dandaman Reloaded: 8/22-9/2

Hiya, folks! I just got back from an awesome trip to the World… and then some! I have school starting tomorrow, so excuse any possible delays on posting. Today, I don’t think I’ll even get to WDW with the updates! I’ll writethe report, then put the pictures with captions in the second half.

On with the show!

Day 1: Virginia Company

My family and I woke up around 5 a.m., though truth be told, I doubt anyone got much sleep. We loaded up the car (I think my dad would do wonders playing Tetris…), and left the house about 8 in the morning.

Gee, after that last paragraph, we’re REALLY off to an interesting start.

Anyway, I don’t suppose there’s much to say about today. A few notes from what I recall:

- For some reason, Mapquest had us cut clear across Ohio’s heartland to West Virginia, instead of taking the Turnpike to I-77 at Cleveland. However, it was actually a lot more interesting to drive that way, as there was a lot of different scenery changes I didn’t expect.

- Ate at “the ol’ standby”, Steak ‘n Shake, just before Columbus. The first time we ate here was just outside WDW almost 6 years ago, and I’ve loved it ever since. P.S. To the servers: Is it really that weird to order a Side-By-Side shake with chocolate mint and orange Freeze?… :lookaroun

- Just before hitting West Virginia, there were some really spectacular clouds overhead. It made the scenery look close to perfect.

- We finally arrived in Beckley, WV, around 4 p.m., and did a bit o’ shopping… well, kinda. The family did shopping, while I played some songs on some $25000 digital piano. I was amused, if not briefly. :D

“Ze Photos”

Either those are the weirdest clouds I’ve ever seen, or a thousand jets streaked across the sky without me knowing.

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If only I’d put the camera settings to 1024x768 instead of the lowest resolution.

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Ooh, the Ohio River… no one’s EVER seen this shot before.
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Welcome to redneck country!
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OMG! They painted the Capitol Building GOLD!

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…And that’s it for the pics today. Not much you can do sitting around in the car for 8 hours.

Tomorrow, we visit North and South Carolina! (*holds cue card* “Ooh, aah!”)​
 

dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I guess we're waiting for the film to be developed. :lol:

:zipit: waits patiently :lookaroun

Yeah, pretty much. :lol:

I'll attempt to put up the way to Tampa now. (Yes, Tampa. We went to Busch Gardens, so that comes first. Sorry for the delay in Disneyness. :wave: )
 

dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2: Sweet Carolinas

Well, today started off with something interesting… extremely hazardous driving conditions in the mountains! Yay! At least it made for nice photography. I still remember how funny it was when, back in December 2003, as soon as we hit the Virginia - NC state line, the snow seemed to stop instantly. :lol:

Rock Hill, South Carolina was our target for today… a total of 4 hours, which was good, considering that was about all my legs could take at that point. Being 6’1” definitely has its drawbacks…

The reason we stopped there was visiting family. We’d visited them in 2003 near the exact same place they live now. However, since then, work had taken them to Dallas, and now right back to the starting line. “Cousin Kenny” had a Cessna plane that I got to fly back in December of that year. Unfortunately, this time we couldn’t. Too much haze in the sky. :(

Despite that, we had a really good time visiting again. Basically we just talked the whole time, but I could have sworn we bragged about the DDP somewhere in there. I also discovered that pork chops over charcoal flame tastes a LOT better than over a gas grill!

Onto the photos!

Geez, that’s quite a sight… though I think they’ll clear out soon.

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…Maybe not.

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Random tunnel time! Woohoo!

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A note of interest: Paramount’s Carowinds Theme Park is directly on the right, but I couldn’t get any good pictures. I hate tractor trailers.

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Tomorrow: Jacksonville University and Tampa!
 

jesserin

New Member
Day 2: Sweet Carolinas

stop right here... :kiss: you are so right. ;)

danny said:
Well, today started off with something interesting… extremely hazardous driving conditions in the mountains! Yay! At least it made for nice photography. I still remember how funny it was when, back in December 2003, as soon as we hit the Virginia - NC state line, the snow seemed to stop instantly.

Rock Hill, South Carolina was our target for today… a total of 4 hours, which was good, considering that was about all my legs could take at that point. Being 6’1” definitely has its drawbacks…

dang danny! i didn't know you were 6'1"! learn something new every day... ;)

danny said:
The reason we stopped there was visiting family. We’d visited them in 2003 near the exact same place they live now. However, since then, work had taken them to Dallas, and now right back to the starting line. “Cousin Kenny” had a Cessna plane that I got to fly back in December of that year. Unfortunately, this time we couldn’t. Too much haze in the sky.

Despite that, we had a really good time visiting again. Basically we just talked the whole time, but I could have sworn we bragged about the DDP somewhere in there. I also discovered that pork chops over charcoal flame tastes a LOT better than over a gas grill!

Onto the photos!

Geez, that’s quite a sight… though I think they’ll clear out soon.

IMG_0479.jpg


…Maybe not.

IMG_0480.jpg


Random tunnel time! Woohoo!

IMG_0483.jpg

LOVE THIS TUNNEL!! haha... i try to hold my breath the whole time... :lol:

Danny said:
A note of interest: Paramount’s Carowinds Theme Park is directly on the right, but I couldn’t get any good pictures. I hate tractor trailers.

IMG_0499.jpg


Tomorrow: Jacksonville University and Tampa!


Carowinds is awful. You missed nothing... moving on... :lookaroun :D
 

dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
PHEW! I am so glad that WV is still open for business. I was getting worried.

How many cans of Skoal do you have for sale, anyway? :zipit:

Pongo said:
And nice Canada flag in the corner of the windshield ;)

Not my idea. If anything, it reaffirms to everyone around us that we're tourists. :lol:

stop right here... :kiss: you are so right.

:kiss:

dang danny! i didn't know you were 6'1"! learn something new every day...

I can touch the top of the "red" tunnel in Space Mountain. :lookaroun

LOVE THIS TUNNEL!! haha... i try to hold my breath the whole time...

Good luck with that. :lol:

Carowinds is awful. You missed nothing... moving on... :lookaroun

Really?

Well, I need the "credits", so I wouldn't mind going there if we visit my mom's cousins again :lol:

Back to work...
 

dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 3: Back to School

Today, we got up at some ungodly hour (I dunno… 6:00 or something), and hit the road around 8 a.m. Why? Well, the main reason we took a trip to Florida is because my sister’s scouting out universities for next year. First to hit on her list was Jacksonville U., since a) it was on the way down, and b) it was one of few universities that actually has a good environmental studies program.

We arrived in the Sunshine State around 11:00, and got our traditional orange and grapefruit juice (who wouldn’t?) at the Visitor Center, plus the usual unnecessary amount of free brochures and coupon books…
Jacksonville wasn’t too far down the interstate from there, a half-hour tops.

Something funny on the way to JU: My sister, the almost-typical girl who loves nature and feels sorry for anything “rejected”, saw her first wild dolphin on the bridge over the St. John’s River!

We had some time to kill (for the PC crowd… “spend”) before the 1:00 campus tour, so we went to McD’s for lunch. Nothing too interesting there, but I did get to use my Jack Sparrow Arch Card thingy there. (Not available in Canada, eh?)

The Jacksonville campus is very nice, but I might be a bit biased since I got to ride backwards in a golf cart while on the tour. Oh, well. Judge for yourself when the pics come up.

After the tour, the skies looked quite ghastly… PERFECT! It didn’t end up storming too bad, though.

Once again, for some unexplained reason, Mapquest had us take some US-whatever roads cutting across the entire state to get to Tampa. When we arrived, however, my hotel room view blew everything else from that day out of the water… at least, to me. You’ll see what I mean.

STOP


Camera Time!

YES!

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That it is…

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This visitor center is Dan-approved.

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Here be the bridge that we done saw th’ dolphin on.

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Parking on campus, I came across a rather unique art sculpture. Made entirely out of PVC pipes!

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My sister was so excited they’ve finally put her name in lights.

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Just in case you forgot where I am, here’s a recap. Of course, you could just scroll up and actually read my report, but why think when you can be mindlessly entertained by all the pretty colours?

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Best University Ever! (Popcorn is my all-time favourite food, especially Orville’s.)

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So, hanging out the back end of a campus touring golf cart, I snapped a few photos. The campus is quite nice, but it felt like a jungle expedition going from building to building.

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dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Y’see, I was actually taking a shot of that palm tree, and downtown Jacksonville just HAD to be the centre of attention.

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One of ze dorms. Actually pretty large, compared to the other ones I’ve seen.

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For the coaster enthusiasts: OMG, reverse hill POV shot!

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Ooh, baseball.

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“Do it for both of your adoring fans, Bob!”

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I call this, “Random Fountain”.

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WOOHOO! First Florida storms!

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Well, that’s probably the smallest greenhouse I’ve ever seen.

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The new business building. Quite impressive.

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The building also contained another odd, yet strangely intriguing work of art, made of glass.

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dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
For those of you who neither read the text NOR saw the picture of the big sign…

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I don’t quite know why I took this photo, but this is where our tour began and ended.

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Billboard Alley

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The first time we haven’t made this turnoff… almost depressing, in a way.

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…But this works just fine!

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Remember when I said I loved the view from my hotel room window? Here’s why.

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And that about covers it for today. Tomorrow, Busch Gardens Tamprica!
 

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