Nicki Bratton

Category: Wicked Wanderlust

  • Travel Thursday: The First Draft of Disney Magic (Marceline, MO)

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    Where the Magic Didn’t Start…It Rooted There are Disney trips…and then there are the quiet, almost sacred detours that explain why Disney feels like home in the first place. Marceline was that for me. The Town That Built a Dream Tucked into the heart of Marceline, this little railroad town is where Walt Disney spent…

  • 🌊 Travel Thursday: Myrtle Beach, Jellybeans, and the Illusion of Relaxation

    A Birthday Trip That Tried to Be Calm…And Mostly Wasn’t This trip was supposed to be different. It was my ex-husband’s birthday, and instead of my usual “scheduled within an inch of its life” itinerary, we tried something softer. Slower. More go with the flow. Which sounds nice in theory…until you realize I don’t actually…

  • Travel Thursday: Train Cars, Tulips, and the Easter That Didn’t Look Like Easter

    A Holiday We Didn’t Recognize Easter 2019 didn’t look like Easter. No coloring eggs at the table.No baskets waiting in the morning.No ham, no routine, no familiar rhythm. Instead, we woke up and decided—almost impulsively—to leave. Not in a dramatic, “run away from everything” kind of way.Just…a quiet pivot. A what if we did something different…

  • Travel Thursday: Ten Hours, Two Toddlers, and Emotional Support Pickles

    We rotate holidays with Dave’s family in Kansas City, Missouri. Thanksgiving one year, Christmas the next. The kind of arrangement that sounds reasonable until you’re loading toddlers into car seats and committing to ten hours on the interstate. This year, nobody had Christmas off, so we rescheduled for January then February. Which is how we…

  • 🌌 Travel Thursday: Disney Cruise: Seven Days at Sea, Right Before the World Changed

    January 25–February 2, 2020 We called the Disney Fantasy our home for seven days—and honestly, that still feels accurate. This was our very first cruise. We went big. Balcony room. Extra experiences. Full commitment. We booked a Star Wars Day at Sea sailing, which meant we were sharing a ship with stormtroopers, Jawas, and a…

  • Travel Thursday: Disney College Program (How I Almost Became a Disney Adult for a Living)

    Applying for the Disney College Program is a lot like auditioning to be a human embodiment of pixie dust. They don’t just ask what you’ve done—they ask who you are, how you react, how you sparkle under pressure. The first time I applied, I didn’t get in. Not because I wasn’t capable.Not because I wasn’t…

  • Travel Thursday: Willkommen to A Lifetime of Frankenmuth Memories 🎄

    What Even Is Frankenmuth? (And Why Have I Basically Lived There) Frankenmuth is Michigan’s own Bavarian cosplay town—a gingerbread-looking little escape where every building has the audacity to be adorable. Think lederhosen, river walks, endless fudge samples, and chicken dinners that could resurrect the dead. My family has been Perks Club members at the Bavarian…

  • Photo Friday: The Lost-and-Found Curse

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    This was taken at a Sunflower Festival 2022 at KC Pumpkin Patch in Kansas City, Kansas. The air smelled like BBQ, the sunflowers were thriving, and I briefly believed I had been chosen by the photography gods when someone dropped a camera filter. I found it and celebrated. And then…immediately lost it. This skeleton perfectly…

  • 🕯️ Travel Thursday: New Orleans

    Arrival & Mild Disasters We left early on December 8, 2021—water bottles in hand, bags barely zipped, and that quiet, practiced calm that comes from knowing the airport routine a little too well. It was our first time flying out of the Detroit airport since they’d rearranged everything, and of course, that meant chaos. We…

  • Travel Thursday: Tarps Off Boys (For A Good Cause)

    Where Hockey Meets Shenanigans There are two kinds of Michigan nights: the ones you forget, and the ones loud enough to rattle your ribcage. Monday, November 24 was one of the latter. We headed out for our second annual showdown between the Sudbury Blueberry Bulldogs (yes, those Bulldogs from Shoresy) and the Detroit Red Wings…