Landing in Orlando!

I love palm trees. They must be my favourite tree. So tall, and then you have that tuft at the top, they are awesome. When I was younger, my family took a trip to Florida. We all loaded into our van and drove straight for about a day and a half. In the winter, the change in location is even more apparent as around the North Carolina mark the snow really thins out. You start seeing signs of spring, even in December. Then, around Georgia, you start seeing the palm trees mixed in with the evergreens. Then in Florida, the palms just take over. I love them!

So anyways, the reason why we went to Orlando was that J had a work conference in November 2009. He flew down there on Wednesday, I met him on Friday. On Saturday he had to work, so I spent most of the day by the hotel pool. There are so many hotels in Kissimmee, a twin city to Orlando. Most of them are very affordable too because of the competition, so if you're ok with a non-luxury stay then go for a Holiday Inn or something similar. After tanning, swimming, doing a tanning/sleeping combo, I met J for dinner. We went to a local steakhouse with his coworkers and had a great steak. Then we walked along Old Town Kissimmee, a sort of amusement park, but less rides and more old-time shoppes. The atmosphere was great!

Sunday morning, bright and early, we went to have breakfast in the hotel lobby and found the breakfast room full of people all eating before catching the free shuttles to Disneyworld. We hopped on the shuttle, excited out of our minds. Yes, we are adults, but we love this kind of stuff!!!

Having only a few days to vacation, we had only decided to do Magic Kingdom and then Universal Studios. The shuttle dropped us off at Epcot Centre, and from there we caught the Disney monorail to Magic Kingdom.

We got off the monorail, then caught the ferry. It was amazing to see the Disneyworld resort hotels and how extravagant they were. There were parts of the monorail that went right through them! Then, off in the distance, we could see the Cindarella Castle!!!

After landing on shore, we made our way through the gates and entered the Magic Kingdom! There were people everywhere, kids were already hyperactive, there was so much energy. What to do first! There were about 7 different areas of the park, so we started at Tomorrowland...however, Space Mountain was temporarily closed, so we had to move on to....Splash Mountain!!!!

It was November and dark and dreary in Ottawa. However, in Florida it was hot and humid and sunny. The perfect setting for Splash Mountain. Most of the ride is chillaxed, you're in a cool cave floating on water and then it all goes dark. Then weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, down the mointain you go, and splashhhhhhhhhh! What a ride!

Next was Thunder Mountain. After a 90 minute wait (ugh, all the twists and turns where you think you're at the end and then no, another twist and turn!), we got onto a train and zoomed through the ride.

We did the Teacup ride with the Mad Hatter, we finally got to ride Space Mountain, and we saw the Disneyworld parade.

As the sun went down and all the broken down kids went home (please note: around 2 pm, all the kids seemed to spontaneously combust and start crying. Not a pleasant picture, but totally expected!), the Cinderella Castle gradually lit up until it truly was a sparkly fairy tale Castle. Gorgeous!

Exhausted, we caught the shuttle back to our hotel and promptly fell asleep.

Day two, we woke up and beat the crowd to the breakfast room and caught our shuttle to Universal Studios. We entered the gate and went straight into movieland!

One of the first things we did was line up in the Shrek 4D show lineup....but right next to that was the Rip Ride Rocket, a rollercoaster that starts by going straight up, and then straight down. Roller coasters make me nervous, and I had never been on one that went upside down, but I know that J really wanted to go on it. I worked up the courage and we quickly stepped out of the Shrek line. If I didn't go right then, I would have probably talked myself out of it.

We finally made it to the front of the line and with my heart pounding, I got into the car. The car started to move...and I immediately shut my eyes. I had my eyes closed for the whole ride! You might think it was a waste, but I experienced as much as my brain would allow, so I don't really feel like I missed out on anything. Most of all, J got to go on the ride and I know that if I hadn't gone, he wouldn't have gone either. And although I may not have been visually stimulated, I had chosen to listen to "Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer, so at least I got to listen to a song. The funniest thing was that after, as we were walking through the park, I noticed a part where the rollercoaster went through a building and I was so surprised! I had no idea!

Next up was Twister. I remember doing this 'ride' when I was younger, but it was just as good now that I'm older. Exciting effects!

After that we followed the sounds of the screaming people to the Jaws ride. We took the obligatory photo and went on the ride. What a shark! We're gonna need a bigger boat! (- Hooper, Jaws)

We had lunch and then kept walking. We got to Krustyland which had the Simpsons ride. When we got into our car, there was a person that had gotten dizzy from the 3d/Imax effects, so word of advice, this ride is not for those that get carsick.

After our fun day at Universal Studios, we caught a cab that took us to Medieval Times, Kissimmee. Now I've already mentioned the MT in Toronto, so this wasn't much different....the castle just looked a bit different. More Castle-like, if you will.

It was so much fun cheering for the evil Green Knight, but again, I didn't get a flower. Maybe the third time's the charm?

All the trips we've taken were so much fun, J is the perfect travelling buddy. Another word of advice is to not let other people annoy you too much. In a crowded place like Disneyworld, we could have easily gotten worked up over the noise and the lack of personal space, but we just made sure we held hands (so that we didn't lose each other), and take a breather every once in a while.

Our next trip isn't a weekend trip at all. We'll be flying to Rome in about 2 weeks time, and then we make our way to Pompeii, Florence, Venice, Prague and Munich. No more blog entries until we get back, but I have a special travel journal that we got before our wedding, so I will be taking lots of notes. Until next time...

Quick! Off to New Brunswick!

As I've mentioned before, J's family (my now in-laws) are from New Brunswick (NB). They are Acadian. The original French Canadians! The food is a bit different, the way of life out there is a bit more relaxed....basically, it's a very nice place to be. When we have a bit longer to spend out East, we will drive. The roads are long and straight. In fact, they are so long and straight that the speed limit is 110 km/hr! Lately though, we've been flying with Air Canada or Porter air, as they have direct flights to Moncton and an hour and 15 minute flight is a bit shorter than a 12 hour drive, n'est-ce pas?

I love, love, love New Brunswick and look forward to going there so much that I'm so sad when we have to leave. But as I've also already mentioned, I'm married to the province now, so we'll always go back! I love seeing the ocean and thinking about how Europe is basically the next piece of land you'll hit (other than Prince Edward Island (PEI)).

Unfortunately, I'm allergic to shell-fish, so I can't really enjoy one of the main food-sources out East other than a fish n' chip meal. Luckily, I can still appreciate the fact that sea-food is so "New Brunswick-ish", that I've learned to love it anyways.....just the look of it, not the taste of it! On our first trip to NB in 2006, we stopped in Shediac. There is this huge lobster statue....finally, a lobster I'm not allergic to!
As this is a post combining quite a few trips to NB, I will name a few of the places that we've gone. In 2006, we decided to take a mini trip to PEI and camp for one night in Stanhope Provincial Park. You can book a campsite on the Parks Canada website, and the park is right near the beach. The sunsets were beautiful!

In 2007, we took a side trip to Nova Scotia to see Halifax and Peggy's Cove. In Halifax, we took a self-guided tour of the Citadel and at Peggy's Cove we saw the Swissair Flight 111 Memorial. The Citadel is an old fortress upon a hill in Halifax. It over looks the ocean, has loads of canons, and stood as a principle naval station for Canada.

The Flight 111 Memorial is just down the road from Peggy's Cove with it's trademark white and red lighthouse.

The Memorial is basically two rocks, facing the ocean, with the names of all those perished on the flight back in September 1998. It's a very simple memorial, but worth seeing as it's almost as if the rocks are facing the ocean, looking at the very spot where the tragedy happened and thinking about the lives that were lost.

As much as these side trips were enlightening, the part of our trips to NB I love the most is just being in Cap-Pele with my inlaws. The small village is so inviting and quiet, and you can see PEI from their backdoor! The rock formations are amazing, having been eroded to these reddish, lumpy towers. Really, my description doesn't do them justice!

One thing J and I always do when we arrive in Cap-Pele is to go for a walk near the wharf. It's right behind a fish-plant and this time around, as we were there the August long weekend, there were tons of fishing boats floating around. The next two pictures are from back in May 2009, just before fishing season starts.

New Brunswick, and the rest of the Maritimes, is such a peaceful place for me. It reminds me a bit of the Czech Republic and of my family over there that also lives in a small village. Everyone seems to know each other, and it's almost as if you can take a deep breath and finally relax from being in the rat-race. I realize that whenever we are there we are on vacation, but it just seems like life is at a slower pace out there. This time, we were only out there for a long weekend, but it relaxed me enough that I didn't dread heading off the work on Monday (or at least, I didn't dread it as much as usual). I would recommend to anyone looking to find a peaceful place to go, to relax and unwind, that they go out East. You may even find your own Rachel Lynde (reference to Anne of Green Gables)!