A Weeklong Celebration

It seems like we spent an entire week celebrating my birthday! Wed. was dinner with Paul and Anne at a place called Manny’s Chop House (www.mannyschophouse.com/). Every Wed. night is buy one get one free fajita night, and the place opens at 4pm but they said we needed to get there by 3:30 because of the crowds. When we arrived, about 70 people were already in line! They opened the doors at 3:45, we had a table within about 5 minutes, and a couple minutes later all the tables were taken, and they were passing out beepers. Our server said that the place is packed like that every night. Paul and Anne got the special of the day (beef medallions) that came with "Manny’s endless salad bowl" while we just got the fajitas. They didn’t come with beans or rice, but the meat provided on the sizzling, steaming plates and served with tortillas was more than enough of a meal! Good meal…good friends.

Thurs., March 25, was my birthday, and we headed to Epcot to meet up with Dick and Beth, another couple we had met down in the Keys. (In fact, Dick is the one who taught me to kayak.) They had recently moved from NJ into their new home about an hour north of here and were going to be staying in their RV at Ft. Wilderness, the Disney campground, with son, daughter-in-law, and grandkids for 3 days. Beth had e-mailed about the four of us getting together so we invited them to join us for a late lunch at the Biergarten restaurant at the Germany pavilion. It’s served buffet style with an oompah band performing a 20 min. show every hour and is one of my favorite places to eat at Epcot. We hadn’t been there in about a year and a half so I was really looking forward to it. As expected, the food was great, the band fun, and our server along with two others came to sing happy birthday to me in German!

Afterwards we arrived at the American pavilion in time to catch the Spirit of America Fife & Drum Corps, went inside to listen to the a cappella group Voices of Liberty, and then into the auditorium to watch The American Adventure, a 30-minute show highlighting events in American history featuring audio-animatronics figures and film, and narrated by Ben Franklin and Mark Twain. Dick and Beth had never seen it before and thoroughly enjoyed it.

We drove them back to Ft. Wilderness, met the family (who had just returned), and made a plan to all meet the next night for the Flower Power Concert series featuring Starship Starring Mickey Thomas (http://www.mickeythomas.com/). We had seen them at Epcot in Oct., and when we heard they’d be back in Apr., it was definitely on our must see list...and once again they were awesome!! We're just continually amazed at the energy and powerful voice of Stephanie, the gal sharing lead vocals with Mickey. We had great seats for both shows we attended, and they sang such Starship hits as Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now, Somebody to Love, and at both shows had the place rockin’ with We Built This City. During the last show, Mickey also broke out the acoustic guitar and seemed to surprise even the band with his rendition of Rocky Raccoon. Excellent, excellent shows!! Following the performances we scoped out a location for the Illuminations fireworks…another great day with good friends.

Several weeks earlier I had planned to spend Sat. with my friend, Linda, and her daughter, Angela, who live in Tampa. They arrived around 11am, we stopped for lunch at Flippers Pizzeria, and then headed for miniature golf at Disney’s Fantasia Gardens. I can’t even remember the last time I played miniature golf, and of course, Disney makes it lots of fun…Angela had a blast! Afterwards we rode the monorail, checked out the animals at Animal Kingdom Lodge, and finished with ice cream at Ghirardelli’s in Downtown Disney. What a great day!



















Sun. afternoon we had quite a pleasant surprise when a knock on our door proved to be from our Danish friends, Anne and Henrik! We had met them 2-1/2 years ago in DeFuniak Springs, FL, when we had all stayed at the same campground. Though they were only there for three days, we became fast friends and have continued to stay in touch. Over the last couple of years, they have been in the states for 6 months at a time, but it seems we were always at opposite ends of the country. This year they were going to be in Orlando when we were, had asked where we were staying, and made plans to stay at the same place starting April 5 for three days. So what a surprise when they knocked on the door March 28th! They were staying up the road, and the plans they made had changed so decided to pop by for a visit. Henrik brought some special beers for him and Russ, and I broke out a bottle of wine for Anne and me. We spent a couple hours outside catching up and just enjoying each other’s company. The perfect end to a great week.

Raiders, Sales, & Puppy Dog Tails

Last week kicked off with another visit to Epcot for the Flower Power Concert Series featuring Paul Revere & the Raiders. We arrived in time for the 5:15 show but had to sit pretty far back. As always, though, it was a fun show with good music. We’ve seen them there a couple of times before and much of the show is the same, but he did have a few new jokes plus lead singer Darren did a snippet of an imitation of Donald Duck singing Led Zeppelin. OK, you had to be there…it was hysterical. Paul recently turned 72 and still has boundless energy with no sign of stopping anytime soon. Afterwards we got back in line to catch the 6:30 show, and this time we were on the aisle about 10 rows from the stage. Much better for photo opportunities especially when the guitarist, bass player, and Darren came down into the audience!

The only other item of interest this week was a yard sale held at the campground Sat. I decided to set out a few things…something to do for a couple hours. At the very last minute (after this photo was taken), Russ decided to put out the 9’ x 12’ outdoor mat that we’d only used a few times in the last 3 years. If it sold, great; if not, then we’d continue to carry it with us. They’re selling for about $65 now, and though we only paid about half of that, we stuck $25 on it for the heck of it. Around noon I was going to start packing up and had only made $5.50 at that point. A couple taking a walk stopped to chat, and about half an hour later (we were still chatting!) another couple suddenly drove up, said they had eyed the mat earlier, and bought it! Woohoo! A profitable day of $30.50!

(Entertainment this weekend at Epcot was David Cassidy, but the only night we could go was Sun. and the rain prevented us from going.)

Thought I’d end this entry with a few pictures of some of Mikey’s and Abby’s friends. At left Abby is nose-to-nose with Buffy who lives across from us and is afraid of no one! She acts tough with all the dogs but generally seems to want to play with Abby. In the photo on the right is Bess (black and white) and Mischief. Bess always wants to play and wants attention from everyone while Mischief on the other hand is afraid of big dogs so wants nothing to do with our kids but gladly accepts affection from us. Below left is Pearl with Mikey. She lives a couple sites over, and though when they first met, she snarled at him, now the first thing she does when her people take her out for a walk is look to see if he's lying outside. She’s about the same age as him, has some health issues, and really doesn’t like most other dogs but Mikey's a different story. Maybe they commiserate about their arthritis. :-)

Next week is going to be another busy one…hope the weather cooperates!

First Pajama Party

As mentioned in our last post, we were expecting out-of-town guests, and they would be the first to stay overnight in the RV. Steve and Patty were flying in from St. Louis the evening of Mon., Mar. 8, to spend 5 days with us. Patty had never been to FL and Steve wanted to play some golf (St. Louis winters aren't good for that). The cold weather down here was predicted to lift with at least a couple of warm days while they were here though rain was also forecasted for a couple days.

We had invited them to stay with us and said we were game if they were! You see our sofa folds out to a double bed and goes almost all the way to the kitchen counter when open. It has an air mattress that seemed pretty good to us, but we’d never slept on it so weren’t sure how 5 nights on it would be. Our only concern was getting past the bed when the dogs wanted to go out early in the morning. As it turned out, there was a wide enough gap between the bed and the counter to pass through when you turned sideways. We also needed to plan for where they would put their luggage as we have no extra drawer, cabinet, or dresser space, so we moved things around in the compartments below. It was going to be tight in here with 4 adults, 2 big dogs, and a cat in about 400 sq. ft. for 5 days, and we hoped we’d all still be friends when they left!

We picked them up from the airport, and even though their flight was delayed, we figured we could still make it to see the Magic Kingdom fireworks. They didn’t have tickets and we can’t get them in with our passes, but the fireworks can be seen from many locations for free (some better than others). We took the monorail to the Grand Floridian Resort and watched from the boat dock. Not as impressive as other spots but at least the music and narration were playing over the speakers. On the way home, we stopped for a very late dinner (10pm) at Santa Fe Cattle Co. restaurant (http://www.santafecattleco.com/).

The guys were scheduled to play golf the next day at Legends Golf & Country Club (http://www.legendsgolforlando.com/). We dropped them off about 12:30 since we only had one car, and after a light lunch at Olive Garden, Patty and I headed for Lakeridge Winery. Yep, my second trip in about 10 days! She’d never been to a winery, and I was more than willing to go again! We arrived just in time for one of the tours followed by a sampling of 6 wines. We stopped at a couple of shops on the way back to the RV to feed and walk the dogs, and then it was back to Legends to pick up the guys followed by an excellent dinner at San Jose’s Original Mexican Restaurant right near the golf course (sorry, they don’t have a website).

The next day the guys were scheduled to play golf at Osprey Ridge Golf Club on the Disney property (http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/golf/osprey-ridge-golf-course/). A golfing buddy of Russ’ works part-time at Disney and offered to try to get a tee time for the 3 of them while Steve was in town. Normally it costs $165 to play, but Darryl’s discount would get them on for $30…what a deal on a great course! We picked up Darryl around noon, dropped the guys at the course, and Patty and I were off to see the sights. (This Mickey golf cart is parked right outside the clubhouse…too cute!)

I had decided to take Patty on a modified tour of Disney. As we’ve mentioned before, each of the resorts has their own theming, and she had been really impressed with the beauty and grandeur of the Grand Floridian Mon. night. Today our first stop was the Wilderness Lodge, which is inspired by northwest National Park lodges. The 7-story lobby is magnificent with its lodgepole pine throughout, Native American décor, and an 82-foot-tall fireplace. Out back a mini-waterfall cascades into the swimming pool (where we found a couple ducks and their baby swimming with the guests), and at the far end is an area reminiscent of Yellowstone National Park complete with a small geyser that jets water 120 feet into the air, but we had just missed the eruption.

Next it was on to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, another African-styled resort with rooms overlooking a savannah and roaming wildlife. Within this 7-story lobby, a colorful African mask from Nigeria is displayed that stands 16’ tall and weighs nearly 200 lbs. At the far end of the lobby is a floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the courtyard and savannah where we found zebra, African Spoonbills, giraffes, Roan antelope, Greater Kudu (another form of antelope), and a Red River hog (at right). A cast member, who was originally from Nigeria, was standing nearby, and she told us that until she came to work at Disney World, she had never seen a Red River hog because they are found in Africa’s inland regions…not in Nigeria.

It was time for lunch and we headed to Downtown Disney's T-Rex Cafe, a dinosaur themed restaurant. I had eaten there once before and thought Patty would get a kick out of it. Every 20 min. the restaurant erupts with a “meteor shower”…shooting stars blaze across the ceiling, colors in the “ice cave” change, and all the dinosaurs come to life making a lot of noise. A fun place to see even if you don't eat! After walking through the World of Disney store and past the Legos sculptures, it was time for dessert at Ghirardelli’s Soda Fountain & Chocolate Shop….oh yeah! We still had a little time before picking up the guys so I took her over to Epcot where we boarded the monorail from which she could see some of the Intl. Flower & Garden Festival since it travels through Epcot on part of its journey. After we picked up the guys and dropped Darryl back at his place, dinner was Long John Silver’s. Yes, I realize that seems odd, but there aren’t any close to Steve and he was cravin’ it.

The last two days had been beautiful, sunny, and warm, but alas the weather took a turn for the worse. The guys had planned a day of rest from golf anyway, and we had invited the neighbors to join us that evening for BBQ. The rain started in the morning and stuck around most of the day while we hung out in the RV. About 6:30 it finally stopped for awhile so Russ and Steve could start the pit, but our pork steaks and ribs were going to take 1-1/2 hours to cook, and that was going to make it too late for Paul and Anne, so they took a rain check for another day.

The rain continued into Fri. so no golf again for the guys…thank goodness basketball was on! Patty and I decided to go see Blind Side with Sandra Bullock. What a great, inspiring movie! We’d highly recommend seeing it if you haven’t already. I made chili and cornbread for dinner, and Patty and I finished off the Sangria we had made the day before. Another nice day…except for the weather.

Unfortunately the next day it was time for them to leave and wouldn’t you know, it was sunny and clear though windy. Shame they couldn’t have stayed one more day. We got them to the airport in plenty of time for their flight, and bid a fond farewell. They said the air mattress was way more comfortable than anticipated, and oh, by the way, we’re all still friends!

We've Been Busy!

(It’s been a busy two weeks since our last entry so I'm breaking it up into two separate posts, and this one will cover March 1 – 7.)

March sure started interestingly enough. We had scheduled an 8:30 a.m. appointment for Mar. 1 at Camping World to have an RV and generator oil change (requires over 20 quarts for the RV and about 5 for the generator). Now keep in mind that it’s not as simple as just driving your car in for an oil change. The night before we have to make sure everything is put up and anchored down for the drive, then in the morning bring in the slides and disconnect the water, sewer, and electric. I was going to follow in the car because we'd need to have the dogs and cat with us (couldn’t leave them inside the RV while it’s in the garage being worked on), and we had made a vet appt. at a nearby clinic for the dogs (just routine stuff) since we’d have some time on our hands.

We planned to leave at 7:45 to give us plenty of time, but when Russ turned the key, the RV wouldn’t start. We waited, tried again, but it still wouldn’t turn over. Russ drove the car onto the grass next to the RV’s battery bay and hooked up the jumper cables. It took another 20 min. but finally it started. We had called Camping World to let them know we were running behind and arrived about 25 min. late. We figured this was now going to be an even longer day especially after we learned a couple of their techs had called in sick, but they said it would only be a couple of hours. Maybe this wasn’t going to be such a bad day after all!

The vet appt. wasn’t till 10:15 so we took our time getting there, everything went fine, and when we returned to Camping World, we still had a little time to kill. Pets are allowed in the store, so we loaded Jo’s cat carrier into a shopping cart (shame I didn’t have the camera!), and with the dogs on their leashes, went inside. We walked around a little, and then headed for the waiting area, where we only had to wait about another 15 min. We were back at the campground shortly after noon…much better than we had anticipated when the day began! The dead battery probably had something to do with not letting the RV idle long enough when we'd turn it on occasionally.

The next day we headed over to Animal Kingdom’s Kidani Village (http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/animal-kingdom-villas-kidani/). Our neighbors, Paul and Anne, have been members of the Disney Vacation Club for years, and though they live in their RV, they take a few days here and there to stay in one of the Disney hotels since they have to use their points within a year or lose them. Kidani Village is one of the newest resorts and has an African lodge-style theme with “African-inspired architecture and decorations, from hand-carved columns to intricate patterns that adorn the golden-tone furnishings. Tall floor lamps allude to tall, swaying trees, and ornate hanging fixtures appear to overflow with colorful flora and fauna.” Absolutely beautiful, bright colors! On the map the Village appears to be shaped like a “w” but is actually supposed to resemble the curlicue shape of a water buffalo's horns. Surrounding the Village are the savannahs full of not only native African shrubs and grasses but also plenty of African animals…right outside the rooms!

Anne had invited us over while they were there to watch the animals from their balcony. Sounded like a nice idea since we had not yet seen Kidani Village. (In the pictures you can actually see some of the Village balconies in the background.) It was a little too cool and windy to sit outside the entire time, but we did see several animals and birds. Giraffes gracefully meandered across the grass, munching from tree limbs above their heads, while the Ankole cattle with their massive horns grazed nearby. Zebra were grazing as well, and we spotted Roan antelope in the distance. Some Ruppell’s Griffon vultures and East African crowned cranes ventured over from the other side of the building, and an ostrich strutted its stuff below us. There are many more animals and birds that freely roam the 33 acres of Kidani Village but those are the only ones we saw from the balcony.

Thurs. was my follow-up visit with the surgeon, and I’m doing great…in fact, I drove myself to the appt. She said I’d probably still have some twinges of pain for possibly 6 months but that everything I was experiencing was normal. She released me and said she’d see me in a year….yay!!!

The Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival started this week, and as you may recall from previous years' posts, part of this annual event is the Flower Power Concert Series featuring entertainers from the 60s. Three 35 min. performances are held on Fri., Sat., & Sun. nights by the entertainer at the outdoor American Gardens Theatre, and this weekend was Jose Feliciano, whom we had not seen before. He began the set with the Chico & the Man theme song, which I had totally forgotten he had written. He told several stories about the songs he sang but probably the most interesting was about the first time he appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. Long story short, he didn’t sing on the show but instead played “Flight of the Bumblebee” on his guitar, which he repeated Sat. night. We had also forgotten what a master guitarist he is! Absolutely incredible! Of course, he ended the set with his big hit “Light My Fire”.

We had about 35 min. till the Illuminations fireworks, and on the way to find a spot from where to watch them, we passed the Morocco pavilion where the band, Mo Rockin', was performing. A belly dancer soon joined them, and on this chilly night I was glad to see she had on a "warm" outfit. In fact, the middle section of her costume was flesh material!

Other than that we've been working on eBaying some more stuff we have in storage, and that always entails researching, taking photos, writing up listings, packing what sold, preparing postage labels, and taking packages to the post office. We also were busy this week getting the RV ready for the next week’s out-of-town company…stay tuned!