Fact: Day Seven

Today was another travel day.

We left Orlando this morning at 5:30 (that was EARLY, by the way!) and Jim drove through pouring rain for a long time. I cannot precisely verify how LONG of a time since I was dead asleep for most of the morning. As was everyone under the age of 21.

We slept.

The whole day.

And Jim drove.

Now, we have a very strict get-out-every-100-miles policy. So of course we stopped and everyone got out (see pictures below). But then we were back in the car and snuggled in our blankets quickly.

The early day of driving turned out to be awesome for us non-drivers. We got to our hotel here in Wilson, NC before 6pm and Jim and I even went out to a movie tonight. We saw "Angels & Demons" in case you're dying to know everything that's going on around here...we thought it was a great movie--true to the book's tone, improved some of the less-believeable parts of the book, and generally respectful to the Catholic Church. But are there REALLY one billion members of the Catholic Church in the world? That seems like a lot. They kept repeating that statistic.

Anyways, tomorrow will be the first time Dwight gets to meet some of our actual friends. We've met some nice people on our trip and now we get to see some folks that we already know are nice...can't wait!

Leaving Florida (poured rain the whole time) and arriving in Georgia. When we pulled up for this picture, Will read this sign out loud in a somewhat-questioning manner. I explained that it's a song and Matt pipes up from the back seat "Yeah, it's a song by John Mayer!" Which means he was thinking of "Why, Georgia, Why" which is one of Jim & Matt's favorite songs of all time. Good call, Matt!
This stop was the first time all trip that we have been cold. I have a stash of jackets, tennis shoes, long pants, etc thinking we'd need them for going up into Canada...and we might need them a bit earlier (or else Will is going to have to dress as Obi Wan the entire rest of the trip).
Matt freezing. He was hiding under a picnic table to get away from the breeze.
I think that Matt took this picture and somehow managed to get his own head
and Jourdan in the shot.
Our lunch stop was halfway through South Carolina. We had stopped earlier at a convenience store and I bought this to share for lunch. If Dwight had found it in Meredith's van, he definitely would have downed the whole thing.
Except it's just cider...peach cider!
It tasted so amazing--totally like fresh peaches.
It was really concentrated and thick--so we diluted it with ice. And loved it.
At our picnic table there was a charcoal grill with this podium stand next to it. Jim put the atlas on the podium and started giving us a sermon like this "Let's read from the Book of Maps" and we got to giggling about the sermon of our trip...and it ended up like this:
Let's read from the Book of Maps, the South Carolina Chapter, the 95th verse (because we're on I-95 of course). We had a lovely sermon, said Amen and moved on with our day.
Arriving in North Carolina. We chattedvisited with a woman in the van next to ours and she shared her olives with us. She was traveling alone to her daughter's vet school graduation--and we had a lovely visit.
Dwight checking out the area from his high up vantage point.

Fact: Day Six

Don't be mad.

Today we went to DisneyWorld for the whole day. And I have no pictures.

I have a very strict no-camera-at-Disney policy in my life. I've adhered to this strictly for the last 5 years and I find that I am always happy when I have spent a day at Disney with no worries of where's-the-camera, stand-over-there, or fix-your-hair-and-don't-slouch. My idea is that I'm there to ride the rides and no one really wants to see pictures of us with frozen bananas anyway. (I am consistently baffled by people taking pictures of things like floats in a parade...is ANYONE excited to look at those later??? Seriously.)

Plus I was worried about Dwight being at DisneyWorld when he's not exactly waterproof nor is he impact-proof. So he stayed home and guarded our stuff at the hotel.

Jim and I were awake before any of the kids this morning. We discussed the possibility of NOT going to DisneyWorld if the boys' sunburns were too painful. We thought if they were too miserable, we'd just hang out around here today and then do Disney tomorrow. And when they woke up, they acted like they didn't know what sunburns we were talking about. They were perfect. I put aloe vera on their backs (and Matt's legs) three times during the night and Jim was on cold-compress duty (putting damp rags on them and then changing them out when they got too hot from their backs). We were pretty worried (obviously). Also, this is the first time EVER my boys have gotten sunburned like this. We do a pretty good job overall of keeping out-of-direct sun.

So when they woke up feeling like a million bucks, we cheered and took off for DisneyWorld just as it opened.

Our first (and most baffling) stroke of luck happened at the parking gate. We pulled up ready to pay our $12 fee. The kid saw Jim's outstretched hand with a fifty dollar bill and he cheerfully waved us through and said "Hey, don't worry about it today!" Jim, slightly nonplussed, haltingly asked "It's free to park today?" and the parking guy (or at least he LOOKED like a parking guy--tall, thin, Disney tag, dressed like Tweedle Dee...) assured us that we were fine and waved us through.

We talked all day about why that happened. Was parking free for everyone? Then why have parking attendants at 11 booths? Why not just a taped up sign that said "This is your lucky day--find a good spot and enjoy the rain!"? Did he not have change for a fifty and couldn't be bothered? Were we especially chipper and he liked that? Does he hate his job and want to stick it to Disney by not charging anyone parking all day? We did have a great time speculating. And no answer in the end.

It rained while we were there.

And when I say rained, what I mean is that DisneyWorld was as empty as it is possible to be--a Monday, a school day, and water pouring from the sky as if a giant faucet were aimed over our heads. And of the 50,000 people at DisneyWorld Magic Kingdom today, we were 6 out of 14 that did NOT spend $8 each on rain ponchos. Which means a few things:

First, when the rain stopped, we weren't wearing soaking wet humidifiers with no place to put them.
Second, we got wet. Like jumped-fully-clothed-into-a-swimming-pool wet. At one point, I could feel water running in a river down the back of my neck. We were so wet that even though it stopped raining around 2pm, all of us were still wet when we got home at 7pm.
Third, it was really easy to keep track of ourselves...our wet clothes stood out in a sea of milky plastic. We were VERY easy to find.

We also had in-depth discussions about which we prefer--Magic Kingdom or Disneyland. Lots of rides are similar (none were identical, oddly enough), the layout is similar, the food is identical (thank you, Disney, for frozen bananas). And most of us agreed that we like Disneyland WAY better (maybe it's just what we're used to) but we like Orlando better than LA.

Tonight we swam, packed, laundered, and blogged. Tomorrow we are back on the road bright and early for a nice long drive to about the middle of North Carolina. Colleen, Jamie, and Tara--get ready to hear from us in the next day or two! We're heading to your neck of the woods.

Since I have no new pictures for today, here's a little update by the numbers:

$12--cost of "Hidden Mickeys at Walt Disney World" (Laura--am I right that the Disneyland edition was only like $7??? Ripoff!...but still immensly enjoyable). Our favorite Mickey was in the graveyard of Haunted Mansion which we got to ride 7 times without ever leaving the building because it was raining so hard

7--number of times we rode Haunted Mansion without ever leaving the mansion. The cast members just opened a side door and let us loop around.

1--number of pictures Jourdan took at DisneyWorld

3--number of frozen bananas that I ate at least part of

6--loads of laundry done in the last 3 days here

34--average number of minutes to dry a load of laundry on "rocket exhaust" heat setting

2--number of shirts that got ruined from shrinking due to "rocket exhaust" heat setting

6--number of cameras that I used today belonging to other tourists asking if I could get their picture together (ironic, isn't it?)

9--number of pressed pennies we got today (my kids' favorite Disney souvenir) (and mine--they're cheap and don't take up a lot of room)

Fact: Day Five

There are a couple long, involved, potentially-entertaining stories from today, our first non-travel day. However, it is also so late that I feel fried.

The title for a book about today could be "How Jim and I got Suckered into Listening to a Time-Share Presentation and Then Were Treated Like We Had Leprosy When We Said No, Colon, Are You Serious the Boys Got Second-Degree Sunburns While We Were Gone?".
Of course there are no pictures of us during the parts of the day that took the most time. Because that would be pictures of Jim and I being harrassed (and deciding it was definitely NOT worth the free ticket into DisneyWorld) and then us slathering aloe vera on the boys.

But during the in-between times....here's some narration to go with What We Did Get Pictures Of, Colon, How We Saw a Giant Alligator.

We decided to go down to a lake in central Florida and ride one of those air fan boats.
Dwight noticed something unusual about the directions to get there:
The end of the 2nd line says "After the 3rd CVS from Exit 244 (turnpike), turn right on Vermont Ave." I wondered aloud what kind of notation CVS was. Some new and exciting labeling system for roads in Florida.
Jim said maybe it was CVS like the drugstore. So we started clocking CVS stores. Here's the first.

The second.And the third. Which, ironically (or not), is at the corner of Vermont Ave.

In the 11.6 miles it took us to get down the road to the airboat spot, it was dumping enormous raindrops.
We got a little snack while we waited for the rain to die down.
Relaxed in the swing while the boat driver decided if he was going to make the run with a storm so close by.
And were excited to go for a ride when it was decided that the weather would be fine.
Here is Dwight, Rach, & Jourdan with the noise-blocking headphones. That airboat was LOUD.
Gotta protect Dwight, too!
Will sticking his hand in alligator-infested waters (we saw WAY more bugs than alligators...and frankly, they were just as worrisome--get your hand out of the water, boy!)
A full alligator out of the water! Most of what we saw were eyeballs and the occasional swipe of a tail. This was the whole thing--sunning himself on a grassy spot. It was amazing. Until we pulled closer and realized he was dead.
Captain Dwight singing What do you do with a drunken sailor? What do you do with a drunken sailor? What do you do with a drunken sailor early in the morning?
I was the youngest pilot in Pan Am history. When I was four, the pilot let me ride in the cockpit and fly the plane with him. And I was four. And I was great. And I would have landed it, but my dad wanted us to go back to our seats.
Here he is breaking rules, again.

We ate at Chili's after our boat ride. This is the first inkling we had that Matt wasn't feeling so good. His sunburn is the worst (although all the kids are burned pretty good). We've got him doped up (well, really just on ibuprofen) and slathered continuously in aloe vera. Wish us luck at Disney World tomorrow (we're hoping he'll be able to wear a shirt by morning).
All in all, a decent day. But hopefully better adventures to come.

Fact: Day Four

Well, we made it from Arizona to almost-the-very-end of I-10.

We're in Florida!!!!

As we were leaving New Orleans, Rachel won the "best off-the-cuff Office quote of the day" when she spontaneously came up with:
Michael: In some cultures, when somebody leaves, like New Orleans culture, they have a parade and they have a band and people party in the streets...
Pam: Do you mean, leaves as in dies? You want us to throw Toby a New Orleans' funeral?

We drove today from New Orleans through Mississippi and Alabama and all the way to Orlando. We thought maybe we should stop halfway here (like Tallahassee-ish) but decided to press onward (the kids heard that our hotel here had two sets of bunkbeds and a movie theater in the lobby and they voted to keep going).

And now we're here for the next 3 days. Whew!

Total number of miles driven today: 675 (that's approximate because I am not the clocker of miles or gallons or dollars and the guy who is has already fallen asleep)
Total number of people who slept in the car today: one (just me--the kids and Jim stayed awake the entire day...which might explain why I'm still up and everyone else has been asleep for at least an hour and a half.)
Total number of forts in our hotel room: one (but isn't that enough? Will asked if we could buy this room)
Total number of years this hotel room has probably been in existence: 65 (it's old...REALLY old...like classic 1950s Disney-era old--we love it!)

I'll have pictures of our room later--but here's our proof that we drove through a bunch of states today.

The usual progression of a Parker Family photo shot...Rachel is front and center and ready immediately. She has her shoes on, knows where Dwight is, and is asking me to frame the shot.
Matt finally gives up looking for his shoes and joins in barefooted.
Will says that he doesn't want to be in a picture, I say that's fine, he decides at the last second that what he really wants is to take his own picture so he scrounges around for his flip flops, rummages for his camera, trips over thousands of things on his way out of the van, and makes it to the right spot just as everyone else is all done and wants to get back in the van because it's muggy, dang it.
Jim reminds me be patient--this little guy is having a blast. And it's all good. We're not in a hurry, after all. And this welcome sign is the only place we stop and touch our feet to the dirt in Mississippi.
Dwight stopping to smell the...magnolias?...in Alabama with Jourdan.


While we're taking a picture on one side of the tree, here's what's happening on the other side...

Will found this spider (huge) on his web (enormous) near a shrub (average-sized). We're impressed with the bug and lizards we've seen so far in the south. And with our macro skills.
My mom talked to Rachel on the phone on Day Four's afternoon. She asked Rachel to blog about what her job is on our trip. Rach will probably be ready to blog something mid-Day Five. I have to say that I think her job is to be our documentarian for Dwight's adventures. When we get to a stop, she's been the one who keeps track of Dwight and gives him awesome poses like this.
Dwight on Jim's lap.
Matt & Dwight feeling welcomed to Alabama. A funny side note--every time we have mentioned that we're going through Alabama, Matt IMMEDIATELY starts singing the 50 states in alphabetical order. Trouble is, his knowledge gets fuzzy after "Indiana" and he trails off hoping someone will get him to the end. We've had fun singing it together until today when we accidentally mentioned Alabama about 20 times in an hour (we were IN Alabama, for heavens' sake) and lost interest in hearing the song and got smart and started referring to it as "Mobile's home".

Once again, she's the first one ready for a picture.


Rachel's picture of Dwight at the Florida Welcome Center.
And this was all her doing, also. Easily my favorite photo of the day!
Busted!
She also got this gem (Matt wants to be with Jourdan for every possible event--including the waiting-our-turn-for-a-bathroom dance)

Another Rachel shot. I think she would insert the following: Excuse me, everyone, could I have your attention please. I just wanted to say that the women in this office are terrible. Especially the ones who wrote that stuff about Michael on the bathroom wall. Having a bathroom is a privilege. It is called a ladies room for a reason. And if you cannot behave like ladies, well then you are not going to have a bathroom.Rachel told my mom that driving through Florida was like driving in "a tunnel with no top". Then when she got off the phone, she told me to quick, take Dwight and shoot a picture of the freeway in front of us. So Mom, here's the topless tunnel Rach was telling you about...