Category Archives: Travel

Sleepless in Scotland

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After a long night of being wide awake (curse you jet lag!), we began where Edinburgh began: at the castle. The guides will tell you that Edinburgh Castle has never been taken by force, but they seem to be playing fast and loose with the definition of “force,” since the castle has been taken by siege, and it has been taken by guys climbing over the walls and surprising the guards. Sounds like force to me, but hey, I’m not Scottish.

Our guide was definitely Scottish, though (complete with kilt), and he gave us a very entertaining tour. He explained that the castle has a tradition of firing a 1 o’clock gun every day to help sailors keep time. Why 1 o’clock when the standard in the rest of the world is 12 o’clock? Because Scotsmen are cheap. Why use 12 rounds of ammunition every day when you can wait an hour and only use one?

Chris has always loved his Scotch, so we had to do the Scotch Whisky Experience. If you overlook the fact that the experience begins with a cheesy barrel ride through the distillery (think Disneyland for liquor lovers), it was actually kind of interesting. They gave us scratch n sniff cards that illustrated the aromas of whiskies from different regions of Scotland, and then we got to try a sample of our favorite. I did try it, but Chris had to finish it. God, that stuff burns.

And finally, we toured a labyrinth of buried streets and passageways beneath the city and saw where people lived, worked and died hundreds of years ago. Some of the plaster in the walls has actually been found to contain cremation ash. “An early form of recycling,” as our guide put it. Gruesome, but cool.

Here’s hoping a good night’s sleep awaits…

Back on Track at Disney

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I had two goals today:

1. Keep Justin happy.
2. Get at least one photo of the four of us together.

After yesterday’s trauma, I really wanted Justin to have a good time today. That meant technology. We let him play with Chris’s phone whenever we had to stand in line for more than a few minutes. We’d been doing that a bit anyway, but we mostly tried to avoid it cause we were afraid he wouldn’t want to give it up. This was day 3 of standing in the heat, however, so we were much quicker to whip out the electronics. Goal #1 was a success.

So naturally Brayden turned out to be the bigger problem. His morning did not start well: he and Chris rushed off to the Matterhorn when the park opened, only to discover the ride was broken. Then they were halfway through Buzz Lightyear when it broke down too. (Seriously, Disney?)

The four of us did Star Tours together, which was good, but when we tried to rush off to Splash Mountain, Brayden insisted on taking time to build a custom droid in the Star Tours gift shop. Normally I would’ve said no, we need to go…but he got rushed out of the same gift shop yesterday, and he was having such a crappy morning, and I felt like I owed him something. So we waited. It meant a slightly longer wait at Splash Mountain, but a much happier Brayden, so whatever.

The get-a-family-photo goal worked out too. We finally got one just after we finished Splash Mountain, when Justin was thrilled that he got drenched (which is especially noteworthy cause last year he wouldn’t get on a water ride without a poncho to protect his clothes) and Brayden was equally thrilled that he barely got wet. Good times.

We also met Captain America, rode Big Thunder for a fifth time, and did Toy Story Mania (Brayden was grumpy after that one cause I got a better score than he did…but ice cream cures all ills) and Soarin’ Over California. We ended our very long day at the parks by watching the Aladdin stage show, which we all agreed was awesome, not least because we could sit in an air conditioned theatre for 40 minutes. Ahhh.

Another great vacation done. Home tomorrow…

 

 

 

 

 

Ups and Downs at Disneyland

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I’m sure I speak for many autism moms when I say: damn the balloons.

Obviously Disneyland is full of balloons. And for the most part, Justin’s been OK with that; he doesn’t seem bothered by kids holding giant Mickey balloons on a string. But he had a mini-meltdown in the middle of the Muppet Vision 3D show when a 3D fly puffed up like a balloon and then exploded (it was going so well up until then!) We didn’t actually have to leave the theatre, but he was clearly traumatized, and spent the next hour complaining that Muppets are evil (sigh).

Then later, as we were leaving the park, a girl walking next to Justin had a balloon animal and a stick, and she kept popping the pieces. To his credit, he didn’t flip out; but he did have to walk with his hands over his ears, and he was quite relieved when she finally put the thing in the garbage.

The balloon phobia reared its ugly head again at dinner time. A very talented balloon artist was making the rounds of the restaurant, creating extraordinary animals for the kids. The sound of the twisting balloons was clearly bothering Justin (who, like so many kids on the spectrum, has super sensitive hearing). Again, he didn’t melt down, but he covered his ears and looked quite uncomfortable. Then the guy arrived at our table and offered to make animals for the boys. I’m sure Brayden would’ve liked one, but he knew that was a no-go. We just explained that balloons make Justin quite anxious; the guy apologized and left, and Justin could finally relax. Whew.

Despite all that, we did have a good day. We walked on to our first three rides with no waiting, then had lunch at ESPN Zone and let the boys play in the arcade for a bit. Then came the unfortunate Muppet experience, but we recovered by riding Monsters Inc, having some ice cream and doing Splash Mountain (which was especially nice as the temperature was well above 30). Harmony was restored.

Chris and the kids are shopping right now (back to the Lego store!) and then I think they might hit the pool for a bit before bed. One more day…

Mother’s Day at Mickey’s House

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We didn’t actually go to Mickey’s house, but you get the point: we’re in Disneyland! In an uncharacteristically spontaneous move, I booked this trip a mere three weeks ago. I meant it to be a surprise for Chris’s birthday in June, but the dates worked out better to go in May, and it just happened to work out that our first day at the parks was Mother’s Day. For celebrating the joys of family, I can’t think of a better place to be.

And we had a FANTASTIC day. There were a few glitches (Justin and I both found the Matterhorn way too rough; Indiana Jones broke down three-quarters of the way through our ride and we had to get out and walk the rest of the way) but they didn’t really drag us down, especially since the Indiana Jones people gave us a Fastpass to be used for a ride of our choice.

I was surprised to see what a difference a year makes. Last year the kids were Star Wars-obsessed and insisted on riding Star Tours over and over again. This time around, the big hit is Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (to be fair, it was closed on our trip last year), a thrill ride through a mine shaft that Chris and I both loved on our original trip 13 years ago. Brayden loves all the rides, but Justin has issues with a few; I was happy to see how excited he was about that one.

Another big difference is our endurance level: the boys had no trouble staying at the parks until 9 pm or so after having a break at the hotel in the afternoon, whereas last year they were DONE by 3 pm. We also have park hopper passes this time, which allowed us to spend most of the day at Disneyland but then hop over to California Adventure for the evening. Everyone should get a chance to see Cars Land all lit up with neon. We even managed to ride Radiator Springs Racers after dark — WAY cool.

 

 

 

Celebrating the Dead in DC

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Elaborate memorials to the dead are everywhere in DC. Virtually every building in the downtown core is either a government office or some sort of cenotaph. So when I say today was devoted to death, it wasn’t really as morbid as it sounds. Death is just what this town does best.

We started at Ford’s Theatre, where Lincoln was shot in 1865. I expected to just have a look inside the theatre and be on our way, but instead we were shuffled into a very impressive museum containing loads of historical artifacts — including the gun that fired the fatal shot. After half an hour of reading displays about the events leading up to the assassination, we were led into the theatre itself, where we saw the box Lincoln was actually sitting in when he was shot. The whole experience was much cooler than I thought it would be.

After the spy museum yesterday, we thought we’d try the equally highly rated National Crime and Punishment Museum today. It had a crime lab, the filming studio for America’s Most Wanted, and three floors of thematic exhibits on everything from medieval criminals to 20th century gangsters, serial killers and cyber hackers. We loved it, but I can see how it wouldn’t be for everybody. The first thing you see when you walk in the door is Ted Bundy’s car next to a plaque that explains how he used it to subdue his victims. The rest of the place is filled with similarly sordid artifacts and information.

The museum also offered some kick-ass interactive experiences: you could test your skills with a (fake) firearm, stand in a police lineup, evade the cops in a high-speed car chase or tunnel your way out of a prison cell. One whole floor is dedicated to an immersive CSI experience, where you observe a suspect escaping a crime scene, then collect and analyze the evidence to figure out what happened. It was really well done.

After lunch we hopped the metro to Arlington National Cemetery. I mainly wanted to see the Kennedy graves, but we also sought out the memorials to the Challenger and Columbia astronauts, and the tomb of the unknown soldier. So that rounded off our day of death.

With our sightseeing done, we relaxed in a couple different pubs and basically ate and drank continuously for the better part of three hours. Ah, vacation. If we can stay awake we might wander by the White House after dark to see it all lit up, but we have a really early flight tomorrow, so I dunno.

Home sweet home awaits…

The Best Things in Life are Free

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One of the greatest things about DC is that a lot of its top attractions are free. And I’m not just talking about walking around looking at monuments. We toured the Library of Congress AND the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and it didn’t cost us a dime. I love this town.

We ended up at the Library of Congress almost by accident. The plan was to hit the Air and Space Museum first thing, but as it didn’t open until 10 and we were up and about long before that, we decided to walk down to the Capitol building to look around. (Google Maps says we walked almost 8 km today, not including the four hours of walking we did inside museums. I’m not sure my feet will forgive me.) Behind the Capitol lies the library, so we decided to check that out.

And was I ever glad we did. In addition to the beautifully decorated great hall and reading room, the library had a special exhibit of a Gutenberg Bible and the first map ever created that shows America as a separate continent. It was a history buff’s dream.

When we finally made it to the Air and Space Museum, it was Chris’s turn to get excited. We saw the actual command module from Apollo 11, the mission that first landed a man on the moon. We saw the Spirit of St. Louis, the plane Lindbergh took on the first non-stop flight from New York to Paris. We touched a moon rock. We walked through a Skylab replica. We saw a full-size model of the Hubble telescope. We got an inside view of the cockpit of an Airbus. It was all amazing. I still can’t believe it was all free.

On the long walk back to the hotel, we decided to stop and see the International Spy Museum. It’s one of the few museums in the city that charges an admission fee, but it was totally worth it. The place covers the entire history of espionage with incredibly detailed thematic areas, exhibits and displays. Everyone has to choose and memorize a cover identity, then you get a special briefing about what to expect, then you go through some exhibits that test your spy skills, and so on. They even had a special exhibit on 50 years of Bond villains that was pretty cool, even for people like me who have never been fans of the movies. Awesome.

One more day in DC…

A Welcome Change of Pace: Washington, DC

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A note in our hotel room warned that the nation’s capital has the worst traffic congestion in the U.S., but whoever wrote that note has clearly never been to New York. This place is awesome. We walked around the city for hours this afternoon and never once encountered the teeming mass of humanity that surrounded us at all times in NYC. People here actually heed traffic lights and walk signals. Imagine.

Our hotel is not far from the White House, so we started our sightseeing there. We’ve all seen it on TV and in the movies, but I was still surprised by how small the building really is. After that we wandered down to the Lincoln Memorial, not out of any historical interest, but because Chris remembered the reflecting pool from Forrest Gump and wanted to see where that was filmed. Nice.

And now to rest my aching feet…

From Sea to Space: Another Day in New York

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When your morning begins with a tour of a submarine, a supersonic jet, a space shuttle and an aircraft carrier, you know it’s going to be a good day. A nice bonus was that our membership from the Okanagan Science Centre got us in for free (OK, the Concorde and the space shuttle did cost extra…this is New York, after all.)

The submarine was the U.S.S. Growler, a Cold War-era sub that carried nuclear missiles but contained less technological wizardry than my cell phone. (Think about that for a second.) Our walk-through tour showed us the engine room, crew quarters, galley, missile hangars, etc.

We were more interested in the Concorde, however. The museum has an actual British Airways jet that made hundreds of supersonic trips between New York and London. We got to sit in the first class cabin (you know, where the Queen of England also sat) and see the cockpit, which was beyond cool.

The space shuttle Enterprise was another highlight. This was the prototype shuttle that never actually went into orbit, and you can’t actually get inside it, but you can walk all around the outside and even go right underneath it. Awesome.

We had to curtail our visit to the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Intrepid due to time constraints, but that was OK because we toured a bigger aircraft carrier in San Diego a few years ago anyway. Chris took hundreds of photos of everything on the flight deck, but the only thing that stood out for me was the Blackbird spy plane — it was so sleek. Nice.

Next up was a harbor cruise that we took mainly to see the Statue of Liberty (I was also hoping to see the UN building, but the general assembly is in session, so security won’t let anything near it).

I’m in a rush to finish this entry cause we have to run out and get something to eat before our Broadway show tonight (Rock of Ages, here we come!)

To DC tomorrow…

A Second Bite of the Big Apple

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We started the day with a quintessential New York experience: going up the Empire State Building. Early risers that we are, we were among the first ones there when the doors opened. I was amazed that it only took 60 seconds to go up 86 storeys in the elevator — I know some buildings in Kelowna whose elevators take that long just to get to the third floor. The views were incredible, but we were done after 10 minutes. At least we didn’t spend hours waiting in line for that.

New York may be big and crowded and loud, but it does have some kick-ass museums. We spent four hours at the American Museum of Natural History, and there was lots more we could’ve seen, but our feet just couldn’t take any more. Dinosaur fossils, a planetarium space show, a special exhibit on whales, plus the largest meteorite on display anywhere…”wow” doesn’t begin to cover it. Awesome.

Tomorrow is another museum, a harbor cruise, and a Broadway show — it should be cool!

I ____ New York

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New York has never been high on my list of must-see destinations. In fact, it ranks pretty high on the list of places I wanted to avoid. I always thought of the city as huge, crowded, expensive and dangerous. Now that I’m here, I think of it as huge, crowded, expensive…and kind of interesting.

Granted, we haven’t done much yet. The train ride from Boston took four hours, and by the time our cabbie fought his way through traffic and deposited us at our Upper West Side hotel, it was mid-afternoon. We finally hopped the subway to Times Square and caught a sightseeing bus that took us all around downtown and lower Manhattan. It was an open-air double-decker bus, so of course everyone sat up top, but no one dared sit up too tall or they’d be clipped by overhanging traffic lights and tree branches. Huh.

Still, we were so happy to be able to sit back and relax that we didn’t care about having to watch our heads. The guide had all kinds of interesting factoids about every park, church, and skyscraper we passed, and there were a LOT of them. (One factoid that stuck with me: most schools in Manhattan don’t have playgrounds, so at recess time the cops actually close down a section of the street so the kids have somewhere to play. How sad is that?)

This might be the city that never sleeps, but I’m ready for a good long snooze. Tomorrow we’ll have a full day to explore…

On the bus at Times Square

On the bus at Times Square