MORE KIDS THAN SUITCASES

Things My Parents Taught Me About Traveling

2013-05-18T08:45:00.000-07:00

I lost my Dad about five years ago. It was sudden, out of the blue, and really threw me for a loop. Until that day, anything I was ever unsure of or needed help with, I took to Dad. He didn't always have the right answers or advice for me, but he had a way of helping me think through problems and decide what needed to be done. Then, when I made the wrong decision, he was always there to help me correct my mistake. After he passed away I spent a long time thinking about all the things he taught me in life, and if I'd been authoring a blog back then I assure you I would have written at least a handful of posts sharing his great wisdom with all of you.

This week, I lost my Mom.

This time it wasn't sudden or out of the blue but the process still seems to be the same, and I find myself once again sitting here reflecting on the things my parents taught me that shaped who I am today. In particular, whether or not they intended to, my parents taught me quite a bit about travel. Not in a "Sit down son I have something to tell you" kind of way, but more like general observations that I made while we were away from home. Some of the things I noticed have helped me to this very day. Some were helpful when I was younger, and others....well there always has to be some examples of what not to do doesn't there?

Here then, in honor of my Mom, are five things that my parents taught me about traveling:

#1 - Camping with friends is great, just make sure you have a hotel room booked somewhere nearby.

When I was young, we used to spend every Labor Day long weekend in a place called Sicamous for my Dad's work baseball tournament. The first year we tried camping along with everybody else, but after that we always had a room booked at the local hotel. Once everybody started crawling into their tents for the night, we would drive back to the hotel and get a good night's sleep, making us the only rested players in the entire tournament on Saturday morning. Unsurprisingly we still came in last every year as apparently baseball success is based on more than just good sleep patterns, but I learned at a very young age that camping success is based on making early reservations at the Hilton down the road.

Can we go back to the hotel now?

#2 - You don't have to pay to travel

OK, they waited quite a while to teach me this one. I always thought that we must be pretty rich to travel, but when Lori and I got married my parents gave us 200,000 airmiles and told us to "go somewhere nice". Suddenly it became clear to me how Dad, who was always away somewhere on a work trip, was managing to fund our family vacations. It was a lesson well learned though as by the age of 10 all three of my kids had MVP status on Alaska Airlines and one of our kids would have had status at a hotel chain if we hadn't gotten in trouble for giving a minor an account in the first place. Did you know there's an age limit on those kind of things?

#3 - You can't drive an RV down Lombard Street

What you can do however is turn onto Lombard Street, stop about ten feet down when you realize that this probably isn't a very good idea, then back your RV up to the top of the road and make a U-turn. You need a certain amount of skill, finesse, and an amazing ability to block out honking horns and yelling drivers, but you can in fact do it.

Photo via Jon Sullivan

#4 - They really can't "Turn this thing around"!

You know that game siblings play where any drive over 15 minutes in length becomes an opportunity to see just how crazy you can drive your back seat co-passenger? My sister and I were masters of that game, but when we were young my parents could bring our teasing to a halt with the threat of "I'll turn this car around right now". I'm not really sure why this threat worked on us as most of the time we weren't going anywhere more exciting than the grocery store, but for some reason (perhaps it was the tone?) we always stopped fighting right away when the prospect of turning around was placed on the table. Of course, like any good parenting technique that actually works, my parents went to the well a little too often. One time during a flight to California my sister and I got into it and my Dad threatened to "turn this plane around!" The laughs from nearby passengers finally made it obvious to us that perhaps Dad had been bluffing all these years and that he really didn't have the power to follow through on his threat. Still, it was pre-9/11 so we settled down...just in case.

#5 - Just go. Worry about the details later.

This was simultaneously the best and the worst lesson that my parents ever taught me, but it's also probably the lesson that I grasped most fully. My parents were great at setting frameworks for our vacations, but the details were occasionally glossed over in the excitement. When I was younger, I was fine with driving around for hours at the end of the day with Dad claiming that he was looking for "the hotel". When I was older I realized that we were actually looking for "any hotel" that had a room available, but when I look back I don't remember the disorganization. I remember that we were traveling..as a family. Short of a few marital lessons that have served me well over the years ("Just assume you're wrong son") this may be the best thing my parents ever impressed upon me. It's certainly the one that I hope my children learn from Lori and I, and their children from them. With any luck one day there will be multiple generations driving around the world realizing that they forgot to make a reservation or that they never looked up the address of where they were going. I know when that happens Mom and Dad will look down and smile and think "at least they're going". Or they'll think "I can't believe they still don't know how to make a reservation!". Either way, they'll get to smile.

R.I.P. Mom and Dad.

Written by Steve Pratt

Disney's Monstrous Summer All Nighter!

2013-04-29T09:36:00.000-07:00

Do you have those friends? You know the ones who challenge you to do things that you just know you shouldn't be doing? I never seem to have a shortage of those kind of friends. When I was young(er), one of my "friends" challenged me to jump my car across a small stream running beside his house. Possibly inspired by watching too many Dukes of Hazzard reruns I accepted, only to come to the stark realization that a 1980 Chevrolet Citation doesn't have a lot of jumping power. Fortunately the damage to the car (and me) was minimal, but the money for the tow truck came straight out of my wallet and not that of my friend who came up with the dumb idea in the first place.

The only picture I have of my old Citation. Don't ask why I'm on the street emptying it while wearing only a towel. I honestly don't know.

I'd like to think that I'm a little older and wiser now, but in reality it's just the challenges that have changed. Last Thursday Disney announced that on May 24th they would be repeating their "24 hours in the park" promotion, and it didn't take long for my challenge issuing friends to emerge and start asking if I was planning on participating. Perhaps they honestly forgot about the crashing defeat we suffered at hour 15 on Leap Day. Maybe they truly have faith in our ability to learn from our mistakes and they assume that this time everything will go smoothly. Most likely, they just want to hear another story about a grown man getting chewed up and spit out by an activity that would be considered an ultimate dream by most 3rd graders.

With that in mind, you'd think that by now I'd have to be smart enough to not even consider taking a second run at such a hare-brained promotion, but that's exactly what we're thinking of doing. It's not logical but there's something about this challenge that just calls out to me as something I have to do. I don't know what it is. It's not like there's a prize for survival. Heck, if you have something to do the next day (which I do) then it's more likely to come off feeling like a punishment. Still I can't seem to shake the idea that a 2 am ride on Heimlich's Chew Chew Train is something I need to experience in life so while there's no guarantees, we're definitely considering going.

What's going to be different this time? Well for starters it's going to be on the Friday night of the Memorial Day long weekend which doesn't exactly strike me as a good thing. I remember being pinned in wall to wall people at 6am on a Wednesday morning for Leap Day and I can only imagine what the line for Peter Pan will be like on a holiday Friday with no real reason for people to be tucked into bed early. On the other hand, Disney apparently learns from it's mistakes and this year both Disneyland and California Adventure are going to be open for the entire 24 hours. This opens up a ton of new possibilities, including the concept that I could spend the whole 24 hours in the Animation Academy and come out being able to draw a Disney character that doesn't look like a Tim Burton stick figure. Then again, that might be asking too much, even for Disney magic.

As I said, we're considering it, but you know what might help me decide to give it a try? If I knew other slightly off-kilter people who were going to be there. What's the saying, "Craziness loves company"? No? Well it should be, so if you're thinking about attending the Monstrous Summer All Nighter let me know. You might just be that friend whose challenge I decide to accept. Also, while we're at it, let's see if the rental car can clear that ditch. I'll bet today's cars have far more jumping power than those of the early 80's.

Still more jumping power than a 1980 Citation!

Written by Steve Pratt

National Tell-A-Lie Day

2013-04-04T09:33:00.000-07:00

George Washington couldn't do it, but I can! Today is National Tell-A-Lie Day, and in honor of that, I'm going to spend all day today telling lies. Of course, now that I've said that, I have to tell some truths as well otherwise that wouldn't be a lie. Wait...is that right? I'm not sure, so here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to tell you three things, and two of them will be lies. You try and figure out which one is true. Simple right? Let's hope so. To make sure you don't cheat, the answers are at the bottom of the page. Although telling you how to cheat seems kind of silly now doesn't it? Kind of like putting the answers in the back of the Math textbooks. Nobody ever looked at those instead of doing the math themselves did they? Of course not.

Oh wait...it's not National Wander-Off-Topic Day...back to the lies. Here we go:

I've ridden on a float in a Disneyland parade.
I've ridden on a horse that once competed in the Kentucky Derby
I've ridden in the Mystery Machine from the Scooby Doo movies.

Figured out which one is true? Excellent. Next lies!

Our 1st trip to Disneyland was nearly cancelled because our plane went off the runway while taxiing.
Our 1st trip to Disneyland was nearly cancelled because my daughter threw up on the gate agent at check-in.
Our 1st trip to Disneyland was nearly cancelled because our car was stolen the day before we were supposed to leave.

You'll be happy to know that we did make it to Disneyland despite our rough start. Time for romance!

My first kiss with my wife was the result of a dare from my best friend.
My first kiss with my wife was interrupted by her parents opening the front door.
My first kiss with my wife was the result of her getting tired of waiting for me to kiss her and taking matters into her own hands.

Do you know my "rebel" side?

I was once thrown out of a shopping mall for throwing ice cream at Santa.
I was once thrown out of a nightclub for "dancing too dangerously".
I was once thrown out of a soccer game for commenting on the referee's amazing ability to "blow things".

Finally, let me share some of my travel misconceptions with you.

I once thought that gambling was not only legal in Nevada but mandatory.
I once thought that the Indians in Cowboys and Indians movies all came from India.
I once thought that everybody in British Columbia spoke with an English accent.

OK, have you made your choices? Let's see how you did.

The truthful statements are:

I've ridden on a float in a Disneyland parade.

I didn't get to ride with Mickey, but I did get to ride on a float with an Orange County Cheerleading squad back in the mid 1980's. No, I wasn't part of the squad (You were trying to picture that weren't you?) but my best friend who I was in the park with that day managed to talk us onto the seats at the very back of the float. We've almost ridden in the Mystery Machine, but somebody wouldn't tell me where the keys were.

Our first trip to Disneyland was nearly cancelled because my daughter threw up on the gate agent at check-in.

Do you know what happens when your child throws up on an airline employee? They have to be checked out and approved to fly by a medical professional before being allowed on the plane. Since we happened to be flying out on a Sunday, there were no doctors available so an ambulance was called to the airport to confirm that my daughter was just nervous and not actually sick. On the other hand, I think the gate agent got the rest of the day off.

Don't throw up on Tigger....Don't throw up on Tigger....

My first kiss with my wife was the result of her getting tired of waiting for me to kiss her and taking matters into her own hands.

I didn't honestly think I was taking that long about it, but apparently my wife is a little bit impatient. Something that I've learned over and over again since...

I was once thrown out of a shopping mall for throwing ice cream at Santa.

All three of these things happened, but the only one I actually got thrown out for was throwing ice cream at Santa, which was totally bogus as it wasn't me. I mean come on...do I look like the kind of guy who would waste ice cream?

I once thought that gambling was not only legal in Nevada but mandatory.

Hey, when everybody tells you that you "have to gamble when you're in Vegas", it's pretty easy to misunderstand. Fortunately I understand what they meant now, but I'd like to apologize to all the people who've overheard my wife say "You have to go to the outlet mall when you're in Vegas!" It's not actually a legal requirement.

Written by Steve Pratt

More of Trip Advisor's Strangest Complaints

2013-04-01T09:05:00.000-07:00

There can't be more can there? About six months ago I wrote an article called Trip Advisor's Strangest Complaints. It was about some of the stranger things that people felt the need to include in their reviews of hotels, and after somebody complained that the Disneyland fireworks started before they were ready, I thought I'd found the pinnacle of strange things for people to complain about.

I was wrong.

Welcome to Trip Advisor's Strangest Complaints: Part 2.

"The shuttle to town ran every 1/2 hour, but we wanted to go every 15 minutes"
- Look, if you want to get in and out of town every 15 minutes, you don't need a shuttle...You need a getaway vehicle.

"My kids emptied the mini-bar to play hide and seek and we got charged for everything, even though we put it all back!"
- Who plays hide and seek in a hotel room? Although I will confess that if I was playing, I'd probably never check the mini-bar.

I wouldn't have found you if you hid in the mini-bar!

"Our window faced East in the morning and West at night so we were constantly being kept awake by the sun."
- Well now I want to stay in a rotating hotel room too. Think the Space Needle will let me spend the night in their restaurant?

"The breakfast buffet didn't have any bacon. Seriously, what kind of buffet doesn't have any bacon?"
- I'm pretty sure this is where the hashtag #firstworldproblems actually started.

No bacon? Let's burn the place down!

"The shower was so dirty that I couldn't bring myself to use it, and by the third day the room had a funny smell to it."
- ...and two plus two equals....

"The front desk was very rude and handsome. My concern was with their attitude and not their appearance."
- I always said good looking people can get away with anything. Here's your proof.

"The hotel had a bad location. It is next to a road."
- Apparently this person arrives at hotels via horseback. I wonder what the valet charge is for that?

Where do I park this thing?

"I asked for directions to a drinking fountain but was told that they only had complimentary bottled water available."
- A drinking fountain? I haven't seen one of those since 6th grade. If they'd had complimentary water back then, I might have done better in Science class.

"The room service breakfast was good, but they charged $2500 for coffee!"
- I'm assuming that there's supposed to be a decimal in there somewhere, but then again, this was a Four Seasons...

And my new favorite complaint, complete with response from the hotel manager....

"The pool was closed while we were there. I would have liked to know that ahead of time."

Mgr Response: "Thank you for your comments. I reviewed the dates of your stay with us and the reason for our pool closure was that the hotel was under a hurricane warning during your visit. I apologize that we weren't able to offer advance warning of this inconvenience."

Written by Steve Pratt

Happy Hats and Heads

2013-03-27T08:35:00.001-07:00

We're back for another Wordless Wednesday and today the focus is on Disney headgear. As a guy who can't even stand to wear a baseball hat, this isn't exactly a topic near and dear to my heart, but even though I don't participate in the art of adorning my head with baubles, I do understand their importance.

After all, the right hat can make you feel like a Disney princess...

...or a pirate...

...or even an astronaut.

It can make you happy...

...or sad...

...or...umm...whatever this is...

Most of all though, having Disney on your head simply lets you proclaim to the world that "I Love Disney!" It's simple and clear, and like most things, the bigger and louder you say it, the better.

This post is a part of Wordless Wednesday over at Focused on the Magic. If you didn't get here from there, you should really head on over and check out some of the fantastic people that hang out there on Wednesdays. Some of them probably don't feel the need to make Disney character hats out of their napkins at fine restaurants, but I'll bet most of them do.

Written by Steve Pratt

Friends of MKTS - Arrows Sent Forth

2013-03-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

Blog Address: www.arrowssentforth.com
Facebook: Arrows Sent Forth
Twitter: @ArrowsSentForth
Pinterest: Nicole Wiltrout
Google+: Nicole Wiltrout

WHO ARE THEY? - Nicole is an Indiana girl who is busy raising up her two young sons, referred to in her blog as Big Arrow and Little Arrow. Nicole claims that the title of her blog is drawn from a Kahlil Gibran quote: "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth", but I'm pretty sure it's got something to do with the Hunger Games. Nicole strikes me as kind of a Katniss type. I can see her with a baby in a carrier on the front and a quiver of arrows on her back. I wonder if her husband is from District 12?

WHAT DO THEY WRITE ABOUT? - Before the arrival of the Arrows, Nicole and her husband used to travel the world. Now their travels have a distinctly more local feel to them but, much to my surprise, there's no shortage of things to do in the Indiana area. Seriously, if I had been planning a trip to Indiana, I would have included the Indianapolis 500 and a Colts game. After that I would have been stuck. Now I want to go do the Indianapolis Canal Walk, check out the Children's Museum, visit the Indianapolis Zoo, and time my trip so I can attend the Indiana State Fair. They'd probably make me an honorary citizen of Indiana if I could actually cheer for the Colts (Go Dolphins!).

WHY YOU SHOULD READ THEM - If you have younger kids, this site is a treasure trove of information on great places in the Midwest to visit. Of course, there's lots of great posts from outside the Midwest as well. Florida, Massachusetts and Arizona all have their own section on Arrows Sent Forth. Nothing on Kelowna though. It's strange how many great bloggers have never made their way up to Kelowna. We should start a Canadian version of the Hunger Games. Then maybe we could get Nicole up here to visit.

WHERE YOU SHOULD START - You outdoorsy types who enjoy camping probably aren't getting a whole lot of great information about it from my site, so here's a fantastic article just for you. Things I Learned While Camping with a Toddler is a great starting point for those of you who are crazy enough to enjoy sleeping outdoors. If you're a city boy like me, give SkyDeck Chicago with Kids a read, although I might even consider camping before I'd actually try stepping out on that ledge.

MY FAVORITE POST - Once you have kids, your travel style is going to change. It's going to involve more planning, a whole lot more luggage, and WAY less alcohol. It doesn't mean that you have to keep your two travel lives separate though. Nicole tells the story of a visit to Spain with her husband from before they had children and how Pepe the Mouse has made the transition from that first trip into their bedtime routine of their new life with kids. Probably better than reading them the Hunger Games for a bedtime story anyways.

Written by Steve Pratt

How to Torture Yourself When at Home for Spring Break

2013-03-22T09:58:00.000-07:00

Today is the last day of Spring Break, and while it's been nice having Lori and the kids home, I've been going a little crazy not being able to get away. Family health problems have us confined close to home at the moment, so day trips to places like Crystal Mountain have been the only adventures we've managed to do. That doesn't mean that I haven't been dreaming bigger though. It seems that everywhere I look there's something taunting me...reminding me of places I could be visiting, and although some of it is unavoidable, some is definitely self-inflicted. If you ever find yourself in this situation, here's a couple of things you should avoid doing if you don't want to torture yourself.

Stay off Facebook

Just because you're stuck at home doesn't mean everybody else is. My sister is currently posting pictures from the beach in Hawaii on her photo stream. I love my sister, but if a tropical depression were to settle over Hawaii right now, I'd probably see a little humor in it.

Filter your e-mail

I know you can't avoid e-mail altogether, but you might want to skip over anything with the world "travel" in it. Personally I find TravelZoo to be the worst offender in this department. For some reason they think I should be spending my break in the Greek islands...those fools!

Turn off your screensaver

If you're like me and have your screensaver set to show family pictures from your computer, turn it off! I can't tell you how many times I've been reminded this week that last year for Spring Break we were exploring Washington, D.C., and the year before that we were on a Disney Cruise. It's like a slow torture that updates itself every six seconds. I thought the Geneva convention outlawed this kind of stuff?

Don't watch the departures board

I know this is a bad habit of mine, but sometimes I like to leave my local airports departure board open on my cell phone. Every once in a while I look down and think "Sigh. There goes the 09:45 flight to Aruba!" If I happen to be outside, I even look up to see if I can catch a glimpse of all those happy people heading off to somewhere warm. It works both ways though. At 10:25 I get to look up and laugh at all the poor souls heading to Winnipeg.

This post is a part of Friday Daydreamin at R We There Yet Mom. If you didn't get here from there, you should really go check them out. There's people there who don't torture themselves when they're stuck at home. Obviously they don't live in Winnipeg.

Written by Steve Pratt

Spring Training for Disney

2013-03-20T09:32:00.000-07:00

With the closing of our local ski mountain yesterday, it's time to officially put winter behind us and turn our focus to the joys of spring. For me, spring means one thing, and that's Spring Training. It's that time of year when all the professional baseball players report to camp and start to get ready for a brand new season, but Spring Training isn't just for baseball. For me and all my fellow Disney addicts, there's a whole new season of theme parking to start training for. People think all you have to do is book a hotel and buy some passes, but the real Disney-philes know that there's a lot more to it than that.

The first and probably most important thing you have to do is to build some stamina. Players spend weeks getting in shape for a new baseball season and you think you're going to just waltz down Main Street without any warm up? Try it, and by the time you reach Aurora's castle you'll be the one longing for a 100 year nap. Some people try to short cut it, but if you want to be able to go all day you've got to do the work and get yourself into proper Disney shape.

When Spring Training opens, pitchers have to report to camp before anyone else. That's because it takes a little longer to get your arm in shape that any other part of your body. People think it's about building arm strength, but really the focus is on improving accuracy. Throwing a ball hard doesn't do you any good if you can't control where it's going, and the same thing applies when you're at Disneyland. You can't shoot targets any harder than the guy sitting next to you, so the only real way you can get better at games like Astro Blasters and Toy Story is to improve your accuracy.

After the pitchers and catchers have had a little bit of a head start, it's time for the rest of the players to report to camp. I guess it doesn't take quite as long to get your swing back after a winter off, but it's still something that could use a little fine tuning before competition begins. The same thing holds true at Disneyland. You probably remember how to swing, but would it really hurt you to get in a few practice swings before the season starts and the swinging starts counting for real?

Finally, one of the best parts about Spring Training is how close you can get to the players. Sure getting ready for the season is important, but it's also a lot less intense than regular season play. Players and fans are both feeling hopeful and optimistic and while everybody is in a good mood, there's no better time for fans to gather autographs from their favorite players (or princesses).

Look, I get it. Nobody likes to exercise, least of all me, but there's a price to be paid here. If you aren't diligent during Spring Training, you're not going to be at your best for the rest of the year. Doing Disney takes stamina, strength, and skill and these are exactly the kind of things that get worked on in Spring Training. Work hard and the next parade down Main Street might just be to celebrate your championship!

This post is a part of Wordless Wednesday over at Focused on the Magic. If you didn't get here from there, you should really head on over and check out some of the fantastic people that hang out there on Wednesdays. Some of them probably don't even need Spring Training as they keep themselves in Disney shape all year - and unlike me, I don't mean Pooh Bear shape.

Written by Steve Pratt

Closing Crystal Mountain

2013-03-19T10:06:00.000-07:00

A lot of people wait anxiously every year for the opening of ski season. Their gear is polished, their seasons pass is bought, and the only thing they have to wait for is enough of the fluffy white stuff to hit the ground that it's considered skiing and not falling down a hill. It's usually around December sometime that everything gets up and running. After that a certain number of people disappear each year, not to be seen again for the next three months.

We treat ski season a little differently. While our general plan is to avoid skiing at all costs, there is one day each year that we make an exception to our plan. While everybody else waits for opening day, the one day a year that we really enjoy being up on a ski mountain is closing day. Why closing day? Well let's just say that the attitude on the mountain is a little different on that day...

Closing day at Crystal Mountain, the closest ski hill to Kelowna, was last Sunday, and as usual they finished with a Family Fun Day. For most people, that meant a chance to compete in the annual Slush Cup...

...but for our family, who has some common sense, it was a chance to try out some non-skiing related events. In fact, the main draw of the day for me was the chance to compete against the rest of my family in a snowshoe race, something that none of us had ever had the chance to try before.

The kids got to go first, and while youngest opted out, my older two decided that was definitely some rivalry that could be settled on the snowshoe course. The trash talking reached a fever pitch just before race time...

Remember the good old days when trash talking was verbal and not via text?

...but once the race got underway, it wasn't really all that close.

Talon managed to win the race, and through grit, determination, and the disqualification of another competitor, Neve held on to grab third place - which was important as the prize for third was a gift certificate to Cupcasions!

That just left Lori and I to do battle, and I have to admit that, at the beginning, it really didn't seem such a wise decision to challenge my wife. Some people look fabulous on snowshoes...

...while some of us...not so much...

What happens in the starting gate however, stays in the starting gate, and once the race began it was a whole different story. Sure I was behind to start, but in the home stretch, when it counts, is when I made my move...

...and despite my better judgement, I finished just ahead of my wife, taking another third place Cupcasions gift certificate which my wife promptly confiscated. Apparently you can have the thrill of victory, but to the wife go the spoils.

Speaking of spoils, everybody at the mountain got to try some Sugarbush Taffy. This is taffy that is brought to a boil and then laid out in lines in a bed of snow.

After it's had a couple of seconds to cool, you can wind it up around a stick and it makes a really great treat, assuming you can get your kids to share it with you.

Yes...that is Elvis in the background...

Family Fun Day is definitely my favorite day of the ski season, and unlike all the skiing fanatics who are counting down the days until the slopes open next December, I can't wait until the next closing day of ski season. Next time though, I think I'm going to challenge my kids to the Cardboard and Duct Tape race.

I mean, nothing could go wrong doing that could it?

Written by Steve Pratt

My Luckiest Travel Moments

2013-03-15T10:44:00.000-07:00

This Sunday is St. Patrick's Day, and though I know it's going to come as quite a shock to those of you who have seen me Riverdance, I'm not actually Irish. I have however, had quite a bit of the "Luck of the Irish" when it comes to traveling. Apparently you don't have to wear green or drink a lot of Guinness to earn a little share of the pot of gold. Sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time. These are five of those memorable moments when the lucky leprechauns seemed to be watching out for me.

Wynn-ing in Las Vegas

The odds of getting a Royal Flush while playing video poker in Vegas are pretty slim. Roughly 40,000 to 1 with proper strategy, but if you play long enough, you'll most likely hit your fair share of them. The odds of actually having the Royal dealt to you however, are remote enough that a lot of avid gamblers will never see it happen. Not only did it happen to me, but it happened on a progressive machine, meaning that in addition to beating the 649,740 to 1 odds, I got a $650 bonus for doing so.

Throwing Out My Passport

A couple of years ago I went on the StarMegaDo where a bunch of mileage plan junkies charter a plane and fly around the country. Somewhere between Chicago and Montreal I managed to lose my passport, and while a very generous border guard eventually allowed me entry back into my home country, it definitely didn't look like I was going to be able to make the next days flight to Denver. Fortunately, somebody found my passport before the group took off the next day, and although it led to a lot of scrambling around, I managed to get back on the MegaDo and off to Denver...where I promptly lost my wallet. This is why I don't travel without my wife.

A Private Ride (and Attempted Drowning)

Staying at the Hyatt Waikiki was a wonderful experience, and waking up every morning looking out over the ocean is the perfect way to start a day. In addition to the beautiful scenery however, one of the things we would watch from our balcony were the catamarans heading out onto the water, taking tourists for a ride out by Diamond Head. This looked like a really fun activity to us, but we were a little nervous about joining a tour as most of the boats looked like insanely crowded party cruises heading out, and we were with our (much younger at the time) family. Eventually temptation got the best of us though, and we decided that we would just suck it up and hope that our kids wouldn't see anything that would scar them for life. We made our way over to the beach and by some stroke of good luck, we were the only people to show up for that sailing. We got a private charter of a catamaran for the same price as a regular ride, and it was every bit as much fun as it looked. I will warn you however that catamaran captains feel much more liberty to drive head on into waves when there's only one family aboard. Probably the whole "fewer witnesses" thing if something goes wrong.

The Rio Can't Count to Two

Stopping in Las Vegas for the night, we had a reservation at the Rio Hotel and Casino for a two queen, non-smoking room. While the hotel was kind enough to put us on their top floor, the first room they gave us was a smoking, king bed room. A call down to the front desk to explain that we really needed two beds got us moved a little further down the hall...to another smoking, king room. A slightly more perturbed call down this time got us moved down the hall to one of the biggest suites I've ever been in. This room had a full size kitchen (with industrial ice maker), dining room, a massive living room, and a couple of the biggest tubs you've ever seen. Of course it still only had one bed, but we decided to let that slide this time. After all, if we really needed to all five of us could have probably slept on the dining room table.

Watching the Fireworks from the Matterhorn

This was pre-family days, but it's easily one of the luckiest moments I've ever had in Disneyland. One night we went back to the park to watch the fireworks, but the crowds were fairly heavy and the weather was rather iffy. Instead of waiting an hour or so on Main Street to see a fireworks show that may or may not happen, we decided that we'd rather do some rides and watch the fireworks from wherever we happened to be when the time came. Just before the fireworks started, we jumped on the Matterhorn and as fate would have it, we got stuck. Fortunately though, out of all the places we could have stopped, we were just coming up to the tunnel that faces Sleeping Beauty's castle, so we got to sit inside the Matterhorn and watch the fireworks go off outside. I think they close the Matterhorn during fireworks now, but I'll always remember the best vantage point I've ever had. A true stoke of good luck.

This post is a part of Friday Daydreamin at R We There Yet Mom. If you didn't get here from there, you should really go check them out. There's people there who are even luckier than me. Bet they can't out-Riverdance me though.

Written by Steve Pratt

I'm a Freezer, Not a Flasher

2013-03-13T09:06:00.000-07:00

When you're as famous as I am, you have to turn down a lot of invitations in life. Tea with the Queen was tempting, but apparently they don't have Diet Coke as a drink option, so I passed. I was almost the guy who did the free fall to Earth from the edge of space, but I like to feel the wind in my hair and we disagreed on whether or not the helmet was really necessary, so they went with somebody else. Then there was the time they asked me to go to North Korea and talk to that dictator guy. I prefer not to get too involved in politics so I declined, but you should see the guy they sent as my replacement!

Photo by Walter Huang

These were all great opportunities, but obviously they were once in a lifetime chances. There's one invite however, that I seem to have to turn down almost monthly, and that's people who want me to be in their flash mob. It's understandable really. I mean, when you think of coordinated dance moves and the ability to break out those moves at a moments notice, obviously my name is at the top of the list. Of course, the only reason my name is there is because I wrote it myself in blue Sharpie. Anything more complicated than "step left" and I'm more likely to be flat on my face than I am "flashing" or "mobbing" or whatever the correct verb for that situation would be. I'd love to do it, but my lack of coordination leads me to turn down all flash mob invitations.

Or it might be my lack of physical fitness...

Last week though, came an invitation that I thought even I could handle. One of the magazines I write for - YLW Magazine (and you should all visit the Kelowna airport at least once a quarter to pick up a copy) - organized a Freeze Mob to take place at the Kelowna airport. The concept seemed perfect for me. Instead of having to "step, twirl, kick!" all I had to do was freeze in one position for three minutes while having the magazine visible. Motionless for three minutes is definitely something I'm capable of. Heck, motionless for three hours is fairly routine for me if it's football season. Substituting a magazine for a TV might be a bit of a stretch, but if this was my opportunity to be a part of the artistic community then I was more than willing to give it a shot.

Through a major stroke of good luck, even the timing worked out perfectly for us. Smack in the middle of the busiest week I've probably ever had to deal with, the time for the freeze mob landed exactly in a half hour gap between picking my daughter up from dance practice and dropping my son off at play rehearsal. Obviously this was destined to be something we participated in, so we hustled off to the airport and at exactly 12:10 pm we struck a pose and locked up for three long minutes.

Now here's something you need to know about freeze mobs: Pick a position that's not going to be painful a minute and a half in. For example, crouching is bad. Don't believe me? Ask my editor...

Standing is a superior choice as far as comfort goes...

Sitting is even better...

...and you definitely don't want to stand in front of the guy who calls the people who are late for their flight.

Most importantly though, if you're going to a freeze mob with your father...

You might want to make sure that you have the magazine open to the article that he wrote for that issue...

Good Girl Neve!

...and not to some random article about curling!

Grounded.....again.

Written by Steve Pratt

What Happened to More Kids Than Suitcases?

2013-03-11T10:06:00.000-07:00

Were you worried about us? Have you been visiting the More Kids Than Suitcases site daily for the last week and wondering just what kind of super-tragedy could be keeping us from sharing further stories of strangeness? Have you begun to organize search parties to scour all the ice cream parlors and Starbucks locations west of Ontario?

You haven't? I suppose I should be insulted, but truth be told, Lori only noticed that there had been a gap in posts yesterday. It's been one of those insanely busy times in our life, and while I'd love to tell you that I took a week off intentionally for some incredibly exciting, exotic vacation in a locale that had never even heard of the internet, the fact is that life just got the best of me last week. Usually I'm more than happy to put off a couple of things in order to get a story written...work...kids...wife...they've all taken their turn waiting patiently while I scrambled to finish off a post for my site. Last week however, was their turn and you, dear readers, did a marvelous job of sharing me with my real life commitments. I almost didn't notice your desperation for me to post something new at all. It must have been hard for you to keep that bottled up, and I really do appreciate all the restraint you showed (although next time, maybe show just a little less).

So what happened to leave me without 15 minutes to pursue my Pulitzer Prize ambitions? Well there was this...

The boy's performance in The Music Man ate up a large quantity of the week. I never realized just how much rehearsal it takes to put on a two hour play, but there was a pretty serious string of sixteen hour days leading up to the actual shows. Actually the practicing might have been hindered by my attempts to be the fifth member of the quartet during rehearsal, but by the time showtime rolled around and I was seated firmly in the audience, the stage was left to those with actual singing talent and I was blown away by how good a high school production could actually be.

Then there was this little distraction...

Fortunately, Lori's birthday fell on opening night of the boy's play, so the job of figuring out what to do to celebrate was taken away from me (which is a good thing...believe me). Still, acknowledgement was required, even though this wasn't one of the major birthdays. Next year is a round number birthday for Lori which will need to be celebrated in a major way, and I'm hoping that, with all of our kids over the age of 12, she won't be celebrating her 25th birthday again. With any luck we'll be moving on to celebrating 30, 35, or even 40. I'll let you know which one it is as the date gets closer.

Finally, even though most of you just assume that I'm a retired billionaire, I actually have a real job that just happened to go a little crazy last week. The world of male modeling can be a very hard path to follow at times, and if you don't give it your full attention when needed, you'll find yourself being passed over for younger talent who are just looking for a chance to swoop in and steal your glory. I'm not ready to abdicate the throne just yet, so when those opportunities for yoga pose calendars come along, I have to jump on them.

That's all behind me now though, and with everything else taken care of, I'll be turning my attention back here. Thanks for bearing with me while I got myself caught up. I'll try not to let it happen again, but let's face it...sooner or later Hollywood is going to come calling and I might have to take as long as two weeks off to film the inevitable blockbuster picture about my life. There might even be some minor parts in the film for those of you who leave comments on my posts. No promises...but let's just say that if you want a chance to meet Channing Tatum or Scarlet Johansson (I assume that's who they'll cast to play Lori and myself) then it could just tip the odds in your favor.

Written by Steve Pratt

Still Settling on Spring

2013-02-28T08:46:00.000-08:00

I'm not really a "season" person. Summer is too hot, Winter is too cold, and I still have a personal grudge against Fall for making me go back to school all those years. Spring however, is the one season that I'm still withholding judgement on. I'm not willing to declare it my favorite season, but I'm still listing out the pros and cons of what it has to offer.

Pros: The weather is great for road trips...

Cons: Not all of us are licensed to drive on the road

Pros: Tickleberry's opens for the season!

Cons: The after effects of eating a seven scoop cone

Pros: It's Hayride season!

Cons: Somebody has to stack the hay to ride on

Pros: The farm is teeming with new baby animals...

Cons: Which my daughters keep trying to smuggle home with them.

Pros: It's warming up and the sun is out more and more...

Cons: Unless of course, you live in Kelowna...

Written by Steve Pratt

The Ups and Downs of Traveling with My Teens

2013-02-25T10:11:00.001-08:00

I've got another teenager this week. You'd figure this would be a point of great stress for me but as much as I joke about teenagers, I've been pretty blessed when it comes to having good kids. They're well behaved, they get good grades, and their classmates still view me as slightly unstable, which solves any issues that might arise among potential suitors for my daughters. It's really been a fairly easy ride, and the only real point of conflict in our day to day life is getting them out of bed, and their newly found opinions on our destinations for travel.

Happy Birthday Neve!

Traveling used to be a lot easier when my kids were younger. All you had to do was strap the kids in the back of the car and off you went. Nobody ever questioned the destination, the route you were taking, and they certainly weren't concerned with what kind of Trip Advisor complaints the hotel we were staying in had received. All they cared about was that Mom and Dad were there, in control and paying for everything. At least that part hasn't changed.

Now that we're reaching their teenage years though, my kids have opinions. If I suggest a new travel destination that we haven't been to before, there's questions to be answered. "Are there any great roller coasters?", "Where's the nearest outlet mall?", and "How many cute boys will be there?" all need to be researched and answered before any vote on my plan can be held. If even one of the questions has a negative response, I'm going to have to make a very creative case for why my suggested itinerary should be adopted. I kind of feel like Obama trying to pass something in the House. I know that if it comes down to it I can use my executive power, but I'm not sure that I really want to deal with the ramifications of that course of action. I can picture my family getting together to decide who will write the rebuttal to any blog posts I create for a destination that I force into being.

I propose Cleveland!...Umm...if that's alright with everyone else...

Fortunately, traveling with teens isn't all bad. There's good things about my kids getting older, like the fact that I've probably ordered my last Happy Meal (unless McDonalds and Disney team up again). Flight delays are only an issue if there's nowhere to plug in electronics, and when your credit card gets rejected at check-in, there's five people to pool money together for the cash deposit instead of two. We're also long past the age of having to break for afternoon naps, although it's a sad fact of life that just when the kids don't need naps anymore, the adults start to realize what a great concept they truly are.

I LOVE nap time...

Truth be told though, it doesn't really matter what I think. It's not like I get a vote in the matter, and my kids are getting older whether I want them to or not. Pretty soon their lives are going to hit the same level of crazy that mine did years ago, which means there's not a lot of time left to do some traveling as a family. I'm rapidly approaching the term limit for head travel planner, so if a little bipartisan cooperation is what it takes to keep things moving, then I'm willing to take that path. I just wish the voting age for travel destinations was a teeny bit higher.

Written by Steve Pratt

5 Attractions We Skipped (Despite Being Right There)

2013-02-21T10:06:00.000-08:00

Our family definitely isn't known as an "off the beaten track" kind of group. When we travel, we might see a couple of lesser known attractions, but in general we're hitting everything on a city's Top Ten list, usually in the order they're listed. In San Diego we focused on the Zoo. In Orlando we spent most of our time at Disney World, and despite knowing next to nothing about American history, we dutifully visited most of the major memorials on our trip to Washington D.C. It's quite possible that we're the exact family Fodor's talks about in their staff meetings when they decide to roll out a new city guide book.

Fodor's said to stand right here

You still have to work for it though. If your city's major attraction doesn't interest us, or we deem it too much work for too little reward, we'll pass it right by. It doesn't matter how close we are or how many times we've read that it's a "must see", we're perfectly happy to relegate something to "next time" if the mood doesn't strike us. Heck it took us 40 trips to Vegas to actually stop at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign despite driving past it on the way to the airport every single time. That's the kind of laziness you have to be born with. You can't learn that kind of thing.

Here's five of the bigger attractions that we've passed over, despite being pretty much right next to (and in one case, right over) them.

San Francisco - The Golden Gate Bridge

People tell me that it's a pretty cool experience to ride a bike over the Golden Gate Bridge...or to walk it...or even just to drive over it then pull over and get a closer look, but none of that was even remotely enough motivation to get me out of the penthouse suite at the Fairmont San Francisco. Of course that might have been because I had a pretty good view of the bridge from there anyways. We have driven over the Bay Bridge however, because apparently Oakland is a much more desirable destination for us than Sausalito.

(Side Note: This could also have been about Alcatraz as we didn't make it out to see that island either.)

Miami - South Beach

Despite advertising it as "Taking my family to South Beach", we never actually made it to any beach in the Miami area. Some of that can probably be attributed to the random storms and downpours in July when we visited, but truthfully it was probably just a lack of planning. At the very least we could have made a simple detour on our way back to the airport, but sometimes you just don't see the signs pointing the way.

Oh wait...That would be the sign wouldn't it?

New York - The Statue of Liberty

Yes, we've sailed by on the Staten Island Ferry, but if it weren't for great zoom lenses I'd still be pretty shaky on exactly what Lady Liberty looks like. A trip to see the statue close up has been on our list every time we go to New York, but in this case not getting it done isn't our fault. This attraction is closed more often than Allegiant Air's customer service lines. If I ever visit on Tuesday between 1:00 pm and 1:30 pm, I'll be sure to cross this one off.

Hurrah for zoom lenses!

Oahu - Pearl Harbor

As a general rule, we prefer to focus on the upbeat and happy aspects of our vacations. It means that we usually see the positive side in most things, but it also means that we're not really drawn to places that bring up dark memories. Places like Arlington Cemetery and the Ground Zero monument weren't able to lure us away from other activities, and while I think I'd probably find some interest in a visit to Pearl Harbor, you have to admit that it's up against some pretty stiff competition when you're spending time in Hawaii.

Phoenix/Las Vegas - The Grand Canyon

We've made the drive from Phoenix to Vegas at least a dozen times, but we've never made the detour to either one of the rims of the Grand Canyon. Part of the reason is that it's quite a detour, but I think a larger hindrance is my fear of being disappointed. I'm not generally wowed by scenery, and I'm not sure that sitting at the edge of a giant ditch is going to impress me all that much. I have seriously considered doing a helicopter tour from Las Vegas though, and I'll admit that the one time we flew over, the Canyon looked pretty cool.

Written by Steve Pratt

Hyatt Place Seattle - The Next Door Room's Thoughts

2013-02-19T10:22:00.000-08:00

Long before we booked anything for our Pacific Northwest adventures, we used our points to reserve a room at the Hyatt Place in Downtown Seattle for New Years Eve. Battling the crowds to get to the fireworks didn't really appeal to us, so we wanted to be as close to Seattle Center as possible, and considering the walk to the Space Needle was less than five minutes, the Hyatt Place seemed like a perfect choice. It certainly made it easier to leave the Hyatt Olive 8 knowing that, since all Hyatt Places are essentially the same, we'd be finding ourselves in one of those large, comfortable rooms that our family really loves.

Therein lies the problem though. I've told you quite a few times before about how much our family enjoys the Hyatt Place chain, yet since every room is nearly identical, reviewing each one seems a little redundant. What we needed was an outsiders viewpoint on the hotel and through a stroke of good luck, one was provided to us.

I'm sure you can imagine that, with it being New Years Eve, there were quite a few parties going on in the hotel that evening. That was fine with us as I don't think any sane person would book a room in the middle of the New Years festivities hoping for a quiet nights sleep, but the party in the room next to us was particularly exuberant. Their conversations were loud, colorful, and very easy to follow, providing me with exactly what I needed...a new set of (probably glazed over) eyes to experience the Hyatt Place through.

I present to you then, the things that the people in the room next to us seemed to enjoy most about the Hyatt Place in Downtown Seattle:

The space: There seemed to be at least 10 or 12 people in the room at any given time, so I'm assuming they appreciated the large size of the rooms. By my calculations, each room would sit 10 people comfortably before anyone would have to be relegated to the floor, making it a fairly good choice for a mid-size gathering.

The location: The question "Is it time to go yet?" was a very popular one, but obviously the eventual destination for this party was the Space Needle and they knew they didn't have far to walk. I'm not so sure about their ability to walk, but if they could pull it off, they didn't have far to go.

The fridge: Another frequently asked question was "Dude! What happened to all the beer in the fridge?" I thought about going next door and explaining to them how consumables work, but eventually thought the better of it.

The Walgreens: Right across the street from the Hyatt Place is a Walgreens, which probably set a single night sales record based on how many time I heard the phrase "I'm running over to Walgreens to get some more beer" from the next room.

View from front door of Hyatt Place Seattle

The free internet: Possibly the most amusing part of the night for my kids was listening to everybody next door trying to figure out the password for the free internet. The code is given to you when you check in, but nobody next door seemed to know what it was so a major guessing game was undertaken. Some of the more original guesses were "Hyatt", "Hyatt Place", "I'm hungry", and the ever popular "Internet password". It's probably just as well people in this state aren't able to update their Facebook statuses anyway.

The front desk: I'd describe my interactions with the front desk as pleasant and helpful, but the people in the next room must have absolutely loved them based on the number of times they called down. They called to enquire about the time, the internet password (although they still didn't get it), what room they were in, and best of all was the call to the front desk to ask "Dude! What happened to all the beer in the fridge?" The people who answer the phone at Hyatt Place Seattle deserve a raise.

The free breakfast: Let's be honest. I doubt very much that any of the party people next door made it to the free breakfast. I, on the other hand, quite enjoyed the selection of both hot and cold items. It was quite fun to enjoy my waffles and eggs sitting among tables of people nursing coffees and holding their heads in their hands. I kind of like this New Years Day thing.

While our stay was everything I expected it to be, it was good to see that other people were enjoying their time at the Hyatt Place Seattle as well. Although I didn't get to say good-bye to our new friends next door in the morning (despite constantly yelling "What happened to all the Diet Coke in the fridge?" over and over again), I'm sure that they left the hotel with a smile on their face. Of course I couldn't help but notice that the biggest smiles in the lobby belonged to the people working the front desk. I think they might have just "accidentally" given a wake up call to our neighbor's room.

Written by Steve Pratt

5 Places I'd Love to Re-Propose

2013-02-14T08:48:00.000-08:00

People credit me with creativity in a lot of areas in my life. My writing, my kids names, my financial management...I've been accused of following a fantasy based path in all of those areas and more. In fact just the other day my boss called my excuse for being late to work "One of the most creative things he's ever heard".

Sadly though, the one area of my life I get no points for creativity in is my marriage proposal to my wife. I fully confess that at the time I didn't understand the importance of this moment in a relationship, and although I vaguely remember sweating through a couple of sleepless nights before popping the question, the truth is that I probably put more creative effort into meeting my wife than actually asking her to marry me. If there is anything in my romance with my wife that I'd like a do-over on, that would be it.

What would I do differently though? Well I can't give away all my secrets here (I might just propose again at some point. I'm just waiting until I'm sure she'll say yes), but one of the things I've been considering is location. We've done lots of traveling over the course of our marriage, and I've seen some places that I think would make a great place to pop the question. Here's the top five places that are under consideration for any re-proposing needs I might have in the future.

#5 - Cabo San Lucas

I haven't totally figured this one out yet, but I know that I'm going to need a boat. I'm not sure if it would be best to be on the boat going through the arch, on a deserted little piece of beach next to the arch, or on the balcony of a cruise ship looking at the arch. All three seem like winning ideas to me, but I'm pretty sure I'll need a sunset too. Girls love that sunset stuff. I don't get it, but then again I'm not the one who has to say yes am I?

#4 - New York

Lori has this thing for carriage rides in Central Park. Again, I don't get it, but this isn't about me. The carriage ride just seems so cliche though. I think I'd have to spice it up a bit. Maybe hijack the carriage, then after a high speed carriage chase through the park we could leap to safety, only to find that the bad guys have taken my daughters hostage and....hmmm...I probably shouldn't plan marriage proposals while the new Die Hard trailer is playing on TV.

#3 - San Francisco

This one I know exactly how to do. What I'll need is a cable car completely to ourselves. Well, maybe not entirely to ourselves. I need somebody to work that brake thing, otherwise while I'm down on one knee we'll be picking up speed and hurtling towards Fisherman's Wharf. Having to rush a proposal because you're about to slam into a dock filled with sea lions probably isn't the most romantic thing ever. On the other hand, the less time Lori has to think about things, the more likely she is to say yes!

#2 - Hawaii

Again, not completely figured out yet, but I know it would have to involve a surfboard. Ideally Lori would find herself in danger of drowning out in the ocean and then I'd surf out and rescue her. Yes, I realize you don't surf out from shore, but like I said I haven't figured out all the details on this one just yet. I'll work on that right after I figure out how to get Lori drowning in the middle of the ocean.

#1 - Disneyland

Yeah, it's not for everybody, but there's probably not a more perfect place if you want to ask Lori to marry you. Seriously. I'm not even sure that who's doing the asking would factor into it. Once you get her in front of that Disney castle Lori shifts into fairy tale mode and in her mind I'm pretty sure that anybody getting down on one knee would be considered Prince Charming. This is why I don't leave Lori unattended in Disneyland for very long. I once found her knocking on the door to the castle trying to explain to the staff that she just needed to pop back up to her room for a second. I wonder what she forgot?

Wait...If I'm proposing, where did that kid come from?

Written by Steve Pratt

New Year's Eve at the Space Needle - What You Need to Know

2013-02-12T07:42:00.000-08:00

When we decided to spend New Years Eve at the Space Needle in Seattle, we had some questions that needed to be answered. How big would the crowds be? Where was the best place to watch the fireworks from? How much second hand marijuana smoke would we be exposing our kids to considering its newly legal status in Washington State? Most importantly though, what time did we need to get there?

The answers to the first three questions are simple. Very big...almost anywhere...and surprisingly, virtually none. The last question however was our biggest point of concern. Sure we could have gotten there six hours before midnight and camped out in a prime spot, but we're kind of wimps when it comes to the outdoors. Cutting it as close as possible without getting turned away was our goal, and since we were staying at the Hyatt Place only a couple of blocks away, it was decided that I would be in charge of reconnaissance, probably because I love to pretend that I'm a secret agent. The plan was for me to take a walk up to Seattle Center every hour until we decided that it was getting too crowded, and then we would all go join the party. In true secret agent fashion I took both notes and photographs which I now present to you to help you make plans for any future New Years Eves that you might decide to spend in Seattle. Or for your consideration should you find yourself in the need of a secret agent. Either way.

Mural Amphitheater - 7:30 pm

7:30 pm - I decided that the Mural Amphitheater at the base of the Space Needle would be the ideal place to watch the fireworks from, so that's where I monitored the crowd. There was no congestion on the sidewalks either coming to the Seattle Center or on the grounds themselves. Parking was readily available at a cost of $5-$20 depending on the level of security you require, but all street parking in the immediate area seems to be gone. Nobody at all in the Amphitheater, and only one drunk guy walking around yelling "Are you talking to me?" although he lacked both the coolness and clarity of speech that Robert DeNiro would have brought to the line. There are a few early birds arriving in formal dress for the party in the Space Needle itself, but other than that it could be any other night of the year. Definitely too early to arrive.

Mural Amphitheater - 8:30 pm

8:30 pm - Walkways in and around Seattle Center starting to get a little more crowded, but there's still nobody set up in the Amphitheater for the night. The cheaper parking is beginning to disappear, and traffic is getting very congested at the front entrance while people get dropped off for their parties. Most of the people being dropped off seem to have had too much to drink already, yet they're heading in to the party at the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum. This can't end well.

Mural Amphitheater - 9:30 pm

9:30 pm - The sidewalks are now getting quite busy, but most of the crowd still seems to be people attending parties at the various venues around Seattle Center. We do however, have our first couple of people set up on the Amphitheater lawn. All surface lots in the area are full now, and traffic has slowed to an absolute crawl. I'm also starting to wonder about the sobriety of some of these drivers as there's a lot of illegal u-turns and sharp braking taking place, along with countless "Happy New Year" screams that seem to indicate a general unawareness of the actual time.

Mural Amphitheater - 10:30 pm

10:30 pm - Somewhere in the last hour the police and security forces have come out in numbers sending the drunks back indoors to their parties. It's getting pretty crowded, but you can still walk to wherever it is you're trying to get without too much difficulty. People are starting to set up on the lawn, and there's about 50 people in the Amphitheater now. Pretty much all the parking lots are full, and the police are starting to cordon off the streets immediately surrounding the Space Needle. Surprisingly, there's still people circling the block in their cars. Really? You're trying to find a free street parking space now? Good luck with that.
We've decided that now is the time for us to head to the Amphitheater, so I head back to the hotel to gather the rest of the family.

11:15 pm - Whoops! Somewhere in the last half hour things got out of hand. We got back to the Seattle Center just after 11 pm, but the closest we could get to actually getting onto the grounds was the sidewalk right in front of the Pacific Science Center. The walkway into the area was filled with people coming out, suggesting that there was nowhere to go once you started up that path. The sidewalks were at a complete standstill as people tried to change directions and find a way into the area, but there didn't seem to be anywhere to go. After a few minutes of attempting to make any kind of progress, we gave up and retreated to a street corner a couple of blocks away. It wasn't quite the way we'd planned it, but we still had a pretty good view of the fireworks from there and we had no crowds to deal with at all.

So, the answer to the question "What time should I get to the Space Needle to get a spot on New Years Eve?" is 10:30 pm. Any later than that and you run the risk of ending up on a street corner for the fireworks, although in my experience that was just as good an option. Of course if you're going to watch from a street corner, you probably don't need a secret agent to do reconnaissance work for you. Got any top secret documents you need transporting?

This post is a part of Travel Tips Tuesday at Suitcases and Sippy Cups and Walkingon Travels. If you didn't get here from there, you should go check it out. There's people there who definitely seem to be following me. My wife thinks it's harmless, but I suspect that she's in on the plot to assassinate me. I should never have signed that life insurance.

Written by Steve Pratt

Friends of MKTS - Monkeys and Mountains

2013-02-10T09:07:00.002-08:00

Blog Address: www.monkeysandmountains.com
Facebook: Monkeys and Mountains
Twitter: @Laurel_Robbins
Pinterest: Laurel Robbins
Google+: Laurel Robbins

WHO ARE THEY? - Laurel is my designated crazy friend who I look to when I feel like my life is getting a little wilder than I'd like. She's from Alberta, but after going to school out here in B.C. she moved to Munich and married her husband who she met while shark diving in Costa Rica. In contrast, I met Lori at the church down the street from my house, although I do occasionally try and tell people we met while shark diving. Nobody has believed me yet.

WHAT DO THEY WRITE ABOUT? - Laurel says that she writes about Adventure Travel, but do you really know what that is? Let me try and explain it to you. It's all those bizarre ideas that go through your head when you're really, really tired. Things like "Hey, I hear hippos are really dangerous. Let's go see if we can find some!" or "I wonder how fast I can go on this snowmobile and still make corners?" That's what adventure travel is. It's kind of like holidays for crazy people.

WHY YOU SHOULD READ THEM - Why? Because I don't have a death wish. I'm not going shark diving without a cage, and I'm certainly not going kayaking with crocodiles in Australia. I've got you covered up to the adrenaline thrill level of the waterslide in the hotel pool. After that, you'll have to turn to Laurel.

WHERE YOU SHOULD START - Monkeys and Mountains has one of the very best year end recap posts I've ever read, mainly because it has no filler. Every one of the twelve highlights seems like a really thrilling adventure, and there's even a couple of them in there that I'd consider trying. No, not the paragliding in the Alps. I'm still not that crazy.

MY FAVORITE POST - When it comes to adventure travel, there's two different levels. There's the "I'll never do that" level, and then you have the "I'll NEVER do that" level. From the latter category, go read about Laurel's first visit to a German sauna. On the other hand if you want to read about something that everyone has been through, try "6 Things I Learned from Being Deported". What? You've never been deported from a third world country? Yeah, me neither. I was "deported" from a Vancouver night club one night after hitting on the bouncer's girlfriend. Does that count?

Written by Steve Pratt

How Canada Dropping the Penny Affects My Travel Plans

2013-02-07T10:26:00.000-08:00

It's gone. As of Monday, Canada has stopped distributing the penny, and price tags ending in 99 cents (which we all know means another dollar added to the price) will become a thing of the past. Well, not exactly. All credit and debit purchases will still be charged to the penny. It's only the cash transactions that are to be rounded to the nearest nickel, and in all fairness we've been doing that up here for years now anyways. Truthfully, in the first four days of being a penniless nation, I haven't really noticed a difference.

That was last week though, and this week my mind is turning to future travel plans. No, I'm not booking any one cent flights to jet around the world (although if you know of any, please share), but there's a few scenarios coming to mind where I can see there being some significant differences if the penny wasn't available.

Squished Penny Souvenirs

This has always been one of my favorite souvenirs from our travels, mainly because it only cost 51 cents to produce. We have squished pennies from all over the place, and while the cost increment to move up to a nickel doesn't really bother me, I have no idea if nickels will squish the same way that the pennies did. Those handles at the San Diego Zoo were hard enough to turn when it was only copper we were flattening.

Penny Arcades

I'm not even sure if these exist anymore, other than the massively reduced one on Disneyland's Main Street. When you frequent arcades as much as we do however, it's a real treat when you stumble upon one of the old penny machines. They never work all that well and they aren't as flashy as the newer breed of machines, but when all you're forking over is a couple of cents you don't really worry too much about the game play. An hours entertainment for a dollar in pennies is a great investment in any situation.

Wishing Wells

So what...it's five cents a wish now? That's a 500% increase, and let's face it, the results from these things are iffy at best. If it's going to cost me a nickel every time my kids want to toss a coin into a wishing well, I want to start seeing some more substantial results. Of course, I don't ever ask my kids what they're wishing for, so maybe they're actually getting their wishes fulfilled. I should probably ask them about that. Maybe they wished for Dad to quit paying their allowance in pennies.

Pay Your Age Promos

The theory behind these things is that you pay one rate for your first night in a hotel, and then your rate for the second night was the year you were born. So if I was born in 1977 (stop laughing) I would pay $19.77 for the second night. Only now I can't pay that, so the charge would have to be rounded down to $19.75. I'm all for paying less, but does that make me two years older? Two cents isn't worth being thought of as two years older than I am. On the other hand, I'll gladly pay three cents more if they're willing to round it up to $19.80, and I'd even be willing to throw in thirteen cents extra if it gets documented that I was born in 1990. Of course if I'm traveling with my kids, I'll probably stick to the one or two year difference. I don't need them doing that kind of math.

Las Vegas Penny Slots

Look, I know that the penny machines in Vegas have terrible odds, but there's something enjoyable about whiling away your time at a Lobstermania machine playing one penny per line. Even playing the maximum number of lines, it only comes out to about 30 cents per spin, and that's an entertainment budget I can live within. Without pennies though, that goes up to $1.50 a spin, and at that point it starts to make my wife a little nervous. I'm pretty sure she just sees her shopping money spinning away on the screen, and there's no fun in the game when she's standing behind me yelling "Cash Out!" every time I hit a bonus round.

Written by Steve Pratt

Getting Teenagers Out of Bed While Traveling

2013-02-05T09:10:00.000-08:00

There's a lot of things about traveling with your kids that get better as they get older. As teenagers, my kids don't fight as much, they can pull their own suitcases, and the last time I ordered a child's meal at a fast food restaurant (for them at least...) was years ago. Add in the fact that afternoon naps are no longer required (again...we're talking about the kids here...) and traveling with my teenagers is becoming downright convenient.

There's a flip side to all this convenience though. While the traveling itself is becoming easier, actually getting started is now a lot tougher. The teenage reputation for liking sleep is well earned, and the biggest challenge you're likely to face in your traveling day is getting your kids out of bed. Yelling at them doesn't help, and apparently all teens dream about earthquakes because it doesn't matter how much you shake them, they aren't waking up. In my experience however, there are a few, more subtle things that you can do to get your day underway. Next time your teenager doesn't want to get up, try one of these tricks:

Text them

Teenagers are self-trained to ignore the sound of their parents voice, but even the tiniest rumble from their cell phone will snap them into an upright position almost instantly. The fact that your international flight leaves in an hour and a half means nothing to them, but finding out what Suzie saw Johnny doing last night is worth getting up for.

Talk about how fast the internet connection is

This is the go-to technique in our family for getting the boy out of bed. The key seems to be mentioning a number over 20mb/s. Anything less than that and you'll only get a faint grumbling as he turns back over. Don't overdo it though. Speeds over 40mb/s will get him out of bed right away, but you'll never get him off the computer after that.

Wait...if he just got up...How did he get the coffee already?

Start counting your money

You wouldn't think that the sound of opening a wallet would even be audible in a room where the TV is on and the air conditioning is running, but my girls will leap out of bed if they think there's an opportunity to grab a little shopping money. As a side note, this technique also works very well if you're wondering where your wife has gotten to.

Did you hear that? Somebody's counting by $20's.

Get amorous with your spouse

This doesn't sound like it should have any effect on the kids at all, but ask yourself...when was the last time you tried to get affectionate with your significant other and you weren't interrupted by a child? It's been a while hasn't it? Probably about the same time that said child was born. Kids have a sixth sense about these kind of things, so if nobody wants to drag themselves out of bed in the morning, just cuddle up with your partner...and brace yourself. From my experience, six inches is the magic distance. When your lips get that close to each other, the pillows will start to fly.

The old fashioned way

Yeah...sometimes the old ways are still the best ways...

This post is a part of Travel Tips Tuesday at Suitcases and Sippy Cups and Walkingon Travels. If you didn't get here from there, you should go check it out. There's people there whose kids get out of bed on their own. I'm pretty sure they're adopted...from another planet.

Written by Steve Pratt

What I Want Hotels to Know About Me (and What I Don't)

2013-02-04T09:05:00.000-08:00

You know that comment you made on Facebook last week? No, not the one about your family that doesn't listen to you. The one about loving chocolate and hating rock hard pillows? (OK, truthfully I can't imagine an instance where you would mention both of those things in a single status update, but play along with me here.) Well that comment is being read. It's being read by your friends. It's being read by those people who you don't really remember but felt obligated to accept their friend request, and unless you've got your privacy settings down tight, it's also being read by that hotel you're planning on staying at next week.

Shhh. They can hear our status updates!

According to an article in this month's Travel and Leisure, hotels are researching their customer's social media profiles to help tailor their clients visits. Comments made in passing on Facebook or Twitter are being noted by hotel management, and before a customer ever arrives at the hotel, staff has a list of likes and dislikes belonging to each guest.

That kind of concerns me.

Not that I have an issue with a hotel doing a little research on me. I firmly believe that if I want to keep something to myself, I don't put it on the internet. Those deep, dark secrets of mine don't become status updates on my personal Facebook page, and I certainly don't Tweet about my work or family issues. If a hotel thinks they can improve my stay by reading my social media profiles, then I say go ahead and have at it. What worries me is that hotels may not quite understand my personality enough to be able to use the information that I do share properly. For instance:

My knowledge of One Direction lyrics could be seriously misconstrued by anyone who doesn't know me on more than a surface level.
I've recently been followed on Twitter by a Seattle escort company. That's definitely not the kind of information that I'd like the hotel to use when catering my visit. Especially if I'm traveling with my wife.
I didn't realize it until I started checking my Facebook profile for this article, but apparently I socialize with a lot of alcoholics. I'm sure that says something about me, but I'd rather the hotels not act on whatever it is.
Sarcasm doesn't translate well on the internet. I'd hate to find myself enrolled in a half-marathon by a well meaning concierge just because I told one of my crazy runner friends "Sure, I'll be right behind you" the last time they invited me to go for a jog.
Then, of course, there's this whole list of things that I'd rather hotels not know about me...

What do you mean we have to stay in the lobby?

It seems however, that unless I want to spend days adjusting my privacy settings every time Facebook has an update, that this is the way of the future. Hotels are going to know about me and my family long before we arrive (which probably explains why we never get the nice towels), so I might as well get used to it. That being said, you should probably expect to see the following status updates on my Facebook page in the near future:

"Wow did I sleep well last night! Those mattresses filled with $100 bills are WAY more comfortable than the ones filled with $20's."
"I wish that the pool waterslide started at our room window."
"Wouldn't it be cool if Kate Upton was the hotel maid?"
"Instead of us all going downstairs, somebody should make a hotel where each room has it's own breakfast buffet!"
"How awesome would it be if you opened the room safe and it was filled with Diet Coke?"

Now that's the kind of information a hotel could use to make my stay truly memorable. Along with the chocolate and fluffy pillows of course. I just need to figure out how to get those two things into a single status update.

I should have put some fluffy pillows in this shot...

Written by Steve Pratt

The Competitive Side of Seattle's Pacific Science Center

2013-01-31T08:06:00.000-08:00

Do you know what the best thing about visiting the Pacific Science Center in Seattle is? It's not all the educational opportunities that it presents your children, although there are plenty of those. Nor is the highlight any of the IMAX, planetarium, or laser light shows that are available for you to watch. It even gets better than the live science demonstrations and experiments that the Center puts on for it's patrons. No, the very best part about any visit to the Pacific Science Center is getting a chance to compete against your family....assuming you can find something you can beat them at.

I'm not sure that competition is exactly what the folks behind the Pacific Science Center were going for when they built it, but my family seems to have a need for there to be a winner, no matter what we're doing. I mean, we turned watersliding into a competitive event...you don't really think we'd have a problem competing over breakfast foods do you?

The idea is to choose a healthy breakfast. I'm pretty sure Lori's just trying to get at the pie.

The problem with competing with my family though, is that there's not very much I can win at. I didn't make the finals of the 3D Connect Four tournament...

...and I didn't even make it out of the qualifying rounds in the flexibility competition.

In fact, not many of the physical stamina tests were going my way...

...and when I finally did make it to the finals of an event, it seemed I was at a distinct disadvantage.

Never get in a hurricane simulator with somebody with long hair!

Of course, the events that I would probably do really well at, I wasn't even allowed to compete in.

Apparently it's "not fair" if you're heavier than the weight you're trying to lift.

However, when I didn't even make the finals of the cereal eating competition, I began to suspect that something was fishy...

...and sure enough, a little investigation provided a picture of some game tampering that confirmed my suspicions.

Let's see Dad find Mumbai if I erase India...

After confronting my kids with the evidence, I suddenly started to do much better in our little competitions.

On the other hand, there's only room for one winner per event...

I took out everything in the Orion constellation. She's never finishing this!

Written by Steve Pratt

Behind the Gum Wall - Our Night at the Seattle Improv

2013-01-28T08:11:00.000-08:00

If the Gum Wall made my wife uneasy, taking my kids to the Seattle Improv had the same effect on me. Don't get me wrong...I love Theatresports...it's just that in a completely improvised atmosphere, you never know what's going to get tossed out there. All it takes is one person bent on sending the show in an adult direction, and I'm spending the rest of my night explaining things to my children that I really don't want to delve into. This could very easily have ended up being the newest entry on our list of places we shouldn't have taken our kids.

Fortunately, that's not what happened. It might be partially explained by the early hour (7pm) but the show we attended, An Improvised Christmas Carol, was clean, funny, and perfectly suitable for kids. In fact, our children were far from the youngest in the crowd, which even featured a pre-teen birthday party a few rows in front of us. Any suggestions given that could be construed as grown-up or off-color were neatly bundled down to something more suitable of a PG rating, and judging from the laughter of the crowd, it was done very successfully. Bravo to the cast members of Unexpected Productions.

Of course, that doesn't mean that I didn't have some explaining to do. While no teachings of the birds and the bees were required, there were other things that I needed to fill my kids in on. For instance, apparently the only version of A Christmas Carol they've seen is the one starring the Muppets, so a quick briefing on the actual Christmas Carol story and a reminder that Kermit probably wouldn't be a part of the night's repertoire were in order before we began. That was the easy one. Then came the explaining of the audience suggestions...

The Suggestion - Scrooge lived in a tent and collected video games.

My kids fully understand video games, but at one point a reference was made to a rare edition of "Pong" being in Scrooge's collection. This led to me having to explain just what Pong was, and that it was a high-demand game for a while in the early 80's. Having children who didn't know what Pong was left me feeling a little ancient, but just in case that didn't make me feel old enough, my daughter decided to throw in a "Why wasn't it a free download?"

The Suggestion - The Ghost of Christmas Present travels by Ferrari.

Although we travel by far more pedestrian means, apparently somewhere along the lines my kids have actually been exposed to Italy's finest car. So while it was nice to not have to describe the look of a Ferrari to my kids, it fell to me to explain why Scrooge decided to ride on the hood of the car, clutching desperately to the windshield while the Ghost of Christmas Present took corners at high speeds. In hindsight I probably shouldn't have told my kids that's how you have to ride in a Ferrari, on the off chance that somebody ever offers to give them a ride in one, but realistically what are the odds of that happening? (Although I am currently looking for somebody who owns a Ferrari and wants to scare the heck out of my children.)

The Suggestion - The charity solicited for was called "Homeless Wi-Fi".

You know what makes a really good improv suggestion? It's when somebody shouts out their idea and everybody laughs, and then slowly everybody stops laughing and thinks "Hey...wait a minute..." That's what happened with this suggestion, and it left me having to explain to my kids why it wouldn't be a good idea to set homeless people up to be roaming hot spots within city limits, although the boy's plea to "imagine how good the reception would be" was almost convincing.

Written by Steve Pratt

The Seattle Gum Wall at Pike Place Market

2013-01-23T09:31:00.000-08:00

"DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!" is all I remember hearing as we came down the alley. It's not an unusual sentiment coming from someone who would consider herself a bit of an overprotective mother, but Lori usually manages to keep her concerns bottled up inside. The Gum Wall in Seattle was too much for her though. It didn't matter how many little bottles of hand sanitizer she had in her purse (and it's usually quite a few), she wanted nothing to do with this so-called tourist attraction.

Of course, that just served as motivation for the rest of us to get a little closer.

Located in Post Alley underneath Pike Place Market, the Gum Wall was named the the #2 germiest attraction in the world in 2009 - ranking only behind the Blarney Stone (and surprisingly just ahead of my teenage daughter's bedroom). Now people come from all over to add a little wad of their own to the wall, necessitating efforts to contain it's growth to just one side of the alley.

Originally started by people waiting to get in to the Market Theater whose box office window is part of the wall, the theater staff used to try and clean the Gum Wall off, but back in 1999 the city decided that the wall had become enough of a tourist draw that it should just be allowed to exist. I wonder just how long some of these people had to wait outside the theater to get in? They obviously had a little bit of time on their hands...

...and some of them....well some of them could really use a couple of lessons as to what constitutes romance in the 21st century.

Still, I hope she said yes and I hope they're very happy. I also hope they didn't plan their own reception dinner.

Written by Steve Pratt