Gone Fishin'

TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2011

Obviously, we all slept in - and slept late. But that's one of the sort of things you do on a vacation. Some time ago, I would have been up in a major hurry, and impatient to launch out on a new day of exploration. But wisdom prevails nowadays - at least most of the time. We had a very relaxing morning, and a very restful one as well. When we did leave the hotel room, the first thing we decided we wanted to do was go fishing!

Here's Madison on her first fishing trip! Right there at the hotel, there's an island called Ol' Man Island, and on this island there's a fishing hole where we spent about an hour casting our lines out for some fish. Mommy, Daddy and Madison each had poles in the water, but there wasn't much biting today. Still, it was an enjoyable experience: remember that a bad day fishing is better than a good day at work!

Still, Daddy caught an epic fish that you'll have to see to believe. Reminder: this is not photoshopped.

There are some fish that cannot be caught. It's not that they're faster or stronger than other fish. They're just touched by something extra. Oh yeah: Daddy caught the uncatchable fish. Once we were done fishing, it was time that we decided to act like fish ourselves and visit the pool. Below is another photograph that Madison took using her camera. She took it of the pool that is also on Ol' Man Island:

We spent a while here too. It's a great pool with lots of water features. This is one of the things we like about Disney: their pools. Madison enjoys the creative things around the pool, and as you can see, there are several places where water falls into the pool, giving Daddy a chance to tease and carry her underneath. There was trivia again this time at the pool, but we just missed it. *

We spent some time at the pool, and when we were out, we figured on going back to Downtown Disney. First, we did have plans on riding the horse and carriage, but they were booked for the night. We just missed it too. So Downtown Disney it was. We had an initial quandary when we arrived: where to eat?

That's when we arrived at a restaurant called "T-Rex," which has been there for a little over a year now. There was a 40-minute wait, but Daddy used his Rainforest Cafe card and we were able to walk right in. On top of that, the food was excellent. Like the Rainforest Cafe, all the dinosaurs periodically make noises, but this didn't scare Madison at all. She just covered her ears every twenty-minutes when the comets came to destroy the earth. And after everything seemed to be okay on earth for a bit, she started munching on her food again. All was well with the world for a bit: we three carnivores had ourselves a dino-feast!

After that, it was time for ice cream! But not just any ice cream. No, this ice cream is the best ice cream ever. Mommy dreams of this ice cream from time to time - it's one of the main reasons why we go to Downtown Disney, and in Mommy's opinion, probably reason enough to make a drive to Orlando.

It's Ghirardelli! The greatest ice cream in the world is called the "Strike it Rich," which Mommy and Daddy each ordered for themselves. Yummy! Madison got herself a children's sized ice cream, which was just about the same size as it was last time - incredibly big. Yet she polished it off quickly!

After ice cream, we shopped around some more - still looking for the "Kingdom Keepers IV" book. We apparently just missed it. We did not, however, miss a few other items as we shopped around, one of which being a game of Trouble featuring experiment 626: Stitch. This seemed like a simple game for Madison to play, and indeed we had fun in the hotel the next day.

So we hopped on the boat**, and went upriver, back to the resort to turn in for the night. Can you believe Madison still wanted to hear a story before bed? Daddy told her one where Goofy is flying a plane and accidentally hits the EPCOT ball, causing it to roll uncontrollably through downtown Orlando. It takes a crackpot team of Disney characters to figure out how to stop it, but I won't tell you how they did it. I'll leave you in suspense!***

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* "Just missed it" is the theme of our vacation, actually. We just missed trivia. We just missed all those buses. We just missed the Pixie Hollow Fairies. Just missed the horse and carriage rides for the entire evening, even though we were there at 6:00. And worst of all: we just missed Mulan. That last one was an epic "just missed." Still, we managed to do a lot despite all those "just missed"s.

** By "hopped on," of course we mean we "waited a half hour to get on a boat" and got home over an hour after we left. The boats are a novelty item for Port Orleans - it's a pleasant ride down the river to Downtown Disney. It's just that you have to wait a while to get ON a boat, and then it's a rather long ride. Novelty ride, yes. Practical ride, no.

*** The residents of Orlando used their leftover mashed potatoes to make a twelve-story tall blockade that stopped the ball from rolling.