Our longest driving day yet!

East Coast Driving Trip 2015 - Day 18

We woke up this morning in Alabama.  This is all kind of hitting me today. How many states we have seen/been to on this trip and how they are similar and different. So apparently it's a day of reflection? but mainly a day to drive. We drove from Opeklia, Alabama to Orlando, Florida.
And on the one hand we made it safely and without incident... on the other - it was a long day.

Alabama highway

Georgia Peaches

Rain, coming into Florida (the Sunshine State) 

Add to the 7 hour drive... that includes assorted stops for meals and grumpiness, an evening in the Magic Kingdom for a few rides and the fireworks show and you have some very sleepy, slightly whiny people on your hands. Considering how much we did today, we were in good spirits, but you could tell, there by the end... happiness was becoming more elusive.
The family who decided it would be cool to ride the PeopleMovers and scream (yes SCREAM) at every turn, almost killed it all for us. Hey, we are fun loving folks, but don't hurt my ears.
We can already tell there is a huge difference in crowds this trip verses our last in January. But we knew that going in.

We had our first "celebrity sighting" today. Our first ride of the evening at MK was the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.  We entered the line behind a group who had a personal tour guide - which usually means they they want a special type of Disney experience and are willing to pay for it (some would say, people who have more money than time, choose this option). Anyway....I am pretty good at remembering faces... names, not so much. So, in passing, I saw a face that was very familiar. Nothing else stood out as familiar or even fitting the face. The people around her didn't make a case for my thinking I recognized this person. Then I glanced at her bag... this was not a bag just anyone could afford. It was a high end designer bag... I have no idea how I know this... I just do. So I quietly said something to hubby... "Doesn't that women, in the overalls, look just like Idina Menzel? Her hair seems wrong but boy, her face looks soo much like her." He looked over, subtlety (we are nothing if not discreet) and said, yeah, maybe.  Well over the course of the next little bit, random tidbits of info popped into my head or hubby's and before we knew it, we were both absolutely positive it was her. [Editor's Note: The final piece of information that clinched it was that she told me that the woman in question had some kind of gold henna tattoo on her hands, then I found this tweet on Idina Menzel's twitter feed.] No, we didn't stalk her around the park. Yes, we did check her twitter feed to see if she would own up to being at Disney. And Yes, we both smiled really big, when they played her "Let it Go" with the fireworks show - wondering if she was watching and could hear everyone singing along. What must that be like?  It was a fun diversion and we hope she had a magical time.

The town-home

Yay, it has a kitchen :)

We made it!!!!

Google Photos, "Stylized" this one... not bad

Fireworks!

Ok, back to our town-home (we recommend All Star Vacation Homes if you need to rent in Orlando). Good Night.

Note:
In my first post I said this was our longest trip ever... I meant in the number of days we would be adventuring. Not in distance traveled - we will see for sure when it all wraps up, but we believe our 2012 road trip will still be the longest distance traveled.

Its almost like being there ;)

Stats:

Miles today: 468

Miles total: 2553

States Total: 13 (+Florida)