Telling Stories

As most of you know, one of our favorite things about Disney World at Christmas is the Candlelight Processional.  A 50-piece orchestra led by a distinguished conductor, a mass choir of approximately 200 cast members and high school groups from around the country, members of the nationally

Conductor Dr. John Sinclair

   acclaimed Voices of Liberty, a guest celebrity narrator reading the story of the nativity, a sign language interpreter to translate all that is said and sung…what’s not to love!  The narrators change every few nights, and though they all read the same script and most are very good, some are better than others. This year we saw 5 celebrity narrators we had had missed in previous years.

First up was Andy Garcia (The Godfather Part III, The Untouchables, Ocean’s Eleven trilogy), a fine actor who I assumed would do a splendid job.  Unfortunately we were greatly disappointed.  It wasn’t because he kept breaking into Spanish translation (though that does kind of break the flow), but more that he practically treated it like a comedy routine.  He kept talking about breaking into a dance, made little side comments to the choir behind him, and right before Silent Night he broke into a bad German accent talking about Franz.  We didn’t know if he was adlibbing or if something new had actually been added to the narration, but it didn’t make much sense.

A few nights later the narrator was actress/singer Jodi Benson, best known as the voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid and Barbie in Toy Story 2 & 3.  What a contrast from Andy Garcia!  She read it with such reverence and passion, and as it turns out, there was a new section added to the narration.  When she read the portion before Silent Night, it finally made sense.  It tells how the song came to be written in the early 1800s in Austria. Jodi Benson truly did an outstanding job and is probably now one of our favorites.



Alfre Woodard

Throughout the rest of the month we saw actor Alfre Woodard (St. Elsewhere, Radio, Desperate Housewives), actor Gary Sinise (Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, CSI: NY), and singer-songwriter Amy Grant (Emmanuel, Baby Baby, I Will Remember You).  All were wonderful.  We actually saw Gary Sinise on Christmas Eve, a night we traditionally go to see the Processional when we’re in town.  No matter how many times we see it, we marvel at the beauty and majesty of the sound, the story, and the performers.


Gary Sinise

Amy Grant




Something else that has become a tradition for me is to take a day to myself and go over to Epcot for Holidays Around the World.  Each country brings their unique holiday traditions to life through decorations and Holiday Storytellers.  Though the telling of each tradition is only about 5 minutes long, there’s no real flow to the timing so that you can 

easily go from one country to the next without skipping around and missing some.  Though the first one didn’t start till almost 11:30am, I arrived early figuring I’d have to hassle with traffic and crowds.  Since I was early, I managed to catch the JAMMitors, a humorous trio of “park custodians” who perform live percussion using trashcans, lids, mop buckets, just about anything!  They’re pretty talented!

I made my way over to France for Pere Noel…even got my picture taken with him afterwards. I was trying to see some I hadn’t seen in a couple of years, so over the next few hours I visited Italy for La Befana, Germany for Helga and the Nutcracker, and my favorite, Julenissen and Sigrid in Norway

(below right) though they didn’t come on till 2:45pm and were the last that I planned to see that day.  In between my “scheduled stops”, I was able to enjoy the music of Mexico, the drums of Japan, and watch Reinhard create his hand blown glass ornaments in Germany.

In between I also visited America because though I had seen Kwanzaa and Santa Claus before, I had never seen the Hanukkah storyteller.  I know the story but the Disney cast members always do such a wonderful job, and Danielle was no exception.  Her presentation was held inside the American Adventure building, and

immediately following I found myself a seat there in the rotunda to await the Voices of Liberty, an 8 member a cappella group.  Dressed in period costume, they generally perform patriotic songs, but of course during the Christmas season they sing carols.  I just love listening to them!

As I was exiting the building, the colonial-era Spirit of America Fife & Drum Corps came marching along playing “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, stopping in front to perform their patriotic set.  I decided to stay and listen instead of heading to another country, and I’m so glad I did.  I had forgotten how good they are. 

Besides playing Grand Old Flag and God Bless America, they asked all the children come out front and lead everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance, and then we were all invited to sing the national anthem.  It only lasts 10 minutes but is such a feel good experience.

And speaking of feeling good, that’s exactly what Joyful! A Gospel Celebration of the Season does for you!  This muscial act consists of the group D’Vine Voices and their band who “blend gospel and inspirational songs with the sounds of R&B, jazz, and urban-inspired music”.  From the moment they hit

the stage, their high energy and enthusiastic performance had me moving and clapping along.  You could get worn out just watching them! This was my first time seeing an entire set of this extremely talented group. I was definitely impressed and planned to catch them again another day.

Expanding the Magic

This winter we’re staying at Lake Magic RV Resort in Clermont, FL, a place we’ve stayed at in the past partly because of its relatively close proximity to Disney World.  Our site is located towards the back and relatively quiet away from the front entrance but not a far walk from the clubhouse.  We even have wildlife here...sandhill cranes, garter snakes, and lizards galore, like these two that got into a little sparring match on the picnic table!   Now that the refrigerator issue was resolved, we could finally put up our Christmas decorations.  No, Abby, isn’t part of the décor, she’s just curious as to what I’m doing. J

A few days after we arrived, we headed over to Magic Kingdom late one afternoon to pick up our annual passes.  Of course the place was all decked out in its Christmas best, toy soldiers and candy canes greeting us as we entered.

 

     Walt Disney World is always evolving to make it the best experience for everyone who enters its gates.  The newest change is Fantasyland, the largest expansion in Magic Kingdom history that doubles the size of the

   original Fantasyland.  It’s divided into different themed areas, the first of which we entered being Storybook Circus complete with colorful circus tents and Disney characters including an expanded Dumbo ride.   In the Big Top Souvenirs shop cast members were
     busy decorating caramel apples like Mickey Mouse to be added to the yummy display case.  We enjoyed walking around, checking out the sites but didn’t board any of the rides.
 

 

   From there we walked towards the Enchanted Forest which is inspired by The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.  There’s a ride called Under the Sea-Journey of the Little Mermaid, which tells Ariel's story through song while you ride in a giant clamshell.  Of course, it’s mainly geared towards
  little kids and is already a very popular ride requiring us to get a Fastpass, but we enjoyed the relaxed journey under the sea.  Situated on top of a mountain (aka Magic Kingdom’s newest restaurant, Be Our Guest) sits the Beast’s Castle, a true study in the art of forced perspective. There are a couple other places in this area that we decided to check out at another time.

 

The Fantasyland expansion will continue over the next couple of years with the addition of the Princess Fairytale Hall opening in 2013 and the Seven Dwarfs Mine opening in 2014.

We ventured over for a ride on It’s A Small World and marveled at the beauty of Cinderella’s Castle as we made our way to the park’s exit.  We managed to catch the monorail to Epcot in time to watch the fireworks, Illuminations: Reflections of Earth before heading home.  Just another

magical day in the happiest place on earth.


 

We Did It!



Old cooling unit

Earlier this month, it was finally determined that the refrigerator’s blown cooling unit was not covered under the recall. Russ had been doing quite a bit of research online and had talked to a few other RVers.  We learned that a number of folks are putting residential refrigerators into their rigs when their old one needs to be replaced, but for us that would not work well since we do a lot of drycamping and residential units are not made to handle that for more than a day or two.  As you know, we sometimes drycamp for a month at a time!

 

The decision was made to purchase an Amish built replacement cooling unit from RV Cooling Unit Warehouse (http://rvcoolingunit.com/1200LR-Norcold-Brand-New-Cooling-Unit-built-by-the-Amish-P13259.aspx) at a cost of about $1,100.  Russ had watched several how to videos posted by folks who had installed it themselves, and he felt we could tackle the job saving us $800-
$900 in labor.  This was going to require pulling the fridge out from the cabinet wall unit, and since it sits about a foot off the floor because of a drawer underneath, he was going to need to build a sturdy box to hold the 200 lb. fridge.  First thing we did, though, was to remove the doors which decreased the weight by about 50 lbs.

 

Once the unit was ordered and the box built, it was fairly easy to pull the fridge from the cabinet area.  We managed to
remove the old cooling unit, and made sure to label every wire and take plenty of pictures as we went along as the videos had suggested (sure did come in handy later!)

 

          The new cooling unit arrived within a few days, and the minute it did, one of our neighbors came over to check it out and see if he could help.  Turns out he’s a former electrician and very handy with all manner of things…and always
looking for projects to do!  He was truly a godsend because with his help we were much further along by the end of that first day than if Russ and I had been doing it all by ourselves.

 

We had to make sure all seals were set and dried before we could test it, and our new friend came over periodically to see how we were doing.  Once everything was connected and set, we crossed our fingers, plugged it in, and let it run for a day.  All

New cooling unit installed

seemed to be working well with no leaks and the fridge was getting cold…yay!!  In fact it was almost too cold, but we’d heard that these units were superior and much more efficient.  Finally we were able to put the fridge back in its place and transfer the food items from the cooler back into their rightful place.  I think we definitely amazed ourselves at completing this task and learned a lot along the way.

Merry Christmas!

“He was born in an obscure village; the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty. Then he became an itinerant preacher.

He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a house. He never went to college. He never visited a big city. He never traveled more than two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things usually associated with greatness. He had no credentials but himself.

He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is considered by many to be the central figure of the human race, and the leader of mankind’s progress. All the armies that have ever marched, all the navies that have ever sailed, all the parliaments that have ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned put together, have not affected the life of mankind on earth as powerfully as that one solitary life.” - from the Candlelight Processional & written by Dr. James Allan Francis

 

May the joy, love, hope, and peace of Christmas be with you always.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
from Russ and Susan

Heading South

On our way south, we parked at Grayton Beach State Park (GraytonBeach) and ran into Henrik and Anne, RV friends who we hadn’t seen in a couple of years.  It was so great to see them!  Since we were together, Henrik decided it was time for his and Russ’ golf rematch, and Henrik was determined to win (said he’d been practicing for 2-1/2
years since they’re last match).  Anne played as well while I was her personal cart driver.  The match was close, but Henrik prevailed much to his delight!  (However that still puts him one win behind Russ…tee hee)  That night they insisted on treating us to dinner at P.F. Chang’s (www.pfchangs.com), but we think it was because Henrik wanted to brag on his win. He made a point of showing our server his winning score card!  LOL  The meal and the company were wonderful as always.

We decided to stay a couple more days at Grayton Beach since the weather was nice and ice was readily available for the cooler.  Unfortunately the water was a little too chilly to get into, but Russ and I did at least take a short walk on the beach.  It may only be the Gulf and not the ocean, but I still love the water.  Now it was time to head for Orlando.

Thanksgiving was spent with our friends in Ocala who had invited us to join them.  They had spent the previous month in the Keys, and their neighbor said there was no way she was allowing them to come home after a month away to cook a big dinner even though we had offered to help.  She said we were all going to her house for the
   big day as she was already planning to cook a big dinner and had other company coming. There were to be no ifs, ands, or buts about it…the matter was settled.  We were all coming to her place for Thanksgiving and were not to bring a thing!  There were about a dozen of us at Paula and Jim’s, and “the
   boys” had their own table.  Dinner was at 1pm, and plans were made to head down to The Villages around 5pm to watch that night’s band at the outdoor gazebo, Rocky and the Rollers (http://rockyandtherollers.com/) playing hits from the 50s and 60s.  The audience really gets into it, dancing, clapping, and singing
along (our turkey day hosts are seated on the right in the picture above left).  Thanks so much to Paula and Jim for including us and making the holiday special.  And thanks to Beth and Dick for being such great hosts and friends who really know how to make folks feel at home.

Casino Camping

*Critters we’ve seen on our 2012 trip so far: prairie dog, bison, bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, mule deer, llama, white tail deer, elk, grizzly, coyote, badger, Uinta ground squirrel, black bear, yellow-bellied marmot, wolf, bullsnake, moose, wild turkey

*Birds we’ve seen on our 2012 trip so far: Western meadowlark, magpie, wild turkey, killdeer, osprey, red-naped sapsucker, sandhill crane, bald eagle, mountain bluebird

*National Parks/Monuments visited on 2012 trip so far: 3

*State Parks visited on 2012 trip so far: 1

[Click on any photo to enlarge for better viewing.]

We arrived in St. Louis with plans to stay only about a week or so.  As you know we usually stay at the KOA in Eureka just south of the city limits, but since we weren’t going to stay a month and the daily cost was too high, we opted to park in the Harrah’s Casino parking lot in Earth City just west of the city limits.  The far lot in the back is where buses and semis park, and we had stayed there a couple nights in the past.

Though we didn’t plan to stay in town long, we made plans with a few people and Russ even fit in a couple rounds of golf.  Most of our time was spent up in north county but we also made a couple trips to the south county area.

 

  One of those trips south was to see Russ’ brother and his wife.  Ron and Jackie live in the city of Wentzville, but it’s a nice drive and we made plans to visit for a few hours.  Jackie has an incredible flower garden on the

     farm across from their house, and though the roses were fading, her mums were in full bloom. An added bonus to this trip was that their son, Ronnie, and his wife, Kim, were planning to be there, too, and we hadn’t sent them in a few years.  We had a great visit, and it was just a shame we couldn’t stay longer.

Shortly after we arrived in town we learned that our friend, Patty, would be having major surgery, and since their house was only about 15 min. from us, we offered to help out in any way we could.  We surprised Steve the day of surgery and sat with him at the hospital for 6 hours…we’re sure it made the time go by faster.  All turned out great, and she was doing so well that she went home within a couple of days!
 

It was the perfect time to be in St. Louis because Cardinals fever was high throughout the city.  The defending World Champions had not been counted to do much this season what with all the personnel changes and injuries, but true to form, they constantly battled back.  Our team had clinched a wild card slot into the post season,

 and beat Atlanta to advance to the NL Division Series, and then miraculously beat Washington to advance to the NL Championship Series. However, that’s where the dream ended. San Francisco won out and advanced to the World Series.  We didn’t attend any games in person but watched every single one on TV either at our place or a friend’s.

Of course staying up in the north end of town put us closer to one of our favorite places, Lombardo’s Restaurant (Lombardo’s), and we made sure to go on a day when Angelo and Carmen were both working.  We were able to visit a couple of times and during one of those stops, Carmen asked if we’d like a couple tickets to Sunday’s Rams game.  Of course we said yes!

They were scheduled to play the Green Bay Packers, and we arrived early to soak in some of the tailgating atmosphere. There were lots of Packers fans with many wearing their signature “cheeseheads”, but one Rams fan made sure everyone knew how he felt about the rivalry…what a hoot!

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Inside we found our seats in the endzone only 7 rows from the field, and soon Carmen, his wife, their daughter, and her son joined us.  Inside the dome sound is magnified, and we could see there were quite a number of Packers fans, but it wasn’t until their team

     scored their first points that we realized just how many.  The sound was so loud you would have thought we were in Green Bay!  I always think it’s fun to attend these games in person but it would have been better had the Rams won…they lost 30 – 20.

While in town I got together with high school friends a couple of times, whether at somebody’s house, the bowling alley, shopping, or a restaurant.  Just fun to get together.  On one occasion, Gloria and I even made plans to wear the matching Yellowstone t-shirts she

      bought us when she and her husband visited.  Think
anyone mistook us for twins??  On another day we visited her mom at her new apartment and had a nice visit.

Seems our stay kept getting extended a little longer for one reason or another.  The last thing that extended it was when our fridge stopped working!  Fortunately with Steve and Patty only living 15 min. away we borrowed a cooler from them and put a bunch of other stuff in their spare refrigerator/freezer.  Russ found a place not far away to take the RV, and it took Kevin at Rec Tec (http://www.rectecinc.net/) only a couple of minutes to discover it was a blown cooling unit.  There had been a recall on the Norcold refrigerators, but he was fairly certain this would not be covered.  We returned to our casino home, and Russ called Norcold to see what they would say. Of course, the initial answer was no, so he went round with them.  They gave him another number to call and was told once the claim was filed, it could take 4 – 6 weeks before we’d have an answer as to whether or not it would be covered. Good grief!  In the meantime, while Russ did a lot of internet research, Kevin did some checking for us and found it would cost about $2,500 for a replacement unit plus labor (about $100/hr), or a whole new fridge for about $4,000 plus labor (labor would take about 8 hours…yikes!)  For those who don’t know RVs, the reason for the high costs is because the fridge needs to be able to run on electric, battery, or propane (for when you have no hookups like in the casino lot).  This little setback drastically altered our plans as we decided it was best that we head south to FL right away instead of going east because whether or not it was covered under the recall, there were more options available in Orlando.  We bought a 70 qt. cooler, stocked it with the bare necessities, returned Steve and Patty's cooler, and left the remainder of our groceries with them for their use.

They say everything happens for a reason, and there were obviously a couple reasons why our usual Eureka campsite didn’t work out this trip putting us closer to where we needed to be.  Amazingly nobody from the casino bothered us during the 3-1/2 weeks we camped in their lot, and part of the reason may have been because they had recently been sold and were in the middle of changing over from Harrah’s to Hollywood.  We shared meals and good times with several friends, and though we may not have seen everyone we would have liked, all in all it was a great visit.