Road Trip Family

Favorite Rides

As I have been thinking about wild rides this week, I’ve been thinking about all of the amusement park visits I have been on, all the rides I have ridden, all the places I have been. (Sounds a bit Dr. Seuss-like doesn’t it?)

It got me to thinking – of all the rides I have been on, what do I consider to be the wildest and craziest to date?

I think of all the wild rides, the craziest to date has got to be the Superman roller coaster at Six Flags New England.

When I rode this ride a number of years ago, it was still called Superman: Man of Steel. In reading some articles about it, I’ve learned that the name has since changed to Bizarro, the name of a lesser-known villain of Superman’s. The theme park has redesigned the story around the coaster (something about Bizarro taking over the Superman ride, but Superman prevailing in the end).

From what I can tell, though, despite a different color and some extra “bling”, the ride itself still seems to be the same.

What makes this ride stand out is that the first hill you ascend is 208 feet high, but the drop on the other side is 221 feet! This sounds impossible, but it works, because not only do you descend quickly - getting up to speeds around 75 mph – at the bottom of the drop you go directly into a foggy tunnel. And when you fly back up out of the tunnel on the other side, it’s like you are Superman!

The seats don’t have those over the shoulder harnesses. It’s just a simple lap belt with a U-shaped safety bar across your lap. So, when you hit that first descent, you can literally feel yourself lift slightly out of the seat.

Yes, this is that ride where my scream was still at the top of the ride while I was already at the tunnel!!

So, how about the rest of the Road Trip Family? For Sweet Pea, she loved Hollywood Studio’s Tower of Terror in Disney World, but I think that ride has recently been topped by her discovery of the thrills with riding the Comet at Six Flags Great Escape.

For Peanut, nothing has topped the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster at Disney World’s Hollywood Studios. By far, her favorite ride to date. Although, Space Mountain is a close second!

For Pumpkin, well, I think she is still having nightmares about that kiddie coaster ride at PEI (see Monday’s blog). For her, the ferris wheel at PEI is just her speed.

And as for My Chandler –he enjoys the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, too – as long as he hasn’t had anything to eat or drink!

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PEI Potatoes!

If you drive around Prince Edward Island’s countryside you’ll see a familiar site – acres and acres of farmland. We couldn't get over how much of the island was devoted to farms and farming. In fact, with all of the farms and with all of the coastline ripe for fishing, it's wasn't really a surprise to read that the food industry is one of the biggest contributors to Prince Edward Island's economy.

And for the week that we were there, we helped contribute to their economy through food!

One of the foods that the island is perhaps most famous for is the seafood that is caught around the island, especially the mussels. I can't get over the number of people who told us to try the mussels when we got to the island!

What's really neat is that because you are on an island with tons of coastline, you can probably be sure that the fresh-cooked seafood meal that you get at a restaurant was probably caught not far from where you are dining!

The food we enjoyed the most while in PEI, though, was the PEI potato! The first time we tried them was when we picked up a bag at a local farm stand. These delicious potatoes practically melted in our mouths! And it didn’t matter how we fixed them – mashed, baked, made into French fries. They always tasted heavenly.

I’m not sure why these were any different than other potatoes.

Perhaps it’s because they were freshly picked on the farm when we bought them. Perhaps it has something to do with the rich, sandy red soil that they are grown in. Perhaps it has something to do with the temperatures on the island or even the fact that they are grown on an island.

Whatever the case may be, these potatoes made for delicious meals every day!

Even when we had to eat a few cold fries in the car because I panicked at the last minute thinking we wouldn’t be able to take them back over the border!

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Singing About Red Roads

I was a bit skeptical when I first heard that someone had turned the classic Lucy Maude Montgomery book into a musical production. But, in every tourist publication that I read as we planned our trip to PEI there was always mention of this musical and that it was a must-see event. And after hearing an endorsement from my parents who had seen it a number of years ago, I decided that our family should check it out.

 

The musical is presented every summer at the Confederation Arts Centre in Charlottetown and is labeled the longest-running musical in Canada. We weren’t sure how the younger ones would do with a late night out or with this production, but we decided that this was based on a story that we were immersing ourselves in during our week at PEI so we should all see it. I was able to procure some decent seats pretty close to the stage, which made it feel like we were a part of the action at times. 

For just over 2 hours, we were thoroughly entertained as Anne sang about the red roads in PEI, about trying ice cream for the first time and about her competition to get better grades than Gilbert Blythe. Everyone from My Chandler to Pumpkin were enthralled. My Chandler had never read the story, so for him it gave him a taste of what the story was about. As for the rest of us, we all loved the music, the dances, the acting… and for Sweet Pea, she enjoyed the actor who played Gilbert!

As we were walking out of the theater, we discovered that we could purchase a CD of the music. That CD has turned into the most used souvenir we’ve ever bought. Even now, almost a year later, the girls will ask us to plug the CD in on drives.

Followed quickly by Pumpkin asking if we can listen to track number 13.

Followed by a sing-along with everyone in the car – except My Chandler, who just shakes his head and chuckles!

 

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Car Stories

“Every Toyota has a story? What’s yours?”

Have you seen these commercials where they start mentioning people’s names and something big that happened while they owned a certain Toyota car? There are all kinds of stories. A baby was born in one, someone went on a big road trip in another. Someone went on their first date in one. Someone learned to drive in one.

I find this type of advertising very interesting. The kind of advertising that tries to sell by playing at people’s heartstrings. (Which always seems to work for me when it comes to Hallmark commercials!) The kind of advertising where they emphasize how it will make you feel when you buy their product. If you buy one of our cars, you’ll have these same experiences, too.

Toyota even advertises a call to action in their commercials, inviting owners to share their own stories about their Toyota. You can actually read other stories here. http://www.toyota.com/owners/web/pages/community/autobiography

Interesting bit of marketing for a car. I wonder what they would do if someone wrote about their car and it wasn't a Toyota!

Movie Lines

Do you or members of your family have a favorite line from a song or movie or book or television show that seems to always make an appearance on your road trips?

If your family is as quirky as mine, you wouldn’t find this question peculiar at all!

Whenever we are on one of our trips, there are a couple of those quotes that tend to make it into our conversation.

The kids like the one we started shortly after a trip to Walt Disney World where we had experienced the Peter Pan ride. We were buckling up in the car and I turned to the back and said, “All right, everyone. Here we go! Off to Neverland!” To which someone in the back piped up with “Wait, we already did that.” Ever since then, it has become a ritual to start a ride with this verbal exchange.

There have been times when someone in our family has been leaving for a road trip, a day trip, or camp and one of us just has to say “Have fun storming the castle”. (Princess Bride, anyone?)

And who hasn’t at one point blurted out “We have clearance, Clarence. Roger, Roger. What’s the vector, Victor?” (Airplane)

But, perhaps my favorite quote is something I love to say when we get lost, turned around, or stuck in a round-a-bout.

“Look, kids, Big Ben! Parliament!”

Recognize the movie?

From the Man Behind the Mouse



"It's kind of fun to do the impossible."   -- Walter Elias Disney

On Broadway!

It’s been kind of quiet on the Road Trip blog these last few weeks. Mainly, it’s because I’ve found myself in the middle of what feels like a tornado.

You see, it’s theater season for the Road Trip family.

For some reason – and if you know my family, it’s not an unknown reason – my children have been bitten with a bug. The acting bug. 

It started out small. A preschool nursery rhyme play here. A church pageant there.

But, then grade school happened and – with the help of a local children’s theater company – the plays became bigger and more involved.

 And, like any organization with not a lot of money to spare for the arts, there’s a lot of donations and volunteering from the parents.

And once they discover you can sew a – fairly – straight line, well, let’s just say that my little sewing machine has had quite the workout over the years.

Despite all of the tiring hours and weeks of rehearsals and meetings and organizing, it is nice to see my kids be interested in something that I have had an interest in for years. A love that I definitely inherited from my parents. A love of being on the stage.

And a love of watching plays.

I’ve been reminiscing over these past few weeks about my theater experiences. I've thought back to my earliest memory of theater. I was about 4 or 5 and I saw a dress rehearsal for a local production of "Oklahoma" that my dad was in. I remember being enthralled with Ado Annie as she sang right in front of me about not being a girl who can't say no. I wanted to be up on that stage, too, singing my heart out!

My earliest experience on a stage that I can remember is playing Old Mother Hubbard in my Kindergarten play. I dove into the role with relish, immersing myself into the role of a woman with a dog who found her cupboards were bare and so she had no bone to give to her dog. There was tenderness, there was intense drama, there was mystery!

My first big speaking role was as the ghost of a young child in "Blithe Spirit," a production that my Dad was directing. Of course it was a recording of my voice, but I brought a lot of life to that dead character!

And then there was the first time I saw a show on Broadway. I was in 8^th grade when my family went to New York to see "Big River." Everything is etched with such clarity in my mind  - from the marquis outside to our seats off to the left of the stage, to the spittle flying from Huck Finn’s Pappy’s mouth, to the cute, cute, cute actor who play Tom Sawyer.

Over the years, theater has been a big part in my life. There were usually a couple of musicals thrown into the music mix on our car trips. There were school productions where there was as much drama going on backstage as there was onstage. There were road trips to small town theaters and to big city productions. There have been local productions with hardly any sets and big traveling shows with amazingly big sets.

And now in two weeks, I’ll be able to sit back and enjoy two great productions. We’ll get to see Peanut in a slightly rewritten production of "Narnia" (complete with some familiar tunes from the 1960s). And then the following week Sweet Pea will put on her least favorite color in the world to become a Pink Lady in a very G-rated version of "Grease."

I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!

Peanut

Ten years ago, My Chandler and I took a road trip to an old feed store that had been converted into a restaurant. This restaurant had a reputation amongst the pregnant population. I had heard that there was a chicken dinner at this restaurant that, for some mysterious reason, was known to help induce labor. The restaurant actually had a list of women who had delivered within a day after having this dinner.

Being 15 months pregnant with our second child and more than ready to deliver, I was ready to try anything!

When we arrived, I was grilled by the hostess about due dates and it being okay with my doctor if I did go into labor. After reassuring her, we were seated and I ordered the chicken dinner. It was delicious.

And at 12:06 pm the next day, Peanut was born.

We like to joke with her that she must have loved that chicken dinner so much that she wanted to see what else was available to eat out in the world.

Peanut arrived with very little crying, a little wiggling and a big heart.

And an appetite.

Ten years later, she has grown into a beautiful young lady. She's creative, artistic, free-spirited, caring, emotional, loving. She's a unique individual who is just as happy playing with friends as she is playing alone. She is curious about the world, loves to snuggle, and has an effortless sense of humor.

She waltzed into our hearts 10 years ago and set up camp there.

Happy Birthday, dear Peanut!

Soar to New Heights

Disney shared this great quote and photo on their Facebook page and I just had to share it here today. Have a happy Friday!

“The very things that held you down are gonna carry you up and up and up!” - Timothy Q. Mouse

Photobook is the New Pink

I’ve been seeing photo books popping up more and more lately. I find it quite interesting the idea of a photobook. The idea that you can come home from a vacation, sort through your photos and pick out the best ones, insert into a template online and presto, instant memory book.

It’s kind of like scrapbooking the photos, but without the pretty papers and scissors and glue sticks. It takes less time than the “old-fashioned” way of scrapbooking, but there’s not all that time spent reminiscing as you look at the photos.

It’s kind of like a photo album without the physical insertion of photos and they are laid out in “artsy” designs.

And now you can find this book making option at a bunch of different sites, www.snapfish.com, or www.shutterfly.com, or www.kodakgallery.com

I haven’t tried this out, but as I look at the hundreds thousands millions of photos that I need to do something with, I am beginning to think that this might be the way to go, at least for my vacation photos.

Hmmm… am I ready to give up my tape and scissors?