Weird and Ninja’s Pre-Disneymoon [Completed!]

[dellasgirl]

have

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

Just jumping in for the ride.

I have this overwhelming urge to say "Are we there yet? Can we stop for ice cream? I have to go potty. Are we there yet?"

 

[tinkgurl]

I love your photos. I can really relate to driving there, so I felt like I was right there with you!

 

[RachelNinja]

I like the picture of the bus, but only because you can see you taking the picture in the side mirror!

Haha, thanks Irky

I LOVE five guys--they have the best burgers
Even the picky eater-DD(who is pregnant and even more picky) loved them.
We love 'reading billboards' on our way down--have you ever seen any advertising 'South of the Boarder'? they are so corny that they are funny.

I'll have to try Five Guys one of these days. My friend said that they have all the different toppings to put on it. I looked at the list but couldn't find cheese sauce! Hehe, I'm just remembering the cheese sauce for my fries at Magic Kingdom.

Yes! We've seen South of the Border signs. Weird and I missed most of them going to Florida and coming back because we were asleep at the time! I only got one picture of one of my favorite signs. My older brother and I used to look forward to seeing them all the time!

Just jumping in for the ride.

I have this overwhelming urge to say "Are we there yet? Can we stop for ice cream? I have to go potty. Are we there yet?"

Hi there! Thanks for joining! Hehe, it'll still be a while before we arrive at our destination, so it might be a good idea for you to pop in a DVD!

I love your photos. I can really relate to driving there, so I felt like I was right there with you!

Even though the installments are still about the first travel day, I do like that Weird and I took so many pictures of things that might seem like nothing to others. It reminds me of the exact feeling I had when I took the picture. It's also an extremely quick way of "trip journaling" since I actually didn't write down as much as I would have liked. Thankfully, the pictures are a great reminder!

 

[RachelNinja]

Saturday, April 3: Hashbrown Roadkill

Okay, if you know your states, you’ll know that we’re getting a LITTLE bit closer because here’s the North Carolina sign. Weird slowed down to let me take it. Yeah, I know, we still have a while before we get to Florida! Haha, but I did warn you that it’d be a while! I do appreciate all of you sticking with me!

We took a break at the rest stop. When we got out of the car, Matt pointed out that Weird had destroyed a hashbrown! That poor, poor hashbrown! It didn’t know what was coming.

A close-up of the sad fate of the hashbrown.

It was a lot easier to look at this though unlike all the other roadkill we saw. There were terrible things on the road! I mean, there were the usual possums and raccoons and such (or animals that at least LOOKED like possums and raccoons!). But then we saw a deer at one point and then either a wild dog/coyote/wolf! We couldn’t tell what it was because (1) Weird was driving and had to pay attention to the road and (2) I don’t know my animals very well. We were so shocked to see it by the side of the road!

Anyway, once we settled in the car, I got out the snack that Weird had bought and brought along for me. He knows I love Doritos, so he got me a bag! And it was one of the bigger bags too!

Here’s the unfocused, blurry picture of the inside of my delightful treat. I didn’t eat the whole thing in one sitting though; I spread it out over 3 different snack times in a span of 2 days.

I liked this sign! Just a reminder of Disney, not that either of us needed to be reminded! “Look there, he goes, isn’t he dreamy! Monsieur Gaston, oh he’s so cute! Be still, my heart, I’m hardly breathing. He’s such a tall, dark, strong, and handsome brute!” By the way, random note, but I would’ve liked being one of the 3 girls swooning over Gaston in the Broadway show! The silly role would have been so much fun to play and not as stressful as being Belle, of course!

The other side of I-95 was terrible. There was a bad accident so cars were just stopped. Many people were out of their cars trying to see what was going on. Others were taking the opportunity to stretch their legs and even play catch. I would hate to be stuck in that kind of traffic, but whenever we reach a point where there are a lot of cars and we know it’s from an accident, I thank God that we’re safe! I would much rather be sitting in traffic than be the ones in the accident. I always think that ever since my family got into a car accident right off the Manhattan Bridge and everyone looked at us.

There were also a ton of trucks on the road. This one was unique; we thought it looked like a watermelon!

Weird and I also saw that there were log cabins for sale! We’d love to live in the South in a log cabin! Weird also said that log cabins are actually very warm.

And who wouldn’t want to buy a log cabin from an oversized man? Well, I wouldn’t. I’d have to let Weird do all the negotiations because it’d just be too creepy for me!

Look there! Another sign for Cracker Barrel! Is that a bit of foreshadowing there? Or was it just wishful thinking?

You’ll find out … eventually! I was going to say soon, but you see the pace of this trip report. It’ll be eventually

 

[Cat0727]

I hate seeing roadkill Luckily, the worst I've seen are possums & small animals like that. I can't imagine seeing a poor deer on the road =(

I'm going to say you DO eat at Cracker Barrel~ I went to one last month with my BF and sister (we had no idea there were ones in NJ!) and it was SOO GOOD! Too bad the closest one is 2 hours away

 

[wdwgirl03]

I have to agree with you Rachel about Five Guys. They recently put one in at the mall around here and while it's good it's nothing special.

LOL about the apostrophe! I get kind of annoyed at grammar stuff too, like when people will post pictures of themselves with someone and caption it "so and so and I". Ummm...I think that's a rare occasion where you would actually say "me" instead of I. You wouldn't say this is a picture of I! OK, I am officially a dork...

 

[SoonerGirl]

We've had the misfortune of seeing many deer by the side of the rode during our trips back and forth to Minnesota over the years - it's so sad!

You know, I've never eaten at a Cracker Barrel, and we have one just a few miles from our house.......

 

[Cinderella16]

I hate seeing roadkill...it makes me so sad.

I think I am going to try and take pictures of all the welcome signs on our way down, what a fun way to document the trip. You have inspired me.

You are getting closer to Disney!!

 

[momof2TNboys]

Hey, I am signing on! I am loving your report so far. I am enjoying the interstate updates. I am a southern girl, so I am cracking up at the Cracker Barrel signs. I think they post them every 5 miles.

 

[stacy347]

We live right between a couple of pretty vast fields and there are a lot of animals that turn up "sleeping" as my sister would say. This entire past week there was a deer laying in the field across from us and I had to see it everyday...very sad.

The grammar thing cracks me up a lot of the time. I do get annoyed by certain things and really try to catch myself when typing.
There was a caption I saw that made me LOL:

"Let's eat Grandma!"

vs.

"Let's eat, Grandma!"
At the bottom it said, "Punctuation - it saves lives!" LOL!

OK, enough of my inner dork.

I love to eat at Cracker Barrel on road trips! On our first trip to WDW, my MIL came with us and brought a Cracker Barrel map of the USA that showed every location. She had the kids looking for all of the Cracker Barrel signs and tracking the miles that way.

Loving all the updates ~ can't wait for more!

 

[Brave teacher]

R.I.P. hash brown! I love hash browns by the way. OOOOOHHHH! Especially the hash brown casserole at Cracker Barrel. I am hoping you actually stop there. I love that place. That is always our breakfast stop when we head to WDW.

Were you saying something about tangents?

How sweet for Weird to bring you your favorite Doritos! He was even smart enough to get the 99 cent bag. Way to make the treat last longer Weird! I love them too.

 

[Believeinfairytales]

Oh, the horror! The poor dead hashbrown....

I HOPE you get to a Cracker Barrel on this trip. I guess I take for granted that there's one at every exit where I live b/c so many of you on this board that don't live in the South either haven't heard of them or wish you had one in your area. Now, Five Guys on the other hand, is a new one on me!

 

[irky416]

Aww, poor hashbrown!

I've never been to a Cracker Barrel, but I agree that Five Guys isn't anything special. Now, if they had that cheese sauce for the fries, I might be saying something different!

 

[Jennifer48]

Rachel you are so funny about the grammar. I don't think you should read any of my TRs because they are probably filled with horrible grammar! OR, maybe I should write one, send it to you to proofread and then I can post it

I love how you have so much detail and you haven't even made it to FL yet! I really feel like I'm along for the car ride

 

[TokyoDina]

Geez! They are everywhere! Haha!

 

[dellasgirl]

a reason

 

[floridascgirl]

I have a soft spot for Funyuns and my DH often comes home with a surprise bag for me. I always jump up and down with excitement when I see them, but as soon as I've finished the bag I always feel so gross. I make him swear that he won't ever buy them again. Luckily, he doesn't often listen to a word I say.

Thanks for all of your random photos. They make your TR so unique. You and Weird seem like such a fun couple. I can't wait to read about your adventures in the MK. No rush...I swear!

 

[RachelNinja]

I hate seeing roadkill Luckily, the worst I've seen are possums & small animals like that. I can't imagine seeing a poor deer on the road =(

I'm going to say you DO eat at Cracker Barrel~ I went to one last month with my BF and sister (we had no idea there were ones in NJ!) and it was SOO GOOD! Too bad the closest one is 2 hours away

I'm strangely fascinated by roadkill. I don't like seeing it, especially if it's gory. But when someone says, "Ew, roadkill!" I always look! I don't know why; it seems to be an automatic reaction!

Yeah, the first thing I did when we got back home was search for the closest Cracker Barrel! I wish there was one closer than NJ!

I have to agree with you Rachel about Five Guys. They recently put one in at the mall around here and while it's good it's nothing special.

LOL about the apostrophe! I get kind of annoyed at grammar stuff too, like when people will post pictures of themselves with someone and caption it "so and so and I". Ummm...I think that's a rare occasion where you would actually say "me" instead of I. You wouldn't say this is a picture of I! OK, I am officially a dork...

I'm sure the burger tastes good, and I'm sure it's better than some fast food burgers. But I just can't imagine a burger being THAT amazing. I would still like to try it though! Weird and I are pretty easy to please, and I'm sure we'll enjoy it; it just probably won't be a life-changing experience!

YES YES YES! The whole me and I thing bothers me. Hehe, or should I say bothers I? When I explain the rules and how to know whether it's me or I, my kids go, "It's always the weird sounding one, the one that sounds awkward." And then I have to explain that the easiest way to know is to take out the other person and test out the sentence: The cast member invited Sarah and me/I to see the Cinderella Suite. It wouldn't make sense to say that the cast member invited I, so that makes it me! But nope, still can't get it into all of my kids' heads! They'll know it in the moment but forget it when writing.

We've had the misfortune of seeing many deer by the side of the rode during our trips back and forth to Minnesota over the years - it's so sad!

You know, I've never eaten at a Cracker Barrel, and we have one just a few miles from our house.......

Haha, with all this Cracker Barrel talk and all the comments from other people, is it going to convince you to try CB one day?

I hate seeing roadkill...it makes me so sad.

I think I am going to try and take pictures of all the welcome signs on our way down, what a fun way to document the trip. You have inspired me.

You are getting closer to Disney!!

It definitely makes the road trip down so much more fun! In the past, my mom would announce the state, and we'd cheer. But taking pictures of them (and everything else!) was entertaining for me because I also knew that I'd be posting them on my TR!

Hey, I am signing on! I am loving your report so far. I am enjoying the interstate updates. I am a southern girl, so I am cracking up at the Cracker Barrel signs. I think they post them every 5 miles.

YAY! Thanks for joining in! Haha, Weird and I were hysterical with all the CB signs. We'd feel lost and confused when we didn't see one for a while!

We live right between a couple of pretty vast fields and there are a lot of animals that turn up "sleeping" as my sister would say. This entire past week there was a deer laying in the field across from us and I had to see it everyday...very sad.

The grammar thing cracks me up a lot of the time. I do get annoyed by certain things and really try to catch myself when typing.
There was a caption I saw that made me LOL:

"Let's eat Grandma!"

vs.

"Let's eat, Grandma!"
At the bottom it said, "Punctuation - it saves lives!" LOL!

OK, enough of my inner dork.

I love to eat at Cracker Barrel on road trips! On our first trip to WDW, my MIL came with us and brought a Cracker Barrel map of the USA that showed every location. She had the kids looking for all of the Cracker Barrel signs and tracking the miles that way.

Loving all the updates ~ can't wait for more!

Haha, the sleeping thing reminds me of the Jungle Cruise joke with the lions and the zebra!

Yes! I've seen that grandma caption. One of my students who graduated last year sent me the invite to the group on Facebook because she knew I'd appreciate it. My kids always love the section about commas in the grammar book when it gives examples of how commas help prevent confusion. For example ... "After eating my dog takes a nap." Obviously it's clear what the sentence is trying to say after reading the whole thing, but the first second of looking at it, it seems as if the person is eating the dog! The same goes for a "After shaving my dad puts on cologne." Haha.

Haha, CB tracking definitely sounds like a fun way to pass the time.

R.I.P. hash brown! I love hash browns by the way. OOOOOHHHH! Especially the hash brown casserole at Cracker Barrel. I am hoping you actually stop there. I love that place. That is always our breakfast stop when we head to WDW.

Were you saying something about tangents?

How sweet for Weird to bring you your favorite Doritos! He was even smart enough to get the 99 cent bag. Way to make the treat last longer Weird! I love them too.

Mmm, I'd like to try CB for breakfast too! I'd like to have it at like, 11pm at night though; breakfast at night just tastes extremely good. Of course, I'm a little wacko because I like eating food-food for breakfast because typical breakfast foods just don't cut it for me.

When he initially showed me the bag, I was excited about the Doritos. Then when I saw it was the bigger bag, it just made me so so so happy! The simple things!

Oh, the horror! The poor dead hashbrown....

I HOPE you get to a Cracker Barrel on this trip. I guess I take for granted that there's one at every exit where I live b/c so many of you on this board that don't live in the South either haven't heard of them or wish you had one in your area. Now, Five Guys on the other hand, is a new one on me!

Weird and I were commenting that we didn't see many signs for places like Applebee's and Chili's. Maybe they just don't advertise on I-95, but those places are very common here. I would definitely prefer some southern cooking over Applebee's!!!

Aww, poor hashbrown!

I've never been to a Cracker Barrel, but I agree that Five Guys isn't anything special. Now, if they had that cheese sauce for the fries, I might be saying something different!

Wouldn't EVERY restaurant be better if they had the cheese sauce? I don't care how high class it is; add the cheese sauce! And no fancy cheeses either. It has to be that bright orange color!

Rachel you are so funny about the grammar. I don't think you should read any of my TRs because they are probably filled with horrible grammar! OR, maybe I should write one, send it to you to proofread and then I can post it

I love how you have so much detail and you haven't even made it to FL yet! I really feel like I'm along for the car ride

Haha, nooo, I still love reading TRs! I'm a stickler for grammar, but I know that not everyone cares about it. Besides, if everyone had great grammar, my knowing it wouldn't be such a big deal! They wouldn't need people like editors! Haha, if you sent me installments, it'd be like getting a sneak peek!

Glad you're enjoying the car ride because we've still got a while to go!

Geez! They are everywhere! Haha!

The hashbrown roadkill? Haha, I hope not! Those need to be properly eaten!

Poor Hashbrown
Living in rural va we see ALOT of road kill--DD#2 hit a deer(common occurrence-or the possibility of it happening is a fact of life here) and she cried and cried and cried--but she was told during the court session(where she and about 100 other 16 yr olds got their permanent Drivers License) that the State Police would rather have them hit a deer(over population ) than have them end up on the lossing side of an argument with a tree.
Loved the billboards
Hope no one was hurt in that traffic accident that caused the traffic backup

Haha, I love the smiley you chose for the hashbrown comment.

As sad as it is, I agree with the state police. If I were a mom, I would so much rather have my child be safe and sound. I guess I also can't fully understand it because we don't see as much roadkill here, so the sight is very rare and infrequent.

I think the accident was pretty bad since they had to close all the lanes. The emergency vehicles were there trying to get the people out. Those things are so frightening. I know some accidents really are purely accidents and can't be avoided, but I get extra upset when things happen that could have been prevented. That's why I get angry at crazy drivers in NY! Does it really matter if you're at the light 10 seconds before I am?

I have a soft spot for Funyuns and my DH often comes home with a surprise bag for me. I always jump up and down with excitement when I see them, but as soon as I've finished the bag I always feel so gross. I make him swear that he won't ever buy them again. Luckily, he doesn't often listen to a word I say.

Thanks for all of your random photos. They make your TR so unique. You and Weird seem like such a fun couple. I can't wait to read about your adventures in the MK. No rush...I swear!

I liked your Funyun story! That's why I spread out the eating of it into 3 separate snacks. I KNEW that I would get sick if I ate the whole thing. I totally could eat the whole thing, but doing that in a car probably wouldn't have been a wise choice!

I'm glad you're enjoying the random photos! Weird and I just get a kick out of almost everything that I knew we had to record it and post it! I think we're a fun couple too, but that's only because we broke up and were apart for 2 years. We had enough fighting and seriousness to last a lifetime! We like not taking life so seriously when we're together since we do that enough when we're apart during the work week. When we see each other on Saturdays, it's just time to really forget about the everyday issues.

 

[RachelNinja]

Saturday, April 3: The DISboards Shoe

I was very excited to show Weird all the signs from South of the Border. Before we saw many of those, however, we kept seeing signs for this placed called JR.

It was enticing us to some degree because what place advertises yummy snacks? Should snacks be anything other than yummy? Did they really feel the need to add in that adjective? Is there something that JR isn’t telling us?

Haha, yes, we were taking these signs very seriously. I mean, not only did they add adjectives to their signs, but in some cases, they had odd adjective placement. Haha, Weird and I kept saying this over and over again because we just found it really funny. Yes, I know it probably isn’t, but you just had to be there and be somewhat delirious from being in the car for so long.

We finally reached our next stop, which was the Preferred Outlets at Darien (we call it Magnolia). I wasn’t into the outlets but was glad to have some time to walk around. I was especially happy to see that there was a crocs store there! My dad and Matt walked over to Nike while my mom, Weird, and I headed to the crocs outlet.

I absolutely love crocs! I’m not a big fan of the clogs since I just think they’re bulky-looking on my feet. I know many DISers end up having to get clogs at the parks because they’re comfortable, but I don’t know that I would ever do that. Clogs just don’t seem to fit me. I do, however, appreciate the many colors! I love the rainbow effect in the store.

Instead, I have the other kinds of crocs that don’t actually look like it! The first pair that I bought was the Cleos. I wore those on the non-park days in Florida, so you’ll be able to get a random glance here and there in those pictures. Those are the ones with the double strap going across the foot, so they’re very secure. I also like that they have more support than flip flops and the fact that it just slides on the foot instead of having anything to do with toes! The second pair I got was the Lily Winter flats. I LOVE them, and I wear them to work every day. I was having issues with my other flats that had no support at all. I started getting terrible back pain. Good shoes are really important for teachers! But of course, I wasn’t about to buy orthopedic shoes or anything like that, and thankfully, crocs made good-looking, comfortable shoes! I got them during a “buy one get one free” deal, so I was able to get a pair of the Adara too. They’re a little looser than I thought they would be, so I don’t know that I’d be able to wear them out if I intend on walking a lot. Once I got them, they became my new slippers for the house. I still get excited every time I put them on because they’re comfortable (I’ve had them for MONTHS!).

All that to say I was extremely excited to go to the crocs outlet in hopes of getting more pairs of the Lily Winter. I can see myself wearing them for the rest of my life. Once I find something I like, I don’t really change my style (ex. I have a 2nd pair of strappy sandals stored away since I finally found one that I loved and that was comfortable, so I bought 2 pairs on sale with gift cards, haha, since my style doesn’t change).

Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything there that I liked! Well, let me rephrase that. There were things that I liked, but the prices weren’t outlet prices. The shoe websites online have prices that are the same or better. I would have gotten another Lily Winter just because I definitely get use out of them, but they only had blue.

This wall of crocs was interesting to see though! Weird had recently gone paintballing with people from our church, so this picture was taken to show them.

Our next stop was the book outlet. I was hoping to find some good deals here. I love looking at the young adult section since I tend to read more of these books. I am a middle school English teacher after all! Hehe, I use that as my “excuse” to read those books. Anyway, I saw that they had copies of Shakespeare’s Spy. I read The Shakespeare Stealer and Shakespeare’s Scribe with the 8th grade class, so I really wanted to read the 3rd one too. However, it was $5.39, and I didn’t want to put in the money for it. I mean, it’s not like it’s a Disney book! Haha.

I also saw these books that reminded me of my “Lil’ Sis” in my 8th grade class. She read Tom Sawyer for her previous book report and is not reading Huck Finn for the current one. I love that she’s reading classic stories! She brought in a ton of books for approval, and I suggested the classics just because they were easier versions to read, and the stories are just so fun!

Side note: Back when she was in 6th grade, a bunch of the girls decided to give me “nicknames.” It started because one girl started calling me her “best buddy.” After that, many of the other girls wanted to have a nickname for me or from me. For one girl, “the Conqueror” was added to her name. I called another girl “Mini Me” because her wackiness reminded me of me! Lastly, one of the students said that I was her “Big Sis” and that’s the only one that has stuck for these past 3 years. I admire her for being so dedicated to dance and academics. I know for a fact that she’s going to do great things with her life!

Anyway, we went to those two stores and a few others but nothing was purchased. I was starting to fade quickly; walking these outlets can be exhausting! However, there was a Cracker Barrel in sight! My mom called my dad to ask him if he would mind eating there since he was the only one who didn’t really enjoy the one time we ate there during our vacation in Virginia. Would he say yes and make me one happy girl? Or would he say no and dash my dreams upon the rocks?!?