Since work sent Maureen to Orlando for a medical conference last week, I got to join her on another trip to America!

We weren't going all that way just for business though - we got in two days of good old Florida tourism; joining the crowds at Disney World and Universal Studios.


And boy, were there crowds!

We thought going early on a Monday would be quieter at Disney - um no! But Chip and Dale welcomed me with open arms... I think they liked my USA flag T-shirt.


We said hi to Walt but he was much too tall for me to shake hands.


Mickey was quite dapper in his Halloween outfit.


There were pumpkins and Fall decor everywhere.






Captain Sparrow was a gracious host, entertaining us with a few lines of "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me".


It was a very hot and humid day for late October...but we rode a Big Thunder Mountain, went Under The Sea with The Little Mermaid,


stepped aboard the Pirates of the Caribbean ride,


rode a steam locomotive, had lunch with Gaston,


enjoyed the People Mover through Tomorrowland, sat in the revolving theater for Walt's classic "Carousel of  Progress",


visited Cinderella's Castle,


 laughed at Melvin, Buff and Max at the Country Bears Jamboree


and rode the Monorail! A lot of fun despite the crowds and crazy heat.

But the bestest thing of all?

I even got a pair of ears just my size!

Hey again! Sam here... long time no see! You didn't forget about little ol' me didja?

In two short years, I have done a lot of travelling - I've been dragged across travelled throughout Canada and even to Minneapolis a few times.*

But just recently I found myself the farthest from home ever.... I went to DALLAS!

Yee-haw! Since I don't own a teenie-tiny cowboy hat, I donned my American flag T-shirt and joined Maureen ridiculously early in the morning for flights to Chicago then Texas.

Lookit my uber-huuuuuge king-size bed at the Hilton! What? Oh yeah, I had to share it with Maureen too... there was enough room.

I guess.

But did she let me relax in cozy comfort? Nooooo....


Quell surpreeeeeze... we went SHOPPING! Off to the Galleria Dallas. What the heck? We spend nearly five hours on two planes from cold Canada to toasty warm Texas and I end up at a skating rink! Absurd.


Now THIS is more like it.... palm trees!!!


Maureen insisted we would see more than a hotel conference room and mall on this trip, so we hopped onto the DART train to Plano to do some antiquing. What a beautiful place! I got to show off my exemplary horse riding skillz:


Okay, so he wasn't exactly a bucking bronco... maybe I would find a REAL horse when we got to Southfork Ranch.


Woot! I did! Here horsey, horsey, horsey! C'mere! I want a ride!


Gulp. Well, now that I see ya up close.... mebee not. Good horsey. Good BIG horsey! You stay on that side of the fence, K?


Phew! Better now. The Southfork Giftshop was much safer, (unless you were Maureen's credit card, that is).


We also took a tour of downtown Dallas, including Dealy Plaza and the JFK museum, Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek (where celebrities like Michael Jackson and Walter Cronkite would stay), a civil war cemetary where Bonnie and Clyde used to be buried (they had to be moved because of looters), City Hall, Farmer's Market and a few scenes Maureen recognized from the TV show "Dallas"! (If you want to see more photos, check out the slideshow below.)

She just can't resist finding interesting places to have my photo taken. Here I am on one of the longhorn cattle in the Pioneer Plaza Cattle Drive exhibit. I'm just glad it wasn't real - I did not want to end up as a Sam-shiskabob on those freakin-kerazy horns!


But our five-day adventure wasn't all touristy stuff... we HAD to squeeze in time for a medical conference too.




After all, it WAS a business trip, right?

I wonder where she's taking me next...

* If you want to read more about Sam's Adventures, click on the topic under "Diversions" on the right panel over there ----->

"So Sam… how about another trip to America at the end of June?"

What?

"You know… a road trip to Minneapolis; just us gals again. Like the one we did in March.

Didn’t you have fun then?"

Oh yes. I remember. Good times...





Playing hide and seek at IKEA was fun.


Relaxing at Starbucks was fun.


Shopping at Victoria Secret was fun.


Meeting Jeff from View From The Cloud was very fun.


Eating at IHOP was fun too!

But may I suggest that we skip Underwater Adventures at the Mall of America this time.

That…


Wasn’t so much fun.

K? Thx.

Heya... Sam here again; relieved to be safe at home on my quiet shelf once more.

For you see to my great surprise last week, I was suddenly pulled from my warm home and unceremoniously plopped onto a car dashboard. It seems we girls were headed for a "Spring Break Shopping Excursion To the USA".

Since floods, snow and my silent protests couldn't stop us, we hit the road early Monday morning to the big city of Minneapolis, Minnesota nearly 800 Km away.

I didn't know exactly where that was, but since I wasn't the one driving, I wasn't too worried.

Well, not until I found myself in the midst of a scary thick fog, that is.

It seemed Mother Nature had more tricks up her sleeve to keep us from invading vacationing in the States. If I could have, I would have covered my big blue eyes with my paws as we sped through the thick soup that at times made visibility barely past the hood of the rented Trailblazer impossible.

After nearly an hour of that heartpounding experience, the sun finally came out as without any warning whatsoever, we arrived at a place called The Border. Apparently this "USA" place is only open from 8 am to 10 pm... is it like a Mall or something?

Our first stop in America was in a place called Thief River Falls. I didn't see any Falls. Or thieves, thank goodness. I did, however, get a cool bag with crunchy snax inside...

After a few hours we arrived in Albertville... apparently our first "shopping excursion" of the trip. We visited many outlet stores there and since the snow was gone, I could remove my jacket. Do you like my new Coach necklace? What? It's NOT mine? Aw crap... okay, the kid can have it. It's too big for me anyways and the fish made my stomach grumble.

I even made two new friends in Albertville. I recounted our eventful trip thus far to Lowly Worm who was duly impressed with my bravery at the wheel...

And Garfield who just wanted to know if we brought any Canadian lasagna with us.

All too soon I had to say a quick goodbye, as I was whisked off again for more shopping a few minutes down the highway at Super Target. Good thing we had all day; it was going to take forever to get to this Minneapolis place!

Finally as dusk began to fall, we reach our destination. But do we check into our hotel and relax a nice soft, warm bed?

Heck no!

A girl's gotta eat, you know:

More stories and photos upcoming, including The Mall of America, IKEA (again!) , Underwater Adventures and The Trip Back Home.

I can't wait! Can you?