Thursday, September 12, 2013

Florida through the five senses

I haven't had the time or inclination to cover my entire vacation in Florida as it occurred. However, I did make some short lists of things I've encountered with my five senses, to wit:

Things I have seen so far in Florida:
Orlando International Airport.
The inside of a rented condo.
Publix.
Hollywood Studios.
Epcot Center.
Wal-Mart.
What intense heat and humidity do to a short fat chick such as myself.
The Magic Kingdom.
Several summer thunderstorms.
A double rainbow all the way (so intense!).
A Buzz Lightyear hoodie.
Disney's Animal Kingdom.
Lots of geckos.
Kennedy Space Center.
An alligator in the wild!

Things I have heard so far in Florida:
The droning of hundreds of ceiling fans.
Cicadas.
The voices of Paul Frees and Thurl Ravenscroft. EVERYWHERE.
Lots of Sherman Bros. songs: "There's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow," "In The Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room," and the infamous "It's A Small World."
A distraught father bellowing "Bauti! Bautistaaaa!" as he searched frantically through the crowds for his missing son. (Every parent's nightmare...)
Lots of regional Southern accents.
Lots of foreign languages (but mostly Spanish).
"Heart, We Did All That We Could" sung by Teddi Barra.
Buzz Lightyear calling me a space cadet. Hmph.
The sound of Donald Duck hitting the back wall of a theater.
The entire baritone sax line of the song "Under the Sea" until I knew it by heart (we got stuck on the Little Mermaid ride).
The soft whirr of a passing monorail.
Some guy rapping as part of a Disney parade (?).
Fireworks a-poppin'.

Things I have smelled so far in Florida:
Fresh popcorn.
Fake skunk smell on the Imagination Station ride.
Genuine dog poop smell at Downtown Disney.
Cleaning solution.
The sweating masses yearning to breathe free.
Nine-pound lemons.
Chocolate.
The slightly sulfurous scent of Florida tap water.
Cotton candy and churros.
Norwegian pastries.
Chlorinated water.
Chick-fil-a take-out.
The grandma's-basement smell of Pirates of the Caribbean.
Moroccan food.
French fries.

Things I have touched/felt so far in Florida:
The kind of humid heat that feels like running into a watery wall the moment you step outside.
Camel spit from Aladdin's Flying Carpets in Adventureland.
My honey, on a daily basis.
The grab bar on the Hollywood Studios Tower of Terror. FOR DEAR LIFE.
Someone else's camera, to take a picture.
A pop gun at Toy Story Midway Mania, as I vainly attempted to unseat my honey as reigning champion scorer of the vehicle.
Bubbles! Lots and lots of bubbles!
The large crypt that makes music in the standby line at the Haunted Mansion.
A Publix shopping cart.
Handrails, queue ropes and safety bars.
The residual heat of a freshly pressed penny.
The weepy condensation on the outside of an ice-cold glass of water.
The dark, scaly, dry skin of a large Middle Eastern lizard named Morpheus.
Cockroaches crawling under my seat in "It's Tough to Be a Bug."
A good percentage of that final splashdown on Splash Mountain.
Heat rash. Meh.
A moon rock.

Things I have tasted so far in Florida:
The funky, slightly sulfurous taste of Florida tap water.
Hummus and sweet peppers.
Powerade Zero (helpful replacer of salts when you've spent the entire day sweating your brains out).
Eggs made by my honey.
Chocolate.*
Dole Whip.*
Ghirardelli ice cream.*
New York strip steak in a simulated drive-in movie theater.
No sugar added raspberry sorbet.
Chicken curry at Tusker House.
A Chick-fil-a salad.
Breakfast buffet at the Crystal Palace.
Chinese watermelon soda and a few other international flavors at Club Cool.
Taco salad at Pecos Bill's.
Salad, soup and soft-serve* at Sweet Tomatoes.
Salmon teriyaki at Mitsukoshi.
Fall-off-the-bone tender lamb shank at Marrakesh.
The sweet kisses of my husband.

*Yes, I know, naughty diabetic, no biscuit. However, I did lots of walking and lots of sweating, and frankly it didn't make that much difference to my blood sugar. So. There.

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