Monday, August 28, 2017

2 weeks in paradise. A trip to end all trips.

My last blog post was a year ago. Wow, blogging is as hot as ever..........

Two weeks ago we embarked on our annual Assategue Md. camping trip. Sunday to the following Monday. Its always, always a terrific time. This year was no exception there.

Hooking up and towing the Silver Nugget to Big Blue has made the trip to Md. so smooth and simple that its not worth mentioning much.

The ferry itself was different this time because we had some new travelers with us this time. The dogs came with us! i hope they enjoyed it because they ain't coming again. More on that later.

Ferry lands in Delaware and we cruise on over to Assateague. Its such a nice, casual hour and 15 minute drive from the ferry to the campsite. We have so many fun little local markers on the way.
One of the earliest ones is the Copps Seafood stand that HAD a big top hatted shrimp on the side of the road. Sadly that Shrimp is now gone. RIP giant top hatted shrimp.

Weird little gas stations, A chicken processing plant, a camp ground, golf course, The Grog Shoppe, and JD Shuckers are part of the roadside list.

Anyway we get to our campsite earlier than usual because as the kids get older its easier to get them up and moving, and theres a lot less to pack.

I have been going to Assateague almost every year since 1993 and I love every second of it, every time. This year is no different yet there was some new situations going on that but a wrinkle in the stay.

The whole point of camping at Assateague is the beach. We love the beach there. Its big and quiet, you're basically on your own. Lucia likes wearing the blow up arm swimmies. I know they don't do much but they make her feel better. Apparently they are no longer allowed. A life guard drove up on a quad and explained that they are no longer allowed because they are not coast guard approved. I said OK, blowing him off basically and he sped away. The dude came by 2 more times to mention the swimmies. Here's the thing about each time, Lucia was not in the water at any time. She puts them on and keeps them on all day even when she was playing in the sand. The second time he came by i was in the bathroom. The third time though I was there, and I finally had enough and stormed over to the little shit.

His last visit we were packing up to go shower. Breaking down the shade tent, folding everything up etc. etc. He goes by on the quad, sees Lucia and turns around. He pulls up next to us and begins to be really condescending "You know i've been here a few times already about........" I had enough, I dropped what I was doing and stormed over to him. I looked at him and asked why he was  bothering us when were clearly packing up and that she, Lucia, who at this point was upset that she was going to get in trouble wasn't anywhere near the water so what is the actual problem. I finally got him to clearly explain the situation, and he even said " I'm not trying to make a big deal out of this." I then stopped him yet again showed him that we are leaving and that he's been by 3 times! He then left, as did we for the night. I didn't see that kid the rest of the stay.

The sun was out, the water was warm, the waves were a lot of fun! That explains just about every day this trip. Gorgeous as far as I can remember. Theres always a lot of people watching and this year was  pretty good. One guy stands out. He parked his RV at the spot next to the beach entrance yet I never saw him on the beach once, but the reason he stood out was that he looked like Ben Franklin. A Ben Franklin who wore jeans and no shirt and sat by his camper all week.

Whoa Horses! Horses are a famous tenant at Assateague. They roam the lands as they please. this year they were very quiet. We had one very impressive appearance though. Since we had the dogs we had dog food. The food was in a container. This container


As you can see you have to unscrew the lid to get the food. These dog gone horses figured it out! Impressive.

Speaking of the dogs they hated the beach. Thunder hated every second of it and poor Happy since he's blind did not like the crashing of the waves. So that was a one and done type thing.

Usually when we are at the beach all i think about is the beach. I use it as a time to decompress, and plan for the rest of the year. This year though there was a surprise.

Sunday arrived as it does and usually its our last beach day. This year though we got the girls up, told them we have to leave today and as they were protesting we made them close their eyes as we put shirts on them and gave them something to hold. Thira being the wily 10 year old knew something was up. Lucia was a still somewhat confused 7 year old. Eyes open and boom secret Disney trip is revealed! The girls are confused, and very excited.

Now we pack everything up, quickly, with haste, and all possible dispatch. We have some stops before we drive to WDW. 1st stop we go to another campground to drop the Airstream off for a week.  Once we check in we take the camper to a lot drop it off and schedule them to deliver it to a spot we will stay over the following Saturday night. Second stop is the kennel. The dogs were in and out of the kennel al week so they knew where to go. They would also be picked up the following Saturday.

Now we were off to Disney. The plan was 9 hours of driving Sunday and then the final 4 Monday morning.

On the road again............on the road again..........

Man to avoid I95 near DC means you travel 13/113 in Virginia. Its an old highway that flows and moves but has lights and intersections so you don't get to flow through. The cool part was the Chesapeake bay Bridge/Tunnel a modern marvel of engineering. We power our way back onto 95 and head into North Carolina. I like North Cacalaka a lot but I saw a ton of Confederate flags flyin that day and a lot of Confederate flags purposefully flown higher than the American flag.

South Carolina! South of the Border! What a dump. A fun dump but a dump none the less. It was very hot and the entire place is like a giant parking lot with shitty gimmicks to but. We walked around for a bit then refueled and moved on. The people may move slow in the south but they drive fast. 70 mph is the speed limit down there but  75 is the true minimum. We flew through the rest of S.C.  and into Georgia. I really like 95 in S.C. and Georgia. The roads are overall flat, smooth, and nearly empty. The scenery is fun to watch especially the Spanish moss on the trees in Georgia. Fun Fact. Ray Charles' "Georgia on my Mind" came on the radio as we were about 30 miles outside of the state line.

Savannah GA. our stop for the night. We ate at a Cracker Barrel. People love Cracker Barrel, I find them adequate. Never a bad meal but nothing super exciting in my opinion.

We head to the Marriott to get a room and uh oh no rooms! Why you ask? The stupid eclipse was the next day and parts of South Carolina and Georgia were ground zero for it so most of the hotels were full. We found a room at a Best Western that was the definition of average. We get in, get washed up, and crash out. The next morning Danielle and I found ourselves in the middle of a sink hole. The bed we were in was as soft as a slice of Wonder Bread what a hunk of garbage. We got up, got out went to an IHOP which again people like but I think is below average and then drove our asses to Walt Disney World!

Man the south is hot during the summer. if you plan on visiting WDW at any time in the future try going in the late fall through the spring.

DISNEY DAY 1!!!
We did this trip on a whim, as a secret so it was planned on the cheap. We stayed at the Pop Century resort one of the lower level hotels at Disney. It's still very nice, clean, Disneyfied al that jazz.

We checked in online so all we did was activate our stuff and head to Animal Kingdom!!!!!
Did I mention it was hot there. Good god it was brutal. A wet, hot heat that beat us up but good.
We headed to our first fast pass the Khali River rapids.

How on earth do you ride a water ride and barely get wet. We were hoping to get soaked and help cool us off, nada, nothing, zip, zilch. Magic Kingdom has my favorite coaster at Disney Expedition Everest we rode that next. Usually Animal Kingdom is kinda quiet but since the addition  of Pandora the place is mobbed. Speaking of the movie Avatar sucked in my opinion but Panora world is amazing. and its a different place in the day and at night. We did the slow boat tour ride. Fun, the animatronics were so good i was blown away by them. The other ride had a 2 hour wait so we skipped it.

DAY 2!!!!!!! Epcot.

Meh, in order of my favorite parks its M.K. 1, A.K and H.S. 2, and Epcot last.
Yes you can drink in the park whoop dee doo. Again with the heat and the park is so damn big getting from the weird sci-fi place to the worlds takes forever, but you can drink there! shut up.
Spaceship earth is a ridiculous idea in the big ball but tis air conditioned so we did it a lot. Soarin is a ride i never got to do until this trip. Such a great ride! The Frozen ride that replaced the horrid maelstrom is another air conditioned ride so i loved it. It has a nice little story and the girls who work there are from Norway so they are all blond and beautiful.

We ate a sushi dinner at he restaurant in japan and stayed for the fireworks show Illuminations. It was about something, I have no idea.

Day 3 MAGIC KINGDOM!!!!!!!

I love the Magic Kingdom Main st. USA is so much fun to walk down. So it was another bright, sunny, hot day, shocking I know but they had their halloween stuff up already. Weird to see fall colors with such heat.
I love every single second, and thing in the magic kingdom, EXCEPT Tomorrow Land. That shit looked dated when it was first built. Now that Disney owns Disney Tomorrow Land really looks sad. Space Mountain though was a blast. We fast passed it and it was crowded so we were led to a track I don't remember riding before. It was a ton of fun. What was the most fun at M.K. this trip though Splash Mountain. Danielle hates the big drop on water flumes, as does Lucia which makes sense since she's 7. Thira and I LOVE IT! Fast passed it and had a great time.

The Haunted mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean are classics that we love to ride as much as possible. We stayed at the Magic Kingdom for about 12 hours and loved every second of it. We ate at a restaurant that was themed after the great Jungle Cruise ride. The food was terrific as was every dining experience at WDW.

Classic must do rides at Magic Kingdom are Haunted Mansion, and Pirates as already stated. The enchanted Tiki room is a must do as well. Splash, and Space Mountain were top notch this trip. We all got our pictures taken so that we transform into ghosts and ghouls like a Haunted mansion specter.

Day 4! Hollywood Studios, or as it should be called Star Wars land. Star Wars has taken over 75% of the place which I get and don't mind. I do love the old Hollywood skits they do. They used to do more now its pulled back some but we did watch some very cool Star Wars skits up and done the park. Speaking of Star Wars, Star Tours is a must do and didn't disappoint.

The park itself is only half its normal size as they are building the new Star Wars land and the new Toy Story land so in a year or so it'll be amazing.

We let Thira ride the Tower of Terror. She rode solo because Danielle and I hate it so much.

We stuck around until 9pm for the Star Wars themed fireworks. So damn incredible. Tons of video projections, lasers, fireworks, pyro, etc. etc, Very well done.

We headed back to the hotel nice and early to prepare for our final day.

DAY 5! Last day

I was tossing and turning a lot because I did not want to drive back home Friday afternoon. SO I woke up and had a brainstorm AUTOTRAIN! We booked a one way passage from Florida back to Virginia, close to where the dogs and camper are waiting for us. With this resolved we headed back to the Magic Kingdom for a quick bonus round.

We did 4 rides, Big Thunder, Haunted, Pirates, and of course Splash MT. got a ton of snacks and headed back to the car in less than 2 hours quite a feat.

A few notes about where we stayed. POP Century was very nice but since it was one of the "cheaper" hotels some of our neighbors were a little....colorful.

One nice couple in their 50s got on the elevator with us, The fella has a suitcase with him. His best gal had her travel mug in one hand and a half empty gallon bottle of Gallo white wine in the other.

Wed. morning I ran to the truck to look for something and I passed a women sitting outside her room smoking a joint. Now i'm no prude, and I think weed should be legal everywhere but her whole scene was just dirty. We pulled in Thursday night to a couple on Rascal Scooters huddled in a dark corner in the parking lot smoking ciggy butts. A weird thing to come upon.

Next up AUTOTRAIN and one more night on the beach!