Tuesday, November 3, 2026

WDW October 2026

We did a quick, Friday-night-to-Sunday-night trip to WDW, which was super fun, but as always, not nearly long enough for our liking! We arrived at our hotel at 9:30 on Friday night, but were able to snag a late reservation for dinner at Beaches and Cream, which is a short walk from the Swan!

On Saturday, we went to Epcot and Magic Kingdom, took a break back at our hotel, and then went over to Hollywood Studios at the end of the night with one goal - to ride Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. We got in line at 8:45, fifteen minutes before park closing, and at that point, we knew it was going to be about a 30-minute wait. However, right around 9:00, the ride went down and lots of people waiting in line decided to bail. We chose to wait it out, and about an hour later, we finally got on the very last car of the night! It was our first time riding it since the re-theming, and my review is essentially that it's an upgrade from Aerosmith, but a downgrade from MuppetVision 3D.

On Sunday, we went to Animal Kingdom for lunch and spent a little chunk of time there, but left due to impending rain. We ended up hanging out at the resorts for a few hours, which we never mind doing!

We took an uber to the airport and got through security easily before some nonsense began. We got on the tram/peoplemover to head to our gate, but the doors on one side wouldn't close. A crowd started to build while we just stood on the tram as they tried repeatedly to get the doors closed. This went on for close to ten minutes, until they finally had us get off, walk over to the second set of trams, take that to the wrong gate area, walk down a long ramp, get on a bus where we were crammed in like sardines, ride the bus over to the correct gate area, and walk up a long ramp. As you might imagine, it was complete chaos. Thankfully, we'd gotten to the airport in plenty of time due to the rain, so we didn't have to run to make our flight like some of the other passengers did as a result of all that craziness!

The flight home was perfectly fine and we lucked out with an empty middle seat between, so all's well that ends well!








pretty sure it's the first time in 32+ years
that we've closed down Beaches and Cream









when we got off Rock 'n' Roller Coaster,
the park was pretty much empty except
for cast members






waiting for the bus

lunacy

the rain did not help anyone's mood

very annoyed travelers

you had one job, tram

feels like it's been a while since we've scored
an empty middle seat on a flight to/from Orlando

tired, but heading home with great memories!


Random fun fact...it's the second trip in a row when I ran into a friend on the same flight! On our September trip, it was on our flight home, and on this trip, it was on our way down to Florida!

Happy Tails to you!

Sunday, November 1, 2026

Life Lately October 2026

October was a lovely month, with its changing leaves and cooler temperatures, and it brings me one step closer to my favorite season of winter! There's not a ton to share in this particular post, as I've already written about two of the weekends in separate posts (Chicago and New River Gorge NP) and I'll be writing another post about the last weekend of October!


We took a very quick road trip up to Toronto at the beginning of the month to surprise C's mom for her birthday. When we arrived, C called her from the car under the guise of just saying hello, and I took Avalanche into the house while she was distracted so we could catch her off guard. It was the best! We also took Avalanche into the city so we could see the new Joe Carter statue celebrating the back-to-back Blue Jays World Series championships in 1992 and 1993. We were in university and we lived and breathed all things Blue Jays during that time, so we loved seeing Joe Carter's walk-off home run finally immortalized!


elevator in the parking garage,,,
as usual, he was not a fan





We saw a live-to-film performance of Coco by the National Folk Orchestra of Mexico and it was absolutely spectacular! Coco is one of my very favorite movies and the orchestra was nothing short of incredible. We had great seats and we love this theater!










In addition to the fun things we do, there are always quiet little joys that mean everything to me:

beautiful flowers from my best friends
after losing my YaYa

spirit week at school had me thinking
about the craziest stuffy I could bring...

...my enormous Pooh Bear, who was
buckled in for safety, courtesy of C

on our way up to Toronto, we stopped in Pittsburgh
and met my dad for lunch to celebrate his birthday

I got to hang out with my best friend of 23+ years
because her adorable son had a
baseball tournament near our house

Finally, here's my monthly round up of Avalanche pics:









for the first time in many months,
he jumped up on our bed!

he's so adorable!

this is "his" chair in our family room

it is almost always covered in his fur

this is what is looks like when
we comb the fur into a pile to clean the chair

we're in the throes of Husky Shedding Season

no complaints, though...
he's worth it

Happy Tails to you!