Lost as a Goose...

Are We There Yet?

As much as i hate when kids ask that, i was tempted to do so myself most of the day Saturday.

My internal alarm had me up 5 minutes before my usual wake up time of 4am, so i got my morning writing done and got dressed until Sweetie got up at 4:30 and the rest of the crew at 5. #1 Son didn't want the continental breakfast they had at the hotel, instead opting to eat his Red Lobster leftovers.

Most hotel continental breakfasts at least have fruit, and this one was no exception. What was different is that the selection was limited to one item, bananas. So i drank my coffee, packed two bananas for the road (it was too early to eat, really), and after the others had their bagels and rolls and cereals and such, we got out of there and on the highway by 6:40. That was even with everyone making one last pit stop.

Again i lead the way, and we agreed we would stop at the first exit after turning from Interstate 10 onto Interstate 75. That actually worked, and we were making great time. The snag was that my dad wanted to program his GPS, and the car has to be in park to do that. He spent almost 20 minutes fighting with that piece of technology before giving up and us getting going again.

Later, it turned out that the "address" of the hotel, on Lake Buena Vista Drive, is not a real postal address at all, but an on property Disney address. No GPS will recognize it. Also, as it turned out, we wouldn't have needed it anyway. The roads are clearly marked, and you can't get lost if you follow the signs.

We got lost 3 times. Or, at least, my dad did. He took over, going to the front, and getting us safely onto the turnpike and through the toll plaze. One last potty stop on the turnpike service place, and we followed the sign that said "Disney World" to get off. Another toll, and a few miles later another sign that said "Disney". He went the other direction.

The street he got us off onto is a new development area, and there were no other cars around. Telling him to just turn around and go the other way, we were on the right road, really, just going the other direction on that road. Disney property was right there, we could see the signs. Now all we had to do was follow the on property signs to the Caribbean Resort.

He turned off the road twice. Both times Sweetie called him and told him to turn around. The first time he wouldn't until a security person at another hotel told him to. The second time, we turned, i pulled around, and followed the signs right to it. He's a fabulous doctor, but don't ask him to read either a map or road signs.

No matter, we were here, and it was barely noon. Good timing.


Today is:

Ash Wednesday, Lent begins -- Christian

Baron Bliss Day -- Belize

Eid Al Moalim -- Lebanon (Teacher's Day)

Get Over It Day (Halfway between Valentines and April Fools, a day to just get over something that is bugging you.)

Joe Franklin Day

National Crabmeat Day

No Smoking Day -- UK

Organize Your Home Office Day

Panic Day (Another internet holiday, just to practice staying calm in a panic, i suppose. Or to concentrate all of your panic into one day, leaving the rest of the year clear.)

Registered Dietitian Day

St. Catherine of Bologna's Day

Strinennia -- Slavic Pagan Calendar (festival to call birds and spring to come back)

Takaosan Hiwatari Matsuri -- Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan

Unique Names Day


Anniversaries Today:

Napoléon Bonaparte marries his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais, 1796
Gustav Mahler marries Alma Schindler in Vienna, 1902


Birthdays Today:

Emmanuel Lewis, 1971
Juliette Binoche, 1964
Bobby Fischer, 1943
Raul Julia, 1940
Mickey Gilley, 1936
Yuri Gagarin, 1934
Keely Smith, 1932
Ornette Coleman, 1930
Wally Bronner, 1927
Irene Papas, 1926
Mickey Spillane, 1918
Samuel Barber, 1910
Will Greer, 1902
Amerigo Vespucci, 1454


Today in History:

Liu Che, posthumously known as Emperor Wu of Han, assumes the throne over the Han Dynasty of China, BC141
First known mention of Lithuania, in the annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg, 1009
Jews are expelled from Carintha Austria, 1496
Nicolaus Copernicus makes his first recorded astronomical observation, 1497
Marten Luther preaches his first Invocavit sermon, 1522
Kissing in public is banned in Naples, punishable by death, 1562
Publication of the economics book The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, 1776
Prussian government limits work week for children to 51 hours, 1839
The Amistad Ruling: The US Supreme Court rules that captive Africans who had seized control of the ship carrying them had been taken into slavery illegally, and were to be set free, 1841
The first documented discovery of gold in California occurred at Rancho San Francisco, six years before the California Gold Rush, 1842
Albert Potts of Philadelphia patents the street mailbox, 1858
The Westmoreland County Coal Strike, involving 15,000 coal miners
represented by the United Mine Workers, begins, 1910
Pancho Villa leads nearly 500 Mexican raiders in an attack against Columbus, New Mexico, 1916
Pink's War: The first Royal Air Force operation conducted independently of the British Army or Royal Navy begins, 1925
President Franklin D. Roosevelt submits the Emergency Banking Act to the Congress, the first of his New Deal policies, 1932
CBS television broadcasts the See It Now episode, "A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy", produced by Fred Friendly, in which Edward R. Murrow criticizes the senator, 1954
The Barbie doll makes its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York, 1959
Dr. Antonia Novello is sworn in as Surgeon General of the United States, becoming the first female and Hispanic American to serve in that position, 1990
Observers in China, Mongolia and eastern Siberia are treated to a rare double feature as an eclipse permits Comet Hale-Bopp to be seen during the day, 1997