How Travel Has Prepared Me for a Freak October Snow Storm
For those of you who have somehow managed to avoid all forms of media for the past several hours you should know that right now a majority of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast is being pounded by a freakish early snow storm. By the time I got out of bed this morning–at 8:30–it was already coming down and a coating covered the ground.
Because I knew this storm was coming, I spent part of yesterday looking for campgrounds around the country and then driving around appreciating the fall foliage. It was a picture-perfect autumn day, with no hint of the winter that was creeping up the coast. While I sadly discovered that my real camera had a dead battery, I snapped one moderately-unsafe photo with my phone whilst driving. This was yesterday…
Pretty, right? I don’t remember a year that we’ve had such nice fall color–and I’m super bummed about the dead camera battery, as yesterday was clearly the last day to document said nice color. Because this is today, taken not five minutes ago…
To be fair, I did manage to find some fall color still remaining–though I had to look pretty hard and shuffle through a good four inches of snow to find it. Here it is, in all of its October 29th glory…
But this somehow doesn’t seem odd to me. Why? Because traveling has made my brain–and body–accept bizarre changes in weather. More specifically, the increased frequency with which I’ve been traveling has made me very accustomed to seemingly out of season weather. Take, for example, our summer road trip. We went to Maine and Atlantic Canada. So this is what a lot of my August looked like…
Though it didn’t rain like that the entire time, it was cold enough to require that I dress super cool, in my husband’s pants, a golf shirt, and all of this combined with the summer dress I stupidly packed…
A few weeks after returning from Canada, I went to Orlando. It was September, and all of the trees were just starting to change here in Pennsylvania. But in Orlando, it was 95 degrees with darn near 100% humidity. This was my autumn…
And then I returned home to a rainy, rainy autumn in PA. It seemed more like spring in the Pacific Northwest than autumn in Pennsylvania. But of course, as soon as it seemed autumn had found herself and PA was aglow with golds and reds, off I went again, this time to Bermuda. Because my computer organizes my photos by month, the photos of the fall leaves–and the snow–above are in the same folder as this photo…
…which I took of myself on a boat off the coast of Bermuda not ten days ago. So as the snow falls on the trees that still sport autumn leaves whilst also falling on my nose–that is still peeling from my Bermuda sunburn–I am not confused in the least. It all seems about right to me!
I hope things haven’t gotten too bad for y’all. On the news it looks like Pennsylvania has been hit really hard. Not sure exactly where you are- but hope things are ok for you and hubby. Be careful. Stay warm.
Please post about Disney! We are going there before our cruise in January and don’t have kids either. I need to hear about it from a childless persons point of view. Great blog!
Glad you like the blog! I have posted about Disney–and always from a childless perspective (as I don’t have kids!) Let me see if I can link any of those posts to this comment (sorry, but my tag cloud is unfinished–I have almost 400 posts and maybe 350 of them are un-tagged, which is a problem I seriously need to fix!)
Disney posts….
If you click forward from here, you’ll find a bunch of Disney posts…
http://www.suitcasescholar.com/2010/11/26/i-am-a-disney-convert-post-1-of-many/
These are most of the posts you will find if you click forward from that one…
http://www.suitcasescholar.com/2010/11/28/the-magic-kingdom/
http://www.suitcasescholar.com/2010/12/01/the-lion-sleeps-tonight-disney-solo/
http://www.suitcasescholar.com/2010/12/05/epcot-around-the-world-in-7-hours/
And if you click forward from here, you’ll find some more…
http://www.suitcasescholar.com/2011/05/22/the-wanyama-safari-at-disney%E2%80%99s-animal-kingdom-lodge-post-one-the-safari/
And here’s another…
http://www.suitcasescholar.com/2011/09/15/extended-disney-world-trip-phase-one-complete/
Clearly, I need to work on tagging my posts. Thanks for the kick in the butt you didn’t even know you were providing! I’d bet money that everything I’ve ever written will be tagged by the end of the week–for easy reference (by others AND by me!)
Have a magical trip! Disney as an adult is great!
Thank you! After I posted I saw the topics and started reading some of the Disney posts. I love your style of writing. I found you on Cruise Critic and now I get to read about all of your travels! Thanks!
Thanks for the compliments! And I’m glad you are enjoying my blog. If you have any questions about any of the destinations listed, please don’t hesitate to ask! As you can see, I clearly respond to all comments. 😉
What cruise line are you on and where are you going? I’m looking at a cruise out of NYC in January that goes to the Eastern Caribbean. And another out of NYC in April to LA through the Panama canal. If I do that one, I’m SO going to Disneyland on the other end!
Oh and i’m totally jealous that you are going to do a Panama Canal cruise. It’s on my list along with Hawaii, but since we own are own business, getting away for more than two weeks is almost impossible.
We were gone for 22 days last summer which was a work/vacation combo. We did 5022 miles, 13 states, 2 countries and a cruise to Alaska while we were gone. It was fabulous!
Wow! That trip sounds incredible! Holy a lot of stuff!
And the Panama canal cruise is not a for-sure thing yet. It either has to come WAY down in price or I need to find a ‘special’ wherein I don’t pay the 200% single supplement. I found a deal like that on my Bermuda cruise, but who knows. That might have been a once-in-a-lifetime fluke!
My DH won’t fly so we are limited to going to where we can drive/cruise to.
Mid January we are leaving, driving to Atlanta, spending the night there to see friends, driving the next day to Savannah, spending the night there to see friends, then we are heading to Orlando.
We are definitely going to Epcot one day and then I was thinking about Animal Kingdom, but I’ve had so many people tell me it’s not worth it. After reading your posts, I think we might enjoy it. I’d also like to do downtown Disney which I’ve been told is fun, but haven’t read a lot about it.
Our friends fly in on Friday the 20th and then our cruise leaves from Port Canaveral on the 21st. We are going on the Norwegian Sun, doing the Western Caribbean. Very much looking forward to it!
I have another cruise planned for the end of April on the Carnival Elation out of New Orleans with my mother and two friends. I’ve officially dubbed it the “old lady” trip as I will be the youngest by a good 10 years. On that one we just hit Cozumel & Progresso, but I’ll get to play tour guide as none of the three have cruised before. We are also driving from Iowa to New Orleans for that one.
Wow–that’s so many places I want to go! Specifically Savannah and New Orleans. I really want to do a southern road trip this summer, but my husband thinks it will be too hot–and he’s probably right! The only time we can travel (together) is in the summer, because he’s a teacher (and I used to be one–and may be again next year.)
As for your Disney plans–I LOVE Animal Kingdom. In fact, I think it is my favorite Disney park (and thus my favorite theme park in the entire world). With only one day in Disney, I’d do Animal Kingdom in the morning–until 3ish–and then Epcot at night. The countries of world showcase are beautiful at night–and then you can eat and drink around the world! With two full days in Disney, I’d do the same thing on Day one and then do the Magic Kingdom in the morning of Day 2 and get OUT by 1:00 in the afternoon (the Magic Kingdom is SCARY in the afternoon–crowded with screaming, cranky children in need of a nap) and then hit Hollywood Studios.
The reason you’ve heard not such great things about Animal Kingdom is because there aren’t many rides. It’s more the kind of park you experience. If you like to take photos, you will want to spend DAYS there (I have!) You have to walk the trails and see the animals (beautiful) and check out the shows. Flights of Wonder is pretty awesome–get there early and sit up front. Festival of the Lion King is, in my opinion, one of the best things in all of Walt Disney World. And the one coaster in the park–Expedition Everest–is hands down my favorite ride in the entirety of the three parks (though Tower of Terror and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster in DHS come close!)
I did not love Downtown Disney, and I really thought I would. There’s really not much going on there–and yet it is really crowded. Honestly, it’s mainly shopping–and you can find all of the same…ahem…crap…in the shops in the parks. And usually those shops have cute themes and are more enjoyable. I also thought I’d like Universal City Walk, but didn’t. The whole thing kind of felt like an outside mall–which, really, it is.
That’s good to know about Downtown Disney. My husband is definitely not a shopper and would whine if we spent too much time looking at shops.
The couple of days were going to spend at Disney are really just to get our feet wet to see if we like it and may want to come back on a longer trip in the future. Same with Atlanta & Savannah since we will basically only have one night in each place.
New Orleans is fun, we’ve been twice before, both for work, with a couple of extra days tacked on. If you make it there, along with the French Quarter stuff, be sure to take the trolley ride as you really get to see a lot. We will only have 1 day before our cruise to see it, but will try to hit the highlights for the three who haven’t been there yet.
If you haven’t done Alaska, I highly recommend it. Either by cruise or just by flying there. The cruise was awesome, but as usual, the time in port was so short you never felt like you had enough time to see everyone. The highlight was definitely whale watching in Juneau. I hired a private boat for us, so there was 6 people plus the captain. We got to see way more than the Carnival excursion did. Someday, we will go back!
We are contemplating getting an RV in the next few years so that will really increase the amount we travel. Now if we just didn’t have this pesky thing called a business we could really go somewhere!
We went to Alaska on a Celebrity cruise for our honeymoon. It was AMAZING! The highlight of our trip was Juneau, too–but that’s because we did this insane glacier trek organized by a non-cruise line company (I believe its something like Above and Beyond Alaska, but I’m honestly not even sure if they exist anymore–it was a husband/wife team and the wife was pregnant–I’m thinking that may have cut back on her trekking!) They drove us to the trail head and then led us on an hours-long hike to Mendenhall Glacier…and then provided us with gear so that we could walk ON the glacier. And UNDER the glacier. It was probably the most amazing travel experience I’ve ever had–still, to this day.
We would LOVE to go back!
That’s a bummer that your husband won’t fly–though I imagine it gives you the opportunity to see a lot of this country.
And don’t complain about having a business–at least you have work! I’m trying to become self-employed and it is not going well! Be thankful for what you have–and it seems like you are still able to travel occasionally. Sounds like a pretty good life to me! 🙂
I can’t even imagine doing an excursion like that and i’m definitely too fat for it, but maybe sometime in the future! My husband would love it though.
Driving isn’t as bad as you think and we tend to just include it as part of our trip. We get kind of goofy after being in the car a long time though.
Ok.. I’ll stop using up all your space with comments. I’m off to waste more of my day reading your blog! Go finish your cruise critic review! I want to read the rest of it.
Tracy – LOVE reading your reviews/ trip notes/ looking at your fantastic photos!
Found you on CC’s NCL board and followed your link to here.
This is a GREAT way to pass the time @ work when we are slow..as we are now. (I may be in your position sooner than I would like!)
I love the same things you do (travel, photography, writing) I will be following you to see if you can create a paying business out of those loves. I would be right behind you – trying the same! 🙂 okay.. I’m really not a stalker! LOL
I enjoyed reading your notes back & forth w/Liz, too. 🙂
My DH & I are now empty nesters (5 grown kids between us / 11 grandkids – #12 due in May).
This is 2nd marriage for both – we got married 11yrs ago – and did Disney for our honeymoon. Was my first time. LOVED Animal Kingdom!
We are doing our ‘greatest’ / longest trip – leaving 3 weeks from today. I am soo excited about it! We are driving from Rochester, NY to Miami (by way of W. Virginia, Columbia, SC, Savannah, GA) spending 2 nights in Miami – NCL Pearl 11/27 W. Caribbean 7 days – then back to Savannah for overnight, on to Charleston, WV then home. We’ll be gone 1 day shy of 2 weeks.
Guess I need to find my blog- or start a new one- to do my posting of that w/ photos.
Anyway…just wanted to say how much I’m enjoying reading your travel adventures! Thanks!
Pamela
Greetings!
First, thanks for the compliments! If you’ve been reading my trip report, you’ll know that I love taking photos! (and that trip report is why this blog hasn’t been posted upon since Saturday! And the book I’m writing is why the trip report is taking so long! Hello hand cramp!)
I’d love to hear about your career change plans! I have a blog about my year off–it’s not self-hosted like this one. The address is http://www.existentialmidlifetwitch.wordpress.com
You did Disney for the first time as an adult and loved it too, eh? We clearly have a lot in common! And yes, Animal Kingdom is my favorite (hear that again, Liz?!?)
Your next trip sounds amazing! Actually, that’s darn near exactly the trip I’d want to take this summer…but for the fact that it will be summer and thus VERY HOT! You are very lucky to be able to travel during the fall. I’d also LOVE love love to do a road trip followed by (or punctuated with) a cruise. As you know, I super loved my first NCL cruise (and my second cruise ever) and am POSITIVE that I will be cruising again (hopefully soon!) If you find your blog (or start a new one–it’s really easy to do, provided you use wordpress dot com not dot org–setting this one up was a bit different…) post it here somewhere so I can read all about your trip. It really is almost to the stop exactly my dream southern road trip!