Summer Update

 

It’s been pretty quiet since we got back from Florida. The dogs are getting bigger. I’ve been working fairly long hours and often at night watching highway construction around Bend. After his Disney internship ended, Bryan got a job with one of the Big 4 accounting firms in Tampa.

We enjoy visiting the Old Mill District, eating, shopping, or just walking around. Last month we watched the eclipse from there.

Earlier this month Jennifer went to Turner to serve as an installing officer for Cherry Assembly

Our house in Bend is fairly close to the river so we enjoy taking the dogs for walks along it. Last weekend my mom came to visit for the weekend. Bryan was also out visiting, so we all went to dinner at a local teppanyaki restaurant.

West to Bend

Friday we continued west to Kansas. After a brief stop in Kansas City, we made our way into Colorado and then turned north to Wyoming.

We drove west through Wyoming on the Lincoln Highway, finally stopping at Rock Springs for the night. 

Our last major stop on our ninth trip across America was at Shoshone Falls outside Twin Falls, Idaho.

Indiana

Thursday, we stopped at two National Park sites in southern Indiana. The first was the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial. It had a pretty extensive visitor center telling about Lincoln's early years, and some nice grounds to walk around.

The second was the George Rogers Clark National Historic Park. He was a Revolutionary War hero who won an important battle against the British. After Jenn completed the Junior Ranger program at both sites, we drove west across southern Illinois.  

We got to St. Louis just after dinner, and stopped for the night at a campground a few hours to the west.

Kentucky

From South Carolina we headed west through Georgia to Columbus, where we had dinner Monday night with friends.

Lily and Walter got to know each other as we drove.  

Tuesday we turned north and drove through Tennessee, then stopped in Kentucky for the night. Wednesday we stopped and visited the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park. This park preserves Sinking Spring Farm, where Lincoln was born. The memorial building contains a recreation of the log cabin in which he was born. 

We stopped near Louisville for the night, and had dinner at the Hard Rock there (No. 19), then drove around the downtown for a bit.

Leaving Florida

 

Saturday morning we enjoyed breakfast at Trail's End, the restaurant at the Fort Wilderness Campground. Trail’s End is the cheapest breakfast buffet in Disney World, since it doesn’t have characters, and there’s a nice cast discount. After breakfast we walked around the old River Country area, then we took the boat to the Magic Kingdom.

In Bay Lake near Fort Wilderness is Discovery Island. When Susan and I first visited WDW guests could take a boat to it and see small animal habitats, but it closed once Animal Kingdom opened. 

At Magic Kingdom Jennifer said goodbye to a few friends and coworkers and we enjoyed a few attractions. That night we caught the Wishes fireworks show.  

We left Florida Sunday morning and drove to South Carolina, where we picked up Walter, another Sheltie.

Pandora

 

Once in Florida, we began packing Jenn up and checked into Fort Wilderness. We then spent Friday at Animal Kingdom and Saturday at Magic Kingdom.  

At Animal Kingdom we were able to spend some time in the new land based on the movie Avatar - Pandora. The Navi River ride was nice, but the Flight of Passage ride was phenomenal. It simulates riding a “banshee” through the alien landscape of Pandora. 

That night we watched the new Rivers of Light show. It was pretty good, but no where near Fantasmic!

Trailer Trip Part 2

Tuesday we continued on into Texas, stopping in Austin to visit friends and stay the night. We went up to the Oasis at Lake Travis for dinner. 

By the time we reached Louisiana Wednesday, the weather was getting worse as Tropical Storm Cindy approached the gulf coast. We decided to continue driving through the night and get to Florida a day earlier than planned before the worst of the storm hit Mississippi and Alabama.  

There was a lot of rain and lightning, but we made it to Florida early Thursday morning, then continued on to Walt Disney World.