In July my inlaws reenacted their annual summer vacation of driving down the east coast to Disney. But now that the children are all "grown up,” this time, with significant others and grandchildren in tow. This meant a total of eight adults, two children, and three dogs. A close friend of the family drove a second trailer upping the count to 10 adults. I started in Massachusetts with my mother-in-law, father in-law (that’s him driving), brother-in-law,
his fiancée and two dogs. The trip sent us through Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, where we picked up my wife, her sister and her two children and two dogs (my sister-law’s husband flew up later.) Then we went through Maryland to our first stop: Harpers Ferry,
West Virginia where I got to visit my first American Civil War battlefield and I got to play minigolf with my nephew. The next day it was Virginia, North Carolina and the next stop: Yemassee, South Carolina, where everyone was so friendly. Finally, it was Georgia and Florida. We had to bypass South of the Border due to overheating. We camped at Fort Wilderness and the family dispersed between tents, trailer, and motorhome.
Highlights at Disney of course include Epcot. This picture is fake England, which is almost as crowded as London. We met a cast member (Disney employee) from Islington (where we were living at the time). We had an amazing dinner just the two of us in fake France and later that night at 11 oclock at night it was like 77F (25C), we took a dip in the outdoor pool. That was my favorite memory of the trip. That moment felt like the first real vacation we have had in four years. I had my first character dinner and I got a card signed by Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, & Eeyore. A cast member brought us through 'backstage' in one of the attractions to get us caught up with a group we missed. We got to ride the elevator with an equipment cart. My favorite ride was Tower of Terror when something started flapping in front of all of our heads. It was a bag my father-in-law was carrying. We were all trying to catch it while laughing and plummeting. We were all still trying to catch our breath twenty minutes afterward from laughing so hard. And of course, being Disney, there are fireworks every night (you definitely want to click on the video):
