Cast Previews and more

Earlier this month, Jenn worked her last shift at the Emporium. She left the company to pursue her dream of being a novelist.

The next week, she flew out to Bend to visit Bryan and attend the annual dinner of their college business fraternity in Portland. While there they visited Powell's Books and a new Voodoo Doughnut location.

 

Earlier this week we made our first visit to Oga's Cantina in Hollywood Studios' Star Wars Land. I didn't care that much for the drinks they offered, but the decor was cool.

Last week Susan and I previewed the new Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind roller coaster at Epcot. Today I went back after work with some of the Friendship Boat captains. It's a pretty wild ride, smooth but fast and curving.

Back Across the USA

 

We spent a couple of days in Bend getting rid of some of the stuff that we left in storage, then loaded up a moving truck and headed back to Florida. Bryan flew out to help us, then stayed behind to work in Bend for the summer. 

We drove south through Nevada, and stopped for the night in Las Vegas. The next morning we drove into Arizona, and stopped at the Cabela's near Phoenix.

We stopped for the night in Las Cruces New Mexico, then entered Texas, where we stopped at the Buc-ee's in Luling. This was the first Buc-ee's opened. We also stopped at Buc-ee's in Katy, and to look around the Katy Mills shopping mall.

After a stop at the Buc-ee's in Baytown, we continued east through Louisiana and Mississippi. Outside Mobile we stopped to tour the USS Alabama. I had been wanting to do this for a while, but we were always in too much of a hurry previously. We made it home today. This was my 19th time driving across the country.

Across the USA Part 2

After a night in Nebraska, we entered Wyoming. It had started to snow in western Nebraska, and when we hit Cheyenne, we found I-80 closed to the west. We hung around Cheyenne for a few hours and watched a movie, and in the afternoon they opened the interstate. We drove to Ogden Utah, and stopped for the night.

In the morning we drove to the Golden Spike National Historic Park northwest of Salt Lake City. This was an interesting park, marking the spot where the first transatlantic rail line was connected.

After looking around the visitor center, we drove the trail where the workers cut the old rail line through the rocks to get to the meeting point.

On the way out of the park we came across a Northrop Grumman site that had a rocket graveyard outside. We looked around a bit before heading into Idaho. We stopped in Boise for the night, then started driving to Bend in the morning.

Across the USA

 

On the 14th, Susan and I set out in my truck for my 18th drive across the USA to Oregon. We stopped at the new Buc-ee's in Warner Robbins, Georgia along the way, as well as the one in Calhoun.

 

After a night north of Atlanta, we drove into Tennessee, where we stopped at the Stones River National Battlefield. I wanted to stop at the Parthenon in Nashville, but it was closed that day.

We continued northwest through Kentucky and into Illinois, and stopped in Metropolis. We have stopped there before, but this time we took the time to see the Superman Museum. It was a little cluttered and hokey but it was fun seeing all the old Superman memorabilia. We continued into Missouri, where we stopped for the night.

The next day we continued west into Kansas, and stopped at a Cabela's to walk around. We like to walk around Cabela's when driving to stretch our legs. This one had pretty impressive animal displays.

Enchantment

After our cruise in February, we spent a couple of days in the parks. We spent a day at Typhoon Lagoon and went into Magic Kingdom to catch the new fireworks show, Enchantment. It was pretty good, but I didn't think it had the emotional impact of Happily Ever After.

Earlier in the day we rode the people mover and I took photos of the Tron site.

This week Susan and Jenn attended the annual cast appreciation party at Magic Kingdom.

Fantasy Cruise Part 3: Star Wars and Castaway Cay

On Thursday we had another day at sea as we made our way north. The theme for the day was Star Wars. We wore Star Wars outfits for the day and attended Star Wars activities. The Star Wars at Lightspeed show was really funny. The kids enjoyed meeting the Star Wars characters, although due to Covid we had to keep six feet away. At night there was a Star Wars show on the top deck, and fireworks.

 

Friday, our final full day, was spent at Castaway Cay, Disney’s private island in the Bahamas. We enjoyed snorkeling, floating in the water, and the barbecue lunch. The highlight of the day was renting bikes and riding around the island.

Each Disney ship has one or more characters on the stern. The Fantasy features Dumbo. 

Yesterday morning we arrived back at Port Canaveral. After a farewell breakfast we debarked and headed home.

Fantasy Cruise Part 2: Virgin Islands

Tuesday morning we arrived at Tortola, British Virgin Islands, our first port. We looked around the shops at the port then wandered into town. It was pretty run down and we really didn’t see anything interesting, so wouldn’t recommend it as a plan.

We had lunch at a rooftop restaurant, then made our way back to the port, and sampled some rum cocktails at one of the shops there.

 

On Wednesday we visited our second port, St Thomas, US Virgin Islands. We again wandered through the shops near port then walked to downtown Charlotte Amalie, which was definitely nicer and had more stuff for tourists than Tortola. 

After looking at some shops downtown and grabbing lunch in a cafe, we took a taxi cab back to the ship.