Ride the North Pole Express Train!

We Loved The North Pole Express Train Ride!

We ventured down to Nelsonville, Ohio on Saturday evening Dec, 4th, 2010 to ride on the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway, on the North Pole Express train ride.  The setting was perfect, a nice peaceful snowy night.

It was about an hour and half ride for us from the Columbus area, so Dave, the triplets and I  left plenty early since it was snowing. We figured we would have time to go into Rocky’s and shop around and eat dinner before the train left at 7pm. We arrived around 5pm and found out we didn’t have as much spare time as we thought.

I wanted to get pictures while it was still light out, and then was also given a tour by Bob of the train before everyone got on.

There were so many cars… I am thinking 10. Several of them were so similar that you wouldn’t have been able to tell them apart other than decorations were different colors. There was one up front that had a pot belly stove going, another one (that we sat in) that had higher back seats. The one the kids thought looked the coolest was the double decker train car. Bob was explaining a lot of the history to me. How most of these cars were used in Chicago.

We went over to Rocky’s, but evidently there were a lot of other people who had the same idea as us… so we went to eat at McDonald’s. We were told it would be a good idea to get back close to 6pm if we wanted to get a good seat on the train. The ride was sold out! There were 537 people on board. We did get back at 6pm and the kids had gotten their PJ’s and robes on.

Before the train started at 7pm, I went through a few of the other cars to get pictures. I asked parents before I took and pictures of their children. Here are a few of my favorites:

This little girl was so darling, I just couldn’t get enough of her.  I think I could have snapped pictures all night of her. She just seemed to me to be the poster child for The Polar Express, or as our ride was called… The North Pole Express.

They started serving the hot chocolate and cookies soon after we left. I felt bad for the hot chocolate man…. he needed a much bigger pitcher for it, or someone to bring him refills. He would only get a few rows filled and then would have to run a few train cars back to refill the pitcher.

We called the cookie man…the cookie elf. He had a cute hat on and followed behind the hot chocolate man. He also had some extras….so came back through a few times (oh darn…. we had to have more than 1 cookie!)

They passed out bells for all the kids….but us adults couldn’t hear them ring. I don’t get it?  LOL

We had the Hobo come through and tell everyone not to tell the conductor where he was. He came back through double checking with the kids to make sure they hadn’t told. Mine thought that was hysterical, they were telling him that they did tell on him.

After we got back from our ride, we could go across the street. At the Nelsonville Commons Park they had an ice skating rink set up. They told us skate rental was free with our train ticket so the kids decided to go skating. (hint…grab their gloves out of the car before you head across the street). Here they are skating in their pajamas having a great time… was on the other hand loved standing by the fire can….warming up! lol

 

You can check  Hocking Valley Scenic Railway for times and dates. You can also find them on Twitter at @hvscenicrailway and Facebook

One thing I would suggest if you have little ones. Send someone on the train to get your seats and hold them for you. Keep the little ones off the train until closer to the departure time. After they have already been on the train for an hour, then the hour and half train ride gets to be a little too much for some of them. On the way back the natives were a bit restless. (But keep in mind this was at night and they couldn’t see the sites outside. During the day you might not have as much of that).

Disclosure: I was given the tickets for my family and myself to ride the North Pole Express.  But the pictures, video and opinions are completely my own.

This post was originally posted on my Explore Ohio with Sandy site.

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Loved the Daisy Outdoor Tour!

Love The Daisy Red Ryder BB Gun?

You’ll be jealous then, because I got to tour the plant and build one myself!  I love being able to see how things are made. I think it’s so interesting!  Daisy Outdoor is a client of Collective Bias and when I was at our corporate office this last week in Bentonville, AR, Kim Janocko and I had the chance to go on a tour. We both were thrilled.

This was in the lobby of their offices. I thought it looked cool.  I also found out how Daisy got it’s name. You can find this info on the Daisy Outdoor site, under “History” 

“On March 6, 1888, Hamilton approached the windmill company with an all-metal airgun of his own design. He chose to take it to the windmill company because they had blast furnaces and they were equipped to mold and stamp the metal parts necessary to build his gun. The gun was passed around to members of the board. General Manager L.C. Hough test fired the gun and exclaimed, “Boy, that’s a Daisy.” ‘”It’s a Daisy” was a colloquialism of the time.) So the little gun was named Daisy.”

We went back in their warehouse where they assemble all the guns.  This space is 80,000 sq feet (I think he said) If that isn’t correct, I just know the place is huge! lol

The parts to the guns aren’t made here, they are shipped in pieces and the guns are assembled in this space.

There are many stations that are used to assemble the guns.  They can put one of the guns together in less than one minute.  They said they move their employees around to different assignments to prevent work related injuries like carpel tunnel syndrome.

We loved the barrels full of BB’s!  They were just plain fun.

Jon was in his happy place in these barrel of bb’s. lol  They do feel really cool when you put your hands in them.

We learned that there are 2.4 million BB’s in a 55 gallon barrel. I know I sure wouldn’t try to lift a barrel either! Wow… 2,200 lbs!

Daisy Outdoor makes practice BB guns for the military. Who knew? They are the exact weight, feel and action of the real guns.

They also make BB guns for competition shooting.

This was something I was totally shocked over.  I had no idea they made BB guns that look and feel just like the real thing. This pist0l is made for Winchester. It’s just like the Colt 1911 handgun.  It is heavy, and looks just like the real thing. I texted a picture of this to my husband and he knew which gun it was designed from immediately.

We learned that Daisy Outdoor utilizes the help of some Special Needs adults to help pack BB’s. I love when I hear of a company that helps out this group of adults. They do a great job and love being able to have a job to earn money and give their lives a sense of purpose. Kudos to you Daisy!

Cool huh? I’m not sure what model of pistal this is.

Here is the Powerline 880 kit. They said this is their best seller.  I can see why. It’s larger than their Red Ryder gun, but still a reasonable size for a young adult. I’m thinking it might make a great gift for the triplets for Christmas.

I learned that they do a lot of quality testing of their guns.  They shoot a gun from each batch 10,000 times to check their products.

One of the things that is a necessity is to always wear eye protection when shooting. After all, you wouldn’t want to “shoot your eye out” or anything!

Kim and I went back the next day so that we could make our own Red Ryder BB gun. Paula was kind enough to guide us through making one. I’m amazed that she is able to make one of these in less than 1 minute. I think it took me about 8 or 9 minutes to do mine.

Each piece is put into place.

The screw guns are cool. You just put them into the screw and put a little pressure down on them and they work fast… really fast!

Here is my finished product.  They made an engraved forearm for us. Mine said “The Jenney Family”. How cool is that? The triplets will be so excited!  Since we were flying home, we had to ship the guns. We couldn’t put them in our luggage, even though we were checking the luggage.

I decided I wanted to guy Dave one of the Winchester 1911 pistols.  I was told that I could find them at a local sporting goods store called Academy Sports, so Kim and I went that evening to check it out. We found a big assortment of Daisy Outdoor products.

I found the BB gun I wanted to buy Dave. It was $89.00.  If you think about it, it is a great way to save money in ammunition. Right now ammunition is really expensive and actually hard to find. So this will be a wonderful way for him to get some target practice in.

What I also like about it is that he will be able to set up a target in our back yard. He is very safety conscious (thank goodness) and has taught gun safety before.  He knows that he’ll have to find a place that he won’t have to worry about what is behind the target.

The gun was heavy enough that I decided not to buy it at the store and ship it home. I asked someone at the store about being able to buy it online and if he knew what shipping prices were like. He said it would be a much better deal for me to buy it online. That their shipping was either free or just $5.00.  Cool!

As soon as we got back that evening, I got online and purchased this gun and a large container full of BB’s for Dave for Christmas! (shhhh!)  I am going to talk to him to have him help me decide which gun we’ll get the triplets for Christmas!

Thanks Daisy Outdoor for the tour! I had a blast. I also thank you so much for the Red Ryder gun that you had engraved and let me build for my family.

I am an employee of Collective Bias and Daisy Outdoor is a client of Collective Bias.  I was not asked or expected to do a post, I just wanted to share my experience and excitement for the Daisy Outdoor products.

 

 

 

 

 

Our Pigeon Roost Farm Visit 2012

Pigeon Roost Farm Is The Bomb!

We discovered Pigeon Roost Pumpkin Farm in Hebron, Ohio last year and loved it. I shared the post from last year, just a couple weeks ago.  I wanted to give you all another blast from this year.

One of the things I love about Pigeon Roost is that the prices are really reasonable. There is not cost to part, no cost to get into and shop the upper area, get great pictures and enjoy the atmosphere. If you want to go into the lower part of the farm and do all the activities, it’s only $5 per person. Considering another local pumpkin farm charges $8 per person for just the corn maze, I think this is quite a deal.

I’m going to share the pictures with you…. they pretty much tell the story!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the kids favorite activity. They call it the hamster wheels.

Dave decided he would try it out too…. Elise won. LOL

 

This was the rubber ducky race.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pigeon Roost Farm is in Hebron, Ohio.  This is not a sponsored post, I just want my readers to know about this awesome place here in Ohio.

 

 

 

 

 

Pigeon Roost Farm for Halloween Fun

Pumpkins and Halloween Fun at Pigeon Roost Farm

We discovered Pigeon Roost Farm in Hebron, Ohio to go for our pumpkins and fun for halloween.  For years we have gone to Lynd’s Fruit Farm, and it is a great place to go if you want to pick apples or pick pumpkins right from the field. But it is very on/off with the other activities they have for the kids. Some years it is good, others there is not much there and a big disappointment.

Instead of trying it this year we decided to look for some place new.

I did an internet search and found Pigeon Roost Farm.  We decided to give it a go.  Mapquest sent us the wrong way, so be careful there.  It is between Kirkersville and Hebron Ohio (about 2 miles east of Kirkersville on route 40).  Much close to Kirkersville.

It was impressive just driving past, you could tell from the road there was a lot happening, and most of it you can’t even see from the road.

If you live within an hour of it, I would highly suggest you check it out.  It is only $5 per person to go do all the activities including the corn maze, a mini corn maze, the Enchanted Forest, the Gerbil wheels and much more!

 

Pigeon Roost Farm
4413 National Road SW
Hebron, OH 43025
info@pigeonroostfarm.com
740-928-4925

 

Originally posted October 16th, 2011 on my Explore Ohio blog

We were not invited, given free passes, nor given any form of compensation for this post. We found it on our own, loved it and I wanted to share it with my readers.
No use of my video or pictures without my permission. Thanks

The Look of Autumn

When you think of Autumn what do you think of?

Living in Ohio the air gets cooler and crisp and all the colors of Autumn start emerging.  We haven’t really started getting leaves changing colors yet, but there are other sites and colors that we are seeing now.

With the cooler weather just starting to set in, it made me look back to this post that I first posted last year on September 22.

On the way to our farm today we stopped by a local orchard and it really put me in the mood for fall.

We didn’t go apple picking (not time today) but there sure are orchards near by us to do so if we wanted to.

Mums, pumpkins, and apples…

 Pumpkins.. and more pumpkins

Pears – we bought some of these, they are so sweet and juice!

Their peaches are awesome, but we didn’t get any on this trip.

Don’t you think of corn for the fall?  You know, indian corn to decorate with and corn stalks?

I never used to appreciate fall, but I have come to love it.  My husband really loves it.  He isn’t a fan of the heat…. so as soon as the cooler weather comes in, he is one happy camper.

Wicked on Broadway

My First Broadway Play was Wicked

I have been to plays before, but never a Broadway play in NYC, let alone it being Wicked! How cool is that?

I was in NYC for the Blogher 12 conference and had no intention of going to see a Broadway play. We got to NYC around 2:30, after an eight hour Megabus ride and dragging our suitcases through the subway to get to our hotel around 3:30, I was exhausted, hot and tired!  But I was with a couple die-hard NYC lovers! Kim and Mel were dying to go right out and see all the sights. I was ready for a nap.  This was only my 2nd time in NYC and although I was really excited to see everyone and go to Blogher, I wasn’t overly excited it was in NYC. I’m not a big city kind of girl.

We took a little time and rested up in our room. I agreed to go with Kim and Mel to do a ticket lottery to try and get tickets for Wicked. I agreed that if I won them, I’d give them to Kim and Mel (you would get 2 tickets) because they both wanted to see this play so bad… and it wasn’t important to me.  If two of us won, then I’d be happy to go.  We didn’t win any. Kim and Mel were both pretty bummed.

Skip forward to the next day ( I think… or maybe 2 days). We are all sitting in our rooms (adjoining) and Courtney and Kim walk in and Courtney announces that she has a surprise for us. She pulls out 4 tickets to go see Wicked! OMG… now I am rested and it sounds like so much fun!

Courtney and Kim had seats right in front of Mel and I.  I think Kim and Mel were SO excited.. they were ready to burst! Kim had seen it three times prior, but Mel, Courtney and I had never seen it.

It was really cool as we waited for it to start. Of course I couldn’t take any pictures during it… but I did get this one of the set up before it started and you can see some on the Wicked site.  I was amazed at how the entire theater was designed for this one play. When I’ve seen plays before in Columbus, Ohio… they are only there for a few shows, so of course you don’t have anything permanent in the theater like they did for Wicked.

The play was amazing!!  I LOVED it and can now understand why Kim was excited to see it again. I’d love to see it again.  It put this whole new perspective on The Wizard of Oz. Of course that was a favorite of mine growing up in the 60′s.  It used to be on TV once a year and was a big deal when it came on.  This left you with such a feel good feeling…. the kind I love to walk out of a theater or show with.

Thank you SO much Courtney for the wonderful surprise and chance to see my first (but not last!) Broadway play!   I am really glad that I this experience and really thankful that Courtney was kind enough to treat me to something so cool.  The four of us had an awesome adventure together.

If you get a chance to go see it… then be sure you do!

Downtown Disney

Shop Downtown Disney!

Downtown Disney is nice because you don’t have to pay to go in.  Parking is free, entrance is free, it’s just a nice place to be able to shop and take pictures and eat!

The Lego store there is the coolest one I’ve ever been to.  The Lego sculptures are amazing, like the dragon in the water.  Elise had never seen anything like them.

We went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner.  It was around 3:30pm, so you could consider it either a late lunch or early dinner. We got a seat (which I was thrilled but surprised at, even at 3:30pm).  What a cool experience for a child (and adult!)

We did some pin trading with the Disney employees.  Did you know that the employees who have pins on a vest or lanyard will trade you any authentic Disney pin for free?  You decided which one of theirs you want and you can pick any of your pins to trade back. It is so cool, you ask one and a couple others in the area will come up and show you their pins.  Elise and I both had fun doing that.  One of the things I did on another trip was to buy some of the “surprise” dollar bag of pins at the counter and use those to trade with. This time I had ordered some trading pins off the internet for Elise to have fun with.

We had some Ghirardelli  ice Cream after dinner. Yum!

We did some shopping in one of the Disney stores and bought the boys a couple pins for their lanyards since they weren’t with us.

There is a new T-Rex restaurant that looked cool. We didn’t go in, but by the looks of the line, it looked popular.

We had a lovely evening at Downtown Disney. This is an easy must do on any day of your trip. I’m glad we did go in the afternoon rather than in the evening, because a storm let loose right as we were leaving.

 

 

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Universal Studios

Who doesn’t love Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida?

Our last day of vacation and we had our day planned for Universal Studios.  The weather was great, a little cooler with a nice breeze.  We went to the ET ride first. The ET ride was so fun. Riding our “bikes” on a chase and then we took off flying. lol… so fun.

We had to stop by the Barney display.

We talked about going into Men in Black, but the line was too long, so we walked on by.   We did go into the Twister show.  It was strange seeing all the special effects they used to make you feel like you were in a real twister.

Onward to Island of Adventure.  I think we had a little more fun over there than we did at Universal Studios.

We made our way around most of the park because we wanted to see the Harry Potter castle.

We bought Thing 1, Thing 2 and Thing 3 T-shirts for the triplets…. how fun.  Everything in the Cat in the Hat area was so cute and fun.

We went on to The Lost Continent area…. a really neat looking area.

We got to the Harry Potter Hogwarts. I thought we could tour through it. There was some kind of simulator ride inside. I often don’t do so well with those because I get motion sickness… so what do I let Elise talk me into instead?….

A roller coaster! LOL  Now does that make any sense?  It was out near Hogwarts.  I think Elise had a fun time on it…. I survived it. lol

There were several things about Universal Studios that I really liked.  Parking was in a parking garage.  It was nice to come back to my car and not have it be SO hot inside.   They also seemed to be better at trying to help you stay cool while you waited in lines. There were more fans and covered waiting areas, that we experienced.  It wasn’t nearly so crowded either…. all of what made the day seem much nicer.

We had a one day 2 park pass that was complimentary thanks to Universal Studios.  The opinions and pictures were all my own.

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Gator Land!

Want a Land of Gators? Go to  Gatorland in Orland, FL!

I loved Gatorland when I visited back in 1998 with my boys.  It was lower key than all the big Disney parks, but was so fun.  The first thing I noticed as we drove up was that it looked much nicer than it did when I was here before. They have done a lot of improvements and updated things.  I had a vision of a place that was a bit run down, but it wasn’t run down at all.  Everything looked fresh and in great shape. I was really glad about that.

The first thing we did was go to the Gator Jumparoo show.  It was a very entertaining show. They had a contest between the two “new people they were going to hire”, Bubba & Cooter,  to see who could get the gators to jump the highest for the raw chickens.   They divided the crowd into two sides to cheer their potential employee on.

You wonder how they don’t loose a hand, don’t you?

Elise got to hold a small gator and snake for a picture. We did buy the keychain and magnet. There several options of things you could purchase and a couple other photo opps while you were in the park.

We headed over to the Gator Wrestlin show. It was nice seating in the small four side seating arena.

If you purchased the “Grunt package” you had a chance to be a rookie gator wrestler before or after the show.  I think you could also pay to do it (I’m thinking $10/person, but don’t hold me to that) on the spot.

On the grunt pass we also had a chance to ride the train, so off we went. It lasted about 10 minutes and the train took you around an part of an  area that I don’t think is accessible by foot (not positive on that) to see a few other gators. The train conductor was a hoot.

 

We climbed up the observation deck. I remember there being a huge number of gators that we saw from there.

The view was great, on the opposite side of this view you also have  a good view of the zip liners that zip by.

Elise spotted these birds in one of the trees as we were walking by.

 

Elise wanted to see the white alligators, so we made sure we saw them before we left.  I was amazed that they were real – they looked so fake. Until I saw them move, I wasn’t so sure. lol

I like when I see signs for social media up in the park! Way to go @Gatorland!

There was a very nice gift shop to stop in when you left. I was very impressed with Gatorland and would tell (and have) anyone to be sure to visit if you are going to be in the Kissimmee/Orlando area.

I was provided with two Grunt package tickets for our visit today.  The opinions and pictures are my own.

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SeaWorld in Orlando, FL

Gotta love Shamu! We did in Orlando, FL Seaworld.

Elise and I headed to SeaWorld later in the day today. We walked in the gates around 4pm and thought… wow, this is the way to do it – go a little later and you don’t have the crowds.  There was a Shamu show starting in about 2o minutes, so we went right to the stands to get seats.

I know I was a bit boring, but I told Elise we weren’t going to sit in the “splash zone”. I did tell her she could walk down and get wet when they were going to splash, but she didn’t want to.  I knew that walking around totally soaked (down to your panties) was not real fun, even as hot as it was.

It was a really good show.  I think there for a total of five whales in the show. They did lots of splashing the crowd and jumps and flips.

 

After the show it looked like it was going to storm, so we decided to go into the Wild Arctic to get out of the rain.   There were two options, to go on the helicopter simulator or walk through.  I asked the attendant if the simulator tended to make people sick to their stomach ( I get motion sickness). He said, without a pause, yes!   So we went for the walking option. I again told Elise she could go on the other if she’d like (heck, she went on Tower of Terror by herself), but she wanted to walk also.  We saw some arctic animals, polar bear, walrus and a couple others.  It reminded me of our zoo at home. They said the helicopter simulator people saw the same things we did, I’d be interested to know how it worked.

When we came out into the gift shop, it was absolutely pouring, really windy and storming.  We made ourselves at home on the floor of the gift shop, along with many other people.  We hung out for about 45 minutes, and as we sat there deciding on what we’d go see when it stopped raining, we made the discovery that SeaWorld closes at 7pm!  I was shocked.  I guess that wouldn’t surprise me during the off season, but in June?

We bought some ponchos and started out in the rain since we only had about 45 minutes now before Seaworld closed.  We went to the dolphin encounter.  It was neat, there were a bunch of dolphins and you were allowed to lean over and touch them from the blow hole back. They didn’t want you to touch their faces at all.

She never did get to touch one, but it was fun watching them and trying.  They have the option to feed the dolphins, but that was closed by the time we got there.

The other thing Elise really wanted to do before we left was to see the dolphin nursery.  The dolphins were a little bigger than we expected them to be, but they were still small… and cute.

Be sure to check Seaworld hours before you go.

I was given two tickets to visit Seaworld with Elise.  They did not influence my post. The pictures and my opinion are my own.

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Hollywood Studios at Disney World

So excited To Visit Hollywood Studios at Disney World

I promised Elise we would make it over to Hollywood Studios at Disney World. I actually think if we could have only gone to one park, she would have picked Hollywood Studios over Magic Kingdom.  I’m glad we were able to get to both. I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to or not.. but we did.

The atmosphere was calmer and less chaotic than Magic Kingdom. That was a nice break right off the bat. We loved Magic Kingdom, so don’t get me wrong, but it was very crowded and hectic.

There was one thing Elise really wanted to do -The Tower of Terror … and one thing I really wanted to do… the Toy Story ride. So we did them both!

The Toy Story ride said there was an 80 minute wait, but it ended up being about a 40 minute wait instead.  There was talking Mr. Potato Head to entertain us as we waited…. lol  I love Mr. Potato Head!  I tried getting a couple picks of the ride, but wasn’t able to get any that turned out. But trust me…. very fun ride!!

We wore 3-D glasses during the ride where we hot these little shooter things. There were four people in the car, two on one side and on the back side (we couldn’t see them) there were two more.  The ride would zip you around so that you would stop at these virtual targets where you’d shoot your shooter.  It kept score (I won by the way out of the 4 in our car).

She was so excited that we were able to get one of the Toy Soldiers to take her picture with.

I was amazed that Elise didn’t mind going on the Tower of Terror by herself!

I just can’t do scary things like that. But she was all about it!  So off she went on her own to ride this ride.  She came out just so excited and exhilarated. There was a couple there who took her under their arm on the ride, which was so nice of them.  But she wasn’t scared…. just excited.  It did win out for the best ride for Disney World, for her.

We headed to the Sci-fi diner for dinner.  It would have been better if we made reservations, but I didn’t think about that. We had about 30 minute to wait, and I think we had a shorter wait because there were only two of us.

It was fun watching the old sci-fi movies on the drive in movie screen while we ate. What a fun place to eat.  It is all set up like a drive-in movie theater from the 1950′s.  We sat in the middle of a car.

There was much more to do at this park, but we wanted to try and get back to Magic Kingdom for the electric light parade. (We didn’t make it, but we did get to ride the ferry, run through Epcot in the dark… trying to beat the crowd after the fireworks as we made it to the tram)

My tickets from Disney World for the day was a one day – 4 park hopper  pass that included Hollywood Studios. My opinion and pictures are all my own.

Disney World

 Magic Kingdom in Disney World

I love Disney World! I’ve been there a few times and love the feeling of being able to be a kid again, and it’s totally accepted! Everyone else is with you, enjoying princesses and fantasy.  I loved that I was going to get to introduce Elise to the magical world of Disney.

Who doesn’t love Disney World’s Magic Kingdom?  We decided to make this our first park adventure this week.  We had a list of several rides and attractions we wanted to see.

I knew it was going to be hot, but I didn’t realize that every ounce of sweat I owned was going to drip off my body as we waited in lines of about 50 minutes to get the tickets to get into the park (which by the way were complimentary and VERY much appreciated) and then we had another 45-50 minute wait to get onto the tram…. all before we ever walked into the actual gates of Magic Kingdom.

I’ve never come in the summer before. I’ve been in January, March and November before…. and I can appreciate those crowds and that heat much better. lol It’s a mind set that you have to get yourself into so you can enjoy the experience… there will be LONG lines and it will be Hot with a capital “H”.   We just kept buying bottled water.

Elise decided the two main parks she wanted to see were Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.  We started off with Magic Kingdom.

We had to walk through Cinderella’s castle and ended up in Fantasy Land.  We decided to use the ever popular “Fast Pass” method where we could.  We looked on the guide and saw that Peter Pan’s Flight had the “Fast Pass” option, so we got the FP for that ride and had a few hours before we had to be back.

We then went over to It’s a Small World (such a classic!) and Elise loved it.

We’ve already downed several waters by now and I think I’ve probably lost 5 pounds in sweat at this point.  It was hot!  But when we saw there was only a 20 minute wait for Tomorrowland Speedway… there was not a choice in the matter….  That is one memory that I have of going myself when I went to Disney the first time, when I was 18 years old and also of taking my older boys to Disney back in 1998.  I was so excited we’d get a chance to go on the raceway.

After lunch we went back to wait for Peter Pan Flight and saw that the Winnie-the-Pooh ride was down to a 20 minute wait instead of the 80 minutes it had been. We still had 15 minutes before we had to go to Peter Pan, so we though we’d go on it .

We ended up in Mickey’s PhilharMagic 3-D movie by accident. We got mixed up and we were thinking we were going into The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. But we really enjoyed the movie.  There were things “shooting” into the audience you know! lol  Well, it sure appeared that way with the 3-D glasses we had on.  Elise loved it!

Onward to Peter Pan’s Flight… and Elise loved that too… and so did I!  It is one of my favorites.  Well, I have SO many favorites.

The only other thing that she really wanted to do while we were in Magic Kingdom was to go on Splash Mountain.  I used the Disney Mobile Magic app and looked at the wait time for Splash Mountain.  It was going to be 120 minutes. What?  No way. That ride was out for us.  Too bad too because it was SO hot… it would have felt great to get soaked!  We wanted to get over to Hollywood Studios.

If you have several things you “have to see” in any one park, I would highly recommend getting more than a one day pass if you want to get them all in.

I know the heat and lines will be forgotten, and only the awesomeness of Disney will remain in our memories… and that’s part of the magic of Disney!

You can find all the info you need on the Disney World websitehere 

Our tickets for the day were complimentary from Disney World.  Thank you so much for the awesome day & memories, they did not alter my opinions, as you can see I was very frank with those. The pictures are my own.

Cocoa Beach Florida

Beach Time at Cocoa Beach in Florida!

We decided to go to a beach on Sunday, since we know the parks will be much more crowded on the weekends.  We looked at both coasts in Florida and decided to go to Cocoa Beach. It was only 1 hour and 15 minutes away, and an easy drive.

My friend, Karla from the west coast of Florida came over yesterday to see us and spent the night. I hadn’t seen her in several years, so it was great for her to visit. She was well equipped with beach chairs for us.

The beach was really nice.  There were chairs, umbrellas, surf boards that you could rent.  We went into a gift shop before we got to the beach to ask where to find a public beach (and to get some more sunscreen).  She told us that right behind them, there was a nice one. It was $10 to park, but there were showers, gift shops and places to eat on the pier.

I wish I had some pictures of Elise out in the ocean.  I didn’t take my camera down to the beach because just the smallest amount of sand in them can really mess them up.

We had an awesome time in the ocean.  Elise didn’t want to get out, and she didn’t for much of the day.  The water felt cool, but once you got in, it was very comfortable.  The waves were huge! I don’t know if this is how they always are, or if all the rain and storms had them larger than normal… but they just didn’t stop.  I’m used to going to Myrtle Beach and the waves aren’t nearly as big. You can go out past the breakers and just float and relax. Not today! It would be too deep to go way out past the breakers… they were all breakers! lol   The wind was up and it kept you very comfortable sitting on the beach.  There wasn’t yucky seaweed, just nice sandy bottom when you were in the water.

If you are a shell hunter, than this probably isn’t the place for you. There were very few shells, but my feet were very thankful for that.

While we were eating up on the pier we watched the two wind surfers.  That looks fun, but difficult.  The white wind surfer (way out in this pic) got in close and he did a jump and fell.  He then spent the next 10 minutes trying to get back to his surfboard that he lost in the fall.  He would have to turn the sail (kite, I dont’ know what they call them) to take him one way, then turn it again to take him another. He kept missing the board.  He finally got it and came right into shore.  I think he was exhausted. he just sat on the shore for a few minutes on his knees. Not sure if he was kissing the ground or not.

We were at the beach from about noon until 4pm (yes I had on massive sunscreen) and decided to go get a bite to eat. We went to the Cocoa Beach Pier.

There were a couple bars, and then we saw some tables to sit out and eat while watching the beach. Perfect.  We all got fish sandwiches that were huge!  They were also really tasty… with fries that were great. Lots of water later and I know I felt much better.

Karla will say, “Oh why did you post that, my hair looks terrible”.  But I think she looks great, and it was super windy, so that is why her hair is blowing.  Plus the fact that was just spent 4 hours in the ocean and sandy beach.

Had to get another shot of Elise out on the pier…

Elise had to try her hand at surfing. They had this fun photo opp set up right in front of the pier. lol….  she has on her cute beach dress that I just found for her at a gift shop.

We then had to go to the famous Ron Jon surf shop, right? lol  We didn’t buy anything, but it was fun looking around.  It is just a really big gift shop and most of the products have the Ron Jon brand on them.  Kids love it though.  When our high school band went to Disney this last spring, they made the Cocoa Beach run and took all the kids into the surf shop… and they did shop. lol

I can highly recommend Cocoa Beach and the public beach at the pier for a beach adventure when you are visiting.  It is about the closest beach (I think) and it was a really nice one.

It might be something Elise and I decide to do again while we are here.  We’ll have one extra day to just “play” at this point.  So not sure what we’ll do.

I was not compensated in any way for our time at Cocoa Beach or Ron Jon.

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Downtown Kissimmee Florida

Shopping District of Downtown Kissimmee, Florida

We got into the Orlando airport at 8:30am in the morning and had until after 2pm before our condo was ready, so Elise and I went exploring. I know I wanted to see Downtown Kissimmee, but we first went to iHop for bunch after doing a pre-registration at our condo. We didn’t want to go too far in case our condo was ready early, so we drove into Kissimmee, Florida and discovered a really cute downtown shopping district there.

We got out and walked up and down store fronts to check them out.  I love small towns like this that feel comfortable and “draw you in”.  For a Saturday morning it also seemed like things were hopping, so I’m sure that on a nice evening, there is a lot of activity.

Of course you have to have a nice coffee shop in town.

There were a couple antique stores.

 

For some reasons I love old barber shops, the look of them with the barber pole outside.  This was a busy place, once we walked by it, we saw at least 3 people waiting their turn for a haircut.

 

We walked over into what we thought was a park.  It wasn’t really a park (with grass and trees etc), but a memorial with benches to sit down.

We didn’t stop to read the history of Bette Sprinkle anywhere (I’m sure there was something there) but we did see Bette sitting on a bench. Elise went over and chatted with her a bit.

I don’t think any town is complete without an ice cream shop either.

We then went a little further down the road to check out Lake Tohopekaliga. They call it Lake Toho for short.  I saw that there were several airboat ride companies that ran out of Lake Toho.

We didn’t find where the airboat companies were, but we did see one out on the water. But you can’t even see it in this picture. lol

We heard new bird noises that we didn’t know existed from this, I think maybe, blue heron.

I know there was so much more to explore in this lake than we did. We went out on a dock for a only a few minutes. Then we got the call that our condo was ready, so we were off.  Getting up at 3am this morning for our 6am flight, we were really tired.

But we had to get this shot of these birds as we were walking back to our car.

You can also follow along with our Florida trip if you go to the i.seeKissimmee blog where I’m a featured guest blogger this week.

Heading to Kissimmee, Florida!

Ready for the Fun & Sun in Kissimmee Florida!

I am going to be heading to Kissimmee, Florida with my daughter Elise soon! We are so psyched!  We decided to take a “girls” vacation, since later this summer my hubby and the boys are taking a boys fishing trip to Canada. We weren’t excited about a “fly-in” fishing trip, so we had our pick of vacations.

We could have gone basically anywhere, but we decided to head to Florida. I wanted to take Elise on an airplane (she has never been on a plane before) and I wanted to take her to Disney.  I started checking out the i.seeKissimmee Blog and saw that a blogger I knew @DebThompson posting on the blog and I contacted to her to see how she got to have such a fun assignment. She explained and I applied to also be a blogger for the i.seeKissimmee Blog and was chosen (Happy Dance).

After that I started looking for things for Elise and I do to while we were in Kissimmee.

First off…. where are we going to stay?   I wanted to find a place that had a cool swimming pool! Since it will just be Elise and I, I wanted a pool where she could have a good time and hopefully meet some other kids to play with on our down time.

We are going to split our time between these two awesome resorts! We will have 2 bedroom condos in both.

Fantasy World Resort 

Mystic Dunes Resort

I also have four great adventures that have been so kind as to give us tickets to visit.

Disney World  – We have one day to explore as much of which ever of four parks we’d like! Oh… can’t wait! Thinking Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios for sure.

Universal - Excited to check out the new Harry Potter exhibit!

Sea World - We have to be sure to see Shamu!

GatorLand   - I loved Gatorland several years ago when I took my (now older) boys. They loved it.

And the whole time I’ll be driving a…

Chevy Cruze! - So happy that GM was kind enough to loan us a car to use for the week. I’m excited to see what this car is all about and of course excited that I should be getting great gas milage!

We will have a couple free days that we can go to places we find interesting. I want to get Elise to a beach while we are there. Not only has she not been on a plane, but she’s never been in Florida. I don’t it’s right to visit Florida and not go to a beach, right?

Be sure to also follow our adventures on the i.seeKissimmee Blog, Facebook and Twitter. I’m @OrganizerSandy and I’ll be using #VisitKiss and #SandysFLTrip, so you can follow easily along with our adventures.

Elise is ready!!

 

Roar and Explore

Roar and Explore in Columbus, Ohio

I first posted this Roar and Explore  on my Explore Ohio with Sandy blog last July. But my family really enjoyed one of our own Columbus, Ohio adventures – Roar and Explore!   I did look and it appears that you can purchase the Roar and Explore package again this year.

My family had an awesome vacation in Ohio and just outside of Ohio this year.  We started off with the canopy tour, headed down to KY to tour Mammoth Caves and then came back for a three day Columbus Adventure Package called Roar and Explore that you can find here

Here is a Video Recap of Our Three Day Adventure

Day One The Zoo

We planned our three days according to the weather forecast.  The first day was the nicest one. Clear skies and cool.  It was in the low 70′s, so perfect for the zoo, but a little cold for the water park. The animals were out…. perfect. We walked in and realized it had been awhile since we had visited the zoo. The entire entrance had been redone. It was really nice!

We went to an animal show that was just about to begin and it was really cute. Started off without any people, just different strange animals running across the stage and performing different tricks (like knowing which doors to go in that would open and let another animal out.
It was really fun day for all of us.. we were all exhausted by the end of it and ready to head back to the nice comfy hotel to rest (or go to the pool as the triplets did)

Day two – COSI

It was a bit stormy and rainy so we went to COSI (Center of Science and Industry). They had a special dinosaur exhibit that we were able to go into. This was an extra cost to get into this exhibit. It was nice and the kids had fun. To be honest I don’t know if I would have been excited if I would have paid much more to be able to see it. It wasn’t the kids favorite part of COSI.

They loved the 3-D movie (extra cost) but I think their favorite part and I know my favorite part was the outside exhibit of the construction equipment. They actually got to work some of them (with assistance of course). That was cool.

Day three – Zoombezi Bay

Ended up being a wash for Zoombezi Bay. It was storming and we weren’t able to go. The good thing is that the tickets are good until Sept when it closes for the year.

Drury Inn & Suites

We had a blast at the Drury Inn & Suites hotel. We had two nights there and I can’t count how many times the kids went to the pool. The room was really nice, there was a work out facility that had glass walls right next to the indoor/outdoor pool. Dave used it and was very pleased. We had a very nice warm continental breakfast (no charge for any guest) and the staff was lovely. I’d have no problems recommending it to anyone. The only thought I had was that I wish it were closer to the Zoo and Zoombezi Bay. The one we stayed at was in Grove City.

 

Our package was provided by ExperienceColumbus.com for our family of five.  All the pictures and videos (except the Zoombezi Bay picture) were mine and my opinion was not swayed by the complimentary package.  Thank you Experience Columbus, we had a wonderful time. No pictures or videos are to be used without my permission.

 

This post was first posted July 23, 2011 on Explore Ohio with Sandy.com 

 

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Fort Rapids

Located in Columbus Ohio – Fort Rapids Indoor Waterpark is fun anytime of year

The kids and I went to Fort Rapids in door water park at the end of 2010. I wanted to share this post from my Explore Ohio with Sandy blog with you, so I’m reposting it.

We were invited to go to Fort Rapids Indoor Waterpark Resort and decided to plan it around the triplets 10th birthday.  They turn 10 on December 30th, 2010 and we knew with the winter setting in, this would be a great time to go.

We arrived on December 29th and were able to get our park passes when we arrived about 2pm. (you can pick them up by 1pm day of check in)  We couldn’t check in our rooms until 4pm, so we decided to go have lunch since we were starving by then anyway.

We came back at 4pm and stood in the line to check in.  The lobby was beautiful, and right off the bat I noticed the western theme in everything.  Now… where else do you get cookies when you check in?  (I know of one other place I’ve been, but they gave you a single cookie, not a tray to choose from)

Once we checked in we had to check the place out.  Saw this coffee bar, although I never did get a chance to go inside.

We had to figure out what this machine was.  It was outside the restaurant. You had to put in $2 to play. Then you tried to use the claw to pick up a lobster. If you got it up and out of the water you got to have it cooked up and served for free.  We saw some people trying later while we were eating dinner. It got noisy… they were all excited and both times thought they had the lobster, but both times it kicked off and got free.  It kind of had those loose kind of claws like the stuff animal machines do, so it didn’t have a very good grip on them, there was nothing to hurt them.

Check out the reaction when we walked into our suite called the Bright Angel Point Grand Canyon. It sleeps 12!

It was so much fun for the kids. There was so much to do and with them being 10 years old it was nice that they could be off by themselves while we just sat and relaxed. Dave read and I took pictures! lol (no.. Dave and I didn’t get in the water. Be sure to wear cool clothes because it is humid and warm in there. Great for the kids running around in swimsuits, not so great if you aren’t getting in or you have a new hairdo! lol )
There were life guards everywhere! They were regulating the slides and I don’t think you could look from your left to your right without seeing one.
This guy was funny. He saw me standing there waiting for the kids to come down the slide to try and get their pictures (which didn’t turn out.. by the way) and he said.. hey.. get me in action. He started a slow motion run.  lol Cracked me up.  (there was no one in the water by the way, he was the guard at the bottom of the slide)

Like I said.. the western theme was throughout not only the hotel, but also the waterpark. This was up in the air as decoration for part of the waterpark.

There was an adult area huge whirlpool tub. No kids allowed.  So the adults can get away from it all too.

A really large and nicely done kiddie area. This was one of the cute dumping water features in that area.

Now here is one of the water dumping features for the big kids!! lol

The kids loved it.. Even the littler slides were fun.

A and Kim’s from @craftymamaof4  – son were having fun together.

There was basketball for you to play in the water too.

This is another one of Kim’s sons.

The kids loved the lazy river. It was a popular place and would get pretty crowded, but the kids didn’t mind.

There were all kinds of people here. From babies to elderly. You also realize how big tattoos are now too! LOL Until you see people in their swimsuits, you don’t realize how popular they are. omg!
I’m adding this picture… just because I think it is cool.
We left the indoor waterpark after several hours and went back to our cool suite to shower and change. Then off to dinner.

We would have liked to stop off in the cool game room, but we never did find the time.

As I stated in the video, we weren’t overly impressed with the food.  There was a good selection on the buffet and the prices were good. Dave and 2 of the 3 kids got the buffet. They graded their meals  a C-, C and B+.  The main problem was that some of the food was kind of dry.. I think from sitting out. They do keep them covered nicely.

I ordered from the menu and got a burger and was excited to see the broccoli salad with it. I had a few bites and then stopped.. there was too much dressing on it. Too much mayo taste.  The burger was kind of dry also.  I left part of the crust and the edges of the burger.  A also ordered from the menu. He got a hot dog and loved it! He gave it an A+…. said it was the biggest and best hot dog he had ever eaten. But it took quite awhile for our meals to come. The others had finished eating… 2nd helpings before our food came out.  I would have to say that this was the only slightly negative thing that we experienced.

Everyone there was extremely helpful.  Other than the people checking me in, I’m sure no one else knew I was doing a review.  They provided this cake for the triplets birthday. It was in the room when we got there. I don’t think this was only because I was reviewing. My guess is that this would be a service that anyone would receive.  We didn’t have any forks or knife, plates etc.. in the room – so we stopped by the bar area and asked if they had some forks and plates we could use.  She  did and then when she couldn’t find a knife for us to cut the cake, she went into the restaurant to get us one.

Kim from Crafty Mama of 4 was there with her family the same time we were. That was fun. Our kids and husbands had never met, and the kids got to play some together at the waterpark. They came over and shared the cake with us for the kids birthdays.

There were 2 king beds (one up and one down)  and the other downstairs room had 2 queens. (we thought they seemed smaller than our queen at home, so I would have guessed doubles, but info says they are queen) and then a small little room with a set of bunk beds. The couch also pulls out to a sleeper sofa.

The room across from ours was having a family reunion here. Some were from the DC area, others from IL and they met in Ohio and stayed together, visited and the kids got to play. Great idea!!

The suite was unbelievable! There was 2 stories, 4 bedrooms (2 down and 2 up) 3 bathrooms, the living room with fireplace and a kitchenette area. There was no running water in the kitchenette. So that was just a little strange. We had to take our drinks to the bathroom to dump them out. But no biggie. There was a little dryer there that you could dry your suits! We didn’t use it to see if it worked though.

You don’t have to get a suite though, there are all kinds of different options for rooms, from your basic hotel room to the family villas.

The suite we stayed in was the Bright Angel Point Grand Canyon and cost $499 for the night, but with taxes it came to $599.  It comes with 12 indoor waterpark passes.  The passes are good from 1pm of your check in day.. and extend to the end of the day on your check out day (check out is 11am, but there are lockers that you can change in after you swim if you have checked out).

You can get day passes to the waterpark also. They run $26.99. (prices may vary)

Be sure to visit.. and tell them Sandy from Explore Ohio with Sandy sent you!

Thank you Fort Rapids… we had a wonderful time!

Fort Rapids Indoor Waterpark Resort
www.FortRapids.com

4560 Hilton Corporate Drive
Columbus, OH 43232

877-33-SPLASH (877-337-7527)

Disclosure: Our 1 night stay in the Bright Angle Point Grand Canyon suite and 10 waterpark passes were provided at no charge. We paid for our own meals. The pictures, video and opinions are my own.

 

Geneva on the Lake

The Lodge & Conference Center at Geneva On the Lake, Ohio

Dave and I were invited to visit The Lodge & Conference Center at Geneva On-The-Lake and I was more than thrilled! Living less than three hours away from Lake Erie, you would think that I would go up there more frequently.  But alas, other than our visit last year, this is only the second time I’ve stayed on the lake.

It is the perfect place for you to stay if you enjoy wine country – it’s in the heart of Ohio’s wine country, directly on Lake Erie just east of Sandusky. There are over 20 wineries near by to enjoy.  The Lodge has a wine shuttle that will take you several of them. But you do have to be sure and reserve your spot on the shuttle early because it sells out.

Here is a video that shows you are weekend visit.

Looks great doesn’t it?

It was Easter weekend and cool, but sunny and pretty.  Dave is hoping that we’ll get a chance this summer to come back up. He wants to take the kids on a fishing charter on the lake.

We drove up to the area Friday evening so we could visit with his niece, Jamie and her husband Brian along with Dave’s childhood friend Kevin and his wife Kym. They suggested the winery Ferrante, which is close to the Lodge at Geneva on the Lake.  We had a really nice meal, along with some fun wine tasting at the restaurant.  We wondered why the restaurant wasn’t very busy when it was so nice, but realized later it was because it was pre-season and things were pretty quiet.

We drove over to The Lodge at Geneva on the Lake on Saturday.  The town of Geneva was really quant, but we didn’t stop anywhere, we just drove through.   We found the Lodge, but it was still too early to check in. We then went on past the Lodge and found the strip of Geneva on the Lake. It reminded me of Virginia Beach or Myrtle Beach. I could just picture people walking up and down the sidewalks with all the open air places to eat and visit. I bet it is so fun! Other than being warm enough to take a boat on the lake, being able to enjoy this area I missed.

We found the Firehouse Winery open and had lunch there.  There was a small room on the second floor with just a few tables that over looked the lake.  We first thought that the winery was in the blue building, but discovered it was in the red barn looking building to the right in the picture above.

Picture this Ferris wheel with all the seats attached going around….  what a cool view that would be of the lake.

We walked along the lake, back behind the winery.  What a beautiful day!

There is plenty to do and see in the area, even off season

We went back to the Lodge and checked into our room.  Walking into the lobby you immediately had a feel of … “wow, this is a nice place”.

There are several places that have groups of comfortable seats.

Then we had to check out our room.  The room was very nice.  We had a king room with a balcony and great view of the lake. Loved that!  There are other rooms that have options such as whirlpools, family rooms with bunk beds and a couple recently upgraded two-room suites.

Check out the view we had from our balcony! See the gazebo? Guess what happens there?  Yes… weddings! Wouldn’t that be a beautiful setting? You wouldn’t have to worry about the hot sand of a beach wedding! lol

The Lodge at Geneva also has an indoor pool and hot tub (although we didn’t indulge on this trip) along with an outdoor pool that looks out on the lake.

We ate our dinner on Saturday night at the Horizons Restaurant in the lodge.  You walk into the restaurant to a really cool fireplace and buffet. It is really inviting.

 Then you look behind the fireplace and see an entire wall of windows looking out at the lake and the gazebo.  When it gets dark the gazebo is all lit with white lights… nice!

I thought it was cool to see this couple sitting out by the water on the bench. The whole feel of the lodge feels romantic to me.

We had the breakfast buffet the next morning (Easter Morning). We did not stay for the Easter bunch that was taking place in just about an hour or so.  Our breakfast was nice, not spectacular but good. . My omelet was fine, but Dave said his french toast wasn’t very good. But the coffee and atmosphere were awesome.  I’m thinking the focus might have been on the brunch since it was such a special event and not the regular breakfast.

We checked out the marina on Saturday.  It seemed strange seeing a marine without any boats. Come May it will be full of boats.

What a nice place to visit! It is actually just a walk from the Lodge at Geneva on the Lake.

There are so many things to do. Obviously boating and fishing, but there is also canoeing, hiking, nature walks, golfing, a tour of historic covered bridges, lighthouses, museums, Underground Railroad sites, restaurants and entertainment. wow!

I would not hesitate to recommend The Lodge at Geneva on the Lake to anyone and I am recommending it to all of you!!

 

The Lodge & Conference Center at
Geneva on-the-Lake
4888 North Broadway
Geneva-On-The-Lake, Oh 44041

440-415-1527
www.TheLodgeatGeneva.com  

 

Our Saturday night stay, dinner and breakfast at The Lodge & Conference Center at Geneva on-the-Lake. This did not influence my opinions. The pictures and video are all my own and are not to be used without my permission. (You are welcome to pin the pictures on pinterest though)

Ice Cream Festival

Utica’s Sertoma Ice Cream Festival

Each Memorial Day Weekend for the last 38 years the Ye Old Mill in Utica Ohio has been the home of Old Fashion Velvet Ice Cream Festival

It is a yearly tradition for our family, along with many zillions of other people!  I mean really, who can resist Velvet ice cream?  We always enjoy the old time cars (muscle cars), playing games, getting good food and of course eating ice cream.

These pics are from one of our visits in 2010.  I had posted on my Explore Ohio with Sandy blog, but wanted to share with all of you too! I can’t wait until we go this May.

My video gives you the feel of it all.

The water mill works and is just pretty cool.

The Mill is on one side of the street and you can sit by the water, eat your ice cream and check out the extensive car show.

You’ll find carnival games and foods galore!

Then you can cross the street to find more food….. and a large craft show

But the best part is the Ice Cream!

Alex opted for the shake this year.

But not Zach. Notice the ice cream on the nose. lol…. oh so good!

Elise’s favorite is the mint chocolate chip.

Mine happens to be the Moose Tracks… oh yum!

Dave and I enjoying the day with the kids.

I just thought this was a cool pic of Zach.

More information

Utica Old Fashion Ice Cream 
Facebook pageSchedule of Events

Dates

May 26 – 28, 2012

Location

Velvet Ice Cream The Ye Old Mill
11324 Mount Vernon Road, Utica, OH, 43080

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Canopy Tours

Zip Line From Tree to Tree- Hocking Hills Canopy Tours!

This was a highlight from our Canopy Tours trip last year that we would LOVE to do again this year!  If you have had this experience, it is well worth it! Believe me, if I can do it…. anyone can!

 

We drove just over an hour to get to the Hocking Hills Canopy Tours.  We of course just called it Zip Lining! The kids were excited, but a little scared.  We arrived early, but went ahead and checked in.  There is a little club house where you check in that has a gift shop and a place to get some lunch.  There is a golf course right there also .

There is a video playing, so you can see what you are getting yourself into, or just decide if you want to do the canopy tour or the super zip.

The Super Zip is one long, very fast zip.  You also are positioned on your stomach (the kids say like Super Man) which increases the speed and thrill.

The tour (what we did) is a 3,300 course that has 10 zips and 5 bridges on it. You are up to 70 ft high at some points (although it seemed higher than that) It takes about two hours.  They say to plan on about 2 hours and 45 minutes as you have to suit up and have some training first.

Dave and the kids played some corn hole while I took pictures and sat at the picnic benches in the shade while we waited for our turn.

We had to fill out release forms and information for both us and the kids.  Kids have to be at least ten years old before they can zip.  The triplets are ten, so it worked out great.

When your group is gathered your guides will take you over to this building to get suited up and ready.

They have everything laid out for you and walk you through everything.  They also will lock up your car keys, wallets, glasses or cameras for you in the locked lockers before you go (you don’t want to worry about losing your car keys out there! )

I had a little pouch that they tied onto my straps for me. It had my little camera (I so wanted my DSL for all these cool pictures, but I wasn’t going to risk it), my flip camera and a back up flip camera, along with a set of batteries.  I think they thought I was crazy!  I wish I had gotten a picture of me with this little pink thing hanging from my straps.

There was plenty of instruction the entire time.  Our guides were CJ and Brenda and they did a great job.  CJ was telling jokes to the kids and omg have we heard them again and again and again after we left there. When they think of the canopy tour, they think of CJ and jokes too. (Yeah thanks CJ!) For instance (just so you have an idea)…  CJ, “Say the word Silk five times fast”   Triplets, “Silk, Silk, Silk, Silk, Silk”   CJ, “What does a cow drink?”  Kids, “Milk!”  CJ, “No… a cow drinks water silly!”   Ugh… LOL

Once we went through our training to learn how to zip and stop, we loaded up in the jeep and they drove us through the woods to the first zip line.(This is another group coming in, not our group – but it does look like Brenda and CJ standing on the back of the jeep)

Enjoy the video of our zip line adventures!!

We had SO much fun!! When I zipped, I was able to try and hold my camera pouch up for a little bit, but had to let go to use my hand to break near the end, so the camera looks back off to the side again. Wish I could have had a helmet cam! lol

The kids had a fantastic time as I’m sure you can see on the video.  Alex isn’t too sure in this picture. He didn’t like trusting the straps to lead off the edge of the tree platform. It is hard to tell from this picture, but we are way up in the air and they are leaning back off the edge.

When we got back we were heading to our car and saw this guy in the tree…. and he was kind enough to pose for us.

He looks sweet doesn’t he?  The kids were talking about the movie Elf and how Elf tried to give one a hug.  LOL

I totally recommend you trying this!!!   It is a bit expensive ($85 per person for the canopy tour – 2011 rates) but it is over a two hour adventure, is exhilarating, makes you take some chances and an experience you will never forget.

I actually wasn’t scared, I was excited. I was concerned I wasn’t going to be able to do it. I have been having some real problems with my shoulder and have very limited range of motion. But I was able to reach up in front of me. They had me break with my right hand rather than the traditional left.  There were only a couple times when I was getting up onto the platform after zipping that I had a little pain because I had to pull myself into a standing position. But I am in terrible physical shape right now.  The zipping isn’t hard, the walking isn’t hard. We did have to walk up a short incline going from a bridge to the next zip on a hill, but it wasn’t bad.   I sure did a lot of sweating (result of being out of shape), but I had a blast and would do it again in a heartbeat.

Be sure to make reservations!

Hocking Hills Canopy Tours
10714 Jackson Street, Rockbridge
OH 43149

Web Site: Hocking Hills Canopy Tours

Call: 1-740-385-9477
Email: info@hockinghillscanopytours.com

 

You can also see this post on my Explore Ohio with Sandy blog 

Our tours were compensated.  My opinions, photos and videos are my own and were not influenced by this.

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