Sunday, January 13, 2019

917. Facetious

917. Facetious
Definition: (adj) joking, playful, tongue-in-cheek
Location Placed: Starbucks, Edison, New Jersey
Date Placed: 1/6/19 at 12:13pm
Status: FOUND!

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After brunch, I looked up a couple places to put cranes since I'm not normally in this area. However, after my trip, I realized I hadn't put more cranes in my little pouch that I bring around. Bummer! So I had to be strategic. I had planned on going to the Menlo Park Mall as I had never been there before, but I only had one crane left. That is when I passed by Starbucks and made a split second decision to make that my placement location for the last crane I had on me. And it certainly worked out because this crane was FOUND!

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This crane was found by Mary's son, Aidan. "Good afternoon, while out with my kids today, my 11 year old found a Crane at our local Starbucks in Edison. NJ. He immediately came home to check out your website.. what a cool idea! Thanks so much for doing this. Here’s Aidan with the Crane he found!" In a subsequent email Mary said, "He was quite excited to find the Crane and your website, he’s excited just to be a part of it! Such a neat idea. Aidan loves learning about other places and he’s completely fascinated to see all the places the Crane has ended up." So happy to hear from a crane finder, especially one as jazzed as Aidan! Hopefully Aidan has a lot of wonderful trips in his future to all the fun places he's learned about!

916. Aflutter

916. Aflutter
Definition: (adj) nervously excited
Location Placed: Metuchen Train Station, Metuchen, New Jersey
Date Placed: 1/6/19 at 11:55am

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A friend had suggested we meet for brunch at a cute eatery in Metuchen, Hatch 44. I had never been up this way before, and I do love me some brunch and quality time with good friends. This place did not disappoint! I had waffles with oreos and cream. Definitely a decadent treat! It wasn't very big, so I could see how it would quickly fill up during the busy times, so make sure to go early. I'd definitely enjoy a meal there again, that's for sure!

915. Self-Discipline

915. Self-Discipline
Definition: (n) the ability to control one's feelings and overcome one's weaknesses
Location Placed: Terminal 7, Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, California
Date Placed: 12/29/18 at 7:57am

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An earlier morning flight was in order for us since we were flying back across all U.S. time zones. Definitely didn't leave ourselves near enough time to make it through where we needed to in order to get in line early for boarding. We still managed to pick up a meal, but didn't get to fully explore the airport. Although a HUGE airport, LAX is situated in a horseshoe with a couple little shortcuts just in case you're at one of the areas on the other side of the horseshoe. Mighty convenient!

914. Moral

914. Moral
Definition: (n) a lesson, especially one concerning what is right or prudent, that can be derived from a story, a piece of information, or an experience
Location Placed: Sleeping Beauty's Castle, Disneyland, Anaheim, California
Date Placed: 12/18/18 at 5:04pm

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After buying the requisite Christmas ornament to remember our trip, we wandered into a side room right in the castle, not knowing what it was. It was a little room showing some little bits and bobs related to Sleeping Beauty's Castle! I was not expecting a little room tucked away, but it was nice to have a little poke around and see what was what. Definitely worth it if you have a couple minutes to spare!

913. Sufficient

913. Sufficient
Definition: (adj) adequate, ample, abundant
Location Placed: Starbucks, California Adventure, Disneyland, Anaheim, California
Date Placed: 12/28/18 at 3:42pm

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It ended up being a bit colder in California than we had anticipated. Definitely could've used my gloves if I had brought a larger bag in with me. And maybe a light jacket to go over our hoodies. But the good thing about being in a park is that there are no lack of warm beverages and indoor shops to warm up in. That is just what we ended up doing when the sun started to set and the nip of the evening set in.

912. Genial

912. Genial
Definition: (adj) friendly and cheerful
Location Placed: Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, California Adventure, Disneyland, Anaheim, California
Date Placed: 12/28/18 at 3:07pm
Status: FOUND! On 12/28/18

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The Redwood Creek Challenge Trail is a really neat little wilderness area where there are rope bridges, climbing walls, swings, ziplines, and neat looking caves. It's a fun place for folks of all ages that doesn't require waiting in line. It also has some fun facts about California scattered around as well. It was a nice thing to do as we didn't have enough time to wait on line for another ride but still wanted to enjoy a bit more time at the park before departing.

And this crane has been found by Brandy! Brandy wrote, "Yes! I was happy to continue with the crane quest. I have been making cranes since 5th grade and am now 35, so it was nice to find it along our adventure. We took our young daughter to Disneyland for a vacation and we utterly enjoyed the Redwood Challenge Trail; I was happy to come upon your little treasure along the way. I will place it again when I find a good location. Thank you for taking the time to make people smile. It's the little things in life that bring joy."
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Monday, January 7, 2019

911. Kiss

911. Kiss
Definition: (v) touch with the lips as a sign of love
Location Placed: Mickey's House, Disneyland, Anaheim, California
Date Placed: 12/28/18 at 11:06pm

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Apparently both Mickey and Minnie have houses in Toontown that you can tour along with get a photo with the character. However, there's no option for those of us who don't need the picture to just take a poke around the house. The wait for each house was over an hour and we didn't have that sort of time. So we took a little tour of Mickey's Garage, with it's adorably cartoon tools and yard items. Mickey sure knows how to keep his garage tidy!

910. Eureka

910. Eureka
Definition: (excl) a cry of joy or satisfaction when one finds or discovers something
Location Placed: Chip and Dale Treehouse, Disneyland, Anaheim, California
Date Placed: 12/28/18 at 11:04am

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The Chip and Dale Treehouse was the equivalent of a children's Tarzan. You climbed into an adorable little house where Chip and Dale lived, poked your head around the room, and then climbed another staircase down. It was really precious!

909. Workable

909. Workable
Definition: (adj) capable of producing the desired effect or result; practicable; feasible
Location Placed: Toontown Cottage, Disneyland, Anaheim, California
Date Placed: 12/28/18 at 10:57am

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One of the things Disney World doesn't have is a Toontown section for small children. I was telling my Mom about it after the vacation was over, and she said I used to love the Disney World one when I was younger. However, at some point in time, they did away with that specific area and turned it into something different. I'm glad I was able to experience it and actually remember it! I definitely could see a younger me really enjoying all the little nooks and crannies and places to go here.

908. Accord

908. Accord
Definition: (n) agreement or harmony
Location Placed: Penny Arcade, Disneyland, Anaheim, California
Date Placed: 12/27/18 at 4:18pm

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After watching the afternoon holiday parade, we popped into all the shops on Main Street, USA to see what they had. We stumbled across the Penny Arcade. It had a bunch of really neat, old fashioned games and things to see. We played with the grip strength meter and the fortune teller like thing. It was really neat to see the wooden machines and imagine the sorts of folks who had used them in their pre-Disneyland home.

907. Life

907. Life
Definition: (n) vitality, vigor, or energy
Location Placed: Starbucks, Disneyland, Anaheim, California
Date Placed: 12/27/18 at 3:23pm

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I checked out the Starbucks "You Are Here" Disneyland mug since I am a big fan of those really retro looking mugs they have. However, the espresso mug design was a lot nicer! If the line hadn't been so darn long, I definitely would've picked up one of those to add to my collection. The only problem with the mugs when you're collecting them is that you run out of room real quick!

Sunday, January 6, 2019

906. Innocent

906. Innocent
Definition: (adj) free from moral wrong; not corrupted
Location Placed: The Disney Gallery, Disneyland, Anaheim, California
Date Placed: 12/27/18 at 2:49pm

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We popped into the Disney Gallery, which has a lot of really neat art pieces and sketches you can commission. Thumbing through the options, we saw a perfect one for a friend of the parrots from the Tiki Room attraction. It was super easy to get it set up and not terribly expensive! If we weren't afraid we wouldn't be able to get it home, we probably would've gotten one for ourselves!

905. Attain

905. Attain
Definition: (v) succeed in achieving
Location Placed: Tarzan's Treehouse, Disneyland, Anaheim, California
Date Placed: 12/27/18 at 8:34am

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One of the most fun things about Disneyland is seeing how some of the rides and attractions differ ever so slightly between Disney World and Disneyland. Tarzan's Treehouse is a similar attraction to the Swiss Family Robinson House in Disney World, where you climb up stairs and see how life is in the trees as well as the plot of the story. It was also really neat to be able to see some of the construction of the new Star Wars area that will be coming to Disneyland in the future.

904. Vitality

904. Vitality
Definition: (n) being strong and active
Location Placed: Disney's Paradise Pier Resort, Anaheim, California
Date Placed: 12/16/18 at 7:30pm

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We walked on over to one of the other Disney owned resorts for dinner as we were trying to find a restaurant with enough space for a large group, and the PCH Grille was it! Although the hotel and eatery decor was a bit dated, they definitely provided enough Italian options with their buffet! And the hotel had some lovely nautical holiday decorations to boot!

903. Benevolent

903. Benevolent
Definition: (adj) well-meaning, kindly
Location Placed: Grand Californian, Anaheim, California
Date Placed: 12/16/18 at 7:23pm

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Although on a much smaller scale, Disneyland and its associated resorts are definitely well decorated for the holidays. Grand Californian was no different. It looked a lot like the Wilderness Lodge, with its rustic decor. The coolest thing was the HUGE gingerbread house that took a team of over 2 dozen folks to put together. I don't recall the stats offhand, but it weighed a lot and was taller than I am. It definitely looked like it was quiet the feat.

902. Humility

902. Humility
Definition: (n) a modest or low view of one's own importance; humbleness
Location Placed: Regional Terminal AA, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Los Angeles, California
Date Placed: 12/16/18 at 7:38am

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After having a lovely holiday with family, we jetted over to California to spend the next couple days in the Disneyland area as we hadn't been to that park before. Also, this was my first time at the LAX airport, which was definitely an experience. We came in at a regional terminal that wasn't attached to any of the main terminals aside from by shuttle to another terminal. Made meeting up with our travel companions at the airport who took an earlier flight with a different airline very difficult!

Saturday, January 5, 2019

901. Sweetheart

901. Sweetheart
Definition: (n) a particularly lovable or pleasing person or thing
Location Placed: OdySea Aquarium, Scottsdale, Arizona
Date Placed: 12/24/18 at 12:56pm

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Since we've been to Phoenix a number of times, we were looking to visit somewhere we hadn't been. The OdeSEA Aquarium was under construction the last time that we were in the area. They really did such a nice job with the area as well as the aquarium itself. We saw so many wonderful sea creatures and enjoyed the treat of seeing a baby sloth! I really appreciated having a variety of wonderfully informative employees throughout the venue itself for any questions, or to provide random bits of knowledge about the animals.

900. Resolute

900. Resolute
Definition: (adj) admirably purposeful, determined, and unwavering
Location Placed: Albuquerque Amtrak Station, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Date Placed: 12/23/18 at 3:21pm

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We did most of our traveling between cities via train, so we saw quite a few train stations. The station in Albuquerque, while small, definitely was easy to navigate both pick up and drop off. It's not terribly large, but the folks working there are the absolute nicest! Apparently the week of Christmas, Amtrak allowed their employees to wear "ugly" sweaters instead of their normal attire. And they took advantage of that to my delight!

899. Enterprising

899. Enterprising
Definition: (adj) having or showing initiative and resourcefulness
Location Placed: Albuquerque Photographers Gallery, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Date Placed: 12/23/18 at 1:58pm

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Old Town Albuquerque definitely had a lot of charm. There were a number of folks selling lovely jewelry including those with turquoise! It was really nice to walk around this area and pop into a lot of local shops including the Photographers Gallery. So many lovely prints of areas of the city and state including the desert by night.

Wednesday, January 2, 2019

898. Centered

898. Centered
Definition: (adj) well balanced and confident or serene
Location Placed: New Mexico Museum of Natural History, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Date Placed: 12/23/18 at 11:38am

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After getting a nice breakfast complete with New Mexican chile,  we headed to the Museum of Natural History. We got to take a really nice tour of dinosaur remains and fossils as well as the history of New Mexico. It was definitely a nice couple hours spent at the museum. I didn't realize there were a number of dinosaurs that were native and only found in that area. It was really neat to learn about that before we headed back to the Old Town area for some browsing and shopping.

897. Self-confidence

897. Self-confidence
Definition: (n) a feeling of trust in one's abilities, qualities, and judgment
Location Placed: Hyatt Regency, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Date Placed: 12/23/18 at 9:53am

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After a solid nights sleep, we needed to make the most of our time in Albuquerque. We ended up getting in a little later than anticipated the night before due to train issues. Unbeknownst to me, the Amtrak trains run on the same lines as a lot of trains hauling goods across country. Not all the same lines as we saw some really long trains while on the train, but there is some crossover. So if one of those gets held up, or does the holding up, that can throw off other trains along the line. Train travel is definitely a really interesting and different experience. I'd recommend a day trip on a train, but perhaps not anything including an overnight. You'll want to spend a lot more time in your hotel the next night, promise!

896. Quality

896. Quality
Definition: (n) the degree of excellence of something
Location Placed: Hotel Andaluz, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Date Placed: 12/22/18 at 7:44pm

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After a nearly 18 hour train ride from Kansas City to Albuquerque, we decided to treat ourselves to a really nice dinner at MAS Tapas y Vino. Definitely different than the bar-b-que we had at the previous two stops. This place was certainly quality! My favorite was the bacon wrapped dates and the brussel sprouts. The place was hopping, but thankfully we were able to get a table as we wandered in a bit early.

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

895. Open

895. Open
Definition: (adj) frank; not given to deception or concealment
Location Placed: Model Rail Experience, Kansas City, Missouri
Date Placed: 12/21/18 at 9:15pm

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Tucked back behind a fancy event room was the Model Rail Experience that had about a dozen displays of miniature railway displays including Christmas scenes, Legos and surprisingly more Marvel superheros than one would expect for a number of model train exhibits. It was really neat seeing all the different scenes that they came up with. A free thing to walk through on our way back from a wonderful bar-b-que dinner at Jack Stack's across the train tracks. Even though we only got half a day in Kansas City, it certainly didn't disappoint!

894. Merit

894. Merit
Definition: (n) a feature or fact that deserves praise or reward
Location Placed: Tom's Town Distillery, Kansas City, Missouri
Date Placed: 12/21/18 at 6:22pm

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By far this was one of the coolest things we did on the trip! It was part historical tour of the Kansas City area, particularly around the time of prohibition, part tasting, which is the right mixture of things for all people. Tom Pendergast, who the distillery was named after, was a political (see: mafia) boss who basically ran the town. He paid off law enforcement during prohibition, so Kansas City basically didn't go dry during that time. Additionally, Tom paid off political individual's so his other ventures, namely the concrete business, could make Kansas City into a more booming city with concrete structures.  Plus their vodka is, if I am recalling correctly, 17 times distilled! I absolutely recommend going here if you're in the Kansas City area.