First of all, I hadn't updated my birthday/congrats section, so happy belated birthdays to those who apply... they're finally up! We had a special surprise party for Domonique when she arrived in PA. Thanks to Matt & Maggie for coming so she could get lots of pictures of your adorable son.
Well, what can I say? We made it. We actually made it. My car is thanking me right now for the much deserved break. Not to mention the weight loss (seriously, my car was so packed it looked like a low-rider).
Our journey started bright and early Wednesday morning. Domonique and I were on the road by 6am. We headed out of Pennsylvania, through West Virginia and on across Kentucky to Tennessee on day one. Seems crazy, huh? We actually weren't even in the car for very long. Probably around 11 hours tops. Beside our gas station/food stops,
our first official stop was in Nashville. We went to the Grand Ole Opry!!! It was very exciting! It is a lot different than I expected. It's like a whole resort dedicated to the Opry. There's shops and theatres, restaurants and museums. We didn't pay to go inside, just took pictures outside, shopped, and went in to the FREE museum =) I heart country music! After that, we drove around looking for some goooood BBQ. We came upon some shady places... and finally stopped at one in Jackson (where we also slept). MMMmmmm MMMmmmm It was amazing! Especially their sweet tea. Oh yummy! We loved listening in on people to hear their accents. Just love it!
Thursday, we started the day with a trip to Memphis to see Graceland, home of the King, Elvis Presley. Believe it or not, but we actually MISSED the free time period to go up and take a picture of the mansion by 20 minutes! Of course, it's not on the website or anything, so if you ever go to Graceland and don't want to pay $30 to see the house, just go between 7:30-8:30am. Next time, we will! Once we left Graceland, we were searching for souvenir shops to buy stuff that said Tennessee. We weren't having very good luck. We probably needed to do that when we were further away from Memphis, but we were confident that once we got on the freeway, we would see a big gas station and buy lots of goodies. NOPE! The second we got on to the freeway, we saw the Arkansas state sign. Because of that, we decided to be mad at and hate Arkansas. haha! The day gets better. It started to pour rain. POUR. It was so awful, we pulled off because there was zero visability. As we exited the freeway, we were suddenly caught in a flood... and with my low-riding car, it was NOT pretty. We escaped and suddenly came upon a gas station that was having their grand opening. They were giving out free food and drinks! Whoo hoo! It never stopped raining the entire day/evening. We finally made it through Arkansas and were anxiously awaiting the huge Texas state sign 15 miles before the border. Cameras ready. Hmm... where is it? We never saw it! I don't know what happened. Maybe we were too prepared? Or maybe it was moved thanks to all the construction that was around? So sad. We stayed the night in Dallas that evening with my Uncle Everett(my Mom's brother) and Aunt Carrol. We got there so late though, thanks to all the rain, that we didn't really get to see Texas. So, we decided to stay an extra day. The following morning, we were supposed to be on our way to New Mexico. It was going to be our longest driving day of 14+ hours. With the rain and all, we thought it would be best to just drive
to Abilene instead and stay the night. That way our trip the following morning to New Mexico would be shorter- just in case there was bad weather... Thank you Uncle Everett and Aunt Carrol for food and comfy beds =)
Friday, we finally slept in a bit... until 7am! Wowie! We had a wonderful relaxing breakfast with my Aunt and Uncle. They told us fun sights to see and where the Cowboys stadium was. So we set off through Dallas. We drove by the old Dallas Cowboys stadium which is pretty huge. But the NEW stadium is enormous!!! It was just opened this year and they're still working on it. WOWIE. It was incredible. Again, we didn't see the field because we didn't want to pay, so we just went in to the shop and took lots of pictures. I was in Heaven!! I love the
Dallas Cowboys and I'm the only one in my entire family. It felt good to be in Cowboy country, where I wasn't the only one who loved them. After that, we headed to the
Fort Worth Stockyards. I would have never done that hadn't it been for my Aunt and Uncle. It's cowboy country there... think of Rawhide on steriods (as my Uncle would say). There were people riding horses, a train, yummy country BBQ restaurants and cute shops. I think I ate the best BBQ beans in my life there. So good! From there, we headed towards Abilene to
stay the night. When we finally found a good hotel, we stopped and got the very last room. The last one! And it was smoking! EEW. Apparently the rodeo/fair were coming to to town that weekend and that's why they were booked. Once we checked in, we went to Walmart and bought Blue Bell icecream! Texas origional!
Saturday was a different day. We stayed OFF the freeways and traveled on the interstate/highways. This route took us two hours longer, but kept us away from the Mexico border. It ended up being a very pretty drive. We went
through lots of small towns (in which I preceded to fill up on gas because I wasn't sure when the next town would pop up), ranches, and even a national forest. We even saw oil rigs! We spent the night with my Uncle Garry (my Dad's brother) and Aunt Tina. My cousins Katie, Kim, and her daughter Haylee were there too. Thanks for the spicy dinner and princess bedroom =)
Sunday, we reached home. Well, our birthplace. I've never been so excited to cross the Arizona border line! After spending 5 days with Domonique, I was kind of sad to drop her off! But she had to pack her car and say goodbye to her family. I started my
afternoon with my brother, Kyle, his parents, and most of the family. I met them for lunch. It was wonderful to see Christy's side of the family, who I haven't seen in quite a while. My brother is such the man. I can't believe he is graduating this year! From there,
I stole house keys from my sister Kara and headed home. Even though I was exhausted, my Dad, sister and I went to see a movie. I felt like I was 19 again. It was just the three of us! It was pretty surreal. I thought, "I'm in Arizona, at a Harkins, with my sister and Dad?!" Yep, it was really nice.
Monday, I met with Cari and Steven for breakfast. Oh my goodness, either I was or that breakfast was just really good. Happy birthday Steven!! My Dad took the day starving off, so we went out to visit my Grandpa and Grandma. Oh I just love them.
starving We went to lunch and visited at their house for a couple hours. Around dinner time, my friend Katie brought over her son Robert. I've known Katie for 14 years and she just had her baby Robert in February. It was my first time meeting little handsome!
Tuesday morning, I left for CA without Domonique. She was still packing, but only about 3 hours behind me. I don't know if it was because how my car looked, or my
plates, but I got stopped at the CA agriculture station! Who has ever been stopped? For how often I've been to CA, this was my first time! So funny. I finally got to our old apartment and unloaded my car. It took me about 2 1/2hours to unload the car by myself. It was so crammed
with random items here and there to fill in the holes. It was very surreal coming back to the exact place I left almost 2 years ago. It's as if time never passed. 3 roomies back together! I have to keep reminding myself that this is not a vacation!
Cost of gas from PA to CA: $224.48 ($65.45 was in Texas alone!)
Cost of hotels from PA to CA: $168.89 (Yay for family!)
Now it's Jan-Michael's turn!
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is being released on blu-ray in October! It will be the first in a new introduction of the "Diamond Collection" series of movies. I guess Snow White is too precious for Platinum. haha! Anyway, when a Disney Vault movie is re-released, it is always played at !Disney's El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. I have missed out on some amazing new releases and 
panel discussions, but now I'm back in action, attending all the theatrical releases I can. Of course, Snow White is Janelle's favorite movie, so she waited for us to get to CA before seeing it. Unfortunately because of the D23 Expo in Anaheim, they held the "panel 
discussion" there instead of at the theatre. However, we were still entertained by Snow White herself, who happens to be a close friend of ours *wink*. Scottie, Domonique, Janelle, Erevik and I all met at the Disney Soda Fountain first and had icecream sundaes. Their icecream is the absolute best (unfortunately, there was no Snow White sundae because they did not receive the specially ordered apple icecream)! Then we were invited to attend a special meet and greet with Snow White! We were ushered in to a back stage door and special VIP room where we got to visit with Snow White before the show. After many pictures, we finally went back through the front doors to get seats in the theatre. Before the movie began, Snow White came out and danced on the stage, gave a special message and then confetti filled the theatre. So cute! This was the first time I had ever seen Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on the big screen. Very neat experience!
