Day 1: Friday, May 24, 2013
At 5:30 A.M., I drove Hubby to Foodland to catch his ride to work in Huntsville.
I went to ECM Hospital to visit my dad; he had Gallbladder surgery the day before. When I got to the ECM parking deck, I programmed my GPS for our trip to Columbus, Georgia. I stayed with my dad until about 9:00 A.M.
I picked up Hubby at Mapco in Huntsville, AL, near NASA at 10:30A.M.
We ate brunch at Cracker Barrel Store number 51 in Cullman, Al.
I ordered a kid's plate of grilled chicken fingers and carrots with a glass of water, which cost ($4.69)
Hubby ordered a bacon cheeseburger plate with onion rings for $10.58 and a diet Coke for $1.99, for $23.11. (We shared a dark mallow cup for $1.19.)
We stopped at Peach Park in Clanton, Alabama, where we shared a bowl of peach ice cream and a fried peach pie. We walked around the park, and I took pictures.
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| Holding up a peach at Peach Park |
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| Riding a horse |
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| Peach Ice cream and fried Peach Pie, YUM! |
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| Hubby at Peach Park |
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| Peach Park |
We arrived at Country Inns & Suites, 1720 Fountain Court, Columbus Ga at 5:30 P.M. Room 108-confirmation number 73984065. Total cost: $95.12 for one night. (706) 660-1880
Hubby took a shower, and I changed clothes. Graduation was at Smith Station Middle School Stadium in Smith Station, Alabama.
We arrived early and sat in the bleachers' front row.
I started talking to the woman next to me; she was a friend of Justin's mom (Stacy) sitting next to me.
She leaned over and said, "I think that is Justin's grandmother." Justin's dad (Josh) and brother (Andrew) came later. Josh and his hubby started talking about electrical work, for both were IBEW brothers. I was told that Justin had joined the ARMY and was to leave for camp in August. He signed up before he had told his mom or dad.
394 students graduated from Smith Station in Lee County, AL. The graduation lasted from 8 P.M. to 10 P.M.
After the graduation, we took several pictures and said our goodbyes. We told Justin and his family that we would be back on May 29 to pick him up.
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| Justin |
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| Justin, Josh, Stacy, and Andrew |
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| Justin, me, and Hubby |
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| Justin |
After the graduation, most restaurants were closed. We found a Taco Bell that was open, located at 7330 Veterans Parkway, Columbus, Georgia 31906. At 10:39 P.M., we spent $9.27.
I bought lottery tickets at the connecting store.
We climbed into bed at the Hotel because it had been a long day.
Day 2: Saturday, May 25, 2013
We both got up, took showers, packed, ate waffles with fruit and juice for breakfast, loaded the van, and started our journey to Orlando, Florida. We filled up with gas at the Summit in Columbus, Georgia, for $60.50.
Along the way, we stopped at Marks Melon Patch in Dawson, Georgia, because Hubby wanted some boiled peanuts. I took out my camera and started taking pictures. I saw an outhouse next to the fruit stand, so I opened the door.
It startled me when the dummies inside started to speak; Hubby laughed. The owner said it gets them every time.
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| Outhouse |
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| Dummie in outhouse |
We stopped at some of the historic sites in Dawson, Georgia. I took pictures of the Terrell County Historic Marker, Confederate Gun Shop Marker, World War II Marker, James Mathews Griggs Historic Marker, Terrell Courthouse, old homes, and churches.
While I was taking pictures, I met James Mathew Griggs's great-grandson. He told me that the marker of his great-grandfather had been moved to the courthouse lawn.
The marker read:
To the memory of James Mathew Griggs, who represented the 2nd district of Georgia in Congress with conspicuous ability and fidelity from March 4, 1897, to the date of his death, January 5, 1910. This memorial is erected in his hometown by the people of the district.
He loved and honored the people they loved and praised him.
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| James Mathew Griggs |
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| Terrell County Courthouse |
Next, we stopped in the historic town of Sylvester, where I took pictures of Worth County Historical marker, the courthouse, War Markers, and a hundred-year-old train engine.
The Train engine was enclosed with a gate and had a roof over it. It was located next to the main highway.
While I was taking pictures of the train, I heard a laugh.
I thought to myself someone thought it was funny that I was taking pictures of the train.
I looked around to see who was laughing, and to my surprise, it was a goat!
The goat was on a trailer behind a truck stopped at the red light.
The goat laughed and laughed as the truck pulled away. LOL! Needless to say, he was not laughing at me, but I sure thought he was. I walked back to the van and told Hubby about the incident, and he laughed.
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| A hundred-year-old train engine in Sylvester |
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| The Laughing Goat |
We ate lunch at Texas Road House, 3830 SW Archer Rd, Gainsville, FL. I ordered sirloin steak with potato and water, and Hubby ordered hamburgers and fries. At 2:46 P.M., we ate at table 44, and our server was Rachel. The total cost for the meal was $26.76.
When we arrived in Orlando, we had to drive through several tolls, which cost $5.25, to get to Country Inn & Suites, 5440 Forbes Place, Orlando, FL (407)856-8896, room 112.
We took our luggage to the room, changed clothes, and rode to the Island of Adventure.
At the Island of Adventure, we watched Poison Adventure; we walked to the back of the park to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter to ride the Forbidden Journey of Harry Potter.
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| The Island of Adventure |
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| The Island of Adventure |
We left the Island of Adventure and went to City Walk. I had talked to Lora, who was to meet us there. As always, she was late.
We decided to eat supper at Hard Rock Café. We insisted on eating outside. They said that we would have to wait, but we said that was okay; we were not in a hurry.
It is funny now, but we thought their outside tables were downstairs.
We were led to a balcony overlooking City Walk, which had a gorgeous view but a bit briskly.
Being so high up, it caught the breeze of the parks.
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| Hard Rock Cafe in City Walk Orlando |
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| Hard Rock Cafe in City Walk Orlando |
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| The balcony at Hard Rock Cafe on City Walk |
We ordered boneless chicken tenders, water, and Coke, which cost $19.91. We sat there as long as we could wait for Lora and her friend.
We paid our bill and left.
We met Lora and her friend at Bubba Gumps. Outside, there were people jumping rope and Hula Hula Hooping. It had been a long day. After saying goodbye, we rode back to the hotel.
We stopped at Race Trac store 522, 1875 McCoy Rd, Belle Isle, FL 32089, to get fuel at pump one for 15.215 gallons at $3.549 per gallon. It was 5:37 P.M.
Day 3: Sunday, May 26, 2013
We slept late and ate breakfast at about 9:30 A.M. After breakfast, we rode to Universal Studios.
We rode ET, Doctor Seuss Ride, Spider-Man, and The Minions and watched Fear Factor, the Animal Show. We walked to City Walk. At 4:12 P.M., we ordered lunch at Bubba Gumps. Our server was Eric, and we sat at table 62.
We ordered the Shrimper's Heaven and two glasses of water, which cost $25.51.
We walked to Universal Studios and waited one hour and fifteen minutes to ride Despicable Me, which was a great disappointment.
After leaving Universal Studios, we went to the Island of Adventure, where we bought a Choro at $3.00 at Neeps Cart at 18:28P.M. Hubby bought a Lemon Slush at $4.25 at the Poe Lemon.
We bought a large coke for $2.99 at Market Café at 21:39 P.M. We stopped at Taco Bell ordered one burrito supreme $2.49, three Dorito loco supremes $5.07 for a total of $8.05, at 10:58 P.M.
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| Are we having fun yet? |
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| It must be Sunday... We're in Color! |
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| The Island of Adventure |
Day 4: Monday, May 27, 2014
Hubby was exhausted from the day before, so he slept in while I wrote in my journal about the events of the day before. We ate eggs, sausage, and bagels in the Hotel for breakfast.
At lunch, we went to Wendy's, where we ordered hamburgers and Frosty's paid cash $10.00
We arrived at Sea World at 1:14 P.M., paid $15.00 to park
The shows that we watched were:
Pets Ahoy at Seaport Theater at 1:45P.M.
One Ocean Shame Stadium at 2:30 P.M. (Killer Whale)
A'Lure the call of the Ocean at Nautilus Theater at 3:30 P.M
Blue Horizons at Dolphin Theater at 5:00 P.M.
Clyde and Seamore Take Pirates Island at Sea Lion & Otter Theater at 5:45 P.M
We saw dolphins at Dolphins Cove and the Stingrays at Stingray Lagoon for the remainder of the day.
We walked through the Manatee Aquarium
Ate chicken nuggets and corn at Expedition café. Spent $9.25.
We stopped at Taco Bell on Mccoy Road, where we ordered one burrito supreme ($2.49), two Dorito Loco supreme ($2.78), and one Nachos Bell Grande ($2.99) and spent $10.07 at 8:08P.M.
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| One Ocean Shame |
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| One Ocean Shame |
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| A'Lure the call of the Ocean at Nautilus Theater |
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| Sea World |
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| Blue Horizons at Dolphin |
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| Blue Horizons at Dolphin |
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| Sea World Entrance Antarctica |
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| Sea World Entrance |
Day 5: Tuesday, May 28, 2013
We ate breakfast at the Hotel: bagels, sausage, cream cheese, and orange juice.
I called Majorie Goodrich to see if she was at Home and if she would like us to visit. We stayed a couple of hours at Majorie's trailer. She wanted to walk the nature trail near her Home. After walking the trail, we said goodbye.
We stopped at Golden Corral in Clermont, Florida, for a lunch buffet, which cost $6.99 each, for a total of $14.96.
We drove to Downtown Disney, where we walked around, stopping at some of the souvenir shops. We stopped at Ghirardelli for some vanilla and strawberry ice cream, which cost $5.91.
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| Ghirardelli at Downtown Disney |
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| Ghirardelli at Downtown Disney |
We stopped at DTD Bridge, where Hubby bought a Diet Coke for $2.76. We stopped in at Trex, where I purchased a Trixie Trecerator (like a build-a-bear) for $19.17.
We bought gas at Racetrack for $33.00, 9.431 gallons for $3.499 per gallon at 18:30 P.M.
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| Downtown Disney |
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| Downtown Disney |
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| Downtown Disney |
Day 6: Wednesday, May 29, 2012
We paid a Hotel bill of $300.05 for four days, loaded luggage into our van, and started Home.
We ate breakfast at the Hotel.
We stopped at Mark's Melon Patch in Albany Ga at 13:38 P.M. for boiled peanuts and onions.
We stopped at Pilot in Tifton Ga for fuel 12.73 gallons at $3.299 per gallon and $42.00.
We picked up Justin in Phenix City and started Home.
We stopped in Calera, Alabama, at Cracker Barrel to eat supper; Justin ordered a chicken finger plate, I ordered a kid's chicken finger plate, and Hubby ordered a Bacon Cheese Burger plate; we spent $34.10. We bought gas at Murphy’s USA in Calera for 12.609 gallons at $3.569 per gallon for $45.00
We drove Home, stopping to drop Justin off at Shana's.
She greeted us at the gate, and I helped Justin unload his luggage. We said goodbye and rode Home.
Hubby had to work the next day, and after all that driving, he dropped into bed.
