New Orleans - The Zoo

Yesterday was hotel switching day. Since I came down early I was on the hook for my hotel until my work event started. I wouldn't recommend the other hotel but the new one is much nicer. It's a bit off the beaten path relative to the French Quarter but it's where our meetings are so it's very convenient. I don't know the whole history but it's a very old building with original wooden floors and a brick facade. Not a huge pool but everything is well maintained and a welcome relief from the heat.

I wasn't expecting to be able to check in right away since it had been booked solid over the weekend but I guess during the week it empties out quickly as I was able check in just after lunch. This gave me an opportunity to drop off my bags and head to the local zoo. Not sure why but when I go to big cities I like to go to the zoo. As per usual I took transit which was pretty easy, starting with a couple block walk to a bus that went straight there. By the end of the line I was the only one on the bus. I guess going to the zoo in the heat of the afternoon isn't a local pastime.

This zoo has a very long history, starting in the early 1900's. I knew it was older so I was expecting it to be a bit run down, but they've obviously done a lot of work recently. All the exhibits looked fairly new and there were whole sections of the zoo off limits for renovations. It even had a water park in the middle of it. Not huge but it had a nice play area for the kids, a pool and a small lazy river. It was 30+ and muggy so a dip in the pool would have felt very good but I already feel a bit creepy walking around the zoo without kids so I stayed out of the pool.

Some of the highlights included the chubby jaguars who like many of the animals were apparently very well fed. None of them moved very much so I don't think most of the animals were super fit. There was also the white alligators. They've apparently been out tours all over the world since they were born in the early 90's. I also enjoyed the very old Live Oaks. Live Oaks don't lose their leaves and are typically covered in Spanish moss. A quintessential southern looking tree. I'd recommend the zoo if anyone is visiting New Orleans and has an afternoon to spare.

New Orleans - Pralines and Beignets

I was fortunate enough to get an opportunity to go to New Orleans for work this week. We're meeting with other North American utilities regarding their use of drafting and design software for electric substations. (Alright, enough of the boring work talk that no one understands anyways.) The event starts Tuesday but I came down on Saturday so I could check out the sites. I'm rather enjoying the opportunity to check out a foreign city on my own. Not that I don't enjoy doing the same with my family, but you can see a lot more when there is just you.

I arrived late on Saturday night so I was ready to go first thing on Sunday. I tried to get a hotel room near the French Quarter but everything was either booked or terribly expensive. I managed to get something okay in Matairie which is the first suburb of New Orleans. I knew transit would be cheap but I hadn't checked out the schedule for Sunday's. Turns out it's not great. I had to wait about 40 minutes for a bus from near my hotel which would get me to New Orleans. So far my observation of Transit here is that it shows up whenever it feels like it. Not on schedule at all.

I had planned on doing some research last night on where to go but the internet connection in the hotel was terrible yesterday and I gave up. This meant I was wandering blind. I knew I wanted to check out at least one cemetery and it turned out that there were some very nice ones at the transfer point for switching between Matairie and New Orleans. The mausoleums ranged from the mid 1800's right up until today and were in various conditions. I suspect that once a family moves on or can't afford to, they stop maintaining a particular location.

After the cemetery I hopped on one of the electric trolleys down Canal Street. I've previously been against ground level light rail in Surrey in favor of Sky Train, however this system was effective and simple. The stops weren't elaborate and weren't slowed by traffic and without being elevated there were a lot more stops. It might just be a good option. The trolley I was on was quite old with wooden seats. I really think we should use more wood for circumstances like this. It's fairly light-weight, easy to maintain and gets better with age. No more plastic.

I got off at Bourbon Street and wandered around the French Quarter. The atmosphere was quite good. If you heard music it was often live, even during the early afternoon. There are lot's of places to eat and I checked out the French Market which is really a huge flea market with lot's of different souvenirs. My only issue for the day was the first half of Bourbon Street. The smell of alcohol and the impacts of too much to drink by people from the night before was quite over powering. Maybe it's nicer after a good fresh rain.

I stopped for a quick street show with some very athletic performers doing a gymnastics type routine on solid concrete. It finished with a leap over 9 people landing on nothing more than a tick towel. They were quite good with the crowd, asking specifically for $10 or $20 dollars before they would do their last trick. They probably took in a grand for the four of them. They claim to have been doing it for 25 years. Quite impressive. The rest of my walk included Pralines at the French Market and Beignet's at Cafe Du Monde. Lot's of good food here.

I finished off the day with a trip to the World War II museum. It claims to be the #1 Museum in New Orleans, the #4 Museum in the US and #11 in the world and to be honest it really was quite well done. A bit of an American Centric view of the war but that's to be expected. The exhibits were well built, informative and included some very well preserved artifacts. I only had a few hours but it would take you at least a full day to see and read everything. I was pleased to see they also had a Victory Garden, though of course most people were passing it by.

Party for the Planet

On Saturday we had a special day planned. It was the Party for the Planet celebration at Surrey City Hall. This is Surrey's Earth Day event and is the largest such event in BC. I believe this was the first time it was being held at the new City hall which is quite an impressive building. The old building wasn't terrible, however it was in the middle of nowhere. The land might have been cheap but it was a terrible location. The new City Hall is at Surrey Central and there have been a lot of improvements in what was previously one of the less desirable areas of town.

I should mention that the day wasn't just special because it was the Earth Day celebration. It was special because Callie got to meet the Mayor. One of her recent class projects was for a city wide poster contest. Each poster had to represent a super hero for the planet. Callie's was Green Girl and Bottle Boy. Callie always makes a good effort to make it look as if she hates her little brother but secretly we know she likes having him as a side kick. The poster was not only the best in her class but it turns out it was the best of all grade four posters submitted in the City.

There was one winner for each grade level. The prizes were awarded at the opening ceremonies and personally presented by the Mayor. Things started out with their poster returned to them in a frame and were followed by a presentation on stage of a super hero cape themed to their poster. Callie's was a green cape with the initials GG on it. (As I right this I suddenly realize those initials are already taken by Great Grandma. Must be a connection there.) Callie was all smiles as the cape was tied on with everyone watching. I'm always surprised at how well she performs in front of large audiences. Not shy at all.

After the opening ceremonies, the Mayor and the kids were joined by Curious George as they planted a ceremonial Monkey Tree. After some pictures they headed back to the VIP area to get one last gift. Callie's was a few books and some seeds to plant her own flowers. The VIP area was great with free drinks, appetizers and desserts. We all had a cake pop which was delicious. (I may have had two.) We're very proud of Callie for putting such great though into her poster. It was a memorable day.

Disney World - Character Day

This was our last full day at Disney World and we spent it at the Magck Kingdom. All trip we've been having breakfast in our room and it was either an instant breakfast or granola bar which was always enough to sustain us until lunch time. This morning though we were scheduled to go to "The Chrystal Palace" for a character breakfast. It wasn't until 9:00a so we went on a few rides that were simple but typically had horrendous line ups in the afternoon. This included the Arial Ride and the Pooh Bear ride. (A must ride for Callie.) We also stopped at Arial's Grotto for a quick picture.

"The Chrystal Palace" is a buffet style breakfast where characters come to your table. It wasn't nearly as expensive as Goofy's Kitchen in Disneyland but that may be because it was a simpler breakfast with fewer characters. There was no Breakfast Sunday and it was just the four Pooh characters, Pooh Bear, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore. The highlight for Callie was Pooh Bear and he cradled her Pooh Bear the same way he has every time we've seen him. I think she's seen him about a half dozen times now.

The Eeyore and Piglet visits were uneventful, though I did find Piglet a bit creepy. He seemed too pink. The Tigger visit however was a bit more exciting. For some of the costumes, the characters look out of their mouths and probably have pretty good vision. These characters however seem to look out their eyes somehow. You can tell because when they sign things, they have to hold it up in the air above their nose. As Tigger was leaving, Carter dropped one of his little stuffed animals and went to grab it. Tigger almost stepped right on top of him which resulted in a very animated apology.

We also had a Fast Pass for Elsa and Anna from Frozen. It's a good thing too because almost as soon as they opened in the morning there was almost a two hour wait. Elsa is apparently one of the oldest princesses so her real life character looked about 30 and with her make up and smile was quite frightening. Anna on the other hand was much more approachable. She was obviously played by someone in her 20's but she looked and acted very young. You could tell the kids liked her better. Carter even got in this picture where he avoid Elsa completely.

Since we had a big breakfast we skipped lunch though I did stop for a candied apple. They are very elaborate and not exactly easy to eat so I had to find a secluded corner near Main Street as I dropped bits of chocolate everywhere. My other job was to get in line for Pluto. We had tried earlier in the day but he "had to go for a biscuit" before we got in line. It was incredibly hot so the kids had gone for a lemonade and came back to switch off with me. Pluto was very excited to see Carter's mini Pluto and even tried to steal him. Carter enjoyed the visit very much.

After the Pluto visit we hopped on the Monorail to head to Epcot. We hadn't been on the Monorail and didn't have to take it but I wanted to try it out and by going to Epcot we made it part of the way back to our hotel and could take the bus the rest of the way. By this time it was getting later in the afternoon and the heat was starting to get to the kids. As you can see by Callie's photo she was getting tired. At one point we had to switch trains and there was no convincing her that it had to be done. At one point we explained that when they designed the train it was just to make it more difficult for her.

We decided we would stay late at the park on our last day so this meant we had to take a break at the hotel in the afternoon. The pool area for our new hotel is quite nice. It's set up as an old Spanish fort with canons and the tours are stairs up to water slides. Carter has one slide that I think he's gone on 30 times.  Since it was St. Patrick's Day there were a number of events for the kids including kids Bingo. Callie was very close to getting a blackout but missed out by a square or two.

We went back to the park around 6:30p with plans to check out the fireworks. We had dinner in Tomorrow land and went on a whirl wind tour of rides. Surprisingly most tings had very short line ups and we managed to get on Stitch, Jungle Cruise, a pirate treasure hunt, the Barnstormer, Aladdin and Buzz Light Year. Buzz Light year was our first breakdown with it stopping about three times when we were in line and another couple times when we were on it. In the end I think they shut down the ride because the last half went pretty fast and we couldn't use the lasers.

We also went on "It's A Small World" which was way too long and I was a bit disappointed that I didn't see Canada, though there was a moose at one point that may have represented us. We saw part of the fireworks from the Jungle Cruise and the rest from land and finished up with the Electric Parade. Disney World was a very fun family vacation though I'm not sure we would travel so far again just to do the Disney theme parks. We head home on Wednesday through Chicago.

Disney World - I Don't Like Tax

The kids don't have jobs but they do have many family members that gave them money for recent birthday's and Christmas. They had saved it up for our trip and were slowly spending it on whatever they wanted. (It is their money after all.) Where Carter has been mostly an impulse buyer, Callie has been much more deliberate with her purchases. As her funds were dwindling she was discussing her final purchases and their costs and the fact that things are always a little bit more than what the price says. Callie's exact words were "I don't like tax." Be sure to say it with a grumpy kids voice as you read it.

Today was our second day at the Animal Kingdom. Our first day had been a bit rushed as Callie wasn't feeling well and we were looking forward to getting to some of the areas that we had missed on the first day. We had a few scheduled events but as we walked in we noticed the line up for the pictures with Minnie and Mickey was almost empty since it didn't open for another 10 minutes. We decided to stop for a quick picture. I like that they take the professional pictures but also use your own camera for a couple. It means we get character shots but don't have to shell out for them.

One item that we hadn't done the previous day was stop and check out the animals. One of the trails was called the "Maharajah Jungle Trek" and consisted of tigers, bats and komodo dragons. As soon as you got started there was a booth with reusable maps which I handed to Carter. He likes to be the leader and promptly informed us of the most efficient route to the tigers. (There is really only one route.) But he lead us down it excellently.

Our first scheduled trip was on the Kilimanjaro Safari. We had gone the first day and really enjoyed it. Our guide this time was actually from Africa and was able to talk the whole time. Not in an annoying way but in an informative way peppered with a few dry jokes. Just outside the start of the ride was a habitat for some 'lesser apes'. They looked and acted like monkeys but since they had no tails it apparently made them apes. They reminded me of the monkeys in a barrel game. They chased each other around the bamboo scaffolding playing tag. Once one was caught the other would take over.

After the safari we went on the "Pagani Forest Exploration Trail." Our guide had informed us that some baby gorillas had just been born. We were able to see the mother but the babies were hiding which is too bad. I'm sure baby gorillas are pretty cute. We were able to see the daddy gorilla. For some reason he was wearing his food bowl as a hat. I'm not sure why but he refused to look at us the whole time. I'm sure he was saying "Go ahead. Make fun of my hat. See what happens."

Just before lunch we all went on the Kali River rapids which is like a roller coaster on a raft. Callie wasn't too sure about it but we convinced her to go on. You get very wet so Kerry and the kids went on first while I held the bag. Kerry managed to grab a rain coat from someone coming off the ride for Callie. She ended up loving the ride and the fact that she stayed relatively dry while Kerry and Carter got soaked was part of that. Our last ride was Expedition Everest. We let Kerry go first and based on how much she loved it we knew it wasn't a ride the rest of us would enjoy.

We said goodbye to Animal Kingdom and went straight to Blizzard Beach. It had been closed up until the 15th. It's a winter themed water park and based on some YouTube videos we'd watched looked like a lot of fun. One of the things that Carter was looking forward to was being able to walk on ice bergs. Floating pieces of foam tethered to the bottom covered by a big net. He was just a little short so it wasn't easy for him. I think he fell off about a half dozen times but managed to finish it, laughing the whole way.

The rest of Blizzard Beach was a lot of fun. I liked the lazy river in Typhoon Lagoon better since it was deeper and wider but some of the water slides in Blizzard Beach were very well done. There were some little tube ones that Carter loved but also some toboggan themed ones that even had a lift for your toboggan so you didn't have to carry it up. We weren't sure what it would be like and Kerry and Carter went first. It was a lot faster than we expected and pretty deep in the end. Carter hasn't had many swimming lessons but he learned to dog paddle quickly when he came off the end of that ride.

We finished the day off with some mini-golf which was located just outside the water park. Our park tickets included one free other event for each day we purchased. This included either the water parks or mini-golf. I think we did all four options. Today's was Christmas themed with an 18 hole winter course and an 18 hole summer course. We managed to have a much tamer round this time with no one getting too mad when they missed a shot. Apparently our family is very competitive when it comes to mini-golf. Tomorrow is the last day of a great trip.

Disney World - Epcot Take Two

Our day started early since we wanted to get to Epcot as soon as it opened. We managed to just catch the bus from the hotel so we ended up at the front gates with plenty of time. This was our second day at Epcot so we had a good idea of what we wanted to do. We still had the map from the first day so we crossed off what we'd already seen and marked the items that we still wanted to see. This included "Soarin" which is a 4D experience where you are suspended over the screen. Callie loves this so even though we had a Fast Pass for it later in the day we decided to try to get on as soon as we got to the park.

When we had tried this last time it was already a 60 minute wait but this time we got there with only a 10 minute wait time which was perfect. Now that we've done "Soarin Over Canada" this one doesn't seem quite as good. There are so many people that you can see feet above you and the sides of the screen when you are on the edge. Callie still loves it though. I think her favourite part is when we fly over the orange fields and they spray an orange scent at you. Very realistic.

Immediately after the ride we ran into our first set of characters with a reasonable line. Chip and Dale were there with only about 6 groups in front of us. Carter was initially very apprehensive but was okay by the time we got to the front of the line. After the characters we headed over to "The Seas" which is a ride with Nemo. The ride is okay but the highlight is the "Mine, Mine, Mine" birds outside. Every few minutes they start talking and there are always at least a few people nearby that join in. I think Kerry is planning on getting a coffee mug with them on it.

As soon as you get off the Nemo ride there is an aquarium that is quite well stocked considering it's just part of a theme park. We got to see feeding time at the Manatee exhibit. On today's menu they got full heads of Romaine lettuce. I would have expected it to be slightly past due from the restaurant, however it looked quite fresh. I think he got about a dozen heads while we were there. There was also a fun looking fish sitting on top of the aerator for the tank. It made it look like he was smoking a pipe.

Our next scheduled ride was Mission Space and we had some free time so we stopped for lunch and then headed to Club Cool which is a coke exhibit. Lot's of coke merchandise and some tasting machines where you can sample Coke products that are sold around the world. All were sweet but some were definitely tastier than others. We also checked out "Universe of  Energy". When we asked for directions the person said "it was a good napping ride". Right up my alley and didn't disappoint. It's probably a good one for schools but was definitely kind of slow at 37 minutes.

It was now time for "Mission Space". We had fast passes but when we got the ride we discovered it had two options. Green and Orange. Green was apparently quite tame and Orange had more spinning. Green had no wait and Orange had a wait so we decided we would all go on Green and if Carter liked it he would go back on Orange with Kerry. It wasn't too bad but Carter decided it was enough for him. Callie went on too though she wasn't happy about it until about half way through when she realized it wasn't going to do anything crazy.

We had dinner scheduled for 4:15p so we wandered over to the country pavilions. The first one we stopped at was Mexico. Callie wanted to go on the boat ride which toured various aspects of Disney's version of Mexican culture. When we got off we saw the line for Donald was quite short though we almost got unlucky when they had to switch Donald's right before we got to the front. The new Donald had more jump in his step and when he approached Carter he grabbed Blueosaurus. Carter thought that was the funniest thing on earth. We got a pretty good family photo.

After Mexico we headed to Norway because Callie wanted to do the "Agent P World Showcase Adventure" clue hunt again. This time it ended with discovering a sword behind the water fall in the picture on the right. When you got the clue right it actually stopped the waterfall so you could see it. Quite amazing how they've incorporated real world events into the hand held game unit. We also took some time to colour a Perry on a stick. Once you were done you could wander around and get it stamped at each country. Colouring kept the kids busy for at least 30 minutes.

We finished our day at Epcot at the Coral Reef restaurant. This was definitely the most expensive of the restaurants. Food was pretty good and they had some great desserts. We said goodbye to Epcot since we wouldn't be back this trip unless we decide to wander by via the monorail. We headed back to the hotel around 7:00p and we all headed to the pool. Carter loves the water slide and shoots off the end into deep water but with his life jacket bobs right back up. We also got to see the fireworks from the pool before heading back to the room for the night.

Disney World - Transition Day

Today was supposed to be our day off but it turned out to be very busy. We all slept in until about 8:00a and the kids and Kerry headed over to the Cars pool for one more dip. I took the time to tour some areas of the hotel that we hadn't visited yet. The place really is huge. It's probably 2 km from one end to the other. If you're a runner, the resorts in Disney World are set up perfectly for you. Tons of wide concrete paths connecting the various resorts together. You could find a brand new route every day so you'd never get bored.

We checked out of our hotel at 11:03a. I know the exact time because checkout is at 11:00a and the cleaning staff knocked on our door at 11:01a to make sure we were on our way. We left our bags at the front desk to have them transferred to our new hotel. We'd gone with one of the cheapest hotels for the first 5 nights and were staying at at a slightly nicer one for the remaining 4 nights. Our plan was to go mini-golfing so we headed to Hollywood Studios so we could take a boat to the hotel that had the course.

The hotel was absolutely amazing with great architecture, some massive fountains and beaches along side the canals. It's in the top price bracket and it shows. It was just after lunch when we arrived so we walked over to "The Boardwalk" which was nearby. It's set up like the Atlantic City boardwalk and we'd heard there were some good food options. We each found something we liked which is good enough for me. It was during the day so there were very few people though I suspect it's usually quite quiet. You definitely can't say Disney World is too crowded. Everything is very spread out.

Mini-golf was nice though nothing too special. There were a few holes that spit water at you or made noises when you got the ball in and the course was in very good condition. One count against though was the lack of shade. It was very difficult keeping all of us out of the sun. The oddest thing about the course though was that so many of the greens sloped towards the hole. This meant that if you got it in the right general direction you were fairly certain to score. Even at mini-golf Disney is trying to keep you happy. (I think I won though we didn't keep score right to the end. Heat was getting to everyone.)

After mini-golf it was time to check into our hotel. We took the boat then the bus and arrived right on time at 3:00p. Check-in took longer than we expected so all we had time to do was check out our room, drop off a few things and then get back on the bus. Our room is very similar to our other hotel though it's a bit bigger and the amenities are a bit more Disney themed. It's called Caribbean Beach so many items are pirate related. Carter isn't impressed with the skull and cross bones on the curtain to the bathroom.

The reason we only had a short amount of time to check in at the hotel was because we had dinner reservations at 4:00p. Our destination was the T-Rex Restaurant. Turns out it's affiliated with "The Rain Forrest Cafe" which meant it was pretty much exactly the same except it was dinosaur themed. The food was the same and instead of a rain storm every 15 minutes there was a meteor shower that killed off the dinosaurs. It was neat but we really only had to do one of them, not both.

Carter still had money burning a hole in his pocket so he decided he wanted to "Build a Dinosaur". Same as "Build A Bear" except of course it's a dinosaur. He named him Blueosaurus and bought him a red shirt. I tried to convince him that he only need to buy one stuffed animal but he insisted. I'm not sure we're going to have enough room in our suitcases going home. We also stopped off at the Lego store where Callie got one last item with her money. I think they're all done now. We'll see if they regret having spent it all with three days to go.

We spent a bit more time wandering around Downtown Disney before heading back to the hotel to finally check things out. The pool area is quite impressive and there are many more food options. There are also some beach areas and more activities. Not sure what the price difference is but if you're not going to spend much time at your hotel you might as well go with the cheaper ones. Everything is 20 minutes from everything else down here so you have to take a shuttle. Some of the nicer hotels are near one park but not all four. We'll see how things look here in the day light.