Road Trip !

Water covers 70% of the Earth's surface and will it will be a constant theme of the 2008 Olen summer roadtrip. Another little known water factoid is that human brains are 75% water. My wife thinks mine is contains closer to 90% for believing traveling 3,000 miles in a car over 3 weeks is a good idea. Here is the outline of my ideas and timeline for the adventure.

Day 1 (Friday, July 11th). The plan is to leave by 7am (current Vegas odds are at 5 to 1 against us actually leaving that early). The first day is the longest travel day of the first leg (close to 8 hours of driving time) as we truck our way from Natick to Niagara Falls. Our first contact with water will be a break in Albany after about 2.5 hours Six Mile Water Rec Area - letting kids stretch their legs at a playground. We are going to try to keep focused on the road but I am not sure I will be able to resist getting off I-90 to hit Krispy Kreme in Rochester. The goal is to get to the birthplace of the buffalo wing (The Anchor Bar) in Buffalo by 4:30pm.

After dinner at the Anchor Bar we will zip up over the border to Niagara Falls (lots of falling water!). There are plenty of lodging options but my plan is to stay at the Niagara Hilton that features not only good views of the falls but yes - a water slide. There are fireworks over the falls on Friday nights at 10pm.

Day 2 (Saturday, July 12th)

Day 2 will spent exploring the falls area. Plenty to see and do around the area. My feeling is that one day will be enough to see what we needs to be seen at the Falls. Sometime in the early evening I would head north towards Toronto (it is about 1.5 hours to Toronto). I am debating whether to spend the night at someplace outside Toronto (cheaper) or at the hotel at the Skydome (cooler).

Day 3 (Sunday, July 13th)

My hope is the Blue Jays will have a day game on Sunday that we can attend. If the Blue Jays are not home - I may rethink going to Toronto at all- because it is not exactly 'on the way'. Although there are plenty of thing to do in Toronto (besides contracting SARS). Options include the Toronto Zoo ("one of the largest zoos in the world"), Hockey Hall of Fame or if we want to maintain the water theme we can hit the largest water park in Canada . Of course we could actually relax and spend another day in the Niagara area but I have to remind everybody that this is not about relaxing.

Optimally I would like to head out of Toronto around dinner and head West and stay right on the Canadian/American border at the Harbourfront Inn in Sarnia (it is about a 3 hour drive from Toronto). In true Olen fashion I am hoping to sneak in a quick visit to friends from church that recently moved up to Ontario.

Day 4 (Monday, July 14th)

We wake up at the foot of the Bluewater Bridge spanning the St. Clair river and make our way back to the US and across Michigan. Is a stop at Krispy Kreme in Flint Michigan out of the question ? No. Although there are plenty of places that I want to stop as we cross Michigan (Gerald Ford Museum - Watergate!) we want to make good time and reach the Best Western SplashPark Inn in Ludington Michigan with enough time to enjoy the waterslide and hit the House of Flavor for dinner and ice cream. The drive to Ludington is 4.5 hours of driving time.

Day 5 (Tuesday, July 15th)

We wake up early to get the ferry across Lake Michigan on the SS Badger Ferry. The ferry leaves at 8am and it takes 4 hours to cross Lake Michigan and lands in Manitowoc Wisconsin. After getting off the ferry - we will drive the 3 hours to the Dells area of Wisconsin. This is the water park capital of the world and there are a variety of options for waterparks and resorts. I am leaning towards the Kalahari Resort mainly because its logo is an elephant.

After the Ferry and drive we should arrive in the Dells in mid to late afternoon. My plan is to stay two nights in the Dells - so the kids get one full day at a water park.

Day 6 (Wednesday, July 16th)

Hang out at the water parks or hit the various other attractions. Maybe a trip to the nearby Circus World Museum in Baraboo Wisconsin ?

Day 7 (Thursday, July 17th)

Leave WI in the afternoon and head to MN - only a 3.5 hour drive.

Days 8 (Friday July 18th) to Day 15 (Thursday July 24th)

In MN. Land of 10,000 Lakes.

Day 15 ( Friday July 25th)

Head south out of Minnesota - stop for lunch in Ames Iowa and make it to Kansas City by evening ( hopefully for a Royals game). Sticking with the theme Kaufmann Stadium contains the largest privately funded fountain in the world. Stay in KC for the night. A 7 hour drive from MN to KC.

Day 16 (Saturday July 26th)

A just over 5 hour drive from Kansas City to Oklahoma to visit the Cox family outpost in Norman.

Day 17 (Sunday July 27th) to Day 19 (Tuesday July 29th)

Hit all the Oklahoma hot spots

Day 20 (Wednesday) - Day 23 (Saturday)

Drive back to Boston (most likely solo and the rest of the clan will fly home from OK). I have not thought about what I might try and see along the way back to Boston but it will be a pretty quick trip back East.

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Below you will find a map of the mayhem. Click on the view larger map link below the map and you can zoom around and explore the items from above....



View Larger Map

4th of July Week

As usual - we had a busy 4th of July week. We had my college buddy Brad and my Mom in town for the week and did a variety of activities that captured in these photos. You will have to wait until Christmas for the DVD version. You can click on the pictures to get a larger version.

She Blinded me with Science

Brad, Jake and I went to the Science museum to see the Star Wars planetarium show and check out some of the exhibits.

"He is skinnier than Connor !"

Mayhem at the McMahon Pool

Cocktails by the McMahon pool while the kids swallow large amounts of chlorinated water and annoy the neighbors.

"Jake ! Quick I have to go pee..."

BBQ at Olen's

We hosted a BBQ to celebrate the beginning of July and my Mom's visit. The cousins had a fabulous time playing capture the flag. Here they take an dessert break...

Bretto: "Who hates ice cream headaches"

Concert on the Common

Monday nights in the summer mean music and ice cream on the Natick common. The highlight is generally Alex's dancing to the music.

3 nice smiles and Bretto

Hanging with Uncle Brad

Brad was kind enough to take each of our kids out to do something special during the week. Brett chose to go to Chuck E Cheese, Kelsey to Plaster FunTime and Jake to see the Transformer movie. A good time was had by all.....

"10 more tickets and I can get the Sponge Bob squirt gun"

"And it only took me three hours!"

4th of July Parade

Natick puts on a nice parade on the morning of the 4th of July. Our kids still love parades. I will be sad when they have outgrown that stage. My only complaint is the town of Natick feels compelled to put every piece of machinery in the parade and the drivers lean on the horn for two miles.

"Hey Mr. Firefighter!"

Still working on that 'speak no evil' part

4th of July Party at the Surro Compound

The weather was a bit overcast and cool - so the pool was not as popular as in previous years.

"Next year we will get Uncle Jack to buy one with more leg room."

"I wish they had Jolt but I guess Root Beer is OK"

"Bretto has left me alone !"

"That's why the chicken crossed the road"

Alex's 8th Birthday Party

My nephew turned 8 and we all gathered at my sisters to celebrate the occasion. The water balloon toss and moonbounce were popular with kids of all ages.

Anger Management

"Nobody gets out until they give me my shirt back!"

They don't make water balloons like they use to....

"Another Elephant !"

Me, Brad, Mom and Nana Surro. Ready for retirement

The fun never stopped

We filled in the edges of the week with work, board games, music and golf.

Oh when the Saints - Go Marching In....

"So Uncle Jeffy - when can you sleep over ?"

Searching for Bobby Fisher

Golf outing. Looking pretty good after a team score of about 500

The Cape

We went down to Cape Cod for the day to visit my sisters family that was spending the week on the Cape. It rained all the way down but the sun came out in the afternoon and we had a great day at the general store and the beach.

Three generations. Two with white hair

"We need more sugar!"

High tide ruins everything !

"Come on girls we need to work faster !"

Cousin Power

The Most Magical Place in the World....

We hit the parks and try to get to every last ride
When I saw the cost of a hot dog, I almost cried
Yet we had as much fun as one family should get
Now I have to rob another bank to pay of the debt

On Wednesday we moved from the Nick Hotel to the Port Orleans hotel on Walt Disney World. The Nick Hotel was awesome but the Disney resorts always have a special feel.

We spent one day at Animal Kingdom with the Segal family. All of the kids went on the new rollercoaster Expedition Everest. Although Brett went on twice - he had his head buried in my shorts the whole time. We also went on the River Rapids three times in a row - but paid the price as it took the whole day to dry out from that adventure. We hit Epcot later that night for more rides and the fireworks show....


The next park we hit was MGM. The kids favorite rides was probably Star Tours but we had a great time seeing the parade and going to to the Fantasmic show at night. I sought out my favorite Disney/Pixar character (Mike Wazowski) and got to get my picture taken with him..

Our final Disney day was split between the Magic Kingdom and Epcot (open until Midnight !). We had a great day at the Magic Kingdom and went home to use the pool at our resort before heading back to Epcot for the Fireworks and some additional rides. Brett and Kelsey loved Space Mountain and we all enjoyed the Test Track at Epcot.


It was a fantastic vacation. We did not have any rain in the 10 days we were gone. Nobody got sick/injured. Nobody got arrested.

Who Lives in a Pineapple Under the Sea ?

The Disney cruise really got our vacation started with a bang
Now it was great to get to meet Sponge Bob and the gang

For water fun and games the Nick Hotel is the place
I was having a ton of fun until I ended up with a pie in the face

We left the pampered life on the ship to spend a few days with SpongeBob and friends at the Nick Hotel in Orlando.
The Nick Hotel has a couple of awesome pools with waterslides and it was a great time to unwind and the kids had a blast in the pools. They also had a pool table, a minature golf course and basketball hoops in the same main pool complex. Jake especially enjoyed playing pool with different kids.
We had a nice two bedroom suite with a Sponge-Bob theme but perhaps most important a nice 42" plasma where we could watch the Pats-Chargers playoff game.

Nickelodeon caters to their target audience by hosting a number of wacky competitions that generally involve the people getting hit with a pie in the face or a bucket of slime poured over their head. In addition to hosting these competitions poolside during the day - they also host several shows in Studio Nick. The kids were thrilled to participate in one game.


Much to my families delight I was also a participant in one of the competitions. Of course I was not aware that the event would involve me dressing up as a baby but Karen was delighted with the results.

Yo Ho and a Bottle of Rum....

There was swimming, lounging and entertainment galore
And we ate and we ate until we could eat no more

When the 3 days were over, we all had the blues
We are already looking forward to our next Disney Cruise

We boarded the Disney Wonder at about noon on Thursday and headed straight for the buffet and a refreshing adult beverage.
Our first port of call was in Nassau. We limited our time touring Nassua to a very quick trip through the Straw Market. The Straw Market combines several activities that I just can't get enough of:
- Shopping with crowds
- Haggling with poor people
- Elmo Handbags made out of straw


In addtion to the self-service soft-serve ice cream station, a highlight of the cruise for the kids was spending time in the pools.


The last port of call was Disney's private island Castaway Cay. The island is beautiful and done in true Disney style. They even had the ship used in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean docked off the island.


Other highlights of the cruise portion of our adventure included:

• The Disney Broadway shows at night
• The awesome food
• Ian's sleepwalking adventure
• Fireworks
  

Disney Trip - Preamble

January 10th, 2007

You know your trip is going to be good when the coordination of two flights from weather risk originating cities (Manchester NH and Minneapolis) work our perfectly and you go to check-in at your hotel near the Orlando airport and see this......

Of course there was an incident with a make-your-own waffle bar that resulted in a burn that could be a blow to a potentially lucrative marble career.




On to the cruise ship........

Blog Intro

2007 Goals

1. Run Marathon without needing any emergency medical assistance
2. Prevent Wii controllers or Yo-Yo's being lodged in the new plasma TV
3. Create a pointless blog

I am now able to check something off the list. This blog will likely be abandoned but I could at least share the Disney trip highlights and some photos.....

-greg