Saturday was the last day of our vacation. We woke up in Tunica, Mississippi. Tunica is a casino town just a few miles south of Memphis, Tennessee — you might recall I went there with my friend Andy once. Obviously it is a much different experience with kids in tow. This time we stayed at Harrah’s, but had breakfast at the Hollywood Casino, which has a collection of movie cars and props to look at. After breakfast we walked around for a few minutes and looked at movie props from Goonies, Terminator, Titanic, and a few cars. After that, there… (read more)

Yesterday, we drove. And drove and drove and drove. We drove from Orlando, Florida all the way to Tunica, Mississippi — roughly 850 miles. Google Maps says you can make it in 12 1/2 hours but, uh, we didn’t. Closer to 14 1/2 for us yesterday. We stopped at a few tourist stops along the way, like this one that had live baby gators. They also had quite a few dead ones. We also visited this super cool McDonald’s that was covered inside and out with awesome murals. The kids have given up on eating local or original things. We… (read more)

On day six, we woke up at the same place for a second day in a row — a rarity on this trip. After eating a small breakfast in the hotel room we hopped on the resort’s tram to see the entire property. It was nice to see the whole place. An hour later we were on the road again, driving north. For lunch we stopped at a key lime roadside shop. I had some fried fish and homemade coleslaw. Afterwards we all split some key lime pie. I bought a metal lizard as a souvenir. It wasn’t until I… (read more)

As with every other day of this trip, this morning started with a trip to the pool. Here is a shot of our pool here in Duck Key, Florida. They never seem to tire of swimming. Our next stop was to “swim with the dolphins” at the Dolphin Research Center. Before we went I had half a dozen jokes prepared about how we got to beat the dolphins with hoses and stuff, but after touring the place I changed my mind. The Dolphin Rescue actually rescues hurt and abandoned dolphins and provides a nice place for people to come study… (read more)

We kicked off this morning with a $70 breakfast at Disney World. … After that, the kids wanted to swim again, and so the four of us swam. No rain today — it was 70 degrees and sunny! After a couple of hours of that, we hit the road, heading south — er, more south. On our way to the Keys, we stopped and had a late lunch at Rickey’s Restaurant and Lounge. If you haven’t seen King of Kong, Rickey’s Restaurant is “owned” by Billy Mitchell, one of the subjects of the film. We were told at the restaurant… (read more)

Last night we arrived at a hotel in a town that I cannot spell or pronounce, Apalachicola, Florida. We got to the hotel late so it was hard to tell how close to the ocean we were or what the view was like. When we woke up the next morning, this is what we saw: While I had breakfast in the hotel (it was actually a two bedroom cabin, but whatever) Susan and the kids did a bit of exploring. Apparently the ice machine was invented in Apalachicola and they have a museum dedicated to it, which for $2 a… (read more)

Woke up in Metairie, just outside of New Orleans. We had breakfast at City Diner in Metairie. City Diner’s specialty are pancakes the size of pizzas, and they aren’t kidding. For $8 you’ll get a short stack (3) of pancakes, each one about the size of a medium pizza. Susan, Mason and Morgan all worked on the pancakes (with some sides of eggs and bacon) while I dove into a giant bowl of shrimp and grits. There was something else in my grits, and after re-checking the menu I saw they also offer shrimp and grits and crawfish, which is… (read more)

This is the final entry in a series of posts chronicling our California Vacation. You find all the posts by searching my blog for “California Vacation” (or just clicking this link). Chronologically our visit to Disneyland took place earlier in the trip than everything else we did, but we had such a fun and exciting time that it made more sense to post it at the end. This was our first time for all of us to ever visit Disneyland. Our story begins in the Fairfield Inn, and specifically the “Pirates of the Caribbean Suite” which we got upgraded to… (read more)