Saturday, April 19, 2008 - Embarkation Day

I couldn't force myself to sleep any longer, so I rolled over and put some coffee on. (The studios at AKV are small). DH has this thing about coffee when we're at Disney - it must be made with bottled water. So, we had picked up a gallon during our Publix adventure the day before. I used the rest to refill some 1-1/2 liter bottles to take to the port with us. Ah, the port. Just a few more hours and we'd be climbing aboard the Disney Magic...

It was 6 am. I slid past still sleeping DD and opened the drapes. She's usually getting up for school at this time, but she's on vacation too. I tried to be as quiet as possible pushing the glass doors to the balcony and taking a seat outside in the dark. I couldn't see any animals, but I sure did enjoy the quiet. All ten seconds of it. DH stomped his way out, crashed into the door-frame, tripped over the table and plopped himself down in the other chair. Well, "Good Morning" to you! Almost immediately, he spied a family of kudu who had wandered onto the path right up close to the hotel. I had heard some rustling in the bushes, but figured it was some birds. Nope, a few of them had managed to get past the hot wire and were exploring the zookeepers' areas. It wasn't long before the animal caretakers drove up in their jeep with a searchlight and spotted the three. Then they left, so I figured that maybe there wasn't a hot wire at all and that they were just tracking their whereabouts. 

DD heard us chatting about the goings on and was soon in my lap, watching the antics of the adventurous kudu family. As the animals tried to find an entrance to the hotel, we enjoyed the sunrise together.
The kudu wandered over to what was apparently a nesting area for the geese and the birds made their displeasure known by stretching their wings, stomping their webbed feet, and honking and hissing frenetically at the larger beasts. The birds won and each time one of the kudu took an odd step in that direction, the geese would start their bullying behavior again and chase them away. It was hysterical and DD will still spontaneously break into the goose bully dance to get a laugh.
The zookeepers were back shortly after sunrise and tried to "drive" the animals back onto the savannah with the jeep. That didn't work so they got out of the jeep with very large shields and sticks and I became concerned. I needn't have been. The sticks were to bang the shields with - the noise was supposed to make them run away. All it managed to do, however, was act as a "human call" and soon all the balconies on the Uzima savannah were filled and watching the action. They did, eventually, get them around the wire and back where they belonged, which signaled, for us, the start of our own day.

We needed to get everyone showered and dressed and all the toiletries into the checked luggage. I needed to clean up the room and pack all of DDs new treasures, find a place for the laundry, keep out our paperwork, swimsuits, sunblock, etc. I needed to pack a carryon with whatever we would need until our stateroom was ready at 1:30. DH needed to pack the carryon with the adult provisions. We also needed to eat breakfast. It was now 7:30 am and we needed to be on the road by 9:30 at the latest. We were. We pulled away from AKL at 9:15 and we just needed to make a quick stop at the gas station before hitting the open road. But, when we stopped at the gas station on I-drive to fill the gas tank (so we wouldn't have to do so near the port) DH realized he had left his cell-phone charger plugged in behind the coffee pot. He tried the typical blame it on the wife game, but I countered with the "I didn't put it there, how was I supposed to know" card. I suggested simply calling the resort, alerting them it was there, and asking them to put it aside until we returned next Saturday and we'd pick it up then. No. We had to go back and get it - now. Grrrrr. So, instead of being on the road by 9:30, we were heading back to AKL at 9:30 so Dh could walk those loooooong hallways back to our room on Uzima trail to get his cell-phone charger - that he wouldn't need for the next week. It was 9:45 when we finally got on I-4. 

coming up next...
Have you seen the view from the bridge? and other stories...