Not long after I last wrote, our family embarked on a "trip of a lifetime" experience. Since we returned, people have been asking me, "So, how was your trip?" Typically, as often happens after I have such an overwhelming experience, they have been getting mostly quiet responses. "It was good. Very busy, and rather exhausting, but good." Some have heard a bit more than that, but really the truth is that it's hard to put into a few words what that experience really was like, so if you really want to know then here's your chance... I'm writing down my reflections, so I and perhaps my family can remember in future, and I'm happy to share what has happened in the last several weeks, as experiences I feel are worth remembering have happened both during AND beyond our trip.
On Thursday, March 8th, we rented a black GMC Yukon XL, a vehicle much bigger than we normally drive, because we knew travelling with 3 teenagers couped up in a smaller vehicle would be miserable. I went to the bank, fairly last minute, to request some U.S. currency, and came away with a small bundle of 150 $1 bills because that was all the bank had left on hand. My husband commented that I looked like I was headed out to visit some strip clubs (haha), and we were on our way around 3 pm.
The only really heavy snowfall of the year started, and thus we made decision to start our road trip to "the happiest place on Earth" a bit earlier than we had planned. About 4 hours longer than it would have taken if the weather was clear, we found ourselves at the border between Canada and the U.S. at about 10:30 pm. By about 2 am, the roads were clear, and by about 6:30 am we had passed through several toll booths of $1, $2 or $3 each (God knew those $1 bills were useful!), and by about 2:30 pm we at last arrived at our first official destination, the Luray Caverns. I had been here once before, but this was a place I dearly wanted my family to get to enjoy, too. I was once again in awe of the beauty of this place, hidden away deep under the ground, and mostly my family was as well, with one exception... "Is this almost over?" Connor said after walking for about 20 minutes. "It's like watching paint dry." I thought, "Oh well. I tried to show him something more interesting than his computer games," and would think that many more times throughout our trip, it turns out.
At about 9 pm on Friday, March 9th, we found ourselves at a hotel in Statesville, NC, and we were all asleep by about 10:30 pm. By 7 am on Saturday, March 10th, we were back on the road again, and by about supper time we found ourselves very grateful to be at our new home for the week at Terra Verde in Kissimmee, Florida.
Monday was when the real fun began. We headed for "Universal Studios", and our first ride was "E.T. Adventure", which was a rather tame 3D ride that we enjoyed to get us started. We felt like we were riding the bicycle from the movie. Following that, we all went on the 3D indoor coaster "Simpsons Ride", which I'd venture to say was the ride we enjoyed most as a family. Of course, we had to eat at the "Krusty Burger" for lunch!
Given most of us in our family are Harry Potter fans (all except Connor), we had to visit Gringotts Bank and quite enjoyed the indoor thrill ride there. The wait was about 2 hours, but it was also rather entertaining for a good part of the time. Pictures here show the entryway, where the bankers were animated and spoke (and left you feeling a little bit watched and spooked), and also Morgan sporting her new anime shirt from HOT TOPIC the day before as she enjoyed some Butterbeer later as well.
From here, we decided to check out some of the lighter entertainment, including the "Despicable Me Mayhem Minion" ride, as we headed toward what we thought would be our last adventure on our way out.
Tom was greatly disappointed when the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit" was closed due to high winds. This was our last adventure of the day.
On Tuesday, we headed for "Universal Islands of Adventure" (a park to the left instead of right of the same entry you go through for "Universal Studios". What better way to wake up than a roller coaster, right? Tom and I braved riding "The Incredible Hulk Coaster" to get started, which I was relieved was not nearly as scary as it looked after we waited somewhat anxiously in line for about 2 hours!
"Flight of the Hippogriff" was pretty awesome as well - where we felt like we were riding through a Quidditch match on a broom. Of course, Morgan couldn't miss her chance to pose with the Slytherin banner either!
Tom was busy expressing by this point that he was quite bored with it all.. all he really liked so far was the Hulk coaster. The family was getting cranky, so it seemed time to call it a day, but to be honest I wasn't ready yet, so I pushed for "just one more ride"... As I said before, due to winds, we couldn't go on the "Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit" in the other park the day before, and I knew Tom was rather disappointed, so guess where we headed! Really folks, it's not as scary as it looks! It was fun!
Now, the real reason for this trip was that my bucket list has always had "trip to Disney"...
At last, my day came on Wednesday! We headed for the "Magic Kingdom", and a magical day it was.
The crowds were HUGE, to Connor's great dismay, but... One thing I can say about Disney is this... They know how to make sure people have a better time in their parks. Some kind friends advised us the night before, when you go into the park you need to go to Town Hall and mention Connor is diagnosed with autism. They were so right! With all those LONG line-ups in the days before, Connor skipped most of the rides. Kevin didn't mind too much, because he had terrible blisters already, so he and Connor mostly sat around the park waiting for me, Tom and Morgan as we went on rides. Connor was not having a super fantastic time so far, but in Disney it got a bit better. You see, Disney will allow a person with disability to have someone in the family go to the front of the line and request a return time equivalent to if you were going to stand in the line-up. The whole family then gets to go to other places in the park, and then return at or after the return time provided, and then goes through the "Fast Pass" line to very quickly get to the front and enjoy each ride. If we didn't have this, I suspect we wouldn't have done nearly as much, so I feel immense gratitude for this service. I'm sure it's what allowed Connor to actually enjoy some of the day.
We made a bee line for "Space Mountain"! ... We had about a 2 hour wait to actually enjoy it... spent that time riding a carousel. "Space Mountain" seemed like a favourite for Connor - he wanted to go back to it later, but we unfortunately didn't have time to do it. It was a coaster inside, in the dark, with lights and sound, and was quite fast. It was so fast, in fact, that I started to panic part through as I realized my glasses were not as securely tucked away as I meant for them to be. I had stuffed them down my shirt as the ride started, as I had missed tucking them in the pouch they should have been in, so I spent the ride rather tensely trying to keep them from flying out! Kevin didn't like it much either - he was in the very front seat, which I imagine was the scariest place to be, and he hurt a fair bit when it was over.
After this, we needed something a little more tame, and I had set us up for Fast Pass entry to "Jungle Cruise", so we ended up there... where Morgan was especially delighted by all the puns our tour guide shared. Morgan LOVES to tell you jokes with puns in them, you will know if you spend any time with her these days.
At this point, everyone seemed to be a bit cranky, but again I wasn't letting them all just leave. I pushed for more, and we ended up at the "Mad Tea Party", where I think Connor and Morgan had a little too much fun "spinning" me around in the tea cups. Blecch. I was REALLY dizzy after that for a short while, but LOVED the smiles on their faces.
We went to a "Monsters Inc. Laugh Factory" show as well. Early in the show, suddenly one audience member appeared on camera on the screen up front, and the person was put on the spot to dance for everyone. It was quite comical, but also a bit frightening as we all held our breath I suppose hoping we wouldn't be next. Then the moment came... To Tom's dismay, but our joy, Tom's face suddenly appeared on the left screen up front and they told a story about him as "Randall", along with some other audience members. It was a good time at Tom's experience :-)
Next, we headed toward the next ride we had on Fast Pass - "Thunder Mountain". Tom was experiencing some nasty reflux by this point, really not at all happy we were making him stay at the park longer... but I wasn't leaving yet! We came all this way and didn't see the fireworks yet! We observed a family of ducks and took it easy at the "Frontier Trading Post" for a while, then Connor, Morgan and I went on the ride. It was a fun ride, but pretty tame compared to some of the others, so Tom didn't miss too much at least.
We did a bit more walking, had some food and then, as Kevin put it, "fireworks elsewhere were forever ruined". It was really spectacular, a "dream come true" moment for me. I heard someone nearby say, "I think I'm going to cry", and I confess I did a bit as Tinkerbell went soaring overhead through the amazing lights and sounds.
As we were walking out, Connor advised us though - "That hurt my heart, a lot." Sadly, we realized too late that the sound of that was a bit too much for Connor, as he has very over-sensitive hearing. If you have a child with this condition that often comes with autism, my recommendation is that you bring some noise cancelling headphones. Wish we had :(
Connor is an early riser, so we went for a walk in the gated community we were staying in, letting others sleep in. Dad had mentioned that if you spray a gecko with cold water then it will freeze for a few moments, so of course we had to try that! It didn't really work for us, but we had fun trying, and I'm sure the strangers in the neighbourhood thought we were a bit nuts walking around with a spray bottle ... Glad we didn't see alligators! Connor seemed to enjoy this at least.
I also felt I had to the see the "Tree of Life". Wow!
After this ride, I went into a bit of a panic attack... (You know what they say about karma?) Suddenly, I couldn't find my credit card, which I was certain I had in my coat pocket. We wasted about 30 minutes as I tried to find it, while later I discovered it tucked away in our vehicle. Even so, the walk around the "World Showcase" did not disappoint... The "International Flower Garden Festival" meant there were some very amazing displays of characters made from flowers, and the Eiffel tower and various buildings were really something to behold as well.
I suppose our trip can be summed up quite simply... "Good things come to those who wait"...and wait, and wait, and wait. Mostly, the experience involved a LOT of waiting in lines. For each wait for about 30 minutes or up to 2 hours, we would go on a ride adventure that typically would last less than 5 minutes. Still, there was another upside! Before this trip, if I asked Connor about school, he'd tell me he hated it. This is a sort of funny-but-not-funny moment in my family life... On Monday, when Connor arrived home, as usual I asked about his day. "It was pretty good. I sort of liked it. It wasn't that trip! I get to go on my computer now."... This Mom tried, really hard, to show her boy there is more to life than computers. Perhaps someday he'll "get that", right? :)
Speaking of things many of us are waiting for... on this Easter holiday.
In the past few weeks, as I've been trying to recover from all that driving, I've found myself thinking a lot about people of faith, and watching a LOT of movies. If you've read some of my other posts, you perhaps realize by now that I'm an agnostic... I dearly want to believe what the Christian faith is based on, and some days I actually do, but I wouldn't say I'm a person with 100% faith in the full story of Jesus at this point... I've filled my time with quite a number of Christian-themed movies in the past few weeks though, leading to more moments of faithful feeling... all good movies, I will add. I've enjoyed "The Investigator", "God is Not Dead", and "God is Not Dead 2", to name a few. I re-watched "The Case for Christ" and recalled enjoying "Heaven is For Real" before. I'm watching the series called "The Bible" now as well. Seemed an appropriate thing to do at this time of year. I also find myself reading a fair bit.. and this article stood out for me:
https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/all-things-subject-to-the-risen-christ.html. After all this, I reflect... Maybe our trip didn't lead me entirely to "the happiest place on Earth", but I should do live in a "marvelous" world and (as the article indicates), the stories of Jesus sure are "marvelous" as well!
Our minister spoke today of people who have inspired him - true believers, people of faith. He described them as people with "hallelujahs in their hearts", and got me thinking about people like that in my own world. I must say, those are the people I have typically enjoyed being with most. They are the people who exude positivity in this world.
While I wanted to get going EARLY that last day, I ended up letting everyone sleep until about 9:30 am. Morgan was quite ill, so Kevin ended up staying home with her, happy to rest his very sore feet, as I coerced the boys into going to Animal Kingdom with me.
I really wanted to see "Killimanjaro Safaris", as I had heard it was something you shouldn't miss. I booked a Fast Pass for "Dinosaur" as well. I was not disappointed. Note the marks in the clay that apparently the elephants like to eat! We ended up seeing, fairly close up, MANY animals, much like I imagine you would see if you went to Africa.
I also felt I had to the see the "Tree of Life". Wow!
When we were done here, we headed back to the house again. The boys were done! Morgan was feeling a bit better, and Kevin felt he didn't want to sit around more, so we left the boys home and headed for one last park - Epcot.
It was about 7:30 pm when we arrived, and the park closes at 9 pm! We didn't have a lot of time, but I am a bit stubborn. I figured if I was going to spend good money and drive so very far, I wasn't going to miss this! I had heard many times about "Soarin", and about how beautiful the "World Showcase" was at night, so this meant this nasty Mom dragged her husband and daughter through yet another park! We arrived in the line for "Soarin'" at about 8 pm, and by 8:15 pm (when we were about half through the queue), Morgan started to feel quite ill again. She has issues with low iron and her thyroid, so she needed a rest. She ended up sitting out the ride, while Kevin and I went on the ride :( Felt a bit guilty leaving her behind, but I also will admit I think this was my favourite ride by far... Imagine feeling like you are hang gliding over the Earth, around the world. Really, I cannot describe it well enough to do it justice. Be sure to do this someday if you can!
After this ride, I went into a bit of a panic attack... (You know what they say about karma?) Suddenly, I couldn't find my credit card, which I was certain I had in my coat pocket. We wasted about 30 minutes as I tried to find it, while later I discovered it tucked away in our vehicle. Even so, the walk around the "World Showcase" did not disappoint... The "International Flower Garden Festival" meant there were some very amazing displays of characters made from flowers, and the Eiffel tower and various buildings were really something to behold as well.
We concluded our adventure by witnessing a spectacular show of light and sound. Note the lit-up Earth in this picture (bit hard to see behind the trees) - it was really something as it moved across the view. Sorry my photography sort of sucks - you will have to trust me that it was beautiful - and try to see it someday if you haven't!
Friday, we headed for home. We did one last stop on the way out of the city, as Morgan needed to get a wig to wear for her musical theater competition coming up in April... We went to a wonderful little store downtown, called Embellish FX, where I laughed as Morgan told me, "Now, these are my people!" We had fun in that cosplay store. Recommend you visit there someday, too! I would have bought a really awesome Halloween costume there if our vehicle wasn't already packed. We did Morgan a wig though, so mission accomplished!
We stopped on Friday night at a hotel, and about 49 hours after leaving Florida, we arrived "home sweet home" on Sunday. We had driven over 7200 kilometers and well over 100 hours!
Perhaps now those who asked me "How was your trip?" can understand my quiet responses? By the time I arrived home on Sunday, I was WIPED OUT. I went back to work on Monday, did our biweekly sprint planning (barely). By Wednesday evening, when I'm normally excited to go to bridge, I stayed home and went to bed. By the weekend, I was still not very useful. Even the next week, I think I was still worn out, and even a bit depressed. I found myself feeling sort of bad about dragging my family through that adventure. By the end, they just wanted to be home and didn't even really seem to enjoy much of the last day of parks. Overall though, I think they are happy about at least parts of it. I know I'm grateful for the experience!
In the past few weeks, as I've been trying to recover from all that driving, I've found myself thinking a lot about people of faith, and watching a LOT of movies. If you've read some of my other posts, you perhaps realize by now that I'm an agnostic... I dearly want to believe what the Christian faith is based on, and some days I actually do, but I wouldn't say I'm a person with 100% faith in the full story of Jesus at this point... I've filled my time with quite a number of Christian-themed movies in the past few weeks though, leading to more moments of faithful feeling... all good movies, I will add. I've enjoyed "The Investigator", "God is Not Dead", and "God is Not Dead 2", to name a few. I re-watched "The Case for Christ" and recalled enjoying "Heaven is For Real" before. I'm watching the series called "The Bible" now as well. Seemed an appropriate thing to do at this time of year. I also find myself reading a fair bit.. and this article stood out for me:
https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/all-things-subject-to-the-risen-christ.html. After all this, I reflect... Maybe our trip didn't lead me entirely to "the happiest place on Earth", but I should do live in a "marvelous" world and (as the article indicates), the stories of Jesus sure are "marvelous" as well!
Our minister spoke today of people who have inspired him - true believers, people of faith. He described them as people with "hallelujahs in their hearts", and got me thinking about people like that in my own world. I must say, those are the people I have typically enjoyed being with most. They are the people who exude positivity in this world.
So, what were the words I was singing to myself as I awoke yesterday? I was thinking...
Did you know, when it rains, my eyes become large, and the light that you shine can be seen?
I feel I don't "say" these words nearly enough to my family and friends, so I'll write them now. I am very grateful for the light that you shine, even when it's raining. I am grateful for those of you with "hallelujahs in your hearts". Today, I awoke at 5 am and attended a beautiful sunrise service at 6:30 am. It was raining then, but the rain has stopped now. Our minister spoke about how, like the resurrection, butterflies are a symbol of hope and new beginnings as they emerge from their cocoons, and he once again gave us each a butterfly to help us remember this, which I am grateful to add to my collection of symbols of hope that I started last year.
I wish to say Happy Easter to all of you, and wish for hallelujahs in all of your hearts! I feel they are in mine tonight! Ever grateful! God is Not Dead! God is good, all the time! All the time, God is good! Watch the movies, if you don't know get where I'm coming from ;-)
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