23 years ago, my parents bought a timeshare at
Orange Lake Country Club in Kissimmee, Fl. We used to pile into the huge blue station wagon and make the 24-hour drive from Upstate NY every April. As we got older, it became every 2 years. But it's still the best vacation ever. $1 t-shirts, every chain restaurant known to man, old folks driving golf carts... what else is there?
We used to hit all the theme parks every trip. Now we average about 1 park per trip, and spend most of the time lying by the pool (me) or golfing (Dad). Good thing too, since Disney World is about $100/day now, and Universal is even more. I'm saving my pennies for the next trip, when the
Wizarding World of Harry Potter will be open! (We could see the spires of Hogwarts from the parking garage, but that was it. Boo.)
Deals on frosty drinks and poolside bingo (complete with hilariously un-understandable Asian bingo caller) are amusement enough to get me through a week. I even won $70! And I am really, really tan right now. Mostly it's just fun to hang out with my parents. I haven't lived at home in so long that I forget what it's like to come and go from their "house", find the fridge stocked with the same lunch I ate in 10th grade, and to discuss
The Amazing Race in real time. And there are vacation highlights too, like the bi-annual Valcich family pilgrimage to Margaritaville.
My mom and I got massages, and my dad and I spent a day riding the roller coasters and seeing the animals at Busch Gardens. I got up and went to sleep early every night, finished 3 books, ate popsicles and watched a few hockey games with my dad. I even got to spend a great day with Jamie Pschorr and an evening with Lilla Ferenci. All in all, it was a great, warm, fun and completely relaxing week. I wish every week could be vacation week!
