Backpacking to Orlando

From freezing Michigan to the land of the "Frozen" princesses

This past week I traveled from the icy lands of Michigan to the land of the theme parks--and was greeted by the topiaries of the "Frozen" princesses, Elsa and Anna. Daughter E. had a free pass for me and we (R. joined us, too) spent a day at Epcot enjoying the Flower and Garden Festival. Many familiar themes prevailed, but there is always something new at a Disney Park--and the Frozen themes were definitely exploited again this year. I couldn't decide if there were more white and grey flowers than usual, but of course, everything was blooming in the Spring sunshine, lush and green.

I procured the most inexpensive airline ticket ever at $158.50 and decided to take a bad seat and carry only a backpack, in order to keep the price low--just out of some meaningless protest or principle. I might have spent more on beer and snacks on the flights than a suitcase would have cost!

I jest. I did carry my year of beer adventure to Florida and had two (shared) flights at Epcot--but only had one drink on the airplane for $6--a surprisingly good beer, the only other choice being Heineken.

I have ended my avoidance-of-the-scanners protest at the airports so now I am protesting the fees for a carry-on. I never did get to "backpack" through Europe back in the day, so now--in my senior years--I decided to backpack to Florida!

A favorite denim shirt lost in this big lake!

It was warm in Florida and I didn't have to borrow any clothes, except for a brief stint in a borrowed swimsuit, but my one long-sleeved shirt blew off the boat on the last night and I had to return again to frigid Michigan in just a t-shirt and sandals. (I easily survived the mad dash to the husband's warm car, quickly tossing that backpack into the backseat.)

Bonsai Bouganvillea

Except for a morning of rain, the temperatures were nearly perfect on my short escape to Florida. Besides the warm weather, palm trees, flowers and the company of my daughters and the son-in-law and their new beloved puppy, Toffee, what I always carry back with me (literally--around my waist) is the memory of all the good food I enjoyed. I will include some of that later.

We all took photos with similar phone cameras, but some of these great Epcot photos were taken by daughter R.