January 20, 2016
We made a stop at the Villages on our way to Orlando after a night in Panama City Beach. Priceline didn't work too well as the hotel/resort while a spa and golf club, was totally under renovation...that is good because the rooms are a throwback to the 50's and in desperate need of remodeling!
We had a quick lunch and walk around to check out the Villages. Pretty amazing with 117,000 people and 400 homes a month being sold! It's a retirement mecca and the people love it there. Free golf, every possible amenity imaginable and everyone seemed young and active!
We arrived at Disney and got the best ever greeting from the kids! Maycen was in her princess dress, Becky in her Minnie ears and unfortunately, Jared and Brody had just been diagnosed with Type A flu:=(
The kids have a timeshare and we are at the Marriott Imperial Palms Resort about 2 miles from Disney. It's a 3 BR, 2 bath villa that is amazing! You can go to all the nearby Marriott hotels for free. They've been doing the theme parks since Saturday so apparently picked up the bug at Disney.
Fortunately, on Thursday, the kids were well enough to hang out in the hot tub at the Palms, and then we went to the Marriott World, which is the largest Marriott in the world complete with a huge water slide, splash pad and pools with water falls. Can you imagine 2009 rooms? We walked there and the kids had a blast. We even met some people from Waconia, MN who were at a vet conference, who know our friends Amy and Shaun. The kids all had a ball playing together.
Today is Friday and the kids are back at the conference for the last day. We've cancelled all the plans for today and Maycen is going to the Dr at 1:30. What a bummer. Never thought I'd be the nurse here:-). Fortunately, Brody and Jared are better. Just praying Gil and I don't get it! I'm off to make slushies and crushed ice out of Emergen-C!!
January 16, 2016
It's been a whirlwind! It's like coming home when we drive the rig on the ferry to Mustang Island. We were busy catching up with our friends, having beach bonfires and going to Kody's for shrimp! On January 16, we left Willie with our friends, Karen and Andrew and their dogs Quincy and Gunner and headed out to meet the Seattle kids at Disney Orlando.
We've had some interesting comments from Karen about Willie...."he slept on the bed with her and Quincy and Andrew and Gunner relocated to the couch" and yesterday's comment, "Willie growled at Quincy (a big black doodle dog" as he tried to come in his own camper, and Quincy quickly went and hid under the table!" Too funny...Karen is like a dog whisperer and we're so grateful for her taking Willie so he didn't have to be kenneled!
Kim and Xochitl left Minneapolis for Honduras the same day and are heading to hopefully bring their son/brother, Javi, home forever.
We bought two new turquoise chairs and ordered the tete-a-tete for the middle of the chairs. It matches our big turquoise umbrella perfectly. We made the trip to the jetty in hopes of seeing the big ships come through and the dolphins...but no luck.
January 22, 2016
We drove from Port A to Disney stopping along the way to visit our Minnesota neighbors, Kim and Roger. Kim cooked a great lunch of beef stir fry and we checked out Sandestin and their gorgeous white sand beach.
We discovered Priceline.com and what a great way to book a hotel for a lower price! We got a night at a brand new Country Suites for nearly 1/2 price. We are fans! And, of course, we bought some moon pies and ate at a Waffle house for the first time!
December 29, 2015
We rolled out a day later than planned due to Gil's bronchitis and a big snow storm! How can we have a brown Christmas and then have a boat load of snow when we were ready to pull out of town? I took down Christmas on the 26th and Gil headed to the lake after Urgent Care to get the rig and bring it back to the city house to pack up.
We left about 9 a.m. and got to Independence, MO the first night after tractor paths down 35W. Xochitl's 'Shadow' kitty is our travel buddy this year. Along the way, we munched on Christmas cookies from Kim and Xochitl...so nummy. We stayed at the Campus RV park (without any water due to freezing temps).
December 30, 2015
It's Maycen's 6th birthday and we Tango'ed with her while rolling down the freeway and she was on I-5 in Seattle with her mom headed to Seattle for lunch at the space needle. Pretty amazing technology as we could see her as we sang happy birthday to her. Diesel is running $1.79 a gallon...an all time low. It's great to see green grass and 42 degrees.
When we pulled into a gas station in Missouri, the guy in front of us was no where to be found. Turns out he apparently abandoned his car in front of the pump! We backed all 57 feet back out into the street and went around to the pumps on the other side. There we encountered a lady standing on the driver's side of a car, talking to the driver. Next thing, sirens galore, an ambulance and fire truck pull up. Never figured out exactly what happened but were really glad to get back on the road!
After a very long 10 hour pull, we rolled into the Tree Top Carefree RV Resort in Arlington, TX. We rolled through Dallas on the tollways, (and we weren't even sure we had enough money to pay for them), during rush hour. It turns out that 'out of state' licenses don't have to pay. Nice, love this state!
When we were about in the middle of Dallas, we saw the 18 wheeler's in front of us parting...we swerved too. There were six lanes of rush hour traffic. It turns out, a truck lost the big metal tool box off the back and it was laying in the lane next to us. Scared the heck out of us. Sadly, we were pretty sure, with rush hour traffic, that there was going to be an accident after we passed.
The park was full and we came in after hours. The guy couldn't find our reservation and when I'd made it earlier in the day, they said I got the last spot. Hummm, I began to second guess if we were even at the right park! Good grief, I thought I was losing it.
Turns out, he was parking other guests earlier and the reservations for the night flew off the golf cart and apparently ours was never to be found. Fortunately, his wife came and opened the office and found our reservation! Hooray, we were dog tired, but so glad to have a spot. We heated up the water, since we hadn't been able to de-winterize since we started due to cold and freezing temps.
An hour later, no hot water and I'm thinking I really need a shower and we've got a sink full of dishes! Fortunately, after some searching and checking, it turns out the hot water heater was on by-pass winterization. Whew....that shower felt great!
December 31, 2015
It was a six hour pull to the ferry in Port Aransas, TX. We'd safely made it! We'd passed by the Poor Man's Country Club in Rockport along with the Cinema 4 movie theatre, where the price is $4 and on Tuesday, popcorn is free...y'all gotta bring your own bowl however.
We're back in the land of people calling me 'mam', Whataburger's, HEB grocery's warm tortillas and Stripes Gas. Feels really good! We were too tired to make the park New Year's Eve party and tumbled into bed around 7:30.
January 1, 2016
We went to the brunch at the new Clubhouse and it's fabulous! It was like old home week seeing all our winter friends. Mick and Kay had us over for a lunch of black eyed pea soup. Apparently a tradition and guaranteed to bring good luck. We already feel pretty lucky, but you can always use more good luck.
The following days, we walked the beach, went to the movie Joy and enjoyed getting reacquainted with our friends. We had Miguel wash and wax our rig, which was covered with snow, salt and slop from the North. Willie is a happy camper and we feel like we've come home to the beach and Texas.
