We’ll blame the Force: The UnDisney family on their 5th cruise - SWDAS (Eastern) Jan 28-Feb 4, 2017

Hello! Just wanted to say I'm enjoying the TR thus far (I never doubted you lol), but I am unable to view the pics. Even when I click on the link that takes me to Photobucket.

Help!

OK- I think Photobucket hates me, so I'm firing it. :) I figured out how to upload directly to my posts, so I'll do that from here on in, and then go back and fix the other photos - sorry! It seems like the photos are there in Photobucket and for reasons that are unclear to me- they start to disappear... very mysterious! Must be the Dark Side. :)
 
So happy to see that you have resumed your TR! Your photos are beautiful! I have been able to see all of them. The baths excursion sounds wonderful.
Thanks for writing such an informative and entertaining TR. I'm looking forward to the next chapters.
 
Long time reader, but finally joined the Dis just this week. Your trip reports are always a highlight...and now I am taking notes on your Alaska report as we plan our 2018 cruise! Looking forward to reading more!
 


Sounds like a perfect day in St Thomas! It was our most favourite stop in January, too. Stunning scenery, gorgeous beaches....take me away :goodvibes

Oh Remy Ooh la la! Pish-posh :rotfl:Can't wait to read what your thoughts on that dinner!
 
Finally all caught up! I love the idea of the baths, but I'll have to see if my kids are ready when it's time for us to cruise. However, if my parents want to do an excursion that's definitely not the one for my mom as she's not very athletic or adventurous. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
 
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Day 5 - Remy dinner

Hey world. I'm back. I finally got over my frustration with the photos, and have, I hope, fixed them all (read: I said bad words. I sulked. I was generally childish. I finally decided to grow up, and I abandoned the photo sharing site and uploaded all of my photos manually).

So- when I left you last, in a huff, we had abandoned - I mean dropped the child off at the lab and headed off to Remy for supper, which we had not done before.

It was amazing, which is an incredibly inadequate word for how awesome the evening was.

I am terrible at food photos, so I won't subject you to them... but I will include this one that gives you a hint. This is a tiny little bit of the most delectable tomato soup, wrapped up, miraculously, in a ball of yumminess that was crunchy and delicious. That was just the beginning.


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If I recall correctly, you choose either the French chef's menu, or the American chef's menu. (We both chose French.) Then, there are a few upcharges that might tempt you ... DH did go for the Waygu beef upgrade and didn't regret it.

There are many different courses, but they're all small and exquisite. I felt full, but not overly so, though I had to skip the last of the 3 levels of dessert due to being exhausted. Yep- you order one desert, then you get all the house stuff... which was not insignificant, and that was after the cheese.

It did not take 3 hours ... maybe 2 hours and 20 minutes or so? I can see how it could take 3 though, but we didn't, ahem, dawdle... because, again, I have to go to bed at 9:00 p.m. most nights on vacation... :)

Besides, we had a big day to plan for the next day. Star something-or-other-day-at-sea, I think?
 
So happy to see that you have resumed your TR! Your photos are beautiful! I have been able to see all of them. The baths excursion sounds wonderful.
Thanks for writing such an informative and entertaining TR. I'm looking forward to the next chapters.

In mid-April, they all disappeared. SUPER ANNOYING. However, I took a break, and got over myself, and I'm going to finish, because I hate not finishing. :)

Thanks!


Long time reader, but finally joined the Dis just this week. Your trip reports are always a highlight...and now I am taking notes on your Alaska report as we plan our 2018 cruise! Looking forward to reading more!

Thanks! Alaska was amazing. Can't believe it was almost 2 years ago now.


Sounds like a perfect day in St Thomas! It was our most favourite stop in January, too. Stunning scenery, gorgeous beaches....take me away :goodvibes

Oh Remy Ooh la la! Pish-posh :rotfl:Can't wait to read what your thoughts on that dinner!

Remy was totally worth it for us - nice way to end St. Thomas day!

Just found your TR. Love reading about your cruise!

Thanks!

Finally all caught up! I love the idea of the baths, but I'll have to see if my kids are ready when it's time for us to cruise. However, if my parents want to do an excursion that's definitely not the one for my mom as she's not very athletic or adventurous. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

It's definitely not for everyone- but it was great for us and memorable. I still feel virtuous for having done it! :)

Great updates! I'm taking notes on your "excursion expertise" :)

Thanks!
 
Hark, she writes!!!

I'm glad you had such a wonder Remy dinner, I'm definitely booking this for our next Fantasy cruise.
 
Day 6 - Where a few things happen that relate to That Movie

As I write this, DH and Conor are watching Return of the Jedi ... on VHS. Yep, we're old school. Conor loves to rewind at the end. It's a thrill.

(And yes, it's Canada Day - for Canada's 150th birthday. But we have nasty thunderstorm warnings, so having been all patriotic for a few hours this afternoon, we ate a healthy meal at home and watched Han and Leia kiss....)

Ok... let's not delay further. We are at SWDAS ... the reason we booked on DCL again.

So, one must start out fully fueled for what will be a long day. We breakfasted at Cabanas. Note that being real Canadians ... we always travel with real maple syrup. That which is on the ships is NOT the real thing. It's always included in our FE gifts as well- share the wealth!

Here we have my favourite Star Wars t-shirt. It has holes in it now, but I have been informed it's still TOTALLY FINE for camp this summer. Fair point.

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Our first character session was early - at 9:00 or so ... so we headed off to prepare, and... I give you ... Star Wars Happiness.

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Conor figured out how to do the glowing eyes (they are spy glasses he has) ... and C3PO and R2D2 were suitably concerned about meeting up with a Jawa (as in- they did a great job of playing the part).

The day having already been made ... we checked out the lobby- where there are random characters wandering about. We saw some bounty hunter or other, and then were going to go visit a Storm Trooper, when I spotted ... Jawas.

Yes, Jawas. The kiddo was the only Jawa on the ship, we thought, until we found the 'real' ones. We flew down the stairs to find them. I was as pushy as I ever get (which is not much at all) to make sure that the Jawas saw our little Jawa ... and this happened (here's hoping the video works).



Yes- they stole him away. They were so happy to find one of their own. We traded a crayon to get them back (sort of kidding...)

My wee Jawa was over the moon.

Not a great photo, but...

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So- having thought that the highlight was R2D2 and C3PO, we learned we were wrong, and this was THE BEST. He still talks about it.

We then wandered off to play mini-golf, because that's what Jawas like to do... until they get too hot, that is. DH was in his, um, fine shirt that he ordered via Etsy .. and had delivered to the hotel in Orlando. He has donned it tonight as well for the Return of the Jedi, because, well, you just can't wear a shirt that cool often enough.

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At this point, the Jawa costume was retired for a bit, due to extreme heat... which tells you how dedicated these guys were.... Oh my.

This is when Deck 11 is taken over by Storm Troopers and friends in full costume. My photos aren't great - but it seems wrong to leave them out. The characters were awesome, and it was SO HOT.

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At this point, as a reliable reporter, I must confess that Conor had had TOO MUCH. He was hot, tired, and overexcited, and, well, it wasn't subtle. He was 8. DH was hot, tired, and overexcited and it was a bit less subtle. I was hot, tired, more annoyed than excited, and hid it perfectly well (DH might disagree). This became very clear to me when we realized that Conor had left the Jawa costume in his bag on a chair on deck 11. Joy and happiness and rainbows and puppies reigned. Or not.

We retreated to our room for a bit, and ate lunch there. This helped restore equilibrium on all fronts, and we dropped the kiddo at the lab for a bit to be with his peeps. DH and Conor dropped by one of the movies at some point and we hit up the lobby for a few of the guest costume events. This is where they ask DCL guests in costume (read: much of the ship) to head to the lobby to show off their costumes. These are really quite impressive at times.

Conor participated in one of them, but then was bemused when they asked the kids who were dressed up as the Rebels to join in one parade, and those who were the bad guys to be part of another parade... and so where does a Jawa fit in? :) DCL staff were great and told him he could join in either one, but he is a literal soul, so he just stood (happily) and watched.

He was feeling very chuffed though, because as the day wore on, it was basically confirmed that he was the only 'guest' Jawa.

We did have one more character meeting- I perhaps once knew who these individuals were, but I have since forgotten. Conor explained that he didn't love them, but a) he didn't want to do the Jedi Academy and b) he didn't want bad guys, so these folks were those that were left. Perhaps that is Ezra ... or if not someone who has Ezra's gun????

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Somehow, people watching took up the whole afternoon. It really was amazing with the Star Wars music playing all day in the halls.

I'll break here, as I'm going to hit my photo limit shortly, and Return of the Jedi just finished, so I should get the kiddo to bed so he will be awake for swimming lessons.
 
Hark, she writes!!!

I'm glad you had such a wonder Remy dinner, I'm definitely booking this for our next Fantasy cruise.

Yeah- I was beyond annoyed with the photos, and moving was making me even crankier, so I just had to step away. I'll finish by the end of the long weekend though.

Happy Canada Day!
 
Oh my gosh, I literally LOL'd watching that video - those Jawa's are trotting away with your precious baby boy!!! :rotfl2:That is so awesome!

Happy Canada day to you, too. And you would definitely approve of our FE gifts for our upcoming Alaska cruise - it is ALL Canadian (because the other cabins in our group are all Americans) and part of it is a bottle of REAL maple syrup each :jumping3:
 
Day 6 - Wrapping up That Day

Having learned from the pre-lunch family meltdown, we made sure we had some down-time in the cabin before supper. I was in pre-packing mode, so I deployed Conor to go through the FE stuff (our leftovers plus anything we got that we didn't think we would love forever...) and taught him about Pixie Dust. He went off to random cabins with FEs, scoped out the images on the doors and on the FEs, and decided who might love our leftovers. This is a fine tradition for us -we very rarely give away hand-made stuff... mostly extra candy, and (no judging here- we do it) Dollar Store purchases that just don't fit us (princesses anyone?).

He had a ball, as this involved sneaking around on Deck 9 like a spy.

For those that are wondering... yes, I let him do this himself. He's incredibly reliable. We discussed not leaving deck 9 and he didn't. As he's an only child, he inherits responsibility early- sorry bud! He'd head off to do 2 cabins, then return to get more stuff to distribute, and then do 2 more. Very short trips, with MUCH DRAMA.

As we headed out for supper (suitably costumed in his case, with DH in his shirt again...) he realized we got some FE gifts of our own after a day or so of none... so he FIRMLY believes that Pixie Dust is why this happened. I did not disabuse him of this notion.

SWDAS supper was good. Lots of music, waiters who were buying in 100%, and Conor bonded (finally) with the elder daughter of our table-mates. (She was a fiesty Rey, so not a surprise).

I particularly enjoyed my dessert.

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We perused the stores for a bit, as Conor planned out how to spend the last of his money. We also had him finish up the last of his post cards... the smart boy realized that most people receiving the missives wouldn't know what he wrote on other ones, so he started to write the same on each and every card - some in French and some in English. :~

Why did we do this? To stay up for the fire works of course. Neither he nor I were used to this late hour (10:00 p.m.) , so desperate measures were required (I believe I had a caffeinated beverage).

I did not try to take photos of the fireworks- it is really best, in my opinion, to just sit back and enjoy. Carrie Fisher had just died a month before, and they had a lovely video tribute to her. The music is timed perfectly. It was truly amazing. I don't know what the regular DCL fireworks are like, having not ever stayed up late enough for them... but these were just awesome.

We did manage to sneak over to the buffet briefly... and with one treat each, we retreated to our cabin, and, well, you'll see what happened very soon afterwards.

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(For those who have read my now-photo-less other TRs... you'll recognize Sockie.)

And with that, the day was over. I can honestly say it lived up to the hype. I was a bit worried that it would be a disappointment, but man, Big Mouse is SMART when it comes to Star Wars.

When I get through the formal TR, I'll check DH's photos to see if he has any others that I missed. It was quite the day!

So- this brings us to Day 7 on Castaway Cay. Almost done - I am relieved to report.
 
Day 7 - Castaway Cay & Packing Day

Hm ... Cay and Day look like they should rhyme, but they don't. That's the kind of thing that drives Conor nuts. :)

This is a day (for us anyway) that does not require a lot of reporting. It's generally the same: We get up, eat, go to beach, generally are lazy as all get out, and then return to the ship just after lunch, to enjoy a bit of quiet on board, and pack.

This iteration was not really any different. This I know because I have almost no photos... because packing photos are just not that exciting, and I just don't move enough otherwise to take any. We have been active before- renting bikes, running the 5K, but seeing as we had another long day of travel the next day, I thought it would be best to prepare diligently... by resting.

We did not rush off the ship - we aim to get off early enough to avoid the rush, but not at the crack of dawn. I'm pretty sure we did the "go-to-Cabanas-for-the-variety-but-bring-it-back-to-the-cabin-to-avoid-the-masses" deal we usually do for breakfast.

As usual, we found a shady spot fairly easily, and plunked down. Conor and DH explored the water a bit, and did in fact go to the sting ray excursion. We had a ticket for me, but I decided that it was way, way, way too energetic for me that morning (I was comfy on my chair with my Kobo), and besides, someone had to sacrifice themselves to watch our stuff, right? This bought me an hour of relative peace on my own, and I certainly did NOT nap.

Because I wasn't there, there are no photos of the sting ray fun.

I do have photos of my view though...

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As you can see, the weather was awful.

They returned happy (DH said it was pretty low-key, but well done, with a real conservation/protect the animals bent, which Conor loves). We meandered over to have the same lunch as always (so sad I can say that!) at Cookies 2. We were close enough that I could deploy Conor to get us both ice cream. He's getting very handy that way.

After lunch, Conor remembered that he liked excavating dinosaur bones or some other large fossil in the kids club on the island, so we checked him in there for a bit.

DH and I resumed lounging. I finished my book. I started another.

At about 1:30 ish, I decided I needed to rest up from all this exertion. DH had his snorkeling excursion cancelled, so he agreed, and we fetched the kiddo, who was (again) chatting up his favourite Australian CM.

We meandered back to the ship (we walk to get at least a modicum of steps) and realized we forgot to bring the postcards to mail ... and that Conor still had 2 more to write... well, to copy. DH popped into the post office which, for the first time in 4 trips, was actually open, and procured the stamps we needed.

After boarding and after much drama about the horrors of writing the exact same 3 sentences on 2 more post cards, we packed up our little pile, and he and I disembarked just long enough to mail the cards. For some reason, Conor has deep anxiety about us missing the ship (he knows what it means when they page overhead), so he fretted the entire time, despite me pointing out that a) it was 2:30 and all aboard wasn't until 4:00 or 4:30 or something like that, and b) ... THE SHIP WAS RIGHT THERE. (Seriously - it's next to the post office, practically), and c) he was not actually a snail or a slug, and could walk faster than a pace of 1 in every 3 hours so.

Having tortured the child thus, I happily returned him to DH on board (tag- you're it! you get the tired, vacationed-out child), evicted them both from the cabin clad in (clean) swim suits for the traditional "enjoy the pools when they're not full on the last day" gig, and settled down to packing.

This meant I had to confront Big Purple again... but forewarned is forearmed, so it was less painful. The extra duffle bag was pressed into service to take just about all of our shoes except those we would be wearing the next day, and that helped a lot. Having off-loaded the maple syrup and been ruthless about not accumulating heavy stuff worked as well. I also multi-tasked and did a bit of laundry as it's usually pretty quiet on the last day. My theory is it's a bit novel on the ship, vs. being just dreary at home... and we have less illegally imported sand.

For the new folks, I'll just do a summary of my leaving the ship packing strategy:

  • Pre-pack at least once or twice during the week - this means mostly just tossing stuff you know you won't need again into your suitcases.
  • Get everything out on the beds on the last day- all suit cases on the main bed, all clothes and things on the smaller bed.
  • Rotate what you pack where (except shoes... which go in that small 'yes it's worth paying for an extra bag to ovoid the extortion that are overweight fees').
  • In our case- set aside the things you'll need not just the next morning (get off ship time) but at the cold end of your flight (welcome to Canada). The stuff you need at the other end gets packed last so it's easily accessible.
  • Go through all the drawers and cupboards - and find the things you missed the first time. Pack these.
  • Discretely dispose of the things that are actually crap that your child 'packed'.
  • Look under beds, in the table-that-is-a-chest, in the closet, and in the bathrooms. Find more things you forgot. Pack those.
  • Check luggage weights frequently - not only is this a great upper body workout, this means you avoid those fees...
  • Do not accidentally pack what you need the next day... because you won't have those clothes, and there are reports of people needing to disembark in their PJs, or even just underwear due to over-exuberant packing.
  • Suddenly recall, when your alarm goes off, that you have clothing in the dryer. Curse quietly, and go and retrieve it, and find room for it too.
  • Attempt to not forget the door magnets and your FE.
  • Remember, at all times (no, I'm not obsessed) that the little stuff you toss in at the end all ads up - toothpaste, sun screen, the clothes you are wearing RIGHT NOW, etc. so you must aim for at least 3-4 lbs below the maximum weight.

Despite all this, it's fairly pleasant to me. I procure a yummy beverage, put on a nice audiobook, and enter a bit of a zen mode, interspersed with occasional curses. (Honestly- this all took about 45 minutes, so it wasn't the end of the world. DH was, of course, annoyingly, mostly packed but I do the rest.)

Generally, I have this about 95% done before supper. After supper on the last night, the rest of the things we won't need that night get put in the big bags, and they go out to be whisked away (we are not 'carry off your own bags folks').

This year, 5 cruises in, I am pleased to report I finished ahead of schedule. Practice makes perfect?

At some point, I joined the men on deck 11. Regular Conor had returned, as always, and he was frolicking about in the pools. DH watched and enjoyed some beverages. He and I plotted out our last few hours given that packing was mostly done (a rare event).

We decided in fine vacation form .. to wing it.

So having changed into Star Wars shirt number ... well, I've lost track, but I know we were not yet into repeating them, we headed down early for supper, and saw Captain Mickey. Conor had been a bit blazé about getting autographs on this trip but decided he needed "the classic", so we lucked out and were the last to see him before he packed up.

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We met up with our table-mates, and noted that Conor's new BFF was a bit anxious about the time, because she was going to dance in the talent show. When Conor politely asked what kind of dancing (he can be great), she told him Irish dance, and he proudly declared (shut up kid!) that I used to do that. This is true, and it was a definitive bonding moment. Conor was determined that we should go and watch her, so after supper, off we went. She was great- especially in that her shoe came undone in the middle of it all and she soldiered on. Her family was then heading off to ... start packing. (I controlled my anxiety for them here...!)

After this, we waited until folks headed into either dinner or the show, and we bee-lined for the stores (otherwise, they are just sardine-ish on the last night). Conor had money on his gift card left, and he needed to use it up. He had his eye on one of the leather bracelets with your name in Star-Warsian and I can report that nearly 6 months later, he wears it all the time.

With that, we headed back to the cabin for wrapping up for bedtime, with one stop at the lab to return the bracelet . The final suitcase additions were added and the bags were set out. We ordered breakfast foods from room service (minus coffee) and had those ready to go for the morning (we get cereal, milk, juice, and a cheese plate generally and thus avoid having to rush out of our cabin) - this is a great idea (we think- I read about it here) but it does take a while on the last night, so just plan accordingly. DH had tipped our wait staff at supper and told them we would not be back for breakfast, and we found our cabin attendant, who was great, and gave him his envelope. DH had hit up the photo folks during the supper-show lull to buy 3 whole photos. He had also gone early to get our itemized bill and made sure there were no surprises (we've never had any, but best to check.)

Finally, it felt like all planets were aligned... bags were packed and out; the rest of our stuff was organized; Conor was clean; my to-do list was all nicely crossed off and it was time for bed. Or rather, bed for Conor and me, and DH headed off for a final night cap in Meridian.


We'll aim to finish this today. It's a holiday tomorrow (lieu day for Canada day) but I have to work anyway, so we'll make up for lost time... I hope!
 
Oh my gosh, I literally LOL'd watching that video - those Jawa's are trotting away with your precious baby boy!!! :rotfl2:That is so awesome!

Happy Canada day to you, too. And you would definitely approve of our FE gifts for our upcoming Alaska cruise - it is ALL Canadian (because the other cabins in our group are all Americans) and part of it is a bottle of REAL maple syrup each :jumping3:

The Jawas rocked. We also did Canadian stuff for Alaska, only to find out that about 3 of the cabins had Canadians, so we mixed things up a bit but still figured they would want real maple syrup so didn't change that part. :)

I see you're getting very close- I'm excited for you... and you don't need to worry about the jet lag part of things!
 
We'll aim to finish this today. It's a holiday tomorrow (lieu day for Canada day) but I have to work anyway, so we'll make up for lost time... I hope!
Happy Canada day! We missed the big events yesterday but I guess there is a parade we might see this evening when we get in to Canada Place.

As always, love your reports.
 
Happy Canada day! We missed the big events yesterday but I guess there is a parade we might see this evening when we get in to Canada Place.

As always, love your reports.

Hey there! Have a fantastic trip tomorrow.

Thanks again. Now to get my family off the ship in this TR. :)
 
Back to winter

As always, I woke up first, and in a very perky (and annoying?) fashion, I got DH up. He decided that I was just too much fun, so he went off in search of our last cove café coffee to supplement our cleverly-ordered-the-night-before breakfast food.

What we usually do is to just go about our morning business and at some point, Conor wakes up. He is a very sound sleeper, so generally speaking a marching band can come through the cabin in the middle of the night (or a smoke alarm will go off) and he won't stir. This was again the case. I puttered around assembling things for the last time; DH returned with the coffee; DH showered; I showered; I dropped things; we opened the balcony door.... and finally, he woke up.

Somewhere in there we fed him, made him get dressed and packed up his PJs, etc.

We MUCH, much, much, prefer this to trying to make our way to Cabanas or to an MDR in the morning- it allows us to not have to pretend to others that we are civil at this point in the vacation. :)

We gracefully exited our cabin just before 8:00. Then one of us forgot something (it might have been me) so that someone went back. We then managed to get our carry on down 5 flights of stairs (elevators are bonkers at this point). I checked the lost and found as I knew Conor had misplaced a hat - no biggie, but enough for me to check- nothing was there. We deposited our comment card in the right place, and did our best imitation of cattle being wrangled (vs. cats being herded) off the ship.

As always, we found a lovely orange-shirted porter - these are your friends. They help you with this:

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Both in terms of managing your luggage, but also helping you with where to go next.

We had our usual weird thing with Happy Limo where they had not texted us, but we were savvy now ... so DH found a Happy Limo car, and that driver contacted our driver, and all was well.

Here it is not very exciting in the reporting realm. We drove, and it was uneventful. We arrived at the airport, realized we were too early, again, to check the bags, so we toted them around with us and got some lunch. At that point, we tried to do our check-in at a kiosk having done our bit the night before on-line, but as usual, it hated us, so we had to stand in line. This happens to us so often, it barely rates a mention. :(

Freed of our bags, finally, we wandered off to spend the last few dollars on Conor's gift card, and, lest you think he forgot, to spend Conor's last bit of cash at the Universal Studios store on a chocolate frog.

We survived the gauntlet that is a US security line-up, and plopped down to await our plane. Conor had to suffer through the last of his homework.

The flight was happily uneventful, and someone was, again, not tired.

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It's always a good thing when Mr. "I'm not tired" has a nap on the plane, because it puts him in a much better mood on the other end when we have to endure the go through customs/get bags/other random line-up process at the end. This proved to be the case, and he was Mr. Helpful in finding our luggage.

We were grateful we had sprung (points) on the hotel at the airport at this point, as none of us were in any shape to drive 3+ hours to get home.

So, we drifted over to the hotel, retrieved the 'in case of winter' bag we had in the hotel's safe keeping, and retreated from the universe. Being generally fed up in general with other humans, we got all radical and ordered in pizza. It felt very decadent.

With TV, we were complete, and so we hunkered down to an early bedtime, which was sorely needed.

Next up- final trip home, I raid DH's photos and post things I forgot (oops!) and final thoughts.
 

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