Day 950: Alpacas, Balloons, and Burgers

Another Hamburger Fest weekend in little old Seymour means another fantasmic weekend with my roommates! This time, our adventures were a little bit different though. Last year we really showed them the ropes of Burger Fest, but this time around we went into the surrounding area, spent time closer to home, went on a balloon chase and, of course, ate hambrugers and cheese curds.

First, it was off to Megan's aunts house, where Hannah and Ashley were thrilled to finally get to meet the alpacas! While an Alpaca isn't a Llama, it definitely was giving me some Emperor's New Groove vibes, and now, thinking back to this experience, I really want to watch that movie. On the left Ashley has Samuel and on the right Hannah is chilling with Jedediah!

Next up was our Balloon chase. This year seemed to have a record number of hot air balloons, and instead of simply watching them go up like last year, we headed out on a mission to go after a few. So we drove around, watching as many of the balloons went right over our heads, including this awesome Irish inspired Balloon, which sadly didn't return for the balloon glow later on beacuse of a bit of an accident involving a tree. Everyone is alright though! 

Of course, once the balloons finally return to the grounds, it's time for the balloon glow, where, just as the sun finally sets, the balloons light up the night! 

And of course, a Hamburger Fest just wouldn't be complete without a Burger to eat! 

Which brings us to the end of another Burger Fest. For those of you who might not know, I live in a little town in Wisconsin named Seymour, known as the Home of the Hamburger. The dish was first invented here in 1885, and since then we've also claimed the record for the world's largest hamburger ever made. So every year in early August we have a huge festival to celebrate, filled with lots and lots of hamburgers, hot air balloons and plenty of fun! 

Have a magical day!

Day 628: Inspiring Locations

I've had this great idea stuck in my head for quite some time now. It's a book idea for the future, and while I'm sure I'm running a risk by blogging about this for anyone to read, I'll take my chances because chances are no one's any more capable of doing this than I am, considering the insane amount of money and sponsorship it would require.

Over on Oh My Disney there was recently an article about the real life locations that inspired Disney Films, with everything from the beautiful Machu Picchu, Peru, which inspired The Emperor's New Groove to Old Faithful Inn, the location that The Grand Fusel Lodge in Planes: Fire and Rescue is based on. The whole list is right HERE!

It's on my bucket list to take a trip down Route 66, quite similar to the trip those from Pixar took as inspiration for one of my favorite films, Cars. I love driving and I love history, so a trip like that sounds spectacular. But what if it was expanded? There are over 50 Animated Disney films, not including the Pixar films or others, and almost all of them were based on a real life location. So what if you were able to literally travel the world, visiting the exact locations that inspired Disney films? What if you had the chance to sit and watch those Disney films in those locations?

If not a great book topic, it's at least a great idea for an entire blog and a multi-year journey over the entire planet. I would honestly LOVE to do this...if I had the money to do such things, because diving even deeper into those stories is one of my favorite activities. I do it all the time with OUAT (and I look forward to the date hopefully in the future where I visit Steveston...the real life Storybrooke), looking into the original storylines from the fairy tales and how they impacted the culture they were created for in comparison to how we see them today. So going to the places that inspired those tales and films would be an extra step towards understanding what these things are really about.

Gosh I am such an English major.

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on September 23).