That's right, it's French!  To normal people it would be said and sound like "Dew".  To the Pennsylvania French that's "Ducks". 

Today we are finishing up Orlando or really Kissimmee, these are the really exciting days.  It sounds like we did a lot.  Really, it was one activity a day.  Most of them didn't last more than a few hours. 

Thursday, day four.  We slept in, took an hour drive to the Atlantic and played till the early afternoon on Cocoa Beach.  We parked on I Dream of Jeannie lane, walked a couple miles down the beach and ate lunch on the pier.

That day was really windy which made it seem cold.  It was cool enough that I didn’t notice my shoulder burning.  Honey’s face turned pink and when he took off his sun glasses his friend started singing Rocky Raccoon.  We spent the rest of the afternoon at the condo, napping, and swimming.  Then we headed over to Downtown Disney which doesn’t have admission, just lots of expensive restaurants and shops.

Friday, day five, last day.  We booked a one hour airboat ride around Cypress Lake.  This was by far my favorite adventure of this whole trip.  It was real windy that day too, so our trip was almost canceled.  We waited around a bit till the sun came out and the wind calmed down.  We had to wear headphones/ear protection because the fan and motor were really loud.

The boat really slid over the top of the water.  We went over both the lake and some of the marshy areas.  Every once in a while the captain would stop the boat and cut the engine.  He would point out alligators, cranes, herons, hawks in the lake and on the banks.  We even got to see a bald eagle on the bank that eventually took off and floated over a herd of cows wading and eating along the marshy shore.  This was a really great way to see the Florida wildlife.  I think it was billed as an eco-tour.  Well worth the time and money.

The rest of the day we relaxed and talked about all the things we had done.  Which things were our favorites, and the things we didn’t like.  Most of what we didn’t like was the traffic and congestion of the area.  We were really in Kissimmee not Orlando proper.  It didn’t matter what time of the day or night you went out it was always congested.

Our last meal in Florida was at Joe’s Crab Shack.  The seafood place with the dancing waiters and waitresses.  We had so much fun there we bought goofball T-shirts to commemorate the occasion.  I got the traditional blue tye dye with Peace, Love, and Crabs on the back.

We really ate more than any human should in a one week period.  I’m surprised I only gained back 2 lbs.  I was really good and spent a couple mornings on one of the exercise machines at the condo.  I guess that kept me from ballooning back to my post Christmas weight.

The rest of the night we repacked our suitcases for home and straightened up around the condo.  We got to sleep in before our return trip and snuck in some breakfast.  The thought was with a 2pm flight we might as well eat something early because we didn’t know when we would get another chance at a real meal.  And we were getting used to the real meal thing.

Returning the rental car was easy.  We arrived well ahead of our flight and still the flight was late taking off by an hour.  We had a quick layover in Philly and were back in Pittsburgh by 8pm.  Then it was another 1 1/2 hour drive back to Johnstown.

There are some vacations that you just can’t wait to get home from.  I just didn’t feel that way this time.  I didn’t want to come home, and I didn’t want to go back to work.  We had Sunday to unpack, wash clothes, play with “the teen” and the kitties.  It just wasn’t enough for me.

Monday back to work was cold.  Tuesday at work I caught a cold.  Wednesday I woke up sick, sick, sick.  I might have dragged myself into work but when I looked outside and saw the fresh four inches of snow I said, “Screw It,” made the call and crawled back into bed.

How’s that for a fairy tale happy ending?  Not quite Disney, is it?  Welcome back to the real world Princess.

tags: vacation  french  beach  fun  food  boat  eagle  crabs  flying  

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