Disney Adventures - Fun-Filled Explorations In and Out of this (Disney) World

It was excruciatingly painful for several reasons, but I believe my blog and I survived the transition to the new Blogger format.  If you have any trouble viewing the post or notice any other type of problem, please do let me know.  Thanks much!

This post represents another installment in The Big Switcheroo series – tales from last spring’s epic journey from the northeast to the Florida Keys and back – involving family, friends and an extraordinary range of adventures.  It also represents the third post recounting our one week visit to Disney World with our daughter (Kyra), our son (Ryan), and our son’s girlfriend (Anya.)

I’m a cheap date.  Actually, Alan is, too.  Although we certainly do spend money on activities that are important to us, we don’t have to spend much (or even any) money to have a good time.  Picking up coffee and bagels on our way to the park on the river costs about five bucks for the two of us, and the time we spend observing the seagulls and eagles, the commercial and pleasure boat traffic or even just the waves quietly lapping on the shore is time well spent and much enjoyed.  Taking to a bike trail for an hour or two, cruising along and simply watching the scenery float by is an inexpensive way to pass a lovely afternoon.  Or, we just head out to do some “poking around.”  I consider poking around to be our guilty pleasure.  It accomplishes nothing other than allowing us to satisfy our curiosity, take in some gorgeous or otherwise memorable sights and scenery, enjoy each other’s company and pass some time in the most relaxing of ways.

During our week-long stay at Disney World’s Fort Wilderness Campground, Alan and I decided to poke around several of the Disney hotels – more out of curiosity than anything else.  During our past visits to Disney World, we had always stayed just outside the gate in Kissimmee either in a hotel suite or at the KOA there.  We never were the family that would go back to our hotel room for an afternoon nap; instead, we chose to start our days in the theme parks early and finish them early, as well.  Now that we were staying at Fort Wilderness, we realized that we had a perfect opportunity to explore several of the Disney properties that had caught our eye.  Would any of them catch our dollars on a future trip?

Campfire Talk

Whatever Happened to The Golden Rule?  Most of you know that Reflections Around the Campfire is all about RV travel and the camping lifestyle, and it’s not often that I venture off the straight and narrow.  I don’t want to turn today’s post into an editorial on the painful state of our country’s difficulties, but I also don’t want you to think that I’m completely oblivious to current events.  Our family is truly blessed in that all of us are physically, emotionally and financially secure, but there are so many others who are not.   My heart and my prayers go out to each and every person who is suffering in any way, whether that suffering is due to a health crisis caused by COVID-19 or another serious illness, discrimination of any kind, unemployment, food insecurity, physical or emotional abuse, grief, fear, hate, anxiety – sadly, the list goes on and on.  These are trying times we’re living in, in so many ways.  So, I’m working especially hard to live by The Golden Rule, treating everyone the way I would like to be treated.  What a wonderful world we would live in if all of us could actually manage to do that!  As our former pastor said many times over, “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”  Please, God, help me be part of the solution.