Yay for Lizards! Boo for "Line Rage."

After my flight was delayed several hours last night (surprise, surprise), I didn't get to my hotel until after 1 AM. Therefore, I took it easy today and slept in; around 1 PM I headed outside with my journal, a book and a magazine.

The main pool area at my hotel is kind of crazy--it's really huge, and while it wasn't that crowded, the scene was still pretty active and the speakers were pumping out tunes and there were a lot of kids going down the water slide (if you look closely you can see where it dumps people out in a white tube to the right of the waterfall (click to enlarge)).


There also wasn't much shade near the main pool, so instead I found a lounge chair under covered cabana near the "spa pool." At this pool they had soothing Enya-ish music playing at a reasonable volume and there was a waterfall thingy that I was near which helped complete the relaxing vibe (the sound of a waterfall is one of my favorite sounds in the world).


While I was wandering around the grounds figuring out where I was going to hang, I remembered one of the things I like about Florida the most--lizards! If I just stood still for a few seconds on the sidewalks in the quieter areas of the resort, I would see tons of them run out onto the pavement to sun themselves, or climb up and down trees, or scamper around under the foliage lining the walkways. I looked for lizards high and low in St. Maarten, but only saw a few of them. But I definitely got my fill today. Here are two little guys who begged to have their picture taken... both seemed to have hurt their tails! Poor little lizards!



After a relaxing afternoon and some time at the gym, I went for dinner at a Japanese steakhouse here at the hotel (think Benihana--complete with a smoking onion ring volcano and everything). A family I sat at the table with had spent the entire day at the Magic Kingdom--they said the lines were awful. Great... I'm sure it will be much worse when I am there in a few days.

All I know is that I'm going to stay far away from The Mad Tea Party ride. "Spinny" rides usually make me sick in the first place, so I was planning on avoiding it, but then on the local news today I saw a spot about this woman who may get 15 years in prison for beating and choking someone while in line for this ride!

I think she took the name of the ride a little too literally... Didn't she get the memo that Disney World is "the Happiest Place on Earth?" Geez!

- e