Pink Flamingoes

Posted on June 11, 2017 by deconstructingdoctor

18491753_10212954057671337_7137225199933683469_oA funny thing happened when our family returned home from a week long trip to Disney World.

We spent the entire week living out of our RV in what I would consider the epitome of RV parks, Disney’s Fort Wilderness.  One week there will ruin you for any RV park anywhere.  RV parks aren’t exactly known for their plush surroundings.  In fact, prior to owning an RV, I pretty much thought RV parks were seriously tacky.  My opinion hasn’t changed much.  I have embraced the tacky.

Disney’s version of an RV park is clean, perfect WiFi, snack bars, restaurants, boat rides, golf cart rentals, a plethora of wild animals (deer, bunnies, squirrels, frogs, lizards, armadillos, and possums -were just a few that we saw), shopping, groceries, sing-a-longs, and outdoor movies and s’mores with Chip and Dale.  I think what I like most about Disney’s RV park is that no one actually lives there, they just visit and then move on.  Other RV parks get a little weird.  People live in mobile units that are meant for the open road, but they park them and put out pink flamingoes and garden gnomes.  They don’t leave.  They stay.  I find that weird.

I find it so weird, that I think I could do it, too.  My husband and I talk about it on occasion.  When the kids go to college, we could sell everything, downsize our current RV (it sleeps about 10, rather uncomfortably), and hit the road.  We could stay at campsites along the interstate or at the beach.  We could drive to California and ride up the west coast through Canada.  Anything is possible when you are driving your house down the interstate.  We could stay in the mountains during the summer and the beach during the winter.  We could stay put for a while and put out pink flamingoes, then pull them up, pack them under the coach and drive to the next destination.  Nomads.  Adventurers.  Road Warriors.  Imagine the possibilities!

We spent a week in pretty close quarters when we weren’t fighting the crowds at the parks.  Our hot water heater didn’t work and the kitchen sink sprung a leak, but the toilet worked magnificently!!  That wasn’t the case the last time we went to Disney.  We discovered on the first day that toilet paper got stuck somewhere in the pipes and backed everything up.  So the toilet paper had to be bagged and not flushed.  Ewwwwww.

RV life isn’t for the faint of heart.

Four people living in about 300 square feet of space for 7 days.  Without a kitchen sink or hot shower.  You get kind of used to it.  When we got home, we unpacked our clothes, food, and toiletries.  I took a hot shower.

Everyone was exhausted from the drive and the week of nonstop activity from sunup to sundown.  I found myself relaxing on the couch with a book, my husband had fallen asleep on the chaise part of the couch and both of my kids sat next to me playing on their iPads.

After 7 days in close quarters, a funny thing happened, we found ourselves not dispersed to our corners of the house, but sitting inches apart from one another on the couch.  I know it won’t always be like this, at some point my 8 and 6 year old will be 15 and 13.  They won’t want to be with mom and dad in an RV.  They won’t want to sit next to us on the couch.  They probably won’t want to go to Disney World anymore.  In that moment, alone in my realization, I breathed it in and held it in my chest for a moment.  Trying to make time stand still, putting a little pink flamingo of memory in the tacky RV park of my mind.

 

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30 Responses to Pink Flamingoes

  1. Pingback: On the road, again… – new*normal*gal

  2. newnormalgal says:
    June 12, 2017 at 9:28 pm

    It is so coincidental that you posted this! I just upgraded to a larger RV and wanted to blog about it. I love it. I forget about my bone aches. I run up and down the stairs to load and unload it. I sleep great. Again, I love RVing…

    I will shoot you the link when I am done with it.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. 2ndhalfolife says:
    June 12, 2017 at 3:33 pm

    My dream is to take a tiny home across the country and maybe even end up living in one….

    Liked by 1 person

  4. houstonphotojourney says:
    June 12, 2017 at 9:46 am

    What a memorable experience 🙂 I am hopefully going to do this once I am (ever :)) able to retire one day. I wish they’d bring back the VW camper bus 🙂 I would just love to see more of the US!! I’m laughing too as I FINALLY decided to do some darn thing with my backyard and Walmart had Gnomes and these little mushroom stools on clearance so I was laughing when I bought them that I might add pink flamigos to complete “the look” . (My son’s father looked oddly at me but was wise enough to not comment 🙂 )

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Lana says:
    June 12, 2017 at 4:54 am

    Great post! My husband and I toured California in an RV and loved it 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  6. artalexiusr says:
    June 12, 2017 at 2:30 am

    Sounded do much fun doc. Family and a vacation in an RV.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. V.J. Knutson says:
    June 12, 2017 at 12:24 am

    Our house is on the market, the RV ready to go – my husband and I, empty nesters, and ready to retire are now set for a new adventure. Taking to the open road!

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Kenneth T. says:
    June 11, 2017 at 11:56 pm

    That’s the life! My wife and I have talked about doing the same thing – after the kids are out of the house of course.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Dewy says:
    June 11, 2017 at 11:28 pm

    Great post . Mine are 14,18,20 . It’s hard to plan family trips since the uni time off doesn’t correspond to school time off . Then have to coordinate our work time off as well.
    The only time we can go is during the Summer holidays January or semester break June. That is if we can find someone to look after the business so we can go.

    Liked by 1 person

    • deconstructingdoctor says:
      June 11, 2017 at 11:32 pm

      I cherish the ease of going on vacation together now. We plan it and they just go. They really don’t complain, yet. We plan it around their breaks in school, too. I think the key is planning WAY in advance. I have a calendar with their days off and plan all our weeks off for the whole year.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Dewy says:
        June 12, 2017 at 12:04 am

        You’re very organised . I’m not that organised . I don’t even know what’s happening next week. This year we are not going away so only trips to our beach house. Which we can do quite easy. If they don’t want to join us then it’s just us. Next year we are hoping to go overseas so I’ll have to ask our staff to cover us early so she doesn’t plan her family get away the same time as us . We tend to stagger our holidays with her. That way both families get to go away.

        Liked by 1 person

      • deconstructingdoctor says:
        June 12, 2017 at 12:22 am

        Mostly I’ve been screwed in the past when my partner put on his vacations first so I learned from those mistakes to stake my claim in prime vacation time😊

        Liked by 1 person

  10. Deb says:
    June 11, 2017 at 11:20 pm

    I still have memories of my one and only RV vacation. I got to take my best friend along. We were about 13 or 14. The only thing that would have made it better was to have been 16, had our driver’s license’s and if we could have stowed my parents under the coach… well you can imagine.
    Cherish this memory and remind your kids every so often, especially when they roll their eyes about even being seen with let alone vacationing with you.

    Liked by 2 people

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