The Other Coast Disney

SUMMARY: Walt Disney World (WDW) and environs, Nov 1-9

There's always so much to say about these trips, and I took no notes at all while it was all going on, so some of it is a big colorful fun blur in my memory.  So I'm going to try to capture just a few things about the 9 days, for me, at least.

First, though, my seester is considerably more succinct in her Facebook post:

Now that the trip(s) are over.. sanity has returned and recovery is ongoing. Nov.1st. Flew to Florida. Nov 2 went to universal studios for a day to see Harry Potter stuff. Nov. 3-5 went to WDW, nov 6 did monorail resort hopping and drove out to see the Atlantic Ocean. Nov. 7-8 did More WDW. Flew home Nov. 9. Nov. 12th drove to Disneyland. Did Disneyland resort for 3 days, returning Friday the 15th.

To say that my feet hurt would be an understatement.. and I’m a bit tired..

Wednesday before the trip

Finished packing my big suitcase because that had to go early with my bro-in-law #2 who is going a day ahead of us to sign in for his Saturday and Sunday races (Friday and Saturday? See, I already forgot). Drove half an hour each way to drop off the suitcase at my seester's place (call her Sister #2). Excitement is high. Hoping I can sleep well the next couple of nights. At the last minute, I dash out to Target to buy a new 4 TB portable drive to use as backup for my photos while on the trip.

Thursday before the trip

Lots to do: My sister (call her Sister #4) has come up from Nevada to stay with the house and dogs, so I need to be sure that things are in reasonable order and that I've given her all the info that she needs. Plus making sure that all of my last-minute carry-on packing is done. Don't want to forget anything important, like the camera! Or the batteries!  Then early-ish to bed because...

Friday

Sis#2, I, and Sis#2's good friend from Australia (call her Mallory, because that's her Facebook handle) fly together from the San Francisco airport. We've all done Disneyland together a couple of times, and it's fun.

To Orlando.  Flight is uneventful.

Arrive around dinnertime. Take Uber to the Disney Swan hotel (haven't stayed there before), meet Bro-in-Law #2 for dinner. And all are very tired, so not too late to bed. Mallory and I share a room.

See a few details with photos.

Saturday

Universal Florida Resort/Parks! None of us have been here before. We meet up with Sis #1 and Bro-in-law #1. Main goal is the new Harry Potter universe, split between two parks. . Ride a couple of rides. Eat and snack. Shop. Then to our hotel for the rest of our stay (Shades of Green), where Bro-in-law #2 has already checked us in and moved our luggage in. Great guy!

See a few details with photos.

Sunday

who knows about more details or photos. Jeez, have been at it for hours. So many photos! So little time!

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Up very early. To Orlando airport in plenty of time for breakfast at Ruby Tuesday's. Home again, jiggity-jog. Exhausted but not successfully sleeping on the plane again, and the window-seat occupants keep the windows closed, so no views. That's OK, though. It's peaceful.  At home, I unpack only a couple of things that I need and call it a night.

Sunday

How is it possible that, to unpack, I have to take one or two things to each of a thousand different places in my house and car?!  Took a lot of time, but glad to get it done and everything stowed away to await another exciting adventure.

Monday

Woke up with a cold. Children! Airplanes! Not enough sleep! Excitement, adrenaline, blah blah! Ah, well, it was worth it--and I'm on hiatus from work, so plenty of time to rest!

Catching Up: Idaho for the Eclipse Day 3

SUMMARY: And it's the total solar eclipse!

This is the bed I slept in: Her grandmother's bed and the quilt that her mom made for her.

Mr Fox No.12 made friends in the household.

Guess what team the husband roots for?

Hostess making us breakfast. She made many meals for us. We were honored and stuffed to the gills.

Chatting before breakfast.

Mr Fox checks out some of the camera and eclipse gear.

The household dogs. There were "only" five. Some are duplicates here.

Tiny (old-dog rescue):

Max (missing one eye from nipping at a horse):

Bonnie (she worried a lot):

Clyde:

Rosie:

Clyde:

Awwww, someone gots spiderwebz on her noze! (Rosie)

Bonnie again:

Clyde again:

Bonnie yet again:

Camera all set up and ready to shoot some eclipses.

Here I am with all the paraphernalia.

Everyone had eclipse glasses.

Wayne, our host:

Tiny:

Ginger:

Max:

Bonnie:

Linda:

Mr Fox No.12:

As the moon ate away at the sun, you could see little images of the eaten-away sun under the tree...

Waiting... getting tiny bit darker all the time -- and colder!

Things got darker and darker and darker.

Getting pretty dark, nearing totality.

House and lawn are pretty dark, everything has an odd coloration...

Sun slips from a teeny sliver into...

...full darkness...    but with it looking all around us like we could see the orange of sunset at the horizon.

Dark and chilly.

Used a very slow speed to get enough light for the following photo, hence moving people are a bit blurry.  Quite chilled with the sun gone.

Linda videotaped.  When the eclipse slipped into totality, we and everyone else everywhere cheered and applauded. It was pretty awesome.

And it starts peeking out again.
"That sun?"  "No, that one."

Whew, the excitement was too much. Now we just hang out for a while.

The moon, eating away at the sun, and then eventually spitting it back out.

Same shot cropped so you can see the sunspots.

This is where I forgot to take the filter off the camera to get the corona. :-(

Oooh, peeking out again.

That night, to make up for the filter user failure, I sat out in the front yard and saw this.  Just drop-dead billions of stars, and the Milky Way.

I haven't yet sorted out all of the photos from going into the nifty old town that afternoon. Rest assured that we did.