summer 2023

The Original “It’s a Small World”

If you’ve been around these parts for a while, you know I’m a huge fan of Mary Blair’s work, especially with Disney. Last summer, I was over the moon to get to ride “It’s a Small World,” at Disney World but this year’s trip to Disneyland was even more special, because that’s where the original “It’s a Small World” was relocated after its time at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. Instead of the bright colors that the ride in Orlando has at the entrance, the California version has the white and gold color scheme from the end of the ride out front:

Another difference is that the ride begins (and ends) outdoors:

The interior of the ride has the same bright, beautiful colors, which is Mary Blair’s signature:

You might notice references to Disney movies scattered throughout…we were especially excited to find Stitch surfing!

It doesn’t matter where you ride it, it’s still the “happiest cruise that ever sailed!”

As was the case at Disney World, I really didn’t want to say goodbye!

I wonder if I’ll ever have the chance to ride this attraction at any of the other Disney parks?

A Road Trip Inspired by M*A*S*H–Day Six

And now we reach the end of our summer 2023 road trip. There’s not much to say about the drive from Bowling Green back home, but we did stop at Lic’s Deli and Ice Cream, an Evansville staple since 1950, for the first time, and I’m pretty sure we’ll be back!

I really enjoyed our trip (and our other travels this summer), but it’s always nice to be back home!

A Road Trip Inspired by M*A*S*H–Day Five

Before we left Toledo, we stopped for coffee and donuts at Tim Hortons. I had hoped to go there when we were originally supposed to fly through Detroit on our way home from Disneyland, and I was not going to be denied again!

I wanted to see Lake Erie, so we drove to Luna Pier in Michigan before we headed south. The lake itself was nice, but they were having a mayfly situation, something I hope I never see again!

It was a tedious drive…we sat in construction for what seemed like an eternity. We did get to stop and eat at Skyline Chili, which helped break up the monotony some. I’m still not sure how I feel about chili served on spaghetti (and with that amount of cheese on top!), but the chili itself was good.

The rest of our drive back to Bowling Green was fairly uneventful, other than some random rain showers along the way…at least we didn’t run into any storms!

A Road Trip Inspired by M*A*S*H–Day Four

Finally…Toledo!

Our trip was inspired by Jamie Farr’s/Maxwell Q. Klinger’s love of Toledo, but you can’t take a trip in his honor without also recognizing his mentor, Danny Thomas, so we stopped by Danny Thomas Park in the morning. As Jamie Farr said when his park was dedicated (keep reading to see that) “The great Danny Thomas has a park named after him on the south side of Toledo and I have a park named after me on the north side of Toledo. This is the only city in the United States guarded by two noses!”

After visiting the park, we drove a bit outside Toledo to The Historic Canal Experience, which gave us the opportunity to ride a canal boat down a section of the Miami & Erie Canal, go through a lock, and tour an old mill. It was a really cool experience…stay tuned for full details!

One of the main destinations of our Klinger road trip was dinner at Tony Packo’s. I absolutely loved the place…it felt like a neighborhood pub, but Hungarian, which makes sense since it’s in Toledo’s Hungarian neighborhood (see St. Stephen of Hungary Parish just down the street!). I felt like I had come home!

We also stopped at Jamie Farr Park, which is not too far from the intersection Klinger says he’s from in “The Grim Reaper”…Michigan and Galena. I really love the quote on the plaque!

And then on to the Toledo Mudhens game! I really liked their ballpark, and it was so much fun sitting so close to the field!

We didn’t see Muddy, but we did get to have a picture taken with Muddonna!

Ryan also found Cat Trick, one of the Toledo Walleye’s mascots:

It was a great game…the Mudhens were in the lead for most of it, but the Buffalo Bison tied it in the ninth, setting the stage for a walk-off home run by Joe Rizzo.

It was a fireworks night, so while they set that up, the crowd was entertained with music, dancing, and a giant beach ball!

The fireworks were amazing!

I kind of didn’t want to leave when they were done, but we had a day of driving ahead of us, so I bid Toledo a reluctant farewell.

A Road Trip Inspired by M*A*S*H–Day Three

We were up extra early on the third day of our trip, because we were headed to Cincinnati!

On the way to the zoo, we stopped in Covington, KY, to see this new Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland-themed bench that is part of a project to bring literacy and artistic expression together by the Kenton County Public Library Foundation. I love a public art installation!

On to the Cincinatti Zoo!

One of the main reasons we wanted to visit the Cincinatti Zoo specifically is because they have little blue penguins (just like Roald from Animal Crossing!), and I have always wanted to see them!

The other main reason for our visit was to see as much of their hippo bloat as possible. Not only did we see all four hippos, Fritz put on quite a show, doing his best to harass his big sister, Fiona!

There’s even a special “Bloat Float,” featuring grape soda over vanilla soft-serve, available at the zoo this summer!

We also saw quite a few different kinds of pigeons, including the Victoria Crowned Pigeon:

It was a beautiful day to walk around the zoo!

On our way to Toledo, we stopped in Lima to eat at Kewpee Hamburgers, the second-oldest fast food chain in the country. The location that we stopped at dates back to 1928…what is the 20s version of mid-century marvelous?!? Moderne marvelous perhaps? It was a cool place, the food was good and also surprisingly cheap!

After we ate, we finally made our way to the main destination of our trip…Toledo, OH!

A Road Trip Inspired by M*A*S*H–Day Two

The second day of our M*A*S*H-inspired roadtrip still had pretty much nothing to do with the show…we spent the whole day in Bowling Green, and after watching the most recent episode of Guy Fieri’s Guy’s All-American Road Trip, we went in search of The Groovy Gus Donut Bus. While we did find the bus, we actually bought the donuts from their brick and mortar shop, and they were outstanding. They make mini donuts right in front of you, and then you choose your topping. We picked birthday cake and cinnamon roll, and both were excellent…they literally melted in your mouth!

We took our donuts to Fountain Square Park, where we enjoyed the view and talked to a nice lady out walking her dog.

Up next: Back on the road!

A Road Trip Inspired by M*A*S*H–Day One

Our family vacation this year was inspired by the TV series M*A*S*H, and took us to the beautiful state of…Ohio? Yes, our main goal in our travels this year was visiting Klinger’s Toledo, but we had some stops along the way!

We started out, as is so often the case, by heading to Ryan’s parents house. We took two cars, and the girls and I decided we wanted to stop and enjoy Smothers Park in Owensboro, KY, this year, since our planned stop there last summer was interrupted by COVID-10. But first, I had to drive across this scary bridge:

We were rewarded with a fun visit to the park once I made it across, and I especially enjoyed the fountains!

After that, the rest of the drive was quick and easy, and we made it to Bowling Green, KY, without any trouble, where we’d hang out for a day before continuing our journey.

Tasty Tuesday–Ronto Roasters

When we were at Disney World last year, I briefly touched on our experience getting Ronto Wraps from Ronto Roasters at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Hollywood Studios, and I’ve even made Ronto Wraps at home…today, I’m going to take a closer look at the Disneyland restaurant itself, because it’s a really fun place to grab a bite to eat!

Can you think of any other place in the galaxy where you can have a droid roast your dinner for you?

I’m still not entirely clear on what a Ronto actually is, but it appears to be a fairly large animal, and is certainly delicious!

Here’s a look at the counter where you order:

And the finished product, exactly as we had it at Disney World, minus the plantain chips, which was a shame, because we’ve discovered we really like them!

This is such a fun and different restaurant, and the food is absolutely amazing…I’m already looking forward to the next time I make Ronto Wraps at home!

100 Years of Wonder

I am so glad that our trip to Disneyland was this year, while they’re celebrating “100 Years of Wonder” (100 years since the founding of the Disney Brothers Studio, which we know today as The Walt Disney Company)…like the “World’s Most Magical Celebration” that celebrated 50 years of Walt Disney World last year, there are special touches all around the park marking this illustrious occasion. And like the Cinderella Castle at Disney World, one of the best places to see the decorations is on the Sleeping Beauty castle, where they’ve added not just a banner and the signature medallion, but also Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, plus a beautiful star:

Here’s a look at some of the other embellishments, from displays in the shops to a redecorated monorail, characters in special costumes, and even limited-edition souvenirs:

The Disneyland entrance outside of the train station has also been upgraded for the occasion, where the famous floral Mickey Mouse head has been redone in the color scheme for 100 Years of Wonder:

I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to attend this celebration, and so soon after I was at Disney World for their anniversary, too! It is more than I ever imagined I’d be able to do!

The Happiest Trip on Earth–The Bonus Day

MSP—>STL; 8,316 steps

And so we arrive at the “Bonus Day” of our trip. Trying to look for a silver lining, I will say that if we hadn’t had to spend the night in Bloomington, MN, we wouldn’t have seen this cool airport art at MSP. That’s the best I can do.

We left our hotel on the first shuttle out, at 4:30 a.m. We were not taking any chances on not getting to the airport on time! Once we arrived, we went to Caribou Coffee to use our meal vouchers for breakfast. Fortunately, we had enough money to each have a coffee and a breakfast sandwich!

We cautiously made our way to our gate, and it seemed like we would be leaving as (re)scheduled. There was a brief moment where the gate agent seemed doubtful, and started trying to put people on alternate flights, but then they decided they were worried for nothing, so we just sat and waited for our boarding time.

The flight wasn’t very full, so we boarded pretty quickly. We buckled in for what was scheduled to be a relatively short flight and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Because the same issue that had delayed the flight the night before (lack of a first officer) was still a problem. They finally found one on an inbound flight, and I assume she hurried over as fast as possible after she landed, and she was cheered by the entire plane when she stepped through the door. I’m not going to lie…I help my breath while they did the pre-flight check because at that point, I was pretty much assuming they were going to find a mechanical issue. They didn’t, though, and we finally took off (after I had already watched most of the first Downton Abbey movie).

We made it home without further complications, and we didn’t even have to wait too long for our luggage.

And that brings us to the end of our trip. It was an amazing experience, even with the trouble we had on the way home. I’m so glad I had this special time with Turkey and Bunny to celebrate their accomplishments before they move on to the next big thing!