Day 5 - Rest for the Weary

Well, last day at the conference, and for some reason I did not sign up for the FREE TRIP TO...

THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH!

No matter how much my Canadian friends tried to coerce me, I did not want to go to a theme park. I'd already done my stint with Mickey three times!

Ken says this is definately the biggest surprise of the entire trip. It's true. I'm an extrovert. I'd call myself, "The Fun Girl," but my mother was dubbed with that title, so I've become, "The Fun Girl's Daughter."

In my defense, I'd like to say that there were at least 8 of us who did not go visit Disney. Okay, so four were California residents who could go anytime, one was pregnant and couldn't do the rides... Yeah. What of it?

At any rate, I and 7 others, lead by Letty and Joan, (two extreme sports shoppers!) decided to go to Fashion Island. What a beautiful mall! It's an upscale fashion mall with no walls! And yet, not a strip mall. I got lost many times, wandering around the little outdoor mall village. It took me 45 minutes to find Starbucks, and I'm sure I passed the one fountain four times!! Yes, I'm directionally challenged at the best of times. I kept finding myself at a mall map, with a big STAR saying, "YOU ARE HERE." It all seemed so logical but then I'd be wandering in oblivion until the next mall map. Or was it the same one?

I opted not to take the shuttle to Disney for dinner, either. I felt I needed rest. It's been a roller coaster ride these past months and I wanted to make sure I deliberately S-L-O-W-E-D down.

I found this beautiful poem called "Rest" on the following blog at Front Porch Chats: http://frontporchchats.blogspot.com/2006/01/rest.html

Tomorrow is Travel Day.