Wednesday, May 12. REST

 Oh

 How we needed a day to rest! And rest we did---all day long. We slept in so late we missed breakfast and went straight to lunch ( in our room), we watched movies, read our books, napped some more. It rained a lot of the day, complete with lightning and thunder. Perfect to stay in.

Then Luis and Sarah Dias came over with their three kids. They got here about 5:30 pm. We had hot dogs for dinner, then went swimming in the hotel pool. Luckily it had cleared up by then and the pool was reopened. It was a school night, so they didn't stay late. But it was nice to finally meet them. Maybe they will come to Utah some day.

Mike watched sports on TV that night, and I watched Avatar. We are going to Disney's Animal Kingdom on Thursday and Friday and there is a very popular ride there about Avatar the movie. I was researching. Ha.

Tuesday, May 11, Epcot

 

Pictures loaded in opposite order. 

 Epcot opened at 11 am, so we had time to sleep in. Yay. And cook sausage and eggs for breakfast. Yay. Plan out our "strategy" for our day in the park. Yay!

We spent time seeing attractions and riding rides, many of which were inside. As in AIR CONDITIONED. WOO HOO.  It's so hot and humid here,  so we love the cool inside stuff. We learned about space, earth, land and patriotism.  Enjoyed exhibits, people watching and eating. I got my funnel cake today. Yummy. 

 Even though it was hot, we had cloud cover, so that helped. And some pleasant breezes. We were home by 8 pm. Pretty good day overall.

Miss Piggy. The topiary behind me. Not the one in the pink plaid shirt.

Marimba band and an ibis? 

Cute little train village.

Mexican / Mayan pyramid.

More fun topiaries. Daisy and Donald Duck.

Canadian Rockies waterfall.

Kermit.

A big golf ball. It's really called "Space ship Earth" and there' s a ride in it about earth's progress narrated by Angela Landsbury.

Magic Kingdom

 Day two at the parks was spent at the Magic Kingdom. It is interesting to try to figure out how to get to a new place each day. We also decided that we would NOT break our necks trying to get to parks early. Or even on time. No alarm clocks! (That's one of MY favorite things about a vacation). There are still going to be crowds, no matter what. 

And heat. Oh, the heat. 90+F. Humid...very. so we just sweat all day! Ick. We are NOT used to humidity. But, We expected it. We bring water with us each day and try to stay hydrated.  

There are a few rides that will give those in ECV(electric conveyance vehicles) a come back time. That worked well for us a time or two so we "walked" on and missed most of the line or had shorter wait times. Some lines can accommodate a vehicle the whole way! ECV's tend to go fast when turning. That's a bit nerve-wracking, having one of those on my heels as we wend our way down a winding path to a ride!. Luckily Mike is an excellent driver. I would have hit someone by now.

We rode and rode and waited and waited. Applied sunscreen, had a snack, enjoyed a lovely lunch at "Tony's". Napped in "small world" truly. That's why we went on that one. Too bad I could not elevate my feet, too!.  I also rested in the Haunted Mansion really well. Not my favorite ride, but cool and restful if one closes their eyes.

We skipped the last ride we wanted to do because we both had to make it across a large parking lot, too, before getting back to our hotel. But we made it! I pushed Mike in a wheelchair through the parking lot. I did NOT push him up or down the steep ramp to the Monorail, however.  ECV's have to be returned at the exit gate of the amusement park. We have to take the monorail to and from the gigantic parking lot.

We were at at our hotel by 7:30 pm and I peeled out of my clothes, got in my swim suit and headed straight to the pool and hot tubs. Soaking in a "Theraputic Spa" as the hot tubs are labeled here (ha) has GOT to be helpful because we are still alive and moving after 2 days of Disney World. (Only Mike's lower back is really sore and achey as of Tuesday morning.)

Not bad for a couple of out-of-shape fat old farts. 

Parades are short little spontaneous interruptions here and there throughout the park with various characters. 

River boat in background. Florida water is so clear, you can see its track!

Coolest spot we found. It's a little fountain spraying water. Looked like a geyser and was by thunder mountain RR. Ahhhhhh. Coolness.

The SMOOTHEST coaster was 7 dwarves run away mine train in Fantasy Land. This photo is of Thunder Mountain. I did Space Mountain alone. Mike's stomach was a bit queasy. So sad. But he did enjoy the 7 dwarves. 

See? We were still smiling on our way out of the Magic Kingdom.

One cast member did ask me if I was excited for our day in the Magic Kingdom? This was at the very beginning of the day as we were renting Mike's ECV. I had to admit that there was a little bit of dread mixed in, not pure excitement. I guess we are getting a bit too old for this. I was dreading the fatigue, soreness, heat, humidity, long wait lines, crowds...not the rides and the "Disney Experience". But were they worth it???!! I am still deciding.

Disney World, Day 1

 I should probably start with our trip to Florida itself. We drove to Las Vegas early on Saturdat the 8th of May. Just me and Mike. We were able to meet with Donna at the Southwest Airlines ticketing counter for just a few brief minutes. She was kind enough to bring us some chocolate. From Germany! Really good stuff. And it was fun to see her for just a minute. She , her girls, and Robert are going to get to visit with Mom and Dad in Cedar City for Mother's Day weekend. I won't be there. :-(. But we did visit and had an early Mother's Day the previous Sunday and have a nice turkey dinner with Mom and Dad.

Back to our Florida vacation! We flew out of Las Vegas, flew Southwest and got to sit together on the second flight, but not the first. We had one stop in Milwaukee, and arrived in Orlando in the early evening. We had a car reserved. The line for our car reservation was behind about three hundred other people! It was absurd. Needless to say, we did not stay in a 2 hour PLUS line just to be told there were no cars. Mike was proactive and went and found another rental agency. Now, if I could just get my money back from the reservation Priceline / Budget rentals. Their site clearly states no refunds, but we would have been happy to give them our business. Having a 3-hour line is not good customer service. We shall see. 

The hotel we are staying at is the Parc Soleil Hilton vacation Club. We did manage to find it with a little help from out Google Lady on my phone. It is gorgeous. Mostly, the air conditioning is glorious.:-) 

We spent our first day at Disney Hollywood Studios. We got the best parking spot possible in the open lot. I mean, right on the end, closest to the sidewalk! We were ecstatic. We got Mike a electric scooter for him to ride around the park and save steps. We headed first to the Tower of Terror and had a long 40 minute wait in line. But it is a moving line, and he was able to stay in his scooter for most of it. This is Disney. The lines are long, they're inside, there are fans, some of it is air conditioned. And Mike loves to visit with people in the lines. The people behind us we're college students and she had not been on this ride before. She was really scared about going on it, so Mike just encouraged her to continue to be scared. Haha. But we all enjoyed it. 

Disney has done a good job socially distancing people. I think the cars on those Elevator Shaft rides held fewer people than the ones in Disneyland California overall. But with social distancing, there were even fewer! I think we only had five to seven people on that entire car. It could probably do 24 at full capacity.  

We wandered around, we rode roller coasters, we experienced the new Star Wars area. I cannot remember what it is called, but it is really cool. We ate our lunch there. It was hot, over ninety degrees outside, but we were surprised that there is a cooling breeze! I expected it to be very hot and muggy. It is hot, and it is muggy, but the breeze definitely helps. And being at inside lines that are air conditioning. We also decided to take a little rest and watched a silly 3D Muppet Movie, just to wait for lunch and enjoy the air conditioning and sit comfortably. We did not get to get into the Star Wars rise of the resistance experience/attraction. There were only two slots for virtual lines, and I missed them both. But it's okay! We got to see and do a lot of stuff, and we had a lot of fun. I think we are easing into it gradually. 

We left the park today before we were totally exhausted and worn out. Our feet weren't aching, but we were getting tired, so it was time to go. Then we enjoyed air conditioning comfort in a grocery store, stopping to pick up items that we will need for our meals here in our room. And our room is lovely! We have a one bedroom suite at this Hilton, there are pools, hot tubs, we have a full kitchen. And I think we are going to enjoy ourselves here!

We saw one mini-parade.

My view for most ride lines.haha.

Mike.

You cant really tell, but we got to park on the end of a row, right by the sidewalk. It's the little things.

77 Days

April 29, 2021 

77 Days until I get to retire from the Sherratt Library. It's been my job for the last 25+ years. It will be 26 years next month.  I never dreamed I would return to my original student worker job from "nigh unto 50 years ago."  [you have to say that with a creaky old-lady voice]. Truly, I came to work in the Sherratt Library as a student worker in Special Collections when I was a Southern Utah State College freshman in 1974. Somehow, I managed to turn that into a very fulfilling career as a Library paraprofessional.

Thanks to Janet Seegmiller, who hired me to work nights and weekends in 1995 when we so desperately needed a job and benefits in our family. She encouraged me to apply, she was my first supervisor and the rest is history!  I've loved it. I really enjoy the people I work with. I've hired and trained close to 100 student workers through the years. When I last counted them up several months ago, it was over 90, so saying "close to" 100 is not an exaggeration.  I have hired and trained a lot of staff, too. Those folks have been specifically pleasing because so many got their starts here on campus working for me and have gone onwards and upwards to bigger and better careers and more education. I managed to complete my bachelor's degree here at SUU while working in the Library. I've watched four of my five children graduate from this fine institution. Even though Eric hasn't graduated (yet!), he was also very involved in a variety of things while a student.

So, it's onward and upward!  Here's to retirement... Yay!