I decided to get artsy and take our photo in the reflection of the window while we waited to board Wednesday morning. Craig decided to get all artsy with his bunny ears.

"Craig, can we please stop with the bunny ears?"
"Yes dear"
"Thank you"

The flights were good, the hotel was relatively easy to find, and I think we only missed paying one toll. The first order of business on Thursday was Ag Connect... the entire reason for the trip.
Here's Craig in one of his new dream tractors. I'm liking the ramming thingy on the front. I'm also thinking that the guy on the right should use the ladder instead of climbing up the side... he's gonna pull something if he's not careful.

Along with very large, and very expensive farm machinery, we also saw quite possibly the world's largest tire. The excitement of it all caused me to start losing my voice.
It took us about 3 hours to get through the show and by then we'd had enough of satellite map systems for your crops and potato pickers. It was time for theme parks!!
Universal was first on the list*** as it was just across the street from our hotel.
For future reference Thursdays at 3:00 in January are not one of the park's busier days. In fact, only three of the characters from Madagascar even showed up however the Unabomber did make an appearance.
As a result of it being so comfortably empty
we were able to find a great parking spot for the rental car****. Thank goodness since my health was rapidly deteriorating and I was now almost completely without a voice.
We meandered around the park and found a place to take in the sights on the porch at Jimmy Buffet's Margartitaville Restaurant. Along with the people watching I found time to have a couple of parrots sit on my shoulder. Bird fear? Who cares when you're on vacation!
Friday morning arrived and it was time to drive east towards the Kennedy Space Center. Mapquest wasn't kidding when it showed a straight, flat line. Sheesh. We arrived at the visitor center, picked out our tour level, and spent the time while waiting for our bus wandering around the attractions and deciding what to buy at the gift store. Shuttle Christmas ornaments or a space suit? NASA hat or moon rocks? Argh, so many decisions. 6*

Since Craig has dreams of going to the moon he decided to test out the launch simulation ride.
I chickened out and took my clogs off so that I wouldn't meet the minimum height requirement. 5*

He survived the 'launch' and then it was off on our guided bus tour. With a portion of honesty here, I wasn't sure how interesting the space center would be. Sure the idea of going to space has been interesting to me but it's never been INTERESTING to me. I'll just say that if you have the opportunity to visit I'd say go. I think by far it was one of the most enjoyable parts of the trip. I kind of felt like a kid on a school field trip sucking in all sorts of knowledge that I'm now able to regurgitate when people ask how my trip was. For instance,
DIDJAKNOW that the shuttle lands going approximately 220 miles/hour and that it takes 2 miles for it to stop? That's about twice as fast as your regular commercial airliner so just remember that next time you land and wonder if those flaps are really going to slow you down.
DIDJAKNOW that the runway for the shuttle is 300 yards wide and 3 miles long? Not much room for error when you know you need at least 2/3 of it to come to a stop.
DIDJAKNOW that the machine used to transport the shuttle from the assembly building to the launch pad (the crawler-transporter) weighs close to 6 million pounds? And that it has it's own road, the crawlerway, comprised of multiple layers of rock and crush that is 7 feet deep? And that it's max speed is 1 mph? That's a long trip when the launch site is miles away.
DIDJAKNOW that the American flag on the side of this building, which has an 8 acre footprint, is the world's largest painted American flag and that it's stars measure 6 feet from point to point, the blue is the size of a basketball court, and it's stripes are as wide as the tour bus that we rode in? The grey doors on the left side of the picture are 456 feet tall, making them the largest doors in the world!
DIDJAKNOW that the International Space Station travels at 5 miles per second? In the time it took to write this sentence it probably travelled about 100 miles. And then I misspelled something so I had to delete and rewrite and it's STILL going 5 miles per second? Crazy.
The amount of knowledge we ingested was great but I think it may have slightly overloaded my already taxed brain as this is the part of the trip where I spend the next 14 hours in bed wondering if I'm going to die in a Doubletree as a result of a high fever. Seriously. I would have taken a picture but I was just too weak and you don't come here to see pictures of me with a fever. I couldn't even call my mom for fear that I'd break down on the phone and ask if perhaps she could hop the next flight out of central Washington and come take care of me. Instead I laid there drifting in and out of sleep and watching way too many episodes of Swamp Loggers wondering when in the heck I was ever going to cool down.
As it turns out I was fully rested and cool by 9:00 the next morning when we left for Disney World.7* Apparently there were a few others who were rested and ready for a day at Disney too...I'd hate to see it during the peak season. 8*

Here's Walt and Mickey welcoming all the PEOPLE! to a day at the park.
Now you'd think that this part of the blog would go on and on (as if it's not long enough already) what with Disney World and all. There should be plenty to write about and scads of pictures to post however I was just coming off an energy-zapping fever and had finally called my mom who instructed me, after hearing my poor excuse for a voice...really no voice at all, to find an urgent care clinic as she feared the worst. Coupled with the close-to-suffocating crowds and the zero desire of waiting in line for rides we completed quite possibly the world's quickest tour of the Magic Kingdom. Our time from parking lot to parking lot was right around 2 hours... not quite getting the most, but getting enough, for our money (and goodness knows admission isn't free). We can say we've been there and that is plenty.
The rest of our time in Orlando (a short 14 hours) was spent repacking suitcases and wondering whether or not it was illegal to bring fruit and gator jerky out of the state.
I continued to nurse my illness all the while looking for my voice that had now been misplaced for 4 days. As it turns out, I wouldn't hear it for another 4-5 days and even now, a full week after returning, it tends to fade away at night. I've started to tell people who ask about it that I've taken up chain smoking. All I need to complete the look is discolored nails and yellow bangs.
Flu (9*) and all it was actually a great trip. Of course I would have rather felt 100% but I didn't and that's okay. It makes for a better story.
*When isn't it a perfect time for an ag convention right?!
**I LOATHE being sick (not that anyone likes it)...it's against everything I stand for. I distinctly remember my mom explaining to me that the reason mothers don't get sick is because "they just don't have the time"... I've clung to that ever since and I'm not even a mom!
***There were only 2 on our list so technically, it wasn't much of a list. Don't let my verbage fool you.
****We decided to forego the optional insurance since it seemed to be a bit of a beater anyway.
5*Not only did I have to take the clogs off but I had to measure myself while 'standing' on my knees.
6* We ended up with the shuttle Christmas ornament...it's a classic.
7* This is the part of the post when you suck in your breath and shake your head and wonder why in the world I ventured out to a theme park after the events of the previous 14 hours. I do the same thing.
8* One good clue that it wasn't the peak season was the gigantic crane working on Cinderella's Castle. The Magic Kingdom isn't quite as magical with the hum of heavy machinery.
9* I'm not totally sure I had the flu but given the symptoms that's what it felt like. It was either that or ebola.