Our “Get out of the Cold” Vacation – Days 5, 6 and 7
Today’s blog post wraps up our “Get out of the Cold” vacation.
We departed our hotel in Kissimmee on Friday, January 15th. We were awakened by a dripping noise. The air conditioner in the room above us was dripping water on top of our air conditioner. That noise awakened us at 4:00 AM. We were on the road shortly after 5:00 AM. We arrived at our night’s destination (Sleep Inn in Summersville, West Virginia) at 6:40 PM. After checking in, we ate dinner at a nearby Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant. After dinner, we spent rest of the night in our hotel room. We needed a lot of rest. Spending almost 14 hours in a car is a long time. It was approximately an 800-mile drive from Kissimmee to Summersville.
We passed by this unique-looking and colorful building somewhere in Virginia, I think. I wonder what it is?
On Saturday, January 16th, we drove from Summersville, West Virginia, to Tarentum, Pennsylvania, where we checked into the Marriott Springhill Suites Hotel located on the premises of the Pittsburgh Mills Mall. The drive was much shorter than our previous day’s drive. We departed Summersville at 9:00 AM, and we checked into our hotel at 1:15 PM. We could have made it all the way home from Summersville in approximately 6 hours. Why did we decide to spend the night at a hotel located on the premises of the Pittsburgh Mills Mall? Bob has wanted to see Avatar in an IMAX theater ever since the movie was released. We do not have an IMAX theater near where we live. The nearest IMAX theaters are 3-4 hours away from our house, one of which is located at the Pittsburgh Mills Mall.
The first thing we did after checking into the hotel was drive to the movie theater and purchase tickets for Avatar. We returned to the theater at least 30 minutes before the 3:00 PM showing of the movie, and we sat in the middle back of the theater. The theater was 100% full for the 3:00 PM showing. The IMAX 3-D is the most intense way to see Avatar. We sat in front of a giant screen and experienced a larger-than-life, fully immersed viewing of the movie. Things popping out of the screen felt just a couple feet or, in some cases, several inches out of reach. I remember jumping one time when it felt like something was thrown at me! The best seats are in the back of the theater, as the picture will be more clear. The closer you sit to the screen the more blurry is the picture. The IMAX glasses were over sized, which was good for me because they needed to fit on top of my eyeglasses. Did we like the movie? No; we LOVED the movie! It was the most visually fantastic movie that we have ever seen!
On Sunday, January 17th, after eating breakfast at a nearby Eat ‘n Park, we headed home. The ride home was uneventful. As expected, it was approximately a 3-hour drive from Tarentum to our home.
The Beauty Around Us 
9 Responses to “Our “Get out of the Cold” Vacation – Days 5, 6 and 7”
I've traveled that route, also, on our way down to Florida. We had started to think about going down on the Bike, but decided that would be a long, hard ride. Instead, we traveled, like you, in our car.Traveling Interstate 81 all the way down thru the South was a very long and boring ride. Traveling the Interstate roads gets very monotonous for me. We stopped for the night in a Super8 Motel just inside South Carolina. Arrived in Florida the next day.Riding the long “flat slabs” with the Wing was another thing. It too would get awful boring. We used to get off the Interstate's and take a back road, just for some change in scenery. Another thing we used to do when traffic was not heavy, was to weave in and out of the dotted lines. Just for the fun of it.Would like to see that movie, AVATAR. There is a Imax theater here in Reading, but we just never seem to get a chance to get there. I'm told that it's a great movie to see.Stay well.
The colorful building is lovely, Linda! Good capture! I'm glad you guys enjoyed Avatar! And yay, IMAX! Thank you for sharing your vacation account. I have yet to see the other posts. You've seen a lot of “countries” in Epcot, how cool! 🙂
Well sounds like you guys made the best of your vacation cut short:) I'm glad you made it home safe and sound.
It sounds like you had a lovely vacation and road trip. I have been wanting to see Avatar too. Great photos and post.
We loved Avatar too! Now we gotta see it in 3D at Imax!
Even your ride home sounds like fun and I love the mountains too. Are they the Blue Ridge Mountains I wonder?
Linda, Linda, Linda… Thank you for the trip around the world! Not enough can be said about all your fantastic pictures & commentary! I await your next vacation! Maybe Canada in Mid-July? LOL!
Linda-I have searched everywhere for it-never saw a variation at World Market-they are a great place for it. Honestly Liptons is my favorite variety of Russian Earl Grey-there is Lady Earl Grey in N. America now but no Russian Earl Grey yet.
I hope returning to Warren will not be too much of a shock for you, after all that warmth.