Christmas

Hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas! It was a quiet week for us with not much going on other than going to Epcot a couple times to watch the Candlelight Processional and the fireworks. Both nights the guest narrator was Christian singer/songwriter, Steven Curtis Chapman, and as you can imagine, he sang along with most of the songs. What an incredible experience it must be to stand in the midst of those hundreds of gloriously singing voices! I told Russ I want to work at Disney so I can audition to have a chance to sing with this group! :-)

The first night we went this week the temperature had dipped into the 40s, and the wind whipping off the lagoon cut right through you. Surprisingly crowds were light, and undoubtedly the weather had something to do with that. However the next day the temperatures were back up into the 80s, but for one night the chill in the air made it feel even more like Christmas. The other night we went was appropriately Christmas Eve, and we met up with Richard and Shelly. The place was much more crowded, which isn’t surprising, and we just barely got in for the 6:45 performance. Afterwards we walked around and talked as we admired the decorations. We staked out a spot near the front of World Showcase to watch the fireworks, and I tried taking a picture of the giant Christmas tree from where we stood, but no matter how low I got, I could not get the entire tree in the picture…it’s huge! Illuminations was spectacular as always, and we decided that this particular spot is probably from where the creators envisioned this incredible event should be watched. Though it can be seen from anywhere around the lagoon, everything seems to be really geared for viewing from this vantage point. As we headed towards our cars afterwards, we felt like salmon swimming upstream because we were going in the opposite direction of nearly everyone else in the park! We had a great time with Richard and Shelly, and as you can tell, we never tire of the Candlelight Processional. We’d have seen it even more often this year had we gotten to Orlando sooner, but with the ever increasing crowds between Christmas and New Year’s, it can be such a hassle.

Christmas Day was quiet with us mainly watching movies. Santa managed to find where we were and brought me a Disney watch and Russ a pair of Mizzou flannel lounging pants. Yeah, he needed that flannel a few weeks ago not right now! We shared dinner with Scott, who had brought over a rib roast earlier in the day which I cooked along with cheesy hash browns, asparagus with Hollandaise sauce, biscuits, and cherry cobbler served with a nice bottle of Merlot…yummmmm!

This is a wonderful time of year at Walt Disney World, and I’d thought I'd share a little more of the enchantment and beauty of it with you, though these few additional pictures do not do the atmosphere justice. WDW goes all out with dazzling decorations and special events such as the Candlelight Processional and Osborne Family Lights. Because of our late arrival to WDW this year, we haven’t seen as much as in the past but I do have some photos to share, some from this year and some from other December visits. All of the hotels on Disney property get in the spirit, too, as you can see by this gingerbread gazebo in the lobby of the Boardwalk Inn and this holiday village set up in the Yacht & Beach Club lobby.











Magic Kingdom holds a special holiday parade, and if you get to the park at just the right time, you can catch a performance by The Main Street Philharmonic!










Animal Kingdom also has a huge tree out front, decorations galore, and dresses up their Jammin’ Jungle Parade with the holiday spirit calling it Mickey’s Jingle Jungle Parade!













Throughout the holidays, the pavilions at Epcot’s World Showcase come alive with Holidays Around the World. Each country brings to life their unique holiday traditions and legends through decorations and Holiday Storytellers. For instance here’s Nowell, a Canadian lumberjack who tells of their many holiday customs, and Sigrid from Norway who will tell you of the mischievous Christmas gnome, Julenissen, a truly funny and entertaining performance.










You’ve seen pictures of Hollywood Studios’ Osborne Family Lights in an earlier blog, which helps demonstrate the magical feeling of a Disney Christmas. Mickey, Minnie, and all the gang help make the holidays special for everyone, and for just a few moments you can forget your worries, harken back to a simpler time, and enjoy being a kid again. There's something for everyone at Disney World!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

As another year closes, we feel extremely blessed to have had this opportunity to get out and explore this beautiful country and to meet the "real" people that make it that way. We’ve been on the road a year and a half, and it has truly been a gift. We hope you have enjoyed traveling with us as we share our journey through this blog and will continue to do so.

Our wish is that your life will also be a gift...rich and overflowing

with many blessings.

May the joy, love, hope, and peace of Christmas

be with you always.

A Few of Our Favorite Things

It's been unseasonably warm since we arrived, but we’re not going to complain! Only down side is that it almost doesn’t seem like Christmas is less than a week away even with so many decorations at the campground and of course at Walt Disney World (WDW). As you can see, we put some decorations in our window front though not as many as last year. And one night some of the folks here at the resort drove their decorated golf carts around while singing Christmas carols!


One of our favorite things to see at WDW this time of year is the Candlelight Processional held three times nightly at the World Showcase area of Epcot in the outdoor America Gardens Theater. In a nutshell, the Processional features a celebrity narrator reading the story of the nativity backed by a mass choir and a 50-piece orchestra while an interpreter relates all in sign language. This is definitely a must see event, and we try to see it as many times as possible. The choir consists of a group of WDW cast members (employees) dressed in green forming a “Christmas tree”, and those dressed in gold are high school groups from over 20 states who arrive onstage by walking down the aisles as they sing. Different groups perform nightly, and they are joined by 8 members of the nationally acclaimed Voices of Liberty who perform at Epcot. The narrators change every 3 nights, and some are better than others because even though they all read the same script, some put much more emotion into the reading while others simply read the words. Some even sing along! No matter how many times we see the Candlelight Processional, we marvel at the beauty and majesty of the sound and the performers.

Last Fri. we took Scott to see Academy Award and Golden Globe winner, Marlee Matlin (Children of a Lesser God, West Wing, Dancing with the Stars), and since she is deaf, she performed the narration in American Sign Language which was voiced by her personal interpreter, Jack. The WDW interpreter signed only the songs that night, but the whole thing was still quite moving. (This is Scott’s first visit to Disney World so we’ve been trying to show him some of our favorite things and highlights.) Afterwards we walked over to see The American Adventure, an inspirational story of America and its people, all very well done with animatronics figures. From there it was time to find a spot for watching Illuminations: Reflections of Earth, Epcot’s fireworks show that takes place every night in the World Showcase Lagoon. The show features fireworks, lasers, fire, and water fountains timed to a musical score. A large rotating globe of the Earth with curved LED screens is the centerpiece of the show and is used to project images of people and places. And at this time of year they tack on an additional few moments of fireworks timed to a beautiful rendition of Let There Be Peace On Earth. This is one of my favorite songs and is always quite emotional for me. Unfortunately I can never get any good pictures of Illuminations and words can never adequately describe it. It's simply fantastic!

Mon. Russ and I got to Epcot first thing when they opened. Arriving at any of the WDW parks at opening is always a fun experience as each park has something to entertain the crowds and get everyone ready for a fun and magical time. At Epcot, everyone is allowed into the park up to a certain point which is roped off, and while waiting the cast members will chat with guests and then Mickey and his friends show up to greet everyone! Of course, only those at the front of the line really get to see them up close, but then the count down begins and you’re ushered in. The place where 90% of the people head is for Soarin’, our favorite ride! (For more info on this ride and some of the other stuff I probably won’t delve into this post), you can go to our blog entries for Sept. and Oct. 2007.) First thing we did upon arriving at the ride was to get a Fast Pass so we could ride again (this is a very popular ride, the lines can be extremely long, and Fast Passes run out quickly.) The park opened at 9, and we are proud to say that we rode Soarin’ 3 times before noon…which is quite a feat!

That afternoon our friends, Richard and Shelly, came by the RV for a visit. We met them last year at Sunset King RV Resort in DeFuniak Springs, FL, where Richard was the Activities Director. They work a few months each winter at Disney World, so when they found out we’d be in town, plans were made to get together. After several hours of catching up, we decided to meet at Magic Kingdom the next afternoon. After going on a couple rides, checking out the shops, watching the parade, and getting a bite to eat, we decided to head over towards the castle. We had read last year that a new design had been created for lighting Cinderella’s castle for Christmas, and the pictures we had seen were beautiful. Let’s just say that the pictures do not do this spectacular sight justice. More than 200,000 tiny white lights are attached to netting that drape over the castle creating a glistening icicle effect. During the day, you cannot see any of the lights or netting and then magically at night they are turned on, and the sight is truly stunning.

















Thurs. morning we took Scott to Animal Kingdom. We rode the Kilimanjaro Safari twice, and then made it over in time to see the Festival of the Lion King, always an energetic and fun show. Afterwards while standing outside, Gi-Tar Dan sang a song customized just for us! Very clever how he comes up with this stuff off the top of his head based on some preliminary questions like your name, where you're from, etc. From there we ventured over to It’s Tough To Be A Bug, and Scott marveled at the advances made in 3D effects since the 50s and 60s.










That night Russ and I headed back to Epcot for the fireworks and the Candlelight Processional being narrated by one of Broadway’s greatest stars, Chita Rivera (Sweet Charity, Chicago). She looks amazing for 75! We actually made it in time for the 6:45 performance so were able to get back in line to catch the 8:15 show. One person who made this night’s performances even better than it normal was guest conductor, Jung-Ho Pak (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jung-Ho_Pak). This American born conductor is very animated, sings along most of the time, and as stated by the NY Times “radiates enthusiasm”. We enjoyed watching him as much if not more than the rest of the performance!

Scott joined us Fri. evening at Disney Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM) to see the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. Amid “snow flurries” and Christmas music playing through overhead speakers, more than 4 million lights drape buildings, trees, and everything in sight in the Streets of America section of the park. Back in the mid-80s Jennings Osborne of Little Rock, AR, began decorating his home with lights after his daughter made a simple request for some, but that simple request grew and grew each year into a display of nearly 3 million lights that could be seen from miles away! Unfortunately some of his neighbors complained, and in 1994 the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that it was a public nuisance. But fortunately WDW heard about the display and in 1995 brought the lights to Disney World! Many of the three-dimensional and motion-based displays are those originally displayed at Osborne's home. A few years ago the Spectacle was enhanced to include choreographed “dancing” lights that move in time to the music every 15 minutes thanks to the magic of more than 400 dimmers. There is no extra admission charged for this display, and it’s definitely worth experiencing! From there we ventured over to Muppet Vision 3-D, which we always get a kick out of and figured Scott would, too, since he really enjoyed the "Bug" one at Animal Kingdom, and we were right!

This time of year is generally extremely crowded, and we have never been here this late in Dec. With the poor economy, we’d heard that attendance was down throughout Disney World. In fact at the hotel where Richard and Shelly work, occupancy that normally runs about 90% at the end of Nov. was running at 40%. And though crowd capacity is down, these few weeks before the first of the year will still be very crowded, and hotel occupancy is up. Of course it’s all relative…what may appear crowded to us is actually a slump to the Disney folks.

And in spite of the increasingly growing crowds, wild and crazy kids that Russ and I are, we decided to go over late yesterday to Magic Kingdom to take in the Spectromagic parade and the special Holiday Wishes fireworks. Wow, was it crowded!! Spectromagic is an incredible electrical light parade that combines lights, fiber-optics, and music. In the parade there are 36 floats and your favorite Disney characters are transformed into magical musical light forms. There are 600,000 miniature lights and over 100 miles of fiber optic strands. The lights are dimmed along the parade route, and the sights and sounds are truly amazing. Russ and I love the musical score that accompanies the parade. Afterwards we decided to walk towards the front of the park to watch the fireworks so we could make a quick exit when they finished. It was wall-to-wall people, shoulder-to-shoulder all the way down Main Street as you can see in this photo Russ shot! We’ve heard that this is how it is all day on Christmas Day, and as of this writing, we are not planning to be there that day!! The holiday version of the fireworks was pretty much the same as the those done nightly only these were performed to Christmas music instead, but still fun and beautiful nonetheless.

I’m sure it seems like we’ve had an incredibly busy week, but that’s the beauty of having the annual pass. We can go to any of the parks for just a couple hours or stop in just to see the fireworks. Not sure how much we’ll visit the parks next week though, because Christmas week will be a zoo! So where’s that recession?? ;-)

Florida, Here We Come!

The time had finally arrived for the Big 12 Championship. Through a contact of Steve’s, we had purchased tickets when they were first offered back in March. The plan had been to meet Steve, Patty, John, and Deborah in Kansas City, MO, on Sat., Dec. 6, at Arrowhead Stadium should the Missouri Tigers win the Big 12 North Division and play in the Championship game that night. If it turned out that they wouldn’t be playing, then all figured we’d easily be able to sell the tickets. Well, as you already know, they did win the Division, and we were looking forward to the game, though the prospect of facing the mighty Oklahoma Sooners was a little daunting.

John and Deborah decided not to make the trip, so Steve bought the tickets for his kids who live in KC, and on the way to the hotel, Steve and Patty stopped by the RV for a brief visit. Patty was feeling a little under the weather and had decided not to attend the game but wanted to come by and see us. The day was cold and overcast but at least no rain or snow this week! Russ and I left early enough to catch the Mizzou pep rally at 5:15, and then caught up with Steve, Marci, and Dave before heading into the stadium. Our seats were pretty high up but on about the 20-yard line and a great view.

The wind was blowing as the game began and didn’t stop the entire night. As you can see in the photos, we were well bundled but it just cut right through and our toes were freezing even with layers of socks AND my fur lined boots! There were about 75,000 in attendance and split fairly evenly between black/gold (MU) and red/white (OU).

The game started out somewhat promising with the Tigers only being down 3 points in the beginning of the 2nd quarter, but then it turned ugly. It wasn’t even close. We had held out a slim hope that the Tigers could pull off a win against the Sooners, but it wasn’t to be. In fact, it was pretty much of a blowout. We left shortly after the 4th quarter began, and the score was 48-21. Final score: 62-21. OU does love to run up the score! So Oklahoma will get to play for the National Championship in Miami on Jan. 8. But the Tigers season isn’t over. They will play in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Dec. 29, but we are not planning to attend the game.

Sun. morning we awoke early to start heading for warmer weather and our home for the next 4-1/2 months, Clermont, FL (just outside Orlando). We drove nearly all day, finally stopping at a Wal-Mart parking lot in Batesville, MS, around 6pm to spend the night. The next morning we were up early again driving to Denham Springs, LA, to pick up a U-Haul trailer. Since we really no longer have any ties to Baton Rouge (except for friends), the plan was to get all of our stuff out of the storage unit and move it to a unit closer to where we’ll be in FL giving us the opportunity to eBay some more stuff if we so choose. Russ would tow the trailer behind the RV, and I would follow him the rest of the way in the car. Loading everything into the trailer took longer than anticipated, and about 6pm we filled up the gas tanks and drove about 35 miles down the highway to spend the night in the Camping World parking lot in Hammond, LA. After getting situated, we soon discovered a problem with our electrical system. For some reason our four “house” batteries were not charging, which means we were low on power for running TV, clocks, radio, microwave, basically everything. We checked the batteries and the water level was pretty low, so we filled each cell, but the internal readings were going crazy. We were exhausted so just went to bed. There are two additional gel batteries that operate like your car battery to start the engine so there was no problem there. Just minimal power for everything else. We drove another 480 miles the next day, spending the night at the Wal-Mart in Live Oak, FL. The internal power was even lower than before but fortunately the outside weather was nice enough that we could get by with leaving our bedroom windows open. Wed. morning we hit the road early with another 180 miles to go to our final destination. We arrived at the new storage center around noon with temperatures in the high 70s. Ahhhh…warm weather finally! But some people are just never happy. As we were unloading the trailer, car, and RV (since not everything would fit in the trailer), the sweat boring from our brows, we were wishing for a little cloud cover and cooler temperature! Our home for the next few months, Lake Magic RV Resort, is only a few miles down the road from the storage center, and we finally arrived there about 3pm, hot, tired, and hungry…and without much power even after plugging into the 50 amp service. See, the inverter converts 12 volt into 110 power, and even when you’re plugged into 110, if your batteries are shot, nothing will work correctly. Thurs. morning we drove down the road to Camping Connections, who confirmed our suspicions about the batteries. Fortunately they had 4 of the kind we needed in stock (these things aren’t cheap!), and for $35 they would come to the campground to install them instead of us having to drive the rig there. That was well worth the money!

So now we are up and running again, and can now hopefully start to enjoy our time here in the land of Walt Disney World. In fact Thurs. night Russ and I drove over to the Transportation & Ticket Center, walked onto the ferry that takes you across the lagoon to Magic Kingdom, and after making a couple round trips, watched the fireworks from the ferry boat. You get a whole different perspective seeing them from there and as always, they were quite spectacular.

Family, Football, & Snow!

It’s been several years since we’ve spent Thanksgiving with any of our family members so how nice it was to be invited to our nephew Ron’s place in Lamar, MO, and be close enough to accept! Thurs. morning we drove the RV about 120 miles north from Branson to his ranch. Ron’s dad is Russ’ brother, and it’s probably been a little over 10 years since we’ve seen him which was when he visited us at our home in Lancaster, CA. He and his lovely wife, Kim, have roughly 200 acres, 23 head of cattle, and 3 horses. When not working their fulltime jobs, they have spent every minute working the ranch, building a temporary barn/house, erecting fences, and clearing brush. Long range plans include building a log cabin and barn for the horses. Upon arriving we were greeted by their dogs, Oakley and Lucy, who were anxious to meet Mikey and Abby! And they were anxious to meet the horses and cows!! Ron deep fried a turkey, and Kim cooked up a yummy potato casserole dish, homemade rolls, green beans, and asparagus. Kim’s parents, Caroline and Henry, joined us as did her son, Austin, who was home from college, along with his new Australian Shepherd puppy named Junebug…an absolutely adorable cutie!! The food was great but it’s the company that makes the meal special, and we were blessed to spend it with such wonderful people.

We spent the night in our RV parked alongside their house. The next morning Kim had to work, so we took Ron and Austin out to breakfast. On the way he drove us past the home in Lamar that was the birthplace of Pres. Harry S. Truman. When we returned, Ron gave us a driving tour of his property. He’s an avid fisherman and hunter and has half a dozen deer stands scattered throughout and stocked his 3 lakes with croppie. Ron brought along his AR-15 rifle so Russ could do some target practice, which he hasn’t done in over 40 years. Finally it was time for us to hit the road for Kansas City. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit, though brief, and hopefully we’ll be able to visit again soon.













Earlier in the week the weather forecast for Sat.’s football game was to be in the 50s, but by the time Fri. arrived, the forecast was for rain and/or snow flurries with a high of 44. Quite frankly, I don’t believe it ever reached that high, hovering more around 35! We were excited about this game against the University of Kansas Jayhawks as we were the definite favorite to win. The Tigers had already clinched the Big 12 North Division title to play in the Big 12 Championship next Sat., but this game against KU is a huge rivalry and a matter of pride. Known as the Border Showdown (formerly Border War), it is the oldest rivalry west of the Mississippi (going back 150 years), and the second-most-played rivalry in college football history. Former Kansas coach Don Fambrough when once urged by doctors to head across the state line to Kansas City, MO, for medical attention, exclaimed "I'll die first!” Missouri's former basketball coach Norm Stewart would have his players spend the night in Kansas City, MO, before playing at Kansas, and going so far as requiring the team bus to buy its gas at a MO filling station as he did not want to put any money into the KS economy. Russ has tried to follow that philosophy as well though in Oct. we did spend a week in KS but spent as little money as possible!

Gameday had arrived, and we dressed as warmly as possible even wearing longjohns under our slacks. One item that I had not given away when we hit the road was my pair of fur lined waterproof boots and boy was I glad of that Sat.! We also packed a couple of rain ponchos in the camera bag to be on the safe side. The game was being held at Arrowhead Stadium, home to the Kansas City Chiefs pro football team, and we were to meet Dave Wells and his girlfriend, Madonna, in the parking lot for some pre-game tailgating. Dave was the person responsible for helping us get tickets for all these away games we’ve attended and had our tickets for this game. The game was to start at 11:30 AM but we had heard horror stories of the traffic jams that generally occurred with these games. Our campground is only 20 miles from the stadium, but we left at 8:30 to be safe. As we exited the off ramp, snow had finally found us and flurries began to fall. Though there were several hundred cars already parked in the various lots at the stadium, the traffic was smooth flowing. The powers-that-be had devised a more streamline system this year, and we were parked by 8:30. As luck would have it, we found Dave within a few minutes as he was parked only a couple rows up from us. His daughter, Jessica, her boyfriend, Alan, and a couple other friends (all Mizzou grads) were already well into the tailgating spirit! Alan made me some yummy fruit drink that he swears had lots of vodka in it but you sure couldn’t taste it! LOL

Dave, Madonna, Russ, and I decided to walk over to the Missouri pep rally tent and got there just in time to see what is known as the Tiger Walk. Two hours before kickoff, fans are encouraged to join the band, cheerleaders, and Golden Girls to greet the team as they make their way off the bus into the stadium. Quite a nice crowd had assembled, cheering the guys on, and then slowly ventured into the very nice, warm enclosed tent. Hmmm, maybe we should just stay in here and watch the game on one of the many TVs? Soon the pep band arrived followed by the cheerleaders and the mascot, Truman, leading everyone in the Missouri fight song and all several other traditional songs and cheers to get everyone pumped for the game. Rousing speeches were given by the Chancellor and the Athletic Director, and then it was time to head into the stadium though game time was an hour away. We knew security would be tight slowing down entry into the stadium but totally understand the need. As we climbed the spiral ramps towards our seats, we could see the traffic lined up out on the main road and were really glad we arrived early. As we found our seats, the flurries began to mix with a slight rain, so we put our plastic ponchos on over our coats. The rain let up but the snow came down the entire game, coming down even harder with about 8 minutes left to go, but never did stick. Because I had been busy taking pictures, I didn’t keep my hands under the poncho and consequently my gloves got soaked, and Russ' feet were cold and damp in his tennis shoes.

With an attendance of over 79,000, it was an exciting game, especially in the 4th quarter, but unfortunately the Tigers did not prevail. The outcome was a major upset with the Jayhawks winning 40-37, and the KS fans going wild. This was to be the Tigers’ year and that was part of the reason we chose this particular time to follow the team. They’ve done very well but not as well as had been anticipated by many. And though a win this Sat. against #2 ranked Oklahoma Sooners may be improbable, it’s not entirely impossible. Stranger things have happened. But to those who would criticize the team and the coaches, we remind them that the team still had a winning season, is playing for the division title, and will be playing in a Bowl game. This class of 2008 has the most victories by a senior group in the history of the Mizzou program. They have played hard with dignity and class. We’ve had a blast following the team and made some great memories. We are very proud of our Tigers.

The snow continued to fall Sat. night and we awoke to about an inch accumulation Sun. morning. Abby loved it! Mikey wanted to get back inside where it was warm. By the afternoon, most of it had melted. Though there has been no more snow thus far, it continues to be cold with highs in the 30s/40s, lows in the 20s.

As I finish writing this entry, we’re waiting for a call from the local Saturn dealership telling us when someone will be coming to pick us up. A few weeks ago we began hearing a strange noise under the hood and decided it was best to have it looked at before heading to Florida since I will be driving the car from Baton Rouge to Orlando while Russ is towing a trailer behind the RV filled with our storage unit belongings. We took the car in yesterday and turns out it was a pulley system that had broken. The tech said the car probably would not have made the trip to FL so good thing we had it checked. They drove us back to the campground, ordered the part, and this morning fixed it…all under warranty.

Sat. will be the Big 12 Championship held here in KC, MO, and our friends Steve and Patty are driving in from St. Louis to attend the game with us. We’re looking forward to seeing them and cheering on our team. Regardless the outcome, I’m sure we’ll have a good time as friends always do. Because as Russ has written previously, the game is meant to transcend time and is really not about wins and losses, but about relationships and traditions.