My Big Trip Recap

2/17/2020 11:26:00 AM Lexie Dunne 0 Comments

The workers were happy to talk to me and let me know I had food stowing away atop my hat.

Back to the land of the living!

Walking out on our last night.

Or at least away from the land of permanent vacations, at any rate. I returned back to the miserable cold of a St. Louis winter after a week of wearing shorts and overheating in the Orlando sun. That transition was not a fun experience and I do not recommend it for anybody. The week preceding it, on the other hand, was a delightful one.

As I blogged about two weeks ago, my entire family (plus my friend Lucky) went to spend a week living under the same roof in an Air BNB. Every day had some sort of people-filled plan attached to it. For a family of introverts, this sounds like the ultimate version of hell, but we all did our level best to work around it. We’d researched the quiet spots in each of the places we were to visit. We’d packed headphones and books and knew to eat regularly to avoid that overwhelming food-crash that leads to meltdowns. We had lists.

I did not steal this. Did I think about it? Pleading the fifth.

And we also had a blast. I broke 20,000 steps on a couple of the days according to my watch, and have the tired feet to prove it. Coming back on Friday and giving myself the weekend to do very little—some chores, sleep, read, catch up on the pages I’d missed as part of my progress through the Artist’s Way—was an excellent choice. Especially since half of the family seems to have come back with some sort of flu or infection.

I am a beautiful butterfly.

But it’s Monday again and we’re back in the real world. My morning pages since I’ve returned have been more about characters and book ideas than whining (though plenty of that remains). According to the lesson this week, I should be suffering some highs and lows. I’m not sure if I’m doing that right because mostly I’ve just been in recovery after the exhaustion of pushing myself to be social and outgoing for a week. Yesterday I lazed about so much that I didn’t even break 1000 steps. I’m a little proud of myself, won’t lie.

Tonight begins some trials. I worried about three things prior to this trip: an unnamed habit that I did falter on a bit during Florida, but seem to have returned to; resuming the Artist’s Way and my morning pages; my newfound habit of going to the gym. So far I’m two for three. Tonight will be the first step in returning to the third habit, if all goes well. I don’t have a yoga class until Wednesday, but I can go get on the treadmill or even attempt to start a weightlifting regimen.


A very nice woman took this picture on my cell phone, but insisted on arranging us. She said she would tell us why and we would find it hilarious afterward. As she handed my phone back, she admitted it: she was a Photopass photographer there on her day off.

Here are some highlights from the trip:

Visiting Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. I didn’t see the dragon spew flame, which was one of my top priorities, but I did ride most of the available rides. Including the Care of Magical Creatures, where I did the single rider line and was temporarily adopted into another family. We met up with said family later in line for the Hulk ride, where I discovered my limit for roller coasters and migraines: nothing that goes upside down and bounces my head around!

Expensive lightsabers! And Kimbe!

Seeing Magic Kingdom. Part of my family is from near Anaheim and so I attended Disneyland quite a bit as a kid and feel a great swell of nostalgia whenever I think about it. Magic Kingdom, in addition to being insanely crowded, did not have quite the same feel, but it was close enough that my shriveled lump of a heart felt a tiny spurt of tepid warmth.

Our big family dinner at the Biergarten in Epcot. There was an actual band with alpenhorns, and you really can’t beat that.

Seeing how to condense the plot of a Disney movie for a ride without terrifying small children.

My sister met Stitch, her absolute favorite Disney thing ever.

I got a magic wand, and Lucky got chosen during the wand ceremony.

DRAGON.

Seeing the Millennium Falcon in person, riding Smuggler’s Run, and getting to be on the Rise of the Resistance ride. I don’t think my family understood how important it was that we had to be INSIDE THE PARK at opening until my dad looked around and realized that every single person around us had their phone out and was anxiously awaiting the boarding groups announcement, just like me.

The line to Haunted Mansion, which we rode twice on our last day—including being the last people to go through the line for the night. I’m sure the workers hated us and just wanted to go home, but it was a neat experience and a great way to wrap up a trip.

I was not chosen.

There were some less than great experiences, of course. The experience of standing in line has been invading my dreams, both sleeping and lucid, for the past few days. Until this morning, when I dreamed about working for a horrible ex-boss in a position I wasn’t suited for. So…that’s a fun way to welcome me back to work, I guess.

I paid absolutely no attention to social media or politics for an entire week and it was exactly what my brain needed. How was everybody else’s week??

Stay sexy!
Lexie