Across Country Trip: Days 25-27

Days 25-27

Everyone woke up around 3 and 4 am and caught flights back to California. Shannon and Manny left at 5am to drive to Georgia. And I left at 10am to meet up with them. The drive was about 8 hours and felt pretty long the last few hours. I stayed in Suwanee City which is about 45 minutes outside of Atlanta with Shannon and Manny. We ate dinner at an English pub where I had really good soup and then we went to bed. It had been a long few weeks and we were all exhausted.

The next day I spent hanging out at their house doing laundry and getting some things at the stores. I watched movies and slept in late. It was a nice lazy day that was much needed. Manny even cooked us dinner before we watched the wedding videos and checked out wedding photos.

My last day on my trip I spent 10 hours in the car driving from Atlanta to DC. The drive was nice. The leaves were erupting in colors of greens, browns, oranges, reds and yellows. The more north I drove the crisper the air became... fall is in the air. I arrived into DC around dinner time and Ger and Dave helped me bring my stuff into the apartment and Ger and I ate some Thai food ( I love Thai food!). It was a long day and I was ready to settle into one place and glad I had finally arrived to my new home city!

Driving to DC... it looked so Fall-y to me

Last road side picture of my trip

Across Country Trip: Days 23 & 24

Days 23 & 24

After we got back from the cruise there were a few days that before everyone left that we decided to explore the Disney World Parks. Disney World has a lot of parks 1) Magic Kingdom (same as Disneyland) 2) Epcot 3) Animal Kingdom 4) Hollywood Studios. We had two days and therefore we had to pick two parks to go to. The rest of the family went to Magic Kingdom the first day, but Jessica and I were a little Disney-ed out because we had been to the Disneyland in California and the one in Tokyo recently; so we decided to check out Hollywood studios.

Hollywood studios is full of live shows and how things work behind the scenes. The biggest attractions there are 1) The Live Stunt Show 2) Aerosmiths Rocking Roller coaster and 3) Hollywood Tower of Terror. All three were really good in my opinion. We did most things at the park that we wanted to do with the exception of the Toy Story ride that I wanted to go on. We even did the roller coaster twice! The night show Fantasmic was really good!!! It was like Fantasia with water, fire, fireworks and of course Micky Mouse!

Me and Jessica at Hollywood Studios

Jessica the park navigator

3D Glasses: all the rage

I found a refreshing bottle of Coke

Hollywood Tower of Terror

The Car Stunt Show

The second day the whole family went to Epcot. The older folks wanted to be finished at the park by 1:00 and therefore we spent the morning doing only the most popular attractions 1) Soaring 2)Race Track and 3) I forgot the name but the one that goes through the ages in the Epcot ball thingy. At lunch time we headed to the side of Epcot that is full of different countries: China, Japan, Germany, South Africa, Italy.... Each country area has foods from the region, shopping stores and things from the area. We all tried different foods like fish and chips from England, German Beer, Seafood from San Fransisco.... It was fun trying the different things from different areas of the world.

Me and Jessica at Epcot

Universe of Energy ride at Epcot

The family left after that and Jessica and I went and caught a few more of the attractions: Journey into Space and the Ellen DeGeneres Show.

We even got back in plenty of time to pack, go to dinner and go swimming before bed!

Disney world was a lot of fun! I hope that I can go back and hit the other parks and even re-visit Hollywood Studios and Epcot. Its expensive, but a lot of fun for the whole family!

Across Country Trip: Days 19-22

Days 19-22: October 12-16

My step-sister and now brother-in-law invited close family and friends to go with them on their Honeymoon to the Bahamas. Since my brother-in-laws father works for Disney we got great deals on a Disney Cruise to Nassau and Castaway Cay. My brother-in-laws family, my dad, step-mom, step-sister Alisha, Brother-in-law Jason, Sister Jessica, Shannon's friends Brian and Poppy and the Newly Weds all went.

Leaving Florida - view from the ship

Dad, Step-Mom Jeanne, Shannon & Manny (the newlyweds)

My sister Jessica and I on the deck of the ship

One of two towers of the ship

The ship was huge and had Disney Decor, 3 Dining Rooms and a Buffet, 3 pools (one for Adults only), an Art Gallery, a Theater, a Movie Theater, Rout 66 (the area where all the bars were) and wonderful cabin rooms! Dad had warned Jessica and I that our rooms were cheaper so we didn't have a balcony or as nice of a room, but in actually the only difference was the balcony-every thing else was the same! It was huge! A bed, a couch, TV, bathroom, closet and even a vanity. The crew on the ship were so nice!! Every single employee that you passed greeted you and if you had a problem they were always more than happy to assist you! The food was amazing! I even tried Escargot.. not my favorite, but not as bad as one might expect. I ate so much food on the ship-I must have gained 5 pounds!

Me and Jessica at dinner one night

Jessica and I at the last dinner on the ship

In Nassau Dad, Jeanne, Jessica and I went on a catamaran cruise and deep sea snorkeling! I love snorkeling so I was super excited!!! The lady sitting next to us panicked like crazy... it was kind of funny. The crew of the excursion were throwing food to the fish so they call swam around us in schools of fish. It was so awesome!!! The actual island of Nassau was a let down for me. It was more touristy that I expected and people were all trying to sell you things every where you went. It made it difficult to get a feel for local life. I like to get to know the local side of places I visit.

Castaway Cay is an island owned and run by Disney. Its made for only beach play. Jessica and I went on a Sting Ray Excursion. We got to feel and pet the sting rays and then snorkel with them! It was amazing! I learned that Sting Rays can get as big as a 22foot span in the wild. I learned that they are friendly creatures and the main reasons why people get stuck by them is because they step on them and the sting ray reacts by defending itself. I learned that Sing Rays like being pet and are actually friendly. The scary thing was that they bury themselves in the sand so its hard to actually see them and made Jessica and I nervous to step down in the sand while we were snorkeling. It was my favorite thing on the cruise by far!

Every night there were events and live theater plays. The plays were cute and made for kids, but I enjoyed them a lot!! There were also adult activities that we did like a cooking class, napkin folding and towel folding (Our room cleaner folded our towels in a different animal shape every night for fold down). There was so much to do that we could only do a handful of things each day.

One of the live theater shows on the ship

It was a great experience and I really enjoyed it and spending time with the family and most of all my sister.

Across Country Trip: Day 18

Day 18: October 11, 2008 - Shannon and Manny's Wedding

The whole reason why I was in Florida was for my step-sister Shannon's Wedding. Manny and Shannon are so well matched. They give me hope in finding someone that I'm not only crazy about but someone that is a best friend and makes life work together. I was also very excited that they were getting married at Disney World... I love Disney! Its where you can be a kid and feels so playful!

The day came and my dad and step-mom woke up early to go help the bride and groom while my sister and I had the job of making sure our side of the family made it to the wedding ready and on time with out getting lost. We headed out wayyyyy early and got there early but sat and had a few drinks at a near by pool while we waited. It did start raining so we went to the lobby of where the wedding was held and waited for the rain to die down. Manny and Shannon asked if I would be one of the videoographers for the wedding since they couldn't afford a professional one and I had brought mine since I was traveling across country. I said yes of course. So as soon as we were allowed outside I set up my camera and found some good areas for some good shots of the wedding.

The wedding ceremony itself was only about 15 minutes long (THANK GOODNESS... long weddings are such a drag). They had a sand combining ceremony and it was beautiful. The guitar player was really good as well. Shannon looked beautiful and made a wonderful bride. The flower girl (Manny's Niece) was too cute!

After the wedding there were pictures and then a cocktail hour. The cocktail hour was a great idea. It gave the bride and groom time to take pictures and the guests time to sign their wedding board and relax and mingle. The reception was wonderful in my opinion! The cake was also very beautiful. Everything had an ocean theme to it. The cake had seashells and the tables had seashell like center pieces. The MC played really good timeless music that everyone could enjoy. But the best thing was the food!! This wedding food was amazing!! Everything from the pasts to the fish to the cake! I give it 100 thumbs up!

By the end of the night I was exhausted and ready for bed as was everyone else I think. And the next day we had to get up early to head to the ship for our 4 day cruise to the Bahamas!

Unfortunately since I was busy video taping I was unable to take pictures, but I did sneak only two in while we were in the limo going from the wedding to the reception. (we got to ride in the limo because we were the brides family)

Jeanne, Alisha and Jason with Grandpa Richard in the background

Me and Jessica in the limo

Across Country Trip: Day 17

Day 17: Shannon and Manny's Wedding Rehearsal

We spent most of the day relaxing and resting up for the busy next week. There was the wedding, cruise and Disney world to tackle still.

Rehearsal dinner was at the Boardwalk across the lake from where the wedding was being held. We arrived early and ate a good meal (I had great hummus). Then we walked over to the gazebo place that the wedding was being held and it was a beautiful place! I wasn't in the wedding nor really needed but I helped out and took lots of pictures for them and hung out with my other brother-in-law.

The Groom and Bride to be (my soon to be brother-in-law and step-sister)

The Gazebo that the wedding will be in


Rehersal

After the rehearsal it started to pour rain (the only really heavy rain we had really) so they decided to have our rehearsal desert inside the American building at Epcot. So we all walked in ponchos over to the building. I didn't make the best shoe choice and my feet were hurting so badly I walked barefoot most of the way (and I HATE to be barefoot and walk on the dirty ground so you know my feet REALLY were in pain). The desert party was great! The little cute pastries were delicious and I had some good hot tea. Everyone sat around and chatted and laughed until it was time for the main event.

Delicious Deserts

The main event of the night was a private seating area to see the fireworks show at Epcot! I love fireworks and was so excited to see them! The show opened with a globe that lit up, then the globe rotated, then it was like a TV where it showed different African animals and places around the world and then lastly it opened up and fireworks exploded out of it! It was amazing and beautiful!!! I loved the fire works show and more so I loved that we had our own little area where people weren't pushing and shoving their ways in front of us!

Jeanne (my step-mom) and I can't wait for the fireworks

YAY for Fireworks!

They are so beautiful

It was a beautiful night and Shannon and Manny seemed so happy! It was wedding perfect.

Across Country Trip: Day 16

Day 16: October 9th

We spent the first part of the day relaxing and kicking back by the pool. It was nice to relax and enjoy the sun and talk with family members.

Alisha, Jason and Dad hanging by the pool

Grams, Jeanne, Shannon and Gramps chit chatting the day away

October 9th is my step-sister Alisha's birthday. This year she turned 30! So we decided to have a birthday dinner at Downtown Disney in Rain forest Cafe. There were about 20 of us for dinner and we had a great spot on the lanai and ate incredible food! There was a poster of her that we all signed (a special poster), a birthday hat, cake and even presents! It was a great dinner party!

Alisha (step-sister) and Jason (brother-in-law)

Alisha and I

Birthday girl in her birthday hat

Across Country Trip: Day 14 & 15

Day 14 & 15

The next two days I spent driving across I-10 from New Orleans to Orlando Florida. I spent the first day driving to Pensacola and the next to Orlando. Its beautiful out in the pan handle side of Florida. I drove about 8 hours the first day and 5 hours the second. It was nice but I was ready to get out of the car for a few days.

Beautiful Florida

Entering Florida from Mobile Alabama

The country side of Florida

I arrived at Disney World in Orlando in the afternoon and checked into the hotel before the rest of the family arrived. The hotel was awesome! We stayed at Pop Century Hotel on Disney World properties. We stayed at the 50's era wing and had a hotel the shape of a bowling pin. It was really cool how the hotels were decorated. That night I gave hugs and hung out with the family for dinner and the rest of the evening.

Our hotel

50s wing hotel pool

Hotel giant decorations