/Cruising on a Dream Full of Frights and Friends: 10/12/13-10/19/13 TR completed 4/21/2014 - Page 7 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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We're back!!! And it was a incredibly wonderful trip. I can't wait to share all of it with you guys, but I need to get the photos uploaded first. We didn't get home until 4:30 Sunday morning, so needless to say, I was a bit too sleepy to even think about it yesterday. So hold tight for a few days, and I'll be back with the details.
__________________
Melissa
Last edited by honeybee723; 11-01-2013 at 02:40 PM..
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Welcome back, Melissa! I know you and Kelly and your families had a fabulous time on the cruise, and at WDW! Hope the drive there and back wasn't too awful!
Looking forward to all the details, and pictures!
Day One: Saturday, October 12th
Part One: On the Road Again
As a pre-warning to this first installment, it’s not very exciting, and will most likely be pretty darn short.
The night before, I had busted my butt getting all of the last minute essentials packed into the suitcases, and then loaded up the car with everything I possibly could. I was doing all of this by myself since Chad had to work until 9pm, but I got it all done, and I was so proud of little ole me.
I made sure that we all went to bed at a decent time. We were in bed before 9:30pm because we had the alarm set for 3:15am. I had no plans of hopping in the shower and getting all done up only to waste all of that effort on sitting in a car for a 14 hour road trip. So I took a shower the night before, and all I had to do was wake up and freshen myself up a bit before we were on our way. The plan was to be in the car by 4am, but for some reason that didn’t happen. Blame it on the fact that I had more stuff to finish up than I had anticipated, but it only delayed us about 30 minutes, so it wasn’t really that big of a deal. I literally scooped Hope up out of bed and put her in the car while Chad stayed behind to make her bed. I was hoping she wouldn’t even open her eyes for another couple of hours, but no dice, since she ended up being awake for the first 45 minutes of the trip.
Chad started out driving, and I stayed awake until we were almost nearing D.C. He told me to get some sleep so I would be able to take over when he needed me too, which I ended up doing until I woke up somewhere in Virginia as Hope announced that she needed to go to the bathroom. I did a quick search on my phone, and not only did I find a bathroom, but a bathroom in a Starbucks that was open at 6am. Score! After our bio break, Chad and I loaded up on coffee and headed back out on the road again, with him still in the driver’s seat. Hope and I weren’t feeling up to sleeping anymore, so while she watched The Little Mermaid, I worked on my laptop editing photos of a recent session I had just done while it was still dark outside. I can’t edit when there’s light hitting the screen, so it helped pass a lot of the time. And even though this is so irrelevant to the report, here’s a few of the photos I was working on.
By 7:45am we were still in Virginia (boy that’s a wide state to drive through ), low on gas and in need of food. We found a nice gas station that sold Dunkin Doughnuts, so we took another bathroom break, filled the gas tank and then our tummies after we got back on 95, with Chad still insisting on driving. Working on my laptop had made my eyes sleepy again, and I guess the same could be said about Hope because after her movie was over she ended up passing out as well. Chad ended up waking me somewhere in North Carolina to tell me he was starting to have a hard time keeping his eyes open now, so we pulled over and swapped places. Hope woke up in the process of the switch, and ended up playing on her Leap Pad while I drove us halfway into South Carolina. I felt bad waking him up when Hope told me she had to use the bathroom again, but the last thing I wanted to do was let him sleep, and then have him tell me had to go to the bathroom after he woke up. I didn’t want to make another extra stop, so up he woke.
Chad took over driving duties again until we stopped for gas somewhere in a very shady area of South Carolina. And once we left the station, it all became clear why the place gave me the heeby geebies… it was right across the street from the local jail. Oh the sights we see while driving down to Florida. Now, you might be wondering when we stopped for lunch, and the answer to that question is we didn’t. I had packed a bunch of snacks and drinks, so we just nibbled our way down I-95.
South Carolina is a pretty big state to drive through as well, and as soon as we crossed over into Georgia, Hope told us she had to go the bathroom again. We pulled over at the Georgia information center, and when we got out of the car the heat totally threw us off. I honestly couldn’t believe how hot it had gotten since the last time we had stopped. It was very strange.
I told Chad I would drive for a bit so he could go back to sleep, and Hope kept herself busy by coloring and watching Despicable Me (great movie by the way). I honestly have to say how proud I was of how well behaved she was during the entire trip down and back. Never once did she complain about sitting in the same spot for hours on end, or ask when we would get to where we were going. She completely amazed me.
Georgia was the easiest and quickest state to drive through, but believe it or not, by the time I was almost to Florida, I was starting to get tired again. I know I know. Chad drove for most of the trip, why didn’t you just suck it up and let the poor man sleep the rest of the way? Simple…because he actually LIKES to drive, and I, on the other hand, can’t stand it. I didn’t even have to wake him up because he was starting to stir anyway, so once I realized his eyes were open, I used that opportunity to ask him if he wanted to take over. Believe it or not, I feel asleep again while Hope watched The Little Mermaid for a second time. At some point I woke up and we were just passing through Jacksonville, which meant we had finally made it into Florida. Halleluiah! Not that much longer now!
By now my tailbone was on fire, and I just couldn’t get comfortable no matter how hard I tried. There wasn’t much to look at to keep my mind off of it although we did tell Hope once or twice that there were alligators out there, which freaked her out a bit.
With about 20 minutes to go until we reached our hotel, we started telling her we were almost there. At this moment she had no idea where she was. We refrained from telling her we were in Florida, because to her, Florida = Disney World, and we didn’t to put that idea in her head. All she knew was that she had a big surprise coming her way the next morning, and this hotel stop was only a minor delay along the way to her getting it. Needless to say she was excited anyway, and I was even more excited to get out of the car as soon as we pulled into the hotel’s parking lot.
Up Next: The Worst Ending to a Pretty Decent Day
__________________
Melissa
Last edited by honeybee723; 11-01-2013 at 02:41 PM..
Great start, Melissa!
I love the pictures you were working on editing. Great job!
It sounds like the ride down went pretty smoothly. It's so great that Hope was content and able to keep herself entertained, that's always such a worry when doing long trips.
I'm a little worried about your teaser though!
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And it was a incredibly wonderful trip. I can't wait to share all of it with you guys, but I need to get the photos uploaded first. We didn't get home until 4:30 Sunday morning, so needless to say, I was a bit too sleepy to even think about it yesterday. So hold tight for a few days, and I'll be back with the details. 
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and will most likely be pretty darn short.
and getting all done up only to waste all of that effort on sitting in a car for a 14 hour road trip. So I took a shower the night before, and all I had to do was wake up and freshen myself up a bit before we were on our way. The plan was to be in the car by 4am, but for some reason that didn’t happen. 
Blame it on the fact that I had more stuff to finish up than I had anticipated, but it only delayed us about 30 minutes, so it wasn’t really that big of a deal. I literally scooped Hope up out of bed and put her in the car while Chad stayed behind to make her bed. I was hoping she wouldn’t even open her eyes for another couple of hours, but no dice, since she ended up being awake for the first 45 minutes of the trip. 
and I stayed awake until we were almost nearing D.C. He told me to get some sleep so I would be able to take over when he needed me too, which I ended up doing until I woke up somewhere in Virginia as Hope announced that she needed to go to the bathroom. I did a quick search on my phone, and not only did I find a bathroom, but a bathroom in a Starbucks that was open at 6am. Score! 
and headed back out on the road again, with him still in the driver’s seat. Hope and I weren’t feeling up to sleeping anymore, so while she watched The Little Mermaid, I worked on my laptop editing photos of a recent session I had just done while it was still dark outside. I can’t edit when there’s light hitting the screen, so it helped pass a lot of the time. And even though this is so irrelevant to the report, here’s a few of the photos I was working on. 
), low on gas and in need of food. We found a nice gas station that sold Dunkin Doughnuts, so we took another bathroom break, filled the gas tank and then our tummies after we got back on 95, with Chad still insisting on driving. Working on my laptop had made my eyes sleepy again, and I guess the same could be said about Hope because after her movie was over she ended up passing out as well. 
Chad ended up waking me somewhere in North Carolina to tell me he was starting to have a hard time keeping his eyes open now, so we pulled over and swapped places. Hope woke up in the process of the switch, and ended up playing on her Leap Pad while I drove us halfway into South Carolina. I felt bad waking him up when Hope told me she had to use the bathroom again, but the last thing I wanted to do was let him sleep, and then have him tell me had to go to the bathroom after he woke up. I didn’t want to make another extra stop, 
so up he woke. 
it was right across the street from the local jail. Oh the sights we see while driving down to Florida. Now, you might be wondering when we stopped for lunch, and the answer to that question is we didn’t. I had packed a bunch of snacks and drinks, so we just nibbled our way down I-95. 
I honestly couldn’t believe how hot it had gotten since the last time we had stopped. It was very strange.
Simple…because he actually LIKES to drive, and I, on the other hand, can’t stand it. I didn’t even have to wake him up because he was starting to stir anyway, so once I realized his eyes were open, I used that opportunity to ask him if he wanted to take over. Believe it or not, I feel asleep again while Hope watched The Little Mermaid for a second time. At some point I woke up and we were just passing through Jacksonville, which meant we had finally made it into Florida. Halleluiah! Not that much longer now! 
All she knew was that she had a big surprise coming her way the next morning, and this hotel stop was only a minor delay along the way to her getting it. Needless to say she was excited anyway, and I was even more excited to get out of the car as soon as we pulled into the hotel’s parking lot. 
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