Our time at Bluewater Resort was winding down along with our
visit with Marcel & Michaela.
Before we said goodby however we had one last day enjoying the sun and
water at our lovely site.
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| Our final sunrise |
The creature from Black Lagoon?
Another of the locals.
After a fun and relaxing day, we went out for a farewell dinner and just like that,
our 9 day visit was over.
In the morning Marcel & Michaela headed to MIA to catch a Lufthansa A380 to
Frankfurt, while we caught a northbound Party Bus to Disneyworld in Orlando.
Our plan was to spend 6 days. 4 of the days Kate would be gone to Chicago to
visit her friend Mary while I held down the fort.
Upon arrival however, just as I was unhooking the Towed I wrenched my back and
spent the next 5 days horizontal on the couch chewing on muscle relaxants.
We were the only folks at Disneyworld I would guess who did not partake of the parks.
The campground at Disney - Fort Wilderness is very nice.
Large well kept sites with full hookups and the price to match.
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| Entry to 800 loop at Fort Wilderness. |
It seems that each year around Halloween there is a competition for the best decorated
campsite and some folks were really putting their creative side to work.
The pictures below were of a side down the road from us. At night there was animated
smoke, a ghost steering the ship etc.
Across the street from us - the orange trailer door would open every so often and
a skeleton would pop out.
The people next to us had a large Spider that would sense motion and jump out at people.
We saw plenty of people walk by only to have the spider jump out at them causing
all sorts of screams!
Our next to last night I was finally able to get about and we had the pleasure of a visit
from our Sailboat buddies and good friends Hayden & Radeen who were headed south
to Stewart to re-commission their Island Packet and head back to the Bahamas
for another winter season.
On our last day at Fort Wilderness I left the bus and we hopped on the water taxi
to visit the hotels that surround Bay Lake & the 7 Seas Lagoon.
Our first stop was the Wilderness Lodge.
It is themed after the Yellowstone Lodge and inside you can almost
feel that you are there.
After having lunch at the Wilderness Lodge we hopped back on the boat and
headed to the Contemporary Resort which you can see in the photo below.
A neat feature of the CR is that the monorail enters one end of the hotel and exits the other
end after picking up and dropping off passengers.
A photo from the door of the monorail inside the CR just as
we were about to depart the station.
Rooms in the hotel either look down upon the monorail station,
or look outward over the park.
We rode the Monorail to our next stop, the Grand Floridian Hotel,
The GFH is a huge property with many buildings on its expansive grounds.
I cant say for certain but it must be one of the largest at Disneyworld.
The hotel has a Victorian theme.
The pool with another of the buildings behind.
The main Hotel Building
All of the hotels that we visited are situated in a circle around the shores of the
7 Seas Lagoon or the interconnected Bay Lake, and are accessible by free water
taxi that you can take about the park.
After visiting the GF Hotel, we changed taxis at the Magic Kingdom docks and took
our final taxi of the day back to Fort Wilderness.
An interesting feature of the lakes is the canal that was dug to connect the man-made
7 seas lagoon with the natural Bay Lake.
It crosses the road here and overhead, unseen in this photo the monorail also goes by.
Its an interesting feeling crossing over busses in a boat.
Back at the bus the two doodles held down the fort.
Below I was cutting some steak for dinner (not for them)
and you can see how they lay there just hoping that some would find its way to them.
(It did)
Trip Recap
On Friday morning we left Ft Wilderness and headed north.
Our stop for the night was about 5 hrs north in Hardeeville, SC at
Camp Lake Jasper.
Saturday morning we made the final 400 mile trip Home.
The map below shows our travels the last 9 weeks.
We clicked off about 7,100 miles
and tons of great memories.
Now we are not sure what this winter will bring.
Right now it looks like we will stay parked for 6 months till May.
Maybe a short winter reprieve to Florida?
All that is certain at this point is our early May departure for
the Yukon and Alaska for next summer.
In the interim - safe travels everyone.
