Hot, Hot, Hot!

I'm hot.  Are you hot?  In fact I am very, very hot.  Yesterday at 3 PM the temperature in the car read 110 degrees!  Yes, 110 right there in Busch Gardens parking lot.  And yes again, we were crazy enough to go to BG on such an ultra meg-hot day.  At first I was against it before I was for it, but I'm still glad we did it.  In fact the heat was an additional cultural bonus!   In addition to getting to amble around England, France, Scotland, Germany, and Italy, we also go to feel like we were traveling in the deserts of Ethiopia, Iran and South Africa.  (Those are some of the hottest places on Earth -- if you trust the internet as a source.)

The morning wasn't so bad, relatively speaking.  After being dunked in the Roman Rapids, we had an inch of water in our shoes, which kept us cool (and water-logged) for quite a while.  Note to self:  Wear wicking clothes next time.  Soggy clothes are really uncomfortable regardless of temperature! By the time lunch was over, I was about ready to swoon in the heat.

Since we were in the Celtic neighborhood, we went to see the new "Europe in the Air" ride which is thankfully located inside a well air-conditioned castle.  If you haven't experienced it or heard of it before, it is quite a cool experience, literally!  You feel like you are in an airplane - complete with tight lap belt, bags stowed under the seat, pumped air, sound effects, and all platforms disconnected for takeoff.  You look at the amazing IMAX screen in front of you and prepare for "take off."

You "fly" over the great sights of Europe from the Blarney Castle to Big Ben, the Alps, the Eiffel Tower, and the Coliseum, etc., coming creepily close to smashing into them all.  My fave is the Arc de Triomphe where you are right there in the massive roundabout about to collide with all of the whizzing traffic, including bumping into a mini-van gunning it around the circle.  One of the most amazing aspects (and there are many) is that the seats actually MOVE forwards, backwards, and sideways, so you really and truly feel like you are dodging the Tower of London because you physically see it looming ahead of you and feel the "plane" shifting!

I must confess by the time we hit the Alps, I was getting pretty queasy towards the end and had had more than enough of the "experience."  Sam, the one who adamantly did NOT want to take the ride in the first place, LOVED it, chanting, "I do it AGAIN!"  Thankfully Aunt Lynne was ready and willing to take flight with him a second time, so I headed out into the hot Irish desert to do a little economy boosting, stumbling upon a sanctuary of several bald eagles just a stone's throw away (not that I would throw a stone at a bald eagle, mind you.)  They all had a stunning resemblance to John McCain, but maybe that was a heat hallucination.  Maybe not.

We headed back to Sesame Street where Sam picked Oscar's Wiggly Worm as his last ride.  The metal bar was so hot that he couldn't stand to touch it, so he held onto me.  Usually that's is more than fine, but this time I was nauseous I was ready to lose it.  My pride kept me in check -- how would I ever live down getting sick on Oscar's Wiggly Worm?  Impossible.

So after stocking up on some overpriced-but-well-worth-it waters, we found our way back to our oven, I mean, car.

Yesterday we managed to beat the heat, but today we're not pushing it.  We might just have to watch Sesame Street on TV instead of experiencing it live and look at pictures of Europe rather than zooming over them on an IMAX-powered jet.  That should be easier on our sweat glands and hopefully my topsy-turvy tummy.

LibbY