Vacation part 1 : horny insects and Epcot Center

Hi! We are in Orlando Florida, finally making use of Ken's timeshare. This place is awesome! There's a jacuzzi in the master bedroom, a full kitchen (with a dishwasherl, which Ken adores) a washer/dryer, great decor, and a front porch.

Ah, the porch. It's definitely the Lusty Month of May here. First of all, Ken and I are driving from the airport to our resort, crawling toward our first toll plaza, when Ken notes, "Insects having sex in midair." Certainly amused us while waiting to shell out our toll!

It turns out down here in Florida there is a twice-yearly mating season for these lightning-bug-like creatures and we've hit the springtime one. They are everywhere, flying and crawling (well, never mind, you don't want the explicit details). Lots of them get killed on windshields. It took a good scrubbing at a gas station (thank you, Tom!) and a rainstorm to get our windshield reasonably clean.

Back to the porch. We sat on the screened-in deck the first night, overlooking the pond and the frogs were croaking like crazy. Ken imitated/translated: "I-want I-want I-want-sex. I-want-sex. Sex. Sex. Sex."

Okay now that I've got that out of my system...

Sunday was our settling-in day. First we had a most excellent Thai lunch: pad thai for both of us--and not spicy at all! First time I've been able to have Thai food in years. The place also had authentic decor (handmade carved dragons, Buddhist shrines, other lovely items) and great service.

Then we pre-checked in, went to the local outlet center for matching light-sage hats and sunglass clips (both on sale!) and did grocery shopping.

Monday we went to Epcot Center. We went for the main ride, on the history of human communication, in the huge geodesic dome (the "golf ball") and critiqued the display (too many white males especially in the "caveman' days and no mention of China, but coverage of Arabic culture during the European 'Dark Ages').

Then we focused on the Worldwide Showcase. It was lunchtime so of course we headed to Japan where I had udon noodles (yum!) for the first time. They had an excellent display of Japanese tin toys from the 1890s to about the 1990s, including of course Astro Boy and Godzilla, also the precursors to mechas and Transformers. We spent a lot of time in the shop--oooh all the cool Japanese candies! We bought about $15 worth including effervescent "soda candy" in garishly colored wrapping for my AnimeFreaks club at the library, and sushi-shaped candy for me (Squeeeeeee!) We admired the kimonos ($175 plus tax, obi costs extra) and the largest collection of Hello Kitty merchandise I've seen. No manga though 8-(

Next segment: Visiting Day on Tuesday plus whatever else I fit in.