kay-lo's world

AASL Conference in Minneapolis

2011-06-06T18:38:00.002-05:00

I'm going to be speaking! October 2011.

Updated travel plans

2011-02-19T09:53:00.003-05:00

We've decided to change the date of our Disney World trip from November to December so we'll be there for all of the holiday events - Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom, the Candlelight Processional at Epcot, the Osborne Family's Spectacle of Dancing Lights at the Hollywood Studios - and all the beautiful decorations in the resorts and parks.

So now I have a new countdown ticker for that trip:

We have reservations at our home DVC resort, Saratoga Springs, but at the 7-month mark, when we can make reservations at any of the other DVC resorts, we're going to try and switch to the Boardwalk Villas or the Beach Club.

Upcoming Vacation Plans

2011-02-03T14:32:00.009-05:00

For me, planning vacations is almost as much fun as taking them. After looking at the calendar to see what else we have planned for next fall, we decided to take our first trip as DVC members in November. We'll hit the end of the Food & Wine Festival at Epcot and the first showings of some of the Christmas events.

Between now and then, we have an April trip planned to Sanibel Island and the Everglades in Florida. With all the snow we've been having in the northeast this winter, we're really looking forward to both - and counting down the days!

Disney Vacation Club Update

2011-01-15T10:08:00.008-05:00

As I mentioned in my last post from our November Disney World trip, Rick and I were considering becoming DVC members. Well - we did it!

After checking out what was available via re-sale (much cheaper than buying direct from Disney), we settled on the Saratoga Springs Resort, where we stayed on that trip. We checked what was available through the Timeshare Store, and found a contract we liked. We made an offer that was accepted, waited 30 days for Disney to exercise their Right of First Refusal (which they waved), and finally closed on our property this week. We are now official DVC members!

We're planning our first trip as owners for next December and I am anxiously waiting for our membership to get into Disney's computers so that I can make our reservations. We'll start out with an 8-day reservation at SSR (since we can reserve at our home resort 11 months out), and at the 7-month mark, when we can make reservations at any of the DVC properties, we'll see if we can change all or part of the reservation to either the Boardwalk or Beach Club Villas, since we like to be near Epcot during the holidays.

DVC membership is something I've been coveting for quite some time and I'm very happy that we've finally taken the plunge!

Back from San Diego

2011-01-12T22:37:00.003-05:00

There was just too much to see and do in San Diego to take time to blog, so my photos on Flickr will have to suffice.

Highlights for me were the author interviews and book signings and the city itself. Our location near the marina and bay was just ideal. The weather was great and made it a pleasure to walk through the Gaslamp District, Old Town and the Seaside Village.

I'd be happy to return anytime!

Off On Another Library Advenure!

2010-12-29T09:54:00.006-05:00

Next week, my school library bud's and I will be off for the ALA Midwinter Conference in San Diego. We're looking forward to getting away from the cold winter weather and enjoying some warmth and sunshine. I'll be posting reports and photos here and on our MSLA en Mass blog.

Day 6: All Good Things Must Come to an End

2010-11-12T23:00:00.006-05:00

This was our last day of vacation and we truly hated to leave. The weather has been so perfect and other than the night of the transportation nightmare from the Magic Kingdom and my clumsy fall, this has been one of our nicest trips to Walt Disney World. We loved staying at Saratoga Springs and our room location was perfect. The Food and Wine Festival was even more fun than we expected and we really enjoyed Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party – especially the Holiday Wishes fireworks.

We had a 7:30 p.m. flight, so at least we were able to spend our last day in a park. We chose Epcot so that we could see Captain Eo (the 3-D film featuring Michael Jackson that we saw on our very first trip in 1992), sample some more of the Festival offerings, and get Rick’s favorite - Harry Ramsden’s fish and chips - for lunch. We ended up sharing a table at lunch with some chaperones and the director of a high school band from Cincinnati. We had a nice visit with them, talking music, before we made a last circuit of the World Showcase to use up what was left on our Festival gift card. We had beers from Canada and Germany and a Crème Brule from France, took a few more photos and reluctantly left to catch the Magical Express back to MCO.

Since we seem to have established a pattern of visiting Walt Disney World at least once a year, we’re considering buying into the Disney Vacation Club, Disney’s version of a time-share. I’m looking into getting a resale at either the Beach Club or the Boardwalk since we like being within walking distance of Epcot and the Studios, but we’d be happy to stay at Saratoga Springs again anytime too. It’s a really lovely resort. Maybe by our next trip, we’ll be DVC owners. Wait and see!

All the photos from this trip are here on Flickr.

Day 5: To Universal for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

2010-11-11T23:00:00.008-05:00

Since we had heard so much about it and we had a rental car which made getting there a snap – and since we are big fans of the books and movies – we decided to actually leave Walt Disney World property today to see the Harry Potter attraction at Universal Islands of Adventure. We got there just as the park opened and we could already tell that since this was the Veteran’s Day holiday the park was going to be crowded.

Once we passed under the arch onto the main street of Hogsmeade, we were transported right into the world of Harry Potter. The first thing we encountered was the Hogwarts Express, with steam still coming out of its smokestack, having just delivered Hogwarts’ students for another school year. Walking down the cobbled street, I couldn’t stop taking photos of the shop fronts, the snow-covered rooftops and all the leaning chimneys. We passed Ollivander’s wand shop, Zonko’s Tricks and Jokes, the Hog’s Head Tavern and several other establishments. Then, as we rounded the corner, there was Hogwarts Castle towering over us. I can’t imagine they could have done a better job of recreating all of this.

The ride inside the castle, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, lifts and swoops and tilts you in every direction as you soar behind Harry and Hermione on their broomsticks, over the Quidditch field, past the Whomping Willow, fire-breathing dragons, and Death Eaters, and escape an encounter with He-Who-Shall-Not-Be Named himself. It all went by so fast and was so intense that I don’t have a very clear recollection of too many details, but it was amazing! I did enjoy the walk through the portrait gallery and Dumbledore’s study and other parts of the castle before we got on the ride. The theming everywhere is simply exquisite.

We didn’t ride the other rides in this attraction – it was just too crowded and the waits were already 60 minutes or more by 10:30 a.m., but we did spend time just drinking it all in – along with a Butter Beer, of course! It was fun seeing all the people who were enjoying this attraction dressed as Hogwarts students, witches and wizards. Once we’d seen enough, we bought some Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavour Beans in Honey Dukes and hightailed it out of there.

We didn’t feel like going on any of the other rides at Universal after that, so we left and went back to familiar territory and had lunch at the Kona Café in the Polynesian resort. We did some poking around in the gift shop there and picked up a Peter Pan Christmas ornament for me and some Mickey Mouse coffee for Rick. On our way out to the car, I tripped over the curb and fell ass over teakettle, but fortunately ended up just scraping my elbow a little. After that we decided to go back to our studio and take it easy for the rest of the afternoon because we had exciting plans for later that evening - we were going to meet my college roommate Lee for dinner at Raglan Road, the Irish Pub in Downtown Disney.

Lee was waiting when we arrived at the restaurant and we had a great visit while enjoying the musicians and dancers and the great food. Rick and Lee both had the Slow Ribs and I had a chicken pie. I forget what the ale I had was called, but it was good. Rick’s drink of choice tonight was the Arrogant Bastard Ale – an appropriate choice. ;-) It was wonderful seeing Lee again – it’s been a couple of years – and while we keep in touch through email and Facebook, there’s nothing like getting together in person. Just like old times!

After we said goodbye to Lee, we did something we'd never done before - we drove over to the Polynesian, grabbed a couple of lounge chairs on the beach and watched the Holiday Wishes fireworks. They have the music piped in and somehow even coordinate it with the fireworks. Such a different perspective from the other night when we watched from the Hub - and much less crowded! It was also great not to have to wait for hours for transportation away from the park. We'll definitely do this again.

All the photos from this trip are here on Flickr.

Day 4 – Animal Kingdom

2010-11-10T23:00:00.009-05:00

We walked again this morning, but this time we stopped at Downtown Disney to take a flight on the Characters in Flight tethered balloon. Once again we had perfect weather, so the view was great and we were able to see how huge Disney World really is. It was a short, but enjoyable flight and a different way to start the day. After that we browsed in the Harley Davidson store, looked at the giant Lego sculptures, and took some photos of Raglan Road, where we’ll be having dinner tomorrow night.

Next we drove to the Animal Kingdom, which was about the least-crowded we have ever seen it. It was so pleasant strolling the paths and we noticed how the vegetation has really filled in, making the park shady and comfortable. We did the Maharaja Jungle Trek - the tigers were very alert today – and went on the safari ride and Expedition Everest. We saw the Lion King and Nemo shows – both really great, but we agreed we both like the Lion King best. We were able to walk onto everything.

All the photos from this trip are here on Flickr.

At this point we should have quit while we were ahead, but decided to go to the Magic Kingdom for a couple of hours. We parked in one of the Magic Kingdom lots and took the tram to the Ticket and Transportation Center (TTC), where we boarded the monorail for the Magic Kingdom. We got there just before the Main Street Electrical Parade started, but since we had seen this parade in Disneyland we decided to go on some rides instead. We had a really hard time getting through the crowd at the hub and over the bridge to Tomorrowland. It was absolutely packed! We rode the People Mover and then went to Fantasyland to see PhilharMagic. After that we rode the Haunted Mansion and finished up with Big Thunder Mountain. We should have left at that point, but decided to stay for the Wishes fireworks show that had started as we were heading for the exit.

After the fireworks, we knew there would be long lines for transportation back to the TTC, so we had hot dogs at Casey’s Corner while the park started to empty out. When we finally left the park, we were shocked to see hundreds of people still queued up for the monorail and steamboat, so we went back into the park and found a place to sit on Main Street while we waited some more. After half an hour or so, we tried again – but again all the lines were still awfully long. The line for the steamboat looked to be the lesser of two evils, so we went over there and waited, and waited some more. After a while of that line not moving an inch, we decided to try the express monorail. We got to the top of the ramp to find that it was experiencing “technical difficulties” and they weren’t letting anyone else on. We had no choice but to join the very long line for the resort monorail. We waited about 45 minutes to finally get on that monorail, but it didn’t take long to discover that this train had its own problems. We limped into the Contemporary where they had to shut down the train to reboot the onboard computer. Once underway again, we could tell by the flapping sounds coming from underneath the train that something was still amiss. We were stopped again just outside the TTC for a mechanical check and once inside the station, we still had to sit there for several minutes before they opened the doors and let us off. I think everyone breathed a sigh of relief when those doors finally opened.

All-in-all it took nearly 2 ½ hours for us to get to our car after the park closed. This is the first time we've driven to and parked at the Magic Kingdom and you can be sure we never will again. Lesson learned!

Day 3 – Hollywood Studios

2010-11-09T23:00:00.004-05:00

We slept in this morning and then took another walk through Downtown Disney before driving over to the Beach Club to park and have lunch at the Big River Grille on the Boardwalk. This is such a great place for a quiet, relaxed lunch. It was another perfect weather day, so we took an outside table and watched the Friendship boats cross the lagoon and the activity along the Boardwalk. I had the chicken and cashew salad and a glass of Beringer merlot and Rick had a burger with a glass of Steamboat ale. After that we took a Friendship over to the Studios.

The crowds were quite light. We walked right onto the Tower of Terror, watched the energetic – and loud – Block Party Bash, rode The Great Movie Ride, walked through the refurbished One Man’s Dream exhibit and saw the Beauty and the Beast stage show and MuppetVision 3-D. A first for us this time was the American Idol Experience. The three contestants were all quite good and it was a fun re-creation of the TV show.

Our main reason for going to this park today was to see the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights which began last night and will run through the holidays. The display was pretty much the same as it was last year, but it’s always fun and a good way to welcome in the season. After we saw the lights dance we called it an early night and spent the rest of the evening relaxing in our studio.

All of the photos from this trip are here on Flickr.

Day 2: Food & Wine and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

2010-11-08T23:00:00.012-05:00

This is a great time to be here with the Food & Wine Festival still going on and some of the Christmas season events beginning tonight. Christmas decorations are starting to appear here and there too.

We began our day with a walk from our resort to Downtown Disney and back. It was a beautiful morning – a little cool, but sunny with a cloudless sky. There is a path you can take that loops through the Saratoga Springs property, mostly along the lagoon, and skirts the edge of the Lake Buena Vista golf course. Once through Downtown Disney you can pick up the path again to return to the resort. This gave us a chance to get the lay of the land and to appreciate the beautiful setting we are in. At the beginning of our walk we saw a hawk perched in a tree at the resort that didn't mind sitting still to have his picture taken.

We drove over to the Beach Club and parked there so we could enter Epcot through the International Gateway. We had some time to browse and take photos in France, Morocco and Germany before our lunch reservation at the new restaurant in Italy - Via Napoli. Our waiter-in-training was the shy yet disarming Allesandro. Rick and I shared a salad and a large Neapolitan Pizza Quartro Fromaggi (four-cheese). It was fantastic! I had their Merlot San Giuseppe and Rick had the La Rossa Italian Lager. We loved this meal and the charming and attentive service. We'll definitely be back. We spent the rest of the afternoon grazing at some of the Food & Wine kiosks. I know I remember having a Prosecco in Italy and a Margarita in Mexico and who knows what else! So much for watching my diet on this trip!

When we got back to our villa, Rick took a nap and I tried out the hot tub at the quiet pool near our building. Then we went over to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. The castle was all lit up with beautiful icicles and the park wasn’t at all crowed since this was the very first party of the season. We enjoyed the complimentary hot chocolate and cookies, went on a few rides, saw the perfectly choreographed and beautiful Holiday Wishes fireworks show, the Celebrate the Season castle stage show, and of course Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade. We left an almost empty park at midnight, very glad we decided to go to the party this trip.

It was a really great Disney Day!

All of the photos from this trip are here on Flickr.

Back at The World: Day 1

2010-11-07T23:00:00.009-05:00

After a very early start from the Manchester, NH airport, we landed in Orlando before 10 a.m., boarded Disney's Magical Express bus and were all checked in at the Saratoga Springs Resort by 10:45. Our room wasn't ready yet, so we walked over to the Buena Vista Palace to pick up our rental car. While waiting to complete that transaction, I got a text from the resort with our room number, so we went back to see what we got. All our requests were met: Congress Park, top floor, Downtown Disney view. We're in a studio villa - renting points from a Disney Vacation Club member. Thanks Darlene! Our building is actually the one closest to Downtown Disney. It's secluded and quiet and the view of the lagoon and Downtown Disney is beautiful. A perfect location for us!

We made it to Epcot just around noontime, so after riding Spaceship Earth and stopping by the Food & Wine Festival Center in the former Wonders of Life pavilion to pick up a gift card, we had our first samples of Festival food at the Canada and Ireland kiosks. We've never been here for the Festival before and it's really fun. You use your gift card to pay for food at the various kiosks – much more efficient than using your Key to the World or credit card since you don’t have to sign the receipts. Rick had the Canadian cheddar cheese soup and I got maple-glazed salmon with a lentil salad. Delish! I had a St. David's Bench merlot and Rick had Moosehead ale. At the Ireland kiosk, I got the Bunratty Meade Honey Wine and lobster and scallop fisherman's pie. After that we strolled the rest of the way around the World Showcase checking out the offerings at the other kiosks. We stopped at the Germany pavilion and got a soft pretzel that we enjoyed with their Altenmunster Oktoberfest ale. Being the next-to-the-last Sunday of the festival, the park was pretty busy.

Since we'd been up since 2:30 this morning, we were starting to fade, so we went back to our room for a nap before returning to Epcot for our late dinner reservation at the new Mexican restaurant, La Hacienda de San Angel. I had timed this to coincide with the IllumiNations fireworks. The location was nice - we were really close to the globe and could see the images more clearly than ever, but I thought that watching the show at an angle through the windows diminished the impact of the fireworks. I'd much rather watch IllumiNations from outside where you can get the full effect. We shared the queso fundido appetizer (melted cheese with poblano peppers, chorizo and flour tortillas), which was very good. For our entre, we shared the flank steak with spring onions, tamal, and cactus leaves. This came with black beans and Spanish rice. Rick really liked it – I thought it was just okay. We also each had a Tecate, one of the house beers - just awful! I think we were just too tired - and I was still a little too full from the afternoon's samplings - to really appreciate this restaurant fully, but I doubt we’d go there again – certainly not for IllumiNations anyway.

All the photos from this trip are here on Flickr.

Next Up - Another Trip to The World

2010-09-18T21:27:00.004-05:00

We're planning to visit Walt Disney World in November. How many times have we been there, you ask? More than a dozen - but we don't get tired of our favorite place to escape reality. We'll be staying at the Saratoga Springs Resort and are looking forward to trying out a couple of new restaurants at Epcot - La Hacienda de San Angel and Via Napoli - and our first ride on the Characters in Flight tethered balloon at Downtown Disney.

Our timing for this trip is great - the Food and Wine Festival will be in full swing at Epcot and the Osborn Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights opens at Disney's Hollywood Studios while we're there. It will also be great to see Disney's Electrical Parade at the Magic Kingdom. We saw this parade at Disneyland, but now it's back in Florida where it originated. It'll be fun to see Captain Eo at the Imagination pavilion in Epcot again. We saw it on our very first trip in 1992 and I only remember it vaguely.

We had to cancel a Disney trip last spring when my dad passed away, so we're feeling overdue for some Disney magic.

Elk, Ghosts, and Goodbye to the Rockies

2010-09-13T21:00:00.016-05:00

See all the photos from this trip on Flickr.

This was it - our last day in Estes Park. We started at the Estes Park Visitors Center to get advice on where to rent bikes for a ride around Lake Estes. From there, we walked to the marina to pick up our bikes.

Along the way we encountered a large herd of elk who came down from some high rocks next to the lake trail, crossed the trail, and went out into the lake. The huge bull elk with his enormous rack of antlers came last at a majestic pace, looking left and right to make sure that no one was nearby to bother his herd before he crossed the path .

After our bike ride we went to the historic Stanley Hotel, built in the early 1900s by F.O. Stanley , the inventor of the Stanley Steamer automobile, to house his friends when they visited Estes Park. The hotel is reported to be haunted by the happy ghosts of former guests, some of them children. It was also Stephen King's inspiration for the hotel in his horror novel The Shining, although, contrary to popular belief, the movie was not filmed here. (The exterior of the Timberline Lodge at Mt. Hood was actually used for the film.) Our tour guide gave us an interesting and enthusiastic overview of the history of the hotel and the Stanley family and we enjoyed a nice lunch out on the patio in the warm sunshine.

Tomorrow we'll have breakfast and drive back to Denver to fly home. This has been a great trip. We're glad to add Rocky Mountain National Park to the growing list of national parks that we have visited.

See all our photos from this trip on Flickr.

Another Hiking Day

2010-09-12T21:00:00.016-05:00

See all our photos on Flickr.

We came here to see the national park, so today we were off to do some more hiking. It was much warmer than the last time we hiked, so we left our winter clothes behind today.

Today we chose to start with the Cub Lake Trail. It began in a valley, then skirted a marshy meadow along the edge of the forest. The trail was relatively flat at first, but eventually began to climb up through the forest, getting steep enough near the end to require several switchbacks. We were glad to have our hiking poles. Once we reached Cub Lake we sat on a rock and had a snack while enjoying the serene setting.

Leaving Cub Lake, we headed even higher through the forest toward The Pool at the base of a waterfall on the Fern Lake Trail. This 6+ mile hike took us over 4 hours altogether because we stopped so often to take photos. I concentrated on close-ups of the many wildflowers, berries and other plants along the trail. The views were also magnificent. The highlight of the hike was one spot on the trail where we encountered a bunch of colorful butterflies. One even landed on Rick's vest!

We had thought we might try a second hike after this, but we were pretty well worn out after this hike so instead, we took a short break and then went back into town for dinner. This was at another rooftop restaurant, Chilito's, where we enjoyed authentic Mexican food and margaritas.

During dinner, we commented on what an ideal vacation destination this is. You have a nice little resort town with nice accommodations and plenty of shops and restaurants right outside of a beautiful wilderness area where you can hike and enjoy the serenity and solitude of the national park. The best of both worlds!

See all our photos on Flickr.

Long's Peak Scottish Irish Festival

2010-09-11T21:00:00.007-05:00

See all our photos on Flickr.

Saturday morning dawned bright and cloudless and a little on the cool side. We walked the length of Estes Park's main street to get into a long line at Starbucks for breakfast. Along the way, people were already staking out their spots for the parade marking the opening of the annual Scottish Irish Festival at the Estes Park Fairgrounds. There was a feeling of excitement in the air as brawny men in kilts roamed the sidewalks along with Scottie dogs on leashes.

We found a sunny spot near one of the parade announcers where we watched bagpipe band after bagpipe band and clan after clan - in alphabetical order - pass by. An hour had passed and we'd only reached the M's, so we decided to start walking back to the Silver Moon to get ready to go out to the Fairgrounds for the Festival. The parade finally ended shortly afterwards, there not being that many clans beginning with the letters N-Z.

Once at the Fairgrounds, we were a little overwhelmed by the crowds and the noise, but once we got acclimated, we enjoyed watching the parade of the Dogs of the British Isles, a performance by the Marine Band, some athletic events, and a bagpipe band competition. There were tents for musical performances, dancing, and lots and lots of merchandise. Each clan had a display and there were many food booths and beer at every turn.

After a few hours, we felt that we'd been sufficiently immersed in Scottish/Irish culture and headed back to town to look for a quiet place to have a late lunch. Looking up, we spotted Vega's rooftop tapas bar where we enjoyed a couple of beers and some sandwiches while overlooking downtown Estes Park. It was a different kind of day, but really fun!

See all our photos on Flickr.

Hiking the Lake Trails

2010-09-10T21:00:00.018-05:00

See all our photos on Flickr.

This was our day to hit the trails. Following our ranger’s advice, we boarded the hiker’s shuttle to Bear Lake near the Moraine Park Visitors Center. We were very glad our friend Ann had told us to be sure to bring warm jackets, hats and gloves, because the temperature on this brilliantly sunny day started out in the 30s, the wind was brisk, and there were even a few snowflakes in the air.

Bear Lake is a tiny, pristine mountain lake with a mostly flat half-mile trail encircling it. We took our time making the circuit, taking lots of photos. Sufficiently primed, we continued along a trail connecting three successively higher lakes – Nymph, Dream and Emerald. Bear Lake is at a little over 9,000 feet in elevation. By the time we finished our hike a few hours later, we had topped 11,000 feet. The hike back down, needless to say, was much less challenging than the ascent. We may not be the fastest hikers in the world – we stop too often to take photos and admire the view – but we were pleased with how well we managed the climb – our first using our brand new hiking poles.

Once we descended from the lakes, we took another short climb – about 2 ½ miles round-trip – to Alberta Falls where we encountered a group of 8th graders on a field trip. We didn't linger there too long. Altogether, we hiked over six miles today!

After today’s strenuous efforts, a good steak was in order – and Orlando’s, which received rave accolades on the communal restaurant review board in our hotel’s lobby, fit the bill perfectly. This upscale restaurant is hidden behind a rather rowdy downtown bar – a pleasant surprise of a place that we would never have found on our own. We had excellent food and extremely efficient service here and felt duly rewarded.

See all our photos on Flickr.

Getting the Lay of the Land

2010-09-09T21:00:00.013-05:00

See all our photos on Flickr.

Our first stop whenever we visit a national park is the Visitors Center. We find that the rangers always offer invaluable help in determining the best plan to accomplish our goals. Since this was our first day in the park, we thought we might get the lay of the land by driving the 50 mile-long Trail Ridge Road, which connects the east and west entrances of the park. Our ranger suggested some short hikes we might try along the way while our bodies get acclimated to the high altitude. She also told us about the Old Fall River Road, a picturesque one-way section of roadway, full of steep switchbacks, that ascends above the tree line to the Alpine Visitors Center. She also suggested some moderate hikes we might try another day.

We started out on Trail Ridge Road and then picked up Old Fall River Road, stopping at pull-outs along the way. We enjoyed a short hike down to a pretty waterfall and took in increasingly more breathtaking views as we climbed higher and higher. There was a high-wind warning in effect today and as we climbed higher, the winds grew stronger and the temperature dropped, but it was clear and sunny and didn’t deter us from enjoying the spectacular views at every turn. The aspen trees were beginning to turn a brilliant yellow on many of the slopes, and above the tree line, the tiny tundra plants splashed the slopes with a variety of colors.

On our descent from the Alpine Visitors Center, we reached the Continental Divide – an undramatic spot along the roadway identifiable only by the sign posted there. We continued several miles further after that to see the Hovwrath Historic Site along the headwaters of the Colorado River, where an early dude ranch operated in the early 1900s. By then we had traversed about two-thirds of Trail Ridge Road. We figured if we continued to the end we would be making the return drive in the dark, so we decided to turn back toward Estes Park. On our way back, we walked the 0.8 mile trail up to Rock Cut, the highest point we would reach on this trip at over 12,000 feet. With winds gusting to over 60 miles per hour and the very thin air at this elevation, this seemingly short and simple hike took real effort, but we were more than rewarded by the magnificent views from the top.

Returning to Estes Park, we did a little window shopping on the main street while we looked for a place to have dinner. We chose the Wapati Grille, semi-hidden down a funky little alley. They served up good burgers and beer and we walked back to the Silver Moon afterwards full, tired and pleased with having chosen such a pleasant vacation destination.

See all our photos on Flickr.

Arrival Day

2010-09-08T21:00:00.004-05:00

Because we had to reschedule our flights, we ended up flying the “scenic route” to Denver via Orlando, with a 2-hour layover. Estes Park is about an hour and a half’s drive from Denver, so we had a long day of travel.

As soon as we got on the highway in Denver, we could see the Rockies in the distance. First we passed acres of open farmland and then we started to climb through the foothills. As we neared our destination, the hills turned to mountains of tumbled boulders dotted with fir trees. Majestic ranges made a stunning backdrop for the town of Estes Park.

We checked in at the Silver Moon around suppertime and took the desk clerk’s recommendation to try Smokin’ Dick’s Barbecue. It was a good choice. We stuffed ourselves with chicken, ribs and beef brisket, accompanied by a variety of sauces and sides. On our way back to the hotel, a herd of elk had traffic stopped while they crossed the street and climbed a hill on the other side. The big bull, with a full rack of antlers, followed the herd at a regal pace, seemingly unfazed by the cars that had stopped in both directions.

Still on Eastern Time, we fell into bed early, anticipating ascending into the mountains the next day.

On our way to the Rockies!

2010-09-08T05:00:00.001-05:00

Today we'll fly to Denver, pick up a rental car and drive to Estes Park, CO, a resort town just outside the east entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. We'll be staying in the Silver Moon Inn, right on the Fall River, which runs through the center of town. It's on the River Walk, a picturesque path that circles Estes Park. Here's a photo from the Silver Moon's website.

This trip almost didn't happen. My elderly mother had a small health problem just two days before we had planned to leave - and wouldn't you know it, it was over the Labor Day weekend. After spending a night in the ER, a day in the hospital, and finally being checked out by her own health care providers, it was determined that it would be best to place her in respite care in a nursing home while we're away. We had to delay leaving on our trip for one day. Fortunately, we were able to change our flight and hotel reservations and tack an extra day on the other end, so now our vacation is going off almost as planned!

We hope to do a lot of sightseeing, take some hikes, ride bikes, and sample the menus in some local restaurants. There is also a Scottish Festival going on in Estes Park while we're there that we'll probably check out.

We're off!

Last Day: World Showcase and Le Cellier

2009-12-19T11:21:00.005-05:00

We arrived at the World Showcase about an hour before our lunch reservation, so we browsed in the Canada and UK pavilions. We listened Santa Claus tell about the various ways Christmas is celebrated in Canada and arrived at the UK just as the World Showcase Players were beginning their performance of A Christmas Carol. Guess who they pulled from the audience to be Mr. Scrooge? They had no idea what they were getting into when they chose Don Adams! He out-hammed the players with his "Bah Humbugs" and other rude noises. It was hilarious! Bravo, Don!

We had a fabulous meal at Le Cellier - what a great finale to our trip. Rick and I started with the cheddar cheese soup and we both had the mushroom filet mignon with mushroom risotto. Heavenly! Thanks to the Adamses for treating us!

We needed to walk off all that food, so we made a slow circuit around the World Showcase, starting in Mexico, where we saw the 3 Kings tell their Christmas story and finally arriving in France just in time to watch Serveur Amusant. I was picked to sit on one of the chairs until it was needed for the acrobat - not nearly as exciting a role as Don's.

Sadly, it was time to get back to the Boardwalk and gather our luggage for our final ride on the Magical Express to the airport. The skies opened up while we were waiting for the bus to arrive - perfect timing!

Kona Cafe and World Showcase

2009-12-17T22:41:00.011-05:00

Great breakfast today at Kona, especially the home fries. We went back to the resort afterwards and walked over to the World Showcase, strolling slowing from France to Mexico before we pooped out. Saw the movie in France, browsed the bazaar in Morocco, listened to the drummers in Japan, had some Liebfraumilch and a soft pretzel in Germany and watched the model train, saw the terracotta soldiers in China, rode Maelstrom in Norway, got a frozen Margarita in Mexico and listened to the mariachi band.

We had a disappointing dinner at Boma in the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Note to self: the food isn't that great, the Merlot sucks, and there are way too many families with small, screming kids eating there. Cross this one off the list.

When we got back to the Boardwalk, Rick and I decided to take a last walk around Crescent Lake. He bought a t-shirt at the Beach Club and we picked up some candy for our parents in the Boardwalk candy store. Then I decided to go back to Epcot for IllumiNations and got a great spot just before it started right on the rail behind one of the gift shops.

We fly home tomorrow evening. We'll have lunch at my favorite Epcot restaurant, Le Cellier, before we have to head for the airport. This has been a really great trip - our first traveling to Walt Disney World with friends. We've made a lot of wonderful memories!

All our photos are on Flickr and videos on YouTube.

Future World, SpectroMagic and Wishes

2009-12-16T06:57:00.002-05:00

We made up for a day of no rides yesterday by spending most of today in Epcot's Future World. We started by getting a FastPass for Soarin' and then jumped into the standby line, which took exactly the 35 minutes posted. Anne and Don loved the ride and wished it lasted longer. We were glad we had FastPasses so we could ride it again later. We had a late start this morning, so after Soarin', it was already time to head over to the World Showcase for our noon lunch reservation at Tokyo Dining. We rode a Friendship over and got there in time to see the wait-staff's opening ceremony. We were seated in the front-center window. We shared a bottle of sake and all enjoyed our lunch overlooking the lagoon.

After lunch we went back to Future World for more rides, using our FastPass to ride Soarin' again, then going on Mission Space, Test Track, and Spaceship Earth, with an energy break for lattes and cappuccinos at mid-afternoon. It was getting cooler and the skies were becoming threatening, so we went back to the resort to change of clothes before going to the Magic Kingdom for the SpectroMagic parade and Wishes fireworks.

Fortunately, it never did rain and we were able to get great viewing spots for both attractions. We watched SpectroMagic from it's start on Main Street and then followed the masses to a prime spot in front of the Partners statue at the Hub for Wishes. We had a perfect view of the Castle and its changing colors and could clearly see Tinkerbell fly from the parapet at the beginning of the show. These shows are must-sees and the Adamses enjoyed them both.

Tomorrow we'll check out the decorations at the monorail resorts after breakfast at the Kona Cafe in the Polynesian resort.

Resort hopping, mini-golf, and the Osborne Spectacle of Dancing Lights

2009-12-15T20:22:00.001-05:00

We started our day with breakfast at celebrity chef Cat Cora's restaurant on the Boardwalk, Kouzzina. I had the amazing Stacked Kouzzina breakfast - two poached eggs, Kalamata olive toast, artichoke spread, sweet potato hash and chicken sausage. Very unusual, but delicious. Spoodles, the restaurant this one replaced, was a favorite of ours, so we were glad that we enjoyed Kouzzina so much.

After breakfast we made a circuit of the lagoon to see the Christmas decorations at the Yacht and Beach Club resorts, then walked over to see how the Swan and Dolphin were decked out for the holidays.

Next we did something new - we played miniature golf at Fantasia Gardens. Don was the winner, with Anne second, Rick third and me last, but still 2 under par. It was very hot and humid, but the course was very cute, with a Fantasia theme. We had a great time and would definitely do this again.

We wanted to be sure that Anne and Don had a chance to hear the Voices of Liberty at the American Adventure in Epcot, so we went over there next. We enjoyed some sparkling wines in Italy before the fife and drum corps signalled it was time for the show which featured holiday music.

We left Epcot and took a Friendship over to the Studios. We had the most fun dinner ever at the 50's Prime Time Cafe. Our server, Laura, was a hoot, the food was good home cookin' - fried chicken and tuna noodle caserole - and we enjoyed reminiscing about all the old TV shows running on the set at our table.

Then it was time to see the Osborne Spectacle of Dancing Lights. You can't help but smile when you see this display, it's so over the top, but just so whimsical and so much fun - a great ending to another day filled with smiles and laughter.

Photos are updated on Flickr and there are some more videos on YouTube. I'm having fun with our new Flip camera!

Studios Day and Candlelight Processional

2009-12-14T19:54:00.000-05:00

Whew! What a day! We did most of the the Disney Hollywood Studios. Anne and Don loved the Great Movie Ride, the Haunted Mansion, Rockin' Roller Coaster, and Toy Story Midway Mania. We also saw the Muppets movie, and all enjoyed the excellent exhibit and film, Walt Disney, One Man's Dream, but I think the unanymous favorite was the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. We made three circuits of the park before we ran out of steam.

We took a brief beer break at the Big River Brewing Co. on the Boardwalk and then headed over to Epcot for our dinner at the Rose and Crown. We had a great meal there (and more beer). After that, it was time for the Candlelight Processional. Abigail Breslin narrated the Christmas story. The orchestra, herald trumpeters and chorus were outstanding. What a great way to get into the Christmas spirit!

Part of our Processional dinner package included a special reserved front-and-center section for the Illuminations fireworks. At Christmastime they add an extra holiday ending to Let There Be Peace on Earth, with a really neat laser effect simulating a dove in flight. It was a good chance to see what my little Flip video camera could do. Not bad, except for the explosions of the fireworks overloading the mic.

I added a few more photos to Flickr.

Holiday Trip

2009-12-13T20:42:00.001-05:00

We're at Walt Disney World with our friends Anne and Don to enjoy the warm weather and all the special Christmas attractions. We're staying at the Boardwalk Villas in newly renovated studios. The place looks all fresh and shiny new.

We launched our vacation at the Magic Kingdom where we had lunch at the Plaza Restaurant and then worked our way counter-clockwise around the park starting in Tomorrowland. We rode the Tomorrowland Transit authority to get a birds-eye view of that part of the park, then battled the evil emporer Zurg on the Buzz Lightyear ride. We watched the 3-D movie, Mickey's PhilharMagic and braved the Haunted Mansion. We finished our tour with Pirates of the Caribbean. We'll be back later in the week for SpectroMagic and the Wishes fireworks show.

Crowds were fairly light yesterday, temp's in the 80s. No complaints from any of us! We had a great dinner at Raglan Road in Downtown Disney and checked out the shops on the Boardwalk before calling it a night.

Tomorrow we're off to the Disney Studios, then we'll have dinner at the Rose and Crown Pub at Epcot and then see the Candlelight Processional and Illuminations fireworks.

I'm trying out our new Flip video camera, so stay tuned for some clips on YouTube. In the meantime, we have photos on Flickr.

We are grandparents

2009-09-01T06:31:00.003-05:00

Astra Jeanette Stathis-Lowe arrived at home in Northampton on July 29, 2009. We are in love!

Chicago Sights

2009-07-15T20:18:00.003-05:00

The 2009 ALA Annual Conference was packed full of new ideas and information - and fun! We managed to fit in some sight seeing and good meals in between meetings and presentations, and met some famous authors like Gregory Maguire and Neil Gaiman. My colleagues and I posted all about it on our group blog, MSLA en Mass. Here are some of the photos from our adventure.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Free in the City

2009-07-10T21:00:00.009-05:00

Some of us had no conference obligations today, so my travel-buddies and I took a double-decker bus tour of the city. You can hop on and off when you want, so we had a look at Union Station and spent some time in the Africa and Egypt exhibits at the Field Museum. It rained off and on, so mostly we just stayed on the bus and saw the sights, but on the final leg of the tour, to Navy Pier, the skies cleared, so Gerri and I rode up on top where we had an unobstructed view.

Chicago is a beautiful city. Interesting buildings from several eras attractively combine to create what many believe to be one of the world's most beautiful skylines. The streets are clean and adorned with planters full of colorful floral arrangements. We've felt very welcome here, too. Today the ticket seller at the Field Museum who let us in for free. This is my third trip here and I'm enjoying it just as much as my first. More photos here.

Navy Pier

2009-07-10T08:23:00.004-05:00

Navy Pier is a 20-minute walk from our hotel. We got tickets for Cirque Shanghai - Chinese acrobats. We marveled at their strength and flexibility. They put on a fun show. Afterwards, Ann and I rode the giant Ferris wheel for a breathtaking view of the Chicago skyline at night. Photos are all on Flickr.

The Elephant and Castle Pub in Chicago

2009-07-09T10:57:00.006-05:00

What a great welcome to the Windy City! When I arrived in Chicago with my colleagues Gerri and Valerie yesterday, we set out to find someplace that looked good for lunch. It was raining and as the rain began to really come down, we happened upon the Elephant and Castle Pub. We, along with many others, took refuge inside and waited for a table. After a short wait, we were seated and placed our orders. Shortly thereafter, the hostess came over to chat and offered to comp us a dessert because, she said, "I like the way you women look. There's a good vibe about you." Well that was nice! We shared a really delicious and decadent bread pudding and then set off to explore Millennium Park in the rain. A great first day!

"Chicago, Chicago...

2009-06-21T20:18:00.007-05:00

...that toddlin' town!"

According to Answers.com, to toddle is to:

1. walk with short, unsteady steps
2. walk leisurely; stroll

I might just possibly be doing both when I revisit Chicago (this'll be my 3rd trip) for the Annual Conference of the American Library Association, July 9-15.

I really enjoy Chicago and always have a great time with my friends and colleagues at ALA conferences, so I'm really looking forward to the trip. I'll be posting here (the fun stuff) and on our group blog MSLA en Mass. (the professional stuff).

So, activities that result in definition #1 are more apt to be found here!

Bliss

2009-05-20T18:29:00.003-05:00

What could be better than sitting out on my deck in the stillness after supper, listening to the birds sing, watching them flit from the bushes to the feeders, smelling the just-cut hay in the field below, thinking about the grand-daughter soon to come? Life is good.

Busy Last Day at the Disneyland Resort

2009-05-03T22:52:00.010-05:00

We packed a lot into today, trying to squeeze in everything we wanted to do before our time here in Anaheim runs out. We started today with a monorail ride into Disneyland. While walking through Downtown Disney to get to the monorail station, we were overtaken by four people, two men and two women, dressed entirely in black, the women carrying black parasols. You see all types here, so we didn't think that much of it, although these folks certainly looked about as un-Disney as anyone possibly could. When we got to Disneyland, there were more goth-types walking around, most of them in groups, and later we saw more at DCA. Turns out that this is the 11th annual Bats Day in the Fun Parks Weekend, the "premiere Dark Alternative Subculture event on the West Coast."

We did a couple of rides in Fantasyland and then decided to say goodbye to Disneyland. It was getting very crowded and we had plans to tour the Grand Californian to learn about the Arts and Crafts influences in the architecture and decor of the hotel. The one-hour tour was fascinating and lots of design details we had overlooked were pointed out to us by our guide Sierra. Several artists were commissioned to work on various elements of the hotel, like the tiles used on the front of the registration desk and the stunningly beautiful stained glass doors at the hotel's entrance. I took a lot of photos which are all posted on Flickr.

After that tour, we were picked up by a representative of the Disney Vacation Club and taken to their building about a block away to learn about DVC membership. We (mostly I) have been tossing around the idea of joining DVC since we take so many Disney vacations, but what we had pretty much figured out on or own was verified by the DVC rep - renting points from DVC members rather than buying our own membership is a better way to go for us. We were shown a model of the DVC units that are currently under construction here at the Grand Californian and they are stunning, but we don't visit Disney parks often enough, or take long enough vacations, to ever break even on this large an investment.

After the DVC tour, we went back to DCA to see the Aladdin show one more time and use the FastPasses we received for taking the DVC tour. The park was mobbed, so after riding Soarin', we came back to the hotel and had a nice last dinner in the Storyteller's Cafe. Now we're packing. Right below us in Downtown Disney, a flamenco guitarist is performing. During our days here we have seen a violinist, dulcimer player, and a percussionist performing outside at night. Downtown Disney is a great venue for adults and we have really enjoyed staying here, right next to all it has to offer. And for a fitting finale, we are watching the Disneyland fireworks from our balcony.

This has been a great trip. We feel that now we have really "done" Disneyland and will look forward to coming back sometime if the circumstances are right.

All the photos from this trip are posted on Flickr.

Food and Wine Festival

2009-05-02T09:55:00.007-05:00

Last night we decided to go back to DCA to do the Wines of the World "walk". They had four stations set up, each representing a different country or region, with a choice of three wines at each. I was given a "passport" containing a brief description of wine making in each country, that was stamped at each station. I didn't write down the names of the wines I sampled, but I remember that I tried Trumpeter, a white wine from Argentina, a Pinot Noir from New Zealand, and two other reds - one from Italy and one from the "Old World". The samples were thimball sized, but it was fun to walk through and hear a little about each of the wines.

Before going back to Disneyland for the fireworks, we decided to have a full-sized drink and something to eat in the lounge at the Napa Rose, the "fancy" restaurant at the Grand Californian. We ordered the Sizzling Beach Stone appetizer, which included shrimp, beef ribs, and chicken, garnishes and dipping sauces, and was artistically presented in a wooden box.

We walked to the monorail station in Downtown Disney to ride into Disneyland for the fireworks. I love the Disneyland monorail. It has been recently refurbished with shiny new trains and it carries you past DCA and right into Disneyland after making several loops over Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. We rode a couple of rides and then decided to make a full circuit of the park on the Disneyland Railroad before the fireworks. We were held for about 20 minutes between the New Orleans Square and Mickey's Toontown stations at the rear of the park because there was a mechanical problem with the train in front of us. When we finally arrived at the Toontown station we were told we'd be held there another 10 minutes, so we got off and started to walk, but we didn't make it back to Main Street before the fireworks started, and by then we were caught in the crowd couldn't find anywhere to stop where we could see, so we just left and went back to the hotel.

Today we spent the whole day enjoying DCA and the Food and Wine Festival. We started with Soarin', a glider ride over California - exactly the same as the ride at Walt Disney World, but still wonderful. We improved our scores over yesterday's on Toy Story Midway Mania. The park was not as crowded as I thought it would be for a Saturday during the Food and Wine Festival. I took lots of photos of the flower arrangements and landscaping in the Golden State area. They have a lot of beautiful container arrangements set up for the Festival and it looks really nice. We managed to catch several of the street performances today, including High School Musical 3, Drawn to the Magic (a musical tribute to Disney animators), and the Miner Forty-Niners, a hillbilly band.

We also attended a seminar about wines from the Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite). Tables for the seminar participants were set up on a patio at the Golden Vine Winery, with three samples for each of us to try. The Rothschild representative described each wine and the vineyard where it was produced. We were given a booklet with detailed information about the wines and the history of each vineyard. We tasted a white bordeaux (Reserve Speciale Bordeaux Blanc 2007), and two reds, Blason d'Aussieres AOC Corbieres 2006, and Amancaya Cabernet Sauvignon/Malbec 2007. After the seminar I got a glass of Hill Family Merlot (Napa Valley) to sip while we strolled around the park and watched the entertainers. We saw celebrity chef Cat Cora doing a cooking demonstration in Sunshine Plaza. The more time I spend at DCA, the more I like this park, particularly the Golden State and Hollywood Pictures Backlot areas. With all the changes planned, DCA should be even better in the next few years.

We had dinner reservations at the Blue Bayou Restaurant in New Orleans Square, so after a break in our room, we walked through Downtown Disney and into Disneyland. The Blue Bayou overlooks part of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride (which unfortunately, has not been running so far this trip) and simulates an outdoor, lantern-lit patio. We both ordered the Jambalaya, which was good and spicy. We shared a sampler plate of three creme brulees for dessert (good, but SO sweet and rich). After dinner we rode the Haunted Mansion, watched the Swing Dance Party for a while, and browsed the shops on Main Street until it was time to stake out a spot in the middle of the street for the "Remember...Dreams Come True" fireworks - a great show highlighting many of the attractions in the park.

Tomorrow is our last day at Disneyland. We'll probably spend some time in both parks and we've also signed up for the "Art of the Craft" tour of the Grand Californian.

Click here for more photos.

California Adventure

2009-05-01T18:22:00.010-05:00

What I love about staying at the Grand Californian is its proximity to so many places. We have our own entrance into Disney's California Adventure (DCA), we can walk right into Downtown Disney and take the monorail into Disneyland, or, if we prefer, it's an easy walk, and we are close to the other Disneyland resort hotels, Paradise Pier and the Disneyland Hotel.

We spent the early part of today at DCA, starting in the Paradise Pier section and making a counter-clockwise circuit of the park. There is a lot of construction going on right now as they build an area for a new "nighttime spectacular" - World of Color - that looks like it will be like a cross between IllumiNations and Fantasmic.

There is a long range plan to transform DCA into a more Disney-esque park. There is even an exhibit in the Blue Sky Cellar, where you can see a preview of some of the plans for the future. They have already changed the Sunwheel into Mickey's Fun Wheel, with a giant Mickey head replacing the central sun and given it a red and yellow color scheme, and Games of the Boardwalk, Disney's version of carnival games, have opened. We rode a couple of the tamer Paradise Pier rides, Mulholland Madness and Jumpin' Jellyfish, and then joined the queue for Toy Story Midway Mania. This interactive ride-through virtual arcade is really fun. Mr. Potato Head greets riders as they enter the queue and today he noticed me. Commenting on the sunglasses I had on top of my head, he said, "That woman's hair must be famous, it's wearing sunglasses."

After that we left the hustle-bustle of the Pier behind and strolled through the much more laid-back Golden State area. The Food and Wine Festival is in progress and there are places to participate in Wine or Beer "Walks" where you can sample a variety of these, and there are special Festival items on most menus. We checked out the offerings in the Pacific Wharf area, and decided on table service at the Wine Country Trattoria. We had a nice quiet meal there overlooking the wharf.

After lunch we wandered through "a bug's land" and Flick's Fun Fair just to see what they were like - and they're very cute. There are some very pretty flower gardens in this area too. Then we went over to Hollywood Pictures Backlot to check out the Disney Animation building, where we watched the zoetrope in the Character Close-Up room, had our voices (singing Hi Ho, Hi Ho) stolen by Ursula in the Sorcerer's Workshop, and were amused, as usual, by Crush in Turtle Talk. There was a chef's demo going on in Sunshine Plaza, but it was full and in progress, so we didn't stop. I picked up a Food and Wine Festival t-shirt and then we decided to go see Aladdin again before heading back to the hotel.

We have adopted the Hearthstone Lounge at "The Grand" as our place to relax, and have a light meal or snacks. We picked up a cafe au lait and a latte there for a mid-afternoon break in our room. We'll go back to Disneyland later tonight for the fireworks. The park is open until midnight, so I'll probably include my comments about that in tomorrow's post. I have added all of today's photos so far to Flickr.

A Walk in Walt's Footsteps Tour

2009-05-01T00:21:00.007-05:00

Today we participated in a private guided tour through Disneyland with 3 other couples. A Walk in Walt's Footsteps is full of facts and trivia about the creation of Disneyland, including recordings of Walt's comments about the building of the park. We were given a peek into the lobby of the exclusive members-only Club 33 (where Gerri and I had dinner during the ALA conference last June), lunch, and a collectible pin. We visited several attractions, among them, the Jungle Cruise and the Tiki Room, and heard about several others, like it's a small world and the Matterhorn. Did you know that then-vice president Richard Nixon participated in the opening of that ride?

The tour began before the park was open, so we had Adventureland and Frontierland to ourselves before anyone else was allowed in. These areas were deserted except for a few cast members.

Having grown up hearing Walt Disney talk about his plans for Disneyland on his TV program every Sunday night, I was a little nostalgic learning how the dreams of this talented and creative man came to fruition.

After our tour and lunch with the rest of our group, we walked over to California Adventure to see Aladdin. This 45-minute show, in its own theatre built especially for this production, is full of costumes, puppets, amazing special effects, great singing and dancing, and lots of humor, most notably from the genie. We went on a couple of other rides in DCA before leaving the park for a break. Later, we returned to Disneyland to see the new parade, Celebrate! A Street Party, followed by a few more rides until the park closed.

We had planned to have something to eat at the bar in the Disneyland hotel, but after walking over there, we found out it was closing time, so we returned to the Grand Californian's Hearthstone Lounge where we had some good pub grub.

We're going to take it slow and easy tomorrow because the time difference between the two coasts has caught up with us.

Don't forget to check out all our photos on Flickr.

Celebrating in Disneyland

2009-04-29T23:00:00.008-05:00

We're at Disneyland in California to celebrate our birthdays. Rick's is today, mine (a new decade) is in August. Since the big Disney park theme right now is Celebrate Today! we figured, what better place to do it?

Our flight got us here in time to spend a few hours in Disneyland, so we got Rick his birthday button and went inside to wander around a little. Crowds are very light so we had no problem getting right onto any rides we wanted. When we got hungry we decided to try out the new Celebration Roundup and Barbecue at Big Thunder Ranch in Frontierland. We had our photos taken with Jesse (Woody's girlfriend from Toy Story) and were entertained by Woody, a cowgirl singer, and a honky-tonk piano player while we waited for our food. It was pretty good - the usual barbecue fare - ribs, chicken, cornbread, beans, cole slaw - and for dessert, cupcakes made to look like ice cream cones, brought out in this big colorful metal ribbony-looking contraption (see photo above). Even though the show is geared toward kids, it was something new to see and we enjoyed it, although I doubt we would bother to go back again.

We're staying at the Grand Californian this trip. Our room looks into a tree-filled courtyard that the monorail runs through. We're also right adjacent to Downtown Disney. Our balcony is just above and to the right of the World of Disney sign in the photo above. This resort is decorated in arts and crafts style right down to the bedspreads and light fixtures. It's a luxurious, but very comfortable and relaxed place, with a tuxedoed pianist playing in the lobby throughout the afternoon and evening and always a fire burning in the giant fireplace. After our time in the park we had a drink in the Hearthstone Lounge before calling it a night.

These are just a few photos from today. The rest are on Flickr. I'll update them, and this blog, daily for the rest of the trip.

Now It's Time to Say Goodbye...

2009-01-17T10:42:00.004-05:00

Breakfast at the Kona Cafe in the Disney's Polynesian Resort is a nice way to end a trip. We took a bus to the Magic Kingdom and then the monorail to the Poly. We ordered the press pot of Kona coffee and I had a mimosa with my eggs benedict - mmm!

We spent the rest of our time at Downtown Disney browsing in the stores and picking up some Ghirardelli chocolates for the neighbor who watched our house while we were gone. A boat ride back to the Saratoga Springs ended our stay.

Now we're back in freezing Massachusetts and have already gone out to shovel the snow from the storm that was going on the day we left. More snow is predicted for tomorrow. I don't think we're in Florida anymore.

All the photos from our trip are on Flickr.

Happy Endings

2009-01-15T21:54:00.014-05:00

After a great week, you want your last full day and evening at Walt Disney World to be special. We had a nice lunch at the Nine Dragons in Epcot after visiting the countries we didn't get to yesterday - Mexico, Norway and China. After lunch we caught Mariachi Cobre's performance and Rick even had a chance to speak to one of the trumpet players. On our way out of the park, we went over to the Living Seas and saw Turtle Talk with Crush and did the Nemo ride before we went back to our room to put on warmer clothes for our evening in the Magic Kingdom.

Rick has loved the SpectroMagic parade since our very first trip in 1992. He thought he was too old to ever recapture the magic of childhood, but that parade, with its seemingly endless array of floats featuring all the familiar Disney characters he knew as a kid, along with its majestic music, did it for him. It's a must-do on every trip.

This time, we watched the parade from a new vantage point up on the railway station at the beginning of Main Street. Looking to our left, we had an unobstructed view from above as each float entered the parade route. If we looked right, we could see the whole line of floats as they proceeded up Main Street, around the hub, and past the castle. It was really beautiful.

We stayed at the train station, moving to just a little right of center (so the flag pole didn't obstruct our view of the castle), and held this prime spot for half an hour until the Wishes fireworks began. From this location, you can really see the entirety of the fireworks effects and appreciate their precise synchronization with the music. This was a new and memorable perspective for us.

We have most of tomorrow to get in our last looks. We'll have breakfast at the Kona Cafe in the Polynesian and decide then what we'll do with the time that's left before we have to leave for the airport mid-afternoon. This trip fulfilled our objective to relax and temporarily forget about our usual obligations. It was definitely the escape from reality that Walt Disney World is supposed to be and what we really needed.

Other photos are here.

As Nearly Perfect As It Can Get

2009-01-14T20:43:00.017-05:00

Some days just turn out better than you could have hoped. Today started with a cloudless blue sky and just-cool-enough temperatures. When we arrived at Epcot this morning the first thing we did was head to The Land to get Fast Passes for Soarin'. Amazingly, for the second time in a row, someone handed us two passes for right then that they couldn't use. So we got to ride right away. Then we went to the World Showcase because it was just past 11:00 and we knew there wouldn't be many people there yet. We shouldn't have worried about that because it remained uncrowded the rest of the day.

So here are the highlights in photos:

Our day at the World Showcase started with a latte on a bench behind Harry Ramsden's.

The World Showcase Players' performance was "rubbish", as always.

France looked picturesque through the bare trees.

Tokyo Dining has the ideal location for a relaxing lunch overlooking the lagoon.

The Voices of Liberty, the Spirit of America Fife and Drum Corps, and of course, the American Adventure show were all as impeccably-done and moving as ever.

Italy looked elegant under the sparkling sun - and the Rosa Regale didn't hurt!

It's always fun to see the globe and fireworks barges towed out for IllumiNations.

A ride on the monorail and then the ferry to the Magic Kingdom, followed by burgers at Pecos Bill's - just the right way to end a perfect day.

This is the kind of day that keeps us coming back. Relaxed, slow-paced, and pleasant. No worries, no obligations, no schedule, no "have to's" - just pure enjoyment.

The rest of the photos are here.

The World Today

2009-01-13T18:45:00.011-05:00

This is the first time we have visited Walt Disney World in January. We picked this week because of the historically low park attendance - and that has certainly proved to be the case so far. The Magic Kingdom was as uncrowded as we have ever seen it when we arrived around 9:30 and still seemed empty when we left at noon. The crane that went up over the castle last night after Wishes was still there this morning.

Chad was the funniest skipper we have ever had on the Jungle Cruise. His ad libbing was off the wall and I don't think he said one line from the standard script. Maybe because there were so few people there, I noticed the radio controlled boats at the ride exit for the very first time.

We had a couple of firsts today: We ate at The Wave, the new restaurant at the Contemporary. We were practically the only ones there not wearing business attire. We had a very nice butternut squash soup to start. It came with a mini grilled cheese sandwich. Rick enjoyed his Reuben, but my spice crusted chicken salad was just so-so. Decor was great, the menu is unique, and our waitress was efficient, pleasant, and chatty, but it did feel more like a convention place, at least at lunchtime. After lunch we checked out the progress on the Bay Lake Towers, the new DVC resort next to the Contemporary.

We decided we'd try again to ride Toy Story Midway Mania at the Studios. We promised each other we would only stay if the wait time was 30 minutes or less. It had started raining during our long bus ride over from the Contemporary (we dropped off guests at the Polynesian and Grand Floridian first) and we thought that might help make the queue shorter. The posted wait time was 50 minutes, but the queue wasn't out the door, so we got in line and about 35 minutes later were on the ride. I had a chance to experience this ride shortly after it opened at Disneyland last June and I knew Rick would enjoy it. It was fun, but I don't think it was operating properly because we rolled right by one game after watching the cars in front of us play, and at another game we sat there, but our guns wouldn't fire. Rick did like it, but we were both disappointed that it didn't seem to be working completely right. Although Rick was in the lead from the beginning, I did manage to squeak out a win in the final bonus round. I predict that this ride will remain popular for a long time and guests will continue to experience long waits.

Now we're back at SSR and the rain has ended, but we've lost our momentum, so we're not sure if we'll go to a park or just grab something to eat here at the Artist's Palate and stay in for the night. It's nice not to feel like we have to cram a lot in to our days. Our pace this trip is decidedly slower than usual, but we're enjoying the escape and just being away from the real world for a while.

Why we keep coming back

2009-01-12T22:12:00.015-05:00

Yesterday's post was a bit dry. I was so tired it was all could do to type a cursory report of where we went and what we did, but it doesn't make for very interesting reading. So for the rest of my posts this trip I'll try and focus on the special sights and experiences that are the real reason we have made so many trips to Walt Disney World and will continue to do so.

Take for example our lunch yesterday at Raglan Road. The food was great and the decor charming, but best of all was our waiter Todd. It wasn't just that he was was prompt and got our orders right, it was the extra time he spent chatting with us without giving any indication that there was anything else he needed, or would rather be, doing. Or the cast member at the American Experience at Epcot - the same one who made Rick's birthday magical during our trip last April by arranging for him to get a happy birthday phone call from Goofy - who obviously loves his job, making sure every guest gets the most out of his or her visit to the American pavilion and taking extra time with anyone who has a question, or even looks like they might.

Every day at Walt Disney World provides its pleasures, some of them simple - like the quiet and peaceful walk, with a cup of coffee, from the Boardwalk to the Disney Studios along the canal. Or the sight of two teenage girls on the bus to the park, wearing their tiaras and planning what they are going to see - not at all too sophisticated to pretend to be princesses for the day. Or the earnest and brave pint-sized boys and girls confronting Darth Vader at the Jedi Training Academy. We smiled thinking about how our son James would have eaten this up when he was five or six. Or the young dad tonight after Wishes at the Magic Kingdom holding his tiny daughter up to see the sculpture of Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket and naming some of the characters from the story that I had long since forgotten, like Figaro, the cat.

So it's not the rides - although we have our favorites that are not to be missed - like Muppet Vision 3-D and the Haunted Mansion - and it's not the characters - although it's hard not to feel lighthearted when you see them interact with the children - it's not even (gasp!) Mickey himself....it's just the place and the way it makes you feel - young, carefree and - just simply - happy. That's why we come back.

Some discoveries today:
If you watch SpectroMagic from its start on Main Street and follow the parade as far as the hub after it goes by, you end up in a perfect position to watch the Wishes fireworks.

There's a shortcut from the Boardwalk parking lot and across the tennis courts to the path to Disney Studios.

You can get to the Springs section of the Saratoga Springs Resort quicker if you get off the bus at the Paddocks, cut across the pool area, then cross the long footbridge - and you just might spot the resident swans along the way.

It's not too late to sit down and enjoy a hot dog at Casey's Corner on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom after most of the crowd has left the park. While we ate, we watched a crane lift workers in a bucket way above the highest spire of the castle, presumably to do some sort of maintenance up there.

Tonight while waiting for the crowd to disperse, we had fun taking photos of all the sculptures around the Partner's statue at the hub of the Magic Kingdom. Those and all our other photos are posted on Flickr.

We Made It!

2009-01-11T21:31:00.005-05:00

After a harrowing 3am drive to the Manchester, NH airport during a snow storm in which visibility was almost zero at times and we had to keep stopping to de-ice our windshield wipers, our plane took off only a little late and we arrived in warm and sunny Orlando around 10am.

We took Disney's Magical Express from the airport and checked into the beautiful Saratoga Springs Resort. We were pleasantly surprised to learn our room was ready, so we were able to find it and freshen up a bit before taking a boat over to Downtown Disney where we had a reservation for lunch at Raglan Road. This is an Irish pub and today it was almost deserted. The food and service were excellent. We shared their famous bread pudding for dessert. After lunch we found the walking path back to SSR. It only took about 15 minutes and was a pleasant alternative to riding the bus - and much needed after that bread pudding.

Back at the room, we each took a short nap. Neither of us bothered going to bed last night since we had to leave so early for the airport. We slept some on the plane, but we were still feeling the effects of our all-nighter. After our nap, we found the bus stop near our building and waited about 15 minutes for a bus to Epcot.

Crowds were quite light at Epcot. I hope this is going to be the trend this week. We started in the front of the park in Future World, rode Spaceship Earth (a walk-on) and then headed over to The Land to pick up a Fast Pass for Soarin'. It was now a little after 5 pm and the Fast Pass return time was posted at between 8 and 9pm. As we approached the Fast Pass machines, a young lady approached Rick and gave him two Fast Passes for 5:24 that she wasn't able to use. So we rode Living With the Land while waiting for our Fast Pass window to open and then rode Soarin', always a favorite.

After that we took a Friendship boat across the lagoon to the World Showcase and watched American Adventure. We had a snack at the fast food place in Morocco while listening to their band. Mo' Rockin'. Then we walked back to the front of the park again to catch a bus back to the resort. We rode Spaceship Earth once more on the way out and found our bus just pulling up as we approached the bus stop.

We're calling it an early night. Today's pace was nice and leisurely, but we are bushed.

Another visit to The Mouse

2009-01-04T21:26:00.007-05:00

A week from today we'll be back in Orlando at Disney World. We're trying a new resort this time - the Saratoga Springs. It's a DVC resort and we're renting points from a DVC member - a real bargain. The resort is a short walk away from Downtown Disney, so we'll see if we'll spend more time there than usual. I made a lunch reservation for Sunday at Raglan Road, the Irish-style pub there. They're supposed to have a killer bread pudding that we may have to sample.

I have an itinerary sketched out, but it's tentative, as are the advanced dining reservations I made for lunch each day. We can follow this plan or not, depending on what we feel like doing. The ADRs just ensure we'll get to eat someplace nice each day if we want to. We're going to try and have our table-service meals at lunchtime this trip and see how that works out. No special plans this time except to do as much or as little as we please!

Watch here for a daily journal and photos coming soon!

Ice Storm

2008-12-20T18:56:00.008-05:00

It started Thursday night, 12/11. Over an inch of ice coated tree limbs that came crashing down everywhere all through the night. Power went out sometime around 11:30pm and stayed out until Wednesday 12/17 at 9:45pm. My parents weren't so lucky - theirs stayed out for another 48 hours, until 12/19. By then a new storm had started. We got over a foot of snow and lost our power again for 4 1/2 hours. It's still snowing a little 24 hours later and the next storm (6-10" predicted) is on our doorstep. Parts of town still without power from storm #1 - and winter hasn't even officially begun.

Here are the photos:

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Back Home

2008-12-09T19:37:00.006-05:00

We had a great last day at the Mystic Seaport Museum. There was hardly anybody else there, so we had the undivided attention of all the guides. The best was Don, who was manning the exhibit about Captain Comer and the Inuits. He did his whole performance/lecture on sea chanteys just for us, playing the banjo and concertina. With his great resonant bass voice and wealth of knowledge, he really made our day.

For the third day in a row, we ate lunch at Seamen's Inne, this time sampling the seafood pie (me) and fish and chips (Rick). We had a great waitress today, too. Seems that with so few visitors, all the employees are more than happy to spend some extra time chatting.

We think Mystic might become our regular getaway place, since it's just the right distance from home and we really loved the Steamboat Inn and surrounding attractions. We're thinking of going back in the spring when all the museum buildings will be open and there will be more going on.

I uploaded a bunch of photos of the museum to Flickr today.

Last Mystic Morning

2008-12-09T09:17:00.008-05:00

For breakfast each morning, our inn provides home-baked muffins, coffee, cereal, juice, and hard-boiled eggs in the Common Room, which has a Christmas tree all decorated in seashells. We'll linger here as long as possible, since it's our last chance to enjoy our comfortable room and mesmerizing view of the Mystic River.

The weather report promises warmer temperatures, so we will try again to tour the recreated Mystic Seaport village, take a ride along the River Road, maybe do a little souvenir shopping and then head north for home.

Brrrr!!

2008-12-08T17:36:00.007-05:00

It is really cold here - and windy! Not at all conducive to outdoor sightseeing. Today we learned that the Mystic Seaport Museum is closed on Mondays in the winter, so we browsed in the gift shop, bought a few things, and went back to Seamen's Inne for lunch. Today we chose to eat in the tavern since we sat in the dining room yesterday. The menu here is unexpectedly unique, especially for a tourist location. Yesterday I had their excellent lobster bisque followed by Warm Coastal Salad: "House cured pancetta sautéed in Beaver Brook Farm cow’s milk feta cheese vinaigrette, served on wilted cabbage with a grilled focaccia crostini" with grilled shrimp added. Rick also had the bisque and their Warmed Corned Beef Reuben. There was a harpist playing in the lobby, and except for the noisy bunch of ladies also eating there (is this what my friends and I sound like when we're out to eat together?), it was perfect. Today I started with a hot buttered rum - just the thing on a freezing cold day - and then had Grilled Beef Tenderloin Tips (with Gorgonzola fondue, grilled focaccia, baby greens and portobello fries) from their appetizer menu. Another winning selection. Rick had today's lunch special, a roast beef panini, which he also enjoyed. The adept waiter talked us into sharing their "award winning" Chocolate Bread Pudding for dessert.

After lunch we went to the Mystic Aquarium and practically had the place to ourselves, so we took our time and enjoyed watching the Beluga whales, all the varietes of fish and other sea life in the many tanks, the Titanic exhibit, and finally, the seal show.

Now back at the Steamboat Inn, we're again enjoying our cookies and sherry before the fireplace, where we've decided to stay put for the night. It's just too warm, cosy and utterly relaxing here for us to brave the cold again tonight.

Added a few more photos to Flickr.

Mystic

2008-12-07T21:00:00.012-05:00

We decided we needed a little break and settled on visiting Mystic, CT. We drove down this morning and checked into the Steamboat Inn, right on the edge of the Mystic River, next to a drawbridge.

Tonight we went to the Mystic Seaport Museum where, by lantern light, reinactors presented a Christmas story set in 1876 that involved the audience in walking to various sites in the town to solicit donations for a local production of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. We were entertained by a group of carolers while we waited for the tour to begin. It was a fun, albeit cold and windy, journey back in time. Now we're warming up in front of our fireplace with sherry and cookies provided by the inn.

Across the river from our window is a lighted Christmas tree. Our room is cosy and comfortable enough that I could be happy spending a couple days just sitting here in front of the fireplace, reading and looking out at the river.

See all our photos on Flickr.

Summit photos

2008-11-19T21:21:00.005-05:00

I've put my SLJ Summit photos on Flickr.

Now back home for a few days, I'm still thinking about all the rich conversations and provocative ideas I've taken away from this gathering of school library leaders and representatives of some of the major vendors that provide resources to school libraries.

It is clear that the rate of change is ever-accelerating and the ways that information is accessed and delivered are ever-evolving. It's hard to get a handle on what is best to do before something totally new and different presents itself, but one thing is certain - we are in an exciting and challenging period of transition for our profession and must all try to stay connected to help each other keep current.

Many thanks to Brian Kenney and School Libray Journal for what has become an annual meeting of the minds that is not-to-be-missed by the movers and shakers in our field.

Summit Day 2 in Hollywood, FL

2008-11-15T09:28:00.017-05:00

Sunrise walk on Hollywood Beach. Knowing we'll be inside all day, we got up early and took a short walk along the beach. Heavenly!

Last night we stood on the same beach and watched the Space Shuttle launch to the applause of our fellow on-lookers.

Amusing aside: There is a yoga conference going on adjacent to ours. When we first got here yesterday and were riding up the escalator to our gathering in the Great Hall, coming down the escalator was an older woman in yoga attire doing a one-legged yoga pose. Sort of caught our eye as we passed. ;-)

Nice breakfast buffet in the Great Hall. We sit at the same table as yesterday with Beth and Caleb from Nebraska and David Bilmes from CASL. (They all got invited to dinner last night with the reps from Gareth Stevens. Cassandra Barnett was going out with the folks from Scholastic. We seem to have been dropped from the A-list this year.) The keynote speaker this morning is a game developer from Boston - Scott Traylor. His company is 360KID. They created National Geographic Kids Tomb Game.

Next it's a breakout session: Reference in the Digital Age. Moderator Shonda Brisco (Oklahoma State). Panelist Sue Polanka (Wright State, Ohio), Mark Cummins (Weekly Reader), Roger Rosen (Rosen Pub.), Becky Snyder (ABC-CLIO). Questions addressed are on the Summit ning. Discussion of how libraries are handling print reference materials, how Reference is currently defined, perceptions about what Reference is. Interesting, deep dialog between practitioners and providers of digital content. I appreciated the comments from librarians who work in higher-ed schools of education about how future teachers are being made aware of school library resources and services. This session highlighted for me that many people are working toward the same end - equity and ease of access to the best resources, regardless of format.

Next up this morning is a Summit-wide panel, Just for Me, Just in Time...not Just in Case. Joyce Valenza is the moderator. Panelists are Chris Harris (Genesee Valley BOCES), Jim Ulsh (ProQuest), Jay Flynn (Gale), and Terry Fredericka (INFOOhio)

This session took us beyond the present into various visions of future modes of accessing and mixing/mashing up information. While a bit overwhelming in some technical aspects, I enjoyed this peek at where we might be in 5 years or so.

Now finishing lunch and awaiting the start of sponsor presentations and the closing discussion and wrap-up.

Alice Yucht in leading the closing discussion: "What are the take-aways from this Summit?"

Gaming and connection to Standards

Insight into challenges of school librarains and vendors (from a public librarian)

We are trying to engage our students in ways in which they are familiar

Digital resources make resources available 24/7

Thankful we are all working together

Friday Breakout Sessions

2008-11-14T14:29:00.009-05:00

I. Can You Hear Me Now? Exploring the Audio/Ebook Experience

This is about digital audio books - ebooks - a panel discussion. four experts from companies that produce audio books: Sony reader, Playaway, OverDrive Media, Follett Library

"The package is different; the content is the same."

Each rep is speaking about how audio books are used in school libraries and impact on students.

Moderator Mary Burkey's audio book blog: http://audiobooker.blogspot.com/

What kind of containers will schools need 5 years in the future? Will things we buy today be outdated next year:

containers will drop in price to $2.49, $1.99, $1.49 and become disposable.
electronic paper - flexible, pliable displays; color
growth in use of containers for more kinds of content
more choice of formats/products for the listener
we will all have our own personal IP address; access to unlimited storage; access to content on-demand through purchases, professional memberships, conferences you attend, delivered to you in a variety of ways

II. Print Books 2.0

So Books 2.0 are books with digital media added - "radical change" books.

Principles of radical change books:

connectivity
interactivity
access

Recommended viewing: Are You Paying Attention? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M_336pDWoM

Moderator: Eliza Dresang, Florida State University

Panelists: Lucretia Miller (SLMS Duval County, FL), Author Michael Dahl (Everything Kid's Joke Book), Rachael ?, Scholastic

Reader takes more active role. Authors, publishers more aware of characteristics of reader.

The skill of a true author and a compelling story still necessary - adding "bling" to a bad book won't make it good.

Not every book is changing because of the digital age - for example, Harry Potter; Twilight

Boundaries between types of media are blurring. Graphic novels themselves are changing. Cannibalization between formats?

Media has influenced not only the print book, but print book readers. Michael Dahl: People who grew up in the 50s dream only in black and white. Younger people dream in color. - Really??

This makes me wonder: In ten years, when we look back at all this analysis of the brains of today's kids, will we chuckle knowingly at our naivete?

Live from the SLJ Summit

2008-11-14T13:13:00.009-05:00

I'm in Hollywood - the east coast one - in Florida - at the School Library Journal Leadership Summit, Remixing Library Collections for the Ditigal Age. Here on the beach at the Diplomat Hotel, it's sunny and in the mid-80s. We just had lunch and the opening keynote speaker, Anastasia Goodstein has just begun her talk. I won't hold it against her that she started her talk with "I love libraries", as almost every speaker who isn't a librarian does. I won't get into a rant about how those who "love libraries" can kill us with kindness by not putting their money to support library programs where their mouths are.

Anastasia is going to talk about today's teens - digital natives. How technology meets their core emotional and developmental needs and how we - school librarians - can understand their media consumption. She promises to give us tips to be "totally wired" librarians. She is author of the book Totally Wired: What Teens & Tweens Are Really Doing Online and the blog, Ypulse for teen/youth media and marketing professionals. She'll put all her stuff up on the wiki: http://sljsummit.pbwiki.com/

What's new and cool about this summit is that some people are using CoverItLive to post ongoing commentary about what's going in. They call it a "back channel conversaton." Sort of makes this blogging stuff so yesterday! You can follow it if you want on the SLJ Summit Ning at http://sljsummit.ning.com/ There are also photos there that people will continue add to throughout the event. Mostly of food and people eating it so far.

Acadie

2008-09-19T19:53:00.017-05:00

We're back from a very nice relaxing, unplugged trip to Nova Scotia. Here are all our photos.

After spending our first night in Bar Harbor, ME, where we returned to Southwest Harbor to have dinner at the Dry Dock Cafe - the same restaurant we ate at last year on our trip to Acadia National Park - we stayed for 6 days in Nova Scotia, 3 on the south coast and 3 on the Bay of Fundy. The B&B we chose for our first 3 nights, the Atlantic Sojourn in Lunenburg, was wonderful. It is owned by two great ladies, Sebelle and Susan, who know how run a B&B with style. We felt like we were visiting old friends. The house is filled with Sebelle's extensive collection of watercolors and each of the guest rooms is named after a different flower. On our first night, we stayed in the Mayflower room and then moved into the Lady Slipper, which was a little larger. Breakfast each morning was made to order from a menu that included fresh fruit, several styles of eggs, and a variety of cereals and breads. Along with the great food, we had the interesting company of the other guests each morning that caused us to linger in the dining room before heading out each day. By the way, we chose the Atlantic Sojourn not only because it was in Lunenburg, but also because Susan and Sebelle had last worked at Mt. Wachusett Community College, which is very near here. In fact, it turns out we have some friends in common.

Our first day in Nova Scotia was spent traveling - first across the Bay of Fundy on The Cat, a high-speed catamaran - which made me seasick - then driving from Yarmouth, NS to Lunenburg. We had dinner at the Old Fish Factory in Lunenburg that night and hit the hay early. We explored the south coast west of Lunenburg our second day, and went east as far as Halifax on the third. After that we drove north to Grand Pre and then west along the Fundy shore to Digby, where we stayed at the Habourview Inn for our last two nights. This trip encompassed only the southwestern half of the province, so we will have to return another time to see the rest - especially Cape Breton Island - and possibly go on from there to Prince Edward Island.

There's a lot to like about Nova Scotia. Its climate and landscape feels and looks very much like home - although perhaps New England of 40 or 50 years ago - small towns, few shopping malls and franchises, lots of open space. The coastline is rugged and rocky, like Maine's, and there is a lot of wildlife to be seen. One day we came face to face with a porcupine and there are deer everywhere. All sorts of birds are abundant. We enjoyed hiking the trail to The Ovens sea caves and out to see the seals frolicking in the ocean off the Kejimkujik Seaside Adjunct. We visited some forts, including the Citadel in Halifax - a long, high climb - and Port Royal and Fort Ann near Annapolis Royal. We visited lighthouses at Peggy's Cove, Fort Point in Liverpool, and Cape Forchu in Yarmouth, and had memorable meals at the LaHave Bakery, Grand Pre winery, and the Seafire restaurant in Marriott's Cove. We saw boats aground at low tide in Hall's Harbor and learned the sad history of the expulsion of the Acadians by the British between 1755 and 1763 at the Grand Pre National Historic Site, where a statue, a church, and lovely gardens commemorate the history of the people Longfellow chronicled in his poem Evangeline. We wandered the paths of the Historic Gardens in Annapolis Royal in the rain and then warmed up with homemade soup and hearty sandwiches at the German Bakery. We drove back roads through Bear Creek to Greenwood where we spent a fascinating morning at the Military Aviation Museum looking at World War II planes, including a Lancaster, and learning about RAF history.

We loved driving Bugle1 on Crescent Beach and enjoyed many lovely views of boats sailing on the sparkling ocean - particularly the tall ship Caledonia, which we encountered off the coast on two different days. On our last day we meandered along the coast from Digby to Yarmouth, stopping along the way at St. Mary's Catholic church, purported to be the largest wooden church in North America, which contains an exhibit of all kinds of Catholic artifacts and ornate vestments.

Having learned a hard lesson from my first trip on The Cat, I was properly prepared for our return voyage, and even though it was choppy, survived the 5 1/2 hour trip to Portland, ME just fine.

Nova Scotia Road Trip

2008-09-06T16:10:00.008-05:00

Photo by Henk Binnendijk

After kicking around at home all summer, doing a little bit o'this 'n a little bit o'that, it's finally time to get out of town - and this time out of the country, too.

We're packing up Bugle1 on Monday and heading north to Nova Scotia. We'll spend our first day and night in Bar Harbor, Maine. Then we'll set sail Tuesday morning on the CAT to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. We'll drive the Lighthouse Route to Lunenburg (how could we not stay there!) and stay for a few days at the Atlantic Sojourn B&B before driving north to Digby via the Annapolis Valley and the Fundy Coast. After two nights at the Habourview Inn, we'll drive back to Yarmouth along the Acadian Shores route, catch the CAT back to Portland, Maine on Sunday night, and then head back home.

We don't have an itinerary - we'll just go with the flow. We hope to get in a whale watch and maybe a sail on the Bluenose II. We'll hike, maybe bike some, do some bird watching, and definitely eat some of Digby's famous scallops. We'll spend a day in Halifax, but otherwise we'll be out and about touring the countryside at our leisure.

Unlike other trips, I won't be live-blogging this one. In a drastic change from my usual practice, I'm going to leave my laptop - and hopefully the rest of the world - behind for a week. This vacation will be totally "unplugged" - no TV, no cell phones, no email. It's feels a little scary, but I'm also looking forward to eliminating all of my usual distractions. I think this will let me focus on the "here and now" and let everything else just fade into the background for a while. Rick is all for the idea. I think I may have said "Just wait a couple more minutes while I answer this one last email," one time too many on our last vacation.

So it'll be just us and Nova Scotia for a week. I'll tell you all about it when I get back.

Day 7: End of Our Anaheim Fun

2008-07-01T11:50:00.010-05:00

See all our Fun in Anaheim photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/msla/sets/72157605829097639/

Sandy and Valerie have departed - Sandy for a week of sightseeing in California with her daughter and Valerie home to get ready to go to Maine. So it was just three of us today.

After we got our blogging done, Gerri, Linda and I went over to Downtown Disney for lunch and some shopping. I really like the California version of Downtown Disney. It seems much more adult-oriented than the one in Florida and I like the layout better. We were there during the evening a couple of times and it's nice and relaxing strolling around listening to the live musicians. Today we had lunch at the La Brea Bakery Cafe. We each had a salad and a cold drink. Then we went to World of Disney and all of us parted with more than a few dollars.

After storing our loot in a locker at Disney's California Adventure, we headed straight to Soarin' Over California for FastPasses. We planned to see the last performance of the day of the Aladdin stage show later, but it turned out our FastPasses conflicted with that. We decided to get in the standby line and, although the sign showed a 30-minute wait, were on the ride in about 15 minutes. Coming out of the Soarin', we gave away our unneeded FastPasses and beelined it over to the Aladdin queue - pausing briefly while the Pixar Play Parade passed by - only to find out that Tuesday is Aladdin's day off. Bummer!

Undaunted, we perused our park map and noted what we hadn't yet seen the 3-D movie, It's Tough to Be a Bug. So we walked over to "a bug's land" and did that attraction before heading to Paradise Pier. We weren't about to ride the thrill rides there, but a new attraction opened just days before we arrived - Toy Story Midway Mania. A giant audio-animatronic Mr. Potato Head tells you outside the ride that "It's a ride that's a game. It's a game that's a ride." Riding along wearing 3D glasses, you use a pull-string launcher to send virtual eggs, darts, hoops and other projectiles at 3D targets representing various carnival games. Your score is recorded on an LCD screen in your car. At the end, you learn how close you came to the all time highs for the day and month. None of us came even close, but we had a good time. The queue was long and it took about 45 minutes to get on the ride, but it was well worth the wait. Who knows if we'll ever get back here, after all!

There are two places to eat at Pacific Wharf - the Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill and the Pacific Wharf Cafe. We chose Mexican - burritos or tacos, and I had a frozen Margarita from Rita's Baja Blenders. Thus fortified, we found spots to wait for Disney's Electrical Parade, the precursor to the SpectroMagic parade at Disney World. Very cute and a fitting finale to a wonderful week in Anaheim.

Day 6: One last fling

2008-06-30T13:55:00.008-05:00

It is 1pm. The conference has ended! We are sitting next to the pool at the Candy Cane Inn, updating our blogs.

The morning started with Khaled Hosseini and ended with Diahann Carroll, with some time to browse the exhibit hall in between. All that is left to do now is use up the last day on our Park Hopper passes, so we will soon be leaving for the parks for our last day of play before returning home in the morning.

Anaheim has been the ideal location (from this Disney parks fan's point of view) for an ALA conference. Our hotel is equidistant from both the convention center and the parks - and we have taken full advantage of that! For example, last night after all our conference events ended, we left for Disneyland aroung 9:30pm and once again closed the park at midnight. We rode all the rides in Fantasyland with minimal waits and we weren't surrounded by strollers!

Photo above: Valerie, Linda and Gerri on the Carousel.

We have all been functioning on very few hours sleep each night, but what the heck - sleep is highly overrated and there will be plenty of time for that on the plane. I think we'll go to California Adventure, at least to start out with - and there are a still few things to buy in Downtown Disney. It's a safe bet that we will wring out every last bit of fun before Disneyland closes at midnight tonight.

See all our Fun in Anaheim photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/msla/sets/72157605829097639/

Day 5: Club 33

2008-06-29T23:59:00.004-05:00

Gerri and I had an amazing night at the private and very exclusive Club 33 in Disneyland. Here are the photos, and you can read about it on the MSLA Anaheim en Mass blog. What a night!

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Day 4: The Bash

2008-06-28T08:31:00.007-05:00

We didn't spend a lot of time in Disneyland today, as it was a very full conference day. If you're following Anaheim en Mass, you'll see that all of us are deep into our conference activities now.

Tonight was the ProQuest Scholarship Bash. This is a regular event at ALA Annual to raise money for college scholarships for aspiring librarians and it is traditionally held at a fabulous local venue - Universal Studios in Orlando, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago - and of course Disneyland here in Anaheim.

Before the Bash, Gerri and I met our ProQuest friend Donna for cocktails at her hotel and she gave us an invitation to a reception at the Uva Bar at Catal, a restaurant in Downtown Disney. We shared a table with a couple of California librarians and enjoyed some fancy hors d'oeuvres before connecting up with Valerie and Linda to go into Disneyland.

We got there in time to blast off "to infinity and beyond" to try and save the universe from the Evil Emperor Zurg on Buzz Lightyear's AstroBlasters. Then it was time to make our way over to the Coca Cola corner to meet Stephanie, a public library director from New Jersey who arranged a Disney fan meet. We enjoyed chatting with Stephanie and her Aunt Marie before the fireworks, which marked the end of our night.

See all our Fun in Anaheim photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/msla/sets/72157605829097639/

Day 3 continued: Fireworks and a Runaway Train

2008-06-28T01:58:00.009-05:00

Really - Big Thunder Mountain is a very tame coaster - although Sandy might tell you differently...but I think she's still speaking to me nevertheless....

After the Holiday House cocktail party, we went back to Disneyland to try and snag a good spot for the Remember...Dreams Come True fireworks. We got separated in the crowd and Linda circled the hub about four times looking for Sandy and me, but eventually we reconnected a little closer to the Castle than we were last night - at least close enough to get a few decent fireworks photos.

Having just barely survived the runaway train ride on Big Thunder Mountain, we looped around through Fantasyland, walking through the Castle from the back side and on to the Rivers of America to watch Fanstasmic. This is staged quite differently from the Florida version - you have to stand on the walkways instead of sitting in an amphitheater, but the projections on the water screens and all the pyrotechnics are still impressive.

We waited for the crowds to thin out somewhat before leaving the park for bed. Tomorrow we all have 8am meetings, so we'll be up and out early for a full day of conference activities and the official opening of ALA Annual.

See all our Fun in Anaheim photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/msla/sets/72157605829097639/

Day 3 on the California Riviera

2008-06-27T20:09:00.015-05:00

We took a tour today - first to San Juan Capistrano to the Los Rios district, where some of the original homes have been lovingly maintained - and then to visit the Mission famous for the clockwork-like return of the sparrows every spring. Lovely gardens surrounded us at every turn.

Next we re-boarded our tour bus for a ride on "The 5" to Laguna Beach, home of the very, very rich and famous. We only had time there for lunch and a brief look at the beach before it was time to return to Anaheim. It was nice for this chance to see some of the area that is so indicative of Orange County

Tonight we'll go to a reception put on by the Holiday House publishers and then Gerri and Valerie have to go to a meeting of the AASL Affiliate Assembly. Yes - finally some of us are doing some professional work, but what will Kathy, Linda and Sandy do tonight? Stay tuned!

See all our Fun in Anaheim photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/msla/sets/72157605829097639/

Day 2 in SoCal

2008-06-26T23:38:00.007-05:00

The time difference between the east and west coast worked in our favor. We're up bright and early with time to exercise and have a light breakfast before heading over to the conference center to pick up our badges, bags, and other conference materials.

We spent the rest of the day at Disney's California Adventure, mostly in the Hollywood Pictures Backlot area, where first we rode Monsters, Inc, Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! and Muppet*Vision 3D. We had a quick lunch at Award Wieners, followed by Disney's Aladdin - A Musical Spectacular. It was more than spectacular! From flying carpets to a giant elephant coming down the aisle, beautiful sets and costumes, great singing and dancing, and dazzling special effects. It took my breath away.

Around 4pm, while the others went to see Turtle Talk with Crush, I walked over to Disneyland and got us all FastPasses for Indiana Jones ride. While walking through Main Street, I got to see parts of the Parade of Dreams again, from a closer vantage point. It didn't take too long to get our FastPasses, which were for 10pm - an indication that the park was extremely busy today.

Back at California Adventure, we all rode Soarin' Over California - the ride that was later replicated at Walt Disney World. Everyone loved it. Then we went over to Paradise Pier and looked at all the carnival rides and games. Linda and I rode the Sun Wheel with a couple of very nervous librarians from California. We caught part of Pixar Play Parade on the way out of the park and everyone took our last ride of the day on the Golden Zephyr.

Then is was over to Downtown Disney for dinner at the Italian restaurant Naples. While we waited for our table we were entertained by an excellent (and extremely handsome) flamenco guitarist, Emilio, and his partner. Sandy's daughter and her friend who are here on vacation joined us. Our meal was really great and it was a nice break after being out in the sun with all the noise and activity all day.

Afterward dinner, we went to Disneyland to watch the Remember...Dreams Come True fireworks (fabulous) and ride Indy. This was another resounding success. We all alternately screamed and laughed throughout the ride. What a great day acting like kids, laughing and playing together in the sun.

See all our Fun in Anaheim photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/msla/sets/72157605829097639/

Day 1 in Anaheim

2008-06-25T23:30:00.007-05:00

After a long, but uneventful flight across the country, we arrived in Anaheim at 10:30am Pacific time, checked in at the Candy Cane Inn, dropped off our luggage, and headed for Downtown Disney for lunch at the House of Blues. Then we made our first foray into Disneyland.

Photo above: Linda, Valerie, Sandy and Gerri take a break while waiting for the Parade of Dreams to begin.

It was a beautiful day in Anaheim and the crowds were fairly light in the park. We took in several attractions, listened to the All-American College Band and watched the Parade of Dreams before fatigue and the time difference caught up with us.

We walked over to the the new and deserted-looking Anaheim Gardenwalk and had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Back at the Candy Cane, we got our luggage and quickly settled in before crashing into bed.

See all our Fun in Anaheim photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/msla/sets/72157605829097639/

Anaheim en Mass.

2008-06-20T07:42:00.013-05:00

I'll be posting the more frivilous aspects of the trip to Anaheim here on kay-lo's world. With my colleagues from MSLA, I'll also be blogging the ALA conference on the new blog we created for that purpose, Anaheim en Mass. [Get it?] I hope you'll follow both!

Club 33

2008-06-19T09:49:00.006-05:00

Oh - my - goodness!

I got a call the other day from our local rep at Disney Educational Productions inviting me to a very private dinner (with only 8 other school librarians and their guests) at the very exclusive and legendary Club 33 in Disneyland!

My colleague Gerri will join me Sunday night, June 29th, when we will be admitted to a place very few Disneyland visitors ever get to see, or even know about. I have heard that the food and service are second to none. This will be the highlight of my trip to ALA in Anaheim, without a doubt!

Read about Club 33

Back to Anaheim...

2008-06-06T19:17:00.008-05:00

...this time for the Annual Conference and Exhibition of the American Library Association at the Anaheim Convention Center - right next door to the Disneyland Resort!

What could be a better combination for a Disney-loving librarian? I'll be traveling with four fun colleagues/friends from the Massachusetts School Library Association's executive board - Sandy, Gerri, Valerie and Linda. We'll be there to listen, work, think, plan and learn, but unless you're a librarian too, you have no idea how much fun can be had at these huge national conferences (almost 30,000 of our kind will be there)!

In addition to the usual conference presentations and exhibits in a hall the size of a small city, speeches by famous personalities, and authors signing and reading from their books, there will be meals hosted by vendors in classy restaurants, receptions, happy hours, and "meet and greets" galore - all with free food and drink, of course! And this year, because of its proximity, the big party - the Scholarship Bash - will take place at Disneyland!

During our 7 days in Anaheim, we will try and maintain our decorum, avoid sore feet, total exhaustion, overindulging in food and drink, and public faux pas as we cram as many meetings, speakers, exhibits, workshop sessions, dinners, tours, parties - and of course, forays into Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure - as we possibly can.

Our plans are just about set, our Google calendars are filling up, we've printed lots of extra business cards, and we are making sure we leave enough room in our suitcases with our librarian-chic outfits, funky jewelry, and comfy sandals for a couple of extra bags to carry home all the swag we will collect in the exhibit hall.

More of the exciting adventures of the MSLA Five coming soon, here in kay-lo's world!

Photos from Kathy and Rick's 2008 Walt Disney World Trip

2008-05-04T17:11:00.000-05:00

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Going Home

2008-05-03T16:14:00.028-05:00

We're at the Orlando airport waiting for our Southwest flight back to Manchester, NH. Flying home in the evening allowed us almost a full extra day of vacation. We spent it at Epcot. First we had breakfast at the Sunshine Seasons Food Fair in The Land in Future World, then we wandered around looking at the many topiaries and gardens created for the Flower and Garden Festival. My favorite was the butterfly garden.

We finally got to see the Jammitors. I've been reading about this comedy percussion troupe in other people's trip reports for years, but for some reason we never were in the right place at the right time to see them before. They do a high-energy performance on trash cans and garden tools.

When we left Future World we took a Friendship across to the World Showcase and went to the America pavilion to see the fifes and drums and Voices of Liberty perform. We had lunch there, watched the movie in France, looked at the display of tin toys in the Japan pavilion and browsed in their store. Epcot wasn't at all crowded today and everyone seemed to be relaxed and taking their time. It was a really nice end to a terrific vacation.

When it was time to leave, we took a last sail on a Friendship launch back to the Beach Club, got our luggage, and waited for the Magical Express to take us back to the airport.

All the photos from our trip are on Flickr.

Winding Down

2008-05-02T20:54:00.012-05:00

We started our day today at Disney's Animal Kingdom since we had only stayed a short time the other day when we went there for dinner. Friday, according to touringplans.com, is supposed to be the lightest attendance day at this park, but it sure didn't appear that way today.

This week's perfect weather continued today. We got into DAK a little before noon and since we hadn't had any breakfast (we've been getting up and out later every day) we went to the Flame Tree Barbecue first off. This is a counter service restaurant with better than average food, featuring smoked meats. The queue was chaotic, but once we had our food we found a table with a view of the Expedition Everest ride across the water. A neat thing about this restaurant is its many seating areas scattered throughout the "jungle" that make it possible to get far away from the crowds and noise. I had half a roasted chicken and Rick had a smoked turkey sandwich. We had sides of coleslaw, baked beans and a corn muffin. Everything was delicious.

After lunch we got a FastPass for the Kilimanjaro Safari, but ended up not using it because the return time was so late. We walked the two nature trails. The first, Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, features gorillas; the second, the Maharajah Jungle Trek, tigers. We spent quite a bit of time watching the antics of the white cheeked gibbons in Asia. After that we decided to leave because it was crowded and we needed a break.

We rested in our room for a while and then walked over to Epcot. It was a lovely night as we made our way slowly from country to country, starting in France where I got a Kir Royal to sip as we walked along. We found a bench just past Japan to sit and people-watch for a while until it was time for our dinner reservation at Tutto Italia, the new restaurant in Italy. We just had appetizers - a Caesar salad for me, Pasta e Fagioli for Rick, and then we shared the Grand Antipasto Misto. All really good. We had cappuccinos for dessert and split a mocha tiramisu. Service was excellent. We really enjoyed this meal and the new decor and less-crowded seating than previously in this restaurant.

Arlo Guthrie was performing in the Flower Power concert series tonight so after dinner we watched the end of his set and then resumed our stroll around World Showcase, browsing in the shops in Germany, China and Mexico. We went on the Grand Fiesta ride in Mexico, then found a place to watch IllumiNations near the middle of World Showcase Plaza. We squeezed into a nearly perfect spot just before it started and had a good front-and-center view.

Tomorrow we'll have time to return to Epcot briefly to have lunch there at Restaurant Marrakesh in Morocco before we have to leave to the airport and our 6 pm flight back to Manchester, NH.

It has been a good trip with a little slower pace than usual. All photos are posted on Flickr.

The Great T-shirt Quest

2008-05-01T17:42:00.024-05:00

Rick saw a t-shirt he really liked last night at the Animal Kingdom, but they didn't have the right size, so today, after having breakfast at Fresh in the Dolphin hotel, we hopped a bus to Downtown Disney to see if we could find the right size at the World of Disney store.

We got there around 11:00 and wandered through several of the stores there. We had a great time in Once Upon a Toy, but wished we had someone to buy toys for. We were tempted to get James a Darth Vader Mr. Potato Head, but sanity finally prevailed. WOD didn't have the right size shirt either, but a cast member looked it up and found that there were some at Mouse Gear in Epcot, so after we browsed some more at the Lego store (can you find Kathy in the photo with the Lego Family?) and Virgin Records, we got on a bus to go back to the Beach Club Villas, figuring we'd walk to Epcot from there.

The bus first had to stop at Typhoon Lagoon and on the way there we figured out it would be easier to get to Mouse Gear if we took the monorail to the front entrance of Epcot, but to do that, we would have to get to the monorail station at the Transportation and Ticket Center. So we decided to get off at Typhoon Lagoon and wait for a bus to the Polynesian Resort, which is right next to the TTC. We waited about 20 minutes for the Polynesian bus to arrive at Typhoon Lagoon, got off at the Poly an walked to the TTC, and finally, an hour, two buses, a monorail ride, and lots of walking later, we reached Epcot. Good thing we had no special plans for today! Thankfully, Mouse Gear had the shirt (on the model at left), and I also bought a pink hoodie with a small Minnie Mouse on it.

From Mouse Gear, we went over to the Living Seas to look at the Coral Reef's lunch menu, decided not to eat there, but did ride The Seas with Nemo and Friends, and then walked to the World Showcase. We settled on lunch at the Lotus Blossom Cafe in China, where we had sesame chicken salads and green tea. After our lunch, we walked back to the BCV where we had a swim and a soak in the hot tub - great therapy for an over-worked sore knee.

Back in the room we made popcorn and had a glass of wine before we headed out to the Magic Kingdom to see the Wishes fireworks and SpectroMagic parade. We shopped a little in the Emporium, had supper at Pecos Bill's and did a few rides during the first showing of the SpectroMagic parade. After Wishes, we stayed for the late parade at 11:00 and finally got back to our room around 1 a.m. after our bus driver took a very long detour to avoid a huge traffic backup on our route.

I feel like we're just getting into our vacation groove, but we only have two days left! No matter how long we stay here, it's never quite long enough!

Photos have been updated on Flickr.

A laid-back Disney day

2008-04-30T22:21:00.009-05:00

Today we slept in and then took a Friendship boat over to the Boardwalk for a late breakfast at Spoodles. We had to cajole the host to let us in since we arrived about 5 minutes after they were supposed to have stopped serving breakfast. It wasn't too hard - Disney cast members are nothing if not accommodating.

Then it was onto another Friendship to Disney's Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM) where we braved the Tower of Terror and toured memorable American films in the Great Movie Ride. We saw the Beauty and the Beast Stage show, and before we left, Rick rode Rockin' Roller Coaster while I waited in the shade.

After a short break at the BCV, we took a bus to the Animal Kingdom for evening Extra Magic Hours (where the park is open 3 hours longer than usual) and our dinner reservation at Yak and Yeti, a new restaurant that features Asian cuisine. I thought I knew where the restaurant was, but I was wrong, so we actually walked right past it and ended up doing a complete circuit of Asia before we found it very close to where we had started out. Not a good thing to have done with a bum knee. Once seated, we started with a Dim Sum appetizer, then I had crispy Mahi Mahi with stir-fried vegetables and Rick had a beef and broccoli stir-fry. The restaurant was packed, the service was excellent and we enjoyed the food a lot. After dinner we watched the 3-D movie It's Tough to Be a Bug and browsed for a while in the shops before heading back to the bus. On the way out of the park, we encountered this friendly stork - I think he was hoping for a hand-out.

My knee is holding up alright. It's swollen and stiff, but not unbearably painful. I'll have to have it checked when we get home, but I'm not going to let it spoil our plans.

Today's photos have been added to Flickr.

Birthday in the UK

2008-04-29T22:36:00.013-05:00

Rick returned to the place of his birth tonight (well, a replica of it anyway) for his birthday dinner at the Rose and Crown Pub. 57 years ago today, he was born in Ealing, England while his Air Force dad was posted there.

The Rose and Crown's patio provides a picturesque view across Epcot's World Showcase lagoon. Today's perfect weather was ideal for the outside table where we were seated by our hostess Elizabeth. We enjoyed a delicious appetizer of roasted mushrooms served on a puff pastry , followed by Harry Ramsden's world famous fish and chips for Rick and a marinated chicken breast with roasted garlic bread pudding for me. Our meal ended when our waitress, Louise from Wales, led the wait staff in a birthday song for Rick, and presented him with a complimentary (and decadent) dessert of vanilla custard with berries in an almond crunch shell and a birthday card signed by the entire staff.

After our lovely meal we took a stroll through the always beautiful gardens at the Canada pavilion and saw the new circlevision movie there, O, Canada!

When we returned to our room, Mickey Magic had struck again. A card signed by Mickey and all his friends with a bunch of colorful balloons had been placed in our room while we were out. All and all a very nice birthday for Rick, despite my unfortunate Segway incident.

Here are more photos.

You Can't Drive a Segway Up a Post!

2008-04-29T14:03:00.013-05:00

Today is Rick's birthday. My present to him was the Wilderness Back Trail Adventure Segway Tour through the woods and trails around the Ft. Wilderness Campground and the Wilderness Lodge. We did a Segway tour a few years ago at Epcot and really enjoyed it, so we were really looking forward to this experience on all-terrain Segways.

Today was the perfect day for this outing. It had cooled off to the mid-70s with low humidity. Although it started out a little cloudy, the skies brightened up just enough by the time our tour started. After a brief orientation, our group of 10 followed our instructors Rob and Wes while they pointed out plants and quizzed us on Disney trivia.

These Segways are extremely easy to maneuver, so we quickly mastered getting on and off, turning and going forward and backward. This made it easy to enjoy the scenery while we traversed the woods, visited the Disney World stables and maneuvered the paths through the marsh to the Wilderness Lodge. All this was so relaxing and pleasant that we soon felt like experts - with the possible exception of one elderly man in our group who had a habit of stopping abruptly mid-trail for no apparent reason, causing whoever happened to be following him to have to react quickly in order to avoid rear-ending him.

This was happening frequently enough that I made a point of not being behind him, but somehow, as our tour was almost over and we were heading back, I found myself following him and his wife as we went up a slight incline and through a covered picnic area, where suddenly he stopped again. His wife started to pass him, so I followed suit, but when she pulled up beside him, I took a wider berth to go around them both. That's when I caught a post with my right wheel and started to fall over. Somehow my right leg got tangled around the Segway's steering column, and I couldn't extricate it as I went over. The Segway's left wheel was still moving, so the machine was gyrating, with my leg still wrapped around it, twisting in directions legs aren't supposed to go. I felt or maybe even heard something pop as my leg finally came loose and I hit the ground. It hurt. A lot. I was quite sure I had just broken my leg. After lying on the ground for several minutes, I was finally able to move my leg and then eventually stand up. Thankfully, it appeared that my leg wasn't broken, nor my knee dislocated as I first feared. I was even able to get back on my Segway and ride it back to the barn, but my knee still really hurt!

EMT's were called and several cast members with clipboards and a policeman materialized to take down all my information. I told my story four or five times. The EMT's checked me over, being particularly careful to make sure I hadn't injured my back or my neck. They put an ice pack on my knee and wrapped it up and a van was called to drive us back to the Beach Club. I decided not to go to the hospital and to just wait and see how I feel later. Right now the knee is very sore and a little swollen, but I can walk, although with a limp. I think I probably have a bad sprain, but some Motrin and a glass of wine have helped quite nicely with my convalescence so far. I'm determined this will not put a crimp in our plans.

I like to be the star pupil in any group, not the one who can't do anything right, so my pride now hurts as much as my knee. I should have stopped behind that man and not been so cavalier about my Segway skills. What do they say about pride coming before a fall?

Thanks to Rick for documenting my moment of shame. See more of today's photos on Flickr.

A Magical Day at the Magic Kingdom

2008-04-28T15:53:00.014-05:00

Today started off with breakfast at the Captain's Grille at the Yacht Club and then outside to wait for the bus where we had a nice chat with a cast member from Hong Kong who is working here as part of Disney's International College Program.

We had hoped for light crowds at the Magic Kingdom today, but we were out of luck. It was quite crowded at 11:00 when we arrived and that didn't change much by the time we left around 3:00. As soon as we walked onto Main Street USA, we encountered the saxophone quartet and some ladies singing Zippity Doo Da! Of course, I had to get a photo with them!

We rode Rick's favorite, the Haunted Mansion, which has been refurbished since the last time we were here, and my favorite, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. In between we took a raft ride out to Tom Sawyer Island where we explored Injun Joe's cave, crossed the river on a barrel bridge, and shot Injuns from the turret of a frontier fort. We hadn't visited this attraction since one of our early trips with James and we had fun playing pretend.

We had lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern, took a ride on the Liberty Belle riverboat, and then went back to the hotel for a rest.

Tonight we walked over to Big River Brewing on the Boardwalk, had cheeseburgers and a couple of beers and decided spending a relaxing evening hanging out here was a much better idea than going back to the Magic Kingdom for the parade and fireworks - and the crowds. The Boardwalk area is a fun place to walk around, shop and people-watch. It's themed as an early 1900s seaside resort with carnival games, refreshment kiosks, and strolling performers. We got some coffee and watched a guy balancing glasses and golf clubs on the tip of a knife and listened to a singing banjo player on our way back to the Beach Club. Now we're in for the night.

Click here for all of today's photos.

Welcome Home!

2008-04-27T23:30:00.008-05:00

When you check into a Disney Vacation Club (DVC) resort, that's how you are greeted. We are renting from a DVC member, so we receive the same warm welcome as real DVC members.

Our plane landed at 9:20 and we were checked in and inside our Beach Club Villas studio before 11:00. We went straight over to Epcot and started our stroll around World Showcase, starting with France, then Morocco. Epcot is all decked out for the Flower and Garden Festival and looks beautiful.

Our objective was Japan because we had reservations for lunch at Tokyo Dining, a new restaurant since our last visit. There were several incredible bonsai's on display outside the pavilion. Inside, we were greeted by the entire staff for the opening of the restaurant.

When we checked in at the BCV, cast member Allison gave Rick a Happy Birthday button to wear. (His birthday is on Tuesday.) Everywhere we went, cast members - and even some guests - greeted him with a friendly "Happy birthday, Rick!" In Morocco, a cast member wrote out the birthday greeting in Arabic text. Later, at the American Adventure pavilion, a cast member rushed up to Rick and asked where he was from. Rick told him and the cast member said, "We have a call from Disney for Rick from Massachusetts! Follow me." He led us out to the lobby where he instructed Rick to pick up the phone in a box on the wall and dial an extension number. When Rick did this, he heard a birthday message from none other than Goofy.

At Tokyo Dining, because of Rick's birthday button, we were seated first and had the best table in the house in front of a large window overlooking World Showcase. We decided to celebrate the beginning of our vacation by trying something new. We ordered a sake sampler and I also tried sushi for the first time. Both were very good. When we were finished eating and waiting for our check, we heard some clapping and then some of the restaurant staff came out singing "Happy, happy birthday", bearing a piece of ginger cake with a candle on top for Rick.

After lunch we took a Friendship launch across the lagoon to Future World and rode the newly refurbished Spaceship Earth. They have added an interactive touch screen so you can choose your own world of the future. Your photo is taken at the beginning of the ride, and at the end you see yourself in the new world you have chosen. Pretty cute. Dame Judy Dench now narrates the ride and most of the scenes have been redone. We thought it was great.

We took a break at the resort and went for a swim. By the way - the weather is fabulous, although a little hot for us New Englanders. It's going to be in the mid-80s all week. The pool felt great and revived us enough to return to Epcot for the evening.

We started at Mexico with nachos and a frozen Marguerita (for me) and then went to a BJ Thomas concert, where he sang some of his greatest hits including Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head, and Hooked on a Feeling. During the Flower and Garden festival Epcot has a Flower Power concert series featuring musicians of the 60's. BJ sounded terrific. Later this week we'll get to hear Arlo Guthrie (Alice's Restaurant).

After the concert we hiked over to The Land to ride Soarin', a thrilling and beautiful glider ride over California and then walked all the way back to the World Showcase again to find a spot near Morocco to watch IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth, the fabulous nightly pyrotechnics show that is a must-do ending to a day at Epcot.

We had been up since 3 am., so by now, at 10 o'clock we were more than ready to go back to our room for a good night's sleep. We took lots of photos today. They are all here on Flickr. Tomorrow we'll spend the day at the Magic Kingdom.

It's Almost Time!

2008-04-26T17:15:00.005-05:00

My countdown clock tells me that in just 15 hours and 15 minutes, more or less, mr. lo and I will be heading toward Disney's Magical Express, the complimentary bus that will take us from the Orlando International Airport to the Beach Club Villa's at Walt Disney World. We've put our bright yellow tags on our luggage, and once we check our bags at the Manchester, NH Airport tomorrow morning, we won't have to touch them again until we're in our studio at the Villa's. This is the first of many special services that come with a Disney vacation. It puts us in Disney mode almost from the moment we step off the airplane, where we'll gladly remain until the DME takes us back again next Saturday. I plan to post daily reports of our week with photos, so check back often!

Mud season

2008-03-16T14:08:00.011-05:00

'Bout time I popped in, ya think?

Just back from a walk through the meadow and woods near our house - the same route I usually do on snowshoes. This is the ugly season in New England - and this year seems more so than ever. Lots of debris revealed by the melting snow, sand from the road all over the yard, mud everywhere, the last remnants of dirty snow, just the tiniest hints that anything is living out there - my daffodils are up about 3" on the south side of the house near the foundation. We've had a very cloudy March, with a good deal of rain and some snow, and I'm yearning for the sun. Good thing that in just 6 weeks mr. lo and I will be returning to my favorite place!

I know there are a couple of folks out there who return here periodically to see if I'm going on another Disney trip, so here's a little teaser - our plans for our upcoming trip:

4/27
am ARRIVE at the Beach Club Villas!
pm Epcot - IllumiNations
L: 12pm Tokyo Dining, Japan, Epcot
D: CS*

4/28
am MK
pm MK - Spectomagic, Wishes fireworks
B: Captain’s Grille, Yacht Club
L: Liberty Tree Tavern, Frontierland, Magic Kingdom
D: CS*

4/29 mr. lo's birthday!
am Ft.Wilderness Back Trail Adventure Segway Tour
pm Epcot - IllumiNations
B: Trail's End Buffet, Ft. Wilderness
L: CS*
D: Rose & Crown, UK, Epcot

4/30
am ?
pm Disney's Animal Kingdom - Extra Magic Hours
B: Spoodles, Boardwalk
L: CS*
D: Yak & Yeti, Asia, DAK

5/1
am Disney's Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM)
pm ?
B: Fresh, Dolphin
L: ’50s Prime Time Café, DHS
D: CS*

5/2
am MK
pm Epcot - IllumiNations, Extra Magic Hours
B: Kona Cafe, Polynesian Resort
L: CS*
D: Tutto Italia, Italy, Epcot

5/3
am Epcot
B: Room Service
L: Restaurant Marrakesh, Morocco, Epcot (Our first choice was Le Cellier in Canada, but that is booked solid. We'll hope for cancellations.)
pm DEPART for home

*CS=Counter Service. If we're hungry, we'll grab something quick in the park or back at the Boardwalk area.

We'll try and catch the afternoon parades at the MK, DAK and DHS once, especially the new Block Party Bash at DHS.

I'm vey excited about the Segway tour on mr. lo's birthday. We did the tour at Epcot a couple of years ago and loved it. This one is on all-terrain Segway's outside between Fort Wilderness and the Wilderness Lodge. mr. lo chose the Rose and Crown for dinner, in honor of his birth in England (an Air Force brat).

This is our 11th trip to WDW, although we haven't been there since December 2006 . (We DID go to DisneyLAND just this past December though.) We never tire of going - there is always something new to see - and even if there wasn't, just staying at the Beach Club Villas resort is a treat in and of itself. As mr. lo says, it's a no-stress vacation - no driving, no worries, everything works, everyone's nice. Hakuna matata!

Just for fun

2008-01-21T09:14:00.001-05:00

I'm lurking on an online course on Web 2.0 tools. One of the assignments is to create an avatar - something I've never done - so here is mine, doing one of things I like to do best. (I wish I was this thin!)

Snowshoeing on New Year's Eve

2007-12-31T17:12:00.000-05:00

Last night we got 6 and 1/2 inches of new snow on top of the base leftover from our pre-Christmas storms. I went out on my snowshoes yesterday afternoon for the first time in years. The snow was dirty, hard and crusty, but it was warm out and it felt great to be outside in the fresh air. This morning everything was pristine again and light flakes were still drifting down. I was the first human to make tracks down to the meadow and back today. It was silent and lovely.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Another half-foot is predicted for tomorrow night. This is like the winters we had when I was a kid. It feels right.

Holiday greetings!

2007-12-16T16:06:00.001-05:00

Here's the message we're sending to friends and family with our Christmas cards this year:

As I write this, we’re having our second snowstorm in less than a week – a Nor’easter! It looks like this will be a real old-fashioned New England Christmas for a change. We’ve had a year filled with travel and settling into semi-retirement. We like it!

Rick is still working in his instrument repair shop, but has cut back his hours significantly – a good thing, since many of the independent music stores he has done business with for years have been bought out by a big conglomerate called Music and Arts that has its own repair technicians. He is still keeping up with his cornet and trumpet playing in the Lunenburg and Townsend town bands, the Yankee Brass, and a group that plays at church that he likes to refer to as the Holy Cows. Rick’s dad Jim turned 93 in October and his mother Jeanette is 86. They are still living in their house in Acton. Since his Dad finally relinquished the car keys this year, Rick goes there at least once a week to take them to the grocery store and doctors’ appointments. Rick’s sister Linda lives near Seattle with her husband Craig, where she works for Microsoft developing web pages. Craig already retired from the company and now spends a lot of time hiking and playing competitive bridge. Linda visited her folks recently and it was nice to see her again since we last got together when we vacationed in Washington State back in 2004. Rick’s biggest treat this year was buying himself a Jeep Wrangler. Can you see its name on the license plate?

Kathy loves the flexibility – and lack of interruptions – of working part-time from home. She has been the Executive Director of the Massachusetts School Library Association for almost a year now and is enjoying advocating for school libraries, mentoring her colleagues, and representing her association on various statewide committees and at library conferences all over the country – this past year in Seattle, Washington DC, Reno, and Phoenix. She is also chairing a task force for the American Association of School Librarians that will write benchmarks and assessments for the national standards for school libraries. So, she is managing to keep very busy, but in a good way! Her Mum and Dad, Jean and Freddie, (81 and 82) are also still living in their home in Lunenburg with her brother Ricky. We celebrated their 60^th anniversary on November 29^th. When Ricky isn’t working, he’s either surfing or ice sailing, depending on the season. It’s great to have him and all our parents nearby and with us for family celebrations.

We had some great trips this year aside from Kathy’s conference travel. Last April we went to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and Lancaster County, PA in the Jeep; took another road trip in Bugle 1 in early September to Acadia National Park in Maine; and finally – the fulfillment of Kathy’s lifelong wish – visited Disneyland in Anaheim, CA just two weeks ago by way of her conference in Phoenix, with a stop for a couple of days along the way in San Diego and La Jolla. The highlight of that trip for Kathy was when she was invited to sing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” with the Disneyland Band! It’s great to be able to travel anytime we want and we’re trying to do as much of it as our budget and other commitments allow. Kathy enjoys chronicling our travels, other musings and photos in her blog.

James is in his second year as a reporter for the Daily Hampshire Gazette in Northampton, MA. In September he moved downtown to a cool loft apartment, complete with a spiral staircase, with his cats Poldy and Stephen. He’s a talented writer and the newspaper is giving him plenty of opportunities to hone his skills. He occasionally shares his thoughts about symbolism and literature in his blog, Everyday Semiotics and has recently started playing bass in a band that will perform at Northampton’s First Night celebration.

What more is there to say? Life is good and we recognize that we lead charmed lives. We wish the same for all of you and your families in the coming year and always.

Kathy, Rick and James

Final Thoughts on Our Phoenix & SoCal Vacation

2007-12-08T18:15:00.000-05:00

We really covered a lot of ground on this trip from Phoenix to Anaheim and enjoyed every bit of it.

The Arizona Biltmore and Spa is probably the most luxurious hotel we have ever stayed at - and one of the most expensive, even with the special rate we got for the conference. It was fun to pretend to be rich and famous for a little while and mr. lo got a kick out of using the spa.

We'd stay at La Jolla Shores again if we ever find ourselves in that area. Nothing can beat the view of the beach and the climate really is heavenly. San Diego is a beautiful city with lots of diversity. We only scratched the surface of what there is to see there.

The Howard Johnson's Plaza Hotel in Anaheim actually had the nicest, most spacious, and best laid-out rooms of all three resorts and was by far the best value. Three nights there cost less than one at the Biltmore or La Jolla Shores, so with its proximity to DLR, I would be happy to stay there again and highly recommend it.

I finally had my lifelong wish of visiting Disneyland fulfilled and it was as wonderful as I had dreamed. Many people comment that its smallness and urban location is a disappointment after seeing Disney World, but I don't agree. Once inside the gates of Disneyland, I was never aware of the outside world and the compactness made it easier to get from one land to another. They certainly have packed a lot into that limited space. I liked New Orleans Square the best because it is totally different from anything at Disney World's Magic Kingdom and it also has the best restaurants.

California Adventure was a bonus, although I have to admit that if it wasn't right next to Disneyland, I don't think I'd go out of my way to go there. Not being into thrill rides, it doesn't have much to draw me. Our favorites at DLR were all in Disneyland: the Haunted Mansion Holiday, Pirates of the Caribbean, "it's a small world" holiday, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, and Indiana Jones. And - of course - my chance to sing with the Disneyland Band was an experience that will stay with me always.

This was most likely a one-time trip for us. Although we really enjoyed Disneyland, mr. lo and I agree that Walt Disney World is the place that calls us back. Because there are so many more options there, you can always escape a crowded location and find something equally enjoyable to do elsewhere. Epcot is what really draws us to WDW. We always stay in one of the Epcot resorts so that we can wander in and out whenever we want. Evenings strolling around the lagoon before Illuminations are the best part of a WDW vacation for us. We like to be able to dip in and out of the other parks, but we spend most of our time in Epcot. So if we find ourselves in the vicinity of Disneyland again, I'm sure we'll stop in, but I doubt it will be our destination for future trips.

Thanks to all for reading! Don't forget, all the photos from this trip are on Flickr! I hope you'll check in here from time to time to see what I'm up to next. I have reset my Disney countdown clock for our next trip to WDW in just 140 days - April 27-May 3, 2008

Our Last Day at DLR

2007-12-07T17:53:00.000-05:00

When we woke up this morning, it was raining lightly, but by the time we left for Disneyland, the sky was clearing and the predicted monsoons never materialized until we arrived at the airport this afternoon.

The park was very empty – probably the forecast kept many people away – and since it opened so early today, we had enough time to do all we wanted to do before we had to leave. We went directly to Nemo when the gates opened. There was a reported 20-minute wait that turned out to be more like a half-hour, but we were in line behind a really nice couple from California who struck up a conversation. They are annual pass holders and come to Disneyland every time the wife, who is recovering from Pancreatic cancer, visits her doctor in Los Angeles. If she has a good check-up, they come to Disneyland to celebrate. This time, 3 years out, her doctor says she is doing fine and won’t have to return for more check-ups. So now, happily, they need another excuse to come to the park. What a pleasant way to pass the time in line, talking to such nice, hope-filled people!

The Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage is, in my opinion, the best-engineered, designed and themed of all the Disney rides, either here or in Orlando. Along with that, the storyline is understandable – not rushed to the point of incomprehensibility as so many of the old “dark” rides in Fantasyland are. We were so glad to finally be able to experience this ride without having to wait for hours in line and I was able to get some really cool underwater photos from the sub. (See Flickr for more.)

We just had to return to “it’s a small world” holiday after that. Who’d have thought that we would both be so enchanted with this ride? The interweaving of Christmas songs with the traditional “It’s a Small World” is delightful, as are all the costumes and other holiday decorations. This is such a cute rendition of another of Walt’s originals.

Of course, we had to do Haunted Mansion Holiday one last time and it still held up after repeated viewings. There is so much detail to this ride that you really do have to repeat it many times in order to catch everything.

It was great strolling around this morning without having to dodge masses of people and strollers. A great end to a fabulous trip!

The Rest of the Day

2007-12-06T17:29:00.000-05:00

This was an Early Entry day at Disneyland (when Disney resort guests and others holding 3- or more-day passes can get in an hour before the park's official opening time), so we were there, lined up and ready to go in at 9 a.m. with a ton of other people. Our plan was to get a Fast Pass for Indiana Jones Adventure, but we soon learned that this is not one of the rides open during Early Entry, so we beelined it over to Fantasyland and rode the Matterhorn instead. mr. lo was surprised to find out that this isn't the same as the Expedition Everest ride at Walt Disney World, but he enjoyed this vintage Disney ride nevertheless. We thought we'd try to get on the new Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage next, but the wait time was already at 75 minutes, so we passed and went on "it's a small world" holiday instead. This ride is delightful. Way better than the Magic Kingdom version, especially in this holiday version.

Now it was time for the park to open to regular entry guests, so we hightailed it over to Indiana Jones again, only to find this time that the ride was down, so we went on Haunted Mansion Holiday again. mr. lo says we have to ride this one every time we're in the park and I'm fine with that. It really is a great ride.

We decided it was time for breakfast, so we stopped at the Café Orleans where I had the famous and decedent Monte Cristo French Toast and mr. lo had scrambled eggs. A pirate came by and chatted for a while and a Dixieland jazz band marched by and beaded mr. lo. We rode Pirates of the Caribbean - today there was hardly anyone in line - and then started to head to California Adventure. This time when we passed Indiana Jones, it was finally running, so we got in line - it took about 20 minutes - and we finally got our chance to experience this ride, which is unique to Disneyland. The theming is as great as we'd heard and we both enjoyed it.

It was at this point, as we were leaving for California Adventure, that I had my impromptu gig with the Disneyland Band. When I was done signing autographs [not], we were finally able to leave Disneyland for our first look at California Adventure.

This shiny new park has lots of thrill rides, a great layout, and fantastic theming. There are four "lands" - Hollywood Pictures Backlot, "a bug's land", Paradise Pier, and Golden State. We briefly checked out the Hollywood area, but decided to move on to Paradise Pier, where the rides are all different from those at Walt Disney World. We watched the coasters, California Screamin' and Mulholland Madness, but decided that they, along with the Orange Stinger and Jumpin' Jellyfish, were a little too "thrilling" for us. We did ride the giant Sun Wheel, a Ferris wheel with cars that slide along a rail and swing back and forth as you go around. You can see all over the park from the heights of this ride and it isn't nearly as scary as it looks. We walked through the rest of Paradise Pier and into the Golden State, where we watched the rafters on the Grizzly River Run get drenched. We watched the film Golden Dreams, featuring Whoopi Goldberg.

We had to leave the park at this point to go back to the hotel and print out our boarding passes for our flight home tomorrow, but we returned to Disneyland later to see "it's a small world" holiday lit up and the "icing" of the Castle. After that we had had enough of the crowds, so we called it a night. Tomorrow Disneyland opens at 8 a.m. and we plan to be there to try and finally ride Nemo and get in our last rides on our favorites before leaving for the airport.

The Best Disney Day EVER!!

2007-12-06T16:53:00.000-05:00

Oh my gosh! Who is that woman singing with the Disneyland Band? Could it be?!....Yes, it is!....It's kay-lo herself!!

How did this happen? Just for naming all of Santa's reindeer (including, of course, the one with the brightly colored nose), I was invited to join the band's trombone section in singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. They even gave me a solo on the "Won't you drive my sleigh tonight?" part... Twice!

mr.-lo said I didn't totally embarrass him! In fact, he said he was proud of me! He went crazy snapping photos:

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

We did lots of other things today, but they all - without exception - pale in comparison to this! In fact, this was THE BEST time I have EVER, EVER had in ANY Disney Park - without exception - and I have had lots and lots of great times courtesy of Mr. Disney. I haven't been able to stop smiling all day!

Having taught elementary school music for (too) many years, the words to this song, and hence the names of all the reindeer, are indelibly seared into my brain, so I was able to do my part without missing a single word and it was a blast! The Disneyland Band is really, really good! There I was, right there at the hub of Main Street USA, with hundreds of people (well maybe 10 or 20) watching me, singing with the Disneyland Band. Me! kay-lo! Wow! This is why grownups go to Disneyland!

It'll be awfully hard to part with this place tomorrow. We're not sure if we'll get to visit Disneyland briefly one more time in the morning since they are forecasting a big, big rainstorm, so this may be the end of our adventure, although once my feet touch the ground, I'll try and write about the other things we did today, particularly our time at California Adventure, since that was all brand new to us. I'll have lots of time in airports and planes tomorrow as we make our way back to Arctic Massachusetts, so stay tuned for more later!

Nighttime at Disneyland

2007-12-06T10:27:00.000-05:00

As planned, we returned last night to try and get on some of the more popular rides while most of the crowd watched the parade. We arrived at the Disneyland gates just as California Adventure was closing and many people were leaving there for Disneyland, so we had to wait a little while in line to get in. Since so many people had staked out their spots on the sidewalks along the parade route, we decided to take the train to Frontierland. That was a good choice to avoid navigating through the crowd.

First we went to Indiana Jones to try and get a Fast Pass for later, but, as it had been earlier in the day, the ride was closed, so we went to the Haunted Mansion instead. This is one of our favorite rides at Walt Disney World and I think we like the California one - especially the holiday version - even better.

Next we went over to Big Thunder Mountain to ride the runaway mine train. There was a 20-minute wait that passed quickly while we went through the mostly outdoor queue. I love this ride, especially at night. It's great in both parks, but I think the queue here is much nicer.

We decided to leave the park at this point because it was almost time for the Believe fireworks to start and we wanted to try and beat the crowds out of the park. This worked out well and we had a nice walk back to the hotel with the fireworks going off in the distance.

After a great night's sleep we got up early this morning (we're still functioning on east-coast time) to get ready for Early Entry at Disneyland. Today's plan is to head straight for Indiana Jones to try again to get a Fast Pass. Then we'll cross over to Fantasyland to ride the Nemo subs and the Matterhorn. We hope to be able to get these three rides in before it gets too crowded and then head over to California Adventure to spend the rest of the day there. I'd like to go back to Disneyland at 5:30 to see them light up the castle - they make it look like it's covered with ice - beautiful! - and to see the fireworks one last time, since this will be our last night here.

Tomorrow we'll hit our favorites in both parks one last time before we leave for the airport around noon. The forecast is for pouring rain in the morning, however, so we'll see how that turns out. No new photos from last night, but I will be updating my Disneyland set on Flickr later today.

A Very Disney Day

2007-12-05T20:23:00.001-05:00

Today we spent all morning and early afternoon in Disneyland. Once the gates opened at 9:30, we stopped at the Blue Ribbon Bakery on Main Street where we each got lattes and shared a yogurt parfait. Mmmm! They held the crowd at the end of Main St. until 10:00, so we just sat in the bakery and people-watched until the crowd cleared.

We started out in Fantasyland figuring that later it would be too overrun with the stroller brigade. We rode several rides there, walked over to Tomorrowland and got a Fast Pass for Space Mountain, and then headed over to Adventureland. We took the Jungle Cruise, climbed up to the top of Tarzan's Tree House, and then rode Pirates of the Caribbean - much longer and better here than at Disney World. After that we had our ride on Space Mountain, which we both thought was a little too exciting for us! ;-)

We decided it was time for a break from the park and we were getting hungry, so we got on the monorail to Downtown Disney and had lunch at the Storytellers Cafe at the Grand Californian. Then we shopped a little in World of Disney where mr. lo bought a t-shirt with an old fashioned Mickey on it. We came back to the hotel for a short nap after that. The lobby of Grand Californian is massive, although I thought it seemed rather dark. Storytellers was a great place to get away from the hustle-bustle of the park. I enjoyed walking around Downtown Disney. I like the layout much better than the one at Disney World and it was much less crowded than its Florida counterpart has ever been when we were there.

Our plan is to go back in a little while and ride some of the major rides we missed during the parade and fireworks. The park is open later tonight - until 8:00 - so we'll see if it stays as crowded as it was earlier today. I have been surprised how crowded the park is this early in the season. According to everything I had read, this is supposed to be one of the least-crowded weeks of the year. If that is so, then I'm glad I'm not here when it really is busy because there are more than enough people here for me right now.

I've added today's photos to my Disneyland set on Flickr.

Finally! Disneyland

2007-12-04T21:26:00.000-05:00

The rest of this trip was really just an excuse to finally visit Disneyland, a place I have wanted to see since I was a little girl watching Walt Disney talk about it on TV.

We got here a little after noon and were in the park before 1 o'clock. We thought we'd just stay a little while until our room at the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel was ready, but no surprise, we stayed until the Christmas Fantasy Parade and the fireworks show Believe...In Holiday Magic closed the park at 6 p.m. After the fireworks ended, we just sat on a bench, people-watched, and listened to Christmas music while waiting for the crowd to leave. Then we slowly made our way down a quiet and mostly deserted Main Street under the lighted garlands.

Our favorite ride today: The Haunted Mansion Holiday. Favorite experience: a tie between walking into the park for the first time and the fireworks. What can I say? It was as great as I had hoped it would be. I have to admit to getting a little choked up (okay, I cried), when we first entered the park. It's a little gem of a place. I love it!

We've finally moved into our room. It is very nice - immaculate and bright. It's very roomy and we have a "park view" (maybe if we take out our binoculars). We are an easy 10-minute walk away from the entrance to Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure.

Our plan is to spend tomorrow at Disneyland and Thursday at California Adventure and then to repeat our favorites on Friday morning before we leave at for the airport. At some point we'll take some time to check out Downtown Disney and the three Disney hotels - The Disneyland Hotel, Paradise Pier, and the Grand Californian.

We took a million photos today (nearly)! They are here on Flickr .

La Jolla and San Diego

2007-12-03T23:44:00.000-05:00

After a day of driving across the Arizona dessert and the Great Walmart Quest (see below), we arrived at the La Jolla Shores hotel in time enjoy a delicious dinner at the restaurant there, followed by a walk on the beach that is right outside our room! We couldn't wait for daylight to see what this place really looks like. Our room is large and comfortable. The hotel looks like a hacienda, with courtyards full of lush plantings. All the windows in the restaurant look out on the beach. It's really nice!

On the way here, we decided we needed to stop and pick up a few necessities - like flip shades for mr. lo (he left his in the car at the Manchester airport) and a new suitcase for me (the past two trips have done my old one in). As we were driving along we used our trusty Garmin Nuvi GPS to locate a Walmart somewhere in the boonies of Arizona and were surprised to find that there was one just 1.9 miles away. Although this seemed unlikely, as we were driving by cotton farms at the time, we followed Nuvi's directions and sure enough, soon came upon a very large building off of a secondary road with Walmart - Distribution Center - painted on it. Hmmm. Oh well - back to the highway. We'll look later. (We did find an actual Walmart Superstore in Yuma just before crossing the border into California and were able to pick up everything we needed, including a large bottle of Merlot, which we enjoyed on our balcony once we arrived at La Jolla Shores.)

This morning, we were up bright and early for a long walk on the beach and the neighborhood near the hotel. We have an amazing view from our room of the beach and the ocean. I could just sit on the balcony all day and watch the waves break and the people pass by. The weather is perfect and wow, are the homes here beautiful! All the yards, while very small, are perfectly groomed and landscaped with flowers and plants, like Bird of Paradise, that I have seen only in floral arrangements. We are right near the University of California San Diego campus and its Scripps Oceanographic Institute. There is a large palm tree-filled park next to our hotel and the ocean is full of surfers. Lots of people, many with dogs, are walking the beach.

After breakfast, we drove to San Diego's Old Town State Historic Park and took a trolley tour of the city, stopping for a while to walk around inside the Hotel Del Coronado and go out to its beautiful white sand beach.

The view we had of the city while driving over the Coronado bridge was breath-taking.

We spent most of the afternoon at the world famous and beautiful San Diego Zoo. We ended our day at Fred's Mexican Cafe for a great Mexican meal. There are lots more photos on Flickr.

Summit Ends, Vacation Begins!

2007-12-02T08:55:00.000-05:00

We started the last day of the Summit with breakfast and a presentation about a public library's advocacy campaign. Then we heard two more case study presentations before lunch. Afterwards Ross Todd summed up the proceedings and challenged us to do some deep thinking about all that we have learned the past two days. We finished up our Summit experience with some group brainstorming about how to implement Evidence Based Practice in school libraries and what role our state and national associations can play.

The concierge recommended Richardson's for dinner. We had some really good Southwestern food in this popular and lively local spot. Before bed, mr. lo and I strolled around the resort. The rain had ended and the stars were out. There was a lot of activity - a bat mitzvah party and many people walking around looking very elegant in their formal attire . The Christmas decorations are beautiful, with two huge live trees in the lobby and lighted garlands looped on all the railings of the mezzanine.

This morning we'll load up the humongous Pacifica we rented and take the ladies to the airport, where we'll trade down to a smaller car for the rest of our trip. We'll drive across the desert today and plan to arrive in San Diego in time to see the sunset.

See all our photos on Flickr

The Massachusetts Contingent

2007-12-01T10:45:00.000-05:00

Here are my travel buddies from the MSLA executive board, Ann, Sandy and
Valerie, at the opening session of the Summit yesterday. Lovely ladies, aren't they? (They're fun, too!)

Phoenix Sans Sun

2007-11-29T23:10:00.000-05:00

We're at the first stop of our trip, the School Library Journal Leadership Summit at the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa. Ironically in this land of almost unabated sunshine, yesterday was overcast and today it has rained cats and dogs. There is a flash flood warning in effect. The locals are thrilled, as they have been suffering a drought in these parts for the past eight years, but also apologetic to those of us who came here anticipating brighter skies. Last night, after a welcome reception at the hotel we were bused to Scottsdale for its Arts Walk, where galleries and jewelry stores hold open houses. It was pretty low-key, with very few people out and about, but our travel fatigue might have negatively influenced our impression.

This is the third SLJ Summit in as many years, the first being in NYC and last year's in Chicago, and I have been to all three. The SLJ folk have outdone themselves with this venue. The resort is lavish and we feel very privileged to have been invited to come here to learn about Evidence Based Practice and how it can be applied to school libraries. Today's speakers were a varied group of practitioners from academia, health care and architecture, as well as colleagues from our own profession. SLJ and the Summit's sponsors - Scholastic Publishing, Gale, Follett Library Resources, Capstone Press and Gareth Stevens - treated us to a delicious lunch today and abundant cocktail receptions last night and tonight.

Tomorrow we have a full day, starting with a breakfast speaker, then presentations of three case studies on EBP in school library programs, and finally a wrap-up by Dr. Ross Todd, who is always entertaining and provocative. mr. lo will investigate the spa while I attend to my professional growth. Sunday we check out and head for sunny (we hope) California and the real start of our vacation.

First snow

2007-11-20T21:17:00.001-05:00

Day after tomorrow is Thanksgiving, but today we had our first snow. Seeing those flakes for the very first time every winter always awakens a memory of warmth, happy times and places. Driving to the post office this morning while those big snowflakes floated past gave me a little flare of excitement. I know that I won't feel this in January, but just for today, it was all new again.

Last Sunday, I finished digging up and rearranging the last of my day lilies. I threw out lots of old iris that just weren't doing well where I had them. I got prodigious leaves, but very few flowers. I didn't really have another spot for them, so they went onto the compost pile, along with some sage plants that just didn't look all that great. Again - lots of leaves, few flowers. I think my borders were just getting too crowded with too many plants that weren't earning their keep. By the time spring returns, I'll be surprised at what comes up where, because by then I will have forgotten what I did this fall. Spring always brings surprises.

All of our family will be together here at our house for yet another Thanksgiving dinner. And then on Sunday we celebrate my parents' 60th anniversary. We have much to be thankful for.

When You Wish Upon a Star

2007-11-04T19:18:00.000-05:00

When I was a little girl, I watched The Wonderful World of Disney every Sunday night, and I remember - vividly - Walt unveiling his plans for Disneyland. I was so taken with the idea of visiting this magical place that I, at the age of 5, informed my parents that when I got married, Disneyland would be my honeymoon destination. That dream was never realized. I have never seen Disneyland, although I have 10 trips to Walt Disney World in Florida under my belt, with another planned for April 2008. But in just 29 days, 19 hours, and 41 minutes, my lifetime dream will finally come true. After a short conference at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, mr. lo and I will drive west to San Diego, stay a couple of nights on the beach at La Jolla, and then, finally, drive north to Anaheim. We've had our hotel , Park Hopper passes and rental car reserved since last summer and I've been reading DISboards to get in the mood. Needless to say, I will be blogging this vacation, so stay tuned!

Next on the agenda: Reno!

2007-10-21T15:08:00.000-05:00

The national conference of the American Association of School Librarians begins on Thursday in Reno, Nevada and I, along with my sidekicks from MSLA, will be there! You can follow our adventures on our Reno Roundup blog. It's guaranteed we'll have a rip roarin' time, so come on along!

Homeward bound

2007-09-07T22:11:00.000-05:00

It's our last day. Sad to leave, but it's nice to know this place is within a day's drive from home. We lingered a while in the village of Southwest Harbor, visiting the little library which inside, feels like being in the hold of a ship. We picked up some fresh baked bread for our folks at the Little Notch Bakery.

We took our time driving home, stopping in Camden to get lattes and admire it's pretty little harbor. We tried to get what are reported to be the best lobster rolls on the eastern seaboard in Wiscassettat at Red's Eats. After standing in line for 20 minutes and not moving, we decided to forgo Red's this time. Instead we continued on our way and later stopped at a familiar spot, BG's Boathouse in Newcastle, New Hampshire, a place we often frequented with my parents during our many summer vacations at Rye Beach.

This was a relaxed and laid-back trip - just what we wanted. We know we'll make the trek back to Acadia again because we didn't get nearly enough of it this time around.

All our photos are on Flickr.

Bikes and hikes

2007-09-06T21:27:00.000-05:00

Today we rented bikes and toured a couple of the many carriage roads that lace the island. These broken-stone roads were designed and constructed in the early 1900's by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who later bequeathed them to the government with the stipulation that automobiles never be allowed to use them. They are intersected by several lovely stone bridges and cover nearly 50 miles. The Friends of Acadia have done a great job in recent years restoring the paths to their original condition so that now, walkers, bikers and horseback riders can enjoy the pristine forest and lakes without any motorized distractions.

We picked up our bikes in Bar Harbor and got on a neat bicycle shuttle bus that took us to the beginning of the Eagle Lake carriage road. We spent the rest of the morning riding around the lake - almost 6 miles altogether, and then taking another road up to and around the smaller Witch Hole Pond. We passed a picturesque beaver lodge and rode up some pretty long hills where I had to get off and walk, but mr. lo managed to keep going, albeit slowly. It was great fun and wonderful being able to ride so far in the peaceful woods.

After the ride, the shuttle was there to take us back to Bar Harbor where we returned the bikes and had lunch at Stewman's Lobster Pound, right on the harbor where we could watch the boats come and go, and then browsed for a while in some of the shops.

We decided that was enough of "city" life, so we lit out to find a lighthouse (no pun intended [maybe]). The Bass Harbor Light, found at the bottom of a long, steep flight of wooden stairs over outcroppings of pink granite on the water's edge, fit the bill perfectly.

Then it was off to hike the Wonderland Trail which opened up out of thick forest onto a small secluded - and utterly deserted - rocky beach. By now we were both thinking, "We could live here".
More photos are on Flickr.

Driving the Park Loop Road

2007-09-05T22:26:00.000-05:00

Today began at Visitors Center at the entrance of Acadia National Park. We watched the introductory film, gathered up a bunch of maps and started our drive over the Loop Road that circles the park.

Our first stop provided the first of what would be a series of spectacular views - this one of Frenchman's Bay. There were two enormous cruise ships in port today - the Explorer of the Seas and the Norwegian Spirit. We could see the little tenders shuttling the passengers into Bar Harbor and back to the ships. We have couldn't asked for more perfect weather. The foliage is just beginning to show some color and the air is crisp and just a little bit cool.

We drove up to the summit of Cadillac Mountain, at 1530 feet the highest point on the U.S. Atlantic seaboard, where we had more spectacular views of inland lakes, off-shore islands and the brilliant blue sea. It was cold and windy up there, but we walked out as far as we could on the path to take in the panoramic views.

Coming off the mountain, we stopped to hike up to Bubble Rock and then took a break for lunch, tea and popovers at the Jordan Pond House.

We strolled through the Wild Gardens of Acadia near the Abbey Museum, which had already closed for the day, before taking a final short hike down the Overlook trail where we shamelessly used our binoculars to spy on someone's luxurious summer home out on Schooner Head.

We stopped to check out Thunder Hole, which was silent today, and to walk on Sand Beach as the sun descended toward the ocean. We have spent this entire day traversing this one 27-mile road, just basking in the fresh air and stunning land- and seascapes.

Once back "home" in Southwest Harbor, we decided to try out Eat a Pita for dinner. This funky place had a great menu and a wonderful Pinot Gris. There'll be no problem falling asleep tonight!

See more photos on Flickr.

Down East

2007-09-04T23:57:00.000-05:00

We spent the day meandering up the New Hampshire and Maine coasts via Route 1. After a few stops to admire the scenery, a few wrong turns, and lunch in Yarmouth at the Muddy Rudder (a disappointment since the last time we were there), we have arrived in Southwest Harbor on the "quiet side" of Mt. Desert Island. (Bar Harbor, on the eastern side, is the largest and busiest village on the island.)

Thanks to our handy AAA tour book, we were able to call ahead and find a B&B with a vacancy and are pleased with our accommodations at the Clark Point Inn. Our host Honorio recommended the Dry Dock Cafe for dinner. It was a short walk from the B&B to the village where we relaxed and had a lovely meal. Aside from lobster, blueberries are the most ubiquitous food on the menues around here, so I had to finish off my meal with warm blueberry crisp and ice cream, which I shared with mr. lo, and even then we weren't able to finish it. Tomorrow we'll explore Acadia!

Heading North

2007-08-27T15:03:00.000-05:00

After a quiet summer at home, mr.lo and I will be heading north in the Jeep next week to check out Acadia National Park and the surrounding area. Look for photos here after we get back. I'm not sure well be able to find Internet access too readily, so I'm going to take a deep breath and leave my laptop at home (I think). It won't be easy, particularly since, according to the How Addicted to Blogging Are You? quiz:

67%

How about you??