Isabelle At 2 Weeks

The photo above is of baby Isabelle at 2 weeks old, our newest grandchild and reason for our return home. I have spent the past few days just holding her and entertaining our other granddaughter, Malory, who is turning two at the end of April. Grandma Nancy is a happy camper, embracing all this babyness. Next week, grandsons, Ryan and Daniel, will return from their Spring Break so they will get their share of the grandparents' attention. So, for the next two weeks, the blog will be on hiatus, when we will return to our adventures along the East Coast. Thank you to all, who have been so supportive of my blogging efforts. It is really fun to do and lovely to know that we are entertaining so many with our adventures. We look forward to our return, but will enjoy visiting with family and friends. See you real soon.

Heading Home

Saturday, March 25th, we finally decided to take a chance and start our drive through the mountains. The next campsite from Asheville was 50 miles through the mountains. So I said to Mel, "Let's try it and if it is awful, we can stop at the next campgrounds." We left Asheville with overcast skys, light snow flurries, some fog and wet pavement. About 10 miles out, we were in sunshine and blue skys, so we were off to Knoxville, TN. To make life easier on the RV, I drove the Jeep through the mountains that were just breathtaking, but because I was driving I was unable to take photos. Before we reached Knoxville, Mel swerved into a rest stop without signaling me. When I caught up with him, I asked him why we had stopped so abruptly. He had decided that the roads were fine and that we should hook up the RV so that we could ride together. That was so nice of him.

Anyway, we decided that we would make it to Lexington, KY and then camp for the night. At 4 p.m., we arrived at Lexington, but instead of pulling of the road as planned, Mel looked at me and said, "We are going to be home tonight. I am not stopping." I was not convinced that this was prudent but off we went.

We arrived at the Illinois border at 11 p.m. after 13 hours on the road and, of course, we ran into the Dirty Dan construction and then lane closing through downtown. Mel was ready to unravel so I suggested that we pull into Michelle's and Doug's for the night, so that we could get a good night's sleep and shower before we reached McHenry. We made it to Deerfield a little past midnight and within 15 minutes after we plugged in, Mel was sound asleep, snoring his head off. It took me a while to settle down and fall asleep but it was a good feeling to know that we made it home safe and sound.

Opulence in Asheville

Even though it was an overcast and misty day in Asheville, we spent the day exploring the Biltmore Mansion. The mansion was built in 1895 by George Vanderbilt, the great grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt. Cornelius, known as the Commodore, made his fortune in shipping and then in railroads. When he died, his estate was worth a $100 million dollars, which in today's dollars is worth $39 billion dollars. His son, William, doubled the fortune in ten years. So by the time that George came along, there was plenty of funding available to build the Biltmore Estate.

It took 1,000 laborers, artisans and craftsmen to build the mansion of 250 rooms. The "house" was electrified, had indoor plumbing, and indoor swimming pool and bowling alley. There was a staff of 35 to run the mansion and meet the needs of the family and their many guests.

We had lunch in The Stable restaurant. Our table was in the birthing stall, which crept Mel out, but we had a good lunch nonetheless. It took quite a while to tour the four story mansion and we were glad that we rented the audiophones that explained the details of each room.

When we finished the house tour, we drove to the Conservatory so we could visit the gardens and hot houses with the plants that are nurtured for use in the home. Then, we drove by the winery, stables and angus cattle farms, all a part of the estate. We ended our tour of the grounds at the Biltmore Inn, the hotel that those who want to experience some of the luxury of the mansion can stay in.

After our long day of touring, we drove not too far from the estate to find a movie theater. We saw the Inside Man, starring Denzel Washington, Clive Owen and Jodie Foster. It is an interesting and involving and evolving story that has a nice twist at the end. Keeps you guessing and quite enjoyable.

Holed Up in the Mountains

This morning, we left 96, SC and headed to Asheville, NC. We have driven through Asheville several times on our way to 96, but never stopped. We wanted to see The Biltmore Estate, built by George Vanderbilt, the grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt.

By the time that we arrived, secured a campsite, and had lunch, it was too late to tour the mansion. So, we toured downtown Asheville. It was a sunny, relatively comfortable day-sweatshirt weather. When we returned to the RV, there was a notice to disconnect our water for the night because the temperature was going down to 28 degrees. Then, we watched the Weather Channel to find out that we had driven ourselves into a mountain snowstorm beginning at 10 p.m. and ending at 6 p.m. tomorrow. So, we are battened down for the snow, we have plenty of bottled water, enough food and hope that when we wake, none of the bad weather happened so we can continue our way to Chicago.

If the weather isn't too bad, we hope to tour the estate when it opens, then get on the road to Knoxville, but the weather doesn't look too great there, either. Where is Spring?! We just want to get home safely. It is a good thing that we have no deadlines to meet. This drive could be ugly.

The photo is from our campgrounds, you will notice that we are pretty high up and there are the Blue Ridge mountains in the distance.

Lake Greenwood State Park

The past two days, we have been in 96, SC, the home of Mel's sister, Arlene, and the site of the Star Fort, a Revolutionary War fort. The town of 96 was so named because it is 96 miles from Charleston, SC. This area is also where patriot Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox, operated with his guerilla forces to fight off the British.

The photo is the site where the RV is parked. This is just one of the many beautiful park sites that we have had the opportunity to stay at during out travels. We spent Wednesday, Chuck's and Mark's 31st birthday, in Abbeville, SC, a charming little town not far from 96. We had lunch at the Village Grill on Trinity Street and then, we walked around the town square that they are trying to get rezoned to a historic district, so they become eligible for federal funding.

Last night, I joined Arlene at her church for a presentation by a Messianic Jew. This was a very interesting talk. The gentleman explained that he had been brought up a Conservative Jew and converted to a Messianic Jew in his adulthood and now he is what is known as a Completed Jew, but no longer recognized by his family. Arlene's church has been exploring religious practices of other religions to study the rituals that are common to their religion. Because we are in the Lenten period, he explained the seder and Passover rituals and shared matzoh and grape juice with the congregation. He said several prayers in Hebrew, then translated them to English, only to point out that the words were the same prayers that Christians use.

We have decided that we are heading home to Chicago, where our new baby granddaughter is waiting for us. The magnetic pull is too great and we need to see the baby, our family and friends. However, the weather does not seem to be cooperating but we are hoping to be home by Sunday, if the weather holds up.

Charleston Single House

Our day started by driving to Daniel Island in search of the Queen Anne's Revenge restaurant. The name is derived from the pirate Blackbeard's pirate ship. We were hoping to find a place similar to the Pirate's House in Savannah but to our surprise, we arrived at a new structure with some pirate artifacts and cute pirate decorations. The food made the ride worth it but we were in search of history.

Our day's plan was to visit Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, but by the time that we arrived, it had begun to rain and since the gardens were a walking tour, we decided to opt out of the plantation tour.

So, we returned to downtown Charleston for a tour of the Charleston Museum. Besides the colonial and civil war memorabilia, they were having a display of 1920 flapper clothing. When we came out of the museum, the sky was cloudy and rain was threatening so we decided to head back to James Island. Once there, we continued on to Folly Island, one of the area's barrier islands. The architecture was interesting with the houses on stilts at least 10 feet high, then a regular house built on top of the stilts, clearly they are responding to hurricane preparation but it looked funny to see big houses up in the air.

The photo is of the Charleston Single House architecture. The house is the Calhoun mansion. The single house style features piazzas (verandas), main entry doors with rooms on either side of the center hallway. This style allowed for ventilation in the sultry humid Charleston weather. Even today, new homes are built in this style in respect of the history of the area.

At the Battery

Yesterday, March 18th, was a long day in charming Charleston. We started our morning by moving to a new campsite in James Island County Park. Happily, we were able to secure another site so we can stay in Charleston for a few more days.

Then, Mark called to bring us up to date about Isabelle Elizabeth. He sounded so happy and rested after their first long week together. It tickled me to hear his take on raising baby. Too cute!

We spent some time driving (getting lost) and ended up going over a bridge to Patriot's Point when we wanted to be downtown. Once we got our bearings we stopped at the Visitors Center at the old train station that has been beautifully restored. We boarded a mini-bus for a tour around the downtown and the historic area. Our tour guide was a history teacher so we got a thorough background of Charleston's long history and saw architectural styles from the 1700's 1800's and early 1900's-one beautiful building after another. The photo is of one of the many mansions along Battery Park.

Then we attended an orientation film, Forever Charleston at the Visitors Center. Afterwards, we walked to the Charleston History Museum to look at the H. L Hunley, the first submarine in combat action to sink a Union ship, Housatonic on February 17, 1864. Unfortunately, the eight submariners died on their return from their mission. The sub was recovered in 1995. We stopped in the Tea Shop for pasteries and tea for me. The tea was from the only operating tea plantation on the U. S. mainland. Yummy!

After tea, we drove the streets of Charleston, retracing many of the streets covered on our tour. There was so much to see that we couldn't take it all in on the tour. We walked some of the Battery, just to see the houses more closely. By dusk, we returned to our campsite.

Then, we drove to North Charleston to Woodlands Mall to have dinner at Olive Garden. Mel was craving spaghetti. We had to wait for a while since it was Saturday night but dinner was quite yummy.

On our return, the National Geographic channel had the story of Blackbeard, the pirate who terrorized Charleston and other coastal towns from North Carolina to Florida way back when. We were tickled since he is mentioned on our of our tours so everyone claims him. I think he would have loved the attention.

Today, we found a lovely Greek restaurant on the island. It was a nice change from our usual fare. Then, we went to see The Libertine with Johnny Depp, John Malkovich, Rosamund Pike and Samantha Morton. This is definitely an art house movie-two hours Mel won't be getting back. However, this is a true Johnny Depp role, quirky and interesting but terrible.

Good News! We finally have our local channels on DirecTV. We had to send paperwork so we could be qualified to receive it in our package for the RV. This satellite TV thing has been an adventure in itself, but Mel tried today and he found the channels available to us so we happily watched The West Wing, The Sopranos and Grey's Anatomy. Desperate Housewives was a rerun. No more snowy TV-won't be missed.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Yes, I am regressing for anyone who is familiar with this sculpture, this is a copy of the statue on the cover of "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil." I took this photo in Savannah at THE BOOK Bookstore. I wasn't able to publish the blog last night, so I finished reading John Steinbeck's "Sweet Thursday." I loved both "Cannery Row" and " Sweet Thursday," and told Mel how sad I was to have finished the books because I would miss the wonderful characters, who I came to love. Mel said that I was the character for feeling the loss of these fictional folks.

Because today is a holiday, we heard on the news that streets of Charleston were being shut down for their parade, so touring would be impossible for us. Basically, we took a day off from exploring our world. Mel slept in, which rarely happens. I read my new book, such a pleasure.

Once we got going, we took a drive out to the plantations but we wanted to eat before we toured. Amazingly, there were no restaurants for miles so we ended up heading back into Charleston in search of food. After we ate, we found a Barnes and Noble bookstore and spent an hour browsing the stacks until it was time for our movie of the week.

We went to see V for Vendetta, a strangely disturbing movie, set in 2020. There are frightening messages and sub-level messages for a movie based on a comic book. Natalie Portman was surprisingly good and V was who knows-never saw his face. We both agreed that we need to see it again to catch all the nuances.

Tomorrow, Charleston!

Crossing the Border

Today, we progressed north, crossing the border to South Carolina. We are staying at a beautiful county park on James Island. These publicly owned campgrounds are in gorgeous settings and add revenues to the county coffers. The only problem is that we can only stay two nights. Weekends can be a problem.We'll see what happens.

Before we left Savannah, we found a Walmart, where we bought replacement bulbs for fixtures in the RV. All of a sudden several lights went out. Guess they were installed at the same time. Wierd!

Once we were settled in, we drove to an adjacent island, Folly Island and had dinner at the Seashell Cafe, where I had the best scallops to date. Then, it was home to relax. Since my voice is starting to recover, I called all the kids and Grandma June. Mel laughed because by the time I was through my voice was gone again. But it felt so good to talk again-at least for a little while.

While I am doing this blog, I am unable to send it because of signal problems. We are on an island again with little to no coverage. Will try to publish tomorrow.

The Ides of March

Lucky us! We are blessed to be in the gracious city of Savannah, Ga. The photo is of the Mercer House on Bull Street at Monterey Square that was used as the mansion in the movie, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, with Kevin Spacey and John Cusack. The house was built by songwriter, Johnny Mercer's great-grandfather. Johnny Mercer wrote, "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby", "The Days of Wine and Roses" and "Moon River".

There is nothing not to love in Savannah, at least in the Historic District that is the largest urban historic district designated in the U. S. The founder, James Oglethorpe, was a great city planner. The city, founded in 1733, is laid out in a grid pattern with wide boundary streets, ample side streets and a major boulevard/parkway splitting the district in half. The district is dotted with small parks, called squares. The azaleas are in bloom so the squares make the city look quite festive and southern.

We first viewed the city on a narrated tram tour for and an hour and a half. This was quite helpful in orienting us to the area. We had lunch at the Pirate's House, built in 1753, for seafarers. It is said that Robert Louis Stevenson's Captain Flint, from Treasure Island, died in an upstairs bedroom and his ghost still haunts the tavern. To help my laryngitis, I had a snifter of Chatham Artillery Punch. It did nothing for my voice, but I didn't care. After lunch, we decided to run the street grids of the Historic District. By crisscrossing the district, we were able to thoroughly view the spectacular assortment of house and architectural styles. I took many pictures and will have trouble deciding which to discard. We stopped at a charming small bookstore totally devoted to what is termed "The Book", no not the Bible, but "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil." Of course, I had to buy The Book. Once we finished our tour, we parked and walked the river walk along the Savannah River. This was a bit disappointing after the wonderful Historic District. It is an area of bars and kitschy shops, definitely appealing to spring-breakers and St. Patrick's Day revelers. Note to self: Get out of Savannah before St. Patrick's Day.

On our way back to Tybee Island, we stopped at Publix for provisions, after deciding to just eat in the RV. Another happy day on the road!

Moved to Tybee Island, GA

Today was moving day. We left Jekyll Island mid-morning. We took the scenic route north on Hwy. 17. About midway through, we ran into rain, the first we have seen in weeks. We thought it would be with us the rest of the day. But by the time that we reached Savannah, it was bright and sunny again.

We are staying on Tybee Island about 15 miles east of Savannah. We are camped at River's End, where the Savannah River enters the Atlantic Ocean. As Mel detached the Jeep, we were attacked by sand fleas. We have been taking vitamin B1 for weeks in preparation and the fleas seemed to bounce off us. I was bit near the eye but escaped further harm. Mel was not affected. Once the car was parked, I made a run for the RV, while Mel continued the RV set up. When he came in, he called me into the bathroom. He had combed his hair and dead fleas had fallen into the sink. I quickly combed mine but only two dead fleas were found. Yuck, I hate nature--sometimes.

After we rested up, we took a drive around the island in search of dinner. We found the Tybee Island Lighthouse, pictured above, but found no where to eat as nothing looked too appetizing. So, we ended up driving half way to Savannah, where we found an Applebees. We were glad to find something simple and familiar. When dinner was over, we saw a car wash so we wheeled in there so Mel could wash down the Jeep. The little rain storm earlier in the day had left the Jeep filthy with road dirt and salt. The Jeep was smiling when we left the car wash.

Croquet, Anyone?

This is a photo of the Jekyll Island Club, the playground of the very rich in the late 19th century. Note the foreground, which is a croquet lawn with post and wickets, permanently set up for the guests of the club, now hotel.

On Saturday, we took a two hour tram tour of the Historic District, including this building and many of the "cottages" built by the billionaires of the time, the Rockefellers, Goodyears, Goulds, Pulitzers, etc. The island was bought by a consortium of the rich northerners, to be used first as a hunt club, but later as a playground for the rich, including at least two indoor tennis courts. We were able to tour through two of the "cottages" - one of which was the William Rockefellers. The rich folks visited the area from January 1st through March 31st. The ladies never wore an evening gown more than once so that meant many trunks filled with 90 dresses, purses, shoes, hats, jewelry, etc. The Rockefellers alone brought 20 servants to meet their needs. Their rather large cottage didn't even have a dining room, since they ate at the club every day. Naturally, many a business deal was hatched here, affecting the economy of the country. Really something!

After our tour, we ate at one of the cottages, now the Crane Cottage Hotel and had an elegant lunch in one of the first floor dining rooms.

Then, it was time for the movies. So we drove to St. Simons, another of the Georgia barrier islands. We saw Failure to Launch, a light enjoyable romantic comedy with Matthew McConahey and Sarah Jessica Parker. Terry Bradshaw and Kathy Bates were hysterical as Matthew's parents. A delight!

Sunday, we headed back to St. Simon and Sea Island, Georgia to have lunch at "The Cloisters", however, we were turned away since we were not club members nor hotel guests. We ended up at a little shack of a place called "Gnats Landing", just a bar and grill but cute. At that point, Arlene left us to return home to South Carolina. We drove by the movie theater to see the show times, but nothing was playing at that time. So, we decided to tour Brunswick, Georgia, a seaport town across the Intracoastal Waterway. It was a cute little sleepy southern town, with a church on every corner. Then, we recrossed the Intracoastal back to St. Simon and toured the southern part of the island, where there was a beach and lighthouse. We stopped for ice cream and strolled along the beach. From there, we toured through the residential area, looking at the variety of architecture in the area. Finally, it was show time and we went to see Shaggy Dog, with Tim Allen and Kristen Davis, a cute remake of the old classic.

Then, it was time to head home for "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy." Michelle called to bring us up to date on the new baby news. Isabelle is beautiful and looks like Katie. Mel thinks this is a good thing.

Today, we stayed put on Jekyll Island. We went to lunch at Blackbeard's Inn that overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. Mel likes his pirates. Then, we did our laundry at the Island laundromat. Between cycles, we walked to the local ice cream parlor for cones. After we stowed our clean clothes in the RV, we took a drive through the Historic Distict so I could take pictures.

Isabelle Is Born!

Just a few minutes ago, we received the good news that baby granddaughter, Isabelle, was born at 5:12 p.m. this evening. She is 8 pounds and 1 ounce and 20 inches long. Mom, Dad and baby are doing well and grandparents are ecstatic.

From this photo, you can see that we have finally crossed the Florida state line after almost 4 months. We are encamped at a beautiful RV park just across from the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. We left Disney World at 9:30 a.m., stopping at Johnny Carino's Italian Village restaurant for lunch in St. Augustine, FL. We arrived at Jekyll Island at 3:30 p.m.

Mel is so enjoying himself today. I have a bad case of laryngitis, brought on by excessive pollen in nature as spring has sprung in the south. All week, I have been fighting post nasal drip and runny eyes and nose, but this morning I awoke with no voice. Mel did the happy dance, since I will be quiet for the next week.

Mel's sister, Arlene, has been traveling with us. She arrived at Disney World on Monday evening, around 9:30 p.m. On Tuesday, we toured EPCOT's Future World. On Wednesday, we did Disney's MGM Studios. Yesterday, we began the day by starting at the Magic Kingdom and riding the train around the park twice as Mel gave us a truncated tour of the steam trains. Then, Arlene treated me to High Tea at the Grand Floridian. It was quite grand and wonderful to be treated like very special ladies. Afterwards, Mel joined us and we returned to the Magic Kingdom, enjoying our last moments in Florida there. After taking in as many rides as we could, we watched the Spectromagic Parade and the Wishes fireworks show, a fitting ending to our stay at Disney and in Florida.

Pick Your Favorite

Sorry that I haven't written for a few days but we have a guest with us. On Sunday, we had called sister, Arlene, to invite her to join us at Disney. It was the 4th anniversary of her husband's, Don, death, so she was down and not feeling like doing much of anything.

Then, on Monday morning, we got a call. Arlene's plans for the week had been cancelled and she was on her way to Orlando.
Since her arrival, we have been on the run. We spent yesterday, Tuesday, at Epcot and today at MGM Studios. We are having a great time but are getting home late and are super tired. The photo is from the Fantasmic show, a spectacular multi-media presentation.
I probably won't write for a few days. Tomorrow is our final Disney day and we have saved the Magic Kingdom for our finale. Then we will travel to Georgia on Friday.

And The Oscar Goes To ......CRASH!

The Oscars are over for another year, but I have been jumping up and down over the Oscar for Crash. The first time that we saw it, I said that it deserved to win the Oscar for Best Picture. I never deviated from that opinion, but I did not think that the Academy would go for it with all the hype for Brokeback Mountain. We thought all the nominees were deserving, but we would have added King Kong to the group. Not too happy about the choice for best song, but we are not hip-hop people.

In anticipation of the Oscars, we decided to keep the day low key. We had lunch at Macaroni Grill. Instead of going into the parks, we did Transportation Day. We rode our bikes because the day was so spectacular. Then, we took the Magic Kingdom boat to Fort Wilderness Lodge and toured through the magnificent lobby. From there, we took a launch to the Contemporary Hotel, where we found this cute sculpture of Mickey. We love Disney!

From the Contemporary, we hopped onto the Monorail to the Polynesian Hotel. The gardens and lobby are so luscious. At their shop, we found the cutest Hawaiin shirt with Mickey in a hammock for Mel. Can't wait for him to wear it. I have it laid out so he will put it on tomorrow. We reboarded the monorail and went to the Grand Floridian, where I found matching earrings to go with my ring and bracelet. We ended our tour at the Magic Kingdom, where we boarded the Magic Kingdom boat and returned to the campgrounds. A great day!

Mickey In A Bubble

Here is another view of Mickey from the Celebrations Parade at Magic Kingdom. We like Mickey!

Today, though beautiful, was a maintenance day. We knew the park would be crazy on Saturday, plus it is Orlando's Bike Week and ESPN Weekend at MGM. So, we gave the RV a good cleaning. Now everything is shiny and clean and so pleasant. Mel wanted to wait until tomorrow to do this, but it will be our last week in Disney and I didn't want anything hanging over our heads. Our supply shopping, laundry and cleaning are done. We celebrated our accomplishments by going to Outback for hamburgers. The cold wave has arrived so instead of going to Magic Kingdom, we spent a quiet evening at home.

Here's Mickey

Another perfect day at Disney. We lazed around the RV until 11 a.m. Then, we drove off property to Olive Garden. When we finished, we went to Downtown Disney. We were an hour early for our movie so we walked the length of Downtown Disney, peeking in shops and enjoying the LEGO structures that included a full size fire eating dragon in the pond.

At Pleasure Island AMC, we saw 16 Blocks with Bruce Willis, Mos Def and David Morse. This was a really entertaining movie, one of the best that we have seen in weeks. Once the Oscars are over, the movie selections should pick up again. Yes, we will be glued to the TV Sunday Night.

After the movie, we returned to the RV so I could change into slacks, just in case it turned cold while we were at MGM Studios. We went specifically to see the Fantasmic show. I can't even explain how this show is done but it is really wonderful. I took Mickey's picture as the show started.

When the show was over, we took a ride on the Tower of Terror and the Rock and Roller Coaster. We finished off our visit with ice cream cones.

Mel wasn't tired so we rode our bikes to the beach to wait for the boat float parade. The expected cold front arrived as we waited with a north wind blowing over the lake and chilling things off quickly. The parade is so adorable with lighted figures and music to match. I, especially, love watching the little kids watching the parade. All in all, it was a great day.

Steamed

Here is Mel with the conductor of his Disney Steam Train Tour. He has been in pig heaven all day with a grin on his face and a skip in his step. He won't grow up! And he refuses to blog. But he has decided that he'd like to work with this train set.

From his description, Walt was a big train fan. He was born in Chicago, but spent four years in a small town in Missouri. The Santa Fe railroad ran through the town and had their railyards there. Walt spent those years talking to the engineers and trainmen, who had stopovers in the town. So began his lifelong love of trains. Also, Main Street of the Magic Kingdom is representative the Missouri town of Walt's childhood.

In 1946, after making money as an animator, especially with Mickey, he and his wife bought 5 acre of land, on which he built 12th scale train set throughout their property. While Disneyland has one small train, when Walt designed Disney World, he had enough land to build a narrow gauge railroad, encircling the park, approx. a mile and a half, with three stations.

There are 4 engines that were built in Mexico, with a set of twins that were built side-by-side at the same time. They are named after Walt, his wife, his brother and the man who worked at his side, designing the railroad: Engine #1 Walter E. Disney, Engine #2 Lilly Belle, Engine #3 Roger E. Broggie, and Engine #4 Roy Disney. Roy refused to allow his engine to be used until after his death. The engine in the photo is #3. The tour was 3 hours long and Mel has his own railroad name tag and a special Steam Train trading pin, as his souvenir.

By the time he returned, it was lunch time. We went to Giordano's for pizza. FINALLY! Then, we decided to do laundry. It has been 15 days and we had six loads. We finished by 6:00 p.m. We debated about boating to the Magic Kingdom for the parade and fireworks. But by the time, we made up the bed, folded and stowed the clothing, we decided to stay in for the evening. Tomorrow is another day.

Hi Mickey!

Again, we started off our day with a bike ride. Mel was determined to have lunch at the Trails' End buffet. When we had breakfast there yesterday, they had barbeque pork on the menu. The poor guy had been thinking about that pork all day and night. So we got ourselves seated, only to find that there was no barbeque of any kind today-no pork, no ribs, no beef. Not that there wasn't plenty of food, but there was no barbeque. I mentioned this to our waitress, Edna. The next thing we knew Edna had explained to the manager of Mel's disappointment. Then, they went to talk to the chef and about 15 minutes later, they delivered three barbeque pork sandwiches. Another reason that we love Disney!

After we biked back to the RV, Mel said, "Let's call the front desk and see if we can extend our stay." So I did and guess what? We were able to extend our stay to Friday, March 10th. Mel is besides himself with joy. So before we headed to MGM Studios, we had to stop at the campsite office to re-check in. This is getting ridiculous, even for us.

We reached MGM in time for the parade, which included Mickey, himself. See the photo above.

After the parade, we took the Great Movie Ride, my favorite at this park. It is scary that we have seen most of the films that they highlight in the video after the ride.

Then, we went to see the car stunt show, Lights, Camera, Action. Mel was so pumped from the show that he pretended that he was a race car driver all the way back to the campgrounds. Once again a lovely day!

P. S. Finally, I am back in good health. Being sick sucks!