Like most vacations, our trek to Fish Lake was too short. But it wet everyone’s appetite for more. I think we’ll be back to Fish Lake soon. If not before the end of this season, definitely next and probably every year after that. Word is that folks kinda liked the escape, spending time with each other and enjoying the simple things like cookouts, floating along the lake and smores. This just might turn into a family tradition. The only thing that would have made it better was if we could have all stayed in the same place. Some were in a cabin by the Fish Lake Lodge and others were either camping down the street or in a rustic cabin that would allow pets. It really makes it tempting to see how much it would cost to get our own cabin up there. I think if we had our own place, it would get used A LOT. Maybe some day…So I tried out my new lens this weekend. It is certainly wide angle which should make for some decent pictures in a few weeks when we go on the cruise. Below is a gallery of pix from this latest trip. It’s not all of them but it gives a good idea of what the place was like and how we enjoyed ourselves. And no…there are NO pictures of me..I was specifically grundgy this past weekend – very un-lady like. Let’s just say I looked a lot like Rosie O’Donnell… I’m not so sure I’d want the public to see that! LOL!
It’s t-minus 13 hours until we’re in the air heading to Florida. To say we’re excited is an understatement. I think I’ve been packed for the past 5 days. Silly, I know! Today started with the final preparations for the trip. I found out that the portable DVD player that I had purchased 9 months ago is basically a piece of crap. The battery doesn’t hold a charge rendering it useless for our trip. Since we’ll be on a plane all day, the best way to pass the time is to watch movies. So I went on a quest today to find a new DVD player. I had seen one at Wal Mart a couple days ago that I wanted to look at again. I got there and compared it to the Sony that comes highly rated. I decided that this one (a Magnavox) would do the job nicely and it was about $50 cheaper. But WalMart being WalMart, it wasn’t going to be easy. I quickly noticed that the display model was not the model they had in the case. I pointed this out to the associate working the electronics department and instead of telling me that they had made a mistake it was basically my own tough luck. I was NOT going to get the same model as what was on display or advertised. 
Grrr! So I basically told them to stick it and thought that if I was going to buy a Sony, I wasn’t going to buy it from them. So off to Best Buy… Big mistake. I found a pitiful supply of players there. Most of them were their crappy Insignia brand that looked like they were constructed with Legos. But if they had been, they would have been cool but they weren’t. They really they had only one name brand – a Toshiba – in stock. I stared at it for a while and pushed a lot of buttons. The screen looked ok. It was bigger than I had anticipated buying (9″) which was its only plus. Being how I was not loaded up with lots of time on my hands, I decided to buy the thing despite that it cost as much as the Sony as I had originally wanted but they didn’t have.I hurried home with my purchase and plugged it in. I put in When Harry Met Sally to test it out and saw that the picture looked good. The speakers kinda sucked but that didn’t matter because I rarely used them anyway. I plugged in my Bose headphones and was immediately met with the most annoying, loud and obnoxious buzzing in my right ear. Nothing I did to the plug made the buzzing go away and I knew right then that my sojourn to find a DVD player was going to take a bit longer. For good measure I plugged in another set of headphones and got the same buzzing. So I packed it all up and went back to Best Buy. I was not happy , especially when the Best Buy guy at the door greeted me with “Hi, how are you today?” Um…not good, bonehead. I was just here a half hour ago and yeah, well…”OH! You were just here,” he exclaimed. Brilliance. The guy who sold the player to me called out,”You’re back already?” Yeah, dude. This player is a total piece of CRAP! So, I got my money back and then tore off down the road to Target. The whole way there I was thinking what would I do if they had total crap too? Where would my journey take me then? Office Depot? Staples? A different WalMart?I ventured into Target and found that they, too were bogged down with total crap players including my lovely piece of hunk of junk that I purchased from them 9 months ago. My hopes were not too high but there before me were two Sonys… a black one and a pink one. Well, considering that my 6 year old would be using this most often, it just had to be pink. So I bought it. I took it home. I plugged it in. The picture was pretty. The sound superb. And my daughter was of course tickled pink to see this brand new PINK DVD player. Score one for Mommy! Mission accomplished. All is now packed. The minutes are slowly and tediously ticking away. I know the next week will fly by but these final hours before lift off are just dragging!Some final thoughts before I go… I will not comment on this week’s American Idol for obvious reasons. This makes me sad because this week should prove fruitful with the critiques given that we have the gay guy with the stupid looking headbands and weird nose piercing, that funky Von Smith with the huge assed mouth who shouldn’t be in the top 36, the Puerto Rican dude who is slightly frightening but not a half bad singer and the blind guy who was forced to dance in that stupid montage last Thursday. Who was the schmuck who made that dude dance? Seriously. He was flopping all over the place and his cane pratically tripped him. It wasn’t a nice thing. Seriously. I could have some fun this week talking about the trainwreck that will happen. But I digress… All I can leave you with is this little tidbit…An Idol season wouldn’t be complete without scandal. The latest are photos of Idol favorite (not mine) Adam Lambert playing tongue hockey with some other GUY. I know. That’s gross to see between heterosexuals, who needs to see that between two guys? I certainly don’t. But Vote for the Worst has them up for all the world to see and are claiming that Lambert has lots more where these came from. So, I must wonder… will he be held to the same standard as some girls who have had questionable photographs surface (remember Frenchie Davis)? Or will Idol let this slide? I am guessing they will ignore this. They probably won’t touch this with a ten foot pole because if they do, they’ll have the whole gay community out there crying foul. Which on one hand, I can see their point but on the other it would totally tick me off! Because they scream for equality but if they are held to the same standard then it’s like everyone is homophobic. GRRR!!!! So, chew on this for a while and decide for yourself. I guess America will get to vote on whether Adam Lambert deserves his shot at the Idol crown. I say put him on the first bus outta town and ship him to the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
On Tuesday, Michaela and I will wake up super early to catch a flight to Florida. It’s weird planning these trips because you want to get as much time as you can in at the parks as possible. When you request a quote from Disney for a package, they consider your first day to be the day you arrive. Well, it takes ALL DAY to get there from here. There just is no fast way. So, that travel day is pretty much wasted. It makes planning your flights tricky. When we get there, it will be about 3:30 in Orlando. And that is just landing at the airport. Nevermind that we have to take the usual trip to the bathroom, then trudge to the shuttle buses and then wait for our turn to board the bus and hit the road to Disney World. I figure that will add at least an hour longer until we are on resort property. So, we won’t even be getting there until nearly dinner time and that leaves virtually no time to visit any of the parks – at least to make a full days worth of your park hopper ticket worth while. I’ve decided that our first night will be spent checking things out.It’s my fourth trip to Disney World. It’s Michaela’s second and it’s our first doing it just the two of us. We’re staying at a different resort this time. I know the memories from our last trip there will be pretty plentiful. It was our last family vacation that we took with Mike and so I figured a change in venue would be good. Although the change really isn’t that different. It’s still a value resort and let’s get real, the value resorts there are all pretty much the same. Still, I don’t anticipate any problems with getting all emotional about things while we’re there. I never experienced that at all with Disneyland and we went there with Mike A LOT. If anything, I am sure we’ll have fun remembering our silly times with him there. I’m looking forward to it. Anyway, the first night will be our exploration. I think we’ll take in the stores at Downtown Disney and get a good dinner. If the weather is nice, maybe we’ll go swimming. I’ve been prepping my scary white legs with self-tanner lotion for the past 5 days so I shouldn’t be too scary. Or shall I say, my skin shouldn’t be too scary – me in a bathing suit? That is quite the different story!!This trip will be filled with more adventure. Michaela is pretty much tall enough now for most all of the rides there. She’s really come into her own as a roller coaster dare devil so it should be fun. She’s still a princess though… It wouldn’t be trip to Disney World unless we stopped by the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for a make over. I splurged and got her a new Cinderella dress for the occasion. It’s probably her fanciest costume yet. She’s pretty excited. After her make over we’ll jet on over to have dinner at the Grand Floridian. Word is that Cinderella and the Prince may be there when we are so I am hoping for some great picture taking opportunities! So, we’re excited. The day can’t get here fast enough. There is only so much prep work you can do and it’s too early to pack although I am tempted!! But I know better. If I dig out the suitcases now, it will only serve to freak out and traumatize my dogs who know that when I start putting things into a suitcase, it’s only a matter of time before I leave. They don’t like that very much. 
