Holiday World 2023

When Nichole asked if we would want to bring the twins to Holiday World with her family this summer, it was a definite yes from me. I have such fun memories from Holiday World and I couldn't wait to share the excitement with our kids.

After dropping Katie off at daycare, we met at Hardee's to eat some breakfast. Brady and Ashley wanted to sit by their favorite people, Aunt Nik Nik and Uncle Con Con. 

Our drive to Holiday World was pretty quiet as Brayden and Ashley fell asleep about an hour into the drive. I heard that Nikki and Connor weren't so lucky and that Grant and Emily were screaming and excited the entire drive.

We made it to the park, lathered up in sunscreen, and headed inside for some fun! After the typical tourist photo with Santa, we headed to 4th of July to let the littles ride on some rides their size. It took a little convincing, but Ashley agreed to ride a few rides. Brayden would get in the line to wait, but when it was time to get on the ride, he would back out and want to leave. So enjoy a few photos of Ashley on some rides.

Brayden was much more into looking at the park map at this point in the day.

Grant saw the mini Liberty Launch and wanted to ride it. I had hyped Ashley up enough about it that she agreed to ride it with me too. She was pretty excited initially, but I think her face quickly turned to terror while we were riding. At one point in the ride she turned to me and said she was all done and wanted off. I was proud of her for trying it out with me!

I think that ride was just what Grant needed to get him in the riding mood, because after that he wanted to go do the log ride. Eric and I knew that if the twins knew what happened on the ride they would never ride it, so we just told them it was a boat ride. We did our best to not let them see the big drop at the end of the ride. We got in the log and we were off! After going through the dark tunnel at the start of the ride Ashley mentioned she didn't want to do that again, and I knew that she probably wasn't going to like what happened at the end. I don't even know that either one of them screamed when we went down the drop at the end of the ride, but they were both a little upset they got a little wet and I'm pretty sure Ashley was crying. After seeing our picture at the booth, I knew that we had to buy it. Enjoy the sheer terror on the kids' faces! 

Eric and I both agreed that that ride pretty much ruined Holiday World for Ashley. After that she didn't want to ride anything and acted terrified about even the mildest of kid rides we tried to get her on. We thought that the ride would scare her, but then it would turn into an excitement about the ride and want her to do more things like it. Looking back now I feel bad about taking the kids on that ride without them knowing what to expect. But I do think that the ride really opened Brayden up to the idea about the thrill of rides, because he was much more open to trying rides out after that. Regardless, both kids agreed they did NOT want to do that ride again.

We hit up the Lewis and Clark trail so the kids could go on a ride that didn't have the scare factor. We probably should have done rides like that first and worked our way up to the scarier rides, but we will know that for next year! I did have to laugh though because we ate lunch right next to the Legend, and Brayden was talking about how he wanted to ride that ride (I'm guessing because it was Halloween themed). Maybe one day dude.

Then it was off to the waterpark! We made another mistake in our tactic here when we decided to do the Watubee as our first ride. We made it all the way to the top and were about to get in the raft when Ashley flat out refused to get in. We both tried talking to her to convince her to get in, but she wouldn't. We basically grabbed her and held her down and told the person to just push the raft down the ride. I think she cried the entire time. Again, probably not our best decision, but we hoped that she would think it was fun after it was over. She most definitely did not. 

I wish I had my phone in the waterpark, because Brayden was living his best life in Safari Sam's Splash Land and Tembo Falls. I would say he rode all the slides in each area, but I think a better description is that he rode a few slides a million times. He would get down the slide, then climb right back up the stairs to do it again. Ashley, on the other hand, never left my side. She stood in the water, or maybe sat and splashed in it a bit, but hardly did anything else. Emily finally convinced her to go down the tiniest baby slide a few times, but that was about the extent of her waterpark fun. 

Nichole and I watched Emily, Brayden and Ashley while Eric and Connor took Grant on the Wildebeest Water Coaster. Eric and I haven't been to Holiday World since they put the water coasters in, so we were both excited to try them out. Once they got back, we moved from Safari Sam's Splash Land to Tembo Falls, and then Nichole and I went with Grant to ride the Mammoth. I didn't really know what to expect, but it was so much fun! We definitely caught air a few times, and some of the drops were right after each other, which didn't give you much time to recover. Grant did not enjoy it as much as Nikki and I did and said he didn't want to do that one again. 

By that point, the waterpark was about to close. Nichole and Connor took Grant to do one more ride in the waterpark, and we took the twins and changed back into dry clothes. We headed towards Holidog Fun Town hoping the kids would ride a few of the little kid rides there before we headed home. We got them to ride the Holidog Express, I think mostly because we rode it with them.

But they would not even get in line for any of the other rides. All Ashley had talked about before we left was riding in the teacups, but she acted like they were the scariest things ever and didn't want to get in. Brayden did play a little bit on the play gym in that area, but we decided at that point that it was probably best to get out of there and head home. 

I think we made it home between 9 and 930 that night. It was a long day and everyone was beat! We asked the kids if they liked Holiday World and they both said yes. When I asked if they wanted to go back, Brayden said yes, and Ashley said yes, but she didn't want to ride on the boats (ha!). I promised that next time we go we would ride some different rides, and stay clear of the boats. 

New England Road Trip: Part 3

We've made it, part 3 of our New England road trip! If you missed part 1 on our time in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, you can find that here. And you can find part 2 on our time in Vermont and New Hampshire here. 

But now it's time for what was my absolute favorite part of the trip- Maine! We drove from New Hampshire through central Maine. We made a short pit stop at a winery where we enjoyed eight different ciders- blueberry was a top pick for both of us.

After a little more driving we made it to Acadia National Park! Instead of hitting the main part of the park that day, we drove a little farther to get to the Schoodic Peninsula. If you ever make it to Acadia, you NEED to make sure you come here. While it was pretty foggy while we were there, the views were phenomenal and there was literally no one else here. I think we saw 3 or 4 other cars the entire time we were in that portion of the park. It is literally all the beauty of the main park, without all the people. I wish we would have had longer to spend here. We did enjoy driving the scenic route around the peninsula and taking time to get out and explore at different stops. 

The rocks here were so cool- with browns, pinks, and blacks all mixed in together. I could have sat on these rocks and listened to the waves come in forever. 

The next morning we headed back to the main portion of the park on Mount Desert Island. One of the big things I wanted to do was the Beehive loop trail. The hike is only 1.4 miles long, but you ascend the 450 foot cliff via rungs and ladders on the exposed edge of the mountain. I had been hyping myself up over doing it for a few weeks before we left. I was a little terrified that I would be too scared to do for fear of falling over the edge, but I also wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. And I'm so glad I did.

Parking for the trail is at Sand Beach, and while we got to the parking lot before 9 AM, it was already full. After a few circles, we finally met up with someone leaving and quickly pulled in. As we walked from the parking lot to the trail head, you can see the top of the Beehive. And if you look really close, you can see all the people scaling the cliff to get to the top.

While my stomach was full of butterflies as we got closer, once we actually started up the trail, my fears subsided and I was more excited than nervous. Here's the warning sign before you start up the rung and ladder portion.

And a picture of us before we started the climb with a view of the top!

Overall, it was definitely not as bad as I had imagined it would be. I felt the trail was plenty wide to where I didn't think I was going to fall off (but that didn't stop me from staying as close to the mountain edge as possible ha!). But there were a few places that tested my trust in their rung and ladder system. Like this one.

And this one.

But there always seemed to be a metal bar to grab on to or to place my foot when I needed one.

As we stopped for short breaks along the way, we soaked in the views that got better and better as we got closer and closer to the top. 

It took us about 30 minutes to get to the top, where we spent a good while taking in the beauty of the park and feeling proud about our accomplishment. 

We headed down the back side of the mountain to the Bowl trail (which is what makes this hike a loop), and took in the scenery from this vantage point before continuing the rest of the way back down to the bottom. Everything I read on this hike mentions this, but if you decide to do the hike, PLEASE go up the Beehive and down the Bowl. We encountered people going down the Beehive portion, which would not only have been terrifying because it would have been so hard to see where to put your hands and feet as you made your way down, but it was also a little dangerous because you become in the way of people heading up. And while the trail was wide enough to feel secure, I sure didn't like meeting someone on it going the opposite direction.

Here's an excited me after getting back down to the bottom!

While we were parked at Sand Beach, we went ahead and walked down to the beach to take in the views there before getting back in the car. Lord knows I didn't want to be circling that parking lot again looking for another spot later in the day.

We continued our drive on the loop road around the park. Up next was Thunder Hole. While we weren't there during the optimal time of huge splashes and the deafening sound of thunder, we were able to catch a small thunderous noise that gave us the same general effect without all the people. 

We took in the sights of Otter Cliffs before continuing on our drive again. 

We ventured into the town of Bar Harbor for lunch and then made our way back into the park. I had wanted to hike the Bubbles Trail next, but the parking lot for that trail was so incredibly tiny. While we tried to wait for someone to come out, more and more cars kept coming into the lot looking for a spot behind us, so we had to keep moving. We looked for a while for another spot to park close to the trail head, but everything was taken. We thought about parking down at Jordan Pond and walking from there, but that added a lot of hike to the trek. So we decided that we would come back the next morning and do the Bubbles hike first thing. Instead we booked a quick reservation to drive to the top of Cadillac Mountain. 

Now when people think of Cadillac Mountain at Acadia, they probably thing sunrise, as that is what the mountain is most famous for. From the beginning of October to the beginning of March, this mountain is the first place to see the sunrise in the continental US. Every other time of the year it's not quite the first, but it would still be an amazing place to see the sunrise. I had contemplated trying to get tickets to be on the mountain at sunrise. They only go on sale two days before the date, and they sell out super fast. We eventually decided against it, mostly due to the fact that we would probably have to get up at 2 in the morning to make it there in time to catch the sunrise since our AirBnB was about 40 minutes away from the park. I don't think we would have been able to sign up anyways because the internet reception is awful out there and we wouldn't have had service when sign ups opened. And it was honestly quite foggy our entire trip, especially in the mornings, so I'm not sure we would have even seen much of a sunrise. 

After a little bit of a scary drive to the top we took in some overcast views of the landscape. I don't know why the drive scared me so much. It was paved, there were barriers on most of the edges. I think maybe it's the thought that my life is in someone else's hands and if a careless driver comes around the curve we could go over the edge. But that drive up was way scarier than the Beehive hike. It made me glad we didn't get to drive up to the top of Mount Washington in New Hampshire, because I think that that drive is way scarier than this one was!

Eric got us up there safely though and we walked around the vast expanse of rocks at the top taking in all the views. 

Once back down at the bottom, we drove back to Jordan Pond to walk around a little bit there. I knew there was a great view of the North and South Bubble from the pond there and wanted to capture what we would be hiking the next day. 

We drove down to the southwest portion of Mount Desert Island to check out the Bass Harbor Head Light station. From our first view of the lighthouse, I thought we would get a good picture once we went down to the rocks.

But it was really foggy on the other side of the lighthouse and the shot wasn't quite what I'd imagined it looking like. However, it was a true representation of all the fog we had had on our trip that far. 

That night we hit up a lobster shack close to our place and ate our first full lobster of the trip. We probably could have executed the actual dismembering of the lobster better, but we didn't do too bad for our first time.

The next morning it was back to the park to do the Bubbles hike. This time the lot wasn't full and we were able to snag a spot. Up first was the hike up the South Bubble to see Bubble Rock. This was a relatively easy hike through the forest to make it to the top, where we were greeted with incredible views of Jordan Pond.

And I couldn't pass up an opportunity for the touristy Bubble Rock picture. It's amazing to me that this thing is able to stay perched on the side of the mountain like it is. 

It was back down the South Bubble to the Bubbles Divide, where we took the option to go hike up the North Bubble. This hike was a lot more strenuous than the South Bubble hike was. You gained a decent amount of elevation pretty quickly, and had to traverse a lot of rocks to make it to the top. But again, you can't beat the views once you made it up there. (This hike also taught us a valuable lesson at National Parks- get to what you want to do early before the crowds get there.)

We said our goodbyes to Acadia and started driving down the coast on our way back to Boston. On the way we stopped at 8 different lighthouses, including Curtis Island Light, Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse, Owl's Head Light, Marshall Point Light Station, Pemaquid Point Light, and Portland Head Light. 

At Pemaquid Point Light we were able to go up into the lighthouse tower, which was really cool. 

And of course we walked around the grounds at Portland Head Light as well. 

We stayed outside of Portland that evening, and the next day hit up two more lighthouses on our way back south, including Goat Island Light and the Cape Neddick Nubble Light. 

Our last stop before getting back to Boston was at Salem, Massachusetts. We walked the Salem Heritage Trail around the town to get in some of the most important points of the town. I would have loved to do a guided walking tour, but we just didn't have the time to do one. We started our walk at the Salem Witch Trials Memorial. It was a very stoic representation of the 20 people who lost their lives in 1692. Each bench has the name of the person, the date of their death, and the means of their execution, 19 of which were hanged and one man who was pressed to death. 

We walked through the adjacent Charter Street Cemetery, where we saw the gravestone of John Hathorne, who was a judge during the witchcraft trials, and also the gravestone of Richard More, who was a Mayflower pilgrim. 

We walked through Derby Square to see the Old Town Hall, which was a filming site for Hocus Pocus. 

The Corwin House (better known as the Witch House) was another walking path stop. This house has direct ties to the Salem Witch Trials, as it was the home of Jonathan Corwin, one of the judges of the witch trials. It was closed for tours of the inside, so we couldn't go in to take a look. 

We also walked past the Ropes Mansion, which was another filming site in Hocus Pocus. 

I wanted to walk through Pioneer Village, which is a living museum of the 17th century, but we found out it is only open on the weekends, so we couldn't get inside. Instead we made our way back to Boston and got ready for the Red Sox game! When we were planning this trip, Eric made it clear that he didn't want to plan the trip around going to Fenway Park for a Red Sox game, but that we would be going to a game. We had originally slated our trip to start a week later than we actually did leave, but that would have put us in Boston for a game against the Yankees, and we didn't really want to pay that much for tickets to the game. So instead we left a week earlier so we could catch them playing the Colorado Rockies. 

We had great seats with a view of the Green Monster. And while the Red Sox ended up losing 3-4, we still had a great time at the game. We made it out of the stadium before the rain hit, but ended up having the longest ride ever back to the hotel due to our driver losing signal in the tunnels under the water and making about one hundred wrong turns along the way. 

The next morning we flew home and were able to pick up the kids from daycare. Brayden and Ashley were so excited to see us, Katie was a little confused and actually wanted to go back to Amanda instead of letting me hold her. She's over that now that and has been attached to my hip ever since we got back. We are definitely ready for her to be a little more hands off like she was before we left, but I'm sure we will get there again soon. 

We had the absolute best time on our New England road trip. Even though it was a little rainy, a little foggy, and a little cooler than we had originally anticipated, we couldn't have asked for a better time. The crowds were sparse, the scenery was gorgeous, and the company wasn't bad either. We might have wore out the songs "Dutton Ranch Freestyle" and "Last Night" (and sadly it isn't Morgan Wallen's version ha!), but I wouldn't trade the memories we made for anything. As Eric would say, the trip wasn't terrible. 

I can't wait to see what adventure we go on next!