Vacation

On Thursday May 24, 2012 we set out for the vacation experience of a lifetime. We were a large group consisting of Carol, Jeff, Jackie (Carol's Mom) John, Mandie, Vannessa, Audrey, Johnnie and Crystol (Mandie's Mom). We had discussed leaving on Friday morning but decided to get some miles in Thursday night. We left about 8:30 pm figuring the kids would sleep and it would be a quiet drive. That proved to be correct. I started calling at about 11:30 trying to get a room in Mt. Vernon, Illinois but alas there were none to be had. We ended up in Marion, Illinois at a dumpy Comfort Inn but who cares we were all exhausted. The next morning it was back on the road with visions of making it somewhere south of Atlanta, Georgia. The driving was smooth and the kids reasonably well behaved until we hit Nashville,Tennessee. There was a long backup of vehicles for no apparent reason. When we finally cleared that it was smooth sailing until we got to Atlanta, Georgia the place where all cars go to park. I have never driven through there without a lengthy wait. As a side story along the way we stopped for lunch at a place I picked called Two Purple  Pigs BBQ. The name was better than the food. I can honestly say that the hot dog one of the kids ordered was without question the worst thing I have ever eaten. Really folks how do you fuck up a hot dog? We ended up spending the night in Valdosta, Georgia leaving about a four hour drive the next day to get to Cape Canveral, Florida. We got  there early on Saturday so the kids got to enjoy the motel swimming pool and the adults got to relax. Carol. Jackie, Crystol and I decided to go to Port Canaveral to a place called Grills Bar. Carol had heard the food was good and it was a fun place. We got there and found out it was a 60 minute wait for a table and they were out of pagers. We decided to wait and after several trips to the hostess station I just stood there and waited until someone turned in a pager. We finally got seated and the food was excellent. I took this picture of the place as we went by on the Disney Dream on Sunday.

Please note that the kitchen vent faces the water so the public cannot see the less than appealing grease slick running down the roof into the water. Maybe a little cleaning is in order.

Sunday morning we got up and headed for the Disney Dream. Here is our first view of the ship. She is a beauty.





We proceeded to the port and I will now eat some of my words from a prior post. Disney has absolutely the most amazing customer service I have experienced anywhere at any time. We have sail with the chaos that is Carnival Cruise Line and after this experience never with them again.

Before we got on the ship John, Mandie, Vannessa, Audrey and Johnnie had the opportunity to have their family picture taken with Minnie Mouse. As you can see I think they have already determined this is the best vacation ever and we are not on the ship yet

The next order of business was lunch since no one can go to their stateroom yet. It was a buffet lunch and in all honesty I avoid those like the plague. They are places where you get lots of food that you would rather not eat. This was that one in a thousand exception. All the peel and eat shrimp Forest Gump could provide, proschuitto warpped salmon, roast beef sliced to order and for a fee all the beer a fat man could drink. When you think it can't get any better you see this.

In case you are not sure that is Cinderella. She is not too busy to stop and talk to our three little princesses and see if they are enjoying their stay. She wonders how their day is going. They don't think it can get any better than this, but it does. That however is a story for another day.