Indiana-Ohio

I'm going to forget about writing in the third person for just a minute. We all know I'm writing these posts anyway...

Today is the day I have been looking forward to for months. Today we got to visit the World's Largest Ball of Paint. I'm pretty sure I mentioned we were going here to anyone that would listen. It was better than I ever could have imagined.

For those of you not in the know, it is effing cold.

The World's Largest Ball of Paint. Right there. For the touching. AND PAINTING.

Excited does not accurately describe what I was feeling at this moment.

We chose green as the next layer as it was easiest to reach for Glenda, Wife of Mike, Creator of the World's Largest Ball of Paint.

We painted layer number 22,564. We have certificates that we intend on framing.

Sarah uses the mirror to make sure she gets every part of the bottom.

AHH I'M PAINTING THE WORLD'S LARGEST BALL OF PAINT!!

Almost done!

Sherwin Williams donated the money to build this structure for the Ball.

Onward to Jungle Jim's in Ohio. This place is an international grocery store that has everything. And then some. We were not allowed to take photos but there were several robotic characters throughout the store that said little things every few minutes. Robin Hood was there, encouraging shoppers to check out the international candy aisle beneath him and a Cereal Band serenading customers in the cheese and nut section. Awesome. It was truly an amazing experience. They also have America's Best Restroom 2007. Yeah. We did that.

Tennessee-Arkansas-Missouri-Illinois-Indiana

No trip across the country would be complete without a stop in Memphis to visit the King.

Sweet headset for the audio tour.

The Jungle Room.

A gazillion gold records.

The piano Elvis played the day he died.

The graves of Elvis, his mother, his father, his twin brother, and grandmother (who outlived them all).

Graceland!

We then headed to Beale Street for an amazing lunch at Dyers (Thanks again, Butler!). Dyers has been using the same grease since 1912 and they use it to fry their fries and burgers and desserts. Oh man were we in heaven!

 We had yet to get a deck of cards from Tennessee so we began poking our heads in almost every store that was open on the street. This really great music store was playing some blues and upon entering, we were greeted by the Godfather of Blues himself: Clyde Hopkins. It was his music that we were hearing so we, of course, got a signed copy of his CD.

All this time spent on Beale put us just a few hours behind schedule so we began driving to Gays, Illinois to see a two-story outhouse before staying just outside Indianapolis for the night.

We definitely thought we were going from Tennessee to Missouri and we were wrong. You can not imagine how hard and long we laughed after we saw this sign. You'd think after two months on the road we'd have a better sense of where the heck we are.

Lady reaches 15,000 miles!

The ironic part is that we really did have to use the bathroom.

Too bad it was locked!

Alabama-Mississippi

We went to visit the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama first thing in the morning. Our research told us that you could purchase unopened bags for just a few dollars but apparently that is not the case anymore. We still got DVDs for $4 a piece, books for a buck, and a sweet iPod case for Halley for just 99 cents. Hott.

We stayed just outside Memphis in Southaven, Mississippi for the night. We had a great waitress that night by the name of Butler who gave us an incredible recommendation for a place for the lunch the next day.

Tennessee

A big day of driving for us! We passed through South and North Carolina before reaching the Salt and Pepper Shaker Museum in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  Little known fact: Gatlinburg used to be called White Oak, named for the beautiful white oak trees in the area. There was a gentleman who was a Union sympathizer and no one liked him so they said that if he left town, they would name it after him. And that is how Gatlinburg came to be.

The museum is one woman's collection. I triple dog dare you to think of something that this collection doesn't have as a salt and/or pepper shaker.

Another little known fact about Gatlinburg: They have a ginormous Christmas parade every year. The date for this year's parade? The day we were passing through. And you'll never believe who showed up for the parade: THE OSCAR MAYER WIENERMOBILE!! There was a local news anchor who apparently thought Halley was trying to get an autograph while she was interviewing a few people. One of her sheets of notes had blown away and Halley was merely trying to return the sheet. We finally got the attention of a cameraman and the day was saved.

Folding chairs saved seats along the main street.

My bologna has a first name...

Llamas dressed for the occasion.

The observation tower for the parade. There were several camera crews there. It was like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade but in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

We managed to tear ourselves away from the main street and continue on toward Chattanooga. We were in the car for only a few minutes when we passed into Pigeon Forge, which is definitely a combination of Wisconsin Dells and Branson, Missouri. A stop at the Jurassic Jungle Boat Ride and another Glow-in-the-Dark Mini Golf Course were needed before the rest of our drive.

This ride was scary.

This course was awesome and Halley came her closest yet to beating Sarah.

Savannah, Georgia

Halley woke with a start, realizing she left something extremely important to her at the hotel in Disney. Luckily, we had decided the night before that there was no way we were going to Universal Studios to endure another day at a theme park (no worries-we WILL return to take on Harry Potter!) so we were able to drive back to the Animal Kingdom Lodge to pick up the important package. Halley is beyond grateful to the woman who found her items and to Sarah for driving her back.

Since our plan no longer included a trip to the park, we took a slow drive to Savannah, Georgia for the night.

Which way are we going again?

Pretty berries.

Beautiful Savannah trees.

Disney World: Day Four

We took one last long look out our balcony at the beautiful view with all the animals before checking out of our amazing hotel.

We decided to drive to Epcot so we could stay late at the park and not worry about the crowds on the buses going back to the hotel. Being able to ride on the Tram might also have had something to do with it.

First stop: the Universe of Energy. This was a moving theater show set up as a dream Ellen Degeneres had about needing to find alternative sources of energy. We were both extremely excited so there was a little disappointment when we realized how outdated the dream was and that it was clear some oil company paid for its creation. How did we know this? Things like, "We only have 50 years of oil but don't worry, we're finding more every day" and "Sure, we could use solar panels but they're awfully expensive" and "We don't know much about wind energy so we shouldn't rely on it" were said. Also, Ellen had a cell phone as big as a home phone.

Across the way we decided to brave the long lines at Mission: Space, a simulation of blasting off to Mars. As a trend, there was zero wait for the green team, the less intense version. Sarah was our team's navigator and Halley was the pilot. Our commander and engineer were a much older couple who were quick about pushing the correct buttons at the right time so we had a safe landing. Yay!

We then ran to Spaceship Earth, the ride that takes place inside the iconic structure that is Disney's Epcot. Once again, we had absolutely no wait (we seriously could not believe how lucky we were) and had a fabulous time listening to Judi Dench explain our progress through documenting our history. Our first time around, the ride stopped three times which was only slightly alarming. We had to go on the ride two more times before we left because on the decent from the top of the dome you get to run through a computer program which creates a small video of you in the future. Our favorite is still the first one.

We were lucky enough to snag a seat next to a sea turtle for lunch.

While we waited for our tummies to un-fill themselves, we took a ride on the Finding Nemo ride and listened in on Turtle Talk with Crush. This was most definitely geared toward little kids but it was still fun. We manged to see a dolphin show and manatee feeding before heading to The Land for Living with the Land and Soarin'.

Mine! Mine! Mine!

Living with the Land was incredible. It's a boat ride through a living laboratory which showcased new ways veggies and fruits are being grown. Halley did not take pictures (she is still upset) but there were eggplants hanging upside down and lettuce growing in water pots. It was just waaaay cool.

And then we had a little wait for Soarin', a wicked cool ride that simulates flying over the country. Since we have already seen some of the most beautiful sights in the country, we kept our eyes shut for most of it, not wanting to ruin our travel experience (and wanting to stop the waves of nausea caused by the realistic flying movements).

We still had over an hour before our dinner reservation at La Hacienda de San Angel so we checked out the three amigos ride with Donald Duck. Once again, just not the same with newer technology but a boat ride is a boat ride so we did it again.

Halley really wanted this hat but Sarah convinced her it wouldn't fit in the car.

Dinner was good but we were both incredibly exhausted and cold so we headed back to the entrance of the park. We rode Spaceship Earth the last two times and took a few photos before heading to an Orlando hotel for the night.

Happy Holidays from Epcot! If we paid $14.95 per photo, we could send you this with a border. Unfortunately for you, we are cheap so this is all you get.