Orlando Days

Monday, April 20, 2009
Orlando, FL

In case you're wondering, I haven't visited any of the attractions here in Central Florida. And there are no plans to do so. When our two kids were growing up we made a number of excursions here specifically to see Disneyworld and some of the other theme attractions in the area. Those were great trips full of wonderful memories of small kids taking in all the amazing sights, rides, and fantasy; and watching the big smiles on their little faces. It was the right thing to do at that time.

There were one or two little incidents that don't exactly fall under the category of fond memories however. Why, I still wake up in a cold sweat when I have flash-backs (a form of post traumatic stress syndrome, I've learned) of the time our "boat" got stuck inside "It's a Small World" for nearly half an hour. Once extricated it took three days, some medication, and equal measures of oxygen and scotch to get that song out of my head. (Even writing about it is hard... it's... that... SONG... don't think about it... think pleasant thoughts... happy thoughts...) If we really wanted to make those Al Qaeda boys at Guantanamo talk we'd load em on a plane to Orlando, put em in the Small World exhibit, and close the doors. They'd be clawing at the locks pleading to tell us anything... everything... before you could finish your first small cup of five dollar Disney coffee. And some people want to call water-boarding torture!

I'm glad we found Turkey Lake Park and made the decision to stay here while Dar's at her nursing conference. It turns out to be the closest RV park or campground to the convention center -- only about 8 miles and about 20 minutes in the normally frantic and always exciting Orlando traffic. I'd be even happier if Dar would just take the car but, like most things in tourist spots like Orlando, it costs two arms and a leg to do almost anything. Parking at the convention center is reported to be $11 per day... and if you happen to leave the parking lot for a few minutes, say in order to run over to an ATM for even more money, they'll charge you another $11 when you come back to claim your parking space you've already paid for.

Not only is Turkey Lake Park the closest place we could have camped, it's probably the most ideal place for us. Even though there are concrete pads and asphalt roads, it's laid out more like a campground than an RV park. That's the way we like it. Plenty of trees for shade, wide spacing for privacy, and a nearby lake. As long as you don't leave the park it feels like you could be a hundred miles away in the forests of Northern Florida. And the price is right too... less than those two parking fees at the convention center. There were some commercial RV parks down near Disney and Kissimmee that wanted more than $50/night. Yes, we've clearly come to the right place.

We're here until Friday, when we pull up jacks and point the bus-house north again. We've been doing so much shoreline travel since leaving Texas I'm thinking a more inland route might be good for a while. Among the places I'd like to see next is the Okefenokee Swamp, straddling the border of Florida and Georgia. It's one of the largest, if not the largest blackwater swamp in the USA. A small point of interest: the characters of the comic strip Pogo, long since gone, made their home in the Okefenokee Swamp.

T