Getting Ready

The bottle is locked and we're about to get loaded.

Joyeux Noel!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Ice! At The Gaylord Texan

This past weekend we met the family at the Gaylord Texan hotel to visit Ice! featuring Frosty the Snowman.

From the official website:

"Join Frosty, everyone's favorite snowman, and his friends on their quest to the North Pole in a colorfully frozen retelling of this original Christmas classic! Favorite scenes come to life in more than TWO MILLION pounds of hand-carved ice sculptures, including two-story tall ice slides."

It's hard to appreciate how cold 9 degrees actually feels until you're surrounded by it for about 30 minutes in rooms made of ice and filled with ice.

We had a great time.  Here's some pictures:

Queue sign/art

Favorites From My Christmas/Winter Playlist

Here's a few of my favorite songs and albums for the holidays:

2000 Miles - Pretenders
Arbolito - Tish Hinojosa
Old Toy Trains - Joe Nichols
Merry Christmas - Johnny Mathis
Merry Christmas - Andy Williams
The Heartache Can Wait - Brandi Carlile
Peppermint Winter - Owl City
The Velveteen Rabbit - George Winston & Meryl Streep
A Charlie Brown Christmas - Vince Guaraldi Trio
Carol of the Bells - The Bird and the Bee
Christmas Is - Lou Rawls
Christmas Island - Jimmy Buffett
The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole
Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses
A Very Special Christmas - Various Artists
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Annie Lennox
Hard Candy Christmas - Dolly Parton
Hazy Shade of Winter - The Bangles
I Like a Sleighride (Jingle Bells) - Peggy Lee
Jingle Bell Jamboree - Keb Mo
Nanita, Nana - Tish Hinojosa
Light the Candles of the World - The St. Philips Boy's Choir
Merry Christmas From the Family - Robert Earl Keen
The Classic Christmas Album - Willie Nelson
You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch - Aimee Mann
All I Want for Christmas is You - Mariah Carey

Another Earthquake

Another earthquake this morning at 6:01am.  It was a 2.7 magnitude quake.  I was downstairs on the couch and heard the windows rattle - didn't really feel it this time.

That's the 9th so far this month, and the 12th since April.

According to the local Emergency Management Coordinator "The city...continues to monitor and is in contact with seismologists who tell us the magnitude of earthquakes we have experienced is low, and earthquakes happen regularly. In fact, the United States Geological Survey estimates several million earthquakes occur in the world each year and most have very small magnitudes, such as those occurring (here)."

What they conveniently don't mention is that prior to the past couple of years, earthquakes in this area were a rare occurrence, and the current earthquakes are centered near recent natural gas drilling operations.

If it's not related, then maybe it's Godzilla about to wake from his slumber.  In the U.S.

Of course; that must be it.

Miscellaneous And Unrelated

Here's some other stuff I've been sitting on while finishing up the trip posts:

Mural from the now-defunct Horizons ride at Epcot.  Photo from imaginerringdisney.com.

Dragon riding Domo-kun.  Yes, I was bored beyond belief at the time.

This swirling cosmos would eventually become delicious pecan pralines

Accidentally took this photo.  Any guesses as to what it is?

Red Velvet Peeps - Yummy, but three was enough.

NY/DC Trip - Epilogue

Hello.  Just a quick follow up post with a couple of photos I forgot to post and a couple of new ones.

Here is the Arlington National Cemetery Amphitheater at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as seen from the air.  Photo from Wikipedia.

NY/DC Trip - Day 8

Last day.

Woke up at 6:30am and went into the living room.  I sat on the couch and covered up with the throw while surfing on my iPad.  The alarm I had set went off at 8:30 and I packed and showered, then we met Mom at 9:30 for breakfast.  I had the same breakfast again, this time with the chicken sausage, juice and whole grain toast.  Todd had french toast, sorry, Pain Perdu, again.

Pain Perdu if you're fancy

NY/DC Trip - Day 7

A lot of photos in this post, so it's kind of long.

I woke up at 7:00am on this morning, and got out of bed at 8:30.  We met Mom at 9:30 for breakfast, where I had the American breakfast again; this time with pork sausage and decaf coffee.

A view of Pinea, the hotel's restaurant where we had breakfast each morning

Breakfast tableau

NY/DC Trip - Day 6

Good morning Washington, D.C. W hotel Fantastic Suite!

NY/DC Trip - Day 5

Today we take the train to Washington D.C.

I woke up at 5:30am, then ended waking Todd up at 7:30.  We got out of bed at 8 and I showered and packed.

We met Mom at 9:15 and checked out, left our bags with bell services, then walked across the street to the 810 Deli & Cafe.  I had the same breakfast as before; a protein wrap that I split with Todd, and a Bolthouse Farms strawberry banana smoothie.

After we ate we walked to Central Park and watched the falling leaves around the duck pond, then walked to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).