We went to Bush Gardens on Saturday as a reward for Beth’s performance in school this last week. Our Bush Gardens routine involves sleeping in, moseying over just before lunch time, and stopping for a bite to eat for lunch upon entering the park. This time we decided to eat at the Crown Colony Restaurant, at the table service restaurant on the third floor. It was much better than all of the other restaurants I’ve tried in the park. Although, eating something that doesn’t leave me feeling like I’ve just eaten a case of Malox would be an improvement. This was actually pretty good.

But then something happened.

There was a guy sitting with his wife two tables over but in my direct line of sight. He was eating what looked like fried chicken and mashed potatoes. Next to his plate was a gravy boat. He was eating his fried chicken with vigor, so I assumed he was enjoying it. Then, he made a move for his gravy. He picked up the gravy boat and tipped it over his mashed potatoes. This was the first sign of trouble: nothing came out. He was looking right at it when he picked it up, so I’m assuming he would have noticed if it was empty – and he wouldn’t have picked up. No, he knew something was in there. He tipped it a little further … and still nothing came out. After slight hesitation, he whipped that boat like you’d whip a sock coming out of the drier inside out. His whole body was involved in the follow through. As a result, the alleged gravy came out of the boat with the consistency of a tenderized hamster. It plopped out into a crater in his potatoes in one sickening mass. If I was watching from a less advantageous angle, it might have looked like he vomited in his plate. I have no idea what this guy was thinking, but he obviously has lower standards for food than I do. He grabbed his fork with all the subtlety of a plumber wielding his pipe wrench and stirred up the mass of gravy and unsuspecting potatoes with nary a look of displeasure. He was about to take a bite and I had to look away. Through force of will I managed not to look back though the remainder of our stay. It’s a good thing to, failure would have ruined a perfectly good lunch.

Well, we went back. I have just one thing to say about this trip. Oh yeah, don’t you wish.
Actually, I enjoyed this trip as much as any other trip to the Orlando area. It began with a reunion with a friend from high school and college. I had thought about the possibility of meeting ever since we got our seasonal passes to Disney delight, but I hadn’t done anything beyond thinking about it until a couple of weeks ago. Cheryl had been planning this particular trip for a couple of months now and I had been looking forward to the opportunity to stay on the Disney property. Hey, what the heck, I hadn’t stayed on the property before and I was game for a new experience. Anyway, I was daydreaming about my upcoming trip when it occurred to me that I could put the two together. After trading messages for a week, we met at Epcot on the day of our arrival. The meeting was everything I hoped it would be. We reminisced and we caught up. The only problem was it was too short. As night fell on that first day the temperature dropped considerably. It didn’t climb significantly for the entire trip. And do you know what? It was great. A blast of extremely cold weather (for Florida) was just what I needed. No matter how long we spent at the park, I had a spring in my step. Beth kept right on going until she just about fell unconscious in her tracks each night. Each day we hopped from park to park, hitting the attractions that we had missed on prior trips. The first two days we ended up at Epcot for dinner, and we went all out. As a child, meals at an amusement park consisted of hot dogs, hamburgers and pizza. This time we ate at the fancy restaurants, and it was very good. And oh was it expensive. Now I know why we ate hot dogs, hamburgers, and pizza as kids. Having done it, I have no regrets. It was a great trip.

Yes, by this time next week I will have more fresh memories of Disney’s world to pack away with the others. This trip however offers something unique, a visit with an old friend. I decided to do something that runs entirely contrary to the momentum that my life has achieved in the last thirty odd years. I initiated contact with this old friend that lives in the Disney metropolitan area, and arranged a meet and eat. Thoughts of this trip have consumed my idle thoughts for the last couple of days, so you can imagine that I can’t wait to go. Why didn’t I try this before?

Actually, we already did. This time no one got sick. Just as important: we all had fun. We spent the morning covering the ground that was missed at the Magic Kingdom. We saw the Pirates of the Caribbean and ran around Tom Sawyer’s Island, before taking in the Country Bear’s Jamboree. Beth and I frolicked about Tom Sawyer’s Island like a brother and sister, and Cheryl could do nothing but watch has her two kids raced around with the enthusiasm of children on Christmas morning. What’s more, it was a perfect day for running around. The high for the day topped out around 60 degrees, and the air felt crisp. It was cool enough not to get hot, but not so cold that you lost sensation in your extremities. I’ll say it again, it was perfect.

We’ve scheduled a make up Disney day this coming weekend. We felt bad that Beth never got a full day at the Magic Kingdom, and hopefully now she’ll get her chance. I just hope our health holds out.

When last I wrote, we were just about to come home. And you thought the story ended there, hah! On Tuesday night, Cheryl announced that she wanted to take Beth to the park early, so our last day at the park would not be a short day at the park. We had to drive home on Wednesday, so it was already going to be a short day. Shortly after Cheryl made her announcement, I announced that I could sleep in and go to the park with her parents later that day. If Cheryl cursed me for the sentiment, it worked. I slept in alright, but when I woke up something did not feel quite right. I tried eating, but it only made matters worse. Showering and shaving didn’t do any good either. When it finally got to be time to go to the park I didn’t feel much like walking around, unless I was walking to a bathroom. Cheryl’s parents went to the park and I stayed in the hotel room, alone with my growing agony. When they called two hours later, I was well beyond ready to go home. I was having visions of being violently ill in a hotel room and I craved familiar surroundings.

You should have pity on my wife and her parents. I am not a pleasant person when I’m violently ill. I was an unpleasant person for the hour or so it took them to pack and load the car, the two hours it took to drive home, and the half an hour they spent unloading the car.

Later Wednesday night I went to the ER. The ER doctors were all impressed that I still didn’t have to pee after getting three liters of IV fluids. Fortunately I didn’t have to spend the night in the hospital, they let me go home at 2 a.m.

I spent the next four days depositing and withdrawing clear fluids.

I write this entry one week after the onset of my illness. Today was the first day I ate regular food. That’s something to be thankful for, believe me.

Did I mention that we were going to the World of Walt this week? If Walt were alive today, do you think he would approve? What would Walt Do? We’ve been constantly reminded that Walt would be 100 years old now. That would be pretty old, if he were still alive. He isn’t. Do you think someday they’ll celebrate Michael Eisner’s 100th birthday?

All right already, what did you do there?
Not much. We had planned to spend four fun filled days at the world that Walt built. Instead, we spent one partially healthy night and day, one violently ill day, and one semiconscious day at Walt’s central Florida tourist Mecca. On a personal note, I saw “the animal park that Michael built to compete with Busch Gardens” for the first time. I knew Busch Gardens. Busch Gardens was my friend. You sir are no Busch Gardens. Do you find it ironic that the center piece of a park that is supposed to be dedicated to the wonders of the natural world is a large, artificial tree? “Welcome to Disney. We don’t aim for reality, we want something better.”

Is reality so bad? We were walking through Epcot later that day and a question came to me: “can you find a Living Sea somewhere other than Epcot?”

Are you going to tell us what you did or not?
We saw lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Then we got out of the car and went into the park. Kidding aside, Animal Kingdom was pretty cool. Everyone commented that we had not seen Gorillas so close up before. The lay out of the park was pretty cool and easy to navigate. And the settings were quite impressive, particularly the Asia section of the park. I can’t speak towards it’s reality, since I’ve never been to “Asia.” Then, maybe the park is better than the real thing.

After spending the morning and the first part of the afternoon at Animal Kingdom we drove over to Epcot. At Epcot we enjoyed more low-impact entertainment. We ate dinner at The Land. We played with the exhibits at Figment’s place. Beth saw her first 3-D movie at “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience.” We walked through the world showcase just after the sun had set, which I consider to be the perfect time to walk through the world showcase at Epcot. I’ve never traveled outside of the U.S. so I wouldn’t know the real thing, but I can imagine that I’m traveling somewhere else in the world when I walk the streets of the countries there. And who knows, maybe it’s better than the real thing.

Tuesday we made our way to Disney’s MGM Studios. The only reason we went there, as far as I’m concerned, was because it was the only place we could get a reservation to a character lunch. It turned out to be a pretty good move all the way around. Beth enjoyed the back lot tour and the Beauty and the Beast stage show. Oh yeah, she liked the character lunch too. At first, we weren’t sure that she could find the courage within to stand up to one of her childhood fears: larger than life creatures walking among us. But when the characters walked in she warmed up to them like Mercury orbiting the Sun.

Wednesday we plan to try the Magic Kingdom again. We’ll see how it goes.

I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving.

This week Cheryl and I actually agreed on a tentative date to go to New Orleans to visit my sister. We’ve been meaning to go for as long as Christy has been there, but you know what good intentions will get you; that and 32 cents won’t send a letter to tell someone you aren’t coming. I can already taste the greasy donuts, feel street refuse under my feet, and sense the mighty waters of the sea somewhere above me.

Well, there was a wedding, a day trip to Maine, a day miscellaneous stuff, and another day of travel. The wedding was pretty cool, as weddings go. There were family and friends from many different walks of life. There were the folks who are accustomed to being the life of the party, others that aren’t, and many more who fall somewhere in between. There was a cake cutting, a DJ, and a first dance. To my delight there was no chicken dance, conga line, or any other tasteless wedding standby that I could do without. It was very nice, and I wish nothing but good fortunes and happy times to the bride and groom.
If the wedding went well, the drive to Maine was better. I am always surprised by two things when I go to Maine. One, the size of Joe’s family in Maine. Two, despite the families’ size they all welcome another to the mix with warmth and inclusiveness. It was no different on this trip. Beth had a wonderful time playing with her cousins and everyone else had a good time catching up. Our last full day in New England was not quite as nice, but it would have been hard to keep up the pace. On a strictly positive note, I stayed up for the Monday night game and saw the Bucs prevail over the Rams. My day long daze of fatigue and sleep deprivation the next day was well worth it. That brings me to the flight home. What can I say about airline travel that you haven’t already heard? Lets just say that at one point I remember mumbling to no one in particular, “if we have to go through security one more time I think it might be easier to just sell the house back home and stay here.”