Where have we been?

It's been a few weeks since I've posted.  We've moved on to Florida (about 20 miles south of Gainesville) and have been here four weeks.  We rode out the cold snap here - while nothing like the rest of the country faced, it was cold right before Christmas.  It actually got down to the low 20's a few nights - the cold weather can be challenging in a trailer so we were glad it didn't get much worse.

We haven't had too many adventures but we did spend my birthday at the happiest place on earth.

We wanted to see the holiday decor and it was pretty.  Not too much here, though.

There were a few Christmas trees around the parks.

We had a great time meeting people while we were in line for attractions.  Visitors from Pennsylvania, Virginia, and right here in Florida.

We love walking through Disney Springs which is similar to Downtown Disney in California.

It was really decked out for the holidays!

Look at that - a store just for coke products.

It was filled mostly with Chotchkies but this one piqued my interest.

I never heard this with my own ears because I was the younger sister but family lore has been passed down that as a toddler my sister proclaimed "there's Ka-Dunk-A-Dunk drinking coke".  This one's for you, sis!

A first for us was exploring Gideon's.

We'd been by there several times and every time we went by there was a long line.

What the heck?  We asked the employee at the door (with an iPad) why there was always a line.  He said they only let in a few people at a time but we could put our name in the virtual queue, go about our business, and they would text us when it was time to get in the real line.  Typically the wait is 2 hours or so but had been known to reach 5 hours!  Yikes!  While I love cookies, we weren't up for that so we moved on.

But a few days later we found ourselves back at Disney Springs right before the shops opened.  Sure enough, there was a line (and the shop didn't open for about 15 minutes) but no virtual queue so we got in line.  We were probably at about the end of the line you see above.  The people behind us were regulars and told us that it would be probably about 30 minutes before we went in.  The time passed quickly as they were delightful to talk with and sure enough, just as they said we were close to the front and were handed a menu.

Fortunately, the regulars behind us coached us on the cookie flavors.  Our new friends told us that the Coffee Cake cookie was delicious and was only available in the morning and only a limited amount were made - when they were gone, they were gone.  So, of course, I put that on my list to get.  

And just like that, we were inside.

It's all very organized - the line moves along, you pass by the different cookies to take a look, and then you're at the register where you place your order.  They put the perfectly wrapped cookies in a box as you order.

I confess - we bought some.

And we ate them.  But we waited until we got back "home" and each ate only 1/2 at a time.

What an experience!

Of course we had to stop for a Diet Coke.  Who knew McDonald's had a location inside the Disney property?

The lobby was pretty cool.

Hey look - I could work here!  Pretty creative way to put up a Now Hiring sign.

Time to hit the road.  We still have 3+ weeks at this RV park and have a few more adventures planned.