A Walk in the Parks: A Cam and Fam TR COMPLETED 12/22/16 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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A Walk in the Parks: A Cam and Fam TR COMPLETED 12/22/16
Title Explained: The title for this fall’s trip report came to me while waiting in a very long line early in the morning on Saturday, October 1. I chronicled the long line and the wait in a series of photos. Then I realized that I have often done this over the past 22 trips when I’m trying to keep myself occupied in lines. Truthfully, all my photos are our progression through the parks, attraction by attraction. Therefore, the name seemed appropriate, so about coming along with me for a walk in the parks.
Disclaimers: We had an incredibly fun trip, and Hurricane Matthew was only a little blip in the grand scheme of our adventures. I won’t even be mentioning it until the late Wednesday update.
I only wrote complete notes for Day 1. After that I took my notes via the Notes app on my phone either by voice or by typing. We had some laughs at the voice interpretations of certain words and phrases. I think my Southern accent may have confused it at times. I’m not sure yet how this method of notetaking will affect my actual writing up of the days. I’m really hoping this method works because it was so easy to get information down this way and didn’t consume a great deal of our time with family. I wish I could type up our days as we go along, but we fill up our time with other activities and then I simply need sleep when we get back to our room. Hopefully, you’ll not notice a difference in my storytelling.
Some of you may remember that my great aunt who was 108 passed away earlier this spring. She was a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the U. S. Army. Her husband also held the same rank and was buried at Arlington when he died many years ago. She will be buried with him, actually on top of him. Matters move slowly with Arlington has it has many, many funerals. So Auntie Mae’s military funeral with full honors will be Monday, October 31 at 10:45 AM at the chapel in Arlington. We will be in attendance, which means a short trip to Washington, D.C. at the end of this month. We are flying out on Sunday, October 30 and returning Wednesday, November 2. That gives us only a day and a half for any sightseeing we’ll do. We don’t have any set plans except to attend the funeral. We would like to visit the National Zoo if possible as it is the one place none of us has visited on our trips to the capitol. Along with Luke and me, all of the Vaughns, Daddy, and Pam and Charlotte will be there as well. During this trip, there will not be any updates to this trip report. I’m borrowing an idea from silvercat because this trip saw a number of revisions to our plans, most having nothing to do with said hurricane mentioned above. I thought it might be helpful to show how we adapted over the course of the trip. This plans vs reality will show up when appropriate. Now on with the show!
Part 1: Thursday, September 29, 2016
I slept well until 1:40 AM, meaning I got three solid hours of sleep. At that time I had to take allergy and sinus medicines as my head and jaw were aching. Back in bed I spent the remainder of the night restlessly. I got up again at 5:00 AM to take Bayer Back & Body as my whole head was now splitting with a headache and my jaw was locking up. I lay down yet again, attempting a bit more sleep. At 6:00 the alarm went off, and I got up for good. We went through our usual clean up routine, and then had breakfast. We were pulling out of the driveway at precisely 8:06 AM. First stop was the post office to drop off a bill payment. Next a nearby convenient store stop for a drink and candy bars for the flight.
A note about the weather: Owensboro awoke gloomy with light rain and a temperature in the low 50s. We arrived in Evansville to more gloom now with a drizzle of rain. We did have a few bands of heavier rain, but those were out of the area by the time we reached the airport across town. The temperature here was still in the low 50s. As we waited for clearance on the tarmac, the sun began to shine. It was going to be a beautiful day.
The road trip from our house to the airport took a bit over an hour. At the airport, Luke dropped me off in front under the covering while he parked the car. Thankfully, he found a spot quickly though it was all the way in the back. Inside, we both made a restroom break, taking turns so the bags were attended. Luke said while he was waiting for me that a lady told him she had the matching purse to the Vera Bradley Weekender he was carrying. The terminal was not actually opened yet, so we found a bench and played on our phones since there was free Wi-Fi. Even then we waited for the folks who rushed to be first in line to work their way through before we went through security. This is a small airport, so this whole process was quite easy. Luke and I also had received TSA Pre-check. No shoes off, but we did have to put the quart size Ziploc bag of liquids in a separate container to pass through the scanner. They also pulled my backpack (in the same Vera Bradley pattern) to check out my laptop. Then we were good to go to our gate. At this point we still had about an hour before boarding would begin. We talked and checked e-mail and even got to read some.
Boarding started at 10:35, sort of – the plane wasn’t here yet, but we queued up in our first line of the trip. This is a small airport as I’ve said, and Allegiant has passengers board from the tarmac. So the line was inside a building adjoining the terminal and the tarmac. Thank goodness because it was still chilly outside. We did have a little bit of a wait before our plane taxied over and disgorged its current passengers. Once on the tarmac we boarded the plane via ramps. We did have assigned seats so there was no rush to find a spot on the plane. Our seats were in row 22 A and C. Our side of the plane had only two seats while across the aisle were three seats. The plane took off right on time. Once we were at cruising level, we broke out our lunch of sorts, a Snickers for Luke and a Hershey’s Dark Chocolate with Almonds for me.
Flight Notes: Basically uneventful though our descent was a little bumpy. But it is a smaller plane so that seems typical. We landed a little early with thunderstorms in the area. As we neared Sanford, Luke pointed out the Daytona International Speedway to me. Very cool!
PS: There really was nothing yet in the day I felt the need to photograph. The view outside the car and the airport was gray and drizzly. But never fear there will be photos.
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Signing on! Can't believe I'm first!!
Interesting that with pre-check you needed to pull the liquid and laptop. You're supposed to be able to avoid that.
Would love to hear your D.C. Plans, and whether you'll be anywhere that I could say a quick hello! Funerals at Arlington are so amazing - I've been to several.
Signing on! Can't believe I'm first!!
Interesting that with pre-check you needed to pull the liquid and laptop. You're supposed to be able to avoid that.
Would love to hear your D.C. Plans, and whether you'll be anywhere that I could say a quick hello! Funerals at Arlington are so amazing - I've been to several.
This was different from all the other times I've gotten TSA pre-check. It's a small airport, so I wondered if that was just their policy. There was no delay to our getting through, so it all worked out.
I've sent you a PM about D.C. My aunt died back in early spring, but it takes a while to get everything organized with the military and Arlington. She will have full military honors, so it should be incredible.
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Hate you had such a restless night, but sounds like the morning commute, both land and air, ran pretty smoothly for the both of you. Looking forward to the next installation of your trip!!
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Hate you had such a restless night, but sounds like the morning commute, both land and air, ran pretty smoothly for the both of you. Looking forward to the next installation of your trip!!
I always have difficulty the night before we leave on a Disney trip, but it was a little worse this time since my allergies had flared up.
Glad to be signing on to the TR in the beginning. I love the title. Toatlky suits you both notnonly your touring style. So glad that your Aunt will be receiving the full honor that she deserves and that your immediate family will all be in attendance. Hoping you have beautiful weather for her burial. The wind always seems to rip through Arlington.
Ooh, goody - I've been waiting for this trip report to start - thank you!
(I must say I'm flattered that you are borrowing my style of reporting, I'm not sure how I started doing the 'plans vs actual' thing, it just seemed to evolve that way, but it's nice to know it works for those who read my TRs. Har, you wait till you see the TR from our next trip - and it hasn't even started yet!!)
Great start, and that's lovely about your Aunt's burial, how lovely to see her honoured the way she should be. I hope it all goes well for you.
__________________
Silvercat
(Enjoy reading trip reports? Why not try my books, "Tiggerific Travels Parts 1, 2, 3 & the new volume 4" - available now as e-books)
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
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At that time I had to take allergy and sinus medicines as my head and jaw were aching. Back in bed I spent the remainder of the night restlessly. I got up again at 5:00 AM to take Bayer Back & Body as my whole head was now splitting with a headache and my jaw was locking up. 
I lay down yet again, attempting a bit more sleep. At 6:00 the alarm went off, and I got up for good. We went through our usual clean up routine, and then had breakfast. We were pulling out of the driveway at precisely 8:06 AM. First stop was the post office to drop off a bill payment. Next a nearby convenient store stop for a drink and candy bars for the flight. 
The terminal was not actually opened yet, so we found a bench and played on our phones since there was free Wi-Fi. Even then we waited for the folks who rushed to be first in line to work their way through before we went through security. This is a small airport, so this whole process was quite easy. Luke and I also had received TSA Pre-check. 
Once we were at cruising level, we broke out our lunch of sorts, a Snickers for Luke and a Hershey’s Dark Chocolate with Almonds for me. 
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