How I Paid J.K. Rowling's Electric Bill for a Month

You may have noticed my absence from the world of blogging as of the past few weeks. Or perhaps you're thinking "oh, you went missing?" Yes, I was missing from the world of Blogger because I battled a tropical storm, throngs of people (and a dragon or two), took a wrong turn in backwoods Alabama during a flood and got to know the smells of my children a bit too well. The 2012 Blaschke road trip is now a thing of the past. It's one for the photo albums for sure.

If you've been reading up on it, you know that our destination was a surprise from the kids. It drove them crazy for months guessing and wondering. I didn't tell them at the time but they did guess it once or twice. When I first told my middle child about the surprise, the first thing out of her mouth was "is it the Wizarding World of Harry Potter?" I was hoping the surprise in my voice was contained as I answered her "I'm not telling you if it is or not."

But, yes, darling girl, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was one of our destinations on this family vacation. We also dropped in on some very good friends of ours who moved to Slidell, LA and got to catch up and stay the night not just once but twice. We were worried along the way about Tropical Storm Debby that was dropping throngs of water on the entire state of Florida the day before we left. Mostly the skies were clear along the way until we hit Lake City, where a cloudburst left us stuck in one spot on the interstate for 2 hours. I had to piddle quite urgently at this time and noticed many of my traffic jam neighbors getting out of their cars, opening their umbrellas to shield their rear ends as they squatted on the road to relieve themselves but I never got the nerve to do it myself. I managed to hold my bladder until traffic moved again and we made it to the nastiest Cracker Barrel I'd ever seen in my life.

We arrived at our hotel late that night -- sadly the contents of the diaper truck and the zuchinni truck that collided on the interstate along the way can't say the same.

We didn't see another drop of rain for several days and the theme park was quite crowded while we were there. But the Harry Potter rides were worth the wait. The kids were thrilled when they weren't squabbling.

We were a bit annoyed at their "Express Pass" method in which if we were willing to pay an additional $300 per day for our family, we could get moved to the front of the line. They failed to mention that, in theory, you could stand in the regular line all day while they let all their Express Pass holders through time and time again. But I'm not bitter about it. Nope not me. And I'm not bitter about the overpriced T-shirts that I purchased or the large quantities of butter beer that my family requested only to take two sips and leave because it was too sweet. J.K. Rowling is a fine woman who deserves my money for blessing us with Harry Potter. It takes quite a bit to pay the electric bill of that huge mansion she lives in and I wouldn't want her to have to sit in the dark for one moment!

After three days of theme park madness and massive commercialism, we hit Kennedy Space Center, a special treat for Jayme, but The Boy loved the place as well. Especially the part where he got soaked in the decorative fountain near the missile garden. Jayme was disappointed that a launch wasn't scheduled for the day we were there, maybe next time.

The next day we made our way up to Savannah, GA. I couldn't pass so close to the birthplace of Juliette Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts without making a stop! It was amazing being in a house that was almost 200 years old. If the walls of this place could talk!

We made our way home from Savannah too soon. It's on our list of places to return when we can spend a few days. We stayed one final night with our friends in Slidell and then ventured into New Orleans for the day before the long stretch home. We avoided Bourbon Street with the little one (if you'll remember my blog from our last visit there you'll understand why.

Before long we were home from the Great Blaschke Southern Adventure of 2012, as it will be known. As much as we love traveling, it's always nice to return home. Now I need a vacation.

Lisa On Location Photography