Mike and Suzy's Honeymoon at Disney World

[MikeR]

On December 29th, 2007 Mike and Suzy’s had a wonderful wedding. They had a fantastic time, were very pleased at all their friends and family who came down, and most important of all they got married! Because any wedding in which that happens is, ultimately, a success.

As of today, they have yet to receive the wedding photos or videos, so they are going to jump chronologically from the wedding to the Honeymoon. Screw you Space-Time Continuum!

Now when it comes to photos, Mike has the eagle-eyes of the two. Suzy doesn’t so much have an eagle eye for photos as perhaps a pigeon’s eye, or a sparrow’s eye, or better yet a bee hummingbird (the smallest bird in the world weighing in at just .06 oz) eye for it. So as a result the pictures that you will be seeing are from Mike’s Camera vs. Suzy’s camera at a ratio of 833 to 1. That is not a joke. If it were a joke, you would be laughing now.

The Bride and Groom recovered from their wedding shindig for most of the 30th, and they needed it. By the time noon rolled around they rolled out of bed with it. They took care of a few last minute minor details - like packing for a two week trip. It’s not as if that’s a lot of stuff, right?

Mike’s Mom was nice enough to drive them to the airport

They boarded the plane without too much hassle, and sat back to sleep six straight hours with no interruptions and no waking up on their red-eye flight

Yea . . . sometimes that happens and sometimes that doesn’t. This was the latter and both of them stumbled off the plane like drunk, sleep-deprived zombies.

The stretch limo that Mike had arranged to pick them up was a nice treat.

It was pretty comfortable, but it was a little disappointing that the bar and most of the gadgets on the side were just for looks and they couldn’t actually get a drink in it, but still it was big and roomy and they didn’t have to wait for the bus, so that was relaxing after an uncomfortable plane-ride.

The arrived at the Polynesian Hotel and it was gorgeous.

The scenery and décor just brought a very tropical feeling to the place that was soothing, relaxing, and even a bit exotic. They are also very glad that they checked into the Honeymoon Suit, because if they didn’t get the Honeymoon Suit now, then when could they?

However, the previous occupants hadn’t checked out of it yet. Mike had called before hand and they said the room was not checked out on the 30th, so when they arrived very early on he 31st they should have been able to check in early. But such was not the case. So, Mike and Suzy stumbled to the concierge lounge and got their first treat of the day, their Groom and Bride ears:

Suzy liked her ears. Like, a lot. Like, a _whole bunch_. Like, to an unhealthy degree where Mike was wondering if she was going to start showering in her ears and they would dissolve around her leaving nothing but a pile of white goop on her head that she would still refuse to take off. She never reached that level, but they did end up wearing their ears for the first half of the vacation, so get used to seeing pictures of them wearing wedding attire with giant rodent ears on it.

That being said, for now doesn’t Suzy in her ears look like the cutest most beautiful bride in the whole world that there has ever been ever ever ever ever?



After taking the obligatory picture in front of the Epcot Ball

The Honeymooners went to The Living Seas. It was very early so they just walked right in because sane people were asleep in their beds. But not Mike and Suzy. They were still in Drunk, Sleep-Deprived Zombie mode and chugged along. The ride had changed to be incorporate Nemo elements into it [The writer originally wrote “Emo Elements” before correcting it, and the writer giggled when the writer pictured dark-haired fish with eyeliner make-up on. That is all.].

Mike and Suzy especially liked Turtle Talk With Crush. It was amazing how they did such good animation in real time. Mike only wishes that he would have thought of his question to ask Crush, “We just got married! Do turtles ‘marry’ for life?” before he left the building but that’s just because he’s a big ham who wants to star in every act he sees

The aquarium part of the exhibit was pretty interesting;

and of course, it was cool to watch the Nemo fish which were smaller than expected.

It was getting close to lunch time by now so Mike took Suzy over to the Land mainly because he wanted to see how busy their food area was

and to show Suzy how smart he was for making reservations. Suzy patted Mike on the head and said, “Who’s a good boy? Who’s a good boy?” And off they went to eat lunch at the Coral Reef Restaurant.

 

[OhMari]

Hi,
Welcome to the DIS. Can't wait to see your wedding photo's. I have to beg wedding couples to do WDW trip reports. Most stay over on the Wedding thread.

You crack me up jumping back and forth from first person to third person reporting. You dh looks familiar. Has he ever posted pictures on the DIS?

 

[theles]

Congratulations on the marriage....I can't wait to read more...

 

[IATink]

Great start to your report! Can't wait to read more!

 

[Disneys Billpayer]

Congrats to you both. I spent my honeymoon on uncle Walts estate 15 years ago and that is one of the few things I can still remember in vivid detail. Looking forward to hearing more on your stay.

 

[k_reile]

i'm on board...can't wait to hear about a 2 week vacation at Disney let a lone a honeymoon. Congratulations on the wedding.

 

[MikeR]

What are the odds that the Coral Reef Restaurant would be packed on New Year’s Eve?

Oh . . . about a 1 in 1 chance.

As Mike and Suzy were walking up to the restaurants they noticed a guy out front who seemed to be there solely to tell people that they didn’t have any available seats for the entire day. Luckily Mike had made reservations (“Good boy! Good boy!”).

Besides the obvious fact that it was New Year’s Eve at fricken Disney World, why was it so busy? Well, you just can’t beat that view:

Mike and Suzy were given a buzzer and were seated rather quickly on the bottom floor close to the water tank. They followed their servers recommendations and split an appetizer of crab cakes;

It was an enjoyable dish, with a rich creamy sauce, but nothing to write about. Only the author just did that, so please ignore the paradox in the previous sentence.

For their main course they got the Blackened Catfish;

which had a lovely spice and zest to it. Of the two dishes the catfish was definitely the superior one.

Being Honeymooners Mike and Suzy were given a free desert of crème brûlée which would be the first of many free deserts that would help insure tighter pants before the end of the vacation;

It was a very nice meal to start of Mike and Suzy’s Honeymoon. It had the best view of any restaurant they have ever been in and the food was quite a lot better than the raw green beans the author is currently eating for lunch (not a joke – Mmm raw green beans).

 

[MikeR]

Hi,
You crack me up jumping back and forth from first person to third person reporting. You dh looks familiar. Has he ever posted pictures on the DIS?

Well, to break out of the third person, this is being written by me, Mike, the "he" of Mike and Suzy. I've posted a bit in the wedding section and a pre-trip report.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Hillary12.8.07]

I'm in!!! Love it so far, I like your style of writing!!!

As a fellow recent Disneymooner I love all of these TR's, but yours is super cool!

We weren't super crazy about Coral Reef...it was good, but not as good as some other places we went.

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[MikeR]

We weren't super crazy about Coral Reef...it was good, but not as good as some other places we went.

That was basically our thoughts as well. The view was great, but the food was just OK. If it wasn't for the view then I would have been displeased.

 

[MikeR]

After lunch Mike and Suzy looked at their watches, and it was still too early to go home to their sweet sweet suite, so they went back to the Land to redeem their Fast passes that they got before lunch. Now, standing in line to get a ticket to stand in a line doesn’t seem like it should work, but it totally does and Mike and Suzy would end up strategizing like Sun Tzu on when and where to use Fast pass, and as a result despite going at an extremely busy time they ended up not waiting very much for the entire trip.

They got on the ride rather fast with there Fast-pass (hence the name);

The Animatronic portion of it was rather “meh” inducing, but once they got to the part featuring real, actual plants, it was rather interesting. They had never seen a Dragon Fruit plant before;

or a brussels sprout plant

or a nine pound lemon plant

And of course the pumpkins shaped like Mickey Mouse were totemo kawaii

Afterwards it was finally time for Mike and Suzy to check into their room so they walked past a waterup (it wasn’t a fall because the water wasn’t falling)

and they cooled off in a mist station

and finally they got back to the Polynesian and got into their room.

where they collapsed on the bed and quickly fell asleep.

 

[MikeR]

Mike and Suzy overslept a little bit and had to hurry through the dark to get to Epcot and make it to their reservation on time;

They arrived at Restaurant Marrakesh, and were shocked, shocked, that it was packed on New Year’s Eve;

They were about a half hour late for their reservation, but the receptionist didn’t even comment on it and just told them to wait over there. At least the architecture was pretty to look at;

It was loud and busy, but time passed as it has a tendency to do, and Mike and Suzy were soon seated and enjoyed a very tasty Moroccan tea;

The servers were dressed in beautiful Moroccan outfits and were quite helpful in making various recommendations;

Mike and Suzy decided to split an order of Couscous, seasonal vegetables, and a Lamb Shank

It was tasty and filling, but a little fatty. The couscous went especially well with the Moroccan wine.

As is their want, Mike and Suzy received a free desert of Bastilla - crispy leaves of pastry topped with vanilla cream and sprinkled with toasted almonds;

The restaurant had entertainment throughout Mike and Suzy’s. They had belly dancing;

Which Mike along with some other tourists tried to learn, failing miserably;

And they had some Moroccan music played on an instrument which the author cannot remember the name of. Does anyone know what this is?

After they left there was an impromptu dancing by a tourist out in the street

But Suzy refused to join in with that and instead preferred to save her dancing for the solemn dignity that only a stall selling bells can provide;

All in all, Mike and Suzy have eaten at better Moroccan restaurants. The scenery was very nice, but the food could have been improved upon. Still, it was a fun place to have their last meal of 2007.

 

[MikeR]

The New Year was fast approaching, so Mike and Suzy began to get their drink on with a quick trip to the Rose & Crown Pub.

Mike got a Strongbow Hard Cider while Suzy got a Guinness. You may not be able to see it, but there is a “2008” printed on the foam in this drink;

The hard cider was the hit of the night, and both Mike and Suzy ordered a Woodpecker cider and some more Strongbow cider over the next few hours. They tried to keep their drinking under control as they passed by the Ghost of Hangovers yet to come being wheeled out in a kiddy-stroller;

For a while they watched “British Invasion” a Beatles cover band. There was just something nice about sitting in a (fake) British square listening to a (fake) Beatles song while breathing the (fake?) night air.

After the cover band finished their set it was time for Mike and Suzy to find a seat for the Fireworks of Illuminations. The viewing area was a _little_ crowded;

But Suzy saw a spot on a wall that was completely empty so she encouraged (I.E. told) Mike to get up there and about two seconds after they sat on the wall someone shouted, “You’re blocking the VIEW!” so Mike and Suzy sheepishly scooted east some only to have another voice shout, “Now you’re blocking MY view,” followed by more scooting and more shouting until Mike and Suzy just got off and hopped into the seats of a restaurant. They weren’t sure if they were allowed to do that or not, but no one complained and they ordered drinks so it seems to have worked out well until the area got _really_ crowded (including the wall area that Mike and Suzy were shouted off of!) and they couldn’t see anymore as Suzy is a short, short lady. So they sat on a garbage can which was higher and had a better view than the chairs. And that’s how they brought in the New Year, sitting on garbage and watching the . . .

Fireworks!

And kissing!

And watching more fireworks!

And more kissing!

Once 2008 had begun Mike and Suzy went back to the Rose and Crown and came across the coolest T-shirts in the World. This group was doing a Drink-Around-The-World-Tour of Epcot’s World Showcase and some of their members didn’t show up;

So Mike and Suzy talked to them for a while, and the group offered to sell them the two spare T-shirts they had for cost. The reason these T-shirts are so cool is that on the back they have eleven blank circles on the back with the name of all the eleven World Showcase countries on them so that you can write the name of each alcoholic drink you have in it’s corresponding nation’s circle with a black sharpie. That way, you have a record of your drunkitude, which is oh so very important. Mike and Suzy got stopped over five times on their vacation by various people asking where they could buy their T-shirts, but they were one of a kind artifacts so no go for anyone but Mike and Suzy!

Mike and Suzy went off to France to fill in one of their circles and got some tasty Pomegranate Glow-In-the-Dark Champaign.

It was a little unusual, and Mike couldn’t taste the fruit very well, but it was a nice change of pace from the Hard Ciders they had been drinking.

After they were done drinking, it was time to drink, so they went to the Yakitori House at the Japan pavilion and got some sake as well as some udon noodles.

The Sake would have been undrinkable if they had just started the night, but thankfully their taste buds had been pounded into submission by that point, so they managed to drink half of it. The Udon noodles were no different than you could get at any cheap and easy Japanese restaurant, but after a long night they went down perfectly. Soup is one of the world’s most perfect drinking foods.

It was then time to try and burn off the calories of the night (or perhaps .00001% of them) so it was lucky that Mike and Suzy stumbled across a Latin Dance Party at . . . uh . . . Latin Land!

They did not play any Waltz’s at the Latin Dance Party (what are the odds?) so they Mike and Suzy did not get a chance to show off their dance skills that they learned for their first dance at their wedding, but they would later on in the Honeymoon. Instead Mike and Suzy just got down and / or funky with the beat.

Soon though the party closed and the song “Closing Time” with it’s not so subtle message of “You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here,” came over the speakers so Mike and Suzy made their way out of the park;

They got lucky and managed to use their Super-Honeymooning Powers to ride in the front of the Monorail, the only time they got a chance to do that on the trip;

They briefly hung out in their lobby;

before heading to their rooms to crash. It was a great first day of their Honeymoon and they were so happy to be together.

 

[k_reile]

DH and I drank around the world when we were there at the beginning of the F&W festival. We the pomogrante champagne....so much that we brought the stuff to make them at our own new years eve get together. We certainly had the bill to prove that we had been drinking around the world...but oh well it was really fun and something you cannot do anywhere else!! Of course when we got home, DH went to buy 2 6 packs of beer and said he felt like he had ripped off the store because both of them cost what one drink cost at WDW! Did you go drinking at Raglan Road? We did one night at their outdoor bar...that was pretty cool! Love how they put the 2008 in your beer....pretty cool!

 

[MikeR]

Day 2: Recuperation

Before he went to sleep Mike put a menu in the bathroom so that when he woke up he could order room service for breakfast without waking up Suzy,

and when the morning came that is exactly what he did;

From Ohana he order some sausage and eggs as well as Tonga Toast. The eggs and sausage were extremely edible and what you would expect from eggs and sausage. Tonga Toast, on the other hand, is basically French Toast stuffed with Bananas and it was extremely yummy-licious. It was so good and different from normal French Toast that Mike is considering cooking it himself next New Year’s Day as kind of a special Honeymoon-Anniversary-New-Year treat. It seems like it could be a fun tradition to start. On the other hand, he is deeply lazy and cooking with a lot of oil after a night known for the imbuement of alcohol might not be the best plan, so we shall see.

Mike and Suzy puttered around the room some more after eating, took a short nap (all that waking up and eating was exhausting) puttered around some more, showered, got dressed and looked into the concierge room to see what type of free goodies they were getting;

Well, not exactly “free.” In fact, if you do the math these are some of the most expensive cupcakes you will ever eat. The concierge room was nice, but Mike and Suzy didn’t actually use it that much. They got so much food on the trip, that they didn’t really need any extra food, but what they most got from concierge service was, unsurprisingly, the concierge service; all the help in making reservations, questions answered, etc.

However, Suzy did quite enjoy the chocolate covered Mickey Mouse Shaped Rice Crispy Treats;



She took a half-dozen of them when we left the room and was very reluctant to throw them away at the end of the trip when they had grown new life forms that evolved into a miniature civilization in the midst of developing masonry.

After that they walked around to explore the Polynesian Hotel and were mooned by a couple wooden statues;

Rather than suffer further abuse at the hands of timber figurines, they took this as a sign that they should get out of the Polynesian. They didn’t want to fight the crowds on New Year’s Day, so they decided to have a nice easy time of it and explore some of the other hotels on the monorail track.

First they went to the Grand Floridian;

Which has some truly wonderful scenery and an atmosphere of a turn of the century (20th, not 21st) Floridian retreat;

as well as having the largest Gingerbread House Mike had ever seen;

While there Suzy also took a peak into Victoria & Albert’s as a preview of credit card debt yet to come;

They also hung out in a hammock for a bit;

And engaged in a little cross dressing fun;

Next up was the Contemporary Resort;

Which was honestly a bit of a disappointment. It was essentially a very boxy old architectural building that was supposed to inspire images of the future but left Mike feeling like he had been transported to the far future, all the way to the year 1983!

Also, they used to have a huge arcade that got moved and seriously downgraded. Mike actually had fond memories of making his first move on a girl in that arcade back in the early 90’s. That move failed miserably of course, but at least it was made. Does anyone have any pictures of that old arcade anywhere?

About the most interesting thing in the Contemporary was its life sized chocolate diorama of Pinocchio. This took 280 pounds of sugar, 255 pounds of Chocolate, 63 pounds of flour, 40 pounds of honey, and 2 pounds of cinnamon to make;

The monorail then took them back to the Polynesians

Where they hung out in their room for a bit. This might be a good time to show off the Honeymoon suite. It honestly was not that big, but it was nice and comfortable;

And it had a great bathtub;

And a pretty bathroom floor pattern that Suzy wants to copy someday in their house;

 

[MikeR]

Soon enough it was time for the favorite part of any honeymoon, getting leid;

Mike and Suzy had tickets for the Hawaiian Luau. Mike ordered the best tickets they offered, and while it was closer to the stage than the back row tickets, it honestly did not feel that the tickets were that special as they were still a few rows back.

The first round of food was appetizers consisting of sweet bread, pineapple, and salad;

And the main course was pork spare ribs, chicken, and rice;

With a desert of a chocolate mousse shaped like a volcano;

This food OK, but as was often the case if you are used to eating ethnic food in your home town you might find Disney’s version of it to be a bit watered downed and low grade in comparison to what you are used to. At Mike’s old college they had a huge luau every year in which an entire pig was roasted underground, real poi was served, and other Polynesian dishes were prepared. That was all put on by volunteer college students in their spare time and it was fantastic. You’d think that Disney could match that, but it wasn’t even close. That’s not to say the food was bad or not enjoyable, just that it could have been better and it wasn’t really Polynesian food.

The show itself was cute and funny at times;

It stared and island girl who came back from the mainland and told of her journey to rediscover her island roots by shaking her moneymakers;

Also it guest-stared fire!

After the show was over Mike and Suzy looked at some paintings for sale in the lobby;

They were pretty, but not worth the cost. Besides, Mike has already bought enough art work for their house anyways (according to Suzy, Mike begs to differ).

They then went to downtown Disney on a quest to find a very specific gift for Mike’s Mom (A Mickey Mouse watch with an American flag on it. She works at Veteran’s Affairs).

It was a long and arduous quest lasting all of five minutes at the biggest Disney store in the world,

but they were successful and also had time to check out Goofy’s Candy Co

Look at some more artwork that Mike was forbidden to buy;

and have Mike pull Suzy aside and point out this sign;

so that he could make the joke of wanting a smoothie flavored like roast beef. It might have been funnier if he had not so obviously showing the sign to her to just to make the joke.

With that they returned home and went to sleep.

 

[IATink]

I just got caught up on your report! I love your writing style and the pictures are great. Sounds like you had a great honeymoon. Can't wait to read more.

 

[IloveDMB]

Congratulations on your wedding! Your trip report is cracking me up, you have a great style.

Can't wait to read more.

 

[MikeR]

Day 3: The Magic Kingdom

Mike and Suzy arrived at the Magic Kingdom before the park opened

because they had a reservation to eat breakfast at Cinderella’s Palace. It was a little bizarre to be at a theme park and have it be almost completely empty of people, but they did get a picture of just them and the castle, and how often does that happen?

Mike and Suzy waited in line and got their picture taken with Cinderella;

Then climbed the staircase (NO part of this Honeymoon must be undocumented!);

to attend the breakfast ball. The food . . . was nothing special, just standard breakfast fair. Mike even forgot to take a picture of it (Part of the Honeymoon is undocumented! Horrors! Shock! Alarm!). But people don’t go to character dinning for the food, do they? They mainly go for the princesses and there were plenty of those. First up was Snow White who asked Mike who his favorite princess was. He didn’t really have one so he thought it would be polite to say that Snow White was his favorite princess, but as soon as he started to answer Snow pointed at Suzy, so Mike quickly said that Suzy was his favorite princess, and she truly is.

Next was Belle;

Then Princess Aurora

And finally Jasmine:

After breakfast was over Mike and Suzy went down but found themselves trapped in the castle because the park had not opened yet so they explored the Bibbity-Bobbity-Boutique

where Mike’s attempts to have them dress Suzy up in a Jessica Rabbit costume were completely unsuccessful so they basically just sat around being cold for a while until it was finally time for the park to open, Mike and Suzy were in a great spot and got to rush ahead of everyone and be the first people to get to various areas of the Magic Kingdom;

Video Clip.

Mike and Suzy dogged one way, then went another, and finally decided upon going to Pirates of the Caribbean;

Mike thought that the addition of Jack Sparrow and company to the ride worked rather well. The newly added parts don’t detract from the ride so much as they add another element to it.

After Pirates they rushed over to Splash Mountain, and the lines were still short enough (and the weather cold enough) that they had an entire log to themselves;

In Mike’s Opinion, Splash Mountain has the best animatronics in all of Disneyworld.

And some great scenery too;

The ride is just a lot of fun, even if you do get a little wet on the coldest day of the year;

Next they went to Big Thunder Mountain;

which Mike has always liked because he gets to pretend that he is Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom.

Perhaps he screamed too much because he soon found himself in the stocks;

But he got out in time to go to the Haunted Manssion;

With its eerie paintings that go up;

or is it the floor that goes down?

 

[MikeR]

Despite Mike’s many protestations that the song would be stuck in their heads for the next 11.5 days, Suzy wanted to go on It’s a Small World,

so off they went;

The line wasn’t too long, and the ride was a lot more fun than Mike remembered it being from when he last went on it as a teenager;

Sometimes you just have to grow old in order to be able to put away childish things, like the fear that you might be enjoying something childish.

It was at this point that Mike and Suzy’s Fast-Pass planning and early morning attendance began to run out of steam. Their next Fast-pass wasn’t for two hours and the lines for all the good rides had grown long enough that they couldn’t just walk into whatever ride they wanted too - oh the travails of vacation.

So they decided to just wait in Space Mountain’s line for however long it took. “However long” turned out to be around 45 minutes, which was the longest they waited for anything on their vacation. During that time they tried to watch a TV show (Mad Men) on their I-Pod, but their surroundings were quite noisy and the sound on their split headphones wasn’t loud enough and the screen wasn’t bright enough. So all in all, Mike’s bright idea to make waiting in line a breeze didn’t work out very well. Oh well. In the future they learned to just bring magazines with them which were easily foldable and usually readable anywhere anytime.

Space Mountain itself was pretty fun. They sat in the back

and it was exciting mainly because the ride was in the dark so they were unsure of what would happen next. Years ago, Mike was on it one time when there was some type of problem and they had to turn the lights on, and that made Space Mountain just a humdrum rollercoaster to tell the truth.

After the ride Mike was pretty happy to get his picture taken with the creature from Lillo and Stitch as that was the most enjoyable Disney film he’s seen in a while;

Then they went and cashed in their Fast Passes for the Winnie the Pooh ride which Mike was happy about as he is a big fan;

It was set up as if you were passing through the book itself;

But outside of the ride was still cold so Suzy was all bundled up, so much so that perhaps she looked a little like Pooh herself. Any resemblance?

Suzy

Pooh

It was lunch time so Mike and Suzy went to their reservation at the Liberty Tree Inn;

The place was not jam-packed because if you take out a package of jam there is still enough room to stick a spoon in and scoop out the jam, but good luck trying to do that at the Liberty Tree Inn a day after New Year’s Day because there was not an millimeter to spare. Not to worry though, because Mike made reservations and had them confirmed in his handy print-out that he was given by concierge when they checked in, right?

Wrong. The lady up front explained that Mike did not in fact have a reservation. Mike pointed at his paper saying, “No, really. He does have a reservation.” But it was to no avail. The receptionist said that Mike’s reservation had been canceled months ago. Mike asked why it showed up on his reservation list that he had been given two days ago. The lady said she didn’t know, but that somebody must have made a mistake. Mike said that he was very sorry that someone in her company had made a mistake, but he had reservation for lunch and as it would be impossible to get new ones given how busy the park was, he intended to keep them. The lady said that she was sorry but there was no room. Mike said that as someone had made a mistake that was effecting him, she should make room. She said that wasn’t possible and seemed to be hinting that Mike should just leave. Mike went into 2001 mode and kept saying, effectively, “I’m sorry Dave, I can’t do that.” over and over again to her various subtle and not-so-subtle hints to go away. Eventually the receptionist gave up and said she’d find Mike and Suzy a table as soon as she could but that it would probably be a half hour to an hour. Mike said that would be fine and thanked her for her help (always be gracious in victory, it doesn’t cost anything).

In about 35 minutes or so, Mike and Suzy were shown to their table and were greeted by a waitress decked in festive attire;

They were both pretty full from breakfast so Mike just had some chili and Suzy just had some clam chowder and they both split a pot of tea;

The clam chowder and chili was soup. Just regular soup. Nothing incredible, nothing bad, just average ordinary bowl of soup of the type you could find in any chain restaurant like Applebee’s or the Olive Garden or Newport Bay. It was however, hot, and I can not emphasize enough how important that was on this very cold day.

The tea was also hot, and Mike and Suzy got some cups to go to help them brave the harsh frigid tundra that central Florida had become;