Archives for October 2011

Once again spent the day preparing for our departure tomorrow.

After much discussion, we decided that we needed to stay through Monday, just to get everything back in order, and to try to catch up on some rest before tackling NYC. We still have some shopping and other stuff to do, so we informed our hostess and she’s quite happy to let us stay. Besides, we haven’t even ridden here yet!

Spend the day alternating between resting and preparing for our departure tomorrow. Did some cleaning, moved the hay back onto the truck, the usual.

Early breakfast, turned in the rental car, a blisfully uneventful flight back to Providence, a wild cab ride back to the farm where we found everyone delighted to see us again. Tired, looking forward to getting a good night sleep. Disappointed to discover that the circuit breaker had blown a few days after we left, so all of our New Season recording never happened, so now we’re going to be playing catchup for the next few weeks, darn it. Plan is to leave on Friday, weather permitting.

Slept late after all the exercise we had yesterday. Lounged around again most of the day before heading out to an early performance of the new show at Cirque de Soleil. Again, this was something we’d been wanting to do for many years and have never taken the time, and again, this was quite an experience. It was a new show called LaNouba, and we managed to score some pretty good tickets for half the usual price. The 6:00 show wasn’t quite full, but the crowd was enthusiastic and the show was impressive. Rather dark in some places (typical French, I guess), but had some delightful moments. The juggler was particularly good, and there was an act with four little Asian (probably Chinese) girls using strings and what looked like oversized thread spools doing incredible things, even while jumping and leaping. Very impressive, and again, thoroughly enjoyable. I think we’ve made the most out of our mini-vacation, while still pacing ourselves so as not to over-exert. What a blast! Back to reality tomorrow!



African Bovine (makes Longhorns jealous!)

Sleepy Bengal

 Got up early in preparation for our big day on Safari. We have been wanting to do Disney’s Animal Kingdom for some time, and I recently discovered they have a special “backstage” tour that’s several hours long, where the group is limited to 12 and there are two guides who take you much more up close and personal with the animals. It’s a bit more expensive than just the entry fee, but we decided that since we only had the one day, we wanted the whole experience as much as possible. We were at the gates when it opened and managed to get on the last tour of the day, with only three other people! Fabulous! We spent the morning seeing many of the other sights, including taking a ride on the Himalayan roller coaster, during which I was reminded why I don’t like roller coasters, and after which I promised myself Never Again! I really just wanted to see the view from up top, but that was too short-lived to make it worth the queasiness afterward. Took a while for my stomach to settle down. We also took the rapids, saw the bird show, and walked most of the trails. Didn’t have time to take the train though, before we had to report in to the check in for the Africa Trek. What a blast that was! Under the supervision of two young female guides, the five of us trekkers got all outfitted with vests and zip lines hooks and even a souvenir water bottle, before heading out on the trail. After following a couple of the public trails (which Hubby and I had already toured), we finally headed into uncharted territory, heading along a narrow path that made it clear why there’s a weight limit (yes, we had to get weighed during the outfitting), as the trees were quite thick and close together. We came within yards of all the great critters; hippos, crocodiles, giraffes, wild bovines, a variety of deer, cheetah, even a lion king and his sister perched high on a rock. We saw so much more than we had when we went on the public tour, it was incredible! We even got to stop at a way station where they fed us lunch, a wide variety of a whole bunch of different kinds of foods. Hubby and I love ethnic food, and this was no exception, we thoroughly enjoyed it. There was one Englishwoman there who wasn’t at all adventurous when it came to food, wouldn’t touch a thing, and one of the tourguides eventually gave her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I can’t understand that, there was nothing at all spicy or displeasingly tasteful about any of it, but c’est la vie, to each his own. Toward the end we were parked in one spot where we could see cheetahs, lions, rhinos, and three other types of African critters. Fantastic! Well worth every penny we spent. Finished up with just enough time to pick up a tropical drink before heading out of the park and back to the hotel for a few more before getting a much needed relaxing evening.

Hubby in “Africa”

 

After much discussion, Hubby and I decided that trying to leave on Monday, our planned scheduled departure, would be a missed opportunity. We had hoped to visit some sites over the weekend, but with Friday gone to a client, and today we were so bushed we could barely crawl out of bed, we decided to postpone our departure until Wednesday, which would give us time to recover and to go on a mini-vacation. After all, we had had six jobs in September, more than we’ve ever done before, and it was time to reward ourselves. I changed the hotel, car and flight to reflect this decision, then Hubby and I got into our bathing suits and headed down to the pool, which was both indoor and outdoor, and a rather rambunctious hot tub. We lazed around all afternoon, even napping a bit despite the heavy traffic pounding away next to us, till we couldn’t take it anymore. Then we headed up to the room and slept some more. Finally I heated up the leftovers and we enjoyed our Indian meal yet again, before once again crashing for the evening.