Road Trip to Florida

Ok so I have been here for nearly 2 weeks. I have been a huge slacker and not updated this thing. I'll try to do as much as I can remember and get into the groove of updating more often. Mum, Sarah, David and I left home on Thursday July 23. We drove for a few hours then stayed the night in a hotel. On Friday we didn't really have anything planned but as we were driving decided to stop at the Louisville Slugger museum. They have been making baseball bats for professional players for years. It was fun to see and we all got a mini bat as a souvenir. My favourite part was that they had some signed bats inside the museum. One was of Geena Davis who was in my favourite movie, A League of Their Own. And the other was from Julie Andrews, who needs no description.

<-- Julie Andrews <-- Geena Davis

After we left the museum we drove for a bit and David wanted to see some Bourbon distillery or something so we got off the highway to go towards the Jim Beam distillery. It was closed so he just took some pictures of the Jim Beam statue.

The next day (Saturday) we got up bright and early to drive to Lynchburg, Tennessee to go to the Jack Daniels distillery. It was a really neat tour. One thing they showed us was the big vats that the whiskey is actually distilled in to make it more pure. Our tour guide told us to put our faces near the top of the vat and then he moved the lid up and down to let us smell it. I thought it was really gross, but David enjoyed it. I can't even describe how strong the smell was. I wouldn't be surprised if you could get drunk off of it. After the tour we walked to downtown Lynchburg where we went to lunch a Miss Mary Bobo's Boarding House. It was a family style meal with 8 or so people at each table in separate dining rooms. We ate in the basement which was neat to see. The food was good but definitely NOT vegetarian friendly. I thought I would be safe with the veggies but apparently they like to put some kind of bacon fat in everything. The mac and cheese was really good though (and hopefully without hidden ingredients) Even the dessert had lard in it. I feel sorry for people in the south who was to be vegetarian. It is not easy! We then got back in the car and headed towards Chattanooga.

We were going to go see some waterfall thing in Chattanooga but at our lunch the people at our table said not to. So we looked in the CAA book and decided to go to the aquarium. I'm glad we did because it was the nicest aquarium I have ever seen. It was separated into 2 buildings. One for the rivers and one for the seas. It wasn't just fish. They had other animals found in and near the water. So, the rivers also had otters and the seas had penguins and butterflies. Also the set up of the whole aquarium was really neat. You would go all the way to the top floor then slowly go down while seeing all of the exhibits. If anyone is ever near Chattanooga then I think you should go to the aquarium.

The next day (Sunday) we went to Atlanta to see the home of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his neighbourhood. It wasn't overly exciting, but it was still good to see. After we finished in Atlanta we drove about an hour away to go on a zip line tour!!! This was the thing I was most looking forward to. But as the time got closer I got more and more nervous. It was a little different from what I had thought it was going to be. There were about 20 people going at a time so there was a lot of sitting and waiting. But it was really fun to do and I would do it again.

Here are videos of Sarah, Mum and David on their last zip line.

<-- Sarah<--Mum<-- David

After we finished the zip line we went to Plains Georgia where Jimmy Carter is from. Mum wanted to go there because they have the second largest peanut there. It took ages to go there (thanks to the wonderful GPS) and it wasn't nearly as impressive as I thought it was going to be. But we drove past where Jimmy Carter lives and I got a picture of the secret service hut. woot woot!!! While driving to our hotel that night we found some fresh Georgia peaches. Yum! and some boiled peanuts that I thought tasted like peas.

Monday all we had planned was to drive to Florida. But I think the best part of our trip (note the sarcasm) was that as we pulled out of the hotel Mum saw a sign about some peanut something or other. (I can't think of the word). So of course we went down the road that this was supposed to be on. We drove for a little but didn't see anything so decided to turn around. Ironically when we turned onto a road we saw a big peanut on a tall base. That was the largest peanut, I feel so lucky to have seen both the largest and second largest peanuts. I know that everyone is jealous. We then drove for a little bit longer. When we got to Florida we stopped at the welcome station and I had my first cup of fresh Florida orange juice.

We then drove to our hotel in Disney World checked in and did some random things like swimming and walking around Downtown Disney. We were up bright and early Tuesday morning to go do an airboat tour! Mum and I searched long and hard to decide on what company to go with. I'm happy with the decision we made. Most of the tours fit around 15-20 people on a boat but the one with went with had a max of 6 and it was only us on the boat. It was a really good tour. We saw tons of birds and quite a few gators. Even a gator nest!!

Our first gator that our captain thinks must have been between 10

and 11 feet!

A cute baby! On a little break

Mama guarding her nest.

Our captain also had a little bit of fun out on the water. It was going really fast so I missed the first part of his little trick.

Then after our air boat tour (which was longer than the 2 hours we were told about!) we went back to the hotel where I got my things organized and checked into Vista Way! I have more pictures of our trip on facebook, but I don't want to upload them all. If you are interested go ahead and have a look at them. I promise I will update about Disney soon.

One week!!

Oh my gosh, I start in one week!! AHHH!

Last week we had a little family good bye party thing. Sarah made me a cake for it:

It is Spaceship Earth with a mountie hat. I love it!

Anyway, we leave on Thursday and my suitcase is half packed. I feel so unprepared, but all I have to do is pack everything so it's not that bad. All of my non-clothing stuff is ready. It will all be ok, but I am very nervous to get there and start. This is such a huge thing that I have wanted to do forever. I am a little worried that I have made it seem amazing in my head and it won't turn out like that at all. I really doubt it though. I am off to continue packing and will be in Florida next time I post!!!

1 Year Ago!!

That's right. 1 year ago today I sent in my application to work at Walt Disney World and I now have 20 days until I start!!! I am getting really nervous but also excited. I'm slowly getting things done. I paid my housing fee the other day, I have my American passport (which is really pretty and I show everyone), I just bought insurance, and I bought a new computer to take with me. I just need to get some American money, figure out how to set up a payment plan for my student loan and ummm... pack. There is a huge pile of junk in mum's room already. Since we are driving I can take down more than I would if I flew. So I have some hangers, my super comfy matress cover (I'm assuming the beds are going to be like residence beds and very uncomfortabel), sheets, pillows, blanket (not douvet, that is one of the things I am going to buy in Florida since mine has no feathers left in it), and lots of food that I had left over from school or than mum has picked up for me. I'm hoping that my first shopping trip in Florida will be only the douvet and groceries. I know it will be more but I will be optimistic. The one thing that I have not even started is packing clothes. I hate trying to figure out what I will need/want for an entire year. I know I will buy lots so I need to think about that too. My room right now is a disaster zone so I really need to go through stuff but I have been procrastinating that for awhile.

We have booked all of our hotels for the drive down to Florida and figured out all of the things we are going to do. One place we are stopping is at the Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchburg Tennessee. We will do the tour there then eat at a really popular restaurant that is apparantly amazing. Then we will go see Ruby Falls in Chattanooga which is a waterfall that is underground or something like that. The next day we will go to Atlanta Georgia to see the house and other important parts where Martin Luther King Jr. lived and played and such. Then we will be going on a 2-hour zip line thing just outside of Altanta! I am so excited for that. After the zip line we are going to go along a small Georiga highway to the second biggest peanut. (I'm not sure where the biggest is). It is really tacky looking but should be funny. Then we are heading straight down to Orlando! We will get in on the Monday and I check in on the Tuesday. We may go on an airboat tour on Monday afternoon, but we are still deciding.

So that is the upcoming roadtrip, we went on one up to Thunder Bay at the end of May. I had my graduation on May 30 and a wedding on June 6 so we drove a fun way. Normally the drive to Thunder Bay is 16 hours done over 2 days, but we did it in 5 days. I'd post pictures, but it is so much easier to post a link to facebook. After the wedding I did the long drive home again.

Since I have been home mum had her birthday and Sarah made her a Mary Poppins cake:



Then last weekend I went and visited Shanna and Karl. Shanna and I went to Boldt Castle. It was my third time going there so it was really neat to see how things have come along since the last time I visited in 2000 or 20001 (I can't remember). Now all I have to look forward to is Florida! Hopefully once I am there I will actually update this thing. No promises though, I'd rather spend time at the parks :)

Drive home

I had a good drive home. It was bright and clear the whole drive and I didn't see any deer or moose! I haven't started cleaning out my room, but I need to get started soon. I managed to get an appointment at the American Consulate for Thursday. I need to make sure I have all of the paperwork sorted out, and a book because I wouldn't be surprised if it takes hours. It just sucks that it is supposed to rain on Thursday. I hope not because I would prefer to walk than take the subway and I don't want to walk around in the rain while trying to find the entrance that I need to go in.

As I drove home I took a few pictures. I will do the drive one more time but I figured I should stop this time when the weather was nice. I stopped at White River which is where Winnie the Pooh is originally from:



The plaque that is in front of the statue telling the story of Winnie the Pooh.



The statue and me in front of it

US Passport!

So not too much has happened since the 19th. Last Tuesday (April 28th) was my very last day of placement! I was very excited. It is just hard to believe that after 5 years of university I am done school forever, and am officially a teacher! The Tuesday was also my 3 month mark until Disney!! So I now have less than 3 months to wait. It is getting so close.

About a week ago Kristen (from Yummy Jobs, the people who hired me) and I were e-mailing back and forth and playing phone tag. She had asked if I have an American Passport since Disney had started my Visa and were wondering. For people who don't know, I was born in the states and lived there til I was 12 so I have dual citizenship with Canada. Kristen finally got through to me on my cell one day and she said that because of my citizenship I do not need a Visa to work in the states. BUT in order to enter the country for a year I need to use an american passport. I'm not sure why and it is a bit of a pain, but completly worth it. So I will have to make a trip to the American Embassy, and pay lots of money to get this passport. It is kind of annoying because the visa is just sent to Canadians about a month before they leave for the states and they just get it stamped at customs. But it is all worth it to work at Disney World!

In more recent news, I leave Thunder Bay bright and early tomorrow morning! I am very excited to be leaving and going home (though I will be back in less than a month for grad and a wedding). It is just a huge pain to pack up 5 years worth of junk to take home. Then once I'm home I'm going to have to gutt my room there. It is going to be a busy three months, I hope they go by quickly!

It's.............

That's right, in 100 days I will be a Walt Disney World Cast Member! It can't come soon enough.

In other news, I have 7 days of placement left. Finally! And two weeks in Thunder Bay. I've been trying to pack but it is hard, because some of the stuff I still need. But my room is starting to look emptier and my pile of junk to take home is getting bigger. I hope it all fits. If not I will just have to get rid of more junk. Also I finally got around to taking pictures off of my camera so I can finally post this:



For my art class we had to take we had the choice of making a mask, making something with clay, or making something in copper. I had done both masking and clay before so I wanted to try the copper. I thought forever what I wanted to do but kept going back to putting a quote on it. I asked the teacher and she said I could, so I practiced and finally felt ready to do my real one. It was hard because I had to put the writing backwards to have it pop out on the front. But I am really happy with how it turned out. I decided I wanted to frame it and wanted to buy the frame before leaving Thunder Bay so it doesn't get squished. The only thing I could find that could fit it was a pretty big shadow box. But it looks really good against the black of the frame. And I decided that after Disney I will put other things in the box. Like my nametag, maybe some pictures and whatever else I get that would look good in it. I have nothing else to really talk about right now and should really figure out what I'm going to teach this week.

4 months!

Yay it is getting so close! I now have 4 months until I am in Walt Disney World. I can't wait, winter is dragging on forever. We had a big ice storm on Monday night and sadly school was not cancelled so I still had placement. I know I'm almost done so I'm not in the mood to be at placement. It sucks but I have 20 days left in the classroom. Not much else to write about except that I have 4 months!