"...my Knees are KILLING me! Please don't walk so fast...."
....knowing that we were indeed, heading for the nearest exit made my DH as happy as a kid in a candy store. He didn't want to stay another minute and the grunts and sighs eminating from his mouth was proof-positive that he wanted to high-tail it outta US/IoA to just sit and relax in an air-conditioned room, watching The Weather Channel

[hey, we ALL have our little idiosyncrasies...]. Slowly, it was becoming painfully clear about the difference between HIS perception of a Florida vacation versus MINE - or ANY vacation, for that matter. Ron is a true 'workaholic' and that is just the way he will always be. Designing and building homes is what he loves best; THAT is his vacation. The past year has had its own share of a bumpy roller-coaster ride - with the recession in full swing and the future uncertain, one constant he can always count on is his determination, work ethic, and enthusiasm for hard work and all of its rewards. You see, looking back, I believe that this is part of the reason why he actually agreed to this vacation. The last project that he tackled was complete with many uncertainties, almost pushing us into financial ruination, and he swore that a [long-overdue] vacation was just the remedy. Knowing my love for WDW, his agreement was just his way of making all the sacrifice worth it, and in essence, to appease me. Like most of us, we tend to forget the harsh memories and hold onto the dear ones, and anyone who knows my DH, is familiar with his 'short-term memory'....although some might call it 'selective'....
....well, we set off for the parking lot, the gap between them and me ever-widening. I had to admit (not to any of THEM, of course!) that I was at my breaking point, at least where my knees were concerned, and I was silently happy about anticipating sitting in the comfort of a cool, comfy vehicle. By the time I reached the ET section, there they were, car idling, happily seated in our now A/C-enhanced rental, eyeing me with collective looks of "FINALLY!". Yet, I knew that we would not be coming back - one more IoA visit,and I STILL have never experienced the US/IoA parks at night....
....Ron is now, finally, happy that his tush is parked in front of the bedroom television set, as he views the weather forecast for the next 5 days - really.....REALLY?...uh, heat, heat, and heat, followed by MORE heat, culminating in a late afternoon drenching. One doesn't need to be a meteorologist to figure THAT out, but hey, that's HIS nirvana, so I'll just let him be. Meanwhile, Alexis and I decided on an impromtu visit to the quiet pool, so, 15 minutes later, we were searching for the perfect location near the pool. Trouble is, many of the pool-goers were already heading back to their units; the skies looked ominously dark and forboding...
...as you can see by the hue of the sky, a soaker was heading our way, and FAST! True to form, the Florida weather, once again, did not let us down, when the heavens suddenly opened up. We ran for cover under the shade of the laundry room/restroom/changing room area. A lone tree frog was not ecstatic about his situation either; he found shelter in the leader pipe next to where we were seated...
....when the rain finally subsided, we made our way back to the unit - it was after 6 o'clock, and Dylan and Ron were becoming exceedingly hungry. Secretly, I had envisioned grabbing something to eat at IoA, as did our friends, but once I realized that THAT was not becoming a reality, we had to think on our feet and hurriedly decided to give Mystic Dunes' local eatery, Kenzie's, a try...
....Kenzie's is located just beyond this bar area...
....suffice it to say, you will DEFINITELY get no food porn here either. Our first clue that this was going to be, once again, a forgetful meal, was the fact that there was only one other family [of 6] seated in the cavernous dining area and not a server to be found. We simply seated ourselves at the nearest round table, since it seated 6 and there were five of us. In what seemed to be an eternity later (it probably was only 6 or 7 minutes in actuality), a man appeared at our table, obviously put off that we had taken the liberty to seat ourselves. I immediately informed him that we had a patron in our midst that had food-sensitivity issues - specifically, gluten. He had no idea what that meant, and immediately headed for the kitchen. Moments later, the cook was at our table [notice that I said 'cook', not 'chef' - for all I know, the guy could have pulled him from the nearest McDonald's kitchen!]. I informed him that some of the ingredients on most menus may contain gluten - we finally agreed to a plain steak, with steamed veggies and an oil-and-vinegar salad, sans croutons. The food was palatable, but nothing to write home about. The dining room had no atmosphere whatsoever, and all we heard was the droning of CNN off in the distance, probably from the bar area. We didn't even bother with small chatter - I think by now, since it was already dark, everyone was nearing exhaustion and just wanted to relax at the condo....
....by ten o'clock, the rest of our party had joined us back 'at home', where we opened two bottles of wine and assorted acroutrement and commiserated about the day and about past good times....tomorrow's advantures would be a day where we'd break up our party and go our separate ways...
[...continued on Page 33 - Post #485...]