Dear Mother Nature: Quit trying to mess with my Disney trips!

After 18 hours (or so) and two days of driving and some rain and two crying children and one screaming mom...we are finally in Orlando, ready to start our Disney vacation.

A little backstory...

We were supposed to leave town today and arrive in Florida tomorrow.
And then we saw the forecast for today for Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia.
And it was full of rain, severe storms, tornadoes and probably swarms of locust.

So, yesterday morning at about 8 a.m. we decided to leave early.
As in, at noon yesterday.
We drove SEVEN hours to Knoxville, TN.

And for the record, I'd like to state the following:

1. I hate driving through Dayton.*
2. I hate driving through Cincinnati even more.**
3. Mountains are evil.
4. The next time I will pay the $100 bag check fees for four suitcases so that we can fly to Florida.

So, this morning we left Knoxville hoping to avoid the worst of the rain. (Thank you Weather Channel BlackBerry app....you saved my sanity several times today).

We hit ONE horrid patch of rain (read: pouring deluge of rain in Biblical proportions) right outside Atlanta. I nearly cried.

Then, I watched the radar and decided we were stopping for a 'real' (non fast food) lunch so we could "allow" the STORMS to pass over I-75 and we could drive the rest of the trip in peaceful weather.

I'd like you to know: that totally worked. We had a minor shower but no storms, no tornadoes, no need to build another Ark.

And...the sun came out. Before we hit the Sunshine State.

That being said, I hate driving to Florida.
No one knows how to drive (except my husband...and sometimes that can be questionable).
Rest areas creep me out.
It is not enjoyable.

However....there is a bright side to this story....

I am in Orlando.
I drove through Walt Disney World property today and it was like being HOME.
I nearly cried from the sheer joy I felt.

We made it safely.
And for that I am thankful.

(Yes, this is the second time in three months that I had to leave EARLY in order to avoid bad weather on my way to Disney. I think Mother Nature is trying to tell me that I should just move down here so that I don't have to deal with the weather and travel!)

Oh, and I should add this:
We stayed at one hotel last night.
We are at a different hotel tonight.
Tomorrow we are moving to yet ANOTHER hotel for 1 night.
And finally on Monday we are moving to our Disney resort.
Yeah...four hotels in 4 days. Oy.

*I don't have anything against Dayton.
**Or Cincinnati.
It just sucks to drive through those 2 cities, in my opinion.
You are free to form your own opinion.