Madison Autumn Adventures

I have been given a fantastic opportunity to work in Madison and as Victoria and Jasmin have never been there we planned a family holiday so that they could take in sights of Madison and the surrounding area of Wisconsin.

I did not have a lot of leave remaining so we could only be away for seven nights before I had to be back at work, so on Tuesday evening I shut down the laptop, said my goodbyes to my colleagues and drove home. Victoria, Jasmin and I had tea then we loaded the car up and drove to the Travelodge Macclesfield Adlington  -with some trepidation after our previous Travelodge stay - to be greeted by a lovely chap in reception who was super friendly and helpful.

We settled down for the  night and it was soon 0530 and the alarms were going off. Following the receptionists suggestion we were soon at Jet Parks 3 and on the bus to the terminal. System problems meant that the queue for check-in and baggage drop took well over an hour but after a very quick pass through security, the only problem being Jasmin's expensive bra setting off the alarms, we were soon air-side and having a light breakfast.

Boarding the old 767 that American Airlines use for the Manchester-Chicago run we got settled down to not enjoy the in-flight entertainment. I had warned Victoria and Jasmin that American Airlines run this route like it is the 1980's and a small TV screen between 20 seats is not really up to par these days for a long haul. Fortunately, we had loaded up on films and books on our tablets.

Despite the poor in-flight entertainment, the flight was very smooth and the vegetarian meals very nice. After about 8 hours we made a bumpy landing in Chicago and were soon through security although we did have some extra questions to answer at bio-security.

Catching the courtesy bus we were dropped off at Hertz to pick up our Ford Focus. A Ford Focus would have been good, after ten minutes wrangling where they tried to fob us off with a Ford Fiesta or a Mazda 2 "It's a compact", "Yeah right!" we settled for a Hyundai Accent. What a complete bag of shit this is a cheaply built piece of junk. If any of my friends in the future hear me mention that I may buy an Hyundai please remind me of this episode and call me a twat!

More shenanigans from Hertz as they try to get me to add an IPass at $5.00 per day plus tolls. Yeah right! I pay you $30.00 plus $10.00 in tolls just so that I don't have to pay $20.00 in tolls. After the shitty Chrysler Sonic they palmed me off with in August and this episode I think I'll be hiring my cars elsewhere in future.

So eventually we are on our way and after just over a couple of hours of freeway driving we arrive at our AirBnB apartment in Madison. Sean checks us in and it's absolutely lovely, spacious, two bedroomed, spotlessly clean with a well equipped kitchen and garage parking at about £300 for five nights.

We are in need of supplies so we drive about a mile up Cottage Grove Road to the Metro Market a lovely supermarket with loads of organic and healthy choices. We pick up some groceries and are also checking out what we can get hold of if we do move next year. They stock Heinz Baked Beans and Birds Custard so that is two things off the list!

With the Horrible Hyundai at Metro Markets

Driving back down we pass The Great Dane and having already scoped the place out on the internet decide that we will unpack the car and walk back up there. It's about a mile walk but well worth it, I had a delicious Mac & Cheese, Victoria had the Peanut Stew while Jasmin had the Mozzarella and Tomato Panzanella. We washed them down with a round of tasty micro-brews.

It was only just getting dark and we walked along Cottage Grove admiring the Halloween decorations and were back at the apartment by about 1830, having been up since the equivalent of midnight we soon crashed out and went to bed.

Of course this early night had a knock-on effect in the morning and we were up by 0330! We read and lounged for a few hours and then breakfasted on bagels and cream cheese washed down with orange juice, going native already!

The weather was lovely, retrieving the Horrible Hyundai from the parting garage we picked up the highway and then turned west on the Rustic Roads to the lovely little town of Baraboo. Once through Baraboo we entered the lovely golden road into Devils Lake State Park. Driving through autumn woodland, the floor is covered in leaves and above a canopy of gold, it really is 'take your breath away'.

Paying the $10.00 admission we parked up and made our way to the Chateau where we purchased apple ciders and coffees to drink by the lake before heading off up the buffs eastern side of the lake. We steadily climbed up the rocky buffs, with not a little moaning from young Jasmin, taking many opportunities to take photographs out over the lake.

We were even investigated by an inquisitive little chipmunk.

At the top we turned left and make our way back down through the woods, again stopping for many a photo opportunity before buying postcards to send home at the Chateau.

Leaving Devils Lake we headed back into Baraboo, but this time took the road out to Wisconsin Dells and stopped at the Outlets. It was getting quite late and we had not eaten since breakfast so we shared some pretzels and dip from Auntie Annies before doing a little outlet shopping. Quite a lot of our Christmas presents are now sorted.

We headed back to Madison along pretty much the way we had come and stopped off at Metro Market again to get some supper. I suggested that I buy some fare to cook for us, a regular at home is potatoes, veggie sausage and baked beans. Let's just say it was not my finest culinary moment, the real lowlight being the baked beans. What on earth are they doing to them? Give me Heinz Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce any day!

With the early start it was again time for an early night.

To be continued.

Travelling home from Anaheim

The holiday is almost over and it is time to head home from our adventures.

After packing we loaded up the car and headed to Downtown Disney where we shared a great breakfast of beignets and a cheese and egg sandwich at Ralph Brennan's Express.

Back to the hotel we checked out of the Marriott Fairfield which is really a great place to stay when visiting Disneyland and headed out on our final journey.

First stop was Brookhurst Hobbies where despite a good long time browsing the racks I was not inclined to buy anything new although Victoria bought me a present to put away for Christmas.

Our next port of call was Michaels where we both loaded up on goodies, Victoria for herself and for me to put away for her. This final day was turning into quite the shopping trip as we next stopped at the Citadel Outlets where we picked up some great bargains in the Labor Day sales, Christmas is sorted for a lot of family.

After all this shopping I was ready for a late lunch so we dropped into the same Ruby's Diner that we visited last year and were not disappointed, the food is great and the staff lovely.

It's getting on and the holiday window is closing, we drive back to LAX filling up with 'gas' and dropping the car back with Hertz with another 1507 miles on the clock. We board the courtesy bus to the terminal and get checked in.

We are flying back on a new British Airways A380 and have booked seats on the upper deck. It really is a smooth flight, really comfortable and the entertainment package is excellent. So good in fact that I stay awake all night watching films rather than catching up on sleep, oh well, I can do that when we get to the hotel -or not as the case was!

After the smoothest landing we ever experienced we arrive at Heathrow and go to pick up the bags. Our first case comes out after a few minutes, then there is a garbled message about baggage delays, the second case takes about an hour. With this and the problems dropping off the bags on the way out we are not inclined to ever fly with British Airways or use Heathrow Terminal 5 ever again.

We pick up the car from those nice chaps at Purple Parking and head over to the Travelodge London Heathrow Central Tired we are just ready to crash out. The first key they give us does not work, neither does the second, at the third attempt we are in the room. It's time for something to eat so we decide on a pizza, about to leave the hotel the fire alarms go off so we troop out and have the headcount.

We take ages to drive the short distance to Pizza Hut where after being seated we are ignored for 20 minutes so pick up our coats and leave, back at the Travelodge we order two coffees and a pizza, the pizza is actually quite nice, however the cappuccinos have no shots in them so are just steamed milk!

Knackered, we turn in to catch up on some sleep, over the next six hours the fire alarm goes off four more times. Finally at 0400 we have had enough, we load up the car and drive home.

It's really been a fantastic holiday, however the last few hours when we got back to the UK rather took off some of the shine.

Disneyland and California Adventures - Day Three

It's our last day at Disneyland and the holiday is almost over.

Monday had been spent in Disneyland and Tuesday we had spent the entire day in Disney California Adventure, for the third and final day we planned to take in both parks and stay until the fireworks at the end.

We shared a bagel for breakfast from the concession in the hotel and made our way into the park and entered Disneyland doing a little shopping on Main Street before rope-drop where we went straight to the Alice in Wonderland ride and were on after only a couple of minutes in the queue. Exiting the ride we went around the corner to the Toad Hall where we boarded Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and careered through the streets of London avoiding jail and weasels.

A brisk walk through to Frontierland and we were again riding the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - yee haw! One of the few rides we actually think is better in Paris. As an aside, sat right behind us was a bloke who sounded like that annoying kid from Polar Express all grown up. Next we were in Advetureland and queuing for about ten minutes to get on to the Indiana Jones Adventure, fortunately we avoided the Eye of the Idol and broke out of the temple to safety.

Not having been in the park for an hour yet and we next boarded a crew of scurvy pirates for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and then an all together more sedate Jungle Cruise although the hippo attack is very scary!

I had to have an obligatory photo with the cannons.

Back to the Central Plaza we had photos in front of the castle before walking up Main Street and boarding the Disneyland Railroad, this is quite different from the one in Paris in that you can actually get on it and the cars are not compartmentalised but instead are two rows of stepped benches facing into the park so that everybody can see. After a full lap of the park we went into Star Tours using the fast-passes we had picked up earlier and this time we were pod racing on Tatooine. Exiting the ride, Victoria bought a rather fetching R2-D2 dress at Star Traders.

It was now time to use the first of our 'front of the queue' passes from the previous day and we were soon straight on to the Matterhorn Bobsleds and sliding down the mountain front, having never been able to ride this on our previous visit we had now ridden three times in two days! Having had nothing to eat since the half a bagel each at breakfast we were getting quite hungry so it was off to Hungry Bear for a fine Fried Green Tomato sandwich, probably our last ever as they are now discontinued.

The Haunted House was closed, but we took the opportunity to peek over the fence at the Halloween preparation make-over.

It was time to try our second 'front of the queue' ticket, however, arriving at the Peter Pan ride it was closed due to a technical fault, Mrs Scrivs face dropped! To console her we went to the Tiki Juice Bar and purchased a lovely Dole Whip in a souvenir Tiki bowl. If you've never tried a Dole Whip you should really give it a try.

We left the park by boarding the Monorail and riding out to Downtown Disney before retiring to our hotel for a short rest.

Eagle eyed readers will notice we have changed into our Disney Tokyo Seas shirts, these attracted many admiring comments and enquiries as to where they could be purchased.

After a couple of hours loafing it was back to the parks, this time entering Disney California Adventure where we went straight down Buena Vista Street and after a very short queue boarded the Monsters Inc. taxi to check on Mike, Sully and Boo. In Cars Land we opted for the single rider line on Radiator Springs Racers and were fortunately in the same car together as we raced around the track.

Stopping off at the Cozy Cone Motel we had photo-pass snaps done with Mater before heading off to Paradise Pier and again riding the Golden Zephyr.

Our time in California Adventure was drawing to a close, we made our way back via the Cosy Cone Motel again for a photo with Red and stopped to eat some lovely pretzel bites before making our way back to Buena Vista where we waited a short while to have our photo taken with Mickey Mouse and I got myself a huge ice-cream from Clarabells before making our way into the main park for the final leg of our Disney tour.

We went straight to the Peter Pan flight and to Victoria's delight it was open, we flashed our  'front of the queue' pass and were soon flying out of the window, over the streets of London and on to Neverland, Mrs Scrivs was so excited! We then made our way to New Orleans Square for another ride on Pirates of the Caribbean before our second Dole Whip of they day, I'll say again, they are lovely.

It was now time to pick a spot for the Paint The Night Parade and we found rather a great one by the Mad Hatters Tea Party, purchasing popcorn to fortify myself through the event we sat and waited while dark fell and the fantastical parade began.

The parade over we had at least another hour before the park closed and were able to cross into Tomorrowland and board straight away on Autotopia although I insisted that she had a go I drove - have I not done enough driving this holiday? Next we boarded Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters and after a hard fought duel Mrs Scrivs easily came out on top.

Our last ride in Disneyland was to be Star Tours after a brief sojourn to Hoth we were under the sea in Naboo in a very similar mission to one we had on the first day, there are apparently 56 combinations so we shall try to experience them all.

We left the park and headed to Downtown Disney where we bought a Wetzels Pretzel and a Cake Pop to share before retiring to our room exhausted. It's been a great, but very tiring three days.

Disneyland and California Adventures - Day Two

Following our great day in the Disneyland Park yesterday it's time to spend a day in the Disney California Adventure.

We awoke early and skipped breakfast arriving at the park nice and early and were very near the front at rope-drop and made our way straight to Toy Story Midway Mania and after a short time in the queue were soon in our cars tugging away on our cannon to fire balls, darts, custard pies and whatever at the targets. It was a close run thing but Mrs Scrivs was beaten into second place.

Exiting Midway Mania we went straight on to Mickeys Fun Wheel where were chose a fixed rather than a sliding gondola and were soon enjoying the view as we completed three circuits.

Walking along the boardwalk we took the opportunity of a photo with Jessie before boarding the Silly Symphony Swings for a spin and then straight on to Ariels' Undersea Adventure for a trip to Tritons' undersea kingdom.

We had our photos taken by the waterfall then picked up a set of fast-pass for Radiator Springs Racers before having another set of photos by the Partner status.

All this in an hour, it was now 1100 and time for a light breakfast at Starbucks, Victoria had a 'Grande Iced Cinnamon Dolcelatte with Soy, only two pumps of syrup please!' with Pumpkin Loaf and I had the Banana Loaf, very tasty they both were too.

Coming out of Starbucks we made our way along Buena Vista Street stopping for a meet, greet and photo with Olaf before boarding our taxi and riding Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! you will be glad to know that Boo was returned and upon exiting the ride Roz complimented Victoria on her nice ears!.

We then made our way into 'A Bugs Land' where we had a spin on Francis' Ladybug Boogie and then a more sedate ride on Heimlichs Chew Chew Train before stopping for a photo with Flik and then another on the Bugs Life false perspective shoot.

Walking through into Radiator Springs we again used our photo-pass on the main strip and then had our photos taken with lightning McQueen himself before queueing a little longer for Soarin' so that we could board car Bravo 1 for the best views and then we were up and away over California. Exiting Soarin' we used our photo-pass as the old plane and then queued for only a short time to board the Grizzly River Run and were careening around the rapids, getting well splashed into the bargain.

Back onto the boardwalk we boarded the Golden Zephyr and were soon spinning around in our 1950's retro style space ship. After disembarking we carried along Paradise Pier having a photo opportunity at the California Screamin' perspective shot before Mrs Scrivs sat out a ride on California Screamin' where Mr Scrivs was hurled about at great speed!

We picked up another fast-pass for Radiator Springs Racers and then went to use our first pass and were soon buckled in and racing around the track after having the tires changed in Luigi's Casa Della.

It was getting time for lunch so we visited the Sonoma Terrace, picking up a beer each along with a cheese board and a pretzel to share at a quite eye-watering $36.00! Although it was all very tasty and this is decent craft beer served in a theme park so cannot complain too much.

Following our lunch we paid a visit to the Animation Studio and visited the Animation Academy where we rather disappointingly learned how to draw pictures of Phineas and Ferb, whoever they may be! We spent a little while longer in the Animation Studio looking at the other attraction.

Our fastpass was now active again so we picked up tickets for the Tower of Terror again later that evening before walking back into Cars Land and riding Mater's Junkyard Jamboree and then straight into Paradise pier where we rode Goofy's Sky School a wild mouse style roller-coaster with sharp turns and steep drops.

Leaving Goofy's Sky School we grabbed a Coke and an ice-cream and found a good place to watch the Pixar Play Parade, the most recent film is Inside Out so a float featuring Riley's five emotions Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust preceded proceedings followed by a host of Pixar favourites!.

After the parade our Tower of Terror fast-passes were now active so we checked into the Hollywood Tower Hotel and were soon riding the service elevator to oblivion in the Twilight Zone! After a quick photo opportunity we realised that our second fast-pass of the day for Radiator Springs Racers  was active so we again boarded our car and were again in the left-hand lane so our car was again pimped at Luigi's Casa Della, hopefully we would be seen to by Ramon next time!

Exiting the ride it was getting quite late and we were feeling rather hungry so it was into Flo's V8 Cafe where we shared a Veggie Tater Bake with mac & cheese and a fruit salad before more photos on the photo pass.

The night was drawing to a close so we skipped over to Paradise Pier and noted that the queue for  Toy Story Midway Mania was only 15 minutes, ending the day as we began, we were soon tugging away at the cannon blasting all before us.

It was time to leave the park, stopping off at the Trolley Treats to pick up some goodies one of the staff noticed our 'Just Married' and 'Celebrating 25 Years' pins. They made a great fuss of us and presented us with Mr & Mrs Caramel Apples which were delicious and the manager did us a great favour presenting us with 'Front of the Queue' passes to use the next day on both the Peter Pan ride and the Matterhorn. What lovely people!.