"Wednesday April 30th.

"Today was the big field trip day. Julie, Nick and Dana joined the associates and I on a tour of Disney's Animal Kingdom. First we stopped for an hour at the great flea market outside Deland. The group fanned out and treasure hunted. Barbara bought a ridiculous painting of a soaring eagle over a mountainous landscape. Bronwyn bought two impossibly large fans, Corinne purchased honey for her honey collection and Chris purchased a Golden Guide cutout book of reptiles and amphibians. I bought the sea life one and tons of other useless trash; much of it for the project.

"At Disney we pulled up to the parking spot Giraffe 39 with the ACA van next to us. We then took the "people mover" to the gate and paid our $76 entry fee. It was rather crowded. The roads through the park were a sea of humans.

"I took the team past the richly planted central access exhibits and straight to do what one always does in Disney's realm: wait in a long line. We waited for about 45 minutes for the Jungle African Safari. The associates were excited and eager and this respite gave us time to catch up. Soon we were bumping about in a vast ride watching the famous animals of the African Continent. For Nancy, Julie and Bronwyn it was quite hard to tell what was real and what was artificial. They imagined the crocodiles as fake while they are flesh and blood and understood the baobab trees as real when they are not. All too soon it was over and we were on to hike the gorilla trail which they rushed through like clockwork dolls. The group clearly desired another adrenaline ride, so we headed to Asia and the Himalaya roller coaster Yeti ride. Before getting there Vincent and Filip had prepared a lunch snack. They were so generous and kind to have all the food ready.

"Before long we were on another line threading through the crazy entrance to the ride. First you go through a run down third world hotel lobby, past a shrine in which the Hindi gods have been transformed into Bigfoot, past an expedition outfitter and lastly through a funky Yeti museum.

"It is all done pretty well with numerous props and detailed installations.

"When we got in the final stretch Dana asked if this would be a roller coaster-like ride. I told her yes and she was quite unhappy. But she proceeded and had a miserable time and tore my flesh holding my hand so hard. She felt ill and was unhappy afterward, but not too upset to go on the flume ride. Nick, Nancy, Barbara and I opted out of the wet ride and tried to see the bird show. Since we had just missed the last show we stopped in a restaurant for some dim sum and a beer. Eventually our very wet friends joined us and we all raced to Dinoland USA where we met Pluto before riding the time travel dinosaur ride with Scott and Filip.

"I think everyone had a pretty marvelous time and bonded even more firmly. This group has little trouble in this regard. They are all gregarious."

- M

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