home. We have not yet decided if we will continue up I-77 through Virginia and Ohio, or cross over I-40 into Kentucky. We have heard both positive and negative things about both routes.

We need to be in Indiana for our appointment on 4/13, and then back to WI for doctors appointments on the 20th. Then it will be back to work!!

Summer Work Camping Job

In May, we will be heading West, to work at the Homeroom @ Madison Crossing located in West Yellowstone, Montana. This gift shop specializes in cabin décor and is located just three blocks from the entrance of Yellowstone National Park. We will be working with our friends Tom and Ellen (from Amazon), that recommended the job to us. We are looking forward to having all summer to explore the area, and Dan is looking forward to fishing.

Fall Work Camping Job

In the fall, we will again work at Amazon, this time for a full season in Jeffersonville, IN. We enjoyed our time there last year, and look forward to spending more time in Louisville on our days off.

We are committed to Amazon through December 23rd. After that we have not decided which direction to go.

Quote for the day: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller

I’ve been Banned!

Posted on March 27, 2015 by liv2rv

Hello everyone, it’s me again! I decided to steal my mom’s blog again. I was going to title it “Happy 8th Birthday”, but thought the above title was more attention grabbing. And I like it when humans, not other dogs, pay a lot of attention to me!

Keeping my peeps informed!

My parents have been very busy the last couple weeks with Dan’s brothers family in town visiting. Unlike last year, I have not been able to partake in all the social activities. My parents have been visiting a lot with my grandparents (Dan’s mom and dad). They have been renting the same condo in New Smyrna Beach for over 15 years. The condo does permit dogs, and the owner of the condo told them I was welcome to visit as well. Last year I made many visits, and had also made several more this year. I really enjoy going for walks with my grandparents.

But one day, no sooner than after I finished giving smooches to my grandparents, the telephone rang, and it was the manager of the rental association asking if they had a dog in the unit. To make a long story short, a power struggle ensued between the manager of the rental company, and the owner, and I am no longer allowed to visit, because the owner uses the rental company to handle everything. The rental agency does not permit dogs. Sigh….my grandparents are very sad about this. And I’m sad when I get left behind….

Apparently I missed out on a riveting shuffleboard tournament. I could have taught everyone a thing or two about chasing around a puck!

Chris and Brooke

Jasmine & Grandma

But, this just means everyone has to come down and visit me at my home! It’s not easy having seven people come over for a visit, because we live in a small space.

Carmen, Julia, Luke & I

The floor is always a good spot for me and my cousins to watch the Badgers play basketball!

Go Bucky!

The weather has been nice, so we could sit outside, which helps. And, they can play with me in the campgrounds dog park!

tug-a-war with Gramps

come on Grandma!

Everyone did come down and celebrate my birthday with me, and I even had presents to open. I love presents!!!

what’s in the bag?

Sometimes the bag keeps moving all over, but I am persistent!

still working on it!

Success!! Thanks for the new toy Grandma and Grandpa!

next present please!

I am not sure what is going on next. My parents spent a lot of time working on taxes, so I’m sure they will be talking about that in an upcoming blog. I just heard them use the word “refund”, which in dog language means “buy more toys and treats please!!”

And finally, even though I have just turned eight, I am still the youngest in our family. In dog years, based on my size, I am only 48 years old!!

Take care everybody!

Quote for the day: “Dogs are the leaders of the planet. If you see two life forms, one of them’s making a poop, the other one’s carrying it for him, who would you assume is in charge.” – Jerry Seinfeld

A full social calendar

Posted on March 7, 2015 by liv2rv

We have settled in for 2 months at Crystal Lake RV park in Mims, Florida, where we stayed last year. It is a small, no frills park right off of I-95, conveniently located south of New Smyrna Beach (where Dan’s parents rent a condo for a few months), North of Cocoa Beach, and about 70 miles East of Orlando. The best part is the price, $400/month plus electric. And many of the folks from last year have returned, so we have been busy with activities.

The RV lifestyle can be as social as you want it to be. In talking with people who are not full-time RV’ers, many cite the fear they would miss their family and friends too much, or the fellowship they have at their church. For us, we are more active now, than when we had a regular sticks and bricks house. But we also make it a point to swing “back home” to Wisconsin in between our workcamping jobs to visit family and friends.

When we were listening to the February podcast from the RV Navigators (free on ITunes), we discovered they were ‘parked at a campground nearby’, so we sent Ken and Martha an e-mail to see if we could meet up with them, and they were happy to do so. They have an excellent monthly podcast about the RV lifestyle which we have listened to for several years, and we were excited to finally meet up with them. We had an excellent lunch, and then made plans to golf nine holes, at the RV resort they were staying at. Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera, and left the phones in the truck while we were golfing. On the first hole, we encountered a large bird, a large turtle and a small alligator, all sitting together by the cart path. You will just have to take my word for it! They were very interested in hearing about our workcamping jobs, and how we are making a living doing this. We agreed to do a short interview, which will be broadcast on a future episode of their show. We look forward to meeting up with them again.

There is an excellent farmers/flea market in Deland on Wednesdays, and we picked up Dan’s mom and headed over for a few hours a couple of weeks ago. While we were there, we heard a woman’s voice yell “Wisconsin”. We turned around and I yelled “Seattle” back! It was Marilyn and David, whom we worked with at Amazon in 2013 in Kentucky. Marilyn was a “stower” at Amazon, so we saw her on a regular basis. She would always great us with “Hello Wisconsin”, and we would always say “Goodnight Seattle” when she left for the day. Depending on your age, you may or may not get those two television references! As it turns out, they have a house in Titusville, about 12 miles south of our campground, and they invited us over for a wonderful shrimp pasta dinner. If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know how much I like to emphasize the “family” atmosphere of the workcampers. Thanks again “Seattle” for your hospitality!

beautiful table setting

David, Dan, Marilyn

We also got together with Dick and Cheryl, whom we worked with at Crazy Horse Memorial this past summer. They have a home in Cocoa Beach. Cheryl had been having some problems with her back, and went in for surgery last fall when they arrived back in Florida for the winter. After surgery, Cheryl had no feeling her extremities. It was a very life changing experience for her and Dick. After very intense physical therapy, she is slowing gaining movement, but still faces a long road ahead. When we first met up for lunch, she was able to walk without her walker, but needed some assistance. A few weeks later, when we met up to golf with Dick (Cheryl road along in the cart), she was able to walk gingerly, without assistance, for short distances. She continues physical therapy, and is just taking one day at a time. You just never know what life will bring you, so be grateful for every day you have!

Dick, Cheryl & I

This time I remembered to bring my camera while golfing. We did not see any alligators, but did see this unique soft shell turtle, with sort of a pig stout for a nose.

Soft shell turtle

unique nose

This week we made another trip back to Epcot, to visit with a former co-worker of mine, who was escaping the cold of Wisconsin! It was also the start of the annual Epcot International Flower and Garden, which is held every spring. We were amazed at how “alive” the park seemed to be, since our last visit, with all the beautiful flowers and topiaries. It was a perfect day, and we had a lot of fun with Katie and her husband Sam. Thanks for letting us crash a day of your vacation!

Katie, Sam and I

Katie is an avid pin collector (I need to hook her up with Karen!), and I have learned that the Disney Cast Members are required to trade pins when anyone asks. Katie scored a nice Buzz Lightyear pin from one of the employees.

I’ll take that one!

And here are just a few of the topiaries located throughout Epcot.

Flower Festival

Butterflies

Monsters Inc

Woody

Captain Jack

colorful animals

Lion King

Quote for the day: “A friend is like a good bra….hard to find…supportive…comfortable…always lifts you up…makes you look better…and always close to your heart.” – Maxine

Final Day – Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Posted on February 27, 2015 by liv2rv

Animal Kingdom

Our short vacation at Disneyworld was coming to an end, and we spent our last day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It is one of the largest animal theme parks in the world, home to 1700 animals and 250 different species. We were very impressed by this park, opened since 1998, as it really focuses on conservation and education. It had less of that traditional “amusement park” feel to it.

The iconic symbol of this park is the Tree of Life, which is a sculpture 145 feet tall and 50 feet wide. It has 325 animals carved into the tree.

Tree of Life

Can you spot the animals is this photo? You may need to double click on the photo to blow it up, but there are dozens of animals in just this section alone. You can spend a lot of time walking around the base, and seeing something different each time you look.

animal carvings

Our group started out the day with the excellent 30 minute Broadway style show, Festival of the Lion King. The music, performers and costumes were fabulous. Part of the “homework” that Karen and Al made us do was watch the Lion King movie before we went, so we would have a better understanding of the show. We would recommend using one of your three allotted FastPass selections for this show.

the gang

There are many animal exhibits scattered throughout the park, and we stopped to view of few of the many species of ducks on display, such as these Indian Spot-Billed Ducks

Followed by the Black-Necked Swan

And this very popular “duck”, which had a long line of people waiting to see her!

Daisy Duck

We headed over to the Tree of Life to see the “It’s Tough to be a Bug” 3-D film, which is in a studio underneath the tree. The interactive movie was a lot of fun, even if you find bugs to be a little creepy.

There are many other outdoor exhibits featuring many species of birds from around the world. This Victoria Crowned Pigeon was a favorite of mine. I love the big “crown” of hair.

The area also contained a popular exhibit on bats. We saw two species on display, the Giant Flying Fox, which is one of the largest bats in existence. They can have a wingspan over 5 feet. This guy was a bit of an exhibitionist!

covering the “privates”

To get an idea of the size of this bat, they had a common fruit bat in the same exhibit.

fruit bat on right

After lunch, and with a great deal of hesitation on my part, I did agree to go on Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain. The ride goes straight up into a mountain, and then you go around inside the dark, and backwards, before coming out and dropping down the mountain. You are supposed to see the Yeti monster, but I had my eyes closed most of the ride, so I just have to take everyone’s word about the monster! Many of the reviews of this ride describe it as the best roller coaster in Disney. I just know there was a lot of screaming going on this ride, and it wasn’t all by me!

Expedition Everest

The highlight of the day was going on the Kilimanjaro Safari. You board an open top vehicle to explore African animals in a natural setting on 110 acres. The narrated ride is very bumpy, to simulate the roads that you would travel on a real safari trek. There is no guarantee of what animals that you will see, as they may or not be active during your trip. These are just a few photos of the animals that we saw.

Safari vehicle

African Elephant

Hippopotamus

Giraffe

African scenery

Mandrill

Greater Flamingo

African Lions

Zebra’s

Addax

And unlike the other parks where you can stand in long lines to meet the characters, the animals “go wild” in this park, with an afternoon dance party with the characters. I think the ‘moms’ had the most fun during this impromptu dance session by the characters.

line dancing, to the left, to the left…

animals gone wild

Because of the animals, this park has the shortest operating hours, so we still had a few attractions that we did not have time for. We headed back to the campground to feed the dog and get ready for our morning departure. We did make it over to one of the hotels for a quick meal, followed by this excellent Mickey cupcake.

yummy!

It was a great way to end the short but busy week at Disneyland. We can’t thank Karen and Al enough for being our tour guides, and to their friends and family for letting us be a part of their week.

Thanks for putting up with a few too many Disney photos!

Quote for the Day: “Animals don’t lie. Animals don’t criticize. If animals have moody days, they handle them better than humans do.” – Betty White

Day 3 – Magic Kingdom

Posted on February 20, 2015 by liv2rv

Our busy week at Disneyworld continued, as we headed to the Magic Kingdom via the ferry shuttle from Fort Wilderness. Our Fastpass rides were not until the afternoon, so we did our best to see as much as we could before meeting up with the rest of our party. This was our first daytime visit to the park, and it certainly had a different vibe than our nighttime visit.

Main Street

There is a lot of construction going on around the park. You can see some green walls to the left, and there is a green box in the lower middle of the picture. Apparently that box is covering up a statute of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse. Some of the construction was recently finished, so we are looking forward to seeing the changes when we go back to the Magic Kingdom for a visit in March (trying to take advantage of our annual pass before we leave Florida!). You can also see a crane behind the castle, as they were taking down their Christmas decorations and doing a few minor repairs.

Cinderella’s Castle

up close

And it would not be Disney, without a huge parking area for strollers!

lots of strollers

Or lots of balloons for sale!

Since we had seen the 3D film Captain EO at Epcot, Al and Karen recommended we see Mickey’s PhilharMagic, which is another 3D movie to get an idea of how far 3D technology has improved since the 1980’s. We loved the movie, and recommend this for all ages. The 3D technology is impressive, and the wait time for this attraction was only 10 minutes.

We wandered over to the Liberty Square section of the park, to view the replica of the Liberty Bell, and check out the Hall of Presidents, which contains artifacts from a number of former Presidents, as well the story of the United States, complete with Audio-Animatronic figures of every single President. It was a very informative and impressive display of the technology that Disney perfected back in the early 1970s.

Liberty Square

replica of Liberty Bell

After lunch, we met up with the rest of our group, and headed over to the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, for our first FastPass ride for the day. As far as roller-coasters go, this one is pretty mild, which made it a very enjoyable ride for me.

an ‘easy’ roller-coaster

Next up was Splash Mountain, which you may want to use as one of your three FastPass options, as this can have a long stand-by waiting line. This is a log flume ride, so you will get a little wet, or in Al’s case, a lot wet! (he was in the front row of the ride!) These are some photos of our group, although not everyone went on the ride. And the young man in the front row with Al was not with us. And yes, I did put on my raincoat for the ride!

ready for splash down!

If you double-click, you can see the photos better. Dan and I are in the 2nd row, I have my hood up!

Fred hanging on to his hat!

Al was pretty soaked, and Fred never lost his hat!

all smiles!!

We had some time to kill before our next FastPass ride, so everyone headed out into different directions. Al, Karen, Dan and I went over to see how long the wait would be to get on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. It was close to the 3:00pm daily parade, so there was not too many people in line, so we were able to see that attraction. Although we didn’t notice anything wrong on our boat ride (you won’t get wet on this one), Karen and Al commented that ‘things were not working right’ and after we exited the ride, we heard the announcement that the ride would be temporarily shut-down. So we will have to go back on this in March, to see what was not working.

We quickly headed over to Tomorrowlands, on the other side of the park, to go on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. This is another shooting arcade game, similar to Toy Story ride at Hollywood Studios, but it is not in 3D. We thought the Toy Story ride was better. There were several other attractions in the Tomorrowlands that we plan on seeing in our future visit. This is also the area that has Space Mountain, which is an indoor roller-coaster ride that has been around since 1975. We did not go on this, and maybe will consider it for a future visit….maybe if Dan can talk me into it!

We headed back over to the Liberty Square area for our last FastPass ride for the day, the Haunted Mansion. You sit in what they call a ‘doom buggy’, and go through various rooms in the mansion. Personally, I found this boring. There was a long wait to get on this, so I am glad we didn’t have to wait in line for this. But I have no interest in going back to this ride.

Haunted Mansion

180 days before our visit today, Al’s sister Ginny set her alarm for 5:00am to make reservations at Be Our Guest Restaurant at the Magic Kingdom. Apparently this is the most popular restaurant on Disney’s property, and very difficult to get into for dinner. Disney allows advance dining reservations up to 180 days ahead of your visit. So thanks Ginny for doing this! In preparation for this dinner, Karen loaned us a copy of her Beauty and the Beast DVD, so we would understand the story, and the various rooms in the Beast’s Castle. If you are going to dinner here, I would recommend seeing the movie as well. It does add to the experience.

The Beast’s Castle

The dinner was excellent, and we appreciated the fact that Disney knows you have been in the park all day, so there is no dress code for such a formal meal. Even though the Beast was all dressed up!

meeting the Beast

And here is our entire group: Fred, Al, Jim, Kathy, (Judy behind my head), myself, Sue, Denise, Bill, Karen, Patty, Dan and Ginny. We were happy to be ‘adopted’ into their family!

our group

After an excellent meal, with our belly’s full, we headed back to the campground to make sure Makena’s belly was also full!

As with the other parks, there is really not enough time to see everything, unless you just run yourself ragged from the time the park opens until it closes. And since we already knew we would be back, we decided not to wear ourselves out (we did that enough at Amazon!)

Quote for the Day: “Life itself is the proper binge.” – Julia Child

Day 2 – Hollywood Studios and IllumiNations Fireworks

Posted on February 15, 2015 by liv2rv

Hollywood Studios

After an excellent buffet breakfast with our lucky crew of 13 at the Wave resort, we headed over for our first experience at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. There are 8 different sections to this park, and even with our best efforts, we were not able to see everything in this park. This park offers several attractions that are 20 – 40 minutes in length, making it difficult to see everything. But the shows we did attend, were excellent.

Each Disney park has a ‘signature’ building/attraction, such as Cinderella’s Castle in the Magic Kingdom, or the sphere at Epcot. The Studios used to be the Sorcerer’s hat, but this is all that remains of the hat.

a disappearing hat

I have no idea what will go up in its place, or why it is being removed. If anyone knows, please feel free to add a comment. The map of the park does not even mention this display, and simply has a blank spot on the map in its place. There is a topiary design outside of the park that shows Mickey with his hat. Since I never saw the movie, I am not really sure what the broom thing is next to him.

Mickey the Sorcerer

The first section of the park is a recreation of the shops along Hollywood Boulevard.

Hollywood Boulevard

We ventured over to see the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, which is a 30 minute live action show to demonstrate how movies are made and stunts are performed. You can do a FastPass for this attraction, but the show seats several thousand people, so it is not always necessary.

stage set

The show begins with Indiana Jones rappelling down a rope, and running across while dodging stakes jutting up from the stage.

ouch!

After this scene is complete, we can see how they clear out the set, with the next stage set brought in by tractors for the next shoot.

removing the walls

The next scene is put in place and there is a fighting scene that goes across the top of the buildings.

scene # 2

The final scene has a lot of pyrotechnics. It was a very enjoyable show.

After Indiana Jones, we headed over to the Pixar Studios area, to ride the Toy Story Midway Mania. We had FastPass reservations for this ride, and I would highly recommend using one of your three choices on this attraction. It was a blast! You go through a 4D arcade game, shooting at toy story characters. This is a great ride for all ages and abilities. Here is Karen and her friend Patty, all set for the game.

ready, set, shoot!

Waiting in line for the ride is fun as well, just looking at how they have decorated the walls, with our favorite board games growing up! Candyland on the wall, and a checkerboard on the ceiling.

remember these games?

And the giant Etch-a-Sketch was doodling out puzzles.

I had one of these

Outside, the Pixar area continued the theme of the popular games we played as kids.

And who can forget the plastic green army men? They even have the melted shoes on this guy. (if you played with these army toys, you will understand that!) Karen and I had to stop for a photo.

Next up, we headed over to The Great Movie Ride, which is an easy 22 minute tram that takes you through the sets of various movies. It was very enjoyable, but I’m still trying to figure out why they have a disclaimer that it may be frightening to children.

And speaking of frightening rides, we headed over to the very popular (use your fastpass) Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, where you go up in an elevator, and it randomly drops you down, then shoots you back up, and drops you down again. The ride is always a different experience, because you never know how many floors you will drop or shoot back up (it is all in the dark). And when it shoots you back up, the doors open, and you are just staring out into the park. That is the part I had a problem with! I would go on this again, now that I know it’s is not “that bad”!

a fun ride

They also have the Rock N Roller Coaster at this park, but you can’t do both with the FastPass. That coaster apparently goes upside down, and bangs you around a lot, according to Al and his cousins. If you like roller coasters, then you would probably like that one instead of the Tower ride.

We headed back across the park to get in line for the Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show, which is currently performed twice a day. You get a behind the scenes look at how they perform and film car and motorcycle chase scenes. The outdoor stage for this attraction seats 5,000 people, so you probably won’t need to use your FastPass for this. The show is about 40 minutes long, and was very interesting to watch the great stunts.

After the stunt show, we wandered through a street set of New York City, and a painted wall of San Francisco.

New York City set

San Francisco

Our final FastPass reservation of the day was on Star Tours – The Adventure Continues which is a fun 3-D motion-simulated space flight with characters from Star Wars. Disney also has this ride set so that each ride is a different experience, so you never know what to expect. This way you can go on this ride multiple times, and still have a different experience each time. It was certainly a fun for all ages ride.

After a full day where we still did not get to see or do half the things in the park, we headed back to the campground to feed and play with the dogs. Al and Karen then took us to Disney’s Boardwalk by Epcot where we ate dinner, and walked over to Epcot to view the nightly IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth show. This is a laser light show, along with fireworks that you can view anywhere along the World Showcase. Here are a few photos that turned out from the show.

glowing globe of Earth

Quote for the day: “Cinema should make you forget you are sitting in a theater.” – Roman Polanski

Our first rocket launch

Posted on February 12, 2015 by liv2rv

I’m interrupting my Disney blogs, to bring you news of our first rocket launch. After several delays, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite into orbit. This satellite was a collaboration between NASA, NOAA and the U.S. Air Force.

We have never seen any type of rocket launch before, and were very excited to have an opportunity to observe our first one, launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. We were visiting with Dan’s parents at the time, in New Smyrna Beach, which is about 25 miles north (as the crow flies) from the space center. So our photos are a bit limited of this sunset launch. My in-laws have seen several nighttime launches, and stated they are quite spectacular. The space center is set to launch another rocket in March, so we are hoping it will be a nighttime launch.

If you want to see the official video of the launch, click here for the You Tube link.

These are the photos we were able to get on the beach. It’s amazing to think that “little glow” was over 25 miles away!

The rocket will be positioned almost 1 million miles from Earth, and should reach its destination in approximately 110 days. This satellite will be used as a solar observatory, and will replace the aging ACE satellite.

Quote for the day: “I think we are at the dawn of a new era of commercial space exploration.” Elon Musk (founder of SpaceX)

Liv2RV

Living and working around the country in a RV