An Alphabetical, (Flower and) Garden Variety TR- V is for: Vida la Tucson! TR COMPLETE! (3/14)

[Steppesister]

OK the BW pizza is the one thing all 4 of us have sworn we will never ever ever eat again if our lives' depend on it lol!
It did used to be Rapunzel; and I think some of the food is the same like the pancakes but they've just un-characterized the dish names. We always get the pancakes which are super duper fluffy and the omelet minus the Sunday gravy and they are fantastic as are their Mimosas.

However once characters are back we won't be so by then I hope Boma is open which was our previously favorite breakfast on property pre-COVID!

Well, then I'm glad I didn't get it, however, knowing there is GRAVY there, I might be a LOT more interested. Gravy is life. LOL!

I'd give it another try as I think this visit was highly tainted with "bad 'tude". You know me and mimosas.... Still would LOVE to try the sangria thing at Three Bridges....

Boma... such a great breakfast!! I'd stay at AK JUST to eat there and Jiko- LOVED my dinner(s) there!

 

[Steppesister]

Ahh this was so nice I was wondering how you were going to sleep in the lobby on a couch, yikes.

Probably not well! LOL!

Wow that was so nice for you

MEK is the sweetest!

Oh no that stinks! You need those Pills on a trip.

I ended up coming home and needing them a solid 2 more weeks. I don't know WHAT I was thinking.

That looks really good. I can understand no having much of an appetite, pain kills that!
I’m so glad you got some sleep on a bed, and wow your room was ready early after all.

It looked better than it tasted, unfortunately. It was HUGE but I think some gravy or cheese or something would have given it more flavor. The sleep super helped and I still would do a red-eye to get that extra day. Coming from the W. Coast kills that entire 1st day otherwise.

 

[cajunfan]

Also, once you get settled in BG, let me know if/when you head to Nashville...I live right around the corner from Opry Mills...

 

[Steppesister]

I made it over! And thankfully you are only up to C! Time to now catch up on reading my A, B, C's!

YAY!!! So happy you're found me!

Cheap is good!!!! I think I would stay in any room on Disney property at this point!

Beggars can't be choosers at this point.

Airports really are huge! Glad you survived travel day. Travel days can be exhausted no matter what.

I like to use the little airports if I can. Not that I have a choice usually, but I LOVE the Nashville one. Sooooo easy to get in and out of! Can't wait to re-locate and be there more often for travel!

Can't wait to hear all about the trip.

So Happy you're here!! I was wondering if you'd wander over and say HI!!

 

[Steppesister]

Also, once you get settled in BG, let me know if/when you head to Nashville...I live right around the corner from Opry Mills...

NO WAY!!! YES, I certainly will. Travel Day begins Sept 7th. But I have no timeline really to get there except I have to arrive by the 21st. That's when the moving truck arrives and want to be there for that. My folks go to Nashville for lunch from BG about 3-4 times a week. It's their "thing". Apparently, the food sucks in BG and they go out to eat. A lot. So I imagine I'll hang out for the first couple of weeks with them and be down there. After that, I can't afford to do that but should be down there fairly regularly and I'd LOVE to meet you and hang out!!

 

[pkondz]

Mary Ellen had made many of my arrangements for the trip including booking our room and tickets. It saved me many hours of phone calls and laptop time for which I am very grateful.

Sounds like she was a life-saver even before she was with you in Florida.

Unexpectedly, she offered to have me crash in her and Denny’s room after I landed to sleep some of the stupor off. I hope you all have a friend or two so generous and kind. The world needs more people like her.

Very nice indeed.

What time’s your flight again?”

“6:30.”

“Great, I’ll see you at the airport!”

Say what?! Yep, she really is that kind.

Whoa. That is nice. That's awfully early to get up to give someone a lift.
"Hey! I'll pick you up at the airport!"
"Great! My flight arrives at 6:30am."
"Okay! Oh! I forgot I have a thing at that time. Sorry! Grab a cab."

And it would be true. The "thing" would be sleeping.

Because she’s a coffee addict she did make sure to mention that she would make time for a K-Cup first.

#priorities

I never thought about how jerky the Fake o’Rail really is until I had to stand on it in a compromised state.

Ouch. But you're right. I've not noticed that too.

we (Kari and I) only waited about 5 minutes before a very sleepy MEK showed up. “Sorry!! I just didn’t expect you to arrive quite this early!”

And she apologized?!?!?

For now… I saw a lot of behinds.

Heh... I don't think I'd mind that.

Know how many cracks the boardwalk has in it? I felt every single one.

There's at least one in the photo!

Alison (@franandaj) can tell you how it feels to hit them at human-falling-miles-an-hour too.

Unfortunately...

For now, it was me, myself, and Roll-y.

All I can say is, I needed some pain pills. Too bad I didn’t bring very many.

Yep, you heard that right. I didn’t pack enough. Like I threw in 5 or so tabs thinking they’d be for emergencies.

Oh, no. What were you thinking?!?!????

Yes, I’m an idiot.


There I said it.

Please note that I am not contradicting you on this point.

When MEK said that’s where they were going though, I joined in, grateful they like me enough to include me.

More niceness of them.

It wasn’t busy at all, with maybe 1/3 of the un-socially-distanced tables full.

I like that expression. un-socially distant. Makes more sense. The farther you are, the less "social" you are being.

Love the open kitchen as always.

But I don't know if I'd want to work in one? Maybe? Definitely wouldn't want to be trained in one.

My appetite wasn’t up to its usual Disney par; nevertheless, I ordered the heaviest breakfast on the menu

Uh.... sure! Makes perfect sense!

Someone else got the breakfast pizza which is what I WISHED I'd gotten.

I do love a breakfast pizza, but... not on actual pizza dough. That doesn't appeal at all.

some of you might remember Danielle Voss from the Boards?

I remember the name.

I enjoyed the view for a few minutes too!

Very nice!

I’ll leave off here with some good news and some bad news….. I mean what could possibly go wrong?!

Uh, oh.....

Meanwhile...Kari opted out of breakfast and graciously accepted the early drop off at Art of Animation. The lobby was pretty empty at that hour and she was immediately welcomed at the desk. After some friendly chatter and story swapping, the cast member surprised her with some delightful news...Tinkerbell had just finished a fly by blanketing us with a generous amount of pixie dust--an upgrade to a Nemo suite available right now!!

Upgrade! Yuss!!
And... Hi, Kari!

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Know how many cracks the boardwalk has in it? I felt every single one.

That's one way to make new friends.

Yep, you heard that right. I didn’t pack enough. Like I threw in 5 or so tabs thinking they’d be for emergencies.

I sense foreshadowing. Hope you felt better as the trip moved forward. Glad you were able to get some rest!

 

[vamassey1]

“No, that’s really sweet, but we’re going to take care of you. What time’s your flight again?”

“6:30.”

“Great, I’ll see you at the airport!”

Say what?! Yep, she really is that kind.

This warms my heart! MEK is the best!

Know how many cracks the boardwalk has in it? I felt every single one.

I'm feeling your pain again.

​

Nice presentation. Too bad you didn't really enjoy it.

Someone else got the breakfast pizza which is what I WISHED I'd gotten.

​

That does look pretty good.

I enjoyed the view for a few minutes too!

Beautiful view. Glad some rest and a shower helped to revive you.

 

[MouseMamaToMany]

Too lazy to quote. BUT. I have to chime in to say, OW, OW, OW! I felt every crack on that darn boardwalk when I looked at your pic. I hope the days that followed were all on an upward trajectory. While I’d still rather feel wretched at Disney, it’s a huge bummer that you get so lousy. Looking forward to more chapters of your report!

 

[Steppesister]

Sounds like she was a life-saver even before she was with you in Florida.

Oh MOST definitely!

Whoa. That is nice. That's awfully early to get up to give someone a lift.
"Hey! I'll pick you up at the airport!"
"Great! My flight arrives at 6:30am."
"Okay! Oh! I forgot I have a thing at that time. Sorry! Grab a cab."

And it would be true. The "thing" would be sleeping.

Like I said, the world needs more folks like her!

Ouch. But you're right. I've not noticed that too.

When one is healthy and strong, it's actually pretty smooth; throw in some surgery and OUCH!! It rounded a bend!

And she apologized?!?!?

She certainly didn't need to!!

Heh... I don't think I'd mind that.

There's at least one in the photo!

touché or should I say "toosh"??

I need this.

Oh, no. What were you thinking?!?!????

Problem was.... I wasn't.

Please note that I am not contradicting you on this point.

Noted.


And deserved.

I like that expression. un-socially distant. Makes more sense. The farther you are, the less "social" you are being.

Correct. There was NOTHING social about it. At all.

But I don't know if I'd want to work in one? Maybe? Definitely wouldn't want to be trained in one.

I think the pressure would be pretty high.

I do love a breakfast pizza, but... not on actual pizza dough. That doesn't appeal at all.

Which is exactly what I DO love about it.

 

[Steppesister]

That's one way to make new friends.

How to make friends and influence people...

I sense foreshadowing. Hope you felt better as the trip moved forward. Glad you were able to get some rest!

I know. My TR's are subtle like that.

 

[Steppesister]

This warms my heart! MEK is the best!

For SURE!!!

I'm feeling your pain again.

OH don't worry, there is more to come.

Nice presentation. Too bad you didn't really enjoy it.

I really wanted to like this, but my heart just wasn't in it.

Beautiful view. Glad some rest and a shower helped to revive you.

There's not much that sleep can't fix!

 

[Steppesister]

Too lazy to quote. BUT. I have to chime in to say, OW, OW, OW! I felt every crack on that darn boardwalk when I looked at your pic. I hope the days that followed were all on an upward trajectory. While I’d still rather feel wretched at Disney, it’s a huge bummer that you get so lousy. Looking forward to more chapters of your report!

Well hello there!! It was so painful to go anywhere for reals, but as long as I went sooooo slow, I could at least GET there. But, as you say, OW! I think yes, not to put out too much of a spoiler, it was in general an upward trajectory, but ever so slow. And I agree 100%, feeling wretched at Disney was 1000% better than feeling crappy at home- which I could have been anyway. Hopefully another chapter next weekend?

 

[pkondz]

Like I said, the world needs more folks like her!

And by implication...less like me!

When one is healthy and strong, it's actually pretty smooth; throw in some surgery and OUCH!! It rounded a bend!

I get that.

touché or should I say "toosh"??

It's actually "tush, eh?"

Problem was.... I wasn't.

Noted.


And deserved.

I think the pressure would be pretty high.

You make a mistake and everyone sees it.

Which is exactly what I DO love about it.

It's alllll yours, then.

 

[franandaj]

For those of you who are Old Timers, WELCOME BACK!!

Thank you! Only two more updates to go! I think I can do it!

What else can I tell you?

I didn't realize that all your kids are now "of age", and didn't know about the youngest two grandkids (or grandkid on the way).

I have taken and passed my Private Pilots FAA Exam and hope to someday get back into the cockpit to finish that endeavor up

Was this the test you took a few years ago?

have been to all 50 States

Good for you! I didn't know that either.

However, THIS time I’ve chosen to go back to a chronological style for sake of ease and because my creativity for writing is waning.

Yay! While I enjoy reading your stories, I always find myself trying to place the timeline and it hurts my brain to do that.

I can sit in my boring apartment and recover wasting my time surfing the internet for 4 weeks, or I can go to Disney World and do what I could as I was able.

That is an interesting take on recovery. I've onlybhad one surgery, on my foot, and I mostly wanted to just lay around. Then again I couldn't bear weight on it for six weeks.

Marcia is a former neighbor who is still a very close friend.

Karilynn ( @Malia78 )is a very close friend that I’ve traveled with for years.

My folks. What can I say? They are the best parents anyone could ever ask for and are still independent albeit a bit slower than they used to be.

Sounds like a nice bunch of folks to travel with.

I detest the walk to, well, anywhere from those rooms, but I wouldn’t have to!!! I rented a scooter!!! SAVED. MY. LIFE!

Good for you! You have had several incidents on past trips that you should have gotten a scooter. I'm sure it helped your recovery.

Marcia and I spent 3 nights at the Casino del Sol Resort only because it is near the RV park and is easy access to the airport as well. Loads of stories from this portion, so I hope you’ll stick around for that.

Sure. Looking forward to hearing about the RV.

 

[franandaj]

No. It's a lot more involved now that there's no BB code editor. Ridiculous.

I don't even think I know what that is....but I do notice that some of the things I used to be able to do with html don't work anymore.

The day dawned bright and beautiful and on any other given, normal day, I’d have been chipper, full of excitement and travel-centered futterwacken. But today was, instead, filled with anxiety and a lot more than the usual amount of pre-trip panic.

I bet! It sounds like you were still pretty under the weather.

And while it’s still too soon to find a job, it’s not too early to get my Kentucky Nursing License. One of that steps that I had to do was be fingerprinted

Yes that's probably a smart idea.

Shoot me now. I had a very finite amount of energy in me and I was sapping it all with stupid stuff and not the actual travel.

Yeah, that's what Fran kinda has to live with. We don't plan two big things in a day. And when we do a big thing, the next day or two need to be pretty mellow.

Dear Reader. I promptly left my sweatshirt/pillow in his car which necessitated a phone call to Kari to have her throw one in for me.

Well let's hope you don't have too many of these moments.

we waved good-bye around 3:00. It was super early for my 6:20 PM flight, but that’s okay!! Remember it took me FOREVER to get anywhere.

That's why we OWN scooters!

Because me and my walker had practically the entire place to ourselves.

I hadn't realized that you were using a walker...very brave of you to attempt such a trip!

I siddled on up to the only place open and ordered up a yummy mimosa flight and a breakfast sandwich which was, for airport food, not all that bad.

Interesting they were still serving breakfast!

I admit, I have never seen water in a carton.

I haven't either!

With a ton of help from my fellow passengers, I retrieved my camera bag from the overhead bin and my purse from under the seat and headed to baggage after waiting too long for my walker.

Even longer for a scooter to come up from below!

Thank Goodness I had 3 hours to get there. It took me 30 minutes.

Oh wait, no she didn’t, I got to board first since I was Miss Hobbly-Wobbly!!! Eat my dust, Lady!

I did in fact, sleep a fair portion of the trip. When I woke up, I went to plug in my phone to the portable charger you saw earlier and well… I couldn’t. Know why? Cuz it was still plugged in Seattle or in some new owner’s hot little hands

That's good you got some sleep. Too bad about the charger.

And that, My Friends, got us to MCO bright and early around 6:00 AM.

This is why I'd never take a red eye. I don't know what we would do without a home. It's hard enough when we switch resorts.

You'll get there. And this one won't have a post until next weekend. This weekend I was busy with my ER shadowing shift and a day trip to the lake.

One more to go! And you already said that you won't be doing one this weekend. But I need to get going on my day and start getting steps!

 

[pkondz]

I don't even think I know what that is....but I do notice that some of the things I used to be able to do with html don't work anymore.

Yep. And I suspect they won't fix it until the next major upgrade/version... if at all.
You can still use the BB code/HTML but only with difficulty, unless you're very familiar with it.

 

[franandaj]

Unexpectedly, she offered to have me crash in her and Denny’s room after I landed to sleep some of the stupor off. I hope you all have a friend or two so generous and kind. The world needs more people like her.

Wow! That was really sweet of her! Did they have a 1 br or a studio?

“Great, I’ll see you at the airport!”

Say what?! Yep, she really is that kind.

That's amazing!

I was hungry. I hurt all over, so much that I felt a bit ill; no amount of Disney adrenaline was going to do its magic until I found some real estate on a mattress with a fair amount of REM involved. But first, BREAKFAST!!

A full belly always helps the sleep!

Alison (@franandaj) can tell you how it feels to hit them at human-falling-miles-an-hour too.

Oh yeah, and splinters too!

For now, it was me, myself, and Roll-y.

Don't you mean Roll-E?

Yep, you heard that right. I didn’t pack enough. Like I threw in 5 or so tabs thinking they’d be for emergencies.


Yes, I’m an idiot.


There I said it.

No not an idiot, just been very healthy and able bodied for a lot of years and not used to dealing with pain.

I’ve been to Trattoria a couple times for dinner and the best I can give it is a solid, MEH. Not great, not inedible.

I've been when it's great, but last time for me was Meh too.

Someone else got the breakfast pizza which is what I WISHED I'd gotten.

I had one at Wolfgang Puck Express that was very good. That's gone now right?

I don’t remember anything else until 3:00 or something. I took a quick shower (LOL! quick is so relative!) and shortly after they came back. I enjoyed the view for a few minutes too!

So good you got some good rest!

They offered to drive me over to AoA which was SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPER nice. Like. Super. Because any minimizing of luggage handling was probably in my best interest, I accepted.

That's great of them! What nice people!

We hugged goodbye and parted ways and I headed to luggage services where my scooter was waiting…. I’ll leave off here with some good news and some bad news….. I mean what could possibly go wrong?!

knowing you anything!!!!

Meanwhile...Kari opted out of breakfast and graciously accepted the early drop off at Art of Animation. The lobby was pretty empty at that hour and she was immediately welcomed at the desk. After some friendly chatter and story swapping, the cast member surprised her with some delightful news...Tinkerbell had just finished a fly by blanketing us with a generous amount of pixie dust--an upgrade to a Nemo suite available right now!!

Awesome! I think upgrades there are fairly common. I've heard of lots of folks getting them.

Not one to turn her nose up at that offer, Kari accepted and walked right back to bell services with a room number. Plenty of time to leisurely unpack, take a rest and hit up Epcot for some food the rest of the afternoon.

Sounds like a plan!

YES!!! I"m sooooooooooooooo glad you chimed in and shared our good news!! You texted me at some point, but I think (?) I didn't see it until I woke up? Maybe? Or during breakfast? Either way, it was good news. Mostly. But I'll get to that... I was sad you didn't join us, but it did turn out well and we didn't have that atrocious walk from the next zip code every time from the Little Mermaid room.

I've never been to AoA so I don't even know about the distances, but I'm sure it's a sprawling resort!

 

[Steppesister]

And by implication...less like me!

Nah, I've met you... you're a generous guy!

It's actually "tush, eh?"

Ohhh... nice touch!!!

You make a mistake and everyone sees it.

Ain't that the truth!! ESPECIALLY at work!

It's alllll yours, then.

Mmm, pizza!! All toppings work except pineapple.

 

[Steppesister]

Thank you! Only two more updates to go! I think I can do it!

You did it!!

I didn't realize that all your kids are now "of age", and didn't know about the youngest two grandkids (or grandkid on the way).

Not quite. Anara is still 19. Yep, Alice and Rowan and "New Baby" of Andrew's (my oldest son), and Declan is Rebekah's living nearby. Love them all!

Was this the test you took a few years ago?

Yes. Like I said, someday maybe I'll hop back into it, but I'd have to re-test.

Good for you! I didn't know that either.

You're learning tons this time around!!

Yay! While I enjoy reading your stories, I always find myself trying to place the timeline and it hurts my brain to do that.

You do realize I had you specifically in mind when I chose to do it this way this time!

That is an interesting take on recovery. I've only had one surgery, on my foot, and I mostly wanted to just lay around. Then again I couldn't bear weight on it for six weeks.

That would make a huge difference. I went to Great Britain with a cast one year and it was NOT fun. I mean, it was interesting and all and I had a great time, but it was so much work on crutches!!! Scared me to death going down the "Tube" stairs with them!! I can see wanting to lay around, but I've just never been one to let the moss grow under my feet.

Sounds like a nice bunch of folks to travel with.

Indeed!!! We might be a slow crowd, but we're still fun to be with!

Good for you! You have had several incidents on past trips that you should have gotten a scooter. I'm sure it helped your recovery.

Blisters come to mind. :yes:

Sure. Looking forward to hearing about the RV.

And I can't wait to share! But, since this is chronological, that's got a fair ways to go before we get there.