Fun in the Park

Thursday it started out in the low 60’s and rainy. After my 2 mile walk, we dove into the tax swamp. Using TurboTax is not difficult, just time consuming if one is not familiar with it. It took about 2 hours until we were brain dead, so we saved it until another day.

Nobody felt like doing anything all day as it really never got pretty. But we did plan to go somewhere to dinner, and finally we voted on Cracker Barrel. I don’t know why I do this, but I have a favorite in every restaurant that we frequent (which has not been very frequent lately – we’ve been wining and dining the Jeep instead of us), and I order that every time. So I had my grilled chicken salad, as usual, and as usual, it was good. Donna had chicken, Ron had chicken livers and Gary had chicken slick (chicken and dumplings). We did a little looking around the store, and then decided to watch Under the Tuscan Sun at our place. It was a sweet movie, reminding us that we should look in our own backyards for happiness. I don’t think that applies to full-timers, though.

This morning was gray and middle fifties, so we did a little more taxes. Just when we thought we were going crazy, Donna came over and said ‘let’s go to Downtown Disney for lunch and then Disney Quest for some fun!’ We didn’t have to be asked twice. It was cloudy and windy, but TWC promised sunshine, so we had hope. The Earl of Sandwich was jammed, so we wandered over to Captain Jacks Seafood restaurant. We split a chicken parm sandwich and salad which was perfect. Then we stopped by Ghiridelli’s for dessert. A free sample of their chocolate – mmm, caramel inside milk chocolate! Look, the blossoms are out on the trees!
We walked all the way to the other end of the park and entered Disney Quest.
I had never been in here before, but my son, Tristan and his friend spent hours in here. It is 5 floors of cutting-edge technology, virtual reality and 3D encounters. Here we are in Buzz Lightyear’s Astroblaster.

You steer your own rocket, scooping up asteroids, firing them at other ships and bump into adversaries (like bumpercars). Fun! Gary and I created our own rollercoaster through a lava flow, entered a simulator and off we went. Upside down and looping all around. Awesome! We rode the Pirate’s ship, using cannons to ward off the other ships and stealing treasure, and then plunged down a prehistoric river on a raft in the Dinosaur Age trying desperately to avoid dangerous obstacles. All of these were 3 or 4D requiring the use of special helmets or goggles to see things virtually. Pretty cool. We stayed there 3 hours, but Donna suddenly didn’t feel so good. I gave her a couple of TUMS, and that seemed to do the trick. After we arrived home, she rested a little, and then they came over for dinner (which had been cooking all day in my crockpot – wonderful inventions, yes?) It was delicious especially with ice cream for dessert, and then we sat and talked for a couple of hours.

We called it a night, and hit the hay. Tomorrow our friends, Terry and Sheri and their son, Casey are leaving for another park, and we want to help if we can.

Another great day in the life.