Once Upon an Adventure

 Greetings from the frozen Tundra!       Okay, I'm exaggerating. I'm freezing and we got about 6 inches of snow dumped on us last night and today. This is why I decided that this month would be a culinary adventure from the comfort of home. I have had many struggles throughout this pandemic with missing Disney World and just wanting to book that next vacation. It's my happy place. Knowing my love of cooking and Disney, my brother and his girlfriend gave me The Unofficial Disney Parks Cookbook by Ashley Craft.  It has recipes for popular foods (mostly snacks and desserts with some meal options) from each Disney World park, plus Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. I decided to begin with a few items from the beautiful Magic Kingdom where it all started back in the day.       I wanted something comforting and would warm me from the inside out. Winter = soup. Tomato Basil Soup from Pinocchio Village Haus sounded perfect. It was prett...

 Happy Holidays! This month is another zoo activity, not to mention one of my favorites of the year, Wildlights at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. There is just something so magical about the lights and music around the holidays that I feel transported to another world. While this year is obviously a bit different, it was still the beautiful evening that I love to share with family and friends.  With everything going on in 2020, I was so excited that the event was still happening this year. The tickets are separate from the day-time zoo tickets, and they are limiting the number of people in one evening by having everyone schedule an "arrival" time. Even for zoo members you need to "order" a time on the ticket page (don't worry, it's still free). I believe  all tickets need to be ordered ahead of time because I didn't see any open kiosks for buying tickets at the gate. At the gates, the employees were having guests scan their own tickets/zoo memberships up...

  Hello Again 😀,  As I write this, the Asian Lantern Festival at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is finished for this season. However, I believe it is absolutely worth mentioning in case anyone would like to attend in the future. It's an event that is presented each year by Cleveland Clinic Children's. It is a separate ticketed event after regular zoo hours. They have shows, food, and beverages as well as the beautiful lantern creations. I have attended this event two years so far and I've enjoyed it each time. Every year is a different theme, and the details in the show pieces get more and more creative. Here is the link for future dates for the festival (which aren't listed at this time), but it'll give an idea of prices, hours and what they have going on during the event. I may be biased, but I believe the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is one of the most beautiful zoos you can visit, and who doesn't like walking around the zoo at night? Some of those animal friends...

 Hello Friends,       After our first Haunted Columbus experience, Autumn was eager to attend another one. I was definitely intrigued by some of the other tours they offered, but then COVID 19 hit. When things began opening up again, she diligently kept checking their website to see what their precautions were, and if and when they would be doing tours. She texted me saying they were doing a Hallowed Halls of Horror Tour at Ohio State. As a huge Ohio State fan, I freaked out and said of course I would do this one. I agreed to do this tour because:  1. Each tour has a limit of how people can attend.  2. We'd be outside the entire time, so social distancing wouldn't be an issue.       After parking in one of the two parking garages on campus by the Ohio Union, we were instructed by the email sent out to meet in front of Hayes Hall on the Oval. Our tour guide informed us that there was only one other group signed up and obviously we ha...

Happy Saturday! One of the hardest things for me during this pandemic is that I can't plan my next Disney vacation. It is one of my favorite stress relievers and gives me something to look forward to when things are tough. 2021 isn't even looking promising, so who knows when I'll get back to the magic. In the meantime, I started saving recipes from various Disney restaurants to make at home and hopefully bring some of that magic to Ohio. I decided to make the first test group from the restaurants at the Polynesian Resort. This is one of my favorite resorts because it is right on the beach, has a view of Magic Kingdom from across the lake, and everything is Moana/Lilo and Stitch/Hawaii themed. It is also home to my favorite coffee on all of Disney World property. Kona Cafe is our breakfast spot. Their Kona coffee is my absolute favorite. A few weeks before I decided to do this home-cooking adventure, I heard Joffrey's was selling the coffee that they created sp...

Hello Friends,      I hope everyone is staying safe during this outbreak. I'm an essential worker in Behavioral Health, so I'm about a month and half late making this post. My birthday was a week before this all started hitting hard in our country. I'm thankful to have gotten to have one last adventure before quarantine began.      If you know me, you know that my favorite time of year is Halloween and that my favorite genre of movies is horror. After doing a tour of Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania four years ago, I've been looking at traveling to other cities to do haunted tours. It's not so much the paranormal I'm interested in, it's the history and stories behind the locations. Basically every big city has a haunted tour, so I thought I should start where I live. The Haunted Columbus tours take a break during the January and February months since the weather can be so cold and unpredictable, but thankfully my birthday weekend...

Winter's Greetings,      If you're feeling the winter blues like I always do in February, a vacation to somewhere warm sounds amazing. Can I afford it? Nope. (Thank you, Emergency Room bill.) So when my best friend Christina suggested a getaway, I told her we should stay close to home. Indoor waterparks offer that 85 degree weather without the price of airfare. Sandusky, Ohio had the most options. We had it narrowed down to Castaway Bay, Great Wolf Lodge, and Kalahari. We only had two requirements: a lazy river and a spa. Castaway Bay had no lazy river. Great Wolf Lodge had no spa. Kalahari was the only one with both.      Now I will admit, I was nervous. I read some reviews a couple days before we went, and I was worried. Everything from customer service to the cleanliness of the rooms and waterpark. I also read that the food was bad. Check-in starts at 4pm. We arrived around 5:30pm because the GPS was all about the country roads. First impression was ...