daytrips – marginalia and such

One of my dearest, oldest friends was married this weekend and I had the pleasure of attending and making a weekend trip of it with the boy. It was a Disney wedding, because Disney holds fond memories for both the bride and groom, but it was also the bride’s dream to be wed at Disney, so win-win for all 🙂

The boy and I held off on our anniversary earlier this month to save up for the trip and make it extra special. We had an indulgent dinner at the Boathouse restaurant in Disney Springs, and enjoyed a day trip to Animal Kingdom before the wedding. It was lovely and even this snarky wedding Grinch was charmed by the Disney magic.

Date night at last…

featuring the lobster bake from the Boathouse

and the cutest dessert from Amorette’s Patisserie.

Followed by a bright and early trip to Animal Kingdom

where the views were spectacular

and the critters too cute for words.

The wedding night was also just right… clear skies and chilly weather.

We clean up nice…

My mom used to tell me about this little Japanese garden by the beach where there was a huge Buddha statue. Like many of her stories, this was before my time which meant that it was a place I only ever heard of–one of the many near mythical places that she used to go to with my dad when they were courting.

Last year, the bchan and I went to Jungle Island and we noticed that the Miami-Japan garden was right next door to the park. We said we would go one day… and today we did! It was a Labor Day surprise that I wasn’t expecting, and it was a lovely treat during what proved to be a very hot day.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t prepared to go on such an outing, so I left my camera at home and had to rely on my cell phone *for shame*. At least the picture quality is better than that produced by my old phone.