City, Sand, and Savanna - Link to new trip report

[glennbo123]

You guys are so fast!!!

You posted while I was zooming in on pictures to be sure of my count.

 

[nodnol]

I haven't played for so long, so I don't know - do I have to point out the pictures? Or do we have to only i case of a dispute?

Thank you very much for the update, Glenn! Just the right thing after a weekend business trip with a o lot of translating. I think I will dream of the beach, the sea and pizza tonight!

 

[glennbo123]

six Judys!

Going with 5 Judys. all clear visible ones. No shadows reflections or really even parts. Some not fully visible like the one in the pool but it is all of her.

I'm going with 4 Judy's!!!!

Glad to hear that your pizza wasn't bad!! It looks pretty good to me (and I get very picky about pizza! )

The beach looks really nice (if a bit seaweed-y)!

Have to agree with my sister: 6 Judys

The Rules Committee also has come up with "6" as the correct tally. Katharina, for the benefit of the other players, could you please tell them what picture numbers you see the Judy's in?

 

[eandesmom]

So here’s a map, in the style of the Family Circus, showing my journey that day. The yellow line shows the drive to Orchid Island Pizza. The green line shows my walk up until I waved to Marlene on our balcony. And then the blue line shows my walk back to Orchid Island Pizza.

James thought that our local pizza place at home has better pizza, but Judy and I didn’t agree. We thought this was awesome, especially the crust. We loved it.

Oh that's funny! They do deliver you know..... Still, a fun way to pass the time. We liked the pizza but I don't recall being overwhelmed by it.

Oh, you’ve probably noticed that the beach was pretty littered with seaweed. The bad weather had really churned it up and there was just as much in the water also. I don’t think it’s usually this bad, and later in the week it seemed better.

WOW! The difference between that and our photos is a bit mind boggling. What a drag.

Considering the red flag flying over the lifeguard shack, I gave the kids a rip current discussion, drawing in the sand to describe what a rip current is caused by (a break in an underwater sandbar), and how to get out of one (swim up or down-shore, don’t fight to get directly back to the beach). My sand-diagram wasn’t this professional looking, but was essentially this:

Very impressive, much better parent than we were, who gave NO such instructions.

I tried out the slide at the pool and came out of the water proclaiming it “the Nascar slide”. (All left turns). It wasn’t bad, but Kidani’s is better.

Then we let the kids hang out at the pool while Judy and I changed and went on a grocery run. We wondered about letting them stay at the pool without us, but heck, Lauren’s 18, and there were lifeguards there. We said that the beach however, was off-limits.

For the grocery run, in contrast to the pizza run, I had made notes of where to go and as we drove there it seemed pretty far. Judy kept questioning whether I’d gotten it right…I wonder why she didn’t have more faith in me? We went to a plaza that had a Fresh Market and a liquor store, and there was a Publix in another plaza across the street. We found that the Fresh Market was probably a little more upscale than we’re used to, and also more limited, so we ended up having to go to the Publix to get everything on her list. Later in the trip, Judy asked a cast member for advice on where to get groceries and she pointed her to the same place as where we went. She said, “there’s a closer Publix, but you don’t want to go there.” So, I felt somewhat vindicated.

Evan ranked the Vero slide up there on his list...I think it may have come in 3rd, or tied with OKW. I need to ask him again at some point. Eerily similar to our first night grocery run, we left Kendall in charge of the boys at the pool. We did however go to the "other" Publix...which was fine. It also had a liquor store nearby. Simply b/c it was closer but I would have liked to check out Fresh Market.

I'd agree with the community hall assessment.

And Judy and I made an assessment of a couple of issues that we saw. I don’t know when else I’ll work these into this trip report, and since they’re on this days’ notes, if I don’t list them here, I possibly never will, so here goes:

- The suites need more places to hang wet things, like towels and swimsuits.
- 1 bathroom at a beach place like this, is not enough. With five of us trying to change into and out of suits, there were only so many places for privacy. (Not the resort’s fault, obviously.)
- It was a long walk to fill our drink mugs, and there was no shortcut, you had to go through the pool area.

I agree on the hanging thing especially. We did ok on the changing somehow but the shortage of hooks seemed really silly to me, there is plenty of space to add more hooks! A 2 bedroom would have been nicer to be sure.

 

[nodnol]

The Rules Committee also has come up with "6" as the correct tally. Katharina, for the benefit of the other players, could you please tell them what picture numbers you see the Judy's in?

Of course: counting all "illustrations" inluding, pictures, maps ets, I see Judy in the following pictures: 6,7,11,15,16,17

Marv has not yet put an answer in, so I guess it will be too early for these?

 

[Flossbolna]

Oh - and on the topic of pool slides: I think the Clown slide at the Boardwalk is actually pretty spectacular for a regular resort pool slide! I can very much recommend it (and as DVCers you can even legally pool hop to it if it is not a black out period).

 

[Flossbolna]

Of course: counting all "illustrations" inluding, pictures, maps ets, I see Judy in the following pictures: 6,7,11,15,16,17

Marv has not yet put an answer in, so I guess it will be too early for these?

Yes, 17 was the tricky one - but you can tell by Judy's hair, her location and her posture that this is the same person as in picture 16.

 

[Poolrat]

Curses foiled again
But I have the six
Picture #
6,7,10,14,15, and 16 the missing Judy. I really need new glasses.

 

[glennbo123]

Of course: counting all "illustrations" inluding, pictures, maps ets, I see Judy in the following pictures: 6,7,11,15,16,17

Marv has not yet put an answer in, so I guess it will be too early for these?

Correct!

Jenn (elphie101) - 1 Judy-sighting win, First Subscriber Honors!
Tanya - 1 Judy-sighting win
Pat - 3 Judy-sighting wins
Rosie - 2 Judy-sighting wins
Marvin - 4 Judy-sighting wins, 2 Eagle Eye points
Kelly - 1 Judy-sighting win
Mark - 2 Judy-sighting wins
Molly - 1 Judy-sighting win
Dan - 1 Eagle Eye point
Kathy - 1 Judy-sighting win
Dee - 2 Judy-sighting wins
Magdalene - 1 Judy-sighting win
Katharina - 1 Judy-sighting win

Curses foiled again
But I have the six
Picture #
6,7,10,14,15, and 16 the missing Judy. I really need new glasses.

I think that is the correct list excluding the rip-tide illustration....but Katharina got the right count on the first try and specified that her count included all illustrations. She was all over it!

 

[onelilspark]

It was really good that you had the rip current discussion with your kids. I'm amazed at how often the news down here goes over it. I know that whenever we went down the shore (usually Cape May) my Mom would have the rip current discussion, it was drilled into me. Geoff and I were talking about it after a recent death and he didn't believe me when I was saying "you let it take you out, don't fight it. Then swim parallel to shore until someone notices you." Then they showed it on the news and he believed me...

Anyway, I'm curious...does Vero Beach have any sit-down restaurants? I saw the Hilton Head DVC doesn't and it makes me curious about Vero. If it does, I'm wondering if it's worth a visit.

 

[winkers]

Before I forget...Dead Poet's Society is one of my all time favorite movies.

That pizza looks good! Now I'm hungry.

The one thing I don't like about big resorts is that they are so big and spread out. They should rent golf carts...

As a little side not...I know I'm a fuddy duddy but it's nice to see your girls in swimsuits that actually have more material than string and a few triangles. I'm always amazed at how little some teenage girls are allowed to go out in..

 

[nodnol]

Correct!

Jenn (elphie101) - 1 Judy-sighting win, First Subscriber Honors!
Tanya - 1 Judy-sighting win
Pat - 3 Judy-sighting wins
Rosie - 2 Judy-sighting wins
Marvin - 4 Judy-sighting wins, 2 Eagle Eye points
Kelly - 1 Judy-sighting win
Mark - 2 Judy-sighting wins
Molly - 1 Judy-sighting win
Dan - 1 Eagle Eye point
Kathy - 1 Judy-sighting win
Dee - 2 Judy-sighting wins
Magdalene - 1 Judy-sighting win
Katharina - 1 Judy-sighting win





I think that is the correct list excluding the rip-tide illustration....but Katharina got the right count on the first try and specified that her count included all illustrations. She was all over it!

As a kid I always finished exhibitions and museums a lot faster than the rest of the family. Of course they thought I skipped "important" stuff, so they tested me and usually I could answer all their questions But usually I'm too late to read the update. But well, otherwise it would be boring for the other players

 

[MEK]

Well, even on a Sunday with full picture viewing capabilities, I can't count Judy's fast enough. And - I would have to get my magnifying glass out to count three of those judy's.

I liked the Orchid Pizza place when we stayed there. I think we may have ordered take out from there more than once.

I think you went all "Cynthia" on me with that map of the resort and the multi-colored arrows. Isn't it weird how everything looks far away on the map, when in reality everything is pretty close. We stayed at the south end of the resort.

I agree that all the grocery stores seem so far away, but I like that they gave us a paper with suggestions.

I can see where 5 people sharing 1 BR could get a bit difficult.

Great update!

 

[Poolrat]

I think that is the correct list excluding the rip-tide illustration....but Katharina got the right count on the first try and specified that her count included all illustrations. She was all over it!

Yes I did not count the rip tide picture

Congrats Katharina.

 

[jecskc]

Thanks for sharing your Vero experience with us !! It is very interesting. The 1 BR units remind of Old Key West. The lay out looks the same. Looking forward to reading more !!

Susan

 

[Squidgyness]

Another great update Glenn! Extremely detailed as usual that pizza does look nice, and I don't even like pizza (pause for gasps of surprise)

I can't help but see that your next chapter is a not so subtle reference to previous TR's too. That beach looks inviting to me, not to mention the scenery. Where I live beaches mean hypothermia and hypodermic needles... But we do share the seaweed problem! That movie perk sounds really valuable, especially with kids to entertain, I know my parents were glad of a rented movie when I was younger on trips!

The shortage of hanging space is a common problem among hotels everywhere it seems. Strange, considering that most places have pools if not beaches. Overall, really interesting, and well worth the wait

ETA: I was major impressed that you gave the rip tide demonstration too. Always good to see people respecting nature!

 

[marvali]

Of course: counting all "illustrations" inluding, pictures, maps ets, I see Judy in the following pictures: 6,7,11,15,16,17

Marv has not yet put an answer in, so I guess it will be too early for these?

Congrats Katharina!

Marv has no intention to put in any more answers for the contest so you don't have to worry about that. You guys can have all the "fun."

 

[nodnol]

Congrats Katharina!

Marv has no intention to put in any more answers for the contest so you don't have to worry about that. You guys can have all the "fun."

Thank you! But I hope you'll play again another time

 

[afwdwfan]

But I dropped the ball in the planning department, since I had neglected to make a note of the actual place they usually go to get said pizza.

I find this hard to believe. You plan everything!

Once in the van I fired up the GPS and instead of punching in the address, I had it look for a Point of Interest of “pizza” and it came up with one that was…500 feet away!

Wow, couldn't get much closer unless it was right there in your room!

So here’s a map, in the style of the Family Circus, showing my journey that day. The yellow line shows the drive to Orchid Island Pizza. The green line shows my walk up until I waved to Marlene on our balcony. And then the blue line shows my walk back to Orchid Island Pizza.

Love the Family Circus reference!

The poor guy tried to ring it through a couple of times and then handed it back saying, “Ahh, we no-a take-a this here.” (No offense, he really talked that like.) I was like “What? Oh! Oops.” “Here, try this one instead.”

Poor guy. Kind of gives you an impression of how that ticket taker at Universal Studios feels when somebody tries to use theie Magic Your Way ticket to get in.

Later in the trip, Judy asked a cast member for advice on where to get groceries and she pointed her to the same place as where we went. She said, “there’s a closer Publix, but you don’t want to go there.” So, I felt somewhat vindicated.

We asked the kids if the resort “felt like Disney”. And they all agreed that it did. It was “different”, but yes, it was definitely “Disney”.

Cool! I'm glad it did have that Disney feel to it. I've always wondered how the Disney touch actually translated over to their non theme park resorts.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

But I dropped the ball in the planning department, since I had neglected to make a note of the actual place they usually go to get said pizza.

Via Napoli.

Once in the van I fired up the GPS and instead of punching in the address, I had it look for a Point of Interest of “pizza” and it came up with one that was…500 feet away! We switched our plan to go with that one, but should we walk or drive? It seemed silly to drive, but we were in a fenced-in resort and I had no idea how to get there other than follow the GPS, so that’s what we did. I probably drove just as far to get out of the resort as I did to get to the pizza joint.

The glennbo family...destroying the ozone layer one pizza at a time.

It had a card reader and sure enough, it let me through. The only problem was, the card reader wouldn’t let me back out.

That's...weird.

So here’s a map, in the style of the Family Circus, showing my journey that day. The yellow line shows the drive to Orchid Island Pizza. The green line shows my walk up until I waved to Marlene on our balcony. And then the blue line shows my walk back to Orchid Island Pizza.

Oh yeah. One more funny story. After walking back to Orchid Island Pizza, when I tried to pay, I accidentally handed the guy my DVC member card rather than a credit card. I don’t usually carry that card, so I had just stuck it in my wallet before we left home. The poor guy tried to ring it through a couple of times and then handed it back saying, “Ahh, we no-a take-a this here.” (No offense, he really talked that like.) I was like “What? Oh! Oops.” “Here, try this one instead.”

Boy, the sense of entitlement these DVC owners have...

We look like we could use a tan, don’t we?

I can't comment on this. It would be a classic case of pot v. kettle.

I've had to do that a couple of times. That's a lot of work just to get back to shore!

I tried out the slide at the pool and came out of the water proclaiming it “the Nascar slide”. (All left turns). It wasn’t bad, but Kidani’s is better.

Good to know. I should try Kidani's sometime.

We reminded them that as DVC members we get free movie rentals, so they went down to the gift shop and came back with a DVD of “Dead Poet’s Society”.

Carpe diem!

We asked the kids if the resort “felt like Disney”. And they all agreed that it did. It was “different”, but yes, it was definitely “Disney”.

Good to know! I'd love to try these places out sometime.