A magical visit to Disney World

My trip to Disney World was a dream come true! Here I am in front of Cinderella's castle at the Magic Kingdom. They had just decorated the park for the holidays, so that made it even more magical :-)


Disney employees try to make your trip as magical as possible. Everywhere you turn, there's magic in the air. Even in my hotel room, they made me little washcloth friends to hang out with!


Disney is also a really fun place to "see the world" through the lands of Epcot. I got to see countries like China, Japan, Morocco, Italy, and England.


I got a "My First Visit" pin. Here I am showing it off in Morocco. The restaurant there serves really good chicken with lemon and olives. Oh wait! I can't eat that!! Oh the horror!!


This is in "Japan."


Disney's Animal Kingdom has a fantastic new roller coaster based on Mt. Everest. I was scared out of my feathers...but it was so much fun!!

Ithaca is gorges!

Get it, gorgeous gorges?! I can't get enough of that, but I hear it drives the locals crazy. This waterfall is taller than Niagara Falls--more than 200 feet!


Seriously, this isn't at all what I thought I'd see in New York...waterfalls, canyons, lakes, and beautiful fall foliage. And the food was really good too!



This is one of the famous finger lakes.


Okay, so now I'm just playing around.

Pennsylvania...and chocolate (yummy!)

Welcome to my new home--Pennsylvania! Apparently, you have to smile here. Too bad I don't have any facial muscles.


Pennsylvania is very pretty. There are lots of rolling hills and trees.


This is Penn State University, not far from where I live now. I've heard that this is a "drinking town with a football problem." They really, really like their football here. I think it's because there isn't much else to do.


A visit to central Pennsylvania would not be complete without seeing the mecca of of the cocoa bean--Hershey!


Chocolate World. Do you really need to know more than that?


Even the street lamps in town celebrate chocolate kisses.

It's HISTORY!

Gettysburg is a HISTORIC battlefield from the Civil War...a place where brother fought against brother in an epic battle for the soul of a fledgling nation, and where now the whole town lives off tourists. And where the visitor center looks like it hasn't been updated since the Eisenhower administration.


The Gettysburg cemetery is where President Lincoln gave his HISTORIC speech that the world has little noted, and long forgotten...as we all know.


The battlefields of Gettysburg are positively littered with giant monuments from every single battalion and state that might have had even a single soldier there. I mean, there are literally hundreds of them. But I managed to find a lovely view that was monument-free. This is a battlefield and a barn that played a HISTORIC role in the battle.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is in the Netherlands, which makes it sound very far away. Lots of people there speak English though...maybe better than they do in America! Can you spot me in this sign?


The famous painter Rembrandt lived in Amsterdam. They have a sculpture of him and one of his famous paintings in "Rembrandt Square."



Amsterdam is a city of great art. There was even a picture of one of my brethren in my hotel room. It made me feel right at home.


There are more canals in Amsterdam than in Venice. Who knew?! People there don't seem to really use them for transportation though. They just park their houseboats there. Everyone rides bikes to get from place to place.

Sweet Home Chicago

I realized that I have not posted any photos from my own hometown! So I went to Navy Pier to show off my great city. Navy Pier has a big old Ferris Wheel. Chicago was the site of the first one way back in the 1892 World's Fair.


Chicago has the best skyline around. There's no doubt about it.


Navy Pier has some of those fun-house mirrors. They can make you look very, um, svelte.

Central Florida...but no Disney

Hmmm...as it turns out, central Florida isn't very photogenic if you're not at Disney World. Go figure. There are some pretty flowers though.


And lots of trees.

American Road Trip

I love road trips! I got to go from Chicago to Columbus Ohio and Virginia for Christmas this year. We drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia for a while. That's near where the Walton's TV show was filmed.


Here's the view of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.


We had to go through West Virginia to get to Virginia. They have a lot of coal there. I saw a sign that said "Coal. It keeps the lights on." Things are different in the Appalachians. Here I am driving by the West Virginia statehouse.



Of course, one of the best things about road-tripping is getting to eat at Cracker Barrel! I sure do love them green beans and corn. Yummy!