travel Archives - Page 2 of 3

Jun 27, 2014

That Time We Visited Metropolis, Illinois for Superman

June 27, 2014 By Christina

It’s been awhile, hasn’t it?

Ever have those times when you have a lot going on, and your head is just full of things to say, but you have no ability to get it all out? That’s been most of June for me. The last two weeks have been so busy that whenever I found time to sit down and write, I didn’t have the mental energy to form coherent sentences.

I started the month with a horrible sore throat and cough, spending almost two weeks very sick and miserable. Strangely, no one else in the family shared in this illness, which really puzzled me. How was my immune system the only one that failed?

Luckily, I did get better just in time for Aaron’s birthday. This year, he wanted to go to the Superman Celebration weekend in Metropolis, IL for his birthday. Neither of us had ever been to this event, and he had several online friends who would be there. So I arranged to have the kids stay at Camp Grandma and we made the six hour drive to southern Illinois to find the town with the giant 15ft Superman statue in front of the county courthouse.

Things I learned on this trip:

1. The Superman Celebration event is not quite the large, international event that we thought it would be. When the main hotel was booked full for the event, we thought that this would be a HUGE event. We worried about parking and how much it would cost.

Turns out, there’s only one hotel IN the town (not counting the casino’s hotel on the river), and parking most definitely wasn’t a problem. We stayed at the other hotel about three miles outside of the town and drove in each day. No one charged for parking, and there was plenty of it available on any street. This is a small town, with a downtown area spanning only a few blocks each direction. There were empty storefronts next to small businesses trying to stay alive.

And just before you get there, the scariest bridge over the Ohio river. The road is metal grates, and it’s barely wide enough for two cars.

As for the event itself, it did have some notable celebrities as guests (Dean Cain, Billy Dee Williams), but the overall feel of the celebration was more “small town street fair” instead of what we expected. It was just as easy to buy a funnel cake or a snow cone as it was to buy a Superman t-shirt. There were few vendors from outside the area, and artist booths were located right near the BMX stunt bike show and mechanical bull.

Hi, Dean Cain!

2. Southern Illinois is a lot more southern than I would have guessed. This is the same state where Chicago is located, right? I wasn’t expecting Metropolis to feel like a small southern town, although I probably should have considering it’s just across the river from Kentucky.

And when talking to people there, Aaron and I were definitely the outsiders…I mean, beyond the costumes and all. More than once, someone would smile and say to us (in a fairly thick southern accent), “You’re not from around here, are ya? I can tell by your accent.” I never knew a Columbus, Ohio “accent” could be so distinctive, but it let the others in town know that we had traveled far to be there.

Despite being different than expectations, we still had a good time that weekend and the town was welcoming. Aaron enjoyed meeting up with friends he knew from online groups and cosplaying as various superheroes. Of course, there was a Superman everywhere you looked.

Including all varieties of Superman!

He even talked me into dressing up in costume one evening, too.

The guy in the middle makes art using spray paint – how cool is that?

Metropolis does have a couple of really interesting museums, too. One is the Superman museum, with an unheard of amount of Superman memorabilia, art, props and costumes from movies and TV shows, autographed photos, and so much more. One of the capes that Christopher Reeves used was there, along with his flying harness and wig. (I had no idea he wore a wig as Superman.) It was an amazing collection crowded into every possible corner of the small space, and I was really impressed at how many one-of-a-kind items they had on display.

I have no photos of the really cool stuff. I’m sorry to say that I was so busy looking at all of it that I forgot to take any pictures. You’ll just have to trust me that it was amazing.

The other museum (owned by the same person, I believe) is the Americana Hollywood museum. It was probably four times as large, and had memorabilia for nearly every genre movie type out there, including sci-fi, horror, westerns, superheroes and special sections for Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Tarzan, and the “classics” like Gone With the Wind and Casablanca. This museum had few original pieces from movies, but rather had a massive amount of collectibles and replicas. (Although I did see some original costumes from a few movies.) The superhero room was basically a giant tribute to all of the superhero toys – I couldn’t believe how many they had!

And a replica of Maria from the silent film, Metropolis!

It was fun, it was a little silly, and it was a nice escape from reality for a few days. I don’t know if we’ll ever go back again, but it was definitely worth going once.

Filed Under: Aaron, geek paradise, travel

May 27, 2014

Mira’s Cedar Point Birthday Extravaganza

May 27, 2014 By Christina

Today, Mira woke up as a seven year old.

SEVEN.

Wait. Wasn’t she just a curly-headed toddler not that long ago?

Last year, Mira insisted on the big party with all of her friends from school there. This year, she traded in the big party for the chance to spend two days at Cedar Point over Memorial Day weekend. We were already going up on Saturday for Blogger Day (disclosure: Cedar Point furnished our park tickets and provided lunch on Saturday), but Mira was interested in making it a two-day long trip, and willing to give up a chance at having a big party in favor of an amusement park adventure.

So, we did. We spent two days at Cedar Point, staying at the Sandcastle Suites resort on-site. Even though Cordy was firmly against the idea of riding anything other than the Tilt-o-Whirl, she agreed to come along, too, just because it was Mira’s birthday weekend.

We arrived shortly after opening on Saturday. Mira was a little disappointed that she was half an inch too short to meet the 52″ height requirement. She was still tall enough for most of the rides, which only require 48″, but it still meant the GateKeeper – quite possibly MY favorite roller coaster – was still off-limits for her.

GateKeeper over the main entrance (photo credit: Stephen Blanzaco)

Our first ride of the day was the Cedar Downs racing carousel, which at this point is a tradition for us. It’s a carousel, so it’s a gentle enough first ride of the day for Cordy, but it also goes faster than a typical carousel, and the horses in each row go back and forth as well as up and down, so there’s a winner in each row by the end of the ride.

Cordy’s many trips on Cedar Downs over the years

After our first ride, we stopped for our sponsored lunch. Cedar Point, having been tipped off by me that we were celebrating Mira’s birthday, had a little surprise for Mira.

Thank you, Bryan, for the fantastic surprise for Mira!

She was thrilled to have a chocolate Dairy Queen ice cream cake. She had asked us for cake and ice cream for her birthday, and was stunned to realize she could get both all at once.

After lunch, it was time to get back to the rides. Mira had asked her sister to ride just one roller coaster with her for her birthday. Cordy has only ever been on one, the Cedar Creek Mine Ride, and used to love it, but then last year became scared of it and refused to ride it anymore.

We still use it to track how big she’s getting.

Cordy wanted to ride the Mine Ride as quickly as possible to get her obligation to her sister over with, but then something amazing happened. We all rode it…and Cordy loved it. Then asked to ride it again with her sister.

second and third rows (photo credit: Stephen Blanzaco)

We then went to Camp Snoopy to allow the kids some time to ride the Tilt-a-Whirl a few times. (That ride never gets old.) Right next to Camp Snoopy is the redesigned Midway area, where we couldn’t pass up the Monster and the new Pipe Scream.

At that point, Mira was ready for her next roller coaster. She went for another favorite of hers (and mine): the Iron Dragon. Cordy had never been on this suspended coaster before, but we talked her into it. And? She loved it! Score! Two for two!

Cordy’s smiling at the end of the ride! (photo credit: Stephen Blanzaco)

At this point it was getting really warm, so Aaron convinced Mira to go on Thunder Canyon to cool off. It’s a water ride where you will get wet on the ride. Mira was the unlucky one on their raft to pass under every waterfall. She was drenched.

While they enjoyed having water dumped on them, Cordy and I made friends with the petting zoo animals in Frontiertown. Cordy met her hair-twin, an alpaca she named Andrew.

It was late in the day at that point. Before we could have dinner, though, the kids insisted we visit the dinosaurs in Dinosaurs Alive. It’s a cool area to learn about lots of dinosaurs, with full-size dinosaurs that move and roar and generally look menacing. All of us love reading about the dinosaurs. But we also love being goofy around them, too.

What do you mean don’t turn around? (photo credit: Stephen Blanzaco)

Mira finished the night with the Corkscrew roller coaster, and then we called it a night.

The next morning, though, we were up bright and early to take advantage of the one hour early entry for guests staying at the Cedar Point resorts. Our first stop: GateKeeper. (Well, for those of us who could ride it.) It’s definitely my favorite – it’s a winged coaster, and probably the smoothest roller coaster in existence.

Meanwhile, Cordy and Mira went on the Iron Dragon again…all by themselves. I’ll admit that freaked me out a little, because I’m not ready to consider them standing in lines and riding rides without us, but they were fine. They ended up riding it twice together, because Aaron and I had another roller coaster to conquer: Millennium Force.

Over 300 feet tall, 93 miles per hour top speed, and voted the best steel coaster. It’s intense. I’ll just leave it at that.

At that point, Mira had yet to ride any new roller coasters. Millennium Force was a little outside of her comfort zone, so we offered to take her on the Mean Streak, Cedar Point’s big wooden roller coaster. I was sure she’d be scared of it, but apparently turning seven years old gives you a lot of courage. As soon as it was over, her first words were, “Can we ride it again?” (Cordy decided she was done with coasters for this trip and refused to ride. She drove me around on the antique cars while Aaron and Mira took a second turn on the Mean Streak.)

After two trips on the Mean Streak, we then suggested Magnum XL-200. It’s only 200 feet tall instead of the 300 of Millennium Force, and not quite as fast. Mira trusted our opinion of it, and we stood in line again. I was concerned Mira was going to change her mind on this one. It’s tall. But she decided to be brave and go through with it.

As we were going up the first hill, I could see the worry on her face. I held her hand and told her it would be fun. And then by the end of the ride: “That was awesome! Can we ride it again?” We did ride it again, and even tried to be cheesy for the ride camera.

We forgot to tell Mira to give a thumbs up. She was having too much fun, anyway.

Before we left Cedar Point on Sunday, we bought Mira her first Ride Warrior t-shirt. She had earned it. As we started the drive home, I asked her what she thought of our trip to Cedar Point as her birthday present. “Best. Birthday. Ever!” And then she promptly fell asleep, holding tight to her pink polar bear and her newly purchased stuffed blue dinosaur.

She may be a ride warrior, but she’s still only seven. Happy birthday, Mira!

Thank you to Cedar Point for the park tickets and lunch, and for helping to arrange for Mira’s surprise cake. Also, thanks to Wiccy and Steve for joining us on the trip, helping with the kids, and taking photos. Mira’s summer plans include growing half an inch so she can ride the GateKeeper when we’re back later this year!

Filed Under: family time, local fun, Mira, travel

Apr 21, 2014

Highlights from Disney Social Media Moms Celebration 2014

April 21, 2014 By Christina

Holy smokes, I don’t even know where to begin in telling you all about the past few weeks!

It’s hard to believe it’s been a week since I was in California for the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration. I’ve been to Walt Disney World several times, but had never been to Disneyland before this. I knew it was smaller, and the original – 1955 – but other than knowing a few rides that both locations have in common, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

The Man and the Mouse that started it all.

This was also the first time the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration was held at Disneyland instead of Walt Disney World, so it worked out well that this was my first invite to the conference. It was ALL new to me!

The question I heard the most from friends and family when I told them I had been invited was, “What is it?” Well, it’s technically a conference. But it’s a called a “celebration” instead of a “conference” partially because the purpose is to celebrate all things Disney and to inform and inspire the attendees in the process.

Disney succeeded on all counts.

I’ve been a Disney fan for a long, long time. The first film I saw in the theater was a Disney film. (Lady and the Tramp) My mom saved up and took me to Walt Disney World when I was nine. Our Christmas tree has always had a strong Disney theme to it. And while we couldn’t have a Disney wedding, Aaron and I did visit the Magic Kingdom on our honeymoon. We had dinner that night in the castle, too, vowing to come back on our tenth anniversary with our kids, which we did last year.

At WDW for our honeymoon (with Bride & Groom ears), March, 2003

The only downside of this trip to California was that I wasn’t able to arrange to bring Aaron or the kids with me. When I received the invite, we had already paid for our non-refundable tickets for Walt Disney World, and I couldn’t justify the flights or more time out of school for the kids.

I’ve promised them that if I get the chance again, they’ll be with me for certain. However, I didn’t go alone. My brother-in-law and his wife were happy to join me for the trip, which resulted in plenty of fun photo opportunities.

Especially once you know where the cameras are!

Disneyland was fantastic, and I came back with a notebook full of stories and quotes and my heart filled with magic, creativity, and accomplishment. Beyond experiencing the parks, I heard about new additions to Disney Parks, new movies coming soon, inspiring speeches on tapping into and finding your creativity, examples of those who found their success and how they did it, and new initiatives to promote healthy living, literacy, and conservation.

Disney’s legendary guest services were on display and proved why other companies come to them for lessons on how to make customers for life. I made new blog friends, saw old friends, and ended my stay with a two mile run through Disneyland and California Adventures that was exhilarating and gave me the feeling that anything is possible.

There’s SO MUCH more I have to share about what I learned while at Disneyland. But it’s too much for a single post. You’ll see more from me soon on Disney Junior’s new Give a Book, Get a Book program with First Book and Reading Rainbow, more on why I’m beyond excited for the new movie Maleficent, and more about the lessons I learned from the inspirational speakers who took the time to share their lessons and stories. Plus more about Disneyland and how it compares to Walt Disney World, too.

In the meantime, I used iMovie for the first time to put together a photo slideshow of some of the highlights of the trip. Enjoy!

“Always, as you travel, assimilate the sounds and sights of your world.” – Walt Disney

Disclosure: I was invited to attend the #DisneySMMoms Celebration. I paid my own conference and travel fees and received gifts during the conference from conference sponsors. All opinions, experiences and thoughts are my own.

Filed Under: Sponsored-AF, travel

Mar 21, 2014

Slowly Saving for Disney World

March 21, 2014 By Christina

Last year, we took the kids to Walt Disney World for their first trip. It was not a cheap vacation, but one we had budgeted for over the span of half a year. At the time, we didn’t plan on visiting the home of the Mouse for another few years.

And then I had the opportunity to go to a one-day conference this year, held AT Walt Disney World. With the conference offering a discounted deal on room and park tickets for several days around the conference, we decided to make this another family trip. After all, Anna and Elsa from Frozen are now at Epcot, and Cordy and Mira would do just about anything to get to meet them.

The hardest part in preparing for the trip has been bracing ourselves for the expenses again. But I think we’ll be ready with most of our trip paid for before we’re even there, and the kids already have their spending money ready to go. How? Gift cards. It’s how we budgeted and saved for our last trip, and the method we’re using for this trip, too.

I knew about the conference back in the fall, and we quickly decided to make it a family vacation. At that point, each time I went to the grocery, I bought a $25 or $50 Disney gift card if we could afford it. I usually go to the grocery about three or four times a month, so that resulted in $75-200 we’ve been saving each month towards the trip. (Plus a lot of savings on gas thanks to fuel point bonuses on buying gift cards from our grocery!) We had to be sneaky about it at first, since we didn’t tell the girls we were going back to Disney until Christmas morning.

We also asked family for Disney gift cards as gifts during the holiday season. My family already does a lot of gift card exchanging at Christmas, so they were happy to give us gift cards towards our trip. The kids received smaller gifts with Disney gift cards taped to the back of them.

But Cordy and Mira have also been working towards earning their own spending money, too. We use a token system in place of an allowance in our family. Daily chores, good effort in school, and going above and beyond at home earn the girls “doubloons” (we bought a bag of plastic gold coins from a costume store) which can be traded for treats, extra privileges, or can be used like cash to purchase things they want. I prefer this system over a cash allowance since they can trade them in for non-cash rewards like staying up late, or a trip to the park when Aaron and I may not feel like going.

Since we told the kids about going back to Disney, we’ve encouraged them to save their doubloons to trade for Disney gift cards. The doubloons are roughly equal to $0.50, so every 50 earns them a $25 gift card. They’ve worked hard over the last three months to earn as many as possible and have added two or three gift cards to their stash. The cards they’ve earned or received as gifts are their own to spend as they see fit: Aaron and I will cover all meals and some snacks, and if we choose to buy them a souvenir it comes from our money, but anything else they want at Disney World is their responsibility.

I really like the gift card method of saving for a trip. While we also have a vacation savings account that has a very small amount of money transferred to each month, the gift cards are a more tangible reminder of what we’re saving towards, and the girls are so proud to hold the gift cards that they’ve earned, knowing they have their own cards to use at Walt Disney World for whatever they want. Whenever we purchase a new one, we pull them all out so the kids can see the progress we’ve all made towards the trip.

If you used this method, you could set your own schedule for when you buy a gift card. Maybe it’s every paycheck, or once a month, or when you cash in a change jar. (You can buy “add any amount” gift cards with a minimum $10 starting balance, too.) The great thing about Disney gift cards is that they can be used in the parks, at the Disney Store (local or online), and can be used for Disney travel, too. So if you’re a family who likes Disney, they won’t go to waste if you happen to have too many.

For me, it’s less painful to save in $25 and $50 increments, and exciting to see how fast it all adds up. I also don’t feel like a failure if we’re short on money and can’t buy a gift card during one shopping visit, since I know it’s likely we’ll buy a gift card on the next grocery trip.

Best of all? It’ll be such a relief to not have a huge credit card bill after our trip.

Filed Under: money, travel

Sep 17, 2013

My BloggyCon13 and Cedar Point Whirlwind Weekend

September 17, 2013 By Christina

I’m still recovering from a weekend so busy that it felt like five days instead of two and a half. I spent the weekend in Sandusky at Cedar Point for BloggyCon. It was my first time attending this conference, but certainly not my first trip to Cedar Point. I couldn’t pass up the chance to multi-task by expanding my blogging knowledge while having some fun with the family all in the same weekend.

Cordy decided not to come with us. She’s becoming increasingly anxious about roller coasters, not even wanting to be in the same location as one. I didn’t want to push the issue and further her anxiety, so when she quietly asked if she could stay home, I asked my mom if she could stay with her for the weekend. My mom agreed, and Cordy got to spend some time with grandma while Aaron, Mira and I drove north as soon as school was out on Friday.

This was also the opening weekend of HalloWeekends at Cedar Point. They go above and beyond to decorate every inch of the park with ghosts, skeletons, and plenty of pumpkins. There are also several haunted house attractions, too, although we didn’t get the chance to go to any except the kids’ not-so-scary haunted house.

This guy is HUGE and wakes up about every two minutes.

We arrived on Friday night around 7:30, quickly checked into our room at Hotel Breakers, then made our way to the boardwalk to pick up my registration materials for BloggyCon and then enter the park for some evening fun. The sun was just going down, and it was hard not to stop and admire the gorgeous views of Lake Erie, even if it was windy and cold.

Mira took a nap in the car on the way up, and was prepared to stay up late, since the park was open until midnight. We brought two friends with us, and one of them was happy to watch Mira while we went on a few coasters she was too small for. The park wasn’t too crowded, and the haunted houses were attracting a lot of the crowd, meaning we were able to walk right on several roller coasters.

I finally got to ride the Gatekeeper, the new winged coaster. It’s now my favorite ride ever. If you ever get the chance, you must try this coaster – the moments of weightlessness, the smooth turns and flips, and the experience of sitting out away from the track are amazing. I preferred the left wing, but it’s worth trying both sides.

We decided to call it a night around 11:30, realizing that BloggyCon sessions would begin at 9am the next morning. Waking up on Saturday wasn’t too easy, but a stunning view of the sun reflecting off the lake helped wake me up.

The BloggyCon sessions were interesting. I attended a sessions on building and engaging your community, Pinterest, affiliate marketing, finding sponsorship, and SEO. Honda was one of the sponsors, and they gave a great talk on preparing the perfect pitch when reaching out to brands for sponsorship. I took a lot of notes in that session.

There were several topics discussed that I already knew most of the details on. I’ve been blogging since 2005, so I’d hope by now that I have the basics under control! But even old bloggers can learn new tricks, and be reminded of practices they should be doing, and I did pick up a lot of new ideas in the SEO session.

The problem for me, as always, is finding the time to implement the things I need to do. I can’t claim blogging is boring by any means – as soon as I think I have it down, someone suggests a better way to do things, and then it’s back to square one.

Don’t think it was all note-taking and blog business, though. Honda provided everyone with a teddy bear and challenged us to take photos of the bear around Cedar Point. If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you probably saw several silly photos with my bear. I had far too much fun with it.

Hang on, friends! I’ll rescue you with this claw device!

Why is everyone running?

Beautiful day on Lake Erie.

Honda also showed off their new 2014 Odyssey. The big draw was the built-in vacuum cleaner. Forget my wish for a flying car – give me a minivan with a vacuum:

An in-car vacuum!

After the morning and early afternoon sessions, it was time to relax and enjoy Cedar Point. I met up with Aaron, Mira, and our friends for more fun in the park. Since it was HalloWeekends, Mira dressed in her new Halloween costume and entered the kids’ costume contest.

Meet Robin.

She didn’t win, but she had fun. Then it was off to trick-or-treat with the dinosaurs in Dinosaurs Alive! The dinosaurs even dressed up for us:

I’m pretty!

I’m prettier – I’m a pretty princess!

Then it was time for more rides. Mira is our adventure junkie and loves roller coasters, as long as they’re not too tall. She rode the Corkscrew, the Cedar Creek Mine Ride, and the Iron Dragon several times.

And a few less scary rides.

We went on as many rides as our stomachs could handle, closing the park down with a last ride on the Raptor just before midnight. Mira, though, had finally given in to her exhaustion, and fell asleep on the bench while waiting for us.

Aaron had to carry her back to our hotel room

I didn’t want to leave on Sunday. I love Cedar Point, and I love the entire Lake Erie region. I could easily spend a week out by the lake, exploring the sights on the shores and islands.

As we drove away, Mira sighed in a sleepy haze, “I can’t wait to go back again.”

Ditto, kid.