Happy 2009!!

Another day dawns and a new year has begun….Happy New Year!! Did you ring it in with a bang? Did you party hearty? Or did you quietly usher it in, perhaps even sleeping through it? Ours arrived with a bang…lots of them in fact! Epcot had special fireworks at 11:40 on New Year’s Eve around the World Showcase lagoon, and about 9:30pm we headed over to check it out. We parked across the street from the Boardwalk area in the self-parking lot and at the bottom of the stairs on the Boardwalk a DJ was spinning tunes while a couple hundred adults and kids danced and partied. We arrived at the Epcot gates about 10pm, and as we expected, the place was packed. Several stages were set up around the park with DJs blaring music, crowds dancing, people blowing horns, and just a general sense of merriment. A couple of the spots where we normally like to watch the fireworks from were 10-15 people deep, and they were closely monitoring that people stayed within the taped off areas. As we walked past the Canadian section, we noticed a large group of people sitting on one side of the steps leading up to the pavilion. We walked up the other side, and by standing right behind them, had a great view of the lagoon where Illuminations takes place. Of course, that meant we had to stand there about an hour, but some things are just worth the wait! The group on the steps in front of us was a South American tour group and was having a blast continually blowing their noisemaker horns, and though it did get a bit annoying, we weren’t giving up our spots. Their group seemed to keep growing but we stood our ground! In fact a couple times Russ asked people to move when at the last minute they tried to jump in front of us and the folks standing next to us. (Afterwards as we were leaving, the one guy next to us told Russ he was his hero for making those people move!) Finally it was 11:40, and the show began with an abbreviated version of Illuminations. As it turns out, this really was a great place from which to watch them! Then the New Year’s portion began as over the loud speaker they announced that though the U.S., Canada, and Mexico would soon celebrate the beginning of a new year, first we were going to enjoy the celebration of other countries. They said that at 10am Japan and China had welcomed in the New Year and suddenly fireworks went off over the China pavilion followed by fireworks over the Japanese pavilion. This was followed by the announcement of the other countries’ times and then each country’s fireworks display around the lagoon and it was so cool! Now it was time for our countdown to midnight, which appeared in large LED lighted numbers on the Earth globe in the middle of the lagoon with everyone counting, and along with 70,000 others we watched one of the most spectacular fireworks displays we’ve ever seen!! We could actually feel the vibrations in the concrete below our feet!! Wow! What a way to bring in the new year!!

It took us 45 minutes to just get out of the parking lot once we got back to the car, and as we were driving home Russ suggested that we stop for a drink to bring in the new year. Several weeks ago we had passed a place around the corner from where we’re staying called The 19th Hole Bar & Grill. We weren’t sure how late bars were open in FL but decided to check it out since it was close by. Contrary to what you might think, it is not located at a golf course. When we pulled up the door was open and the bright lights were on, which usually indicates time for everyone to leave, but we got out of the car and tried to ask someone if the bar was still open. The few folks that were outside seemed to be busy with their own concerns, so we walked in and asked the DJ who was announcing something to the effect that they’d get things rocking again shortly. He told us to go on up to the bar, and there we stood waiting for a bartender to emerge. It was rather a chaotic scene and we were trying to figure out what was going on. We started chatting with another couple about our age at the far end of the bar, and as it turns out, some guy had gotten jealous about his girlfriend’s attention to someone else and a fight had ensued. We just happened to show up right afterwards! The bartender finally emerged, handed us our drinks, and as Russ was giving her the money, the manager came back behind the bar all upset, saying he was closing the place down (evidently the ruckus had continued out in the parking lot), started apologizing to us, and told us our drinks were on him. Well, ok, that works for us! So we stood there talking to our new friends, Freddie and Donna, and watching the “show” that was still going on. Turns out one of the inebriated participants in the ruckus was the owner! The bar still wasn’t closing, so we ordered another drink, and never did have to pay for that one either. Wow! Drinks and entertainment for free! Just your typical neighborhood bar on New Year’s Eve! Bars evidently close at 2am in this area, and finally they were making everyone leave but not everyone was ready to go home. Freddie, Donna, and a few others were going to head over to a place called McNichol’s in the Westgate Inn just down the road because supposedly they served until 3am. Hey, ya only live once, right?! So we followed, and as we walked in, seemed like half the people there knew Freddie, but it was 5 min. till 2 and they had stopped serving. Freddie said not to worry, went out to his car, and came back with four Budweisers he had in the cooler in his car! So we stood there in McNichol’s watching the commotion and revelry, drinking our Buds. This is definitely a night we won’t easily forget!! We can’t tell you the last time we were out till 3am!!

Earlier in the week we caught one of the last performances of the Candlelight Processionals which was narrated by the husband and wife team of Angela Bassett (ER, What’s Love Got To Do With It) and Courtney B. Vance (ER, Preacher’s Wife, Law & Order:CI). What an incredibly wonderful performance. Both have powerful speaking voices and really brought the narrative to life.


Since Richard and Shelley were going to leave right after the New Year to head south to Miami for their next job, we met them for lunch at Cici’s Pizza on Mon. the 29th. The place is connected to a miniature golf course and has this cool waterfall out front so of course we had to have a picture in front of it. We spent a few hours chatting and walking through the nearby touristy gift shop before saying our goodbyes. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to visit again when they return for a couple of weeks in April. And the day ended perfectly as we watched our Missouri Tigers defeat the Northwestern Wildcats in the Alamo Bowl on TV that night!

New Year’s Day Scott brought over a Honeybaked ham, cornbread, and some home cooked black eyed peas…a traditional New Year’s dinner for him. I supplied scalloped potatoes and a chocolate covered banana cake for dessert. Good meal with a good friend to start the New Year!

This week starts the real reason for being here in the Orlando area…establishing relationships with new doctors. We’ve met our primary and are in the process of getting bloodwork and scheduling other appointments. Since there probably won’t be much happening over the next few months, the blog entries may not be weekly, but please keep checking in. You never know when something fun (or was that funny) and exciting like the bar hopping on New Year’s Eve might happen!