Looping around Mickey

Hello! The Christmas holidays have really put a crimp in our blogging time! We've had a busy and slightly redundant travel course over the month, much of which was spent looping around north Florida. Let me catch you up!

First, a mileage update:

BUSTER:

Atlanta to Orlando to Jacksonville to Orlando to Gainesville: 1,118 miles

Bella: 1,272 + 230 (in rental car) = 1,502

TOTAL: 17,276 miles

State count is static at 26: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Florida, Alabama

Wednesday, December 2nd

We three got back on the track as we travelled back to Atlanta from San Diego today. We felt happy that our routine was re-established, and we felt like the Three Musketeers once again. Buster had been left at Camping World for some needed repairs including some minor body work, but when we arrived at 6 pm it was too late to pick him up so we stayed at the airport Marriott.

Thursday, December 3rd

Unfortunately when we arrived at Camping World we were disappointed. They hadn't been able to get the work done! Apparently they have backed up demand at the body shop, but failed to mention this to us when we left our motorhome there on NOVEMBER 12! They had also advised that we have the alternator (a $1000 part) replaced, but it hadn't arrived so we left without it. We were happy we did, as subsequent electrical diagnosis by Orlando Freightliner showed that no new alternator was needed! By the time this all got sorted out, we got a late start to Orlando. But we started on our way to the Boardwalk Inn at Walt Disney World where I was going to attend a Clinical Endocrinology course. It is an 8 hour haul down Interstate 75 with tons of truck traffic, etc, from Atlanta to Orlando, so Gary just did his thing. He was happy to be driving again, and Liz and I did some reading and math.

Friday, December 4th

I had called the concierge at Boardwalk Inn and they told me that we could simply park Buster in the parking lot of the hotel for free! This was welcome news, so it was just finding the right spot in the parking lot that was the challenge. The Boardwalk Inn was beautifully decorated for Christmas:

So we really enjoyed our cozy, Christmasy indoor surroundings (and our strong, hot hotel showers!), but unfortunately is was raining in the Magic Kingdom. I didn't mind at all sitting in my meeting put on by Medical Educational Resources, and it was pretty good. Not up to Mayo quality, but I learned a few things here and there. They only had three speakers, though, for the 3 1/2 days and while they were all good, you did get tired of listening to the same voices.

Gary and Liz had a late breakfast, and then we all had lunch as ESPN on the Boardwalk. Probably 20 monitors with various broadcasts of ESPN were on, and then they had a fun sports-oriented arcade to play in while we waited for our table. Because of the rain and my half day status because of attending the meeting, we didn't even go into a Disney attraction that day. Instead we decided to go to an early performance of Cirque de Soleil's La Nouba, which has been playing in Downtown Disney for years. Gary and I have actually seen it before, but Liz hadn't and she really loved it. As many of you know, Cirque is a beautifully staged, costumed, and

coreographed show of extreme circus acts: high wire, trapeze, bicycles, clowns (usually very droll), and long fabric swaths that people wind themselves up in and are pulled up from the ceiling so they look to be flying. Our favorites, and I'm sure many people's, are the very small Chinese girls who are popping up and down on their tiny toes, and spinning and tossing small hoops on a string tied between two sticks. They are simply amazing! The trampoline guys and gals were bouncing themselves up to the top of a two story small cubic house, and it was fun to see them make the top, or pop into one of the side wall windows. It was fun!

Saturday December 5

It was a little better on Saturday, so after the meeting we ventured out. Liz had heard her cousins talk about the Tower of Terror, and that was first on her list. (Note: Liz had been to Disney World when she was 3, but didn't remember a thing. Don't take them when they're too young!) Of course all the Disney World parks are fun to visit in December because of the added Christmas decorations. When we last visited the movie park was named MGM; now it is Disney's Hollywood Studio. The Fast Pass system works well. Disney pros will tell you that when you first enter the park, you should make your way to your favorite ride and get a Fast Pass. This will enable you to return at a specific time without having to stand for 45 to 60 to 90 minutes in line. This is what we (Gary and Liz) did for Tower of Terror. It is a reconstructed tall Hollywood Hotel that has an elevator the rises and falls unexpectedly in the dark .... I passed. They loved it.

Next they rode on the Aerosmith ride in which the band is late to a concert and you are joining them in their super-stretch limo as they race to make a concert date. It is a fast, twisty, turning ride through busy traffic in the dark (a roller-coaster thing). I know this because I was talked into riding it about a week later!

Later in the afternoon, we had lunch at Sci-Fi Drive-In .... a big darkened roonm with '50's cars made into booths where you can get burgers and shakes and watch old sci-fi flicks like "Cat-Women of the Moon!" What a trip .... that was fun!

Next we made our way to the Raiders of the Lost Ark stunt show starring Harrison Ford's stunt man. It's really a good show ... they show Indy dodging pop-up spears, a huge rolling boulder, and rescuing his gal pal in the bazaar and then hijacking an escape plane. It's also very fun!

Before we left we had a chance to see the nicely done Beauty and the Beast (mini) stage show:

It was particularly fun for me to see the show because we had just done an analysis of which Disney character each of us was most like. An interactive computer program asked questions, and I turned out to be most like Belle! Liz was most like Tinker Bell, and Gary, of all things, was most like that very bad lion in Lion King ... Scar! I think it's because he answered that he would rather have us for lunch than have lunch with us!

I caught the two of them before we left, and Liz by the huge Christmas tree.

Sunday, December 6th

The meeting was over at noon on Sunday, and we went for an early lunch to Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney. It's always fun and good and it was a pretty day with more beautiful Christmas decorations!

Because of the rainy weather and our plan to be at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville on Monday, December 7th, for appointments we decided to RETURN to Orlando and Walt Disney World on Thursday, December 11 (see more fun descriptions below!). It was fabulously coincidental that my niece Renee Salansky and her family (featured previously in this blog) were planning one of their at least annual Disney trips .... so we decided to tag along.

Anyway, on Sunday, the 6th, we drove Buster and towed Bella up to Jacksonville. Gary called his friend Kay Berquist (Kay's sons were good friends and played high school sports with Gary's son Alan), and she and her friend Jim met us near Ponte Vedre. We had a light soup and salad supper as Crispers (sorry no pic!), and Gary made a fabulous exit from the parking lot, even backing up a bit, with Bella hitched on ... 55 feet total! .... a feat which I think qualifies him for the Motorhome Driver Hall of Fame!

Monday, December 7

We were due at MC Jacksonville at 7:15 am to register, and negotiated Jacksonville rush hour traffic to arrive on time. Gary had some lab tests and I had my mammogram. Things are done a little different than in Rochester, but they had obtained all my old mammograms from Rochester and were able to make the relevant comparisons. They have you sit in the waiting room until they bring you a printed letter from the radiologist with, fortunately for me, your normal results. It takes nearly two hours.

So by that time we were hungry, and stopped at the nearest spot for breakfast .... a Denny's. We then focused on continuing to deal with some roof leakage on Bella, the Buick Enclave. Since Nashville we had noticed moisture in the car, carpets, etc, and had had it "fixed" in Morristown, and also Hilton Head when we were there. But when we returned to Atlanta from California, we saw that it was still leaking. So we decided to get corporate involved ..... we got the number for Buick customer service in Detroit, and got them in on the case. They spoke directly with Key Motors in Jacksonville, who made a strong commitment to finally get it right. But they needed the car for three days!! Fortunately, they provided us with a loaner car.

Tuesday, December 8

Sometime last spring we were hosted at a Timberwolves game by Patty Simmons and Les Wold, and had the pleasure of meeting Nadine McGuire. She told us about a world class butterfly museum at the University of Florida at Gainesville, and we really wanted to include that in our travels. Today was the day ... Gainesville is a 90+ minute drive from Jacksonville, and the rental car made it just fine. We found it easily, and the museum is associated with a Museum of Natural History. It's theme was life in the Amazon rain forest. We saw exhibits of the little fish that can ascend your urethra ... much more likely if you decide to void in the water! There was a lifesize anaconda model, and a number of other really interesting things. But the star of the show was the butterfly museum. There are laboratories and displays demonstrating the lifecyle of various butterflies, and research is done there. Trays and trays of butterflies from all over the world are displayed, and then there is the HUGE atrium (at least 40 feet high with looping tropical pathways) where thousands of butterflies are present. It feels magical to be standing among them as they flit and flutter about. This is one thing I really can't capture with these static photos, but here are a couple, along with the most enchanting little ? trumpet? flower. The museum may be the largest in to the world as a huge world class collection has just been donated. And we also learned that the McGuires (whom we had met) are the principal benefactors!

We were able to hustle back to Jacksonville in time for an early evening visit with Vern and Walt Walters. Walt is a grandson of Dr. Charlie Mayo, and his mother was Phoebe Mayo Walters. Vern is a patient and has become a dear friend. They have lived in Florida for years (Walt was into the design and construction of custom pleasure and speed boats), and have retired in Fernandina Beach, just north of Jacksonville. We had a yummy dinner and enjoyed our evening together so much. I wish I'd thought to take some pictures of her beautiful quilts, a number of which she had displayed in their home. Some had a Christmas theme, while another gorgeous one was about guitars and rock and roll. They were fabulous!

Wednesday, December 9th was a quiet day. I worked online and on the phone with the Women's HealthSource folks, and we waited for a call from the Buick dealer that our car was ready. They were having Bella detailed, and were employing ozone machines to try to dry her out completely and get rid of any musty smell. So we simply hung out in Buster in the Buick lot until Bella was ready to go about 4:30 pm. We decided to try to drive at least part of the way to the Kennedy Space Center, and ended up stopping at Flagler Beach at Beverly Beach RV Resort. We were able to park right on the beach (nearly) with Buster facing the surf:

Thursday, December 10

Before we circled back to Orlando to meet up with the Salansky's, we wanted to visit Kennedy Space Center. But Gary remained pre-occupied with Buster and his electrical problems. We seemed to be having a problem maintaining electrical charge in the house batteries ... it drains when we're driving, and we have to use the generator. In addition there was a Freightliner recall related to the power steering. So Gary elected to go on to Orlando and deal with the motorhome mechanical issues while Liz and I went to the Kennedy Space Center. It was really interesting. There are a lot of interesting exhibits including the missles from the early programs,

but the most interesting thing is the bus tour out to the launch pads.

The photo above left shows one of two launch pads for the shuttle program, which is just about to sunset. I believe the last shuttle flight is scheduled for February, 2010, when they will take up the last piece of the International Space Station. This particular launch pad is the pad from which the Challenger was launched. You can see the broad, very gradual sloped dirt road leading to the pad. This road is highly compressed dirt, and is the path the shuttle takes when it is rolled out from the hangar .... one of which is associated with the building on the right. The rolling bed on which the shuttle is transported moves at just a few feet per hour, as I recall, so it takes days to move it from the hangar to the launch pad, some 4+ miles away. We were also able to see the actual control room of Apollo 11, and then do a shuttle simulated ride which seemed to us to really give us the feel of ascending rapidly lying on our backs ... G-forces and all!

We had some fun in the gift shop before we left (think Shuttle and Astronaut salt and pepper shakers), and also Liz needed a snack ... I had $4 left in cash, and she gave it to the popcorn lady. UNFORTUNATELY, as we motored toward Orlando we found we needed to take a toll road, and WE HAD NO MONEY!!!! We scrounged around and found 6 quarters in the car for the first $1.50 toll, and then the toll taking lady directed us to an ATM. It caused a little anxiety.

But we arrived about 30 minutes after Gary in Fort Wilderness, the WDW Campground and RV resort, and he had already parked Buster in a great spot. We snuggled in ready for 4 days in Mickey land!

Friday, December 11

Renee, Greg, Brenna and Olivia suggested EPCOT as our first Disney park, so this is where we headed on Friday morning. They had already got their Fast Passes for Test Track (a General Motors sponsored ride where you speed along as if in a auto proving ground). So the next ride, with only a 10 minute wait, was Mission to the Moon. I thought this would be quite similar to the Space Shuttle simulation Liz and I had done at the Kennedy Space Center, but it was faster, bumpier, and apparently with more G-force. Renee said the ride had made her quite ill the first time she road it, and I, unfortunately, came to see first hand what she meant. Too much gravity force makes you feel nauseated and gives you a headache. I didn't feel quite right for a couple of hours. But we decided to go on over to the Nemo ride which was nice and tame by comparison. Then we got our Fast Passess for Soarin' (described below), and went to the Kodak Pavilion for Imagination.

The week-end before I had noticed that a special holiday show was going on at EPCOT: Christmas Promenade. As I looked into this, it was a large concert with a 200+ voice choir, Orchestra, trumpeters, and guest narrator of the Christmas story. It is free, but there are huge lines to get a seat. But if you buy a package lunch or dinner in one of the EPCOT restaurants, then you get reserved seats. So we had a 2:30 lunch at the Morocco Pavilion. It wasn't my first choice, but it actually turned out to be pretty good. We were able to take our seats about 4:30 for the 5:00 performace, narrated by Andy Garcia. It was chilly and a little drizzly, but I really enjoyed it and I hope the others did, too. They performed beautiful Christmas music with pretty lights and visual effects, and it really put us in the Christmas spirit.

We ended the evening (Gary and I called it quits before the 9:30 firework/light show; Liz stayed with the younger folk!), by riding Soarin', a new ride at The Land pavilion which simulates a hang gliding ride over California (vineyards, Golden Gate Bridge, etc). It was fun, not fast, not nauseating and pretty. It became my favorite!

Saturday, December 12

This is the park that is the most enchanting for the little ones, but the most familiar to me as it is nearly identical to Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, where I went dozens of times growing up in Southern California. Now that I don't have a "little one", my most favorite thing is to see the light parade. Liz, fortunately, raced around with her cousins to get on as many rides as possible while Gary and I sat on a curb for two hours (quite happily I might add) saving places for the parade. It was stunning, as were the various lighted views of Cinderella's castle:

See the purple iteration above!

I also liked seeing Gary on Main Street with all the Christmas decorations:

Sunday, December 13th was our third Disney day and we went to Disney's Animal Kingdom. Since then I have looked up the ranking of the zoos in the US (Liz always wants to go to a zoo whevever we are, so I looked up the ranking of the Audubon Zoo in in New Orleans) and Animal Kingdom is the #2 "zoo" in the country after the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park. The principle attraction at Animal Kingdom is the safari ride, where you ride in large open air jeeps through their savannahs and tropics from "around the world." I didn't get a lot of terrific pictures because I was behind a lot of people in the jeep. Here are a couple:

We also had fun watching these tigers tussle ... the tiger on the left was just ambling around, but then wanted to cool off (or get wet), so he went to the pool and the tiger already there wasn't too happy about sharing!

Besides the safari ride there are other fun rides including a simulated white water rafting trip down the Zambezi river, (we got soaked ..... Liz and Olivia loved it ..... Renee and me: not so much!), and the ride up Everist. It is just fun being there where these exotic locales are recreated for you to amble through.

The Festival of the Lion King is a beautiful musical show with the Lion King music. But probably the most amazing thing of the day was this beautiful "vine" which seemed to be moving as we walked by .... as she unfolded we saw the most stunning dark skinned woman in costume. It was amazing!

It turns out the Salansky's love Rain Forest Cafe and always include it when they do Disney, so we headed back there for dinner. Here's a picture of the group!

After dinner the littler girls (led by Liz) wanted a braid in their hair .... the braid artist did a really nice job, and Olivia decided this is what she'd like for her 11th birthday (December 31)! Brenna was highly festive with the Volcano dessert topper decoration transformed into a fetching hair ornament!

Monday, December 14 was our last day in Walt Disney World. The Salansky's hadn't been to Disney's Hollywood Studios, where we had been the week before, so we decided to join them there for half a day, and then go back to EPCOT. Liz hadn't seen much of World Showcase with the pavilions from around the world, and we thought she might even learn a little bit there. The Great Movie Ride, showing memorable films that almost everyone can recognize from one scene was fun, as was the backlot tour. I loved the plantings with the Sorcerer's Apprentice theme. Liz was thrilled to see the set of the painted hen house from Hannah Montana: The Movie on the back lot.

We did get over to EPCOT and saw the world pavilions at China with a beautiful 360 degree circular movie, browsed at Germany, Italy, and Japan, and had crepes at France. Liz also enjoyed the boat ride at the Mexico pavilion (with the Three Caballeros cartoon starring Donald Duck and compatriots), and got into the fiesta by trying on this giant sombrero!

She also finessed her way into a celebration outfit from the shops at the China attraction. That evening we had reserved a table at the Artist's Point restaurant in the Wilderness Resort Hotel ... the on property Disney hotel that is modeled after the Yellowstone Lodge. It was an early celebration of my 60th birthday (December 18), but since we had some family with us, we thought we'd have a nice dinner. The food was delicious and exotic. While I went for my usual fairly plain Jane fare, Gary and Greg had Wild Boar! The girls had nice meals, and posed as we went into dinner.

And THEN they sprung their long awaited plot on me (this is what happens when you have a 9 year old when you turn 60!) They ran ahead to the car, and layed (sp?) in wait. When I strolled up with Gary, Renee and Greg they silly stringed me! Needless to say, I was overcome! It was really fun. Sadly, we said good night and good-bye to the Salansky's as they headed back to Tennessee the next morning.

Tuesday, December 15

We were staying in touch with Orlando Freightliner, and learned this morning that one of the parts (a solenoid) they needed for the electrical system hadn't arrived, so we took advantage and stayed one more day in the RV at Disney's Fort Wilderness campground. I would definitely like to come back here and spend more time. It is a resort in itself with a great pool, horseback riding, boat rentals and rides, and easy transportation, some by launch, to the Disney parks. Liz was most impressed by the golf carts .... cars are really not allowed except to enter and exit, and many get around with golf carts. She would definitely like to return at age 14, the age one can drive one of the carts on the property. We swam, and then I shopped finding a great mall with everything I was looking for (Macy's, Gap, etc) and pretty much finished up our very limited Christmas shopping.

Tomorrow, December 16, we will be leaving Orlando, we think for good this time. But we did have a magical time and it was made so by being with our dear extended family. Still a little Christmas preparations to do .... we still have to decorate Buster!

Happy Holidays,

Julie, Gary and Liz