Oh My Shins!

The sun is setting over the palm trees, and we are listening to the sounds of the Starship Enterprise fighting off a Borg attack in the hotel room. Possible correction: Jerod is engaged in the Borg attack, while I am happily keeping company with the laptop.

Sometimes travel-logs can be tedious, the online version of looking at someone's vacation slides. But then, you are not trapped in my dark living room looking at pictures of me in front of every cool thing I experienced and you did not...so get your click on if you find me uninteresting. :)

Several things I've learned during my stay in Orlando. I love ordered lists, even when there is no need for ordering, so I shall order.

Number One: If I were dropped on a tropical island by an airplane crash (hmmm...might I be thinking of my favorite show?)...the first thing I would think about, and probably continue to think about for days on end would be the lack of air-conditioning. Next to antibiotics, I believe air-conditioning to be the greatest invention of the 20th century. Go Universal for having almost all of your lines in the glorious coolant-relieved air.
Number Two: I must have every square inch of exposed skin slathered in copious amounts of sunscreen before venturing outdoors. I am the same color as a light bulb. I did a good job on this trip. I have, in the past, forgotten sunscreen on various individual parts of my body. You'd be surprised what five hours on the beach will do to the tender skin behind your knees when they are fried beyond recognition. Simple walking becomes difficult. I succeeded in my slathering! Hurrah!
Number Three: People will wear anything, everything, and not enough when they are on vacation. I saw a pregnant woman (like 8 mos. preggie) in a bikini in the park. Um, lady...every ride advises you NOT to ride...why are you here? And why are you wearing a bikini when you're not swimming? Flip flops were also in abundance. Podiatrists are going to have a field day in about ten years. Yes, I am getting old. And I have been to the podiatrist. He fixed up my Fred-Flintstone-flat-feet. Podiatry would be a good field to get into based on what I saw people walking around in. Flat, dollar store flip flops. That's my version of hell.
Number Four: English people are taking over Orlando. Rightfully so, since the dollar is meager compared to the mighty pound. They feel like they're paying halvsies for everything. I'm so silly. I still like to stand near them in line and hear them talk. Humidity was a common theme of discussion.
Number Five: Flat irons for the hair are irrelevant here. I found waves I didn't know I could grow.
Number Six: After hours of walking around in the heat and waiting in lines, the bed sucked me under as if in coma state for several hours of bona fide naptastic awesome rest. There was no fighting the coma. You had to surrender.
Number Seven: We are intrigued by the climate here. As avid plant-lovers, we toured a botanical garden (great respite from the overload of the noisy parks). What we found there were plants that could eat humans if they so chose. (Hello, THE HAPPENING?) The winters must be so mild and the climate semi-tropical...so things grow to the size of...well, me! There was a peace lily (for my non-plant people...those are the ubiquitous green houseplants that shoot up a white lily-like flower) that was taller than I am!! In the ground. Cactuses and houseplants, all growing to about 10x the size we normally see. Bizarre and scary.
(annoying Star Trek music in the background...Has Jean-Luc Picard been assimilated by the Borg? What to do?)
Number Eight: I love roller coasters. There's no way around it. Poor Tall One cannot ride them due to equilibrium issues and impending motion sickness. I want to have a roller coaster in my backyard. How fabulous. I would ride it every day before my coffee.
I have no more numbers. The post title just comes from the recurring theme of our conversation every time we stood up or walked for the first four days. OH MY SHINS! Concrete can be mean and play dirty.
Vacation is fabulous. We did not get to Sea World this time, but have had a BLAST regardless. I will meet Shamu one day!! Hurrah. And tomorrow, back to the real world...class tomorrow night and then back to work. Ahhhh...vacay forever.