Has It Really Been One Month?

     I just logged onto my blog site and realized my last post was on Feb. 1!  Today is Mar. 1, so it's been a whole month!  The ironic thing is I've had soooo much to write about, but just haven't had the time (or rather taken the time) to write.  If I wrote everything now it would be way too long to read.  Over the past month I've thought of several topics I wanted to write about including anger, depression, reconnecting with old friends, and of course my recent adventure in Florida.   I think I'm going to save the more serious topics for later and write about some of my Florida trip.  There are three parts to it, and here's part 1!
     I dropped the children off at school Tuesday morning after their week with me and began my journey south.  I was making really good time, and hit downtown Jacksonville in the early afternoon.  I was in the fast lane on 95 when BAM! I hit a big orange pylon that was in the center of the lane.  There was no avoiding it without hitting a car or the wall.  The pylon got STUCK under my car and was making a terrible noise.  The cars behind me all backed off as I slowly changed lanes to try and exit the freeway.  As I descended the closest off ramp the pylon broke free.  I proceeded to the the gas station at the exit to assess the damage.  It was not pretty.  The stupid plastic pylon cracked my front bumper pretty badly, and caused damage under my car too.  All the damage appeared cosmetic, so I was on my way again.  

I made it to Orlando in time for dinner, and met my first friends and ate at Bubba Gumps at City Walk inside of Universal Studios.  It was Mardi Gras, and this City Walk area was supposed to be a really "hopping" place, but it was dead.  I think the freezing cold weather had something to do with it.  Seriously. I came to Florida to escape the cold weather and cold people in SC, and even though the cold people didn't follow me the cold weather did! We had a great dinner and went to the house to watch a really funny movie: "The Rocker".  
Wednesday I just slept in and then found the closest TJ Maxx and Target.  Ate a late lunch out and then ate IHOP about midnight. (Here's where you can start seeing why I gained 2 pounds last week.)
     Thursday was the big day...my park hopping day! I started at Animal Kingdom- my first time there.  It wasn't too interesting except for the Expedition Everest roller coaster.  WOW...it was incredible!!
     Jumped on the bus and headed over to Hollywood Studios.  The only things I wanted to do there were ride the Aerosmith roller coaster and the Tower of Terror.  Failed on both accounts.  The wait was between 120 and 180 min. on both, and no fast passes were available.  I was not going to waste all my time standing in line (not to mention my ADHD) so I just walked around and enjoyed the park.
     By then my friends were off work and met me at The Magic Kingdom.  We stayed there for a while and then went to Epcot for the rest of the night. We rode a few rides that didn't have long waits.  We listened to a Moroccan band (and belly dancer), the drums in Japan, and just spent time walking through the countries.  When the family went there in the spring we missed a lot due to the torrential rains.
     We then went to Downtown Disney and ate a late dinner at House of Blues, and walked around there.  It was definitely a full and exhausting day, but I loved the fact I went to all 5 places.

 Friday I went to IKEA for the first time ever.  It's a very unique store, but my purchase of the day was made across the street at the Krispy Kreme store.  I picked up a couple dozen and went to visit my other friends who live near Orlando.  I'll write about that in my next post......