Spring Break 2023 - Day 5 - Travel to Disney World

We got around 6:00am and got the car packed up because our hotel offered free breakfast at 7:00am. I made sure to make lots of noise as we were leaving to get back at the mean college kids who were blaring music walking in front of our room at 2:00am. Breakfast was not very exciting. Biscuits and gravy with cinnamon toast sticks and watery eggs. I had a bit but none of the family wanted anything so we left right away to go find Starbucks and Burger King. We also stopped at a Walmart to get breakfast things and water so we could avoid buying breakfast in Disney World.  Somehow we managed to forget the water though.

It was at this point where we realized we had missed out on the real Panama City Beach. Our hotel area was quite run down and there was even an abandoned amusement park nearby. As we were leaving though we realized there was a whole new area that included mini-golf with waterfalls and even the "Ripley's Believe it or Not" museum in a giant ship. Kerry now remembered that she knew about all of this from when we planned our trip three years earlier but had completely forgotten. My recommendation if you go to Panama City Beach is to not go where we went. 

One of the things that I dislike about Google Maps is that sometimes it offers you the quickest route that might only be quickest for a short period of time and is really not the best overall pay. Case in point for our trip leaving Panama City Beach was the dirt road it took us on before getting us on to the I-10. We ended up on several back roads before we were comfortable that it was sending us in the right direction.  Northern Florida was a very boring drive. Mostly just Forrests with relatively small pine trees. This is the part of the drive that we probably should have taken the older highway closer to the water.

Although our plan was to get to Disney World today we had one stop we wanted to get in on the way. There is a town called Crystal River that has a national park with wild manatees. They come into the inner channels at this time of year. We should have done more planning though as we had to get our car back by 6:00pm and forgot we were losing an hour with the time change. If the national park had parking we might have been okay but you have to park a ways out and get a shuttle. We walked around a bit but we struck out seeing wild manatees.

We dropped the car off at the Disney Car Care centre around 5:30pm and got a shuttle to the hotel. Check-in options are starting to change with hotels. If we had known we could have checked in remotely and used our phone to access our rooms. We checked in the old way, picked up our magic bands and started to explore on our way to the room. It was nice that we had done the real New Orleans before coming to Disney World. Callie picked up on things like fountains and architecture and the name of our gift shop was Jackson Square. Major difference was cleanliness and there were no holes in the side walks.

We had reservations at Planet Hollywood in Disney Springs at 7:00 and had just enough time to catch a boat to Disney Springs. Most of the hotels have a 'unique' way of getting to at least one or two key locations and ours was a boat. Others have things like the monorail or gondolas. Planet Hollywood was a bit much for me. Very noisy and lots of people. Even though I was hungry, the full rack of ribs was way more than I could handle. Presentation was nice. It came on a tiny picnic table. It was at this point that I realized these sit down dinners were going to be pricy. They averaged $175 for the three we went to.

We finished the evening off with dessert at Ghirardelli. It's not cheap but these are the best sundaes I've ever had. They put a big glob of sauce in the bottom before they put the ice cream in so you always get to end with the good stuff. I highly recommend. We also wandered around Disney Springs a bit. It was a Friday evening and it was St. Patrick's day so it was very busy. On our way to the restaurant we had to run past an Irish Pub and they had live music and it was packed. We took a bus back to the hotel and got rested for our first day at Magic Kingdom.

Spring Break 2023 - Day 4 - Panama City Beach

We weren't technically in a hurry this day but we still got up early and headed to the airport to pick up our rental car by 9:00am as soon as the place opened. We were headed to Panama City beach and since we were only staying a single night we wanted as much time there as we could and it was about a 5 hour drive away. Kerry had booked the taxi the night before which turned out to be a good thing as our taxi driver was apparently also the dispatcher and he had to say no to a ton of cars. They only had minivans in the immediate lot so we got a free upgrade and let Carter pick the colour.

We were on the road by around around 9:30am and we had several states we had to get through including Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. It would probably have been nice to take a few roads closer to the water but we didn't really have a lot of time so we stayed mostly on the I-10. I'm not sure what I was expecting for this area of the US but it felt a lot like other areas we have driven. Major highway with lots of fast food restaurants at the exits as well as Love's gas stations. It was interesting to drive some of the major causeways.

Our hotel was a typical coastal water front hotel. 7 or 8 stories with the balconies facing the ocean and the door on an outside corridor on the front. We had assumed spring break would be finished by now but a lot of the universities have different weeks. This meant a lot of drunk college kids doing everything from beach volley ball to beer pong on the beach. We also noticed that all the furniture in the room was plastic which is probably a good thing when you have to clean up after spring breakers every March. The room itself was great for me as it had separate rooms for each of the beds and a couch for Carter to sleep on. 

We had long planned to try out a beach side restaurant near our hotel called Harpoon Harry's but I guess they rent themselves out for special events during spring break so we wandered down the beach headed towards the next bank of hotels. Kerry didn't want drive and risk losing our parking spot as it was very difficult to find. We got about halfway there when Kerry realized she had dropped her room key in the envelope with our room number on it so we had to head back. Amazingly she found it where she had last taken her phone out for pictures. We ended up at a pizza joint across from out hotel where we shared pizza and wings.

While wandering up the beach we found a mini-golf place which only took cash. I assume cash only business tend to be for money laundering but it was still not a bad course. Most of the holes had multiple obstacles and often were mechanized in some way. Mini-golf continues to be Carter's nemesis. There was a hole with a turtle where you have to get it through the middle or it gets spit back out at you and it goes all the way back to the starting point. Carter missed at least a half dozen time and was not happy. Lesson learned for everyone else to lay up on the first shot. I ended up winning the evening by 10 shots. Fun night for me!

Spring Break 2023 - Day 3 - New Orleans and the National WWII Museum

We can't start every day with beignets at Cafe du Monde so today we had beignets at Cafe Beignet. Actually, just Callie and I did. Kerry and Carter branched out. To be honest we're not entirely sure we ended up at the right Cafe Beignet. Kerry and Callie had looked it up and we were heading in the right direction, but it turns out there our several and we may have been headed to one on Canal Street, but we ended up in a much smaller one. I think it was a lot nicer though. A hole in the wall that almost seemed like the inside of a streetcar with tiny birds wandering between your legs at the table.

From the beginning I had been attempting to get the family to go to the National WWII Museum as its one of the top museums in the US. They had it in their head that it was just some old planes at an airport. When we were driving to the swamp tour we drove by, and they realized it was an actual museum that looked pretty interesting. We didn't have anything else planned for the day so we decided we would come first thing in the morning. We had picked our breakfast location to be on the way, so it was only another 15-minute walk. 

The museum is incredibly well done. It takes you through the major events of the war and it has artifacts from land, sea, and air. If there is one fault of course it's that it is entirely from the American point of view. Not necessarily wrong but from walking through you would think the Americans lead the entire war effort. Kerry indicated she saw the word Canada mentioned once and I didn't see it at all. Even for D-Day they listed Omaha beach as well as 'four others' in at least one location. I still do strongly recommend you go if you are ever in New Orleans.

We spent the rest of the day in the French Quarter wandering around to some of the remaining sites we had on our list including Pat O'briens where Kerry and I got their signature Hurricane. The kids also had virgin versions. Mine was not virgin but perhaps it should have been. Those things hit hard. Kerry had the kids escort me through the French Market. We also stopped off at Hotel Royal which has a courtyard that was the inspiration for Marcel's house in 'The Originals'. As far as we can tell, they didn't shoot any actual scenes there.

We went to Louis Armstrong Park as there was a cemetery nearby that we wanted to check out. The Park itself consisted of some interesting ponds, statues and buildings though it was pretty empty. I think it has more going on when there are concerts in the concert hall. We attempted to go to the cemetery, but I should have remembered that the ones near the French Quarter are restricted to tours only. I think there would be too much traffic otherwise. Kerry got as close as she wanted to anyways by peering in through a gap in the front gate.

Speaking of dead people, Kerry and Callie had gone to Muriel's for dinner the night before and had to go back during the day today to check out the table set for Pierre the resident ghost. We now have our own official ghost story. As we were getting ready for bed, one of the lights flickered off casting half the room in darkness. Callie indicated it must be Pierre so I asked nicely if Pierre could turn the light back on until we were ready to go to bed. The light came on about a half a second later. Kerry is ready for us to get to Disney World now. 

Spring Break 2023 - Day 2 - New Orleans and the Swamp

The weather is a bit cooler than we would want for a southern vacation but it's still close to 20 degrees and sunny so we can't complain. We woke up early so that we could go to Cafe du Monde as soon as it opened before we left for our swamp tour. Cafe du Monde is New Orleans' version of the first Starbucks but much older as it was established in 1862. Kerry and the kids are already familiar with it because Disneyland has replicated it as part of their New Orleans Square area where you can get beignets and mint juleps. Callie was very excited to try out beignets from the source and they didn't disappoint. Warm, fluffy and lots of icing sugar. We'll go back at least one more time.

The next item on our agenda was a trip to the swamp. Carter had a few items on his list of things to do and it included a swamp tour. We walked down the waterfront to catch a bus that took us out to the swamp. We checked in at the tour office and found they had an albino gator. Albino gators don't last long in the wild, not just because they are easy to see but also because they don't do well in the sun. This isn't a good for a cold-blooded animal who needs to sun themselves to get moving in the morning. This gators name was Sugar, and she took so long to move we didn't think she was real at first.

We had considered doing an airboat tour, but I didn't want to have to wear sweaty earmuffs and I think we made a good call. The swamp boat and the air boats all started from the same location and the airboats were very loud. It was quite cold on the day we went so the alligators were mostly hiding in the mud and we only saw a couple of them. I'm pretty sure the airboats were scaring them away before they even saw them. I had thought the airboats would be able to go places we couldn't, but I think they just went to the same places we went but faster. 

The highlight of the trip was the gators followed by the swamp cows. (This was all we actually saw.) At one point our guide threw out a marshmallow for the gator to hunt. The cold weather was apparently impacting him. He swam slowly toward it and made one halfhearted attempt to grab it but in the end the marshmallow got away. I think we saw five gators in total and learned a lot about floattantes. It seemed to be our guides favorite word. I think he said it over 100 times.

After our tour bus dropped us back in the French Quarter we wandered around a bit and checked out more of the area including Canal Street. There is a distinct difference between the business district and the French Quarter, and it's separated by this street. On one side you have skyscrapers and a modern downtown and on the other the majority of the buildings are one or two stories tall interspersed by a few older styled more modern hotels up to 5 or six stories. Apparently, it was in the 1960's that preservation of the existing buildings finally took hold and new hotels are no longer allowed in the French Quarter boundary.

By now we had told Carter about his surprise activity. While searching for New Orleans items online Kerry noticed that there is an NBA team here and they just happened to be playing the lakers while we were here. Carter was very excited to get to watch his first NBA game. He and I walked to the Smoothie King Centre from our hotel. Our seats were upper deck, but it was still a nice view of the game. The game itself was notable for the wrong reasons. Records for 3 pointers by the Lakers as well as their largest ever lead at half time of 40 points. Still a fun time.

 

Spring Break 2023 - Day 1 - Travel to New Orleans

The week that Covid hit in 2020, we had a trip planned to New Orleans followed by a drive to Orlando. It was cancelled just days before we left. Three years later and we are attempting that same trip. Our flight to New Orleans left at 7:15am so we left for the airport around 4:00am. With the recent time change this meant we got up at 3:00am and it felt like 2:00am. Our plane boarded on time, and we were optimistic we would make our connecting flight in San Fransisco despite only a 50-minute layover. As we were taxiing however the captain announced we had to 'park' for 30 minutes due to weather issues in San Fransisco. It wasn't looking good.

Our hope was that the weather would cause our connecting flight to be delayed as well. All we could do was eat our 30-calorie airline snack and hope. When we landed, the stewardess asked if anyone had a tight connecting flight and 2/3 of the plane put up their hand. It might have only been the kids that didn't. She then clarified that people travelling to New Orleans and a couple of other destinations were the tightest and asked everyone to let us off first. It wasn't initially looking good but eventually people moved aside, and we were able to run to our gate.

I ran ahead and managed to get to the gate before it closed. There were two people in line and just as I arrived, I heard one say they "would have to close the gate after these last two". I identified the Schwab family had arrived and indicated the rest would be there shortly. They asked if we were from the Vancouver flight and said they didn't think we were going to make it. Our flight to New Orleans was uneventful and actually arrived 24 minutes early. With a 0-minute layover it felt like a direct connection.

We took a taxi from the airport to our hotel which is just a block off Bourbon Street. As I type this, I can hear the music though it is very quiet. Our hotel is a former convent and orphanage. Apparently, a nun committed suicide in one of the rooms above us and it is considered one of the most haunted hotels in New Orleans. I'm not going to say I believe in ghosts but the lights flicker, the phone mysteriously was knocked off the hook and when I was taking a nap, I swear I felt someone sit down on the end of the bed. We're going to leave a chair in the corner open for ghosts, just in case.

We arrived around 4:30pm local time so after we checked in to the hotel, we wandered around a bit to find something to eat. We weren't necessarily picky, but we found it very difficult to find a place that was open, had no line up, had food and not just alcohol and included something from our list of New Orleans food that we wanted to try. In the end, Carter and I ended up at Willie's Chicken Shack and Kerry and Callie had pizza from a place next door. The fried chicken was very good. The chicken was from the Jurassic era based on its size and the spices made it very flavorful.

We ended the evening with fudge from Kilwin's Candy store and frozen custard from Abbots. Apparently, this is 'French style' ice cream. I only had a spoonful, but it was delicious.

We went back to our hotel and went to bed around 10:00pm. With the 1-hour time change, two-hour time zone change, latitude change, up early and busy day it felt like bedtime. 

Bathroom Reno

We have one final renovation to do on our house before we start over again. We've done the entire yard, the shed, the kitchen, all the bedrooms, two of the bathrooms and we just have one final bathroom. It's been Callie's bathroom for the past few years and it still had the original oak cabinets. Other than money there wasn't any reason we had waited so long. When we first moved in the inspector indicated there might be a leak in the tile so I was expecting a lot of mold and possible rot but it was surprisingly dry with no real damage. More surprising was that it was just regular drywall behind the tile. I'm not sure how that even worked considering the length of Callie's showers and the number of guests that have showers in that bathroom. Demo went smoothly and the first step was to get the plumbers in to re-pipe the old Poly-B piping which has a history of failure. The price was cheaper than I was expecting though I wasn't able to convince them to fully install the shower. They indicated $1000 meaning they didn't really want to do it.

The drama started after the plumbers were done. They installed the bathtub and hooked up the drain but didn't want to do the shower walls and now I understand why. The first issue was that when we opened the box we discovered someone had put a forklift fork through one of the walls. It wasn't very noticeable from the box but it was definitely not usable. We took it back to Lowes and picked up a new set of walls though I had now lost a weekend. I tried again the following weekend but this time the walls were the wrong size. The box said 30 but the walls were 32 and we already had a 30 inch tub. Back to Lowes but this time they didn't have another set and might not get another set in. We went home empty handed and lost another weekend. Luckily they managed to get another set and this time I was finally able to get them installed. I couldn't really do anything else until the shower was in so by now it was too late to finish before Christmas. A few long days before new years and I managed to get everything done with Kerry doing the painting. The only final issue was that the toilet hose I was given by the Plumber had a cut in it. I caught it fairly quickly but not before a bit of water damage to the ceiling below. The only thing left as of Jan 2nd is to get the new shower door installed and repair the ceiling with a bit of paint. I don't actually mind this type of reno but I don't want to do another one anytime soon. Too many other projects that are more interesting. 

 

Christmas

Christmas 2020 was interrupted by COVID and Christmas 2021 was interrupted by province wide flooding so we were looking forward to a 'normal' Christmas which typically means Barb and Reg come down to visit. They managed to get into town just in time. The next day we got almost 13 inches of snow which is a lot for the lower mainland. It came down mostly overnight which meant it was a lot of shovelings the next day. The weather turned on a dime however with freezing rain turning to rain just a few days after Christmas. Lots of snow for Christmas and I think it officially counted as a white Christmas because YVR got a few flakes of snow before it turned to rain on Christmas Day.

Kerry and I went light on the presents this year because we have some big trips planned for 2023 but the kids felt they had no such restriction. Callie set the budget by requesting an e-reader and Carter came close behind with a detailed list that matched that budget. The only thing that wasn't ideal was that due to issues I will write about in the next post we only had a single shower in the house. We had started a bathroom renovation in the fall with the hopes that it would be complete but things didn't go as planned. It wasn't too bad though since everyone had very different shower schedules. Overall it was a great Christmas!