I’m sitting at my desk on New Year’s Eve and looking back on what happened in 2017. One of the biggest events in our house was starting this website. It’s been a wild ride and I still remember when we were trying to decide on a name for the site. I’ll gladly admit that Your Mileage May Vary was Sharon’s idea (Note from Sharon: Mmmm hmmm!) but I was the one who convinced her it was a good name. Here we are now, 430 posts later. Thanks for joining us for the ride.
In 2017, we’ve gone on plenty of trips and spent 43 nights in hotels and flew 18.060 miles. It was fun to look back at my pictures and see what I remembered (and forgot) from the last 12 months.
One First and Last Stay at The Waldorf=Astoria
Thanks to a mistake rate, we were able to stay for two nights at the Towers of the Waldorf=Astoria in New York just before it was closed for a long renovation. We love old hotels and had never stayed there before, this was a huge treat for us.
Seeing the Premier Episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 in New York (and getting to meet Joel Hodgson)
Getting to see the premiere viewing of MST3K’s rebirth in New York with my dad was definitely one of my high points of the year. Having the courage to go up to one of my idols and say hello was like turning that coolness knob up to 11.
If all I would have gotten out of that night was a picture with Tom, Crow and Jonah (and my dad), it would have been amazing but I still pinch myself that I was there for this event.
If you haven’t watched the new season of MST3K on Netflix, then you should.
Discovering The Magical Polynesia That Is Mai-Kai
After learning about Mai-Kai in Fort Lauderdale, FL last year, we were finally able to make a visit. Make that three visits for Sharon. It’s a place that captures all of the tackiness that a theme restaurant should. From the tiki mugs to the pu-pu platters and ending in a huge show giving you the history of Polynesia in 40 minutes. What else could you want from an evening?
Our Journey to South of the Border
While I grew up with almost yearly car trips from the Northeast US to Florida and visited South of the Border several times, Sharon had only stopped there twice as a quick fuel up during cross country moves.
This year we made a trip to the NC/SC border just to see all that South of the Border had to offer, and it didn’t disappoint.
The Classic East Concert at Citi Field
With all of the trips we took this year, I almost forgot our trip to New York for The Classic East concert. Over two days, we saw Journey, Steely Dan, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Doobie Brothers, The Eagles and ending with Fleetwood Mac. It was an amazing weekend full of fantastic music.
Back to Schlitterbahn (We Now Have Annual Passes)
We made our annual trip to Texas Hill Country and Schlitterbahn Waterpark in New Braunfels. We like to go every year and they were having a special on annual passes during our visit so we’re all set for our trip(s) there in 2018. I guess we’ll manage a trip or two to Buc-ee’s while we’re there.
#Slableak2017 and Hurricane Irma
In 2017, real life wanted to remind us that it could still influence our travel plans. A huge plumbing leak under our house left us without running water for almost 3 weeks.
During that time, our life consisted of scenes like this:
and then eventually this:
Shortly after that, Mother Nature and her friend Hurricane Irma decided to visit Orlando and left this mess behind for us to clean up.
Pigeon Forge, TN and Dollywood
We made our first trip to Pigeon Forge, TN and Dollywood when we were visiting the Jeep-boree (I don’t care if that’s the wrong name, Sharon) (Note from Sharon: That’s the wrong name, Joe)
We really enjoyed our day at Dollywood and I could see us visiting the area again. While there, Sharon couldn’t resist photobombing the Dollywood sign.
Our Epic Road Trip Of The Southwest
Our two week trip throughout the southwest was one of the longest vacation we’ve taken. We did so much on that trip that it’s almost impossible to remember everything that happened. One of the best parts of the trip was being able to spend some time at the Grand Canyon. We’ve visited before but getting to stay there for three nights was amazing.
Chasing Hamilton (New York, Chicago and Los Angeles)
One theme behind our trips this year was getting to see the Broadway show Hamilton. In fact, we were able to get tickets to see the show in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles (don’t judge).
The show at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles was the fifth time Sharon’s see it.
She was pretty happy about that.
It’s been a pretty amazing year for us. We have some great trips planned for 2018 already and who knows what else the year will bring.
Thanks for reading and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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