USRoadTripper

For your voting pleasure...do you prefer Expedtion Everest's original yeti, or the Mike version, as seen below. (Didn't want to post an original yeti image because some people may not want to see spoilers!) The original yeti... http://jimhillmedia.com/article.php?id=1815 The Mike yeti

The only thing they taste like are Krystals...which are basically the same thing. They have a taste all their own, and are known for making some *ahem* fairly foul smelling gasseous emissions after you eat them. They are pretty good though...a definite "must eat" when you're in the states (well, the closest White Castle to Orlando is actually Murfreesboro, TN, but maybe there is a Krystal in central Florida?) -Julie

Johnny was a chemist, but now he is no more For what he thought was H2O was H2SO4! If you get that, YES you are a geek! -Julie (*hearts* geeks)

Yes, I am still waching this site 12 days later! This is the best picture I have seen thus far. -Julie Ewwww! hahahaha

Wish the rest of the park looked as nice as Kentucky Rumbler does Lets all throw a little love at Beech Bend this year! -Julie

I thought it was the roughest of the steel coasters at Cedar Point, but still not that rough overall. It banged my ears pretty hard a couple of times, but nothing that bad. I wouldn't hesitate to ride it again. And I will echo that front of the train rides on stand ups are usually much more comfy that back of the train rides. -Julie

Yeah, I really didn't like it either. It seemed to just be too fast for me. The wind was hitting me so hard that it made it hard to breathe, and I couldn't really keep my eyes open. And to add insult to injury, there was no airtime! After all the fuss that was made about it, I was truly floored at how lame it was. It was an extremely uncomfortable ride. I'd ride it again, but not because I enjoyed it that much. -Julie

Kinder Eggs in egg cartons! That's the cutest thing ever! When I buy Kinder Eggs in bulk (uh, not that I ever do that...nope, not me...never ) they just come in square crates. Guess it's a Canadian thing. :-/ -Julie (wishing her mailbox contained more Kinder eggs!)

OMG! I had the exact same dream last night, only when I woke up it looked like this!!! Nice unexpected update, by the way

Wow...I only posted that because it was on my evening news last night. I certainly wouldn't have posted it had a known it wasn't true. I heard it, thought it was relative to the randomness on this site, and found the website that it was on. Sorry for perpetuating a rumor! -Julie

Hey now, it was wine from Georgia! hehe It wasn't bad, but wasn't so good that I felt compelled to buy any after my tasting. Their musacdine wine is award winning, but it was my least favorite...blech. -Julie

http://feeds.mexiconews.net/?rid=ad7a2764cc030d54&cat=4b980140662cfc90&f=1 That'll teach him to be cruel to rodents!!! -Julie

I took three years of Spanish in high school, then it was a minor in college, so I ended up studying it for 7 years I've been told that I speak about as well as a 5 year old native speaker. My last semester in college, I took French 100 as the gimme A class, and I nearly failed it! It was insanely difficult for me since I had studied Spanish for so long! It all just sounded like sounds mushed together, where languages like German and Portuguese actually sound like individual words. -Julie

No way could I ever do that, but just for ease of marathoning, I'd pick Greezed Lightnin' at Kentucky Kingdom. No head banging, no banging into the sides of the vehicles, and generally a very comfy coaster. -Julie

Work had been stressing me out recently, so I decided to take a day for myself and do something fun. I wanted to get a little way out from Nashville (since I am sick to death of it) because I love driving, and find it really relaxing when I'm stressed. Ultimately I decided on Raccoon Mountain, a place with a cave, gem and gold panning and a few other things. After spending as much time there as needed, I decided to get off the highway and drive around downtown Chattanooga for a bit. The whole area is very touristy, and has lots of funky restaurants and shops mixed in with the touristy stuff. I found a visitor center, and decided to go to a winery just south of town. At the winery, tour guide Adam told me the history of the land and winery, then showed me around the facilities. At the end of the tour, I got to taste 5 different wines, my favorites of which were the Catoosa County white, Chenin blanc, and Tailgate Red...a red wine specially made for Georgia Bulldog fans to drink while tailgating! Sounds low brow, but it was actually one of the better reds I've had, though admittedly I have drank much more white wine than red. When I was done, I headed back to Nashville, making a stop for gas and dinner at Wendys in Murfreesboro. So I had a nice little day to myself. I wish there was more interesting stuff near me that didn't cost so much, as I'd like to do days like this more often. And let me mention...the cave tour was $11 for half an hour. Figuring that most theme parks charge $50ish for at least 8 hours...8 hours in that cave would have cost me $176!!! Another way to show that theme park admission is fair for the entertainment you get. -Julie And here is where they bottle everything by hand. They were preparing to bottle their Niagara white wine tomorrow. The fermentation tanks. It smelled great in here! And is it creepy that I noticed that my tour guide smelled great too? Didn't want to mention it to him for fear of looking like a total freak (oh wait, I come across that way anyway!) At the visitor center, I found a small winery about 6 miles away in Georgia, so I went there. For $5 I got to tour the fermenting tanks and whatnot, and got to taste some of their wines, and got a wine glass to take home. Aww, the kids museum...dang, where's Kevin when you need him? Because I spent less than an hour at Raccoon Mountain, I wanted to find something else to do, so I went to the visitor center. The visitor center was like "Elevator ride" meets Superstar Limo. After the cave tour, I got a bag of ore and did jemstone panning. It's not something that lends isself to letting you to take photos while you're doing it since your hands are wet. But it's very fun. These were my finds. And yet another. The water has the same mineral in it that they coat the backs of mirrors with. Here's another random, very nice picture from inside the cave. This one supposedly looks like Scooby Doo, but I think it looks more like Grizzly Peak. And this one looks like an iguana shedding it's skin. The nose is to the far right, with a mouth running along it horizonally, with skin near the back. I know, this one is a bit of a stretch. This formation looks like a sabre toothed tiger. The nose is the far right point, with the eye above it, the long tooth hanging below it, and the paw in the front. This was my tour guide (I forget his name). When I said I was from Nashville, he said he'd never been that far west because he hated to travel, and never went anywhere. Sad to think that the extent of his world is Chattanooga. Not to mention the politically incorrect redneck merchandise. Woah! Lots of it over here too! Hey, there's some Elissa friendly merchandise over here! Not surprisingly, I was the only person in sight besides the employees. That's what happens when you visit at noon on a Monday in January. Ok, time for Raccoon Mountain. I think...*think*...that this is an "Elissa Approved" attraction. Usually my fortunes are eerily accurate, but this one couldn't have missed the mark any further. Wrong on all three counts! I stopped at an all you can eat Chinese buffet in Kimball, TN for lunch. Well, there goes *that* new years resolution! I have always thought these signs on Monteagle were funny. As a kid, I imagined that at the top of the ramp, it was just a drop off, and you could go up to the top and see trucks that had fallen over the edge. Alas, I was incorrect. I got up at 8:00am, and when I headed out, I realized that I was over 2000 miles overdue for an oil change! Yikes! I stopped at the only place I could find and they charged me $35 to change my oil. Note to self...learn to change your own oil.

SLCs and Boomerangs aside, I've ridden more bad Arrows than Vekomas. But coaster for coaster, I have probably ridden twice as many Vekomas as Arrows that I don't care to repeat. -Julie

Um...eww! What's up with you being creepy recently? First the "I know what Elissa is giving Robb for his birthday *wink wink*" comment, now this. Creepy. I can't be the only one that feels this way. By the way Erik, I knew that Universal had a live cast Rocky showing twice a month, but didn't learn that until I moved away from Orlando! And any time I have been back since, they haven't had a show while I was there Still hoping to catch one one day though! -Julie

How about a "Robb peeking out of the top of a Taiko icon" icon? -Julie

I taught myself to juggle in high school, and you wouldn't believe how impressed people get when you randomly start juggling stuff. I juggle the apples on our desk at the hotel all the time. I knew it was gonna be a skill that came in handy hahaha -Julie

Agreed Wes and Robb...I like the 23x23s. Big enough to be detailed, but no so huge as to overwhelm the posts, and especially the chat. But please make sure we get to keep :shock:! -Julie

Uh, is that my picture? Thanks for the credit, dude. -Julie

The group is RADP...rec.arts.disney.parks. You acess it on usenet, so you have to have a newsreader to access it. Basically, it is the predecessor to web based foums. But really, most of the friends I have made came from the chat, which is in IRC twice a week. I know, it's very old school! But we've all been a big family since about 1998, and I don't see that changing any time soon! -Julie

Excuse me! I resemble that remark!!! -Julie (<-- 26) BTW Happy birthday Soren hehe

What's the easiest way to get IE to auto refresh this guys page about every second or two? Gets tiring having to keep clicking refresh. (Yes, I know, I am a total and complete loser, but it passes the time really well at work!! ) -Julie

Thanks so much for posting your pics Peter! You got some truly fantastic pictures of everyone during the trip! A few thoughts for you... -Yes, Kevin is quite the interesting photo subject -That's no ordinary ubber duck...that's the AXE MURDERING DUCK from Dollywood! He puts tha fear 'o god into other rubber ducks! -I just about peed myself when I saw the animated gif of us trying to get the milkshake photo! The fact that it plays over and over is pretty accurate of how many times we tried to get that photo right! hahaha -That photo of the little boy on his dad's shoulder is absolutely beautiful. If that were my son, that would be hanging in my living room poster sized. -Is "splorch" a real word, or is that a Peter word? -Julie