North Carolina!!!!

Love North Carolina!!!!

When my brother and sister in law last year decided to move to North Carolina, I was very excited; not only for them to start a new adventure in their own lives, but to get a chance to explore an area of the United States I have only drove through! On our long family road trips to South Carolina growing up, North Carolina was always admired for its beauty, but generally only through the car windows!

Back in August before back to school was upon us, we made our first trip out to visit them in Statesville, North Carolina, just about 30 minutes outside of Charlotte, which is where we flew into. You definitely realized quickly you weren't in the cornfields of Illinois, Iowa or Nebraska as miles and miles of forest and hills and mountains were upon us!!!

We had such a wonderful week with so much to do, our list has grown longer for what we want to explore on our next visit! We did enjoy wonderful restaurants around the Statesville/Charlotte area to enjoy dinner and drinks!

Lunch in Charlotte!

On the trails!

Waterfall at the end! 

Two activities that really stuck out to us the most was visiting the US White Water Rafting Center and also hiking up in the Appalacian Mountains, a mere hour from where they lived!!! The hike was absolutely beautiful, and took us around crystal clear streams that we enjoyed wading through, and mini pockets of watering holes to cool off when too hot. The topper of it all was once you made it to the end of the trail; a beautiful majestic waterfall was awaiting our arrival, as well as more crystal clear deep water to swim in! Magical was truly the way to describe it! I have some to realize that Paige may be more of an outdoors girl that I thought...she just really hasn't gotten a chance to explore!!! You can find some great hiking trails in North Carolina by visiting http://www.trailsofnc.com/.

Nothing is better than a nice hike to work up a sweat...and an appetite! I believe afterwards we trekked back to Statesville and ordered some delicious pizza!!!

Now onto the US National Whitewater Center...oh my gosh you guys, this place was AMAZING! Visit their site here at http://usnwc.org/. So you can pay a one time fee to basically do everything the facility has to offer, and there is an insane amount to do! Or you can pick and choose what you want to pay to do that day. There are huge rope courses built inside the forests, zip lining, kayaking, hiking, rock walls and much, much more! Also, there is a fantastic restaurant with craft beers galore. Can you say heaven??

Onto the white water rafting. Anyone remember watching this on the Summer Olympic games? Yep...thats exactly what we were doing! The rapids are man made, and when I say man made, I mean they can be super super intense if you want them to!!! You start out by taking a short class and then off you go with a guide who can really show you some intense rapids!!!! We had an absolute blast, and ended with two bloody lips (Paige and I) and Brian flipping over the side! I say that was a success!!! :) If you plan on visiting, definitely check out their website because there are numerous festivals and other events that take place. I honestly think Paige may have enjoyed all of this better than even Disney World. No joke. I couldn't get her off the ropes course! I, however, had to turn around before making it to the first tree! Yep...I was that girl! :)

I have included a few extra pictures of the White Water Rafting Center...because even though the pictures don't do the facility justice, they at least give you a glimpse of what they have to offer.

I would say if you have never visited the Charlotte area, mark it down as an absolute must do! There is so much to see, and really get a feel for what the outdoors has to offer! I may be an outdoor adventurer and just didn't even realize it! :)

Thanks Adam and Miranda (and Miriam) for a new wonderful vacation destination!!!! Can't wait to come back again soon!

We love you Miranda,  Adam and Miriam!

Mount Rushmore!!!

We love Mount Rushmore!

As a kid I remember packing the car full and heading to Mount Rushmore...quite a hike from Central Illinois! Now we only live 8 or 9 hours (depending on the weather) from it since we reside in Omaha, so to us its a much easier drive! Another plus is that my husband's job takes him there once a month so we try and tag along twice a year. Not only are there a ton of family friendly attractions to keep us busy, but there are also two great hotels with indoor waterparks we love to stay at!

The drive to South Dakota may be long, but there are a few fun stops along the way that you will see road signs for hours from where they are. One is the Mitchell, SD Corn Palace, and the other is Wall Drug!!! Once you hit Wall Drug, you know you are getting closer to Rapid City, which is where we stay when visiting Mount Rushmore! You can learn more about these two attractions at http://www.cornpalace.org and http://www.walldrug.com.

Once we make it to Rapid City, we always stay at one of two places, either the Best Western Ramkota http://www.ramkota.com  or the Watiki Water Resort www.watikiwaterpark.com/. Both have some of the best indoor water parks I have been to, as well as terrific restaurants! We usually switch it up each trip to do both...but tend to lean towards Watiki for the water park (they even have the toilet bowl water slide inside!) and then the Ramkota for the restaurant. Surrounding both hotels are many new stores and restaurants...so on the days you may not venture to one of the numerous family attractions, there is plenty to do around the hotel!

Downtown Keystone

Now, as for the attractions around Mount Rushmore...you could easily spend a week in South Dakota and not see everything! Of course a must do is see what they are famous for...the President heads!!! Even Paige at 5 was in awe. If you go, make sure you also take one of the hiking trails that gets you very, very close to the heads for a completely different vantage point! More information on this attraction can be found at http://www.nps.gov/moru/index.htm.

After we pay a visit to our Presidents, we always stay in Keystone, which is where the actual Mount Rushmore landmark can be found, and many, many fun things to do. One of our new favorites is the alpine slide, which begins with a ride up a ski lift to the top, where you can then choose from one of two tracks to go down. One slower, and one much faster! You can guess which route we all took! :)

Other must see spots on our visit include Rushmore Cave, Reptile Gardens, Bear Country and panning for gold. I have included some pictures of these so you can check out the fun!

Bear Country!

Alpine Slide! 

Putt Putt!

Panning for Gold! 

One of our favorite places in all of South Dakota is Cosmo's Mystery Area. I don't want to give too much away on this magical spot, but when you drive up to it, you may question my sanity, but trust me. It is a must do!!!!!!!!!!

A great starting point to figure out what you really want to make sure and hit is by visiting http://www.travelsd.com/ or feel free to ask me! I feel like I have become somewhat of an expert in the area because of all the times we have visited. We even have started a new family tradition where over New Years we stay at one of the hotels. Now many of the attractions are closed for the season, but the Rapid City area just has so many great restaurants and indoor activities, we never run out of things to do!!!

A wild day at Animal Kingdom!!!

Animal Kingdom is so different from the other Disney parks, each time I go I feel like I am literally entering the countries of Asia or Africa, as the attention to detail is just magnificant! Of course, its Disney, so what do you expect? Its just so cool to be walking through what you think is an African outdoor market into a Safari, that sometimes its hard to remember, "Oh yeah, I am at Disney!"

Before starting our adventure we like to try and hit up one more character breakfast buffet, which takes us back to 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian hotel that has completely different characters than their dinner event. This time you get to meet the likes of Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh, and all the Alice in Wonderland Characters!!! As usual, we try to get one of the first reservations of the morning to allow us plenty of time at the park...funny how at home you can barely pull us out of bed before 10 am, but at Disney we are up by 7 am!!!

So onto Animal Kingdom... let me just tell you, this park is big. It may not seem like it when you walk in, but as you start off on the various trails and paths, you realize you are covering a ton of ground! The first path we always take leads us right to our favorite ride...Exhibition Everest!!!

Exhibition Everest is a roller coaster that brings you face to face with the Yeti...who, "OH NO" has broken off the track! So then you get to go backwards through the track when you hit the end of the line where the Yeti has broke it...which is such a unique experience! Paige's helpful hint for you all is to wait for front row...well worth it both forwards and backwards! We always, always get a Fast Pass for this ride, because it is just a blast!!! When you get to the broken track part, there is a slight pause. Make sure you look around cause you can see so much of Disney World at that moment!!!

After fighting off the Yeti, we always have to hit up the Safari, which takes you through an adventure where you see elephants (yes, all real), lions, tigers and more! It is a great ride when you want to relax for a bit too, because it is a pretty long safari! We try to do this a couple times on each trip, because of course each time is different, depending on the mood of the animals!!!

We also always have to go deep inside The Tree of Life, which is the central part of the park, for "Its Tough to Be a Bug." I am not going to give anything away...but let me just warn you, this is such a fun show, but could scare small children very easily! You have been warned!!!

After hitting up our favorites, as well as many of the others in the park, we always hit up the different activities throughout Animal Kingdom, where they even stamp a little card showing you have hit up all the different crafts and educational activities. A nice free souvenir for Paige to take home. Also be sure to take the train to a small area of the park where very unique character greetings are set up, in a very nice air conditioning building!!!

At the end of the long day, we are always ready to kick our feet up for a bit, so we head back over to Epcot to eat at The Garden Grill, a rotating restaurant where you get to eat with Mickey, Chip and Dale and more! What is really neat about this restaurant, aside from it rotating slowly, is that it features food items right from Disney's own gardens, which are featured in a ride directly below the restaurant! Doesn't get much fresher than that!!!






Well, that covers the four lands of Disney World. Truly the happiest places on earth for us. Let me tell you, when it is time for us to head back to the airport...Paige and I cry. I mean, we sob. Its Disney...we don't want to ever leave!!!

I hope you enjoyed learning all about our Disney trips...but now it is time to move on to our other trips throughout the United States. I am so excited to share more experiences with you! Where will we go next? Well, you will have to check back to find out! :)

It's an action packed day at Hollywood Studios!!!

Hollywood Studios!

Visiting Hollywood Studios has always been one of the highlights of our Disney trip. Maybe it is the fact that despite the park not being as huge as others, there is so much to do, but yet you can take the time to enjoy some of the shows offered in the park instead of racing the clock to get from one end of the place to the other. Maybe it also has something to do with the fact that I think it truly has three of the most innovative rides out of anyplace I have ever been!

Now before I get to far into discussing Hollywood Studios, lets talk food! We really like to hit up as many character meals as possible, so as early as we can in the morning we make reservations at Cape May Cafe, a delicious breakfast buffet located at the Beach Club hotel. This buffet is so fun because Micky, Minnie, Donald and the gang all our dressed in fun beach gear! It is a fun, lively atmosphere that for some reason never feels very crowded! We also love visiting the hotels of the restaurants because you can really then see what accommodations are out there.

Waiting in line at Toy Story Mania!

The green army men from Toy Story!

Now after eating far too much, we always still try and make it over to Hollywood Studios before "rope drop," aka park opening. Why you ask? Three words...Toy Story Mania. Toy Story Mania is probably the funnest ride out there and keeps getting better because it is a game where you actually get a score on how well you play the "amusement park" style games while riding a tram through numerous 3D interactive screens. It is so hard to describe just how amazing this game is, but all I can say is my husband Brian loves it as much as my daughter Paige...so there you have it. It truly is a FAMILY ride. Now here's the kicker...because of its popularity it is CRUCIAL you get to this ride as quickly as possible and do one of two things. Grab a fast pass or hop in line and ride immediately! The Fast Passes for this ride, I must warn you, go super fast. I am talking if you are there even an hour past rope drop, you are likely either going to get a pass for late that evening or will be waiting in a 2 hour line!

On the ride!

So the route we take is get to the ride as quickly as possible, have Brian grab our fast passes, then hop in the regular line so we can for sure get at least two rides on it for the day. Like I said, this ride is fun and addicting!! One thing I forgot to note about Fast Passes...give your Keys to the World cards (which is basically your admission ticket, hotel key, dining card and more) to one person. That person can then race ahead, put each card through the Fast Pass machine, and get your return tickets for the ride, and catch back up with you! Saves a bit of time!

Aerosmith!

On to our two other favorite rides at Hollywood Studios. Aerosmith's Rockin Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror! Aerosmith's ride is the only upside down coaster in Disney World...and so much fun! It is a completely indoor coaster as you travel through a black lit wonderland, with music blasting in your ears from speakers built into each seat. Truly an experience! The best part is the beginning, as a countdown starts and then you are shot off from zero to 60 mpg in 2.8 seconds! Yep...it is truly mind blowing!!

Our "pixie dust" on this ride was as we were getting off after riding front row (truly the only way we like to roll), we were pulled aside by a Cast Member. They asked how we liked it, and then said, "Well ride again!" and led us through some doors and right to the front of the line again!!! Oh yeah!!!!

Last, but certainly not least, is my absolute favorite ride out of any Disney ride...Tower of Terror! Walking up to the hotel is so menacing, you get that nervous excited feeling...but all well worth it!! I don't want to give too much away about this ride, because it truly has to be experienced...but how does getting on an elevator that then falls to the brink of death MORE than once sound? I thought so. It sounds amazing, doesn't it?? :) There is so much to this ride, from the moment you walk through the hotel doors it truly is so much an experience.

Tower of Terror!

A funny side note, my parents met up with us for a bit last time we went, and before actually boarding an elevator you are ushered into a room to stand all together and watch a video. My mom kept whispering that I wasn't holding Paige tight enough, and wouldn't let it go. Well...turns out, she thought that WAS the ride, and that all of a sudden from a random standing position in a huddle the floor was just going to drop! Sounds a bit dangerous to me! I think she was relieved to see we actually are seated and buckled in for the true ride! :)

Not to be missed throughout this park is also numerous shows like Beauty and the Beast as well as an American Idol experience using actual guests at the park who audition during the day. You truly feel like you are part of the television show!!!

American Idol Experience

Ahh Hollywood Studios...how I love you so. Everything about you makes me smile!!!

My next post will be all about the final park, Animal Kingdom, where we will go on an Exhibition to meet up with a Yeti, as well as go on an African Safari! Stay tuned! :)