acagau reilly steven
Trinidad Baltzell
In early May, the hubs and I packed up and headed west to Colorado. His most favorite band ever, Clutch, was playing a special two-night event at The Stanley hotel in Estes Park and we knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime must-do. Besides being a Clutch fan since the beginning, the hubs is also a huge horror and Stephen King fan. Since Stephen King was inspired to write his novel, The Shining, after a stay at The Stanley in the 1970s, this had always been on his bucket list of places to visit. More on The Shining and Stephen King later.
In the evening, the hubs had concert bliss and I explored the hotel and enjoyed some downtime. During the day, we ventured to the entrance of the Rocky Mountain National Park, a very short drive from the hotel. We had the best time in the Park and enjoyed looking at wildlife (deer, elk, coyote, birds), seeing the snowy mountain tops, the huge rocks, and lakes. We had dinner at a small Italian place in the downtown area along a river, and meandered around the hotel grounds together. It was such a perfect getaway!
After a super late flight home and never enough sleep, we made it back to Virginia the next day. Back to the lower altitude and familiar surroundings. I would love to visit Estes Park and The Stanley again!
Festival of the Arts was our reason for coming to Disney and we could have stayed for several more days just to soak more of the festival in. The kid chalked for two 3-hour morning shifts and the hubs and I explored the festival while she was making magic on the bridge to World Showcase. I tell you, I could keep going back to the paint-by-number mural over and over (ok, so I might have done it three or four times one day) because it is just super fun. I love watching the little squares fill in and the mural come to life.
Our last jaunt in 2023 was for New Years Eve. We headed up to the National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland (not to be confused with the Inner Harbor in Baltimore) and spent a couple of nights enjoying that area, driving into DC to visit some of the Smithsonian museums, and watching the fireworks over the Potomac River as we welcomed 2024. There is also a traveling exhibit about the Titanic at the National Harbor which was a delight to check out before we headed home. Check out the third class menu (actual one!) from the doomed sailing.
The wall pull-down bed in the living room comes down from behind that piece of artwork. The sofa flips into itself in such a way that it supports the bed when it comes down. Then during the day, it can be returned to the wall. Super handy!
We really enjoy spending time on the pool deck, watching movies on the funnel, reading, and just relaxing. After a long day, it is always nice to come back to the stateroom to find a cool towel/blanket animal too. I loved this wiener dog!
Our drive home was filled with so very much traffic until we finally were back to our backroads. This trip coincided with Bike Week in Daytona Beach so both legs of the trip were filled with motorcycles and guests headed to/from Daytona. That plus all of the regular I-95 and spring break traffic meant backups, delays, and accidents galore. But once we were back on our little roads, it was smooth sailing once again.
We started our trip at the Grand Floridian resort, kicking off with time at Magic Kingdom and Epcot. I finally got to ride Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, the newest coaster in Epcot. Let me say, not for those who suffer from motion sickness, but I absolutely loved every second of it! This coaster is so innovative with the way the ride vehicles move throughout the experience and how the soundtrack really brings it all together. I ended up riding it three times in this super short trip to the parks and cannot wait to ride it again! I love how fun it is to celebrate at Disney, the little unexpected surprises and terrific Cast Members make it even more memorable. We were chatting with a Starbucks Cast Member and noticed that my daughter had a Haunted Mansion shirt on. They shared how they both love that attraction and she made a special surprise just for Hailey!
Moving right along, we drove over to Port Canaveral and boarded the newest ship in the Disney Cruise Line fleet, the Disney Wish. This is the 5th ship in the fleet and very different in layout and offerings from the first four. Since we were celebrating, we opted to go with a Concierge level room, which took the cruise to a whole new level of pampering! It took a bit to get used to the new flow of the ship, but once we got the hang of it, we were smooth sailing.
Concierge was great with the private lounge and pool, sundeck (perfect for an afternoon nap!), early entry to the nightly shows plus free popcorn, upgraded bath amenities, in-room sodas and waters, the best table locations each night in the main dining rooms for dinner, and so much more! Loved it!! Ten out of ten, would do concierge again. We were able to get a family cabana at Castaway Cay too (super hard since there are a very limited number available) and enjoyed soaking up the sun in our own private hideaway for the day.
We also rented a cabana at Aulani to use during one of the days that we spent a lot of time in the pool. This was very helpful because it can sometimes be difficult to find even a single chair to leave your belongings in while you are in the pool. It had a safe, a mini fridge, a fan, two sun lounge chairs, a huge sofa, a fruit tray, a dessert tray, and a snack bowl. There were several attendants who we could contact if we wanted to have more towels or to order food and beverages. We also spent a lot of time in the pool and ocean on this day, and one of my cousins and my aunt both snorkeled, which they had a lot of fun doing. Aulani has both snorkeling and stand-up paddleboarding, which you can participate in for a fee, but they also have boogie boards which do not have a fee. You just have to sign up to take them, so they can keep track of who has taken the boards out for the day. We used the boogie boards in the ocean, and all had a great time with them. We all were really interested in trying out the acai bowls from the Ulu Caf at Aulani, and they were so good! My mom and I tried the tropical one, which had mango, pineapple, papaya, and banana on it as well as granola and honey. We both really liked it, but the portion size was huge, so I think next time we would end up sharing. We had a wonderful time at Aulani, but it was soon time to head back to the mainland.
In general, the difference between the good and the great can sometimes be a matter of how effectively you sweat the little things, the things that actually matter to people at the human-level interface. We call this the tactical user-level interface. Sometimes this is the difference between a positive experience and a negative one. This difference matters for any brand.
I called the Social Security Administration and got the information I needed over the phone from a very friendly and personable representative. This was relatively easy and did not require that I divulge much information.
I had the exact same experience as Leslie V. I have no mortgage and never did. I have no car loan and never did. I did not ever live on any of the streets that were listed. And I was given no optional questions. I also was locked out. Very frustrating, and also scary as it made me concerned that someone was using my social security number to get a mortgage and a car loan!!
I got blocked out too. The 4 questions they asked me were totally not related to anything recognizable in my past. My mortgage is paid off, but one of the questions was implying that I took out a mortgage in 2014. That has never happened. By selecting NONE OF THE ABOVE for an answer I was blocked out too, and I am trying to apply for benefits as I will be 65 in a month. I guess I am screwed. The other three questions were nothing I could relate to including an address I have never lived at. Yet another NONE OF THE ABOVE as an answer. I am beginning to think that the older you get the harder it is to get passed the questions just to get an account.
I tried all 3 bureaus as well as Social Security and a failed authentication questionnaire. I actually had a prior Equifax report which I used to answer one of the questions because I did not have the information. I am aware questions are random; some apply and some do not. However, I found it concerning I failed all 3 bureaus as well as the Social Security Agency. The only things that come to mind as to why I have failed the questionnaire would be because the information the bureaus have on file is outdated, there has been fraud committed involving my SS or the website is bogged down. Additionally, since the 3 bureaus are separate entities, it would be hard to know who is reporting to what bureau. Placing alerts on your personal accounts, adding another security layer and monitoring your accounts weekly can help. Good luck to all.
Both my husband and I made multiple attempts to establish a My Social Security account online and failed every time. We ARE geezers but are both very computer literate. We failed every time. Our experiences were very similar to the ones the author of this article described.
First 2 times was before I realized that you need to unlock your credit history with Equifax before trying to obtain the my SS account. Unlocked my credit and even ran both Experian and Equiax reports to help answer the questions. It locks every time even though I am answering the questions correctly.
At some points it was not even getting me to the page of questions (just locking me out on the first page for name and address). Tried different browsers and different computers. Deleted cookies and browsing history. Closed browsers. Rebooted computers. (I too have many accounts with many different websites and never have issues like this). Got to the questions page again today and am locked out again. This even though I had two credit reports (Experian and Equifax) next to me to help me answer the questions.
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