Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Epcot part 1

Our fourth and final day at Disneyworld was Epcot day.

Here's the big "Golf Ball" that everybody recognizes as Epcot. It's actually the ride Spaceship Earth. For fun I'll toss out a random trivia fact: Some of the animatronic characters on the ride are re-uses of the molds for the animatronic Hall of Presidents faces. So if you look closely, you might recognize some of the faces but in different hair and costumes.

Sunday, December 29, 2019

Coronado Springs

Vacation pics would not be complete without a bunch of pictures of the resort we stayed at. We were there for a total five nights. While I did get a chance to wander around and grab some pictures, we really didn't get to enjoy the resort as much as we should have. It was still nice and comfy.

I never got a picture of the big sign at the entrance, this is where the bus drops you off in front of the main building at Disney's Coronado Springs. We didn't stay in this tower but know that next time it might be easier if we had.

Friday, December 27, 2019

Avatar: The Line

We're still waiting in line to go on the big Avatar ride in Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park here. This ride is new and popular so there's no Fast Pass yet for it. It's cool because there's a lot of neat stuff to check out in the line queue.

When the line enters the research facility, you know you're getting close! Well, not that close. According to the time-stamps on the picture files, there was still about fifteen minutes until we got on the ride. It seemed like longer though.

Thursday, December 26, 2019

Avatar Land

This may sound like a silly question, but have you seen the movie Avatar? The one with the glowy plants and the tall blue aliens, and the giant tree and the floating rocks? You know, the movie that made the most bazillion dollars and was only recently topped by Avengers: Endgame? Are you the one person who didn't see that movie yet? Disney made a whole place from that movie for you to explore and enjoy!

They really can't get away with calling this place "Avatar Land" it's technically the planet Pandora and more specifically they put you in the Valley of Mo'ara. This is in the Animal Kingdom park if you haven't seen the recent posts, we were still there.

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Animals in the Kingdom

Merry Xmas! I know these pictures are not exactly festive, because we were in the middle of posting pics from our recent vacation. This is more from our day in Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park. We've been posting pictures every day this week, so check back if you missed anything from earlier.

Are we supposed to believe that these trees burst forth from this statue enough to destroy it? Either those are strong powerful trees, or that was some weak stone statue. From the looks of this, neither of those seem true.

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Yeti, Set, Go!

There was enough pictures of just this one thing to get a whole post-worth out of it. It's the Expedition Everest ride at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Thought we'd start out with this funny t-shirt, Y'all Yeti For This? Cue up exciting music. Let's see if we can um... see... a Yeti around here!

Monday, December 23, 2019

Animal Kingdom Week!

The third day of our Disney World vacation was spent in the Animal Kingdom park. You're not tired of vacation pictures yet, are you? It's nice to look back at these and use them to re-remember the fun stuff we did. Hope you enjoy tagging along. As as sort-of Xmas gift, we're scheduling posts for EVERY DAY this week! I know it's not really Xmas-related pictures but if you feel like spending some holiday time with Minty, it's the best I could do.

We've already got our tickets programmed into our Magic Bands. Who buys tickets at the park gates these days? You guys have a coupon we could use?

Friday, December 20, 2019

Night Magic Kingdom

One more bunch of pictures in the Magic Kingdom from our recent Disney World vacation.

Of course we have to get standard vacation picture alpha, Walt and Mickey in front of the castle. Sooo cliche.

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Magic Kingdom Haunts

Continuing with pictures in the Magic Kingdom from our Disney vacation!

Haunted Mansion! It's like the Halloween house that's up all year. And you don't even need to walk through it, there's little buggies you get to ride in. Probably not as scary as those houses, though. But way better special effects.

Monday, December 16, 2019

Magic Jamboree

There's still many more days of pictures from our Disney vacation! Next up, The Magic Kingdom!

This picture was taken the first night we were there, on the way to the Trails End. That week, they were closing the Magic Kingdom early to re-open it after dark as a Xmas Holiday special event.

Saturday, December 14, 2019

Goodnight Star Wars

This is the final batch of pictures from the Galaxy's Edge! These are from the night time, the locals on planet Batuu say "rising moons!" to greet you at night. 

This droid is in the line for the older Star Tours ride, which is outside of the Galaxy's Edge part. He was complaining about his job making funny comments. Let's all step back a moment and think how fun it is that the "robots" in Star Wars have opinions and emotions.

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Stellar Foods

Exploring the Black Spire Outpost on planet Batuu also includes exploring the local foods. So this group of pictures is all about that. It may look weird and have funny names, but honestly everything we ate there was amazing.

The small lunch restaurant is cooking some kind of meat under this um, podracing engine? It's swaying back and forth slightly and looks really cool. I mean hot. I guess this is safe... Is there a space OSHA?

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Hollywood Break

Let's take a break from the Star Wars photos. We were in Disney's Hollywood Studios and happy to spend most of our time on the planet Batuu, but we did some other stuff while we were there, too.

This picture was taken in the early morning but I didn't think it was appropriate to post with the Star Wars pictures. Usually when you get this view, you have a whole day of fun awaiting you!

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Stuff Wars

What kinds of treasures can you take home from the Galaxy's Edge? The Black Spire Outpost on Batuu has lots of goodies. Be sure to get them while you are there, because you'll not find them in any other Disney park's stores. Not even in the Disney Springs big store. Had we known, I might have made sure to pick up some extra fridge magnets for gifting souvenirs.

This picture we got in the Launch Bay section outside of Batuu, over where the original Star Tours ride is. I guess an actor-signed photo is not the type of thing a Star Wars character could get, so it's not in the Galaxy's Edge.

Friday, December 6, 2019

Bright Suns!

There's a lot more pictures from the Star Wars Galaxy's Edge. I suppose I should start off with something like "spoiler alert"? Does this count as a sort-of movie or something? There's not much of a story except the one you make up yourself with your own personal vacation activities. The locals say "bright suns!" to greet you during the day.

There's a big 'ole X-Wing Fighter over there! It's a little strange that this is still only a picture. You really need to be here yourself to get the big "WOW!" out of it.

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Scrap Metal Lightsaber!

A high"light" of the vacation! It's a very expensive thing to do, but my friend was not going away from the Star Wars experience without his own unique laser sword. Also known as a Lightsaber.

As part of the illusion to make this feel like you are "really" in Star Wars, lightsabers are relics of the Jedi Order and as such you cannot openly sell them without the First Order shutting you down. So the clever merchants are offering.... scrap metal... wink, wink... at Savi's Workshop.

Monday, December 2, 2019

Happy Beeps!

One of the coolest things about Star Wars is the droids. While visiting the Galaxy's Edge, we were surely going to get the chance to build one ourselves!

Here's the entrance to the Droid Depot. You can try to walk in and build a droid, but we were good enough to make reservations months ago to be sure to get the chance. Think "Build-a-Bear" but the Star Wars droid version of that.

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Wookie Hugs!

Vacation Pictures! Further than Disney World, these pictures are from a long long time ago, in a galaxy far far away! More specifically, the Black Spire Outpost on the planet Batuu. On the Galaxy's Edge. Minty's own personal Star Wars adventure!

Traveling here is like a warm hug from a friendly Wookie! Like the Force itself, this place surrounds you and flows through you with all the the power that Star Wars has to offer. You feel completely immersed and it's very easy to imagine yourself right in the movies as if it was totally real.

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Trail's End

Happy Thanksgiving! What a coincidentally great day to post pictures of food. The first night of our Disney vacation, we arrived at the hotel, and then went to go get some dinner. Sounds simple, right? Yet this was going to be a memorable occasion.

Here's where we planned on eating. My friend heard this was a "hidden gem" of a place. Little did we know how much this little gem would be worth. Spoiler alert: priceless.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Thanksgiving Vacation

Are you excited for some vacation pictures? You better be, because there's a ton of them! If pictures weighed anything, this amount would crush you. What could possibly get this many pictures, you ask? Drumroll.... Disney World! So prepare yourself for lots and lots of posts full of Disney Magic. This first group is just about fun pictures of the general travelings.

First was a drive down to Virginia. The airfare was a LOT cheaper and it gave us a wonderful opportunity to do an early Thanksgiving, un-bothered by shopping mayhem and an easier time gathering the whole family together. Here we stopped right before the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel because the sunset was making the water "glow" awesomely.

Monday, November 18, 2019

We All Scream For... Pictures

Have another bunch of fun tasty pictures? You can take all the pictures of food you want, as long as you don't over-eat the actual food.

New Ice Cream flavors at Target. Not quite sure what to think about Cereal or Peanut Butter & Jelly. We went with Rainbow Road because of the Mario Kart reference. I guess you gotta add your own banana peels and blue turtle shells.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Waking Up with a Bang

Here's a short posting from a crazy morning we had last week. My friend was awoken by a bright light from his window at about 5:30am. Followed by another flash of brightness but this time accompanied by a loud "explosion" noise, crackling, and power outage.

This street pole outside had blown up and burst into flames! My friend hurriedly dialed 911. It took the Police less than 2 minutes to show up. Notice he called them before grabbing Minty for some pictures.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Halloween 2019 part B

One more bunch of pictures from our Halloween walk around the blocked-off street in Hightstown.

The guy at this house was dressed up perfectly like Willy Wonka and had all the gestures and mannerisms down, too. He had a long line but we were still tempted to go through it so he could yell at us the classic "You get NOTHING! You LOSE! Good DAY, sir!" He probably would have nailed that, too.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Halloween walk around part 1

We were originally not going to get excited about Halloween this year. It was supposed to be rainy and we did the walk-around last year, so we thought it might be okay to give it a soft pass. But I talked my friend into it, mainly just to try and see how well the new super camera would get pictures this year.

My friend wore the same leather jacket and "Lucille" baseball bat that he did last year. It was even more surprising this year how many people still yelled out "NEGAN!" or were heard saying "OMG Walking Dead that's awesome!"

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

McPlanets Align

I know it's almost Halloween but all we got is just plain old random pictures again. Trick or treat?

As I write this, they are both not available anymore around here. Which is sad. But let the record show that there was once a convergence of McEpic-ness that allowed us to have both a McRib and a Shamrock Shake at the same time. That will be a day long remembered.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Punk Rock Flea Market part 2

One more bunch of pictures from the Trenton Punk Rock Flea Market.

I've been told this building was used to make giant wires for the Brooklyn Bridge a long time ago. Sounds believable. Trenton is know for that kind of thing.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Punk Rock Flea Market part 1

A few weeks ago, when we found that local comic shop closet-sized gathering that can't really be called a "convention", we picked up this ad for the Trenton Punk Rock Flea Market. It was near the Ollie's we had just discovered, so we kind of already knew how to get there. We went and got pictures to share.

We had no idea what to expect based on this artwork on the ad. That's part of the fun, right?

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Trump Cameo

Not much going on, so have another round of random pictures to enjoy.

Flipping channels and caught a Donald Trump cameo in the movie Zoolander. Milania, too. I looked it up and the Internet said they were married in 2005 and this movie came out in 2001. It was unexpectedly sweet to discover that they dated for several years. Is it fun to point out that this movie poked fun at famous men being idiots and they thought to include Trump?

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Lil' Ghost Dragons

Back with a mini-recipe and some other pictures to munch on.

Remember that Ghost Pepper Pizza Sauce we spotted in the Outer Banks? We found it locally and thought it might add some fire to our Lil' Dragon Pizzas. Not knowing what would really "go with it" We got some Cheddar Jack cheese, and another spark of inspiration gave us the thought of crunchy Bacon Bits.

Saturday, October 5, 2019

Halloween Spirit

Lets walk around the newly-popped-up Spirit Halloween store and check out some of this crazy stuff.

This t-shirt pretty much says it all. It seems like Halloween is just an excuse for people to get smashed. Like adult parties, but also, kids can get smashed on candy, too.

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Hump Day!

Random Pics! Silly and enjoyable.

My friend literally laughed out loud when he saw this figure on the shelf as he walked past. Ace the Bat Hound is humping Batgirl's leg! Bad Ace! Get down! No! What a horn dog! 

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Mini Comics

We didn't even feel like wandering around the mall on a lazy Saturday but found ourselves there anyway. This bunch of pictures is not about the mall, but the Go Calendar store had these ads on the counter, which was... tomorrow! And this was pretty close to the Arby's we venture to, so that's a plan to go get some pictures to share!

We checked out the website before we decided to go, and found out it was a simple gathering of local comic vendors and not much else. The $3 admission fee was pretty low and at the very least, we'd enjoy some Arby's for lunch.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Bike Trip Picture Collection

Here's a collection of pictures we took while out riding our bike around. A few pictures each trip but eventually it piles up into one bunch to share.

This particular day it was sort of threatening rainyness. It's usually nice when the clouds help block the hot hot sun but let's not get carried away. That day we did not stay out too long but we could have, as it never really rained.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Wakanda Forever!

Sharing another bunch of random pictures of interesting stuff. 

 You know that part of the football game where the little animated pictures say the player's name and what school they went to? This guy Michael Bennett for the New England Patriots says his name but then shouts "WAKANDA FOREVER!!!!" See him with the crossed-fist gesture? Sooo funny! This was an actual NFL game!

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Shamrockin' September

Back with Minty fresh random pictures of stuff to check out.

Last week, Seth Meyers makes a joke involving the Philadelpia Eagles area McDonald's releasing Shamrock Shakes to celebrate the NFL season opening, saying the NY Jets celebrate by serving burgers dropped on the floor. Funny aside, we are close to living "in the Philadelphia area." and are very much excited.

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Sunrise, Unicorns, & Scroll Magic

One last bunch of pictures from our short vacation in the Outer Banks.

My friend wanted to see if he could get up early and catch a sunrise. It sounded like a fun adventure, so we set an alarm and here we are. The awesome camera on this new phone doesn't want to show how properly dark it was outside. But this was a minute before the sun was scheduled to peek over the horizon.

Monday, September 9, 2019

Sugar Kingdom

There was a small amount of souvenir shopping on our short trip to the Outer Banks, and we discovered a new place called Sugar Kingdom. Anybody want to guess what that is? We took so many sweet pictures in there, you'll need to brush your teeth after looking at them all.

Maybe the outside of this could look a little more like a castle if they are going with the "kingdom" theme, but it was certainly castle-sized and full of candy!

Saturday, September 7, 2019

Bridged Out to The Outer Banks

Welcome to North Carolina! Time for the time share. 

Our usual path down to North Carolina was literally cut off from us, due to this bridge construction. We're not super familiar with the area, but managed to find our way to the toll road down. Later on the trip back, the toll road wound up saving tons of time as it warped us right through Virginia Beach so this was what Bob Ross would have called a "happy accident."

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Two Days Away

Mini Vacay! It's the week of my friend's time share down in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Of course we're down for that! And there's pictures to share.

On the trip down, we stopped at an Arby's. Check out that Bourbon BBQ Barrel Stack sandwich they are advertising. It's got like EVERYTHING on it! We were not crazy or starving enough to try it.

Saturday, August 31, 2019

More Wandering

While we were out all the way to the Berlin Flea Market, we stopped in a few more places in the area. So of course we got pictures to share.

Before we got to the Flea Market, we found a hobby store to check out. You know the type; with all of the model train stuff and fancy car things. Here's a train making the rounds.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

More Fleas

One more batch of pictures from the Berlin Flea market.

The main building is basically two long corridors, so at the end we went outside to see what the tables in the parking lot were full of. This is more of the random "real" flea market experience.

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Flea Market Day

It's been a while since we've been down to the Berlin Farmer's Market, which is a flea market. I guess they can't change the sign. It was a boring Saturday so let's go see if we can check out some fun stuff.

It was a HOT day. Fortunately this is mostly indoors in this incredibly long building. We weren't looking for anything in particular. Maybe something there would find us? That's not a teaser, we actually didn't find anything. But it's always nice to look around.

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Them's the Brakes

The squeeking was a pretty intense notice that the brakes on the car were in need of replacing. Also so other random pictures to share

Trying to get a picture peeking at the tiny amount of pad left on the um, brake pads. It was starting to sound like elephants every time we stopped the car. Okay not really that bad but it's fun to exaggerate.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Butterscotch Quest

Here's yet another bunch of interesting pictures to enjoy.

We wanted to buy some more Butterscotch Syrup for our FBI nights, that's "Full Bowl of Ice cream." We went to like 5 different places, plenty of caramel, nobody had butterscotch. It turned into a quest and we were determined that someplace somewhere would have it. When we finally found some, they had two bottles. We paused for a moment to possibly leave one, considering we had just been on such a quest, would the next person have to look further? But really that's an imaginary scenario, and what pirate is going to leave half the treasure behind?

Friday, August 16, 2019

Bike Blocked

Back with some more bike trip pictures.

A recent storm blew over that tree onto the sidewalk. Gotta walk around it. This spot is at the bottom of the ramp where we pick up a bunch of speed and coast for a good while, so that says no to that. If you zoom in, you can see the pink bee Hatchimal we left on that lamp post. It's been there for at least a month already.

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Scoops Ahoy

Did you see the 3rd season of Stranger Things? There's a fictional ice cream shop called Scoops Ahoy that some of the kids work at. And you can go to Baskin Robbins for real-life treats from the show. My friend was plenty excited since it was such a fun bit on the show.

Of course, we HAD to get a USS Butterscotch. They were out of bananas for the hull, but it's got the waffle cone sails. If I even have to say it, it was amazing. I'll give a special shout-out to our girl from the show because you can't spell "America" without "Erica!" I'll take one more moment to mention that on the show they point out Erica is a My Little Pony Nerd.

Sunday, August 11, 2019

Hot Biking

Looks like there's a bunch of pictures in the camera from our bike trips.

This is a fairly condescending sign, you think? Does it imply YOU do NOT "Heart" your children? Because they certainly do. Do you think they all had a meeting to make sure they all [heart] their children? Maybe some family was like "Well not really but you can still put up the sign if you want." At least they ask with a Please.

Friday, August 9, 2019

My One Fan

Another bunch of random pictures. I hope there's at least a few people who look forward to this fun nonsense.

During the hottest week of the year, the Air Conditioning in our car stopped working. After a small investigation, smacking the fan would get it working again, but even that stopped working after a few times. Looks like the fan was blown. Which blows.

Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Snow Delay

I took a bunch of snow pictures last Winter that I purposefully saved in order to post them during the summer.

Did you ever think about taking a snowy day and putting it in a bottle somehow, to open it up during the hot summer? I guess that's what I was trying to do here. Is it working? Did someone say the bottle is in Australia this time of year?

Sunday, August 4, 2019

Hot Day of Vacationing

One last bunch of pictures for my Friend's visiting Parent's trip. We're still in New Hope if you missed the last bunch of pictures. And it's like 100 degrees outside.

There's a more nature-style trail this way along the river, but we chose to go down the street with the shops to stop in. While this trail does have a bunch of shade, it was mega-hot that day and we would need air conditioned shops instead.