The Great Journey~ Pt. 3

And then . . .

We took a bus.  A happy bus. Transportation.  Which put me in mind of  . . . horses.  I started missing horses.  So we went looking for some.

We found this one – part of a giant, magnificent, storybook mosaic.

Not Dustin.  But close.

The point is, horses make you happy.  In 2-D or in 

3-D

The frazz and groom.  Groom assisted mounting.

This is EXACTLY the way I feel every time I get into the saddle.

And this is EXACTLY the way Chaz feels every time she gets into the saddle, minus the terror.

And this is EXACTLY what Gin does every time  Frazz does something dashing.  Gin prefers these horses to mine; easier on the sinuses.  And where, you ask, is the bearded man?

When G rides real horses, he rarely feels bilious afterwards.  So he opts to lub landwards as we ride in our eternal circle.

Here’s the true sad thing: on Sunday, when we did not want to go into the parks and make people work, I left the fam behind and went searching for real horses.  I’d found one real horse in the Kingdom, but they won’t let you touch him.  So I breathed into his nose from at least an inch away and he woke up and looked straight at me, smiling.  But more about him later.  That Sabbath, car-less, I sailed across a lagoon and went poking about in the Wilderness Encampment.  There, I found The Barn.

 In The Barn, they keep all the proud horses, the giants who pull the carriages (both plain and enchanted) and the wagons.  These are Percherons and Belgian Draft Horses and Gypsy Vanners – horses that require twenty foot stalls with twenty foot ceilings.  Gorgeous, quiet, magnificent animals.  I walked the breezeway, peeking into each stall as I went.  On tip-toe.  The stalls are all barred; too many people paying the wrong kind of visits to these guys, I guess.  And was sad, because they were all sleeping at the back of the stalls, standing quietly with heads down, one back foot peacefully cocked.

In the very back of the barn, I met a human – a woman named Star who has the greatest job in the universe: looking after these marvelous horses.  We talked for a while.  She told me about her horse, and the eventing and dressage she does.  She was not an elegant woman – stocky and short – but beautiful when she spoke of these things.  I told her I was disappointed not to be able to touch a horse.

“I’ll show you my favorite,” she said, and led the way back down the breezeway.  We stopped in front of a stall marked “Tom.”  She opened the door and slipped inside.  There, at the back, was a big black Belgian – sleepy and tousled and young – you can tell by the yet slender head and chest.  Tom, it seems, is younger than my colt by a year of so, and makes two and a half of him in weight.  So Tom came to the door to talk to me, and I got to stroke his nose.  And of course, burst into tears.

So that was all right.  

But I have no pictures.  I had forgotten the little camera.  So I have no way of showing any of this.  A secret barn for giants.  And next door to that, a series of small sheds for miniature horses and ponies – the biggest and the smallest.  So essentially magical.  It’s good no one came with me; Gin would have sneezed all night long.

So the horse need satisfied, we went bird hunting.

I know what this bird is called.  Really I do.  You see them in hieroglyphics all the time, and Chaz, reading this is yelling it at me – but I can’t remember right now.  It’ll come to me later, when it’s too late.

These birds seem to love her.  I think it has something to do with reincarnation.   I’m sure I’ve seen her in hieroglyphs, too.

Okay, I have no idea what this guy is, but he’s scary.  Really scary.  There were these people just sitting on the edge of this wooden sidewalk, eating a pastry.  The bird is stalking them. We watched him watching them for five minutes and he did not so much as blink.  Just that forward leaning tension.  This, my dears, is what we mean by focus.  Finally, the woman held the very last bite of pastry in her hand for a moment too long – the bird took two swift strides forward, snagged it, then two swift strides back and resumed this posture.  Personally, I think he was animatronic.

These also are birds.  Water kinds of birds.  Or maybe the same kind of bird.

Then we took a jungle cruise.  It is not the same kind of experience as our actual African safari; the difference here is that you don’t go for the animals so much as you go for the script.  Which has jokes in it that are older than I am.  It never disappoints.  Frazz does not realize this, however, and is expecting something amazing.

Like this.  A BULL ELEPHANT.  A bull elephant who has not moved a foot in 30 YEARS.

This is a very much more exciting kind of elephant, as you can see.

Queen of pin trading.  Yes, yes, we are addicted to it.  But not like some people.  A couple of years ago on the other coast, we met this lady who admitted to having spent over $500 a month on this “hobby” before she finally came up for air and got hold of herself.  I can proudly say that we are in no such trouble.  Main challenge: what do you do with them once you’ve got them?

Handsome prince of the pin trade.

And the wicked witch, who should know better.

And finally, the naked truth: Disney World, all decked out for October.  I know that some people aren’t that into Disney, but this place and the other in CA connect so strongly into our family feeling that there really aren’t words for it.  Starting with my father and mother, taking us every year when we were little – and then sleeping us on the pull out bed in the living room after, with bowls and tubs handy in case the excitement of the day bubbled up a little too emphatically.  Disney was part of home then.  And it still is.  Walt still is.

What a work of art this place is.  A feat of engineering, a celebration of cultures and nature and myth.  I don’t think I was blogging back the first time we ever saw Epcot – I could fill your brain with the shots I took of Chinese and Japanese structures and ornament, of Moroccan window sills and tile fountains, of french cobble stones and roof lines – the detail is magnificent.

But all I have to offer now is pumpkins.  And us, in matching (almost) shirts.

And one magical castle.

If I’m not taxing your patience, I’d like to do one more installment – just some details and fun shots.

so maybe – to be cont ?