Airplane food is nothing like it was in days gone by, but it’s still something we (kinda sorta, sometimes) enjoy. Maybe it’s because it’s a welcome break while spending hours on the plane, or because it’s food you won’t find on land (and most of the time that’s probably a good thing), but whether it’s something from the snack cart or a full meal with real silverware in first class, it’s still something people generally look forward to, even when you know it’s usually not going to be very good. I guess that’s why the website that can tell you what will be served on your flight is so popular.
On the rare occasions that Joe and I fly business or first class, we almost always take a picture of the meal. We’ve been doing it for much longer than we’ve had this blog – usually just for the memory of what we ate. A lot of people were apparently doing the same thing, so Henry Wu, originally from Chicago, took that one step further and started an Instagram site devoted entirely to what’s served at 35,000 feet.
The Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) is a lot like most other airports. I mean, it’s got planes. And restaurants. And places to shop. But it’s got one thing going on right now that I don’t think you can see or do at any other airport in the country.
Disney’s River Country opened in June 1976. Fashioned with an “ol’ swimmin’ hole” theme, it was Walt Disney World’s (WDW’s) first water park. Housed at the far end of Fort Wilderness, not far from Pioneer Hall and just steps away from the current-day Mickey’s Backyard BBQ, it featured a lake with a sandy bottom and a unique water filtering system that used confluent water from the adjacent Bay Lake (which was dammed off), creating a natural-looking man-made lagoon. The park’s water was at a higher level than the lake’s, which was an effort to prevent lake water from going directly into the park.
River Country had 12 attractions:
Upstream Plunge, a kidney shaped clean-water pool.
Slippery Slide Falls, two water slides that emptied into Upstream Plunge.
Kiddie Cove, a kids zone with two large water slides and a cove. This area was targeted toward preteens.
Barrel Bridge, a bumpy bridge with barrels under it, similar to the one at Tom Sawyer Island.
White Water Rapids, a 330-foot (100 m) long inner tube ride.
Bay Cove, a half-acre (2,000 m²) sand-bottom lake which featured a tire swing, boom swing, rope climb, and T-bar drop.
Boom Swing
Cable Ride
Tire Swing
Whoop ‘n’ Holler Hollow, two water slides, 260 ft (79 m) and 160 ft (49 m) long, that emptied into Bay Cove.
Bay Bridge
Indian Springs, a very small splash zone with fountains that sprayed kids. This area was mainly designed for guests under age 8.
Cypress Point Nature Trail, a trail among trees beside Bay Lake.
Pony Rides
Mercury WaterMouse Rental
River Country circa 1977 (author unknown, public domain)
With the advent of the opening of two larger, more modern water parks at WDW, Typhoon Lagoon in 1989 and Blizzard Beach in 1995, River Country’s days were surely numbered and indeed, after the closing of the 2001 season (WDW’s water parks traditionally close in the wintertime, one at a time, to allow for maintenance and refurbishment), the park never reopened. They simply fenced it off and put up No Trespassing signs.
By Quarax – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61678051
By Quarax – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61678051
By Quarax – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61678051
Whether you fly once a week or once every few years, chances are you’ve experienced or at least seen “that guy” or “that gal” on the plane who doesn’t think about anyone but him/herself and his/her own needs. The ones directly behind you who stretch their legs and rest their bare feet on your arm rest. The ones who manspread. The ones who keep spitting their chewing tobacco into a Gatorade bottle (that one happened to me earlier this year. Eww.). Not surprisingly, there’s a website with a bajillion pictures of people caught in various acts of being jerks on a plane. Continue reading “Been On Planes With Annoying People? Then This Website Is For You!!”
Joe and I love Japan. I’ve been there 4 times and Joe 3, and we’re looking at 2020 for our 5th/4th visit. Now, if there’s one thing we can count on from Japan, it’s its quirkiness or even, if you’ll forgive us, its weirdness. Cuz really…for every charming thing like Hayao Miyazaki films, or amazingly fun thing like Tokyo Disneyland/Tokyo DisneySea, or gorgeous natural thing like Mt. Fuji, there’s the off-center thing like MXC (Most Extreme Challenge – I LOVE that show), an incinerator that looks like a theme park, or the annual Kanamara Matsuri, also known as the Penis Festival ( <– YouTube link is NSFW). If you haven’t figured it out yet, Joe and I really like off-center stuff (OK, maybe not the Penis Festival so much), which, yeah, plays a part in why we describe YMMV as, “A slightly off-center look at travel, hotel points, frequent flyer miles & other ways to save.”
So when I found out there’s a guy in Japan that has essentially made an art form of photographing quirky/weird public toilets in Japan, let’s just say I wasn’t the least bit surprised…
River Country had 12 attractions:
