Route 66

My least favorite part of any vacation is coming home. Whether I’m riding in a car or on a plane, the journey home always seems at least twice as long as the outward bound trip. Then there’s the mail (digital and otherwise) to sort through, the answering machine messages to deal with, and the inevitable mountain of dirty laundry. If it’s an especially long vacation, I come home to an empty fridge and pantry, and I have to pick up groceries and haul them home. For a while other people made the beds, took out the trash, cooked the dinners and washed the plates. All I had to do was sit back and enjoy it. Now I’m the one who has to do all of that and then some. I’m back to the real world – that depressing place with schedules, deadlines and obligations. There’s really only one cure for this. It’s time to plan the next trip.

Flying Dutchman House

“Feeding the hungry, healing the sick, rebuking hypocrisy, pleading for faith—this was Christ showing us the way of the Father, He who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, long-suffering and full of goodness. In His life and especially in His death, Christ was declaring, “This is God’s compassion I am showing you, as well as that of my own. In the perfect Son’s manifestation of the perfect Father’s care, in Their mutual suffering and shared sorrow for the sins and heartaches of the rest of us, we see ultimate meaning in the declaration: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” - Jeffrey R. Holland

Cherry on Top

I have a neighbor just a few years older than myself who disappears for four months out of every year. Just as the Christmas season is winding down, she and her husband pack up their English bulldog and Siamese cat and motor off to Arizona. They rent a small furnished place in the warm sun and drive back north about the time that daffodils and tulips are starting to bloom. Three-fourths of the year they’re here, tending their garden and enjoying the company of family and old friends. The rest of the time they’re meeting new people and seeing new sights. Best of all, they’re missing cabin fever, temperature inversions, seasonal affective disorder, the risk of a heart attack while shoveling snow, and the chance they’ll slip and fall on the ice. It occurs to me that I may be looking at the perfect retirement. The only question is how to fund it.

Sailboat

I know the whole point of wet rides like Splash Mountain and Grizzly River Rapids is to cool you off. In California, it kind of makes sense. But in Florida, where the average humidity is over 75%, getting soaked doesn’t automatically mean getting cool. It usually just means you’ll be walking around in damp, uncomfortable clothes all day. I still meant to ride the Kali River Rapids in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, but I had a game plan. I brought disposable ponchos I bought at the dollar store (much cheaper than the ones available in the park) and planned to rent a locker so our cell phones and watches would stay dry. The one thing I didn't plan for was that Disney would shut the ride down. Apparently in January, NO ONE wants to be soaking wet.

Sawtooth Star House

When this section of EPCOT opened in 1983 it featured Horizons – a dark ride sequel to Carousel of Progress called Horizons. The original ride closed a little more than a decade later, after GE’s sponsorship ended. The building (but not the futuristic planter in front of it) was demolished, and HP’s Mission: Space opened in 2003. Inside the pavilion is a VIP lounge called the Red Planet Room, exclusively for HP employees. It’s a nice place to recharge. I haven’t visited since 2011, so I don’t know if HP’s sponsorship has ended (they tend to lapse after about ten years) or if employees are still welcome there. It might be a moot point, as my husband’s badge now says Hewlett Packard Enterprise. I’m told there are other employee lounges like this one in the park. What happens to them when their sponsors leave? Do cast members chill there during breaks, or do they just collect cobwebs?

Broken Records

Last spring I read about a young Canadian with Down syndrome named Anthony Yorfido. Anthony is a huge Aerosmith fan. He’d been hoping to snag tickets to their concert in Welland, Ontario, but it was sold out. The day of the concert Anthony visited a medical supply store with his mother and happened to notice a scruffy-looking fellow shopping for a back brace. “Steven Tyler!” he exclaimed, “Is that you?” He ran up and gave his hero a hug. Tyler hugged him back and offered Anthony and his mom back stage passes. During the concert he brought Anthony out onto the stage to introduce his biggest fan to the audience. Anthony shook maracas while Aerosmith played Sweet Emotion. That’s every fan’s biggest dream, right? The rest of us will have to be content with riding the Rock 'n Roller Coaster at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.