Disney....in True Disney Style!!!

I've been wanting to stay at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge for a really long time....so, as a belated birthday to me, and anniversary to us we were going to stay for 1 nite....it's rather spendy. Two days before our Disney trip I got a call from our local performing arts center the Van Wezel...I was on a waiting list to get tickets to see Susan Boyle....woohoo, we could go. This is her first ever USA tour and it was wonderful. She has an amazing voice...that woman can sing!! Now, she's not much of an entertainer or dancer...but she can sing.....so glad we got to go.

On Friday morning about 10a we headed for Disney....my goal was to get in that room as soon as they would let me and stay perched on the balcony animal watching until dark....my plan worked...our room was ready early and the watching began........ Our view was wonderful and I had binoculars too, so we looked to see what else was out on the savannah.

 Have no idea what kind of birds these were ...but they walked right under our balcony...

These worthogs were funny...

I took this through the binoc lens....got a good shot of this kudu under the tree

Every animal on the savannah had to be from Africa....we were told the only things that might not be were birds that could fly in...Disney is very particular about setting a scene and a theme and making it REAL.

We walked down past the pool to where we knew there would be a truck coming to do feeding time....sure enough the animal viewing was great....

 

This was a safari ride you could pay to go on. You'd go out on all the savannah's and then have dinner...it surely got you close to the animals....

This was the feeding truck....and the animals knew it....

We were staying in what is called Jambo House...we took the shuttle over to Kadani Village...in the same area but a different lodge, but it was too dark to see the animals on that savannah...maybe next time. 

Niece Brittany and her husband Des and friends were coming to the lodge to meet us for dinner. We went to Boma's for dinner...it was wonderful as always. The visit was great and we had a wonderful evening. Next time we're going to the viewing areas and use the night goggles...cool.

We hit the bed..the next day we were going to EPCOT for the Food and Wine festival. We worked at Disney several years ago for this, and every since then we enjoy coming back for it.

It was another fun time at Disney.

Thanksgiving is only a few days away and we're looking forward to spending time in Atlanta with family and friends.......happy trails to all...and have a great Thanksgiving.

Happy Halloween......from Park City!!!

All week we'd been hearing about how much Park City gets into Halloween...so we were most curious. Last nite durring our Progressive dinner we'd learned about a cool ski lift ride out at Sundance Resort after dark....so we were going to do that, but first we couldn't wait to see Main Street in Park City close down for only foot traffic for Halloween.
We'd decided to have our 1 special dinner at the best rated restaurant at Sundance so we didn't want much to eat until then. So we had a lite brunch and decided to rent some bikes and ride for a while before watching all the Halloween festivities. We ride a lot at home and we were kind of missing it. We found a place that rented our kind of bikes...aka bike seat pleasure bikes, not mountain bikes and we were off...... It was, like many cities have a Rails to Trails path.

It was a fun ride...nice scenery, and as you can see is fairly flat...which we asked about. Knowing the altitude might give us problems we didn't think it a good idea to tackle many hills...at home, no problem....but not here.....however........we discovered that even thought his was a slight incline, coming back was killer. We bike all the time and at home this would have been a good ride, but our lungs were dying at this altitude. All the walking had not bothered us, but this was a bit interesting....but we made it... 

We saw a few things along the way... it was very pretty and the weather was once again very nice.

We crossed under a bridge of an interstate....we figured he got hit up there and made his way under the bridge and that was it....poor guy. We saw many deer like this on the side of the roads. Made us wonder how many cars get damaged or people get hurt every year...there are warning signs everywhere about wildlife crossing. This is part of why we kinda tried to get home before dark, but we didn't always make it. But no accidents thankfully...

We biked about 9mi roundtrip...was a good to be on a bike....then we headed towards Main St. We knew where there was a great deck for parking one street over and if we didn't get there early we'd never get a spot. We didn't mind getting there a little early...Denny could sit and I could do a little shopping.

On the way to Main St I got a quick pic of the "show tree"...it's an old tale that whenever miners got engaged they would toss a pair of shoes in a tree....seems this tradition is still in practice..

Then the people started coming to Main Street......OH MY!!!

ALL of Park City gets into Halloween....all the vendors on Main St give out candy from 2-5p....then there was supposed to be a dog parade...as you can see...whole families get into this...

 A Vampire Family being interviewed by the local radio station that were there and providing music....

People were everywhere...we'd heard the city expected about 6,000

And they didn't leave out their dogs.........

Even the babies.....this was not like anything we'd ever seen...highly entertaining!!!

We wanted to see the pet parade but we needed to get to Sundance....we had no idea how crowded that would be so we headed out....again the ride was not bad....and very pretty...up the mountain, it was gorgeous.

It was all decorated and ther were very few people here...awaesome.

A big screen to play a movie after dark....ghost lawn bowling

 The entrance to the ski lift ride we were going to do later...

 We found our way to the main building that had 3 restaurants...but first we crossed a small bridge with this great mountain stream running under it....

We had decided to have dinner in The Tree Room....when we arrived we were the only ones there, by the time were left, most tables were filled....it's a smaller restaurant, but VERY good with much attention paid to details in both the service and the food. Since this is owned by Robert Redford, his touch is everywhere, but tastefully done.

This was insdie the menu........

I got the Buffalo, Denny got he Halibut...both very good.

But first came just a small one bite appetier....bread and soup....all wonderful

We really enjoyed our evening.....

 A few shots inside...very rustic...very nice........

I took a quick break between coarses and found these wall hangings...they explain Sundance and Redfords thoughts about it...

The picture on the left is where you wait for a table, the picture on the right is the small foyer or entrance to the restaurant. I bet in the winter there is a roaring fire in that fireplace.

Time for dessert......their version of beignets (more like cinnamon sugar doughnut holes) and chocolate mousse...delish...

Then they finished us off with mini chocolate tarts....I'd have loved a plate of these for dessert

Now it was time to head outside for a lift ride..it was dark and things had cranked up....we could hear the spooky music and there were fires in barrels...it looked good and the smell of the fire was nice.

Can you see the skeleton face lit up in the trees???

The lift ride was about 45min roundtrip...along the way they had folks down below doing or saying things to be scarey...but not so much so that kids would be scared....
This was a "plane crash"...where folks were yelling for help and warning is not to go past their camp...LOL

This was a car crash....

Witches Brew Camp....too cute.

As we past one area where skiers might jump off, there were folks there to scare you and music...they did a really good job

It was a bit cool, but what saved us is, there was no wind...we'd been told we could borrow a lap blanket, well that wasn't true...so we were a bit chilly but not too bad. But the fires did feel good when we got off the lift. 

Here was a list of the activities folks could do...looked like fun.

We headed home and prayed we wouldn't have a wildlife encounter....we got there safely....and we'd had another fantastic day. When first arrived in Park City we kept hearing how so many things were closed because it was "shoulder season"...not summer and not winter...so we were a bit bummed, but each day we managed to find great things to do....God is good. 

We had a great trip, did some really neat things and had a wonderful visit with Doug and Cindy, it was time to head back to the palm trees and land of moisture..the dry was killing me. 

We arrived home just fine....and in 6 days we'd be heading to Disney....woohoo...Happiest Place on Earth!!!