Category: Excursions

Staycation Day 7 – Indiana Beach

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Staycation Day 7 (Thursday July 23)

E felt better so we stuck with our plan to visit Indiana Beach Amusement Park. We were up very bright and early (5 am) so we could leave at 6 am as we had multiple stops to make – gas station for fuel, ice (for the cooler) and a Coke product (for discounted admission to the park), E’s house so he could grab a few things, E’s girlfriend’s house as she was coming with us, and Brother #1’s house since he was also coming with us.

We arrived at the park at 10:30 am their time which was perfect since we got free parking close to the entrance and by the time we purchased our tickets and walked across the suspension bridge, the rides were just starting since they technically open at 11 am (not 10 am like I mistakenly thought).

Unlike previous years, there’s only one wristband they sell for $31.95 which includes nearly all the rides and the water park. I had checked their site ahead of time and learned Thursday was BOGO if you mentioned you liked them on Facebook (which is funny because they don’t even have an official Facebook presence). In addition, you could get $10 off each ticket with a Coke product. Since there were five of us that meant two free admissions and one discounted by $10. So instead of paying $159.75 the total was $85.85 (or $17.17 per person); and technically it was $63.90 out of pocket since my brother paid his own way. We ended up spending more than that on food even though we did make a trip back to the car for a meal later in the day. But who can resist tacos, corn dogs, and Dippin Dots, the last of which was $25 for four people (I opted out due to lactose intolerance)?

I went on a record 8 different rides this time around (not including the water ones) –

Paratrooper (aka Umbrellas) – I hate this ride but Brother #1 insisted and threatened to drag me on the Sea Dragon otherwise.

Scrambler – I think is my fave and I’m not sure why I was too nervous to ride it last year.

Den of Lost Thieves – I “won” this point-gathering ride by 10 points, woot!

Dodgem (aka Bumper Cars) – We went on this twice, in fact, since they’re way too much fun. And the first time we had an extra long session since there wasn’t anyone waiting.

Music Express – Minus the music as it was broken; oh well, at least it was operating unlike last year.

Rocky’s Rapids Log Flume – Poor E lost his beloved Deadpool hat on this ride and they wouldn’t send someone to get it. We tried to convince him he wouldn’t have wanted it back anyway since by that point it was water-logged and had been run over by subsequent riders and likely torn up.

Antique Autos – Ugh, this ride is just dumb so I made Brother #1 “drive” while Joe and I sat in back. The line is always so long too because they have two cars in operation even though they used to have three times as many.

Train – I had to end our visit taking the train from Kiddieland back to the suspension bridge because it’s a classic.

Rides I used to go on but now avoid –

Sky Ride – You can thank Joe for scaring me into not wanting to ride this one ever again. He has me convinced it’s a death trap.

Falling Star – My stomach cannot handle this one anymore.

Hooiser Hurricane – According to Joe and E, who rode this roller coaster, it’s really bumpy. I don’t recall since it’s been a log time since I last rode it.

The Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain was not running all day which was fine because that thing throws you around like there’s no tomorrow. I think we all ended up bruised the last time we rode it. I was bummed their Grand Carousel wasn’t running either. Then again, I’ve yet to see that ride in operation.

Sometime after 3 pm we decided to visit the water park section of the park which we never have done before. It was ok. The lockers are ridiculous – $10 (but they refund you $4 when you return the key) and super small. It would have cost us $24 just in locker fees so we decided Joe and I would keep watch over the stuff on the beach while the other three went on some stuff and then we could switch off. Except they disappeared for over an hour before returning. I’m not going to lie – I was a bit annoyed because the water park closes at 6 pm and I wanted to make sure we had some time to enjoy ourselves too. Brother #1 agreed to watch our stuff while E and his girlfriend took off and Joe and I went on the Big Flush (a two-person water slide with a raft) which was a lot of fun. If the line wasn’t so long I would have gone on a second time. We also rode the Action River although the water wasn’t moving very much to be deemed a river. Plus it was a bit too shallow for my taste. The beach itself was nasty and dirty which was weird to me because I swear they used to filter the water. In any case, it was fun but I think next time what we’ll do is hit the water park earlier since by the time we arrived there weren’t any chairs left (even though there was plenty of room for them). Or we’ll rent a cabana. In any case then we can just use one locker for our valuables and we can all head out together to enjoy the water.

After changing back into our street clothes Brother #1 decided he wanted to visit the haunted house. No one was really into going, plus it’s a separate $3 fee, so I went with him. Two women visiting from California were the only other people in our group and I made my brother lead the way through the twists and turns in the dark castle since it was his idea. One of the women held onto the back of my shirt the whole time. It was rather lame save for the one part where you end up in a room full of doors trying to find the one that isn’t a dead-end. Ugh! I didn’t care for that or the part where the corridor becomes extremely narrow and it’s so dark you can’t see. It hasn’t changed much from when we were kids which on one hand is lame but on another made it less scary for me since I hate haunted houses anyway.

We ended up leaving around 9 pm their time which was the longest we’ve ever spent there for a day trip. I was dreading it after reading all the negative reviews on Yelp about how run-down it has become, but it didn’t seem too bad – I could tell they spruced up some areas up with a fresh coat of paint so if anything, it looked better than last year. There were still a lot of rides with multiple broken down vehicles which made the lines longer but it wasn’t very crowded all day so it was tolerable. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised by how long we stayed and how much fun I had.

Staycation Days 1-6

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Staycation Day 1 (Friday July 17)
Cleaned the house, basically, while Joe was at work.

Staycation Day 2 (Saturday July 18)
Joe and I hit the local theater in our mall to see a matinee of Trainwreck starring Amy Schumer & Bill Hader. While it was a bit long for a comedy (2 hours), I thought it was pretty good. Afterwards we headed to a different mall so I could check JCPenney for jeans and swimwear, but first we stopped at a place called Moochies for lunch. It wasn’t all that, although their greek fries, covered in feta, were very good. Our mall shopping trip was a complete bust and we left empty-handed. UPS delivered my new camera while we were out so I charged the battery and set up wifi & ability to transfer photos from the camera to my iPhone which will make posting to social media on our vacation possible. Technically you can post from the camera directly to Facebook and YouTube but it’s cumbersome trying to type out a caption.

Staycation Day 3 (Sunday July 19)
We visited Cosley zoo in the morning to test my new camera.

Fox

It’s pretty decent. It’s really hard not to compare it to the results I could get from my SLR which isn’t fair to a point and shoot model. Pros: zoom is magnificent, shutter speed is impressive, and you can shoot HD video in any camera mode which is a plus. Cons: battery life is crap, there are limited aperture settings so you don’t get that lovely blurred background, and the camera kept changing the exposure on me (although I’ve since learned by reading the manual how to lock that moving forward).

After the zoo we went to Walmart for a few things and bought this cute beach bag for $5.

Beach Bag

It will come in handy on our day trip to Indiana Beach.

We also decided to grab Chipotle for lunch. Normally we eat there but it was rather busy so we decided to take it home. That turned out to be a good thing since five minutes after getting home E was dropped off by his mom (he’s supposed to text Joe when he’s on his way, but he didn’t do that until he was more than halfway to the house and we had zero idea what time she was planning on dropping him off). Since he hadn’t eaten lunch, he made himself a sandwich and we had grilled hamburgers for dinner.

Staycation Day 4 (Monday July 20)
We headed to the mall to see Inside Out. Was I the only one who balled their eyes out during this movie? Damn Pixar really pulls at one’s heartstrings! It was a great movie, as most Pixar films are. After the movie we went to Round1 to play ping-pong for an hour. It was only $5.25 which was even less than the pricing on their website. I’m so out of shape because my calves were sore the next day. We had Portillo’s for lunch and I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.

Staycation Day 5 (Tuesday July 21)
The boys wanted to see a Milwaukee Brewers game so I purchased tickets on Stubhub Monday evening for a Tuesday night game. We decided to head up to Milwaukee at noon (arriving at 2 pm) to visit their zoo first.

I was originally going to bring my SLR but didn’t relish the idea of carrying my camera and lenses into Miller Park, or leaving them in the car, so I decided to bring my new camera instead. It performed pretty well, although, like always, it was a disappointment compared to my SLR (do I sound like a broken record or what). That being said, one cool feature is that you can change the aspect ratio of the photos. I’ve gotten so used to my SLR 3:2 ratio that I was thrilled to learn I can do the same on the new camera, even though I do give up two megapixels to do so, effectively changing my 16mp camera to a 14mp one.

I also tested the new crossbody bag I purchased from ebags earlier in the week. I do like it, although I find it a bit uncomforable to wear across my chest due to how thick and unpadded the strap is. I swear, I cannot find the perfect bag. This one gets so close other than the strap. It is a good size, although a bit heavy even when empty.

Getting to the zoo at 2 pm was quite odd. We’re used to getting there when they first open and leaving around noon. The parking lot was full, but not overflowing, and most of the exhibits were not that busy so it was nice. The only downside to arriving so late is the ridiculous amount of fingerprints on all the exhibit glass. I couldn’t find a smudge-free spot in order to get a shot of the lions. By the time we made it to the Great Apes most of them were nowhere to be found. The exhibit buildings close at 4:45 pm but it seems like they take the animals off exhibit closer to 4:30 unless there was some other reason all the gorillas were MIA.

Giraffe

My camera’s battery died just before we were done seeing everything so I’m definitely going to need to buy a spare battery for our trip to Disney. I hope two batteries will be sufficient for a full day of fun. I don’t plan on hiding behind the camera the entire trip but it would be pretty fun to put together a nice video montage of the parks.

Staycation Day 6 (Wednesday July 22)
We originally planned to visit the arboretum to check out the new LEGO exhibit and then get lunch from our favorite BBQ place, Smoque, but E was not feeling well. His sinuses have been bothering him since Sunday and today his throat was hurting too, so Joe took him to immediate care. He tested negative for strep throat but was diagnosed with a sinus infection. He’s allergic to all but the strongest antibiotics which they didn’t think he should use for just a sinus infection, so he basically has to treat the symptoms and let the infection run its course. He’s taking Pseudoephedrine and Flonase and resting. We suggested pushing back our Indiana Beach trip to Friday but he really wants to still go tomorrow so we’ll see if that ends up working out.

Vacation Planning Update

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First day of our Staycation and I was wide awake at 5 am. At least I got the house cleaned early before I wasted a lot of time online and on the phone with Disney getting our old tickets set up in their new system.

Completed Prior To This Week:
Booked hotel and paid down payment
Booked flights and paid for them
Reserved rental car

Completed This Week (more details below):
Bought some things for the vacation
Converted our old Disney tickets to their new ticketing system
Started building an itinerary for each day

Outstanding:
Finalize our itinerary
Book Fastpasses (can’t start doing this until 7/22)
Call Enterprise to see if we can use a cash back bonus certificate from Discover before purchasing it

Items Ordered
Last night I ordered two crossbody bags from ebags.com because I want something to carry around Disney World that isn’t too big or too small and despite the plethora of bags I own, nothing was up to the task other than my Kipling backpack but I think it would be a little too big. In any case, I had been looking at bags for awhile and narrowed my choices down to two. Since they offer free return shipping I’ll just send back the one I don’t like. For once those little code finder extensions in Firefox worked and I got like $15 off my total order which was nice. Plus with my trial Shoprunner account I got free two-day shipping.

I also ordered a camera from Amazon – Canon SX700 HS. I went onto chat and asked the Amazon rep if they could give me a deal and they gave me a $15 promo code which was nice. Plus I had a $10 promo code in my account from Prime Day when I ordered $45 of gift cards. So my $279 camera cost $254, plus I used the $45 gift cards toward the purchase (they shipped in 1 day) so I only had to spend an additional $229 or something once you factored in taxes.

I tested the camera, albeit briefly, at the dreaded Best Buy near our house (the only time I’ve set foot in one in years) and it seemed decent. I know it’s not going to rival my SLR but there’s no way I want to lug that or my lenses around on our trip; they are too bulky and heavy. I know the photo quality will trump my shitty iPhone 6 at least! If I get pretty decent photos and nice videos (it shoots in HD) I’ll be pretty happy. The zoom on it is impressive which is why I spent a little more than just going for a $100 camera (and the reviews on this model were better than most).

Disney Tickets Converted
I called Disney today to get our old tickets linked to my Disney account. It took a little while, but it worked! And the rep confirmed we have 7 days left, they are still part hoppers with no expiration, and we don’t have to use all 7 days in one trip. Whew! Plus they were able to update the name on my ticket (it was in my maiden name). So relieved to get that hassle out of the way ahead of time! Now we’ll also be able to reserve our Fastpasses later this week.

Touringplans.com
I also signed up for an account on touringplans.com where you can build an itinerary for each day at the parks and it tells you the best order to visit the rides to keep wait times to a minimum. I plan to keep playing around with it. It’s cool because it even tells you which rides you should get your Fastpass for and what times. It’s kinda insane to me to be planning all this two months in advance but if it prevents me from standing in line half the day, so be it! Right now my current touring plan for Magic Kingdom is still anticipating a grand total of nearly two hours standing in line, and that’s on a day where the crowd level is only a 2 out of 10! Can you imagine during the summer when it’s super crowded?

2015 Vacations

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We’ve got two vacations planned in the next two months!

Our first vacation is actually a staycation in a couple of weeks with E. We plan on visiting Indiana Beach amusement park and Whiting’s Pierogi Fest among other things.

Our second vacation is in September. We mulled it over for awhile and decided to celebrate our 10 year anniversary a month early by visiting the place where we honeymooned – Disney World. I’m so excited! I’ve already booked the hotel, airfare, and rental car. We’re going for 5 nights and staying on Disney property. This will be my fifth visit to Disney but my first time staying within their little world. It should be lots of fun! I’ve been doing a ton of research to make sure we visit the parks on the least crowded days and all that jazz. Plus we’re going to spend a day at Kennedy Space Center.

The only thing that sucks is I feel guilty because I know E would love to go too. However, given the fact that a) it’s our anniversary trip and b) when we’ve tried taking him on a big vacation in the past his mother once flat out refused to let him go and the other time purposely waited too long to get back to us so we could book airfare, I just don’t see it working out this year. That being said, we plan to take him next year as a graduation present (assuming he wants to go; he can pick another destination if he wants). That will work out better because by that time he will be 18 and won’t need permission. Plus if he chooses Disney World, we’ll know exactly what is and isn’t worth our time and we might be able to go for a longer time period than we could this year. So in the end it might work out better for him. I just hope he isn’t too disappointed that he will have to wait until next year. :(

Swedish Days Festival & Back Aches

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Sunday we headed to Geneva and walked around their Swedish Days festival from 10am-1pm. We shared a combo plate of ham (with some sort of dill sauce), swedish meatballs, sausage, rye bread, cucumber salad, and pineapple cake. It wasn’t a ton of food, but really good! We also shared a treat at a local chocolate & ice cream store. We decided to leave right before the parade started at 1 pm and went to Noodles & Company for lunch thanks to a BOGO coupon. On the way home we stopped at Savers since all clothing was 50% off but it was a bust. By the time we got home we were both exhausted and wanted to do nothing more than veg on the couch. Plus I had a headache that wouldn’t quit.

Today my back is aching, I guess from the walking I did yesterday. It’s been giving me grief on and off for weeks. I haven’t exercised since June 9th due to this crap. If my back starts feeling better and I exercise for just fifteen minutes, it hurts again the next day. Walking at a leisurely pace causes it to hurt the next day too! WTH??? I’m not exercising particularly long or intensely, so I don’t get why suddenly it’s been an issue. I had been exercising regularly for months but now I can’t at all or the next day I’ll be in pain. It’s so frustrating! And yet, my doctors claim I don’t have an autoimmune disease. This seems like one to me – mystery ailments that crop up for no reason and then eventually go away on their own. This is the latest in the trend.

I just hope this latest issue goes away soon because a) I can’t lose the ten pounds I’ve gained since last summer unless I starve myself and b) we have a staycation planned in July that will involve lots of walking for at least two of the days.